To put it simply, this friend had a younger brother, but her parents had brainwashed her since childhood, telling her that they treated their children completely equally, and if anything, they favored their daughter over their son. Whether their brainwashing had been too successful or they had given her a few little favors, the friend had actually believed them all these years and thought she was the most pampered little princess in the family.
And so this illusion of happiness had lasted all the way through her college graduation.
After she graduated, her family had the good fortune of receiving compensation for their home's demolition. Yes, that was right-another lucky demolition-compensation recipient. This time, the friend's family of four received three apartments in total.
Logically speaking, three apartments should have been enough to divide among four people. One for the parents, one for the younger brother, and one for the friend-wouldn't that have worked out perfectly? But her parents said no. They said the whole family would live together in one apartment, her brother would get another, and the remaining apartment would be sold to buy him a car. After all, a boy needed a car and a home if he wanted to get married.
The friend asked her parents, "What about me? Don't I need a car and a home to get married?"
Her parents then told her that they weren't giving her an apartment because they loved her. After all, a girl with a car and a home would have trouble finding a husband.
No normal person would believe such an obvious lie. The problem was that the friend actually did.
The young woman had come to Jingting this time hoping he could help knock some sense into her friend with a good scolding.
After reading through the background and the whole story, Jingting thought for a moment but didn't scold the friend. Instead, he took his phone and walked toward a group of stray cats in Clear Breeze Temple.
He couldn't remember when it had started, but the number of stray cats in Clear Breeze Temple had suddenly grown. There hadn't been a single one in the area before. In any case, there were now at least three to five stray cats in the temple. Some sat and others lay down, but every last one was staring at the salted fish hanging high overhead.
Jingting walked up to a brown tabby, tore off a small strip of salted fish, and let the cat sniff it. Just as the tabby stuck out its pink tongue to lick the fish in his hand, Jingting suddenly handed it to a little white cat beside it instead.
The little white cat leaped onto the wall with the salted fish in its mouth.
Jingting reached out and rubbed the stunned tabby's head, saying mildly, "I'm not giving you salted fish because I love you."
The tabby let out a yowl and swiped at him. If Jingting hadn't reacted quickly, he would have been scratched.
Jingting shrugged. "See? Even a cat knows that where the fish is, the love is."
Everyone in the livestream: Profound!
Chapter 23
Jingting didn't know whether the friend had finally been scolded into coming to her senses, but Daoist Chang Kong's scolding nearly split him apart-because he had thrown away a strip of Daoist Chang Kong's salted fish, the Daoist chased him around the courtyard several times that day with a rolling pin.
That wasn't even the main issue. The main issue was that Jingting hadn't ended the livestream yet, so every viewer watched the entire scene unfold. Some particularly wicked viewers even recorded their screens, saying they wanted to revisit the "highlight" of Jingting getting beaten whenever they liked.
One viewer even offered a biting comment in the livestream: [Seeing this reminds me of an old saying: spare the rod, spoil the child!]
The comment quickly won praise and agreement from the other viewers:
Passerby 1: [I was wondering why Jingting and this chubby Daoist always had such strong shipping chemistry. Turns out they were father and son all along.]
Passerby 2: [A father-son bond that moves heaven and earth.]
Passerby 3: [Judging by how decisively this chubby Daoist swings, that's definitely his biological son.]
Passerby 4: [Shouldn't footage of him getting beaten be pay-per-view? Let's crowdfund it. I'll put in ten cents.]
Of course, some especially suspicious viewers thought the whole thing was scripted and rehearsed, but there weren't many such comments, so they did nothing to stop everyone from thoroughly enjoying watching Jingting get beaten.
It had to be said that hanging around Jingting's livestream brought surprises every day. Not only did it offer free lessons in roasting people, it also had a master cook whose skills rivaled those of state banquet chefs making delicious food. Today was even more outrageous-they had gone straight to staging an action movie.
There were only things you couldn't imagine, nothing this livestream couldn't do.
Only after finishing his scolding did Daoist Chang Kong remember that people were watching through the camera. Suddenly recovering his lost sense of Daoist dignity, he went back to rolling out dough.
He planned to make two desserts for everyone that day. One was traditional salted egg yolk pastry, while the other was more seasonal: peach blossom cakes made with peach blossoms, milk, lotus root starch, and other ingredients. Daoist Chang Kong had given them a very elegant name himself: Peach Blossom Face.
First, Daoist Chang Kong blended freshly picked peach blossom petals with whole milk, then poured the mixture into a pot, added lotus root starch, and simmered it over low heat. Finally, he poured it into peach-blossom-shaped molds to cool and set. The finished Peach Blossom Faces were pure white and translucent, with a faint blush of peach pink, truly resembling a beauty wearing a light layer of rouge. Leaving aside how they tasted, their appearance alone certainly lived up to the name "Peach Blossom Face."
Once Daoist Chang Kong had finished the Peach Blossom Faces, he arranged them one by one in a handmade bamboo box, then casually picked up a brush and copied a line of classical poetry onto it: "The spring breeze once beheld a peach-blossom face; seeing it again surpasses that first meeting."
Daoist Chang Kong had beautiful calligraphy. Even his casual inscription on the bamboo box took this box of Peach Blossom Faces up another notch.
By now, the livestream viewers no longer asked Jingting whether the pastries were for sale, because everyone knew that Clear Breeze Temple's goods were sold only in person, not online. Instead, they discussed how long it would take to get to the temple from where they lived.
Once they compared notes, they discovered that it really was an extraordinarily long trip.
Even a local viewer from City A couldn't help lamenting in the livestream: [It's one thing for you friends from other provinces to think it's far, but even as a City A local, I find getting to Clear Breeze Temple a real ordeal. I wonder when the temple will open a branch.]
Spotting the comment, Jingting immediately replied, "A Clear Breeze Temple Branch Temple? There already is one! University A."
The livestream viewers: [...Did I hear that right? University A? Is that the University A I'm thinking of?]
[You're bluffing, Daoist. How could University A possibly be a Clear Breeze Temple Branch Temple? That's my dream university!]
Jingting said, "It technically isn't, but I think it's close enough! Anyway, if you want to buy things but think Clear Breeze Temple is too far away, you can buy them directly at University A. We have two female student agents there. They don't sell the temple's food, but they do sell related merchandise, such as talisman tube blind boxes..."
The livestream viewers: ...Your temple's business empire really does cover a lot of ground. You've even expanded onto a university campus? Looks like we seriously underestimated Clear Breeze Temple!
In a women's dorm at University A, the Clear Breeze Temple Branch Temple, cries of misery filled the air. The semester had barely begun, yet the university had already announced that the freshmen would have to take entrance diagnostic exams.
A younger student from Xie Yu's village, one of this year's freshmen, was crying the hardest of all, because one of the subjects on the diagnostic exams was her weakest: math.
She couldn't help messaging Xie Yu to complain: [Has our university always been this sadistic, or is this a recent development? Xiaoyu, don't tell me you had to take diagnostic exams just like us when you first started college?]
Xie Yu gloated: [Nope. We weren't as lucky as you. You're the first class to do it.]
The younger student: [...Even a dog wouldn't want this kind of luck.]
Xie Yu comforted her: [It's okay, relax. You've already registered, anyway. Even if you fail, it's no big deal. They won't make you withdraw.]
The younger student: [But our counselor said that if we do well, we can get four credits without taking the courses!]
Xie Yu: [Then do your best on the exams. Good luck! I'm supporting you in spirit.]
The younger student didn't reply for a long time. Just as Xie Yu thought the conversation was over, another message came: [I remember now. My mom said you have some kind of really effective talisman tube blind box. How about selling me one? Spirits of heaven, spirits of earth, talisman tube blind box, show your power and bless me with a high score on these diagnostic exams...]
Although Xie Yu wanted to earn some spending money by selling talisman tube blind boxes, she also knew exams were extremely important to students, and not something to joke about in the slightest. Before selling one, she very seriously warned the younger student: [It's just a little novelty for fun. It has no mysterious powers whatsoever. If you want to buy one to play with, that's fine, but if you're pinning your hopes of passing the exams on this talisman tube blind box, I'd advise you to save your money. I have a whole pile of them here, and I'm still staying up working on my graduation thesis until my hair falls out!]
The younger student was frank as well: [Don't worry. I'm only after a little peace of mind.]
With that assurance, Xie Yu said no more. Passing the younger student's dorm that evening, she dropped off the talisman tube blind box.
Of course, Xie Yu had a little private agenda of her own. She also wanted to see whether the talisman tube blind boxes really had something supernatural about them, as Xu Tingting claimed.
So a few days later, once the freshmen had finished their exams, Xie Yu contacted the younger student and asked how they had gone.
The younger student said, "The diagnostic exams? I did so-so. I passed, but there's definitely no hope of getting the credits."
Xie Yu gave an "Oh," feeling that it was just as she had expected. "See? I told you that talisman tube blind box wasn't much use. You still have to rely on your own hard work for exams..."
But the younger student said delightedly, "I took the talisman tube blind box into the exam room that day, and a boy struck up a conversation with me, asking what it was. We added each other on WeChat afterward, and now we're really hitting it off. Xiaoyu, do you think it's possible that this thing actually is pretty effective, only not for exams, but for something else-like attracting romance?"
Xie Yu: "..."