Don’t Be a Kept Man

Chapter 89: The Almighty System Comes with a No Nonsense Attitude

 

When he left the police station after completing the paperwork for the police report, it was already midnight.
Cold wind was blowing in his neck and Yan Yu couldn’t help but tighten up his collar.
He walked to the bus stop by the road, and while he waited, he took out a cigarette and a lighter.
Two little flames lit up in the darkness of the night, shadowing the man’s pale, almost white to the point of illness, handsome face with a demonic aura.

The sound of quick footsteps rang out behind him, and it was coming closer and closer.
He hadn’t even been able to take one inhale from his cigarette before it was smacked away by someone, and right after, he suffered the same treatment, with a slap to his face that rang out very clearly.

“PAH”, a direct smack, and his face turned to the side from the force.
Nearby pedestrians looked over at the sound.
Seeing that it was a long haired woman who raised her hand, they assumed that it was only a couple getting into a fight.

“Yan Yu! You piece of dogshit x! Are you even human!”

Tang Ying cried out so hard veins could be seen popping faintly from her forehead.
With reddened eyes, she grabbed onto Yan Yu’s collar in a deathly grip and aggressively screamed her heart out at him, 

“From beginning to end, you played Xun Chuan as a fool.
Played him for his money, lied to him in feelings, and once you saw that he had no more use, you kicked him aside.
Has your conscience been eaten up by a dog? You don’t like him and yet you still fooled around with him.
What a cold day it must have been, and you lied to him to make him wait out in the snow for an entire night.
If it wasn’t for you…… if it wasn’t for you……”

Tang Ying couldn’t say anymore and slowly slid down with her back hunched.
Her hands that had grabbed on so tightly to Yan Yu were also slowly loosening, and she crouched on the ground, crying in uncontrollable despair.

Five days ago, X City’s local police had found a nameless male body in some alleyway.
The time of death was at first estimated to be about three days or more, and after examination, the body was found to have been stabbed multiple times with the throat slashed open.
Because the temperature was freezing cold and the area was quite desolate, quite a few days passed before the body had even been discovered.
The murderer had already been caught, and the first initial assessment was that he had a bit of a mental illness and his motive was robbery.

Yan Yu stomped on the cigarette that had fallen onto the ground, and he looked down at Tang Ying, 

“I said I wouldn’t go.
It was him who decided he had to wait.”

Tang Ying immediately stood back up at those words, so angry she was shaking visibly and she screamed out, 

“If you weren’t going, why did you send him a message to make him wait for you?! Yan Yu you are a piece of shit! Fuck you motherfucking scumbag!”

Yan Yu’s brows furrowed slightly when he heard the first part of her words, but he smiled at the words after, 

“You want to fuck my mom? Go ahead.”

The bus just reached the bus stop then and before Tang Ying could even react to his words, Yan Yu had already hopped onto the bus.
Taking a seat near the window which was covered in a layer of faint mist due to the freezing cold temperature, Yan Yu swiped at the window with his fingertips and before his eyes, the police station disappeared in a flash.

 

Yan Yu was the walking definition of a scumbag: no proper job, lots of free time and no proper aspirations.
When he was young, his father had died quite early in his life, and his mother threw him aside to remarry.
Before he was twelve, he had been living with his grandfather from his mother’s side in the countryside as a Shen Gun1, a charlatan of a fortune teller, not even attending any sort of schooling.

There was one year when that woman came back.

Yan Yu’s mother: Ah-Yan, can you read?

Yan Yu: I can draw talismans.

Yan Yu’s mother: Can you recite poetry?

Yan Yu: I can tell fortunes.
Do you want a reading? 5 kuai for one reading.
If it’s not true, I won’t take your money.

And then that woman left, never to appear again.

 

His maternal grandfather did find his conscience however, and he did not let Yan Yu continue down this path.
He took out all the money he had saved up for his grave2 to send him to school.
Unfortunately, he had already become twisted and rotten, and no one could pull him back anymore.
Not only was he firmly entrenched in terrible behaviours, he was also a homosexual.

Yan Yu was not the best in anything, but he had quite a few peach blossoms, quite a few people who wanted to chase him3.
Xun Chuan, this wealthy young man, was one of them.
He was arrogant, cold and prideful, yet he was willing to bend over backwards and kneel for Yan Yu. 

When he wanted money, he was given money.
Whatever he wanted, it would be given to him.
Just like Tang Ying said, being played and led around in circles like a fool.

Others were up to their eyeballs in jealousy, as even though Xun Chuan had a bit of a bad temper, his face and body were top notch and he even had money.
It was not a loss for Yan Yu at all.

The public bus was a bumpy ride, shaking and vibrating from side to side, as groups of people came in and groups of people left.
Waves of cold air came into the bus as the door opened and closed, freezing people up to their heads.
Yan Yu however did not feel anything and instead closed his eyes to rest.
He napped a little, and as he did, the young girl across from him gained some confidence to sneak looks at him, and she couldn’t help but blush up to her cheeks the more she looked.

The last time Yan Yu saw Xun Chuan, the two of them were fighting to break up……

He would never go find Xun Chuan out of his own volition, but if he did, it must be because he had no more money.
He had already forgotten how many times they would arrange to meet up at the hotel and end up simply tossing their clothes onto the floor. 

With his face all pale white, Xun Chuan had clumsily and shakily gotten out of bed, grabbing his fallen pieces of clothing on his way to the bathroom.

Yan Yu had lain on the bed as he lit up a cigarette, silently looking at Xun Chuan’s thin back.
He puffed up a ring of smoke before he said, 

“I’m out of money.
Lend me twenty thousand yuan.”

Xun Chuan had paused in his footsteps then and turned his head back around to look at him emotionlessly.
His facial features were sharp and distinct, quite a beauty under the lighting in the room.
He had mockingly said, 

“Sh, I had already guessed it.
You would never come find me without needing something.”

Yan Yu hadn’t cared, 

“Yes or no.
No, then we’ll break up.
Don’t waste my time.”

Xun Chuan had not uttered a sound after that and headed towards the bathroom again with his clothes.
After a moment, he opened the door with a shuffle and suddenly rushed over to Yan Yu.
Roughly grabbing a pillow, he began to hit him, 

“You piece of shit scumbag!”

Yan Yu hadn’t returned any blows and let himself be hit.
After Xun Chuan hit him a few times, he had stopped and didn’t move, but his chest was heaving irregularly and his eyes were as clear as black and white, staring at him with a deathly glare.

Seeing no response from him, Yan Yu stood up to dress himself and threw down the words, 

“I’m too lazy to keep pretending.
No money, then we’ll break up.”

He had walked out of the room after that, and he could immediately hear something breaking behind him.
He had not been too shocked internally, as although Xun Chuan put down his pride in front of him, his basis was still that of a wealthy young man, with a terrible temper who believed that he had the world at his fingertips.

The two of them seemed to have broken up just like that, and they didn’t talk to each other for a few days.
On and off, on and off, it seemed to be another part of their normal routine, and it will always inevitably start again with Xun Chuan bowing his head down first and reaching out.
This time was no exception, but Yan Yu seemed to have no more patience and lied that he had left for his hometown.

X City’s economic growth wasn’t ideal, and the conditions were poor everywhere.
No one could have thought that Xun Chuan would believe his words and really go find him.

On that particular night, Xun Chuan had called Yan Yu many times.
He had been persistent and freaking out, as if he was trying to avoid something scary.
Just like a drowning person, he was grabbing tight onto his last saving grace, 

“Yan Yu, Yan Yu, you come over.
Come over and see me.
I will never blow up at you again.
I’m waiting at the station for you.
I’m waiting for you.
Can you come over, please?”

That night, snow was falling heavily and everyone was at home, gathering for New Year’s.
For some reason, Xun Chuan had run away from home, with luggage in hand, crossing thousands of miles all the way to X City.
Yan Yu had been at a bar with his hooligan friends, drinking like no tomorrow.
When he picked up his phone, he had been his normal self, without a heart to care, 

“I won’t go.
Go back to your home.”

Xun Chuan’s voice was cold to the point one could hear him shivering, 

“Yan Yu, I’m waiting here for you.
Come over.
I won’t break up with you.
I’ll wait for you, I’ll wait for you.
I have something really important to tell you……”

It was the first time he had said such words in such a begging tone, and Yan Yu couldn’t help but pause for a moment.

Someone was fooling around in his drunken haze and he bumped into Yan Yu.
Yan Yu’s hand shook from the force, and the call was disconnected.
The one who splashed Yan Yu’s whole body with alcohol, a bald man, laughed out loud, 

“Don’t you like money? Breaking up what? What an easy prime target he is.
What a waste to not keep hooking him.”

Yan Yu: “I’ll hook your fucking mom.”

And then he turned to go to the washroom.
His phone had been left behind, sitting silently on the table, but its screen had kept lighting up without dimming.
Another phone call came, and with it, the ringtone rang out again.
A hand covered in tattoos immediately reached over and grabbed the phone away.

It was on that day that Xun Chuan died.
He had waited for Yan Yu at the station for an entire night, and in the end, he was rewarded by encountering a mugger.
His corpse had been dragged by the murderer into an alley, and his body lay there in the freezing cold, snow covered ground for a few days before finally being discovered by someone.

The sound of the bus reaching the station rang out and Yan Yu suddenly opened his eyes.
He rose up to get out, bringing along with him a breeze of cold air.

Under the dim atmospheric lights of the night club, there was a group of men and women dancing and twisting their bodies on the dance floor.
Following the thunderous noises of rock music, their movements became even more crazed, expelling all the dissatisfaction and pressure they experienced in the day.

Yan Yu navigated the area with the habit and ease of someone who had done this a million times and headed into a private room.
He had just pulled the door open when someone inside saw him and stood up to give a greeting, 

“Ah oh, you aren’t really able to do a reading for real are you? Coming over like you knew we had something planned today.”

Yan Yu’s gaze swept over the group and then found a spot to sit down.
He lightly and casually dismissed it, 

“Oh, I just came from the police station.”

The moment he said that, the whole room quieted down.
After a moment, someone questioned him, 

“…… What crime did you commit?”

Yan Yu patted his pockets, 

“My phone doesn’t have money anymore.
Which one of you bastards touched my phone?”

The group laughed, 

“Even if we touched your phone, we don’t know your account password.
It must be Dong Zi whose hands are always twitching.
He probably touched it when you went to the washroom last time.”

Speaking of the devil, a bald man covered in tattoos came back just then. 

“Quick quick quick, spill it out.
Did you touch Yan Yu’s money? If you did, pass over half.”

Yan Yu smiled at those words, but he didn’t speak up.

The bald man named Dong Zi laughed out loud at that, 

“Hi, who touched your money? Your phone had no money anyway.
That rich guy kept calling you, saying that he will wait for you so I pranked him a bit and sent him a message to let him wait.
Puh ahahahaha he wouldn’t really have waited in the snow for you–“

Before he could finish, a thump sounded on his head and following that, something warm dripped down.
His laughter stuttered then and Dong Zi reached up, eyes following along to a pool of red.

Yan Yu threw away the broken alcohol bottle in his hand and grabbed another one up from the table.
He looked at him calmly ,

“Who let you touch my phone.”

His actions made everyone stop their movements and look over at them strangely, but no one came up to do anything.
All of them were watching the spectacle.

Yan Yu was clearly smiling but Dong Zi was a bit afraid, 

“What what what…… What about it? Weren’t you guys breaking up? I was just pulling a prank, just pulling a prank……pulling a prank……”

Yan Yu smashed another bottle over his head.

“Yes, we were breaking up, but we didn’t break up.”

Glass shards mixed with alcohol were pooling around their feet.

“He’s still mine if I haven’t broken up with him yet.
I can play him but you cannot.
Motherfucker, you dare play with something that is mine, you don’t wish to live do you?!”

When Yan Yu turned vicious, he was like a crazed dog.
Dong Zi gritted his teeth, wanting to return the blows, but Yan Yu just directly kicked him away.
The others watching began to fear that this would get out of control and they all started to pull Yan Yu back.
Seeing the situation turn sour for him, Dong Zi quickly took this chance to run away.

Someone tried to persuade Yan Yu, 

“Ah, he’s just twitchy with his fingers.
Let it go, let it go.
Don’t get angry.”

Yan Yu fought against their hold, but then he suddenly smiled, 

“Why would I be angry.”

And then said, 

“Just pulling a prank.”

And then he took out two sheets of tissue paper, wiped off the sticky residue of blood on his hand and left the room.
The group inside thought that Dong Zi had probably run very far away by now, so they didn’t stop him.

Winter had just passed by very recently, so the pedestrians on the streets were still wearing their thick padded outer clothing.
Yan Yu followed the road, heading home as usual.
Yet as he reached the stairway entrance, he could hear his landlord knocking.

Yan Yu used the gaps in the railing to take a quick peek and found that she was knocking on his door.
He immediately turned around and left.
He had been living up in the clouds these few days and had almost forgotten that today was the end of the month, the time to hand in his rent.

Yan Yu wasn’t good at studying, and his marks were the lowest of the low.
He was not good at anything and the only thing he was good at was pretending to be a Shen Gun, at fortune telling.
But this kind of artistry, this kind of vocation, only looked to be profitable when he returned to the countryside.

He had depended on Xun Chuan before for all his expenses and now that Xun Chuan was dead, he had no more financial support.

He would need to find a new meal ticket today.

Yan Yu waited until early morning before heading back home.
Once he arrived, he took a quick shower before laying on his bed, but he had no desire to sleep.
His heart was bothered by something, and he thought about it for a long while before rationalizing that it might be because he was poor.

His apartment building was very old, but the rent was very cheap.
The only one disadvantage was that the soundproofing between the walls was terrible.
Every time someone walked up the stairway, he could hear each and every step very clearly.
But late at night, it was normally very quiet. 

Yan Yu turned off the lights and the room was drenched in a sudden darkness.
Only the curtains by the windows were still swaying slowly.

“Dong…… Dong…… Dong……”

When every inhabitant of the building was deep asleep, footsteps suddenly rang out in the stairway.
As if that person was very very sick, the sound was slow, dragging and heavy.
With only a door in between, that sound sounded like it was coming closer and closer.

Yan Yu was a light sleeper and he immediately woke up.
He closed his eyes, and like all other times before, silently waited for the other’s movements to stop.

“Si…… Si…… Si……”

Quietly listening for a bit, Yan Yu suddenly realized that the footsteps seemed to be accompanied by the sound of clothes dragging on the ground.
The echoes were in a rhythm, ringing out twice and then a moment of something heavy dragging across the floor, as if that person was not walking, but instead……

Slowly, one bit at a time, crawling up.

“Si…….”

The sound of clothes dragging on the floor slowly rang out again, but this time, it was crystal clear.
Yan Yu could feel that the person had already walked to the front of his door.
He silently waited for the other to pass and walk up the stairs, so he could go back to sleep.
Yet as he kept waiting and waiting, there was no sound of movement at all.

That person seemed to have stopped in front of his door.

The night suddenly brushed over a night breeze, leading the windows to sound out a wailing noise, as if someone was quietly crying.
Because of this sudden wind, the clothes pins pinning down the clothes hanging on the clotheslines were going crazy against the glass window, hurried and quick, as if swearing that they would not be satisfied until they broke through the window.

They better not break it as he would have no money to pay for repairs.

Yan Yu quietly cursed as he could only rise up from his bed to turn on the lights and walk over to the window to pull the clothes back.
Yet curiously enough, as he opened the window, that wind suddenly stopped and it was quiet again.
No sound or sight of its previous sudden and crazed movements.

The night was very dark, without a single star in sight.
Yan Yu raised his eyes just then and coincidentally found that there was another floor in the building across that was still lit up, as if it was in the stairway of the building.
He was just moving his eyes away when he glimpsed someone standing behind the corridor window.

As it was quite far away, he couldn’t see the face very clearly, but he could make out something like a blurred out shadow.

That shadow seemed to feel Yan Yu’s eyes on it and from far away, it hooked his fingers at him.

Hooking his fingers at him, not waving, as if that person wanted him to head over.

Yan Yu ignored it, and he went to close the window.
But who could have thought that just at that moment, his waist suddenly felt a strong force, as if he was ruthlessly pushed, and half his body was forced out of the window.

“FUCK FUCK FUCK—-!”

This was the fucking seventh floor! Yan Yu broke out in a cold sweat.
His entire weight was concentrated downwards and his hands were waving wildly in the air, but for some reason, he still had not fallen down.
He could only reach out blindly in this state of panic in the middle of the open air and keep that position.

At this time, that shadow across hooked his fingers at him again, looking as if it very urgently wanted Yan Yu to go over.

Yan Yu was panicking so much he was going out of his mind, 

“Fuck fuck me I’m motherfucking scared of heights ahhh ahhh!”

His hands were floundering even more wildly and somehow in this state of panic he was able to grab the windowsill.
The moment he realized that, he quickly used it to pull his body back, and then with a bang, closed the window.

Yan Yu was still in a state of shock and he forced himself to walk away from the window.
But only two steps later, he couldn’t handle it anymore, and his legs weakened, sending his entire person to the floor.

He powerlessly laid on the floor, with sweat dripping down and his calves locking up from the overwhelming anxiety.
Hugging his legs, Yan Yu then curled up into a ball and his eyes just happened to glance over, facing right at the gap under the door—-

Somehow, sometime ago, blood had pooled there, looking so red it could burn his eyes.
And it was slowly flowing towards him.
At the same time, the sound of quickened breathing seemed to come from outside, raspy and broken, as if the person’s throat was being squeezed.

“I……”

“am waiting for you……”

“…..I …… am waiting……”

“waiting…… for you……”

Accompanying the broken sounds of breathing, these words were repeated over and over, over and over.

Yan Yu could see with his eyes, that fresh red blood flowing to his hands, and yet he couldn’t move.
His screams were up to his throat, but he couldn’t scream at all.
He could only widen his eyes, watching as the blood slowly entrenched him from his fingers to his whole body.

“AHH AHHH AHH AHH!!!!”

Yan Yu jerked up strongly from his bed, and his eyes were burning with pain when he opened them, facing directly towards the sun in the window.
He blanked out for a moment before checking over his body.
He then took a look outside the window.
The clothes were still hanging as they were last night on the clothesline, shining white from the burning sunlight.

 

So it was just a dream……

Yan Yu held his hand over his heart as he breathed out.
He had a light Ba-Zi4; when he was born, his body was already weak, so he all too easily attracted ghosts.
Yesterday night, it was possibly a “yin” day5, and nightmares had rushed to plague him.

Xun Chuan’s case had already been solved, and everything else afterwards would be arranged by his younger cousin, Tang Ying.
His “parents” only showed their faces when the police came to take identification and then never appeared again.

These few days, it had always been cloudy; the sky was filled with this dark murkiness, increasing the anxiety in people’s hearts.
When Tang Ying went to the police station to receive the belongings of Xun Chuan, her entire being was tired beyond belief.
Waiting at a traffic light as she drove her car, her eyes fell upon a coffee shop by the road and she couldn’t help but freeze up slightly.

“I normally like to read, and sometimes I can even stay at the library for an entire day.
Some friends say my personality is too boring……”

A young man was sitting across from Yan Yu and he was just describing himself nonstop.
The coffee on the table was still emitting steam, and the fresh flower in the vase still had dew on it.
Yan Yu gave a tiny yawn, and he was about to say something when a shadow fell upon his head.

Looking up, he was greeted by the sight of Tang Ying.

Yan Yu didn’t mind that she slapped him yesterday and greeted her pleasantly, 

“What a coincidence.
Where did you come from?”

Tang Ying coldly laughed in response, 

“From the funeral parlor.
What.
Do you want to take a spin?”

Yan Yu raised his eyebrows and didn’t reply.

Tang Ying looked over at the young man across from him, 

“Friend?”

Yan Yu replied, 

“Blind date.
Can’t you tell?”

If they were not in public, Tang Ying would throw another slap at him.
She gritted her teeth so hard a grinding sound could be heard.
Her face turned pale white as she asked Yan Yu, 

“How long has it been since Xun Chuan died that you couldn’t wait anymore?”

Yan Yu thought to himself that he could wait, but his rent could not.

Seeing him emotionless to her words, Tang Ying suddenly took a deep breath and pushed down her tears, 

“After we bumped into each other the other day, there are some things Xun Chuan had left for you.
If you want it, then come get it.
I don’t really care if you do or not.”

And then as if she didn’t want to see these two pieces of shit together before her eyes, she walked away in her high heels.

Yan Yu was spacing out a bit, and the man across from him forcefully coughed a few times and finally caught his attention.

Yan Yu came back to earth, 

“What is it?”

The man slightly shook his head, 

“Nothing much.
Just a bit of a cold.”

Yan Yu: “Do you want me to help you contact a funeral parlor?”

The man paused in shock, 

“……?!!”

Yan Yu quickly came back to his senses and flapped his mouth to say, 

“Ah no, I meant to say that if there was a need, you could go see a doctor.”

Hearing this, the man’s face finally turned a bit better.
The two of them conversed for a while before the man took a hundred yuan out of his pocket, 

“Sorry.
I’ve been a bit tight on money recently, and although this amount of money doesn’t mean much, you can count it as my intention.”

Yan Yu smiled, 

“I understand.
You just came back into the country from your vacation last month, so you have spent quite a bit of your money.
I can understand.”

The man’s face froze up.

Yan Yu didn’t show any dissatisfaction, as no matter how small mosquitoes were, they were still meat.
And yet just as he reached out to take the money, a sudden electric shock passed through his entire body and an electronic voice rang out in his head.

[ Ding! ]

[ Hello my dear host.
This action is defying the system rules, and this is the first warning.
The second warning will be more serious, and the third time will directly cut your life points.
Everyone’s life is hard to come by, so please treasure it.
]

[ The galaxy’s strongest self-sufficient system has started.
Our rule is to be self-sufficient and self-reliant, denying all instances to be a kept man.
My dear, using your own hands and hard work to exchange for the fruits of your effort is the sweetest of them all! Let us harden up!!! ]

Yan Yu: ……

Notes:

Hello Galactic Judges! We are back 。ヾ(｡>ｖ<｡)ﾉﾞ。 A bit of surreal experience given the long break we had, and I hope everyone had a great two months.
I didn’t quite get a traditional break, but having a few things off my plate for a bit has been a great mental relief.
So thank you very much for bearing with me!

Anyway, here’s the traditional long footnote section (lol) I usually do for the start of a volume, and the first part is inevitably about the chapter release schedule, which will be changing from previously, just due to a multiple of factors, that ultimately are causing a bit of a setback in terms of what I want(ed) to achieve and making me need to prioritize certain things over others.
And as much as I wish otherwise, there are some things I have come to realize that I will need to compromise on, for the sake of my sanity (and health).

So, in terms of chapter releases, it will be Monday and Thursday around the same time that Plum usually helps upload for me (we’ll also add that as the timezone for Anytime on Earth, as I realize there are readers all over the world! (≧∀≦) a bit crazy for me to think about).
Not quite one chapter a week yet (which I honestly hope doesn’t come around to that and instead goes up, as for one, I did plan (and aiming desperately for) to finish this novel translation by the end of the year… well, hopefully…) In any case, I’m hoping this schedule will give me a breather, and not go as… crazy as it did when I was translating Volume 3 (and also give Plum a bit of time to edit/proofread, at least more than 24 hrs..).
I hope you will continue to be along with me on the ride!

Thank you for those have been giving me so many words of encouragement and support (and to all readers, really! I don’t think I say enough that you all are a great motivational boost to continue).
During my break, I did try to answer most of the comments as they came, but still once again, thank you so much for all the interest, taking me on as a fledging translator and giving me so many warm fuzzy feelings on this journey so far! I hope you all will enjoy this volume (and the rest as well).
And I guess just one more thing before I end this:

As a general note/warning, as you may have already gathered from the warning up top (or all the things I said before in comments especially in Volume 3), this is a volume revolving around the themes of death and supernatural things around that, so very blanket warning that there may be descriptions of blood, death, etc.
for future chapters.

In regards to the footnotes, please do note (as also with all my other footnotes, but especially for this volume), all of them will be very likely be generalized as this topic/theme/genre encompasses a lot of things and it would be impossible to explain everything briefly.
Especially if you have some sort of knowledge, as this does pertain to mythology, legends, folktales, which you may have your own understanding of these from your own culture/experience/history and which may bear similarities (I mostly grabbed the more “commonly” known concept/understanding, but let me know if you know a different variation! It’s been very interesting to know how some customs/traditions are so different from my family on some things when I was researching).

(Also what a surprise it also was with the terminology and research for that in this particular volume.
Never thought supernatural genres would require me spending more time to faintly grasp at a relative understanding as weirdly enough, I understand it (or had an understanding of the concept beforehand), but it has been so hard to put an “english” concept on the ideas.
It’s been interesting, is what I will say)

Well, after that lengthy (and a bit disjointed) part, I do hope you enjoy this volume, as it’s a bit different (especially compared to Volume 3), but know that this is QT and it’s romance!! There will be romance!! Also I’m having a bit of a fun keeping the volume description of the “bottom” a secret until it’s revealed, but it probably will be updated pretty soon  See you all Galactic Judges on May 6!

Edit: Whoopsies! Missed this description up top.
All fixed now 

 

Footnotes

 

*1 Shen Gun: This is like… shaman? But usually in reference to someone acting as a shaman as a scam.
It references to doing activities related to the supernatural or the belief in mythology/spirits, and has a negative connotation, in that it’s a sham, doing things with reasons as it’s spiritual or of higher power beings and lying to people who would usually pay money to get rid of “bad” spirits/ghosts, etc.
There are other meanings, but when it’s referenced, it mostly means someone pretending to be like the occupation of a priest or shaman and is doing something for you like predicting your love life, money, future or removing “bad” spirits/ghosts but are considered by most people as liars.

 

*2 As reference to “grave money”, it’s literally the money to buy a grave/coffin, but since its conception, it’s taken on the meaning of all the life savings of someone, as there is no money to save when you die, and that money would be used for your grave/coffin, kind of your last savings to be used in life, something you would also use to support yourself when you grow old.

 

*3 peach blossom: Has many connotations, but the most well known one is the term related to fortune telling (asian/Chinese fortune telling vs western with the tarot cards, star signs, etc).
In this case, it means many love interests or like the last half of the sentence I added there, a lot of people who were interested in him.

*4 Ba-zi: literally means “eight characters/words” but it really refers to a person’s birth year, month, day, and hour, which added together consists of only 8 characters, hence, “ba” “zi”(and these are based on the Chinese calendar/time so they are a bit different than using the Gregorian calendar).
These mean a lot in the culture, although a little bit less now, but it was/is used to determine your life, work, love, children, future, etc, so also in the branch of fortune telling, which I guess you may be able to find similarity to astrology/horoscopes? 

In this case, when he says that his “Ba-Zi” is light, it usually means that his year, month, date and time added together is not a high number.
And from this fortune telling branch, it means that they don’t have good luck, they will usually have a life full of suffering and obstacles, like someone with an unhealthy body (but it doesn’t necessarily mean they will die young, that also depends on the luck of the person and their life route which is based on other factors like the sky, ground, etc.
(kind of feng shui) of their location). 

 

These types of people are also said to be able to see things others wouldn’t such as ghosts or something not “pure” (basically supernatural things) or that they have more “yin” energy (from yin yang) which cause them to suffer more and experience more sleep paralysis (which is called “ghost pressure bed” if translated literally from Chinese).
And it is said that if they see too much of these “unpure” or “evil” things, they take damage to their bodies, but you can change this kind of “lightness” in your ba-zi depending on the circumstances of your Ba-Zi like changing your name or your job or where you live, etc.)

*5 Yin day: Calculated by the Chinese calendar based on odd/even numbers and time, and some other factors, but usually means a day of bad luck, with more “yin” energy… which is like unpure or more “evil” energy, kind of attracting “bad” supernatural things or a day when they are more “reachable”? I guess something that might be close to this is like Halloween, the day of the dead, that sort of thing.
(this does mean that there is also “yang” day, which is a day bursting with “yang” energy that make it more warm and “human”, if that makes sense?)