Lin Chen moved quickly upstairs to the restroom on the top floor.

Pushing open the door to the innermost stall, a package had already been placed on the coat hook in advance. He took out the clothes from the package and changed completely from head to toe.

After changing his face and putting on sunglasses, he slung the bag over his shoulder and walked out of the restroom. Like an ordinary mall customer, he strolled around, looking at things without haste.

Suddenly, his steps paused, and he stopped beside a young man with a puzzled look.

Wen Shaozhuo was waiting idly for his brother to return, casually buying two cups of milk tea to warm his hands.

A young man in sunglasses suddenly stopped beside him. Wen Shaozhuo was startled and looked up timidly.

The young man in sunglasses sounded hesitant: “Do you… have a twin brother?”

Wen Shaozhuo was cautious: “…Who are you?”

The young man in sunglasses didn’t answer the question but brazenly looked him up and down.

The young man in sunglasses muttered softly: “Strange, your physiognomy, and his physiognomy…”

Wen Shaozhuo: “?”

A scammer?

Wen Shaozhuo’s expression tightened. He gripped the milk tea, stood up, and planned to leave quickly to find his brother.

Before he could fully stand, the young man in sunglasses called out to him: “Little brother, I just saw your twin brother by the restroom. His spirit platform is dim, his three courtyards are floating, showing signs of leaking life qi and an unstable life foundation; yet your Yintang is glowing with rosy light, your life light blazing far beyond ordinary people. Your situation looks like the phenomenon of ‘Same Qi Stealing Life’ peculiar to connected bodies described in the scriptures.”

Wen Shaozhuo: “??”

Obscure terms comparable to finance courses hit his brain; Wen Shaozhuo didn’t understand a word.

…Even more like a scammer now!

Wen Shaozhuo sped up his rising motion. before he even stood steady, he was about to step out and leave.

The young man in sunglasses had no intention of stopping him.

He just continued speaking calmly and unhurriedly: “Meeting is fate. I’ll tell you the solution here as well. Disperse wealth to return qi; use objects to carry qi, use wealth to connect fate. Ten percent of wealth for ten percent of life qi. If you have three parts excess, he lacks three parts. If you can return three parts of life qi to the source through wealth every year, you can restore the Yin and Yang qi to their respective positions, preventing your twin brother’s life qi from exhaustion.”

Wen Shaozhuo: “???”

Wen Shaozhuo’s steps halted in confusion. amidst this string of unfamiliar terms, he at least understood the phrase “disperse wealth to exchange for qi”, “use wealth to connect fate”… connect whose fate? Brother A-Heng’s?

The young man in sunglasses tilted his head slightly, as if glancing at him, shook his head in disappointment, and whispered: “Sigh, comprehension isn’t strong…”

Returning to normal volume, he spoke quickly without panting: “Simply put, that brother of yours who looks exactly like you is born with a deficiency in life vitality and an excess of death energy. The only way to break this is for you to use thirty percent of your wealth annually to transfer your excess life vitality to him, balancing and wearing down his death energy…”

“Don’t look at me like that, this isn’t a scam. The money isn’t for me; give it to whoever is your brother. However, my telling you this counts as revealing heavenly secrets. The law isn’t taught in vain. To avoid damaging your fortune and disrupting my karma, you more or less need to show some appreciation. WeChat or Alipay?”

Wen Shaozhuo: “…”

Wen Shaozhuo instinctively whispered back: “WeChat.”

The young man in sunglasses took out a WeChat payment QR code: “Hmm, good. The amount doesn’t matter; it’s mainly about balancing energy.”

Wen Shaozhuo was a bit angry, thinking, Fine if this person is a scammer, but how can he curse Brother A-Heng like that?

But he didn’t know how to escape, nor did he know how to suddenly change his face and leave after scanning the QR code and reaching the payment step, without making himself look stupid for listening seriously for so long and even scanning the code…

Holding his phone in one hand, the young man in sunglasses stuffed a talisman into Wen Shaozhuo’s palm with the other: “By the way, seeing as we have fate, I’ll give you a talisman. This is made by this poor Daoist after fasting for seven days, personally ascending the Ten Thousand Dharmas Altar, and drawing the true qi of the Big Dipper into the talisman. If you decide to transfer life vitality, give this talisman to your brother and have him carry it with him.”

Wen Shaozhuo looked down at the scribbles in his hand, silent for a long time, then whispered: “…H-how much?”

The young man in sunglasses pushed up his sunglasses and said calmly: “88, 288, more is fine too, whatever you feel like.”

Feeling aggrieved and wronged, Wen Shaozhuo entered 88 yuan, typed in his password, and showed the phone to the young man in sunglasses: “Hello, transferred. Thank you.”

The young man in sunglasses looked down: “Hmm, good, received. If there are any further situations, you can find me at the biggest Daoist temple on North Mountain in D Province. Goodbye.”

After speaking, he turned and walked away leisurely.

Holding the talisman and carrying the milk tea, Wen Shaozhuo stood woodenly in place for three seconds.

Forget it, at least I got a talisman. What if this talisman is actually useful…

Wen Shaozhuo couldn’t help scanning the talisman with Taobao.

Instantly, six or seven products appeared on the product page. The talisman drawn in the product image was exactly the same as the talisman paper in his hand. Price: 1.68 yuan for ten sheets.

Searching for D Province North Mountain again, the first line of the search page displayed: Are you looking for “D Province North A Mountain”?

Wen Shaozhuo: “…”

Wen Shaozhuo covered his face in shame and wailed softly: “Wu…!”

Just then, a tuft of hair poked his cheek.

Another head extended next to his head.

Wen Siheng opened his big eyes and asked him in confusion: “What are you doing here, A-Shao? What are you holding?”

Wen Shaozhuo: “…!!!”

Wen Shaozhuo turned pale with fright, frantically trying to hide the things. As a result, he failed to hide the talisman, and the milk tea he was carrying spilled all over him. The scene was utterly pathetic!

With quick eyes and hands, Wen Siheng pulled Wen Shaozhuo out of the spilled milk tea circle, waved for a cleaner, then led Wen Shaozhuo to the restroom. He grabbed two paper towels, wet them, and helped wipe the milk tea off his clothes.

Wen Siheng asked helplessly: “Why is A-Shao so careless? Were you scared by me? Am I that scary?”

Wen Shaozhuo hung his head aggrievedly: “Wu… Brother A-Heng, do you think I can’t do anything well except painting?”

Wen Siheng was stunned, threw the paper into the trash bin, cupped Wen Shaozhuo’s face, and asked with concern: “Why say that suddenly? Did something happen while I was away just now?”

Wen Shaozhuo felt it was too embarrassing; he stammered, not wanting to say. But if he didn’t say, his brother would keep staring at him with those sincere and gentle big eyes.

Wen Shaozhuo couldn’t hold out for long. Soon, pressured by his brother’s gaze, he spoke in a low voice: “Just now… just now I was sold a talisman, I regret it a bit… and then I spilled the milk tea…”

Wen Siheng was surprised: “What talisman? How much did he sell it to you for?”

Wen Shaozhuo: “…”

Wen Shaozhuo said aggrievedly: “Eighty-eight.”

Wen Siheng held his belly laughing: “Oh my, something for eighty-eight yuan? Just treat it as buying a talisman for safety. Why did it spoil your mood, A-Shao?”

He grabbed Wen Shaozhuo’s hand: “Cheer up, A-Shao, today is our birthday! The milk tea must have thought A-Shao should change into new clothes for the new year, that’s why it spilled itself. Let’s go, A-Shao picked clothes for me, I want to pick clothes for A-Shao too—Ah! Right! We don’t have a twin set yet, how about getting a set now? Let’s go, let’s go, A-Shao, let’s get a set!”

Wen Shaozhuo’s mood improved again as he put on the new clothes.

He and his brother looked in the mall mirror for a long time. Brother A-Heng enthusiastically messed with his own hairstyle in front of the mirror, and soon, their appearances became exactly the same in the mirror!

After buying clothes, they took a car ride for over an hour to a district far from the city center to see an exhibition, eat cake, and celebrate their birthday. The entire morning was filled to the brim and spent very happily.

In the memories Wen Shaozhuo could recall, this was the first time he was so happy about his birthday arriving.

Even though Brother A-Heng hadn’t been home for long, the suffocation and despair that filled his world a year ago now seemed as distant as another world when recalled.

Occasionally looking back, it felt like there was a thick layer of fog between the present and the past, blurry and unclear.

However, such a happy birthday celebration was suddenly interrupted at three o’clock in the afternoon—

Brother A-Heng’s hand trembled, accidentally dropping his phone on the ground. Picking it up, the screen was completely black, and it wouldn’t even turn on.

Brother A-Heng wailed: “…Wu!”

Wen Shaozhuo quickly comforted his brother: “It’s okay, brother. The phone thinks I’m a year older on my birthday and should buy a new phone!”

Brother A-Heng: “But A-Shao’s phone was just changed not long ago! —No, A-Shao wait for me, I’ll see if there’s any phone repair shop nearby… Ah! There really is one, right next door!”

Brother A-Heng’s mood instantly turned from cloudy to sunny. He happily dragged him into the shop and quickly communicated the phone repair details with the clerk.

Coincidentally, there was no one in the shop at that time, so the clerk could start repairing Shaozhuo’s phone immediately. Saying it shouldn’t take too long, Wen Siheng decided: “Then A-Shao, you wait for the phone here first. Aren’t you tired from walking anyway? Rest here for a while; I’ll go around nearby to look for a place for dinner tonight.”

Wen Shaozhuo didn’t want to stay alone. He immediately said: “Brother, I want to go with you!”

But his brother pulled him aside and whispered to him: “A-Shao, this is the latest model phone! I heard some shops secretly swap valuable parts inside for cheap ones when repairing phones. Who knows what this shop is like. A-Shao, you better watch over it here!”

Wen Shaozhuo hesitated, but after all, it hadn’t been long since he escaped the poor days of (his brother’s) three thousand yuan monthly salary. This phone had been with him for less than three months, far from retirement.

Wen Shaozhuo lowered his head, reluctantly tugging at his brother’s hem, and whispered: “Okay, brother, then I’ll wait for you here. Come back early.”

Wen Siheng’s smiling eyes curved, saying: “Of course! A-Shao rest well, enjoy the heater. Brother will just walk around and come back.”

Lin Chen coaxed Wen Shaozhuo, walked out of the phone shop, and sighed faintly: “Pity it’s A-Shao’s birthday today.”

System: “No choice, Host. Who told the conditions to be so suitable today.”

Lin Chen gave a “Hmm”: “Found someone nearby driving drunk?”

System proudly: “A bit hard to find, but—System found one!”

Lin Chen nodded, following the direction given by the System in his brain. While heading there, he lowered his head and tapped on his phone, replying to Cheng Huanzhen’s message.

Cheng Huanzhen would always send him many messages every day.

Reporting his schedule, reporting three meals a day, reporting wake-up and sleep times, asking when he could see him again, worriedly telling him not to choose order-closing methods that would be painful or uncomfortable.

After reading all the messages, Lin Chen held down the voice button and sent two voice messages to Cheng Huanzhen.

He said slowly: “I know. Don’t worry, our studio is very strong. We’ve signed many extras, and have collaborators from all walks of life. The previous exits were all acted out, don’t overthink it.”

He paused, then continued slowly: “If you hear that something happened to Wen Siheng during this time, don’t panic. It’s all acting; nothing will really happen. Even more so, don’t come looking for me. Otherwise, if the order is exposed and causes me to be fired by the studio, I’ll settle the score with you.”

After sending the message, he logged out of the private WeChat on the phone, erased all traces perfectly (letting the System handle it), feeling rarely a bit nervous.

Rubbed his hands, blew on his hands.

Lin Chen said calmly to the System: “Let’s do it.”

…

“Honk honk—honk!”

Wen Shaozhuo propped his hands on the seat, head lowered, swinging his feet.

Faint car honking came from outside, probably from very far away. Wen Shaozhuo turned his head boredly to look out the window, only to see a flock of birds flying up with a rustle in the direction of the honking, probably frightened by the sound.

Neither the honking nor the birds left any trace in his memory.

Wen Shaozhuo soon lowered his head again, continuing his mental preparation. After diligently preparing for full five minutes, he finally looked up and asked into the repair room: “Hello, may I ask how much longer until my phone is fixed?”

“Very soon, very soon,” the repair technician inside answered casually, muttering, “Your phone’s situation is a bit weird, let me study it again…”

…

Wen Yifeng and Wen Qingcai had been waiting outside the two young Wens’ rental villa for quite some time.

According to the birthday plan given by Wen Siheng, they were to wait at the door in advance while Wen Siheng and Wen Shaozhuo went out to play. This way, the moment Shaozhuo returned, he would realize that they had spent unknown hours waiting at the door for his birthday and this surprise.

According to Wen Siheng’s schedule, he and Shaozhuo would return home around two in the afternoon.

Therefore, they arrived an hour early, starting to wait at the villa door at one in the afternoon.

As a result, they waited and waited; two o’clock passed, three o’clock passed…

There was no sign of Shaozhuo in the villa area at all!

Wen Yifeng couldn’t stand the cold waiting at the door and complained to his wife in a low voice: “Is Wen Siheng reliable or not? This planned time is completely wrong! …Haven’t contacted him yet? If we still can’t contact him, we might as well go ask Lin Chen.”

Wen Qingcai also couldn’t stand waiting any longer.

Wen Qingcai: “A full two hours. Although it’s for Shaozhuo’s birthday, this… Sigh.”

She glanced at the time: “Let’s wait another half hour. If it really doesn’t work, we’ll go home and prepare a birthday banquet for Shaozhuo. This way, we can give the painting set we prepared earlier to Shaozhuo as a birthday gift together. Just if we do this, today’s originally planned celebration activities will have to wait until Shaozhuo’s birthday next year…”

Just then, Wen Qingcai’s phone suddenly rang.

Wen Qingcai was stunned seeing the contact labeled as a certain hospital director, and picked up: “Director Huang, hello?”

After listening for a couple of sentences, Wen Qingcai’s face changed drastically: “…What car accident? Shaozhuo?! Being resuscitated in your hospital right now?!”