Chapter 4: White and Whiter

If we don’t get drunk, we’re not going home!

Di Qiuhe stopped, and then turned around to look at him. The corners of his mouth raised in a gentle and harmless manner, with his voice very low, sounding very seductive in the small alleyway, “Reading my fortune?”

Why do he feel like this guy’s tone was a little strange… He Bai unconsciously took a step back, and suddenly regretted calling him back. He didn’t know what was wrong with him today- his long, unbeating heart of compassion just started to crazily beat and start to overflow, and this was towards a man that he had only seen in person twice. These kinds of actions were not in line with the way he usually handled things, but… He rubbed at his camera, looking at the young face of the other person that was just in the springtime of his youth, and remembered that arm that was behind the window curtain. He sighed in his heart, nodded, and answered, “Yes, I want to read your fortune.” He really couldn’t bear to let such a brilliant person leave this world just because of a conspiracy. Just let this be his way of thanking the other person for filming so many amazing works of art, letting him kill all of his free time during those boring vacation days.

Di Qiuhe took another look at his face, pinched the ID card in his pocket, and then slowly walked back again, “What are you going to look at? My career, my fortune, or my lovelife?”

“No, I’m going to read your lifeline.” He Bai got rid of any extra emotions, and tried to look as mysterious and profound as possible as he studied him from top to bottom. He started to try and trick him by saying, “When I was young, I lived near a Daoist Temple. I was lucky enough to learn about reading the fate of other people from an old Daoist priest. Just now, what I said about you becoming an extremely powerful big Film Emperor and starting your own company was all true- it’s all written on your face.”

Di Qiuhe raised his hands to touch his face, “There’s something written on my face?”

That’s right, it says two words- premature death.

He Bai rubbed at his camera again, and continued to trick him by saying, “Your facial features are honest, the area in between your eyebrows is large and wide. This means that you were born in a very wealthy family, and that you should have a lot of good fortune in your life. However, your lips are slightly thin, and there’s a mole on your ear. This means that there’s also flaws to your family life- it’s not a happy one. Also, the dip above your lips is clear, you have a fair countenance, and you have a tall nose bridge. This means that in the future, you will definitely be someone who will be both rich and noble, but…”

Di Qiuhe very helpfully prompted him by asking, “But, what?”

“But the middle of your face gives a sense of brokenness. I’m afraid that you will face misfortune in middle-age.” After He Bai finished putting together this mysterious and powerful facade, in order to increase his credibility, he even put on a very solemn expression to walk around him in a circle. He raised his hands to do some weird motions to simulate reading his fortune, sighed, and said, “This misfortune is very dangerous. If you are able to get through it, you will have a successful, rich, and worry-free life. But if you can’t…”

“What will happen?” Di Qiuhe’s expression and tone were all very calm. It seemed like the person that He Bai was talking about wasn’t him.

“You will die young.” Finally saying the main point, He Bai unconsciously relaxed a little, and sped up what he was going to say next, “Your misfortune will come when you are thirty-five years old. It has to do with a woman and a high place. The direction of the misfortune is southeast. Okay, that’s all I had to say. If we are fated, let’s meet again.” Everything that he needed to say, he already finished saying it. If he kept on speaking, he would end up revealing something he shouldn’t be revealing, so he was going to leave first.

When Di Qiuhe saw that he was leaving, he quickly pressed down on his shoulder to stop him from going. With a quick eye and a fast hand, and with eyes that held a sincere smile, he said, “Are you going to leave just like that? You’re not even going to tell me how to escape this misfortune, or send me something to protect me, and then leave your contact information?”

He Bai pulled back his legs that had just started to walk away, turned around, and patted him on the shoulder, “Telling you this much is already revealing too much of heaven’s secrets. Remember, do good deeds and accumulate good karma. Also, avoid women and high places- that way, you’ll be able to escape this disaster. Something like my contact information is unnecessary. You are a blessed individual. God will protect you.” After saying this, he turned around and left the small alleyway at a seemingly calm, but extremely fast pace, towards the nearest bus station.

Leave his contact information? Everything he said just now was all made-up nonsense. If you thought about it carefully enough, there were a lot of places that didn’t quite add up. If Di Qiuhe could mix in the entertainment industry so well, it was plain to see that he wasn’t a stupid guy. He could trick him for a moment, but he couldn’t trick him forever. Therefore, it was still better for him to run away quickly. He could only hope that they wouldn’t meet again in the future, and that he wouldn’t have that nightmare about him falling off that building again. His mental state was fragile, and couldn’t stand all that tossing and turning!

Di Qiuhe watched him leave, the corners of his mouth slowly dropping. He took that ID card out from his pocket, looked at it, and said, “A Q university student…”

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After sending this week’s homework to Xu Yinrong’s email, He Bai went back to the dormitory, and collapsed on his bed. He looked at the last 500 yuan in his hands, and sighed worriedly.

He needed to find a way to make money.

The so-called, from rags to riches, from riches to rags. Before his rebirth, he had already spent more than a decade living off of the lottery ticket that he had won the year after he graduated from college. He didn’t need to worry about what he ate or what he wore. So to let him go back to working those part-time jobs day and night that paid poorly, wasn’t really something that he was willing to do. It wasn’t that he wasn’t able to suffer a little, but that he had broadened his horizons, and the ways that he used to make money were things that he naturally disdained doing.

Thinking to here, he got up, and felt for the laptop and pen under his pillow, listing the names of several famous development projects in B city in recent years, crossing them out one by one. The advantage of rebirth still existed, but he had no capital in his hands. Even if he knew about business opportunities, there was nowhere for him to start. Not to mention, he also believed in the idea of karma, so he didn’t want to take advantage of the things in his brain to take away the opportunities that should have belonged to other people.

What if he ended up taking advantage of foresight to seize another person’s opportunities, and then ends up making that person live a life of hardship? Therefore, it was better to just take the things that he would have gotten anyway, and as for the opportunity that belonged to him… He opened the calendar in front of his notebook, and drew a circle on a date two years later.

After graduating from university, he started working at the evening newspaper in B city on the recommendation of one of his professors. He became an intern journalist in the education section. This was originally a good thing, but he was unfortunate enough to meet a very bad old journalist, and was suppressed and excluded by him at every corner. The nepotism at the newspaper was so serious, but being the foolish new graduate that he was, he didn’t even realize that he was being put under the bus. Later on… later on when his career was on the rocks, and he had just come out of a gambling house, he bought himself a lottery ticket using the numbers for his birthday on a whim, just for fun. As a result, he ended up winning the first prize, and became rich overnight.

After winning the lottery, he was confused and lost for a while. When that old journalist tried to mess with him again, he decided to beat him up, resign, stuff his pockets full of money, and begin his journey visiting all the different famous mountains and rivers in his home country. After seeing enough of the dark side of humanity, he needed to wash his eyes with some beautiful scenery.

He went from place to place, and after he had finished washing out his eyes, he wondered if he could take a record of all of the things he saw along the way, so that when he was old, he could reminisce about the past. So, he bought a camera, and officially stepped into the world of photography.

Photography is a hobby that burns money- cameras need money, lenses need money, not working while looking around searching for inspiration to take photos cost money. But luckily, he was fortunate enough to be someone who didn’t lack money and was also willing to learn, and was also in his prime. Thinking about it now, his technical skills in photography were all basically learnt through using money.

Slowly, his efforts paid off. He started to gain a reputation in the field of photography, got to know some people with the same interests, and started to have some small accomplishments… and then in just one night, he went back to before this all began.

It was still that sentence- why the hell was I reborn?

He put away his notebook and pen, lay down, and then rolled himself up in his blanket.

“Why are you lying down again, Xiao Bai?” Wang Hu’s voice sounded next to his bed, and then pulled at his blankets, “Lao San reserved a place at the old hotpot restaurant on the back street. He said he was going to treat us all to dinner. Get up quickly.”

He Bai pulled the blanket off, turn over to look at him, and wondered, “Why did he think of inviting us to eat today?”

Wang Hu smiled at him dryly, answering, “He’s heartbroken again.”

He Bai furrowed his brows, “Heartbroken again? With whom?” He remembered that Lao San was only heartbroken in college once. How could he have his heart broken a second time? Was it that the butterfly wings that he didn’t dare to flap, ended up flapping anyway?

“With Liu Huanhuan.” Wang Hu’s voice sounded like he was choking, with an expression that said it was hard to put it into words, “This time it was Lao San who dumped Liu Huanhuan. He said that he wanted to celebrate.”

“…”

In some upscale apartment complex, Di Qiuhe opened up his computer, skillfully logged into the Q University Campus Network, and entered in his account number. Then, he picked up the card on his desk, entered He Bai’s school ID number, and clicked on the search button.

Some simple student information jumped out, followed by a school forum ID. He clicked on the ID that was called “White (Bai) and Whiter (Bai),” and several posts asking about part-time jobs at the school could be seen on the screen.

He really is my junior at school. That Mr. Fortune Teller didn’t lie.

He knocked on the table, copied the forum ID, went back to the homepage of the campus network, opened the search bar, and searched his name.

Even more information popped up, most of it consisting of him asking about part-time jobs, and responding to restaurant food suggestions. At the very top of the first page, a post about an item for sale, listed about a week ago, caught his eye.

White and Whiter: Selling the up and coming Film Emperor Di Qiuhe’s autograph. Starting Price: 10

Ten bucks?

His finger on the mouse stiffened for a second.

Without other people around him, the almighty film emperor, who could freely express his emotions, looked like he was in a bad mood almost immediately, looking at the words, “starting price: 10,” unhappily, over and over again.

“I’m only worth ten yuan?”

The great Film Emperor, who was actually very narcissistic in his heart of hearts, couldn’t help but shout out.

“How can I only be worth ten bucks?”

He expressionlessly picked up the ID card, looked at it for a while, and then an extremely gentle smile suddenly appeared on his face. His long and slender fingers moved over the mouse, clicked on the bid button below, and bid one thousand.

“He Bai.” He loosened the mouse, staring at the good looking young man with a brilliant smile on the ID card, and couldn’t help but poke his finger into the dimple on the left side of his face. With a low and deep voice, he said slowly, “I’ll remember you, little underclassman.”

With a clink, four beer glasses knocked against one another.

“Drink!” Niu Junjie shouted proudly, draining all the beer in his glass in one gulp. Putting down the glass, he said, “It really let me release so much of my resentment! I stopped my dad’s car at the front door of the TV station Liu Huanhuan is signed at. She immediately ran out, crying and telling me that she regretted it, saying that she actually really loved me. Acting as a couple with that male anchor was something that the station asked them to do. She only did it because she was forced to.

He Bai helped him fill up his glass again, asking, “And then?”

“And then I took her hand affectionately.” Niu Junjie took another swig of his beer, drinking it all in one gulp again, laughing heartily, “And I took off the diamond ring that I had given to her, pawned it off, and donated it to an orphanage! It really felt good!”

He Bai pretended not to see his red eyes, and the way his hands were using too much strength to grip his beer glass. He shook his head at Wang Hu, who was looking worried and concerned, and filled Niu Junjie’s glass to the brim again. He said with a smile, “Out with the old, in with the new. The next one will be even better than this one was. Come, cheers!”

“Cheers!” Niu Junjie clinked glasses with him, and held up his glass towards Chen Jie and Wang Hu, who didn’t say anything the whole time and were just silently eating and drinking. With an expression that seemed like he was so excited that he could rise to heaven, he said, “Come come come, drink. If we don’t get drunk today, we’re not going home!”

Chen Jie and Wang Hu took one look at each other, shook their heads in unison, put on a happy smile, and also raised their glasses.

“Okay! If we don’t get drunk, we’re not going home!”