Shizun - 002 - An Adonis with a tough life

2046, Huaxia City, a slightly cool autumn.

Haiping city, Haiping University, School of Computer Science.

Lu Yunzhen was a rather famous figure at school. At the start of every school year, upper year girls would meet and chatter with the freshmen, introduce fun facts and histories of the school, and then mention his name, along with the warning “whatever you do, don’t thirst for him”.

Those 7 simple words were the amalgamation of countless painful lessons from the upper year girls.

Lu Yunzhen was really handsome. He had beautiful and clear features and was top 10 in the school’s academics rankings every year. Not to mention many sharp-eyed girls had gossipped that he looked somewhat like Hu Sui, the most popular actor around. He also had dimples and a sweet smile. Unfortunately he came from a poor family and wore the same worn out jeans and cheap t-shirts every day, lending to his straight dude aura. If he really took care of his appearance and trained for a bit in entertainment circles, he could really be a star.

As long as a man is handsome and has a decent enough personality, poverty doesn’t really matter.

These days it’s not that strange for women to go after men.

The upper year girls were blinded by his handsomeness and tried to find out what he wanted in a girlfriend.

Lu Yunzhen answered simply with three words, “Female, tough life.”

At that point, everyone thought he was joking and decided to take a swing since he’s straight. One pretended to run into him at the library, one added him on weibo to play games, some asked him to fix phones and computers.... and then everyone finally realized what he meant by “ tough life”...

Every girl that showed him any interest was dealt a critical blow before she could confess. The one who met him at the library failed the exam and flunked out of the course, the one who gamed threw 20 in a row with malding team mates and cracked opponents, and had nothing left but cuss words... Not to mention the one who tripped while walking, got hit with a basketball at the court and landed in the hospital, lost their phone, lost their wallet, lost the data on their hard drive, failed their tests, bought instant noodles without seasoning packets, picked up novels which were landmines, lost their backups while coding... in any case the misfortunes were endless.

And when they gave up on Lu Yunzhen, the bad luck stopped.

All the upper year girls were dumbfounded.

Lu Yunzhen was a Haiping local, and the University had a lot of local students.

They found his old high school, middle school, and elementary school classmates to find more information, and found out this “ tough life” started from kindergarten. From teachers to students, any girl that he liked or liked him was met with bad luck. Only male friends were spared, this was a halo of misfortune that didn’t even let idols and celebrities escape.

Almost every single female celebrity that he had been a fan of had left the industry!

If they were lucky they got married or simply got tired of the work, slightly worse off ones had some skeletons come out of the closet or ended up being blackballed, the worst had the star’s tax fraud and crimes come out (she went straight to jail and still hadn’t come out...). The only one left was a sexagenarian veteran of the industry with an abundance of talent and a spotless reputation, but even she has been discussing retirement due to her age....

When the girls found out his “dark” history they were all shocked.

No matter how handsome he was, no one dared to want him anymore.

The thread of “That “ tough life” Adonis from 818″ was always at the top of the school forums. A lot of other students poured out their heartfelt advice with, “Mr. Lu, your standards are just too high, get rid of one requirement.”

Lu Yunzhen read the thread, and asked in confusion, “get rid of the ‘tough life’”?

The students responded in a pained chorus, “Mr Lu! Please consider another answer!”

...

Lu Yunzhen was really amused by the whole joke and laughed for quite a while.

He knew fully well that his luck was abnormal. The Cibei master at Longling Temple read his 8 characters and could only sigh, “heavy sin, no chance for happiness, hard life, curse his relatives, short life, won’t live past 20.”

Lu Yunzhen believed in science, not in fortune telling.

His birth parents probably believed in fortune telling though, and a few days after his birth he was left on the side of the road in a cardboard box with his fortune and a few hundred bucks. Grandpa Lu found him while picking up trash, couldn’t find his irresponsible parents after looking for quite some time, and took him home.

Grandpa Lu didn’t have children or any education, but he was a good man.

He treated Lu Yunzhen as his flesh and blood grandson. With the help of some kind people and the government, he solved the issues with paperwork and legally adopted him. Lu Yunzhen had awful luck since he was little. For instance, he would twist his ankle when he tried to enter a performance, and had the bus break down before an important exam. But with hard work and guts, he conquered all his obstacles and was outstanding in both his education and his character.

Grandpa Lu was very proud of his grandson.

At every parent teacher conference, he would gallantly step on the tricycle he used for collecting trash, park by the school gates, sit with his head held high in the front row, and gather the top grade of the school award and a myriad of other accolades. Every parent was jealous of him, but when asked for advice he’d simply wave his hands and say “I can’t read, the kid learned himself.”

This kind of bragging left all the BMWs, Mercedes, Hermes, and Chanels in the dust.

The grandpa and grandson only had each other and lived in a broken little house, but they had a happy and simple life.

Grandpa Lu always said with a grin, “Yunzhen isn’t like me, he’s handsome and smart, and he’s got a good temper. When he grows up he’ll definitely lure in the ladies. I just hope I can last a while longer, see him get into a good school, get a good job, and marry a nice girl, then I can die happy.”

Auntie Qin from next door laughed at him for being an antique, saying that young people all had ideas these days, and marry late while hating the elders who nag about marriage.

So Grandpa Lu stopped saying it.

Lu Yunzhen was a filial child. He studied really hard, hoping that when he grew up he could provide a good life for his grandpa, so that the rest of his life would be smooth sailing and that he would live for a long, long time.

While he was in his second year of high school, Grandpa Lu saw some drowning kids by the sea and dove in with no hesitation....

The kids were returned to their parents, but Grandpa Lu never came home again.

The government had given out award money and a banner for his bravery. The parents of the two children thanked Lu Yunzhen while being filled with guilt. Lu Yunzhen held the banner tightly, worked hard to smile, and comforted them, “Grandpa is a hero, he wouldn’t regret this... If I study well, get into a good school, get a good job, and marry a nice girl, then he’ll be happy.”

He was now the only person in the little house Grandpa Lu left him.

Lu Yunzhen used the award money to buy a nice grave plot, and donated the rest to a foundation that Grandpa Lu often thought about in his Grandpa’s name.

After the highschool exams, he didn’t apply to the two best schools in the capital, but rather stayed in the top school in Nanping city, and walked to school every day while studying.

He burned his university admission letter for his grandpa, and also brought grandpa’s favourite liquor and braised pork.

“This is a really good school, I will study hard.”

“After I get a job I will show you my contract and my pay stub.”

“Marriage would be a little harder, I don’t want to draw girls into my bad luck. But if I can find a tough girl who can withstand my curse, and I like her, and she likes me... I will bring her to see you.”

“...”

The sun was brilliant. The dimples at the corner of Lu Yunzhen’s mouth were also brilliant.

Don’t cry.

Grandpa taught me, if I smiled a little more every day, life will be better.

... ...

The date was October 18, and Lu Yunzhen’s 20th birthday.

Aside from not being able to get a girlfriend, his luck during his three years at school were pretty good. He got scholarship money every year, had no problems at his part time jobs, and didn’t meet any disasters.

Lu Yunzhen had optimistically thought that his luck had turned around. In a few days he wanted to go back to Longling Temple, thank the master for his peace talisman, and then ask if he can continue to change his fate by performing good deeds.

All his male classmates had significant others.

He was pretty envious....

Lu Yunzhen was quite popular, and his friends were clamouring to be treated to a meal. This was a tradition between guys. A while ago, the fuerdai nicknamed Luo Xiaopang had invited a few of the guys out for seafood and karaoke on his birthday. Now that it was Lu Yunzhen’s birthday, everyone made an even bigger fuss. Lu Yunzhen also planned to have a good time, and had saved up money for quite a while. He laughed and invited everyone for Haiyan hotpot.

Haiyan hotpot was a famous chain restaurant, and was a little expensive.

Luo Xiaopang and the friends discussed among themselves, came to the same conclusion, then grabbed Lu Yunzhen by the shoulder and suggested, “Pang-bro is trying to diet and doesn’t want hotpot. Let’s just have some xiaoye tonight. Get some Xiaowang bbq chicken, extra spicy pork belly, and a few packs of beers, now THAT’S the way to go!”

Xiaowang bbq was a little stall by the side of the road near the school. It was pretty tasty and the price was low.

Lu Yunzhen knew his friends were worried about his finances and picked a cheap place on purpose. He didn’t turn down everyone’s kindness. After a simple dinner they mingled their way over to the bbq stall. The six of them ordered an entire table of food with beer and liquor. Everyone got rip-roaring drunk. Between the singing, the shots, and the slurring, no one knew what they were really saying.

Luo Xiaopang held up a cup, “I wish... I wish Zhen-ge can get hitched asap!”

Lu Yunzhen held up a cup, “OK! I’ll get hi-hitched next year! I don’t care who they are, as long as I’m not single anymore...”

Everyone clapped, “Zhen-ge is so ambitious!”

By the time the party ended, it was almost eleven.

The last bus had stopped running. Lu Yunzhen turned down his friend’s offer to pile into the dorms, along with Luo Xiaopang’s idea of getting a hotel room. He packed up the leftover bbq and started home on a rideshare bicycle.

The University was in the suburbs but his home was closer to downtown. It was a half hour ride with the sea breeze blowing. A perfect chance to sober up and digest his dinner.

But, drinking and driving isn’t good, even if it was just a bicycle.

Lu Yunzhen had gone the wrong way in a daze, gotten onto the empty Haiyue bridge without noticing, and hit a pole with the bicycle. He fell and noticed the chain was broken, and so was forced to continue while pushing the bicycle on.

This kind of bad luck happened to him all the time, he was used to it.

Lu Yunzhen hummed a song and kept going while being bathed in moonlight.

Suddenly, he noticed a man with wet hair nodding at him by the abutments as if in greeting.

Lu Yunzhen knew that someone had seen his embarrassing fall, smiled bashfully, and kept pushing the bicycle on. After a few steps, he felt the talisman around his neck heat up, and started sobering up.

He noticed a grave problem.

Haiyue bridge was an old bridge around 4 meters tall and over 100 meters across. The river beneath ran into the sea. He was in the middle of the bridge right now, inside of the railing. So... what is a man who’s outside the railing and over 4 meters away from the ground?

Lu Yunzhen was terrified and felt goosebumps forming.

A man’s laughter floated at him.

He slowly turned his head.