Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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A few days later, Xie Lingya went to the city hospital again. His hand had not yet fully recovered, but it was not because he did not trust Hai Guanchao and went to another place. It was because Song Jing had been pregnant for ten months and her due date had arrived, so she went to the city hospital to give birth.
Because Baoyang Temple was crowded now, and for convenience, Father Xie stayed in the hospital to accompany the patient.
When Father Xie first came, Xie Lingya went over to take care of things. And after the baby was born, he went to visit again. He and Song Jing had a distant relationship. It was only after Song Jing became pregnant that they began to interact more often, such as sending talismans to the other, but they were not very close.
Song Jing gave birth to a girl. Father Xie loved her very much because he had a daughter at his age. When Xie Lingya came to see her, the child’s eyes were not open yet, and she looked like a kitten who had just finished feeding.
Father Xie named his daughter Xie Lingsi, similar to Xie Lingya.
Xie Lingya was quite fond of his sister, but he pushed her away because his hands were inconvenient.
“What’s so difficult about holding her? Just try it.” Father Xie wanted him to be closer to his sister, so he taught him how to hold her.
Xie Lingya held his sister in one hand, looked down at her pink mouth which was slightly open, as she smacked her lips a few times, and thought her face was round and very cute.
Father Xie even took a photo before taking the baby back. After all, it was his second time being a father, and although it had been a long time, he quickly got back into the habit and was very skilled in holding the baby.
There was a shortage of beds in the city hospital, so Song Jing was unable to stay in a single room. There were two other women in labor in the ward who had been giving birth for several days. They had also become familiar with the pregnant woman who lived next door these days. One of them would come here for a walk, and her mother-in-law would also hold her child. They would chat together and praise the Xie family’s child for being well-behaved. Their child loved to cry on the day he was born and was hard to be coaxed. It was foreseeable how much trouble the parents would suffer in the future.
Everyone in the ward said that it was such a coincidence that there were three newborns in their ward and not a single one was crying. They were easy to coax and didn’t cause much trouble for their mothers, so all three families felt relieved.
Father Xie was still frightened, “Come to think of it, Xie Lingya loved to cry when he was a child, and he cried day and night. Later, your uncle gave you… that thing, and then he got better.”
Xie Lingya also knew that he didn’t have many memories, but he had heard from adults that children’s heads were not covered when they were young, and their spirituality still existed. What’s more, Xie Lingya had a strong sense of perception and was easily frightened. It was Wang Yuji who chanted spells and drew talismans for him to get better.
“How did it get better?” the family asked curiously.
“It’s the Night Crying Talisman.” Father Xie said. He didn’t know whether others would believe it.
But they didn’t really mind and asked Father Xie if he had any way to get it. Talismans like those for night crying had always been very popular. Even when Xie Lingya was a child, you could still see the most common method of curing children’s night crying, which was to stick red paper on the wall with the words “Heaven is great, earth is great, there is a child crying at night in my house. A gentleman passing by recites this talisman three times and he will sleep until dawn.”
However, this method was not actually very effective, it was just simple and many people knew it.
Father Xie glanced at Xie Lingya. He himself didn’t know how to do it. Wang Yuji had gone now, and he didn’t know whether Xie Lingya had learned this lesson.
This was a small matter, so he just helped out. Xie Lingya said, “Have you confirmed whether it is pathological? The child may cry if he is not feeling well.”
There were no crying children in their ward. That was because the children were healthy, and he had given Song Jing a talisman that kept away ghosts and gods.
“The baby is in poor health. He was put in an incubator for two days after he was born and was given medicine,” said the parent.
“That may be because he is not feeling well, which is different from when he was a child.” Xie Lingya said, and seeing their embarrassed looks, he added, “If he is not sick but still cries, use this method: use white wine to dissolve a piece of cinnabar, and then use a piece of yellow paper this big, dip a brush in the cinnabar and write a field character, and recite while writing, ‘Children should not cry at night’, write the field character in cinnabar on the navel… After reciting, stick the yellow paper on the child’s navel.”
Xie Lingya didn’t know which specific night-crying talisman Wang Yuji used when he was a child, but he learned this trick from “Thunder Method”, so it was particularly effective for unscientific night crying.
The family was delighted, wrote it down carefully and thanked him.
There were no secrets among people. Within two days, the family did not use this method, but it spread to other wards. In the following days, several families of pregnant women came here to thank Father Xie because they couldn’t find Xie Lingya. It was said that after using his son’s method, the child’s unexplained night crying improved a lot.
After all, the mother had to breastfeed every two or three hours, and she already didn’t get a good rest at night. It would be very torturous if the baby still made a fuss. This was really a benefit to everyone, and it was much more effective than that “Heaven is great, Earth is great” spell. As for whether this was superstition or not, who cared?
As for Xie Lingya, after he returned, he received a photo sent by Father Xie and on a whim, he posted it on his circle of friends.
In the photo, one of his hands was hanging down, and his sleeve was a little loose, covering all of his fingers. He was holding the child with one hand. Everyone who saw this couldn’t help but make a joke in the comments: Yang Guo[1], what’s wrong with your hand?
Some people even dug out a photo of Xie Lingya holding a crane and said, “He’s really the modern-day Yang Guo, but yours is Brother He!”
“That makes sense, Quanzhen Sect[2] = Baoyang Temple.”
….
It would have been fine if they just posted it on WeChat Moments, but it was also spread to the school.
Not long after, Xie Lingya was about to start school and officially became a first-year graduate student at Quedong College. He did not apply for a graduate student dormitory and continued to live in Baoyang Temple. So that sometimes he could go to school with Shi Changxuan.
Because he graduated from Quedong College for his undergraduate degree, some of his classmates, seniors, and friends were still in school, and he was also a legendary candidate for the postgraduate entrance examination. Although there were many rumors outside, only a few teachers and students still knew about it.
When he walked around during registration, someone who had joined in on the joke on WeChat Moments continued to tease him with a smile, which made others also laugh and say that it was really a bit like that.
The main reason was that there were very few people living in the Taoist temple now, and the information Xie Lingya provided was vague.
“Go to hell.” Xie Lingya cursed with a smile.
It was also interesting when Xie Lingya went to see his mentor. His mentor, Professor Zhu, knew that Xie Lingya was the legendary candidate who vomited blood in the examination room. He was easy to recognize in person after seeing the photo. When he saw that the real person had a soft hand like Yang Guo, he did not expect anything. He was just so scared that he said, “If your hand is broken, go to the hospital quickly! The exam is held once a year, and it’s not that you can’t delay the registration. Don’t force yourself to go to class later. Take leave if you need it!”
Xie Lingya was startled by his movement, and said with a smile, “Professor, my hand was injured some time ago. It has no strength, but it’s not broken. It will recover on its own.”
“I heard that when you were in the examination room, you said that the injury was caused by your bravery in the past, and it’s not a big deal.” In Professor Zhu’s heart, Xie Lingya was like a student who would do anything to go to school. Others might not do such a thing, but he could really do it!
Professor Zhu always advised students to be diligent, but when he saw a student who was overly diligent, his heart still trembled.
Xie Lingya quickly pulled up his sleeves and tried to move his left hand to show him. Only then did Professor Zhu believe that everything was really fine.
However, after this incident, the relationship between teacher and student became closer.
“I heard that you are now starting your own business outside the school?” Professor Zhu asked seriously.
Xie Lingya: “…”
Xie Lingya: “No, it’s not a business, that’s what my uncle left me… It’s not an industry in the ordinary sense, it’s a Taoist temple!”
“I know it’s a Taoist temple, but I didn’t know it was not contracted by you. It seems my information was wrong.” Professor Zhu laughed, “I don’t care what you open, as long as it’s not illegal. I just want to remind you to balance work and study in the future, and don’t tire yourself out.”
He then said a few more words to persuade Xie Lingya to take a rest.
Xie Lingya was almost dizzy. How scared were the teachers when he vomited blood that time? He felt embarrassed after being asked to have a good rest several times.
But the matter here was difficult to explain, so Xie Lingya simply agreed and invited the teacher to come to the Taoist temple for tea when he had time.
….
“Everyone calls me Yang Guo now!” Xie Lingya said as he stood beside the bed.
Shi Changxuan was helping him put on his clothes. It was inconvenient for him to use one hand, so he put his hand into his sleeve and glanced at Xie Lingya, “Not like it.”
“I don’t think so either. I’ve never had a girlfriend!” Xie Lingya was quite proud of it, even though some people usually laughed at him for this.
Shi Changxuan didn’t know what to feel after hearing this.
However, Xie Lingya seemed to be possessed by a ghost and said, “But you look a bit like Xiaolongnu[3].”
Shi Changxuan: “…”
Xie Lingya felt something was wrong after he said that. He had no ill intentions, but there was no guarantee that the other party would not feel disrespected, so he quickly added, “It’s just that you have a similar temperament, there’s nothing else to it. Senior brother, I was wrong.”
It was the first time he called Shi Changxuan senior brother, so he could act cute and get away with it. Shi Changxuan was Wang Yuji’s disciple, so there was no problem in calling him that.
Shi Changxuan was buttoning his shirt. When Xie Lingya said the word “senior brother”, his face was still pure, but his heart suddenly warmed up. He was overwhelmed by impulse and took a step forward.
The two were already very close to each other. Shi Changxuan took another step closer, with one of his foot touching Xie Lingya’s feet. His body was so close that Xie Lingya was startled. Shi Changxuan was a little taller than him. So when he lowered his head slightly, his eyes were actually a little scary.
No, it couldn’t be said to be scary. Xie Lingya was just frightened by being stared at, but he knew that Shi Changxuan had no intention of hurting him. He wanted to move away, but there was a bed behind him and Shi Changxuan still had one hand on his clothes.
Xie Lingya: “…Not alike at all, not alike at all, okay?”
But Shi Changxuan still didn’t let him go. Xie Lingya thought of the previous two strange things, and something in his mind was about to come out.
Shi Changxuan moved closer and placed one hand on Xie Lingya’s chin.
Xie Lingya could usually speak sweet words, but at this moment he stammered for a long time, feeling a little embarrassed to be looked at. With confused thoughts he called out again: “Senior Brother…”
Shi Changxuan was weighing the pros and cons. It would be fine if he didn’t call him that, or he could have wiggled around by calling him something else, but these two words seemed to weigh heavily on Shi Changxuan’s mind.
Shi Changxuan couldn’t help himself any longer and lowered his head to kiss him on the lips.
Xie Lingya watched Shi Changxuan’s movements. Shi Changxuan’s movements were not fast, but as a straight man, he was still thinking until Shi Changxuan’s lips were only one centimeter away from his, maybe Shi Changxuan was going to do something else. No, he definitely won’t hide.
When the tips of their noses rubbed against each other and the touch of their lips became clearly felt, Xie Lingya’s eyes went dark. It turns out that the two words that were about to come out of my mind were: it’s the end.
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[1] Yang Guo, courtesy name Gaizhi, is the fictional protagonist of the wuxia novel The Return of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong. In a dramatic twist of events in the story, Guo Jing’s daughter Guo Fu attacks Yang Guo in a heated argument and slices off his right arm with a sword.
[2] Yang Guo was a member of this sect in the above novel.
[3] Yang Guo’s girlfriend in the novel.