Almost Didn't Recognize You

By the time Chen Shi'an stepped out of the barbershop, he looked like a different person.

People said a hairstyle was a man's second face, and they weren't wrong. Chen Shi'an already had well-proportioned features and good looks. With a fresh, short, textured cut that gave him a student-like air, he looked even more lively.

The young Taoist wasn't quite used to it yet, though. The most noticeable difference after cutting his hair short was the cool breeze against his scalp. He rubbed the hair at the nape of his neck, the short, stiff stubble prickling his palm. It was rather interesting...

Chen Shi'an took out his phone to check the time. It was already half past eight in the evening.

Back in the mountains, the sky would have been full of stars by now, everything hushed and still. In the city, however, the nightlife seemed to have only just begun, and the bustle in the streets and alleys was reaching its peak.

Next, he needed to buy his everyday essentials.

Chen Shi'an didn't demand much in the way of material comforts. When he bought things, sturdy and durable were his main criteria.

At the general store near the entrance to the residential complex, he bought a bamboo sleeping mat, a pillow, a navy-blue bedding set, a pair of slippers, a red plastic bucket, a washbasin, a drinking cup, a toothbrush cup, a toothbrush, a towel, a bag of laundry detergent... and a bundle of twenty clothes hangers.

The store was fairly large, and he could get practically all the everyday supplies he needed in one place, so Chen Shi'an didn't bother looking elsewhere. He was a Taoist, but he was also a man, and men valued efficiency when shopping.

He didn't buy any shampoo or shower gel, though he did buy two bars of soap.

He had always used bar soap to bathe. It was cheap and worked well, helped keep his back free of pimples, and wasn't slippery like shower gel, which never seemed to rinse off no matter how long he stood under the water.

Perhaps the manufacturers had deliberately developed it to leave that slippery feeling, but to guys, slippery meant it wasn't clean. They had to keep rinsing until the slipperiness was gone.

He didn't buy facial cleanser or anything like that. Only after seeing it on the shelves did Chen Shi'an learn that there were cleaning products specifically for faces, with all sorts of categories: oil control, moisturizing, skin softening, and so on. He usually washed his face with water or bar soap, and he never got pimples anyway...

He even used bar soap to wash his hair.

Whether it was because people's living environments and eating habits had changed or because of shampoo, people nowadays generally had less hair than they had in the eighties and nineties. One look at old photographs from their parents' generation made that clear. Back then, ordinary people and celebrities alike had thick heads of black hair like birds' nests. Now technology had advanced, and shampoos promising every imaginable benefit kept appearing, yet none of them could stop people's hair from getting thinner.

Chen Shi'an didn't need to worry about that, though. Even the barber had praised how thick and healthy his hair was.

Of course, he was young, so that didn't prove much yet. But his old geezer of a master had still had a fairly thick head of hair right up until his death. It had simply turned completely white.

After buying his household essentials, Chen Shi'an picked up some kitchen supplies as well, such as pots, bowls, ladles, basins, cooking oil, rice, soy sauce, and vinegar.

He had already looked at the kitchen in the apartment. Li Wanyin kept it very clean. There was a gas stove and a wok, and she had oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar ready to use. It was fine for one person, but for two, there wouldn't be enough bowls, chopsticks, and plates to start with.

Although Wanyin had generously told him he could share her things, Chen Shi'an didn't want to shamelessly freeload. He could tell that she really didn't have much money to spare. Even if they had opportunities to cook together in the future, he would only feel comfortable eating if he contributed his share.

This was Chen Shi'an's first time sharing an apartment, but the same principle applied to relationships in general. He couldn't always take other people's kindness for granted. He needed to be considerate, too.

"Young master, take a look. Is there anything else you need?" The shopkeeper smiled as she helped move his purchases over to the counter.

"Mm, that's all for now. Could you total it up for me, please? I'm a Taoist. Could you give me a little discount?"

A Taoist, huh... A Taoist could have a discount, but not a student. Selling things to students was how her little shop made its money.

"Let me add it up first... thirty-eight plus twenty plus a hundred and forty-eight plus fifteen... That's four hundred and seventy-five altogether. How about four hundred and sixty, young master? I'll throw in the slippers for free."

"That works. Thank you."

"All right, I'll pack everything up for you. Did you drive here, young master? Can you carry all this?"

"It's fine. I should be able to manage."

All the smaller items went into the bucket. The bedding and similar items already came in packaging with handles, making them easy to carry.

With the shopkeeper's help, his purchases were soon packed and ready.

"Oh, do you sell fabric here? Could you cut me a length?"

"Yes. How much do you need, young master?"

Before leaving, Chen Shi'an also bought a roll of fabric and some needles and thread.

Many young people probably wouldn't have much use for these things, but he had quite a few occasions to use them.

For example, if this pillow wasn't comfortable, he planned to buy some buckwheat later and make himself a buckwheat pillow.

Carrying bags of household supplies, Chen Shi'an headed back.

When he passed a pet supply shop, he gave it some thought, then went in and bought a bag of chicken-flavored cat food.

He didn't know whether Fat Ink would like it, but since he so rarely came into the city, he might as well buy some for the cat to try.

Someone was selling watermelons near the entrance to the residential complex. Customers could buy them whole or cut into portions.

The watermelons looked pretty good to Chen Shi'an, so he picked one and asked the seller to weigh half of it.

He hadn't eaten any watermelon that year, so this was simply a little treat to satisfy his craving. He wasn't sure whether Li Wanyin liked it, though surely nobody disliked watermelon. Once he got back, he would invite her to share it.

He did a quick tally. His two long-distance bus rides that day had cost twenty yuan, his haircut had cost forty, and this shopping trip had come to around five hundred and fifty.

His master had left him a bank card with a little over twenty-four thousand six hundred yuan before passing away. Today, he had more or less spent the odd six hundred, leaving twenty-four thousand.

Once he officially enrolled in school, there shouldn't be too many things he needed to spend money on, right?

Chen Shi'an considered it. His main expense would probably be the monthly rent. After splitting it with Li Wanyin, he estimated that seven hundred and some yuan would cover it.

Twenty-four thousand yuan was enough to support him for quite a while. As long as he had no other major expenses, his extremely simple lifestyle would let him last until he finished the college entrance exam two years later. But that would be as far as it went.

As for his tuition and living expenses once he got into university, along with the money he owed his "creditors," he would have to find some other way to cover those himself.

As he thought it over, Chen Shi'an's expression turned odd... Master, did you plan this out too?

It seemed that learning how to earn money was another subject he had to study on this journey into the wider world.

Fortunately, he still had a two-year buffer, so he could think it over slowly. His most urgent task was to catch up on the academic foundations he had missed

and bring his grades up.

With both hands loaded down with purchases, Chen Shi'an climbed to the ninth floor as though it were nothing, without even getting out of breath.

He set his things on the floor for the moment, then took his keys out of his pocket to open the door.

There were two keys in all: one for the security door and one for his bedroom. The previous tenant had left them behind, and Li Wanyin had passed them on to him.

As for the keys to the Taoist temple, those were a large bunch of much older-fashioned keys, which he had tucked away in his bag.

When he opened the apartment door, he saw Li Wanyin hanging laundry on the balcony in a T-shirt and shorts she wore around the house.

She seemed to have just finished showering. The ends of her hair were still damp, and the washing machine in the bathroom was humming away. What she was hanging up now was the underwear she had washed by hand.

Hearing the door open, Li Wanyin, who was used to living alone, immediately turned to look.

Once she got a clear look at his face, the trace of wariness disappeared, replaced by bright-eyed disbelief.

"Shi-Shi'an?"

"Yeah. I was only out for a little while. Don't you recognize me anymore, Wanyin?"

"It really is you!! You look so different!! If you weren't still wearing your Taoist robes, I almost wouldn't have recognized you!!"

"..."

I only got a haircut. Don't act so shocked you'd think I went off and got plastic surgery!

(Starting tomorrow, each chapter will be increased to around three thousand characters!)