Blurb: Proper title: Exorcising the Curse
[Born under an unlucky star, destined not to live past thirty. The solution: Find the person with a lotus-shaped mole on their palm and marry them.]
At nine years old, Feng Motan slung his schoolbag over his shoulder and headed straight for Mount Wudang. "Why rush? I’ve still got twenty-one years."
At nineteen.
His old man called to nag him about getting married. "Son, you’ve only got eleven years left!"
Feng Motan leaned against a thousand-year-old ginkgo tree. "What’s there to panic about? With the Feng family’s wealth, I can just pick some girl with a mole on her palm and marry her when I’m twenty-nine."
At twenty-nine.
"Young Master, we found them! At Qixia Temple in Jinling!"
Feng Motan hurried down the mountain in the middle of the night. The moment he saw the person, it was like being struck by lightning.
A man! And a monk, at that! But if he wanted to save his own skin, he had to go for it!
"Little Master, care to talk?"
"No."
Scene One:
With just three days left on the countdown to his death, the capital’s social circles were in an uproar.
"Did you hear? That Feng family Taoist married a monk!"
"That’s not all. The monk has returned to secular life, and now he goes to work with Master Feng every day. One catches ghosts, the other guides spirits to the afterlife. A husband-and-wife team, with the whole business covered."
Scene Two:
One day, Feng Motan happened to come across Wen Liao’s diary. One page read:
"The first time I saw him, I knew he was my calamity. A ginkgo leaf landed on his shoulder. I wanted to brush it away for him, but I didn’t dare."
The date was three years ago.
Feng Motan gritted his teeth as he settled the score. "You’d seen me before? You’d already fallen for a mortal, damn it!"
Wen Liao looked up with a faint smile. "Didn’t you also say that the day we met, you thought this monk was damn handsome?"
"That was..."
"What was it?"
Feng Motan was at a loss for words. Giving up, he pulled Wen Liao close and kissed him. "I fell for you! Happy now? You fake monk who broke his vows ages ago!"
"I am a true Buddhist disciple, and my feelings are true as well."
Bonus Scene
Later, at a gathering of a metaphysics forum, a busybody asked, "So, which of you fell first?"
Feng Motan crossed his legs. "Obviously him. His diary proves it!"
Wen Liao leisurely brewed tea. "If a certain someone hadn’t still been acting like a hotheaded boy at twenty-nine, climbing over walls and up trees to chase after people, this humble monk might have kept up appearances for a few more days."
"Then keep up appearances!"
"I can’t anymore." Wen Liao handed him the tea, his eyes full of tenderness. "Seeing how afraid you are of dying, and how... adorable you are."
The whole room fell silent for three seconds. "Eww!"
First line: The Taoist says he never fell for him
Second line: The Buddhist disciple says he saw through it long ago
Final line: You two, get married already
Sharp-tongued but soft-hearted, carefree playboy, fake domineering CEO, real Taoist priest bottom (Feng Motan) x aloof Buddhist disciple, scheming and secretly passionate, monk top (Wen Liao)
P.S. He’s the monk Wen Buliao from Everyday Life of the Socially Anxious King of Hell.
Theme: It starts with the will to survive and continues for love
