Chinese Almanac Master - Ch. 7

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— CREDITS —

• Translator: Xuan

• Raw provider: Xuan

• QCR/PR: Xuan

• Editor: Xuan

Chinese Almanac Master — Huang Lishi

Chapter 7

Situ Zhang stood at the entrance of the restaurant, smoking and looking out. The restaurant was packed during the Chinese New Year, and the heat from inside had made his face slightly flushed. The aroma of stewed lamb drifted in the air, making people's noses unable to resist its charm. Upstairs, the private room he had reserved was already filled with a group of people who were drinking and making a lot of noise. They were all his friends from different walks of life that he had met in society, from insurance salesmen to long-distance drivers. These people were naturally not very polite and only cared about eating and drinking to their hearts' content. However, Xiao Nanzhu, who had promised to come today, had not shown up yet.

"That bastard...he's fucking with me again."

Through gritted teeth, Situ Zhang muttered to himself. After waiting for more than ten minutes, he took off his sunglasses that he wore throughout the year and his sharp eyes were tinged with anger. At first, he didn't take Xiao Nanzhu's promise seriously, but since the man had promised him once, Situ Zhang reluctantly decided to believe him. However, it turned out that this person clearly had no credibility. Not only did he play him once, but he played him twice. With these thoughts in mind, Situ Zhang's complexion became somewhat unsightly, and he even casually crushed the cigarette butt in his hand. Just as he was about to go back upstairs, not caring about the bastard's life or death, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Oh, are you still waiting outside for me? That's not very polite, is it?"

The careless tone revealed who the bastard was talking, and when Situ Zhang's expression changed, he turned around to see Xiao Nanzhu standing there smiling at him. This person is also in his twenties, but his straight and poplar-like body is not hidden by the thick clothes he wears. He is a beautiful sight just standing on the street. A man with such looks should have had many girlfriends by now, but strangely, in Situ Zhang's impression, Xiao Nanzhu has never had a girlfriend.

With this sudden doubt, Situ Zhang greeted him while thinking deeply. Xiao Nanzhu didn't know what he was thinking, he just obediently followed Situ Zhang and walked into the restaurant, glancing upstairs.

Seeing the messy tables and shouting, Xiao Nanzhu raised his eyebrows, and Situ Zhang noticed his expression and patted his shoulder, feeling a little unsure. Xiao Nanzhu glanced at him but didn't say anything, just hooked his pocket and smiled. After the two walked upstairs together, the group of men drinking and talking at the table unconsciously stopped making noise.

"Oh! Situ, introduce us, huh! This is your childhood friend who hides like a little wife! What's up! Introduce us all haha!! Didn't you come yesterday because you didn't want to eat with us! You're too cold to us!"

The chubby man with gold-rimmed glasses was about thirty-five or six years old. He couldn't finish his words before he laughed out loud. The people around him laughed with him, obviously trying to embarrass someone. Xiao Nanzhu didn't show any emotion and just stood boldly at the table, taking a bottle of white wine with one hand, and pouring a glass for each of these people one by one with his thumb. He also started smoking casually like he knew the place well.

Yesterday something came up and made you all wait for me for a long time. I'm really sorry about that... Brothers, let me make it up to you. How about we start without any formalities and get to work? Shall we go?"

With raised eyebrows and a smirk on his lips, Xiao Nanzhu's appearance exuded a fierce and righteous aura when he wasn't speaking. But when he smiled, there was an indescribable sense of wickedness and unruliness. Coupled with the fact that the cigarette he was smoking was a good one, a Soft Zhonghua, it wasn't easy for anyone to say anything sarcastic. For a moment, the atmosphere was somewhat relieved. Xiao Nanzhu's gentlemanly attitude instantly dissipated the resentment that had been building up in these people who had been waiting for him. Seeing this, Situ Zhang smiled and pushed Xiao Nanzhu towards his seat, pointing at his head.

"Xiao Nanzhu, as I told everyone, he just came out of the army. In the future, we brothers need to take care of him more. If there are any good projects or jobs next year, we'll bring him along. When the job is done, we'll definitely treat everyone to a drink..."

Everyone at the table nodded in agreement, but whether they would actually help or not remained to be seen. Xiao Nanzhu thought this to himself and sat quietly, chatting with these people about various topics. After a few bottles of wine and the main dishes were served, he roughly understood what kind of work Situ Zhang's friends did.

The person who spoke at the beginning is named Cao Chong, a sales manager at a local insurance company. He has excellent communication skills and is a Northerner who loves to joke around. The flat-headed person sitting next to him is Zhao Tiansheng, a long-haul driver who often runs transportation. The slightly younger man next to him is said to be called Li Mao, a small business owner who specializes in architectural decoration. The other three are all foremen brought by Li Mao. These people have good personalities and are used to the ups and downs of society. They are smart and social. The conversation between Xiao Nanzhu and them did not make the atmosphere at the table cold. Instead, those big guys showed some interest in Xiao Nanzhu's experience in the army and kept asking him about it.

Speaking of which, let's talk about Xiao Nanzhu's experience in the army. He joined the military academy almost ten years ago, which is a relatively high starting point compared to the average conscripted soldier. At that time, his grandmother had just passed away, and he had no worries in the world, so he joined the army without hesitation. In the fourth year of his time in the military academy, he was selected to a military base in the north due to his special circumstances. At first, he was beaten by others, but later, as an instructor, he started taking soldiers on missions. Because he was cunning and ruthless, all the soldiers under his command had to endure a lot. If he hadn't broken the leg of a scum with a distinguished family background, he would have continued his repetitive and monotonous military career in the army instead of doing the uninteresting things he was doing now.

Thinking about this, Xiao Nanzhu's eyes became a bit dim and unclear. However, he also knew that the past was the past. After leaving the army, he had no intention of worrying about certain things anymore. So when the group of people in front of him asked him again, he just smiled casually, then squinted his eyes, took a puff of his cigarette, and said, "I was just a cook in the army. There weren't so many messy things. This isn't a movie..."

His words disappointed several big men, and Situ Zhang, who saw the situation, laughed but did not expose Xiao Nanzhu's obvious nonsense. Just then, Cao Chong asked what had delayed Xiao Nanzhu yesterday, and Situ Zhang coughed and tried to help Xiao Nanzhu deflect the conversation. But before he could speak, Xiao Nanzhu replied on his own:

"Oh, it's like this. My house caught on fire, and the gas was burning... It was my own fault, really. My fortune yesterday clashed with fire, but I insisted on lighting a fire at home. You see what happened."

When he spoke, the others unconsciously glanced at him. After all, fortune-telling was already a rather mystical concept. Seeing that Xiao Nanzhu seemed to understand something related to it, and knowing that some of them in their line of work also believed in luck and were a bit superstitious, Li Mao, who worked in construction, spoke up first:

"Oh, Xiao buddy, you know how to read fortunes too? Why don't you give me a reading too?"

"Yeah, Situ, Xiao buddy knows about this too... Doesn't seem like it at his age... Why don't you give us a reading?"

The others chimed in, their expressions somewhat skeptical and mocking. Xiao Nanzhu picked up his glass and glanced at Situ Zhang, a knowing smile on his lips. Situ Zhang, who had been wondering about Xiao Nanzhu's new skill, immediately caught on and didn't bother to think further. He loudly exclaimed: "Well, well, well! Xiao buddy knows fortune-telling too! Why don't you give us a demonstration?"

"Hey! Don't underestimate me! I can testify that I grew up with him since childhood. Their family has always been doing this! Whether it's matchmaking, having children, traveling, or even predicting fortunes, they are all experts at it. Come on, Xiao Nanzhu, show them what you can do..."

When Situ Zhang said this, everyone at the table became a bit skeptical. Xiao Nanzhu looked at them curiously, and with a calm expression, he asked the waiter for a piece of paper and a pen. He pushed his glass and plate aside and picked up the pen, letting the ballpoint pen tip naturally fall on the thin A5 paper.

"It's just a little trick. If you want to see it, I'll show you. Do you want to try it, Li Ge? What do you want me to predict?"

Xiao Nanzhu's words made Li Mao eager to try. The other people at the table were not afraid of trouble and encouraged him to try. After taking a sip of his drink, Li Mao walked over to Xiao Nanzhu and sat down. He rolled up his sleeves and, along with Xiao Nanzhu, held the pen with his hand. Then, he asked with some confusion, "Can you predict my fortune for today? How does this work? Do we just hold the pen together and then what?"

"Oh? Fortune-telling, sure. All you have to do is speak out your birthdate and time loudly, and this thing that hears you... will tell you what it knows."

As Xiao Nanzhu's voice slowed down, the other people around them couldn't help but stretch their necks to see what they were doing. At this moment, the atmosphere in the private room was eerily quiet. Li Mao and Xiao Nanzhu held the ordinary ballpoint pen together and touched its tip to the paper. Then the middle-aged man frowned and said,

"I... was born on June 4th, 1970."

As soon as he finished speaking, the pen tip started to move, not by the force of either of them, but as if there was a third person manipulating the pen. Seeing this, Li Mao widened his eyes and looked at Xiao Nanzhu, who just smiled but didn't speak. The others were confused and thought that Xiao Nanzhu was playing some kind of trick. The pen quickly wrote on the paper and finally stopped. The people saw only one line of round and plump characters.

"Today you will lose money. The money that is meant to be lost."

Cao Chong read out this line of characters, and everyone looked at Li Mao with confusion. Li Mao had been sweating in his palms since earlier, and now he was stunned. He quickly returned the pen to Xiao Nanzhu and exclaimed in surprise, "Brother Xiao, what... what does this mean?"

"The meaning of this sentence, Brother Li, you naturally understand in your heart. This is about your fortune-telling. How would I know?" Xiao Nanzhu squinted his eyes and teased, making Situ Zhang embarrassed and pushing him. Li Mao's face changed when he heard this, but before he could ask the muddle-headed Xiao Nanzhu, he heard his phone ringing in his pocket. When he answered, he heard his company's accountant screaming, "Mr. Li!! It's not good!! Those forty-odd construction workers who haven't been paid have come to our company's door to make trouble!! Four loudspeakers are set up outside the company, and they're shouting that today is a good day!! One of them is even ready to drink Sanlu milk powder and kill himself on the spot!!! Please come and save us!! Σ(っ°Д°;)っ"

Li Mao: "............"

Author's note: Because of personal issues, I have delayed several days of updates... (T_T) I'm sorry... Please forgive me. From today until the end, I promise not to break the update again. Please supervise me. Thank you. Thank you to Yun Xiaoli for the landmine.

Thank you for reading!

[Read the originals on: BSS Blog / NU]