FI CH22: One Wave After Another!

Lin Su’s chopsticks trembled unexpectedly. ?

He turned his head and saw He Zhenling under the lights, his face like a jade mountain. He tapped his fingertips and raised an eyebrow at him.

As if sensing something, he turned to the screen.

The subsequent barrage comments flooded in:
—Master Du is no good, but my new wife is amazing!
—????
—Don’t just call her that, this is a live stream. She’s obviously my wife [rose]

Lin Su, “…”

How could he forget about this part!

And he had only looked away for a second. How on earth did it turn into this?

In front of him, He Zhenling was still looking at him leisurely, a faint hint of amusement in his eyes.

…So the one who hit him with a point-blank ultimate was Xiao He.

Lin Su met his gaze for two seconds, then turned his head slightly. “Don’t just call them that. This is a restaurant booth.”

The waiter, who was just about to come in and serve the dishes, paused in his tracks. …

He Zhenling, “…”

A dish was placed quietly on the table.

The person beside him cast a deep glance his way, then averted his gaze after a moment and continued watching the live stream recording.

Lin Su continued eating with a composed expression.

“Damn it,” he thought, “I knew he was up to no good. What is he yelling in front of everyone for?”

[…Heh heh, but I feel like you’re quite enjoying it.]

He took a bit of the shrimp meat. “Nonsense.”

While he was eating, He Zhenling was watching the video beside him.

The sound came from the phone. He could faintly hear Du Fan trying to save face by saying he had a plan B, and then fumbling around on his own.

Before long, a chaotic clamor indeed broke out.

Mixed in with the sounds of struggle, calls for help, and things being knocked over, a very soft “dong” was suddenly heard. It was like piercing through a ball of mist, transmitted clearly through the screen.

Lin Su, “?”

He turned to the side to look.

The camera had probably been knocked askew, and the frame shifted. It just so happened to show his hand retracting, his fair and slender knuckles holding a black-jade-colored bamboo pen.

The barrage comments were overwhelming at this moment:
—WTF? Did I just hear something?
—I heard it too, a very soft sound. Wasn’t he just tapping on empty air!
—This really shocked me…
—Master Du is saved [looking at the sky]
—Master Du: I’ll behave now, please let me go [laughing cry]

There were also a few routinely indecent comments:
—Ahhhhhhhhhh that hand! Wife’s hands are so beautiful [tears]
—Wife is so awesome! Everything he does is awesome!
—I’m a convert now. I can’t doubt his power just because my wife is too good-looking.

…

Lin Su had only tapped a few times.

The video was stuttering. He Zhenling turned his head. “…What are you poking at?”

“Where’s the like button?”

“…This is a screen recording. It’s nowhere.”

Ah, I forgot. Lin Su regretfully withdrew his hand.

By now, the most exciting part of the farce was over.

He Zhenling also picked up his bowl and chopsticks. Lin Su set the Xuenima on the table and propped his phone up in front of it.

The two watched casually as they ate.

The foreman’s wife was talking about selling the “life-buying money.” A wave of “Ah???” and “…” scrolled across the barrage.
—No wonder the Xuncheng branch didn’t get involved.
—It’s not that they couldn’t, it’s that they didn’t want to…

Many people also asked if the buyer would become a scapegoat too.

Lin Su glanced at it. “Every grievance has its source, every debt its debtor. They won’t become a scapegoat. But by touching something belonging to the dead, if one’s ‘bazi’ is weak, they can easily run into evil.”

The Xuenima held up the phone: [Harm others, harm self.]

He Zhenling ate with a proper posture, his cold face also showing no pity.

Only when he heard the phrase “dead husband” did his brow twitch slightly.

A few seconds later, in the video, Lin Su suddenly spoke: “If I return the life-buying money to you, would you be willing?”

The barrage seemed to freeze for two seconds:
—………Ah???
—No exaggeration, I just got goosebumps all over.
—Is he talking directly to the ghost? Is he a spirit medium?
—A master. I’m truly kneeling…

At the table, Lin Su said to He Zhenling, “He’s not willing.”

He Zhenling was not surprised. “It was hard-won, after all.” He paused, putting down his chopsticks. “…Don’t tear off the chicken skin and leave it on the plate. I’ve eaten several pieces.”

Lin Su also paused. “…I was wondering why the plate was getting cleaner and cleaner.”

The person next to him let out a cold snort and pushed the chicken skin aside.

…

The screen recording was nearing its end.

Lin Su had eaten first, so he was finished by now. He held a cup of hot tea and leisurely watched the ending.

His “gold card” had made a big splash.

Because a few peers had appeared to explain things, the barrage began to uniformly spam “Master”… interspersed with a few creative “Master Wifey”s.

Lin Su chose to strategically skip over those.

In the video, he was already out of the frame, only the sound of his dialogue could be heard: “That’s Xiao He…”

The person next to him stopped his movements and turned his head.

His gaze seemed to linger on him.

Lin Su kept his eyes straight ahead, pretending nothing had happened and continued watching the video. The next second, he heard Ge Lili’s cry of surprise.

Then the camera inside the room followed Du Fan out.

The frame turned from behind the door, and a pair of firm, slender legs came into view, moving up to a narrow waist with a Tang knife, and finally stopping at a high-collared neck and a sliver of a jaw.
—WTF!? Who???
—That figure, those legs! That waist!
—A Tang knife! No one can refuse a man who wields a Tang knife…!

Following Du Fan’s shocked utterance of “Surveillance Association,” the camera abruptly pulled back and the screen went black.

On the dark screen, only a large swath of barrage comments scrolled past:
—What’s the Surveillance Association?
—An inspection agency? Feels like another master…
—These two masters seem to know each other!! [excited]
—Hi, husband! [rose]
—There he is, my new internet husband!

…

Lin Su watched for two seconds, then put what he learned into practice:
“Heh, husband?”

Beside him, He Zhenling’s wrist seemed to tremble almost imperceptibly.

He put down his bowl and chopsticks with a clatter and turned to look.

Lin Su met his gaze and pointed at the phone screen. “What’s wrong? I’m reading the barrage comments.”

He Zhenling looked at him for two seconds, then curled his lips. “Sounds nice. Keep reading.”

“…”

Just then, the screen recording ended.

Lin Su put away his phone with a semblance of naturalness. “It’s over.”

He Zhenling let out a huff of laughter and let him off, picking up his bowl and chopsticks to continue eating.

With the phone gone, the Xuenima curled back onto Lin Su’s shoulder. Lin Su cheerfully said to it:
“In this round, it was my narrow victory.”

The Xuenima had no desire to discuss their troublemaking and changed the subject: [But why do the barrage comments call you “wife” and He Zhenling “husband”?]

“…”

Lin Su pondered for two seconds and came to a conclusion. “Because it’s a one-husband-one-wife system now.”

A person cannot have two “wives” or two “husbands” at the same time, only one of each.

The Xuenima marveled: [That’s your understanding of it!]

Lin Su was certain. “Of course.”

After eating with He Zhenling, he took Lao Zhang’s car back.

Aside from the small interlude with the live stream, the weekend passed rather peacefully.

Sunday passed, and it was Monday again.

As soon as Lin Su arrived at the classroom, Chen You excitedly glided over. “Did you see it, Lin Su!”

Lin Su nodded. “I saw it.”

“How was it? Super awesome, right?” Chen You’s face was a little red with excitement. “And that master who appeared later, doesn’t he look a lot like you?”

“…” Lin Su moistened his lips. “Really?”

“Hmm… he was wearing a mask so I couldn’t see his face clearly, but his build is a bit like yours. But the voice doesn’t sound like you, it’s a bit deeper.”

Lin Su had deliberately lowered his voice a bit in front of the camera, and with the adjustments on Du Fan’s equipment, it was somewhat distorted through the screen.

He breathed a sigh of relief at this. “I see.”

Just as he was about to turn around to hand in his homework, Chen You suddenly froze, staring at the small piercing on his left ear. “…You got an ear stud?” He snapped his head to the side, his eyes filled with suspicion.
“Wait. It couldn’t really be you, could it? Haha…”

Lin Su also froze.

Then he said calmly, “What’s wrong with an ear stud?” He flipped through his homework. “Do you think I had the time?”

Several days’ worth of homework were all completed.

Chen You nodded. “Oh, that’s true~”

Having fooled the naive young man away, Lin Su thought he was in the clear. But then he ran into Pei Jin while having lunch at the cafeteria.

Pei Jin had now recovered his spirited demeanor, his face even holding a bit of a smile.
“Junior Lin, you’ve gone a little viral.”

“…”

He had forgotten about the academic god who knew his secret.

Lin Su didn’t deny it. “You watch paranormal live streams too?”

“After that incident, I started paying a little attention. I didn’t go looking for it specifically, but big data pushed it to me. Screenshots and recordings related to you are all over the place.”

“Mine?” He was intrigued. “What did they say?”

Pei Jin opened his mouth, then closed it. He then took out his phone, scrolled through it, and showed it directly to him.

Lin Su looked: [WIFE!!!]

He, “…”

He reached out, turned off the screen, and pushed it back, saying seriously, “Surf the net less, do more practice problems.”

Pei Jin seemed to smile slightly and nodded. “Okay.”

After the person left, the Xuenima floated out:
[No wonder your willpower has increased so much over a weekend. Aren’t you going to do anything about your video being reposted?]

“No need. The attention online will die down on its own after a while.”

Lin Su said, looking leisurely out the window. “Besides, there are people more anxious than me to cover up this heat.”

…

Huicheng Tianshi Association.

In a spacious office, a middle-aged man of about forty or fifty sat behind a desk, his face thin and square. He looked at the feedback on the computer screen, his brow furrowing tighter and tighter.

Opposite him, Du Fan said sheepishly, “President.”

Fang Ling snorted and glanced at him. “The live stream turned out like this, just making a wedding dress for someone else.”

“That young man really has some skills…”

“A young kid, what skills could he have? It’s just that you are not as skilled as him!”

Du Fan touched his neck. The bruised fingerprints on it were very fierce and probably wouldn’t fade for half a month.
He had grievances he couldn’t voice. “He’s a privileged-level from Xuncheng.”

Fang Ling’s lips straightened into a line. He paused for a moment and said, “So what if he’s privileged-level? Doesn’t our association have privileged-levels too? Alright, call Cui Zhen. He’ll go on the stream with you next time.”

“But the Surveillance Association came last time too.”

“Since they didn’t intervene, doesn’t that mean it wasn’t against the rules?”

Fang Ling had been president for several years and had a sensitivity to the rules. “Continue the stream. Just don’t let any accidents happen.”

Lin Su didn’t bother with the aftermath of the live stream incident.

He had no clients at the moment and was free as a bird. All he had to do was watch skits every day and listen to the sound of the butler coming over to do his homework.

Three or four days passed like this.

Today, the butler didn’t come. Lin Su was curled up on the sofa cackling at a skit when a message suddenly popped up.

[Chen You]: Have you finished your homework? That Master Du is live streaming again! I heard he even brought a privileged-level figure from Huicheng this time!
[Chen You]: [Link—Shuo Ling Live Stream]

Lin Su’s brow raised, and he clicked on it.

The Xuenima drew near: [What’s wrong? Aren’t you watching skits anymore?]

“I’m going to watch a live stream skit.”

[?]

Clicking into the live stream, he saw it was on fire.

Du Fan was sitting with a man in his thirties. The latter had a Tianshi certificate hanging around his neck, its golden border dazzling. On it was written the certificate holder’s name: Cui Zhen.

At this moment, the two were sitting in a courtyard.

With a rockery and pond in the background, it looked very Zen.

On the small round table in front of them were many magical instruments and props. It looked like they were preparing to perform some tricks.

The live stream had just started, and many new barrage comments were pouring in:
—Who is this master?
—WTF, it’s a gold-bordered Tianshi certificate, a privileged-level master!
—They invited a master. What are they doing today?

Du Fan glanced at the barrage, then turned to introduce, “This is our Huicheng branch’s Feng Shui master, Master Cui Zhen. He is a privileged-level master, and his power is far above mine.”

The Xuenima sipped its juice: [Isn’t this basically sacrificing Xiao Du to save their reputation?]

Lin Su patted it. “Why are you calling him so familiarly?”

[…Then what should I call him?]

“Fan-noying.”

Before the Xuenima could complain, on the screen, Cui Zhen waved his hand humbly:
“Ah, not at all, not at all. Being privileged-level doesn’t mean much. It’s just granted internally by the association. Some who have connections can also be considered privileged-level. This title can’t be taken as an authority.”

One person and one spirit looked up at the same time: ?

Du Fan continued, “But you were indeed promoted based on your strength.”

The barrage quickly scrolled:
—Privileged-level can also be obtained through connections??
—That makes sense, after all, it’s a “privilege”… how can relatives not be considered privileged?
—Then that one from before…

Although the two in the live stream didn’t explicitly point to anyone, the only other privileged-level person who had appeared was the “fox mask” youth who had made an appearance in the live stream a few days ago.

The audience quickly made the connection:
—Why do I feel like they’re dissing someone…
—I was wondering how someone so young could be privileged-level. So you can get a gold card through connections.
—Although he did show something in the live stream, it’s not worth hyping him up that much.
—So the gold card isn’t actually that amazing? [laughing cry]
—Ahhhhhh don’t you dare talk about my internet wife! [gritting teeth]

In the video, Du Fan and Cui Zhen made their point and didn’t say more, quickly changing the subject.

[Heh heh.] The Xuenima sneered: [He should be called Du Jian. That way I can familiarly call him…]

Its head was gently patted again.

Lin Su, “But you can call this combination the Zhen-uinely Fan-noying People.”

The Xuenima was amused: [Hehehehehehe…]

…

It was clear that the purpose of their live stream this time was to do damage control for the “mistake” of the last one.

After subtly dissing Lin Su, the two began to display various tricks with the props on the table.

Things like taking objects from afar, summoning thunder and calling fire… they were all tricks where form was greater than substance. But because they were flashy enough, they could easily fool the laymen watching.

At this moment, Cui Zhen took out a bamboo stick, saying he was going to demonstrate summoning a ghost and then exorcising it.

After a round of fumbling, he waved the bamboo stick in the air.

Bang! Bang! Bang! A few sounds.

Several clouds of black mist appeared out of thin air, accompanied by the sound of something exploding.

This act was extremely targeted.

Not just Lin Su, even the barrage comments remembered:
—I remember the one with the “fox mask” tapped in the air with a pen to make a sound, right?
—That was the move that amazed me.
—Master Cui can do it too, and it looks like his skill is even stronger [thumb]

…

Lin Su just narrowed his eyes slightly, a smile playing on his lips.

Xuenima: [Where’s the ghost he summoned? Why can’t I see it? Am I short-sighted, Lin Su?]

“At this time of day, how would he dare to actually summon a ghost? It’s just some deceptive tricks.”

On the screen, after Cui Zhen had nonchalantly thrown shade, he quickly moved on to the next trick.

A row of white candles was placed in the courtyard, their flames flickering.

“Everyone knows about the Samadhi fire.”

“When the true fire is strong, demons cannot invade. Today, I will solidify my Samadhi fire, take it out, and light these candles. No matter if it’s blown by wind or submerged in water, it will never be extinguished.”

As Cui Zhen spoke, he had already submerged the row of lit candles in a tank of water. The flames indeed continued to burn.

The barrage immediately erupted in a wave of amazement:
—The Samadhi fire can be taken out?? [doubt]
—It doesn’t look like white phosphorus, white phosphorus doesn’t burn like this.
—This fire really doesn’t go out in water. This is the true value of a privileged-level!

The Xuenima sneered: [Can they please consider the different reactions under different conditions of gas, temperature, and oxygen content? So unscientific!]

Lin Su glanced at the most unscientific existence of all.

The Xuenima slammed the table: [With such idiotic methods, he still dares to throw shade at you! Why are you not at all…] It turned its head: [Huh? What are you doing?]

Lin Su was swiping on his phone. “Although their last live stream failed, at least this time they can have the mother of success.”

[…?]

As he spoke, he had already gotten through to White Impermanence’s WeChat: “Hello, do you have any ghosts whose birthday is today?”

“It’s like this, someone is celebrating his birthday in the southern suburbs of Huicheng and has invited him to come blow out the candles.”

__

Author’s note:
Lin Su (clapping): Happy birthday to you~
…Poof