Book 1: Loss of Direction

Mudpool Backlane was not a street; it was an area made up of a maze of tiny alleys and lanes that were as uneven as a dog's teeth. Originally, it was called "Little Pool," the reason being the ground in this area was low-lying so once it rained, water would collect there. The corners of the walls at the side of the streets were all covered with slippery moss and sometimes, there would even be a bit of the fishy and stale smell of condensation damp.

In the past, this was a place where hoodlums gathered. People from burglary rings, swindling rings, child traffickers… There were all sorts and the variety was endless. Rumour had it that the police had even once, in the middle of the night, extracted a group of cross-province murderers from this place. All the locals knew to make a detour around this area. Hence, Little Pool gained the nickname of "Mudpool."

Yet, fifteen years had gone by. Smartphones were already widespread and IC payphones had left the stage of history. Mudpool, the well-known "hoodlums' nest," also became much "clearer" after repeated crackdowns.

Of the arrogant and uncontrollable old hoodlums from those times, some had died, some had made their fortune, some had fled far away, and some had gone to sing Prison Tears^[1].

There were also some who survived to middle age and had looked around them in confusion, their hands empty without a thing to their name, and hence, kept their heads down and lived a normal life.

The current Mudpool Backlane was still disorderly. Illegal peddlers set up their stalls wherever they wished and there were occasional cases of drunken brawling but on the whole, it was still very peaceful. Once it was summer, after six in the evening every day, this place would turn into an open-air skewers district. Chili peppers and cumin danced in the air where they were carried by the wind, the jianghu united by the thirteen spices, the smoke and fire of everyday life that tasted of "harmony brings prosperity" rising to the fore.

A glass door kept out the smell of mala^[2] crayfish from next door. The fifteen-year old teenager, Liu Zhongqi, sat crookedly on a plastic chair, his back to the glass door. He was holding up his phone and posting a question on a forum: What should a person do if they have a dumb girlfriend who uses 'Guide to Astrology' as their life principle?

Very quickly, someone bored online answered him: I don't know. I don't have a girlfriend, I only have a pair of old parents who eat supplements like eating rice. Why don't we switch?

Liu Zhongqi put down his phone. Tiny wisps of irritation were emitting from his every orifice. His girlfriend, Bai Yue, had already been chatting with the tiny accessories shop's "astrologer" for ten minutes.

"Someone who doesn't understand might think that you don't pay attention to the tiny details and that you don't think of anything but that's not the case. There's a part of you that's very driven. Once you're serious, you will have a prideful sense of 'Either I don't do it at all or I do it well.'" The so-called "astrologer" was actually just a female swindler who deceived others. Her voice had a trace of a smoker's rasp and a not overly exaggerated Gang-Tai^[2] accent. Her voice seemed to hang in the air without falling to the ground, and sounded mysterious to the ear. "You are a girl born under the protection of the first of the zodiacs. I see a bright flame burning in your chest."

This line shocked Liu Zhongqi into trembling. He thought. Miss Charlatan, are you thinking of eating grilled chicken hearts?

"This flame is your most fundamental source of energy." The astrologer pointed at Bai Yue's chest and added, "But fire is not easy to control. If it burns too fiercely, a person could easily become impatient and impetuous, and act carelessly without thought. When it comes to relationships with others, there are times when you are overly straightforward and speak without thinking, and you frequently regret saying the wrong things when you think about it later, am I right?"

"Yes, yes, yes, I'm a rather direct person!" Bai Yue said.

Liu Zhongqi rolled his eyes. Just you wait. The next step is she'll get you to buy something.

The astrologer started to bait the ignorant girl. "Then, have you ever thought of changing yourself?"

Liu Zhongqi thought, Here it comes!

"I have!" Bai Yue, this female schoolmate of his whose brain had failed to evolve, not only took the bait but even swallowed the lure. "Do you think I should buy a birthstone set, including the bracelet and the necklace? Would it help?"

Liu Zhongqi, "..."

The fools of the current era were unexpectedly gullible to this extent!

Liu Zhongqi was a student of No. 3 High School in the city. It was currently the summer holidays. When school started, he would enter Year 2 of senior high. No. 3 and Mudpool Backlane were in the same administrative district and were barely three kilometers apart. It took less than twenty minutes to cycle over.

To the good children of this key high school, Mudpool was a place that the school and their parents repeatedly forbade them from going to. Hence, this became the sightseeing spot where they sought excitement. Coming here once in a while, eating a kilogram of crayfish, gaming for a bit at an underground internet cafe or buying a couple of pirated books—with that, they would feel as though they had gotten a taste of the underworld. With the help of this little rebellion that was unique to the adolescent phase, they released some of their academic pressure.

Liu Zhongqi had been dragged out by his girlfriend to "go on an adventure."

The two of them had first been thoroughly smoked by the smoky and hazy air at an internet cafe. Then, the street of open-air skewer stalls made them choke until their nostrils were blackened. When their hearts and lungs had suffered enough damage, they unexpectedly found this accessories shop called Star Dreams.

Not only was this shop not smelly, it even had a bunch of aromatherapy candles burning. The faint light made the accessories that had been obtained wholesale from who-knew-where looked like they were worth something and there was even an "astrologer" dressed up like a bohemian who chatted with them.

With just a few words, the "astrologer" had completely swayed Bai Yue. She wanted to buy this, and wanted to buy that; and not only did she want to be a foolish big spender, she also did not forget her boyfriend. "Liu Zhongqi, your birthday is at the end of August, right? How about I buy something Virgo for you, and we'll have a matching couple set!"

"I'll pass," Liu Zhongqi answered carelessly. "If I'm feeling rash from too much internal heat, I'll just drink some cooling herbal remedy."

Princess Bai Yue immediately became upset. "Why are you such a mood killer?"

Liu Zhongqi crossed his arms over his chest and said with a scoff. "I'm not killing the mood, I'm killing ignorance. Bai Yue my friend, let me analyse the situation for you right here and show how you were deceived. The moment you entered, she knew right away that you were born in April. Why? Because you were leaping in front of that pile of birthstones, pointing at the nonsense for those born in April, and saying 'This is mine' three times in a row."

"How did she know that you're an Aries and not a Taurus? Jiejie, it's because of that Aries hair clip on the top of the head that you don't use."

"How did she describe your personality so accurately? Because there's something called the Barnum Effect^[note], and also because she knew that you believe in astrology. As long as she rattled off the Aries personality traits from Baidu Baike, you would feel that she controls fate in her hands."

"Also, how did she know that you're a straightforward person?" Liu Zhongqi wrapped up his speech with a line that showed off how cool he was. "Because all idiots are like that. It's not hard to guess."

This cool young man, having entered the "young love vanguard" for merely two months, returned in full glory to the ranks of sad singles.

"If you don't go after her, you won't have a girlfriend tomorrow." The swindling astrologer's mental state was very stable. She listened to the entire argument with a smile on her face and wasn't angry even though the sale had gone bust. Slowly, she kept away all the little accessories Bai Yue had taken out to see just now.

Liu Zhongqi glanced at her crossly. "You should worry about your own business."

"Doing business depends on fate. Today was not fated to be," the astrologer said calmly. She passed him a name card. "If you have any difficulties in the future, you can contact me. Scan the code and add me on WeChat."

"Scan the code and add me on WeChat" exposed her a little because it was too mundane. Her Gang-Tai accent was gone.

The staunch materialist Liu Zhongqi was just about to reply with a scathing comment when he heard her unhurriedly add another line. "Regardless of whether you want to seek consultation on academics or relationships, the first three times are free of charge. You can also ask about family relationships, for example… what to do if you have an older brother or sister that you don't get along with."

Liu Zhongqi looked up abruptly. "Do you know me?" he asked warily.

"I don't." The astrologer's eyes curved in a smile. "Aren't you very familiar with my methods? Make a guess, how did I know?"

She was very tall and very fair—but it wasn't the kind of dewy and delicate fairness that beautiful girls had. Instead, it seemed to be the kind of paleness that resulted from not seeing the sun all year round. It emitted a coldness and didn't have much luster. At her temples, a few purplish-blue veins could be seen. She was wearing a long skirt that was completely black, and her long hair covered half her face. She wore extravagant accessories and she looked very thin, as though a gust of wind could blow her up to the sky.

Based solely on her appearance, this woman totally had the looks of someone in the arcane arts. She could be said to be perfectly suited to con others.

She stuffed her name card into Liu Zhongqi's hand and gracefully gave him a slight bow. "I welcome your next visit."

For unknown reasons, Liu Zhongqi accepted the name card. After walking a few meters away from the shop, he felt that there must be something wrong with him but at the same time, he couldn't help holding the name card up for a look.

"Gan… Qing."

Who knew if the name was real or fake.

Liu Zhongqi turned back. The light at the entrance of Star Dreams was already lit up. Dim and tranquil, it had quite a bit of a mysterious air.

Right at that moment, the people in the small alley suddenly started to become agitated. Everyone was pushing and shoving, all of them crowding to the sides of the lane. Liu Zhongqi was pushed by someone into a corner. He looked up angrily and noticed that a wide empty space had been cleared in the middle of the street. At the side, someone was whispering excitedly, "Here they come, here they come."

Immediately after that, there was a loud sound. A few chairs were smashed onto the ground. Four to five young punks burst out of a nearby skewers shop like a tornado, their mouths full of curses and obscenities. With bared teeth and flexed claws, they tangled together in a close brawl. In an instant, only their arms and legs could be seen flying around wildly and no one could tell who was on whose side.

The crowd surrounding them was excited and spirited. One of them wasn't satisfied with just watching the show on the sidelines and even hollered, "Wooo yeahhh— Awesome!"

Liu Zhongqi, "..."

These scums of society!

It was a beautiful day of summer holiday. Yet, instead of staying at home to do a couple more maths papers, he was wandering around this place. There really was something wrong with him!

Impatient and agitated, Liu Zhongqi tried to squeeze his way out. "Excuse me…"

Just when he was about to "escape," an old lady was shoved by someone and fell out of the crowd. The old lady's hair was already completely white and her back was so stooped it was like a cooked prawn and she held a cane in her hand. The people around her seemed to be blind, their eyes all glued to the place where the unruly youths were brawling. No one came to help her up.

She didn't fall gently. The old lady struggled a long while on the ground and still could not stand up. She cried out in anguish and at the same time, reached her hands out towards the nearby Liu Zhongqi to plead for help.

Liu Zhongqi was momentarily stunned. He hurried over to help but right then, a hand grabbed his bare arm.

The hand was so cold it made him shiver a little. The fingers were slender and long, but the second and third fingers seem to have an unnatural curve. He couldn't tell if they had been injured before or if it was just that they were thin. Basically, it made one think of the dried branches extending over a lone tombstone in a desolate area.

Liu Zhongqi turned his head and was astonished to find that the person grabbing him was the swindling astrologer.

The astrologer lowered her voice and dropped her Gang-Tai accent, saying quickly, "Young man, I see a shadow on your Life Palace. Something bad will happen. It's better if you don't meddle in other people's business and hurry home."

What was this—western astrology and traditional face-reading, these two types of nonsense could even overlap?

Liu Zhongqi thought. What the hell?

This modern-day upstanding young man fought free of her hand. Completely ignoring this jianghu swindler, he followed the footsteps of the paragon Senior Lei Feng^[4] and headed towards the old lady.

...Then, very quickly, the young man received a session of "real world re-education."

The topic was: Ignore your elders and misfortune will come free of charge.

The eager-to-help Liu Zhongqi helped up the old lady who had been pushed to the ground and also helped her retrieve her cane. He heard the old lady rap her own waist and say that her house wasn't far away, so Liu Zhongqi immediately supported her by the arm without any misgivings. He escorted her all the way to squeeze out of the rowdy Mudpool Backlane.

By the time he realised something was wrong, the old lady had led him to a deserted blind alley. Three large hoodlums who had been lying in wait surrounded him on all sides.

The old lady who was all pitiful just now plopped down onto the ground, crossed her legs with a domineering attitude, and yelled vigorously, "It's this kid! He was the one who pushed me and broke my leg!"

———

The author has something to say:

[note] The Barnum Effect states that people easily believe that a broad and sweeping personality description is especially tailored to them. Despite the fact that such descriptions are very vague, they still believe that it reflects their innate characteristics, even if they are actually not at all the type of person described — Barnum-Forer.

T/N:

[1] Prison Tears (铁窗泪 "Tie Chuang Lei") - lit. "iron bars tears." This song was composed by Chi Zhiqiang to describe his experience of being in prison. It is from the "prison rock" genre which was popular in the 1980s.

[2] Mala (麻辣) is a hot and numbing flavour made from Sichuan peppercorns, chili peppers and other spices.

[3] Gang-Tai accent (港台腔) - Gangtai refers to popular music artists and songs from Taiwan and Hong Kong. "Gang-Tai accent" is used to describe the way they speak and is generally characterised to be soft and sweet.

[4] Lei Feng (雷锋). From wikipedia: Lei Feng was a soldier in the People's Liberation Army who was the object of several major propaganda campaigns in China. [...] Lei was portrayed as a model citizen, and the masses were encouraged to emulate his selflessness, modesty, and devotion to Mao.