LWDC Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – Your Birthday

Chapter 6 – Your Birthday

Chapter 6 – Your Birthday

Ning Fei found it darkly humorous that he had just snatched a job from ST in the morning, only to receive a job offer from ST in the evening.

The identity he had in this world was very simple. Before becoming a manager, his resume was so ordinary that he blended into the crowd, practically blank. How could a large company like ST poach someone with so little experience and achievements? It couldn’t be because he successfully snatched a job once, right?

Therefore, Ning Fei leaned towards the speculation that someone was trying to mess with Su Cenxi.

Once Ning Fei accepted the friend request and started chatting with the headhunter, regardless of the final outcome, screenshots of their conversations could be leaked, even just a screenshot of him accepting the friend request. Outsiders could then spread rumors that Su Cenxi and his manager were at odds. If the big fans stirred up some trouble and the public opinion fermented, with traffic joining the fray, the studio could really shake internal trust if they didn’t handle it well.

Of course, the above speculation was just the possible situation for other artists.

For Ning Fei, he only had one reaction: reject and attach the reason: 【Not interested, thanks.】

If it were a normal headhunter, Ning Fei wouldn’t even reply. But since the other party was using ST’s name, he should still respond politely, regardless of their original purpose in contacting him.

However, the ST headhunter on the other side was indeed extraordinary, and quickly sent another friend request: 【Our conditions are very good, how about we communicate directly by phone?】

Ning Fei: 【No. Stop looking for me, blacklisted, thanks.】

–Reminding them and even thanking them before blacklisting, I’m really polite.

Afterward, Ning Fei checked the studio’s group chat again. This group used to have a lot of idle chat content from the assistants, but after Ning Fei rectified it once, there was much less nonsense now. Ning Fei knew that these assistants definitely had other private groups, and would complain or even curse him in those groups, but he didn’t care. As long as it didn’t affect work, Ning Fei didn’t care about their private communication.

However, today, the studio’s group seemed to have started a long-lost round of nonsense chat. If Ning Fei hadn’t been ATed by them, he would have suspected that these people were in the wrong group. And the information that popped up after Ning Fei clicked on the AT notification made him a little doubtful of his eyes.

It was an assistant asking: 【@Ningfei Fei-ge, do you know your exact time of birth? If it’s inconvenient to say publicly, DM me!】

Ning Fei was truly puzzled this time, and he was too lazy to look at the hundreds of nonsense messages, so he directly replied in the group: 【What do you want it for?】

As soon as he spoke, the others basically stopped bouncing messages, only the assistant sent Ning Fei a private message after a while to answer: 【The new domestic brand of accessories that Xixi just endorsed has released a new series where you can choose accessories that match your Bazi. We want to do a promotional tie-in. Everyone in the studio will get a small accessory, and we’ll take a group photo together when the time comes. The brand agreed. So now we need to know Fei-ge’s exact time of birth.】

Ning Fei: 【Promoting this? Won’t it be suppressed by the authorities?】

Assistant: 【It’s just an implication, we won’t say it explicitly. Recently, young people are into divination and tarot cards, and a domestic brand creating a series of lucky charms should be quite popular.】

Ning Fei: 【11:30 a.m.】

Assistant: 【Got it! I’ll send the information to the brand right away!】

Ning Fei watched the young assistants in the group cheering about the free big-name accessories, and raised his eyebrows slightly.

The exact time of birth is related to a person’s fundamentals, and theoretically shouldn’t be given out casually. But nowadays, in this world, it seems that many people no longer care about that.

All the identity information he generated in this world is fake.

*

In a few days, Ning Fei actually received a small accessory from the brand – a braided rope bracelet with an amethyst.

The others in the studio also received bracelets or necklaces. Everyone put on the accessories, formed a circle, and stretched out their hands to take a photo, then posted the photo on the studio’s social media platform. Su Cenxi’s fans quickly commented below: 【Wow, this series of accessories is so everyday! Cute! I want to buy it!】

【Sisters, these are lucky accessories chosen according to your birthday. You can check the official website. Mine is Lapis Lazuli!】

【I’m Garnet! I want the same style as Xixi, go go go!!!】

【Hahaha, am I the only one wondering if the manager’s hand is in this photo? He’s so serious, wouldn’t he also play this lucky little game?】

Su Cenxi had spent some time in the domestic entertainment circle before, so his fan base had a bit of a “fan circle” habit, such as knowing the manager’s name and temperament very well, and occasionally mentioning Ning Fei in the comment section. Ning Fei didn’t have any objections to this, and sometimes even actively picked up on the jokes. For example, this time, he picked the comment that mentioned him and replied: 【Took it. But his information was the last one given, almost didn’t make it in time /pathetic】

Immediately, there was a lot of laughter under this comment: 【I can see Mr. Ning’s unwillingness hahahaha】

【Sigh, it’s not easy to work, Ning Fei sighed. I guess he quickly took it off after the photo was taken, right?】

Did Ning Fei take off the bracelet? No.

He even wore it out directly. It’s not that he liked the accessory that much, but he thought that if it was beneficial to Su Cenxi’s career, he would wear it for a while, and if he got photographed, it would be a small topic.

And the place Ning Fei was going to was supposedly an investor’s teahouse. This connection was made by Gu Hechen. He said that this investor was a major shareholder in several domestic and trendy brands, and had some say in recommending spokespersons, so Gu Hechen asked Ning Fei to talk to him. Coincidentally, Su Cenxi only had a small interview this afternoon, so Ning Fei didn’t have to follow the whole process, and he set off to find the investor himself.

Although it was said to be a “teahouse,” Ning Fei actually arrived at a commercial and residential office building. Ning Fei drove himself, entered the elevator from the underground parking lot, and was politely asked by the property staff guarding here where he was going, made a registration, got a visitor card, and was instructed on which elevator to take. Judging from this situation, this place was quite high-end, and the property fees were probably higher than those of Chen Xi Studio.

Ning Fei didn’t get the investor’s phone number, so he went straight upstairs. According to the address Gu Hechen gave him, he found a double wooden door at the end of the corridor and pressed the doorbell.

The intercom on the doorbell transmitted a voice: “Who is it?”

Ning Fei replied, “Chen Xi Studio, Ning Fei, Gu-zong introduced me.”

The other side said, “Wait a moment.”

“Thank you.” Only then was Ning Fei sure that he had come to the right place. After all, although this mahogany door looked high-end, there was no company sign or any other decoration around the door. It looked just like the entrance to an ordinary home. For a moment, Ning Fei was really worried that he had come to the wrong place.

The mahogany door opened quickly. The person who opened the door was a middle-aged man, unremarkable, wearing a loose, Chinese-style outer shirt. He didn’t look like someone working here, but rather like someone running a Sinology class. Ning Fei didn’t ask much about the other party’s identity, he only asked, “Hello, is Xu-zong here?”

“Master Xu, he… has gone out for a while, he’ll be back soon. Ning Fei, right? Master Xu has instructed me, please come in.” The middle-aged man stepped aside and led Ning Fei in. As soon as Ning Fei entered, he smelled a faint… fragrance.

Not a fragrant smell, but the smell of incense.

Ning Fei: A teahouse playing with incense? Okay, that’s reasonable.

As he walked in, he unobtrusively looked around. Facing the entrance was a Bogu shelf, with a large red stone in the middle. Turning the corner, he formally entered the living room. A huge fish tank occupying half of the wall made a gurgling sound, and many red arowanas swam slowly inside. The living room was very spacious, but wooden six-panel screens were placed towards the back. There was obviously some space behind the screen, but it was blocked very tightly.

In front of the screen was a tea table, tree root style, but with a fully equipped automatic water boiling system. An incense burner was placed next to the tea table, and the scent of incense came from there. A row of small people was placed next to the tea table, neither realistic nor cute, staring at Ning Fei with ferocious faces, looking a bit strange.

The middle-aged man noticed that Ning Fei was standing still, looking at the row of small people, and explained: “These are Master Xu’s tea pets, don’t mind them. Please sit down, have some tea and wait.”

Ning Fei sat down in front of the tea table as instructed. The middle-aged man seemed to smile, first pressed a button on the tea table to let the water flow automatically into the kettle with a splash, and then said, “Excuse me, let me turn on some music for you to enjoy,” and went to the side to turn on a stereo.

For a time, the sound of flowing water and ethereal music intertwined. The middle-aged man stopped talking, and just turned his back to Ning Fei, fiddling with something on the side. When the kettle was filled and the sound of boiling water started, the music seemed to be mixed with chanting. Ning Fei leaned against the back of the wooden chair and carefully distinguished it, only hearing a few sentences: “…Heaven and Earth are Xuanhuang, the universe is prehistoric. Use the Tao to control demons, use virtue to transform evil…”

Although the stereo was surround sound, Ning Fei didn’t really understand it, and was too lazy to think about which words they were. While the middle-aged man had his back turned, he looked around again. This time, he noticed many strange things on the surrounding walls and tables.

For example, jade stones nailed to the edge of the ceiling, peach talismans placed on the table, and ghost paintings hidden behind potted plants. Not to mention the shrines placed at a high place, with incense curling up, but Ning Fei couldn’t see who was enshrined inside from his position.

As he sat, Ning Fei felt that the scent of incense seemed to be stronger, or rather, the room seemed to become more stuffy. At the same time, the chanting coming from the stereo became louder and louder, drowning out the music. Some chaotic words came from the stereo above, as if to hit Ning Fei’s head directly.

“…All evils stay away, all demons flee. May the Three Realms be purified, and the Five Elements be in their correct positions–”

The water had already boiled, and Ning Fei was about to remind the middle-aged man, but the middle-aged man had already turned around. He walked to Ning Fei’s side, holding a piece of yellow paper in his hand, blank, which he lightly placed on the tea table.

Then he picked up the newly boiled kettle and poured it over the yellow paper in circles. The yellow paper was quickly soaked, and red lines gradually appeared on it. While pouring, he muttered something in his mouth. Ning Fei couldn’t hear what he was saying, but tilting his head to look at the other party’s lip shape, he quickly realized that the other party was chanting the words being played on the stereo!

Ning Fei felt increasingly strange, narrowed his eyes, and opened his mouth to say, “You…”

No sooner said than done, the middle-aged man put down the kettle, picked up the yellow paper, and slapped it on Ning Fei’s forehead: “Amulet water washes away the impurities, true words protect the body!”

Ning Fei: !!!

His forehead was hot, his eyes went dark, but he subconsciously distinguished at least three voices chanting this sentence! He immediately pushed away the man holding his forehead with force, jumped up suddenly, and then grabbed the yellow paper stuck on his forehead. The moment his vision opened, a strange old man, who came from who knows where, had already run across the tea table, raised a bowl at him, and splashed it! Black and red liquid mixed with a strong fishy smell came towards him!

“–Auspiciousness be gone, the origin of all evil, scatter! Scatter! Scatter!”