In the following days, Y City experienced a heavy snowfall. The auspicious snow, heralding a year of prosperity, covered this southern city—which hadn’t seen snow for many years—in a silver blanket. Streets and alleys were filled with festive atmosphere, and every household was preparing for the New Year. Although modern people might not fully understand the origins and many customs of Spring Festival, thinking more about how many days off they would get from work or school, this couldn’t change the fact that Spring Festival remained a wonderful holiday when families should reunite and gather together to wish for good fortune in the coming year.

Xiao Nanzhu’s New Year plans were set. Si Tu Zhang had certainly intended to invite him to spend the New Year at his home and had mentioned this to Xiao Nanzhu early on. But Xiao Nanzhu wasn’t an ignorant teenager anymore; he naturally understood that it wasn’t quite appropriate to impose on someone else’s family during such an important holiday. Even though they had been neighbors for over a decade, and even though Si Tu Zhang was such a good friend, Xiao Nanzhu still firmly declined despite the threat of being scolded. As a result, he naturally became the most idle and aimless person during this Spring Festival.

Li Mao and his friends did invite him out for a couple of meals. At the dinner table, amid the boisterous atmosphere and mysterious conversations, Xiao Nanzhu’s contact list suddenly gained quite a few hidden clients.

These people came from various industries—some ran their own businesses, while others worked in government departments. Both Li Mao and the insurance salesman Fat Cao were eager to bring Xiao Nanzhu into their circle, so they were extremely enthusiastic about expanding his network. After all, since their last meeting, Xiao Nanzhu had symbolically given each of them a small benefit—a piece of advice for wealth or a warning of impending misfortune—allowing both to gain something and become increasingly convinced of Xiao Nanzhu’s abilities.

These seemingly casual drinking parties were their way of currying favor with Xiao Nanzhu. After all, even the finest gifts of tobacco and alcohol couldn’t compare to such personal connections. To obtain long-term benefits, one must first become true friends. The common characteristic among these diverse people at the dinner tables was that they were all middle-aged men between thirty and fifty, going through periods of conflict in their careers, families, and marriages. Such people often became somewhat superstitious and, when truly desperate, didn’t mind trying special methods to solve their difficulties, generously spending without concern for consequences. For Xiao Nanzhu, who clearly had a vulgar desire for money and wealth, this was naturally perfect.

“Sure, Old Cao, see you tonight. The usual place, right? Oh, Old Zhao isn’t coming? What? He got into a car accident on the highway? He’s in the hospital? That’s really unfortunate. I’ll definitely send him a wreath… I mean, a flower basket, to visit him soon…”

Pinching the cigarette in his hand, Xiao Nanzhu was standing in the living room, speaking intermittently with Fat Cao on the phone. Perhaps because he had anticipated this unfortunate outcome for Zhao Tiansheng, he wasn’t particularly surprised now. After all, Zhao had brought this misfortune upon himself—it wasn’t anyone else’s fault. If he continued behaving recklessly, sooner or later Heaven would teach him what it meant to have such bad luck that even drinking cold water would result in getting something stuck between his teeth. With this thought, Xiao Nanzhu’s expression grew colder. But just as he turned around, a man with his head lowered emerged from the bedroom, pushing a cleaning cloth. Silently, he began kneeling on the floor, vigorously scrubbing it. When he saw Xiao Nanzhu pacing back and forth while talking on the phone, leaving a trail of footprints on the shiny floor, he immediately stopped what he was doing, furrowed his brows, and cast a somewhat displeased glance at Xiao Nanzhu.

This glance carried a hint of reproach, causing Xiao Nanzhu to immediately lift his feet in cooperation. Seeing this, the man ignored him and continued cleaning the floor before starting to dust the entire house with a feather duster. This scene, so incongruous with his image, strangely made Xiao Nanzhu want to laugh. Sitting down on the sofa, he looked at the young Calendar God wearing an apron branded with “Liby Detergent,” his gaze becoming playful.

Today was February 17th, the 29th day of the lunar month. Over the past couple of days, his two assistants had worked hard helping him with various tasks before returning to the Calendar God realm to rest. But this morning, as the New Year approached, Xiao Nanzhu felt bothered by the messy house. So when he found a free moment, he asked Twenty-Nine, who was on duty that day, to help him with a thorough cleaning.

Twenty-Nine was a taciturn man whose appearance blended into the crowd, yet he possessed a certain special quality that made him somewhat provocative. From the moment Xiao Nanzhu met him, he felt that Twenty-Nine was different from the other Calendar Gods he had encountered. Perhaps it was those cold eyes, or those hands concealing strength, but he had the bearing of a proper soldier in the modern world. This inevitably gave Xiao Nanzhu a sense of familiarity, so he kept trying to get closer to him. But no matter how Xiao Nanzhu talked to him, Twenty-Nine maintained his reluctance to speak, just diligently doing his assigned tasks. Later, when Xiao Nanzhu witnessed Twenty-Nine killing a fully-formed evil spirit hiding in the corner of the house with a single sweep of his broom, Xiao Nanzhu first looked up at the reddish dust floating in the air, then imperceptibly raised an eyebrow.

Since he hadn’t lived in the house for several years, the nooks and crannies inevitably harbored filth. Things like liver-fire anger that could easily cause fires, or loneliness and isolation that could bring misfortune, were creeping around under the bed, under the sofa, everywhere—emitting strange sounds resembling human screams whenever the broom or mop touched them.

Xiao Nanzhu had never noticed this before. Only after Twenty-Four mentioned it did he learn that every home, besides mice and cockroaches, had these pests. They would gradually accumulate during family conflicts and negative emotions, eventually forming disasters. Today, he had originally planned to sweep all these things out the door before the year’s end, to avoid accumulating bad luck for another year. But Twenty-Nine was efficient and didn’t give Xiao Nanzhu any chance to help. He directly captured them like he was exterminating the “Four Pests,” categorized and disposed of them properly. Seeing this person’s calm demeanor, Xiao Nanzhu was left speechless.

“Eliminating them is my natural duty. Their reproduction rate is no lower than cockroaches…”

Wiping his hands with a cloth, Twenty-Nine noticed that Xiao Nanzhu had been watching him and responded this way. His voice was deep and muffled, clearly indicating a very rigid personality. But Xiao Nanzhu didn’t find him boring; instead, he gently kicked one of the sorted, still-wriggling garbage bags on the floor with his toe, then turned his head with a smile and said,

“You’re much more efficient at catching these things than Twenty-Eight and Twenty-Seven. Those two were screaming at evil spirits yesterday like little girls seeing a mouse. Thanks.”

“…”

Hearing this, Twenty-Nine lowered his eyes. His expressionless face showed no emotional change despite Xiao Nanzhu’s praise. His every word and action carried a sense of strict adherence to rules. Apart from loyalty and silence, he seemed to have almost no trace of a living person’s spirit. This stirred something in Xiao Nanzhu’s heart, instinctively making him want to be more patient with this person. So no matter what they did afterward, he kept talking to Twenty-Nine tirelessly, even though Twenty-Nine rarely responded with anything more than a grunt. As evening approached, Li Mao called, more urgently than Fat Cao.

“Brother Xiao, are you free now? If you’re free, could you come help me look at something? There’s a problem at my construction site, and you really need to come see it in person. I’m about to die from anxiety…”

From Li Mao’s tone, it was clear this wasn’t good news. At that time, Xiao Nanzhu was at his front door with Twenty-Nine, putting up “Fu” characters. This character and the couplet in Twenty-Nine’s hand were personally written by Twenty-Four. The calligraphy style had a scholarly charm and looked quite beautiful on paper. Twenty-Four had specially come out to explain to Xiao Nanzhu the special functions of his couplet and “Fu” character.

“My writing has all been blessed! Put it on your door, and not just thieves and robbers, but even ghosts and monsters won’t be able to enter. The ‘Fu’ character must be put upside down, you know? I guarantee you’ll be as happy as Erkang in the coming year. If you’re still not reassured, you can put photos of me and Twenty-Five on your door. We’re much more reliable than those silly door gods who sleep all day o(￣▽￣)ゞ…”

Regarding Twenty-Four’s latter suggestion, Xiao Nanzhu thought about it but decisively gave up. However, Li Mao’s call came at an inconvenient time, so he and Twenty-Nine had to put down the unfinished couplet and leave immediately. After taking a taxi to the suburban construction site, as soon as they walked to the half-completed project outside, Twenty-Nine instinctively frowned. Xiao Nanzhu, also sensing something wrong, looked up to see Li Mao rushing over with a small foreman.

“Brother Xiao, you’re finally here! Hehe, quick, it’s very cold outside. Why don’t we go inside and sit? Though the environment isn’t very good…”

Xiao Nanzhu didn’t respond to Li Mao’s words. He just fixed his gaze on the head of the small foreman behind him, who was covered in blood. The disheveled foreman kept his head low and glanced at Xiao Nanzhu with a miserable expression. Realizing that Li Mao’s unfortunate project had probably encountered some issue, Xiao Nanzhu took out a cigarette and handed it to Li Mao and the foreman, then lit one for himself and put it in his mouth. Raising his chin, he asked,

“I told you not to work during the New Year, but you’ve run into trouble again, haven’t you? Was there an accident? Did anyone die?”

“No, no, no one died, just some injuries… Brother Xiao, I know you said that for my own good, but leaving this project idle and delaying it until after April is simply impossible! Every day of delay is a loss. The workers still need to be paid even if they’re not working. Just tell me honestly, is there really not a single suitable day for work in February or March?”

Embarrassed, Li Mao rubbed his hands as he spoke. Xiao Nanzhu stood expressionless throughout, making Li Mao feel uncertain. But with such a large construction site constantly having accidents, he couldn’t feel at ease. Moreover, people in the construction business tended to be superstitious—after all, it wasn’t uncommon to dig up female corpses or graves when building foundations for large buildings, which naturally made them fearful. Only after he finished speaking did Xiao Nanzhu finally curl his lips meaningfully and say,

“I’ve seen people who value money over life, but never someone so careless with their own life. Fine, since Manager Li is asking, I’ll answer. The ground beneath your project is full of yin energy. It probably wasn’t a good place decades ago, so you absolutely cannot begin breaking ground until the Awakening of Insects when all creatures revive. However, since you’re asking me now, I can give you a solution, but…”

“Let’s discuss the specific fee structure, what do you say?”