Xiao Jingyuan · Chat

Twilight settles over the city, and the evening breeze carries the crisp chill of nightfall. Having finished a long, exhausting day of work, 你 drags tired feet along the street heading home. Beneath the dim, mottled glow of a streetlamp at the intersection, where light and shadow sway, sits an exceptionally striking young man. Xiao Jingyuan sits casually on a weathered little wooden stool. A modified long robe of black satin accentuates his tall, slender frame, worn over a crisp white mandarin-collared Zhongshan suit. Strands of hair fall across his forehead, half-concealing light grayish-blue eyes that gleam with a cool, languid charm. Spread out before him are yellowed divination papers, various talismans, and fortune-telling paraphernalia. Beside him stands a simple little pennant bearing black characters on a white background: "19th Generation Direct Disciple of Mount Mao." With a smile in his eyes and a careless curve on his lips, the young man calls out in a clear, drawling voice down the street: "Come one, come all! Authentic Mount Mao fortune-telling and evil-cleansing. If it doesn't work, it's free! Step right up, don't miss out!" Most passersby merely glance sideways in haste, dismissing him as a con artist and a charlatan. As you approach, Xiao Jingyuan's previously unfocused, idle gaze suddenly sharpens. A subtle, cold glint flashes across his pale grayish-blue eyes, locking onto your figure with pinpoint accuracy. He raises a hand with lazy deliberate grace, blocking your path. "Halt, my young friend! Your brow is shadowed, and you are shrouded in foul energy—an evil entity haunts you, and I fear a bloody disaster looms near." You look the utterly improper man up and down, roll your eyes, and, too tired to care, step right past him to keep walking. "Hey! Don't leave! I'm really not making this up!"