Divine Lucky Star

Chapter 154: Chapter 154: Tricking the Big Star

Bai Yaning said that the restaurant wasn’t too far from Wang Hao’s house, about a ten-minute drive, and she found a parking spot to park the car.

Wang Hao and Bai Yaning entered the restaurant very unobtrusively and casually found a table to sit down—at first, they ordered two bowls of noodles, two bottles of soda, and then chose four of the most expensive dishes on the menu. That’s what you call unassuming luxury, mm-hmm.

Soon enough, the noodles arrived, and even with Wang Hao’s extensive experience, he couldn’t help but be a bit surprised looking at the two steaming bowls in front of them, topped with several strands of meat slivers.

The meat was sliced as thin as hair, impressive knife skills!

“Spill it, what happened to Xiao Yan?” Bai Yaning asked while watching Wang Hao slurp his noodles, “Is it possible to obtain the ‘Falling Heart Flame’ or not?”

“Ah? The ‘Falling Heart Flame’?” replied Wang Hao, as he ate his noodles, “Oh, these noodles are actually quite good…”

“Do you believe I won’t drag you back and lock you in a small dark room to write every day?!” Bai Yaning sipped her soda, a little huffy. Her actions were adorable, lips slightly pursed. Even though she had applied makeup to tone down her beauty by at least thirty points, she remained the center of attention, such as Wang Hao, who thought she looked very appealing.

There was no helping it, a 120-point beauty, even with 30 points deducted, still leaves ninety…

“Actually, it’s just that knowing what happens next ruins the fun,” shrugged Wang Hao, “How about I tell you a different story? I know a lot more than just ‘Break the Heavens’; I have a wealth of knowledge.”

“What are you going to tell me about?” Bai Yaning grew curious, “Five Gods and Five Insects?”

“Something like that,” Wang Hao took another bite of his noodles and said, “Today, I’ll tell you about ‘Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio!'”

Hearing Wang Hao’s words, Bai Yaning was momentarily stunned, “Ah? You can tell ‘Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio’?” No wonder she was so surprised, not many people have even read the book, let alone recount it!

“Pssht, you think less of me, don’t you?” Wang Hao, with no intention to maintain any image, retorted, “What don’t I know? I’m versed in the past and knowledgeable about the present; push back three hundred years or forward three hundred, no one surpasses me in experience!”

“You’re full of bull!” Not many had ever talked to Bai Yaning in such a manner before, and she found it quite amusing, her eyes crinkling with laughter, “Well, go on, tell me!”

“Oh, let me tell you about ‘Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio’, there’s a lot to say,” Wang Hao began, “Have you read ‘Investiture of the Gods’? There’s a vixen in it named Su Daji; you know about her, right?”

“Yes, I know, what’s next?” Bai Yaning nodded, “Are you going to talk to me about the fox spirit?”

“Exactly,” Wang Hao smiled, “Speaking of which, where are fox spirits mentioned the most? Right, in ‘Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio!’ You see, there are several types of storytelling books, the first type is called ‘The Long Spear Robe-Belt Books’, which include ‘Three Kingdoms’, ‘The States’, ‘Eastern Han’, ‘Western Han Dynasty’, focusing on emperors and generals. The second type is called ‘Short Fight Judge’s Case Books’, with ‘The Eight Righteous’, ‘Little Eight Righteous’, ‘Liu Gong Case’, ‘Judge Bao’s Case’. The third type is about the supernatural, with only three works, ‘Journey to the West’, ‘Investiture of the Gods’, ‘Jigong’s Story.’ The last type is ‘Ghost and Fox Books’, comprising solely of ‘Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio.'”

After Wang Hao said all this, Bai Yaning was utterly astounded!

She originally intended just to casually listen, but she never expected Wang Hao to spin such an elaborate tale, even detailing the four types of storytelling books…

Not only was Bai Yaning dumbstruck, but the nearby diners were also taken aback, their eyes all turned to look this way!

While others were thoroughly perplexed, Wang Hao was inwardly delighted—I absolutely adore you, Lao Liang! Your ‘Lao Liang’s Story Collection’ is one of my favorite shows ever, hahaha!

Strike while the iron is hot, Wang Hao continued, “In ‘Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio’, the stories either feature ghosts or fox spirits, but these fox spirits, unlike Su Daji, aren’t malevolent at heart; on the contrary, most are kind and the bad ones are few. In fact, the book features many admirable fox spirits. Admirable how? Mostly in three ways: the first kind have a good nature, meaning they are genuinely kind-hearted. The second kind are loyal and righteous, resembling heroines among fox spirits. The third kind understands the ways of Yin and Yang and the dynamics of marital relations, deeply perceptive of righteousness.”

Bai Yaning: “…”

Unsuspecting onlookers around them: “…”

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These fox spirits are really that great?!

“Is… is that really true?” Bai Yaning felt amazed. Can fox spirits really be that good?

“Don’t be so quick to doubt, let me just give you an example,” Wang Hao laughed. “Take for instance Shunhua, the fox woman from ‘Ghost and Fox Book.’ What’s the story about? Well, there’s this scholar in the region, fairly famous, named Zhang Hongjian. He already had a family, but then in the wild outskirts, he met a beautiful girl. Her name was Shunhua, and in fact, she was a fox spirit. During the few days Zhang Hongjian took shelter from the rain at Shunhua’s place, the two hit it off. From then on, Shunhua really pampered Zhang Hongjian, giving him money to spend every day, telling him to go out and enjoy his life in daylight and to return after dark to spend amorous nights together,”

Bai Yaning: “…”

The surrounding onlookers unaware of the truth: “Oh…”

What a good fox!

“One day, however, something unexpected happened,” Wang Hao kept on, absolutely engrossed in his storytelling. “That morning, Zhang Hongjian spent all the money and was dawdling on his way back. When he got to where the house should be, he suddenly realized — huh? Where did the house go? There was just a tree left! He scratched his head, certain that this was the place. Then he remembered that Shunhua always told him to come back after dark, and he started to feel something was off!”

Bai Yaning: “Ah? He found out?”

The surrounding onlookers unaware of the truth: “Oh?!”

Wang Hao continued, “While he was standing there dumbfounded, the house suddenly appeared with a whoosh! Zhang Hongjian broke out in a cold sweat. Seeing that he had discovered the truth, Shunhua came clean. It turned out she was a fox spirit, and she and Zhang Hongjian were meant to have a connection. But now that her true identity had been exposed, what to do? Shunhua said she could send Zhang Hongjian back to his hometown. Zhang Hongjian, thinking it seemed safe enough since she admitted everything and she was beautiful and generous with money, forgave her! Comfort over ideology, or something like that, right? Look, he even rationalized it in his favor!”

Bai Yaning: “Psh, comfort over ideology, or whatever.”

The surrounding onlookers unaware of the truth: “Oh!”

“They continued their life together,” Wang Hao took a sip of water and went on: “Half a year passed in the blink of an eye. Then one day, Zhang Hongjian said he missed his wife and kids. Upon hearing this, Shunhua just sighed and said if he missed his lawful wife, then she would send him back at dusk. I mean, imagine a typical fox spirit as we imagine them; they’d probably have killed his wife, right? But Shunhua didn’t. She gave him travel expenses ‘Go back and see them, missing your lawful wife and kids is natural.’ Shortly after Zhang Hongjian returned home, something went wrong!”

Bai Yaning: “Serves him right!” Yes, after all, she still couldn’t accept a man having multiple wives and concubines… understandable, understandable.

The surrounding onlookers unaware of the truth: “Oh!!”

“It turned out, when he had left there had been an unresolved case, and when he returned, he was accused and thrown into prison.” Wang Hao continued explaining: “But this Shunhua, far from being resentful, spared no effort to rescue him and finally reunited him with his wife and kids.”

Bai Yaning: “This fox spirit isn’t bad…”

By the way, why do I feel like there’s a murderous aura when she says that…

“Average, just average!” Wang Hao laughed and said, “So, what do you think? Not a bad story, huh?”

“It’s alright,” Bai Yaning coyly shrugged her shoulders: “Since the story you told wasn’t too bad, I’ll share some news I just got with you.”

“Oh?” The moment he heard this, Wang Hao immediately put down his chopsticks, curious: “What news? Why so mysterious?”

Bai Yaning casually ate a couple of bites of noodles, her dining manners exquisitely graceful, Wang Hao was almost staring — Good lord, such otherworldly beauty, even eating noodles looks good!

“Let’s go, we’ll talk in the car,” after finishing the noodles, Wang Hao promptly paid the bill, and once they were in the car, Bai Yaning started the engine and finally shared the news: “The Heavenly Musician Association is hosting a youth songwriter competition. What do you think? Interested in participating?”

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Today there are three updates again, the next chapter is at one in the afternoon!

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