Two labor contracts were placed in front of Xiao Nanzhu, A4 paper with black and white text. The party A column was stamped with a large string of 365 bright red thumbprints, while the party B column remained empty.

Ever since the Twenty-fourth had emerged shivering from the refrigerator, Xiao Nanzhu’s expression had remained in a state of indescribable contortion. Perhaps because he truly didn’t know how to react to this series of supernatural events, he furrowed his brows and simply grabbed the defenseless Twenty-fourth. Poor Twenty-fourth was merely a frail scholar, and helpless to resist as Xiao Nanzhu hoisted him onto his shoulder, carrying him to the wall amid his shouts and protests. After coldly smiling and rehanging the old almanac on the wall, Xiao Nanzhu ignored Twenty-fourth’s continuous objections and tried to forcibly stuff him back into the almanac.

“Ahhhh!! Are you crazy?! My head!! Ahhhh!! My hairstyle!!! My face, wuwu!!!”

Twenty-fourth’s pitiful screams sounded quite embarrassing. Seeing that he couldn’t stuff him back in, Xiao Nanzhu became somewhat irritated. Having been manhandled by this brutish man, Twenty-fourth was now scared and quickly took advantage of the pause to pull the labor contract from his sleeve and hand it over. After taking it with suppressed anger and looking at it, Xiao Nanzhu was momentarily speechless. The eight-page labor contract was densely written with numerous clauses, covering everything from salary and benefits to specific job duties, with the central focus being the relevant paths to becoming an almanac master.

The almanac master was traditionally said to refer to those sorcerers who could change the seasonal solar terms and festivals, and could predict each day’s fortunes and misfortunes. In modern times, with the increase of various international holidays and commemorative days, the once antiquated ranks of the old almanac had been continuously infused with fresh blood. As partners of the various calendar spirits of the old almanac, the relationship between almanac masters and calendar spirits was maintained by this contract, so the details were inevitably comprehensive. It covered the functions and origins of traditional festivals, the seasonal changes and transitions carried by solar terms, and specific shift arrangements for calendar spirits taking sick leave, maternity leave, or marriage leave, all written very formally. Most importantly, at the bottom of the contract was a list of successive almanac masters, where Xiao Nanzhu saw his grandmother Xiao Ruhua’s name.

Xiao Nanzhu’s grandmother had signed such a labor contract during her lifetime, and for decades afterward, she had concealed all of this from everyone, even her own grandson knew nothing about it. In his memory, his grandmother had indeed never made a mistake in calculating dates for others. Any wedding or funeral she scheduled always went smoothly. There was even one time when she accurately foresaw that a pregnant woman living near their alley would give birth to quintuplets. It should be noted that at the beginning of pregnancy, even hospitals couldn’t detect such things, so there was no reason an old woman without medical knowledge could spot it at a glance. Before knowing the situation, Xiao Nanzhu had thought she was just making lucky guesses, but looking back now, he realized that his grandmother—who didn’t like square dancing and could chase him for two blocks despite her advanced age—was indeed as formidable as her reputation suggested. No wonder she had earned the nickname “Xiao the Witch.” If Twenty-fourth, who had just awkwardly crawled out of the refrigerator and looked quite unreliable, hadn’t been the one to inform him of all this, Xiao Nanzhu would have seriously considered the feasibility of taking this job.

First of all, he currently needed a proper job, and analyzing the existing situation, compared to selling insurance with Si Tu Zhang’s friend, he would rather do this seemingly odd profession. Although this work, upon closer examination, also seemed unreliable—exorcising evil spirits, blessing with gods, interpreting dreams, changing fortunes—it all sounded unscientific…

Young people today are different from those in the past. The older generation’s traditional thinking maintained a certain reverence for supernatural matters, but now with advanced technology and medical progress, completely different from the backward era thousands of years ago when people relied on prayers to the gods to treat diseases, people disdain using those ignorant methods to gamble with their lives. Thus, many traditional industries that cannot be proven by modern science have become completely feudal dross.

Fortune-telling, astrology, and other professions that could once stir up the world’s affairs and were once high-paying industries have become universally criticized. Thinking about it now, this view is inevitably one-sided and extreme. After all, having personally witnessed these supernatural things, Xiao Nanzhu could no longer completely dismiss them. However, this shift in thinking didn’t lead him to immediately accept the olive branch eagerly offered by the old almanac, because Xiao Nanzhu quickly noticed… that an almanac master had to work all 365 days without a SINGLE day of rest!

“Well, there’s definitely rest time. Our work intensity isn’t high, and we’re quite idle most of the time… Besides, this contract actually starts from next year. Everyone’s on vacation these days and will start working after the New Year. The one you met last night was Little New Year, one of the twenty-two traditional festivals, presiding over fire… If you have time, you can let First Day, Second Day, and others familiarize you with the work process…”

Twenty-fourth spoke hesitantly, not forgetting to take out a comb to fix his hairstyle. Xiao Nanzhu just listened without responding, his arrogant demeanor making one want to punch him. At the moment, he was narrowing his eyes, leaning against the sofa, flipping through the contract, smoking with his legs crossed, showing no signs of pleasure or anger. His firm jawline gave people a cold impression, making it difficult for those unfamiliar with him to feel comfortable around him. In fact, Xiao Nanzhu’s personality might be even less approachable than his appearance.

Twenty-fourth sat with him, not knowing how to start a conversation. After all, he was somewhat aware of Xiao Nanzhu’s temperament and had no idea how to handle this wild horse who had been untamable since childhood. If Xiao Nanzhu was unwilling to do this job, their work progress would continue to be delayed. When Xiao Nanzhu noticed from the corner of his eye that Twenty-fourth was secretly observing his expression from the opposite sofa, he held his cigarette between his fingers and slowly addressed Twenty-fourth:

“Sorry about earlier. What was your name again?”

Playing with a folding fan and dressed in blue robes, Twenty-fourth paused when he heard Xiao Nanzhu speak to him. Covering his lips, he coughed somewhat embarrassedly, then bowed with his hands cupped and spoke formally:

“I am the Twenty-fourth. When I came out of the refrigerator earlier, I was startled and behaved rudely…”

His cadence was so rhythmic, he might as well have been singing opera. However, Twenty-fourth had a fair and clean appearance, and his pedantry wasn’t displeasing. Xiao Nanzhu nodded and responded with a brief “oh,” then couldn’t help but look up at the old almanac hanging on the wall. Currently, the almanac was turned to the Twenty-fourth day, looking almost no different than usual, except that the person who should have been in the painting was now standing before him.

Xiao Nanzhu felt an inexplicable sense of absurdity, since before returning to his hometown, he had never imagined he would end up on such a bizarre path. In the current situation, he didn’t seem to have many better options, but the name “almanac master” sounded a bit stupid…

While silently criticizing in his heart, Xiao Nanzhu’s face remained unchanging as he continued to probe Twenty-fourth’s words. Twenty-fourth clearly wasn’t very shrewd, as a few words from Xiao Nanzhu made him spill everything.

“Hmm… When calendar spirits are working, they usually stay in the outside world, with one day and night as a cycle. After working for a day, we return to the almanac to rest for a year… What we mainly do is eradicate disasters and evil spirits roaming the human world, bringing blessings to humanity. Because in recent years, people have gradually stopped believing in these things… the almanac master’s client base has been shrinking, relying on checking wedding dates and calculating due dates to make a living. Of course, we can come out even when we’re not working, it just depends on whether we want to or not… Your grandmother used to find Lantern Festival and others to play mahjong with her all night during the New Year when she couldn’t find partners, but I’m sure you don’t remember… You were still small then, only four or five years old…”

Twenty-fourth seemed quite enthusiastic when talking about the past, and Xiao Nanzhu found it somewhat interesting as he silently listened. He had actually made up his mind, but wanted to learn more about this profession before giving Twenty-fourth an answer, so he didn’t interrupt him. Instead, he decisively ignored Si Tu Zhang’s repeated calls inviting him out for drinks.

He could almost imagine how Si Tu Zhang would be fuming on the other end. Xiao Nanzhu smirked, thinking about it, then turned off his phone and simply listened as Twenty-fourth began explaining everything to him one by one. Since this was related to his future career choice, he wanted to prepare mentally and asked Twenty-fourth to explain the work process. Speaking of which, one had to praise the scholar’s eloquence—a flick of the tongue and he could make anything sound clear and orderly. Twenty-fourth’s usual knowledge was limited to some trivial gossip about other calendar spirits. Once he started talking, there was hardly anything serious; on the contrary, Xiao Nanzhu, who was initially very serious, later unconsciously became attracted to the gossip.

“Let me tell you a secret, but don’t tell anyone, okay? Actually, the Qixi Festival and February 14th don’t get along at all. You know why, right? It’s because they share the same name! Both are called Valentine’s Day. Qixi complains that the other lacks historical and cultural depth, while February 14th feels his current popularity is high enough that he doesn’t care about depth… So when Valentine’s Day comes out in a couple of days, make sure you don’t mention Qixi to him, otherwise he’ll go crazy…”

Twenty-fourth’s advice made Xiao Nanzhu chuckle. In the brief time, Twenty-fourth had already introduced each of the upcoming calendar spirits—Twenty-fifth, Valentine’s Day, and so on—one by one. But when it came to talking about the thirtieth night, New Year’s Eve, Twenty-fourth suddenly skipped it.

“What about New Year’s Eve? Is it special?”

Seeing him hesitate and afraid to speak, Xiao Nanzhu became curious. Upon hearing this, Twenty-fourth made a shushing gesture, then sneakily leaned towards Xiao Nanzhu’s ear and whispered:

“New Year’s Eve is different from us, I’d better not tell you. When the time comes, you’ll understand, mm-hmm…”

Seeing his mysterious demeanor, Xiao Nanzhu couldn’t be bothered to ask further. After all, he would see for himself in a few days, and no matter how difficult to get along with, it would only be for one day. By this point, Xiao Nanzhu had basically agreed to work as an almanac master for some time. After all, Twenty-fourth had told him he could resign anytime, as long as he helped them find a new boss before leaving, because the almanac master’s income provided them with a certain share, so the almanac master’s quality of life directly affected their quality of life. These days before the New Year would be his probation period, and everything would be discussed further after the New Year.

After this long conversation, night had fallen without them noticing. Xiao Nanzhu didn’t seem to intend to invite Twenty-fourth for dinner, and Twenty-fourth consciously said, “I’ll go back and cook at my place; your grandmother used to say meals weren’t included.”

As he was leaving, he collected the contract that Xiao Nanzhu had signed, but just as he was about to leave, Xiao Nanzhu suddenly seemed to remember something and called out to Twenty-fourth, then brought out a large turtle from the kitchen and handed it to him.

“This…”

Holding the large turtle, Twenty-fourth looked somewhat dumbfounded. Seeing this, Xiao Nanzhu narrowed his eyes and smiled, then pointed to the old almanac on the wall:

“Please take this to Little New Year for me. Tell him it’s my compensation and ask him not to cry anymore. Isn’t a turtle much more long-lived than a carp? Don’t you think?”

Twenty-fourth: “…………”