TGA Chapter 33

The old Daoist’s words left everyone speechless. Soon, they shifted the topic to other matters.

“Daoist Xu Qian truly has a silver tongue. As expected of a Daoist master. It’s just a pity that someone even more eloquent is about to arrive.”

“Isn’t it just that old man’s disciple? What’s so special about being more eloquent?”

“At least we’re united on this side. Unlike them, who can’t even keep their sects from falling apart.”

Moments ago, everyone had been clamoring for Daoist Xu Qian’s disciple to make an appearance. Now, they had joined forces in shared animosity, shifting to gossip about the affairs of other sects.

Before long, Daoist Xu Qian, under the slightly warm sunlight, saw off his guests. Leaving the tea gathering, he returned to the nearby low building.

Inside, a peachwood sword hung on the wall. A young Daoist sat at a table, flipping through a book. Hearing the door creak open, he looked up to see the old Daoist.

Xu Zaiyuan set down the book in his hands and asked, “Master, what does ‘social anxiety’ mean?”

Daoist Xu Qian replied warmly, “It’s social anxiety disorder, a type of phobic neurosis where one feels excessive fear of the external environment.”

Xu Zaiyuan frowned. “I never knew I had such a condition.”

Daoist Xu Qian smiled. “Well, now you know.”

“…”

After a moment of silence, Xu Zaiyuan asked again, “Why won’t you let me meet them?”

Daoist Xu Qian chuckled. “Good question. Then, do you know why you can’t leave the mountain?”

“Sometimes I think I know, and sometimes I don’t,” Xu Zaiyuan said, glancing at the small patch of sky framed by the window. Lowering his gaze, he added, “Sometimes I feel like a bird trapped in a cage.”

Xu Zaiyuan had never met his parents and had grown up in the Daoist temple. Even his schooling took place near Qianshan, and he was never allowed to venture far from the temple. In his younger years, he thought nothing of it, but later realized the outside world was vast and that his peers were not confined to one place.

The master and others were kind to him, and though he understood he couldn’t leave, he still felt a sense of monotony. He knew venturing into the world rashly could harm his future, but he still yearned for it deep down.

“‘Hovering in the depths, no misfortune.’” Daoist Xu Qian sighed. “Your name is Zaiyuan, but there will always come a time for you to leap. The timing just isn’t right yet.”

“You’ll be able to leave the mountain someday, but only when you’re ready.”

—

In the student council activity room, numerous students were busy preparing for the school’s music and dance gala. He Shichen and Qi Yan were also checking various documents and finalizing each class’s performance.

Such was the plight of top students—they not only had to excel academically but also prove their organizational and leadership abilities. Otherwise, they’d be labeled as bookworms. Their work in the student council even translated into activity credits, which would be included in their graduation portfolios.

As people hurried back and forth, a head peeked through the doorway.

Qi Yan was the first to notice Chu Qianli, and a faint smile appeared on her face, making He Shichen feel uneasy.

He Shichen turned to see Chu Qianli. Putting down the materials in his hand, he walked to the door and frowned. “What is it?”

Qi Yan silently followed but was deftly blocked by He Shichen, leaving her unable to face Chu Qianli directly.

Chu Qianli’s gaze darted around nervously as she tentatively asked, “Brother, uh, how much longer will you be? I mean, I get that you like working overtime, but isn’t it unfair to make our driver work overtime too?”

“I’m not rushing you or anything, really! But you should consider other people’s feelings about their jobs.” Chu Qianli solemnly promised, “I’m totally fine waiting for you! Not in a hurry at all!”

He Shichen: “…” You seem like the most impatient one here.

He Shichen sighed. “You and Tan Muxing can head home first. I’ll be back a bit later tonight.”

Chu Qianli instantly raised her hand in farewell. “Got it. Bye-bye, you two! Enjoy your 9-9-6 grind!”

Qi Yan hadn’t spoken the entire time. Seeing Chu Qianli about to leave, she quickly said, “He Shichen, why don’t you take her to see the art gallery’s weekend exhibition?”

Chu Qianli perked up. “What exhibition?”

Seeing her interest, Qi Yan eagerly explained, “The gallery will be showcasing some private collections this week, mostly Western antiques. Among them…”

He Shichen, understanding Qi Yan’s intentions and familiar with Chu Qianli’s thought process, interrupted indifferently, “If you’re willing to finish the art project you’ve been dragging your feet on after seeing the exhibition, then sure.”

Chu Qianli immediately responded, “Sorry, I’m just a country bumpkin—I don’t understand art. Not going to the exhibition!”

“Bye-bye!” Chu Qianli darted off, fearing she couldn’t escape the clutches of her homework.

Qi Yan watched helplessly as Chu Qianli fled and glared at He Shichen with displeasure.

He Shichen shrugged. “No need to look at me like that. Isn’t that exhibition organized by your family? You just wanted a chance to bump into her over the weekend.”

Qi Yan felt He Shichen was annoyingly obstructive. She didn’t share classes with Chu Qianli and found it hard to strike up conversations. Meeting her in private would’ve been ideal, but He Shichen had scared her away outright.

—

In class, Tan Muxing sat at his desk, not leaving, which caught the attention of his classmates.

The previous incident with Wang Zheng had changed their opinion of him, but he still only interacted with Chu Qianli and occasionally chatted with Qiu Qingkong. Beyond that, he remained as distant as ever.

One of the students passing by asked curiously, “You’re not leaving with Chu Qianli today?”

Tan Muxing paused and softly replied, “She’ll be back in a bit.”

“I see.” The student sighed. “You two are really close.”

Tan Muxing: “Huh?”

“Aren’t you? Even your profile pictures are matching. I saw it in the class group chat last time.” The female classmate pulled out her phone and smiled. “Are those couple avatars? They’re pretty cute.”

Tan Muxing turned beet red and stammered, “They’re not couple avatars! You’ve got it all wrong!”

“We chose them with Qiu Qingkong. The three of us picked them together.”

The girl looked disappointed. “Oh, I thought you two were inseparable and noticed it was Sakura and Tomoyo.”

Tan Muxing fell silent for a few seconds. His lips moved slightly before he lowered his head and murmured, “Tomoyo is Sakura’s friend, but she’s just a friend. She doesn’t have magic.”

Tomoyo would always stay by Sakura’s side, but she didn’t have any magical powers. She remained an ordinary person.

The classmate was puzzled by his comment. “Uh, yeah, I guess Tomoyo doesn’t have magic…”

Tan Muxing raised his head with a faint, bitter smile. “Please don’t misunderstand. We’re just friends. Anyone paired with me in a joke like that probably wouldn’t be happy about it.”

Hearing his self-deprecating words, the others didn’t know how to respond.

Fortunately, Chu Qianli returned in time. Seeing her, the classmates said their goodbyes and left the room, leaving the two alone.

Tan Muxing waited for his deskmate to finish packing up and then asked, “Did He Shichen tell you to leave first?”

“Yes.”

Tan Muxing, hearing her concise answer, suddenly felt something was off, but he could only silently follow her.

The two of them walked out of the teaching building, and when Chu Qianli reached the sports field, she could no longer hold back her dissatisfaction and asked, “Why did you say that?”

“Say what?”

Chu Qianli stared directly at him. “That Zhishi doesn’t have magic.”

Chu Qianli had just happened to overhear Tan Muxing’s conversation with others. While others didn’t understand, she could.

Tan Muxing hadn’t expected her to overhear, and his face immediately became flustered. He hesitated and said, “But she just… doesn’t have magic…”

Chu Qianli: “Does it really matter if she has magic or not?”

Tan Muxing struggled for a while and helplessly explained, “But this is a world with magic, like in Cardcaptor Sakura—it’s about the story of wizards. People without magic aren’t that important.”

“Sakura never thought Zhishi needed magic, and the viewers who like Zhishi don’t think having magic is important,” Chu Qianli lowered her eyes. “And having magic might not even be a good thing.”

Tan Muxing didn’t respond.

He understood her dissatisfaction, but he was someone who knew his own limitations.

Chu Qianli thought they were the same, but they were different—she was special compared to others.

Tan Muxing: “But…”

Chu Qianli angrily retorted, “No buts! You don’t even understand Cardcaptor Sakura!”

“…”

For the first time, they had a disagreement.

However, Chu Qianli and Tan Muxing didn’t actually fall out. They still went to school together, chatted, ate, and left school together every day, but there was an inexplicable awkwardness between them.

Qiu Qingkong was quite shocked. “You two can argue? You can pretend to listen to astrology even though you’re not interested, and now you’re actually arguing?”

Tan Muxing explained, “We didn’t argue. She just thinks I don’t understand Cardcaptor Sakura.”

Qiu Qingkong: “?”

Tan Muxing began to panic about the situation. To be honest, neither of them was wrong; it was just a difference in perspectives. He had always thought Chu Qianli was carefree and clueless, but somehow, the comment “Zhishi doesn’t have magic” managed to break her defenses.

At his desk, Tan Muxing gazed at the messy sketches, suddenly losing interest in the design. He casually tossed the draft aside and then noticed the Fool card sealed in a wooden frame.

He picked up the well-preserved Fool card and stared at it motionlessly for a long time.

He wasn’t interested in metaphysics, but he would say that he believed in her words—there were exceptions to everything.

He didn’t think he was as great as she said he was. When he accepted the Fool card, he thought it was just a form of consolation.

Did she get angry because she sensed that?

Tan Muxing set the Fool card down with a deep sigh, holding his head in frustration as he pondered how to salvage the situation.

In class, Tan Muxing felt that the situation couldn’t remain stagnant. He stole a glance at Chu Qianli beside him and cautiously asked, “I heard there’s an exhibition related to astrology recently. Are you going?”

Qiu Qingkong replied, “Sorry, I can’t go. A friend asked me for a favor to take her to a celebrity meet-and-greet.”

Chu Qianli focused on her deskmate, asking suspiciously, “Aren’t you not interested in astrology?”

Tan Muxing broke into a cold sweat and quickly replied, “There are also paintings and other exhibits there. It might be good for getting inspiration for designing clothes.”

Chu Qianli nodded, “That works.”

Tan Muxing let out a sigh of relief. He was worried his deskmate might still be angry, so he used this opportunity to test the waters. He felt that she had probably moved on from it.

Chu Qianli didn’t hold grudges. As long as she had a good meal and some fun, she usually forgot about things.

The art gallery had limited entry on weekends, so Tan Muxing booked tickets online in advance and took Chu Qianli to visit.

Inside the gallery were Western antiques and paintings. Visitors wandered around, casually appreciating the rare collections.

“There’s everything here!” Chu Qianli exclaimed curiously as she looked around. She suddenly saw something golden and immediately stopped in her tracks, “A gold pocket watch!”

“There’s everything here!” Chu Qianli said curiously, looking around. She suddenly saw something golden and immediately stopped, “A gold pocket watch!”

Tan Muxing replied, “It seems to be a private collection. The types are quite varied. The astrology-related items are over there.”

The two of them saw quite a few old star maps and some simple stargazing instruments, but Chu Qianli showed little interest.

She casually waved her hand, “These are nothing. It’s not like I haven’t seen them before. You should come to my place sometime and see my golden armillary sphere, it’s absolutely impressive!”

Tan Muxing had a subtle expression on his face. He thought to himself, for He Shichen, was it all just about the “impressive” part?

Tan Muxing had brought Chu Qianli here because he knew she liked these kinds of things, but he hadn’t expected her to find the astrology-related antiques uninteresting. She ended up going back to look at the gold and browsing the paintings on the wall.

According to her, the star maps on display were too basic and had long fallen behind the development of modern times, offering little help to her own astrology skills.

Chu Qianli leaned against the display case, reluctant to leave, gazing longingly, “I want this too.”

Tan Muxing looked at the golden sphere, his expression hesitant. “Don’t you already have an armillary sphere?”

Chu Qianli defended, “This one’s different. It’s in Western style and even inlaid with pearls. You can’t just wear one outfit, of course, you need to change it up!”

Tan Muxing didn’t dare to respond, afraid of putting pressure on He Shichen. He pretended to look down at his phone and said, “If we finish looking quickly, we can eat first. I’ll check what’s around…”

Chu Qianli nodded and wandered around the exhibit hall, glancing around casually.

After she finished looking at the gold, she moved on to the paintings. Suddenly, her eyes caught a painting, and she froze, momentarily stopping in her tracks.

Visitors around her were quietly chatting, strolling through the gallery, none of them noticing the special nature of the painting.

It was a long rectangular artwork, with a vast starry river spanning across the night sky. The strange and romantic colors intertwined, and from afar, it looked like a golden sea of stars. Upon closer inspection, one could see faint red crystals glimmering under the soft light, making it a sight to behold.

After taking pictures, others moved on, but Chu Qianli remained still.

She stared at the painting intently, and in an instant, a flood of information burst into her mind. She couldn’t control the overwhelming surge of various images!

Tan Muxing finished searching for restaurants and suddenly noticed that Chu Qianli was no longer in sight. He immediately began looking around.

He wandered around the gold exhibit area, then hurried over to the adjacent painting section, finally finding his missing deskmate.

Chu Qianli stood dazed in front of a painting, unmoving for a long time, as if her feet were glued to the floor.

Tan Muxing walked over and immediately understood the reason, complimenting, “It’s a beautiful painting.”

The painting she was admiring had rich colors and a grand style, definitely a thoughtfully crafted masterpiece of the night sky.

Chu Qianli shook her head, “It’s not the painting.”

Tan Muxing was puzzled, looked down at the exhibition label, and said, “I’ve never heard of this artist.”

He leaned closer to Chu Qianli and suddenly noticed that her eyes were red and tears were still at the corners of her eyes. In an instant, he was thrown into a panic and hurriedly asked, “What happened!?”

Tan Muxing took out a tissue from his bag, not understanding why his deskmate was crying.

Chu Qianli accepted the tissue and thanked him. She wiped the tears off her face and calmly said, “Information overload, then a physical reaction followed.”

She was overwhelmed by the hidden meanings in the painting, like a computer processing complex data that suddenly malfunctioned after a severe shake, going into a short-term crash state.

“This isn’t a painting. This is a tarot card that’s been pieced together, made by a very skilled astrologer.”

Tan Muxing froze upon hearing this. He observed carefully and incredulously said, “Really? But I didn’t see any seams?”

Chu Qianli, through the barrier, gestured to him and explained, “This is The Fool, and then The Magician, but the artist is so clever that they are completely hidden in the starry sky. It’s hard for outsiders to notice…”

While ordinary tarot cards have divisions on their faces, this set of cards could be spread out as a painting, and with no labels indicating the card names, it was naturally easy to mistake it for just a picture.

“Seems like that’s the case?” Tan Muxing said admiringly, “The artist is really creative.”

The creator combined their painting skills with astrology, blending their lifelong learning into one.

After admiring the work for a while, Tan Muxing suggested they leave.

Chu Qianli’s eyes lit up, “I want this!”

Tan Muxing replied, “Then take a photo. You can look at it again when you go home.”

Chu Qianli repeated, “I want this!”

Tan Muxing was confused, “?”

Tan Muxing asked, “But it’s an exhibit piece?”

Chu Qianli, like a broken record, insisted, “I want this!”

Tan Muxing paused for a moment, unsure how to handle this stubborn behavior, and patiently proposed, “How about this: Let’s go back to the gold exhibit. You can pick something you like, and we can make a replica. Let’s pick something that has a better chance of being replicated.”

He had trouble responding to her in the gold exhibit earlier, but now he understood the logic of Mr. Lu Xun’s words—if you want to open the window, you have to start by tearing down the house.

She directly asked for the unique piece of artwork from the exhibit, but he felt that choosing a golden armillary sphere would be a better option.