Mortal Dawn and Dusk, My Eternal Life - Chapter 2

Liu the Scabby’s hand was about to touch Su Mingyue’s leg!

A fleeting, almost imperceptible glint of coldness flickered in Su Mingyue’s eyes.

She knew that she could crush this kind of idiotic trash with a single finger.

Forget using magic; even with ordinary farming techniques, she could easily take down three to five of these ruffians.

But she had just arrived in this place, unfamiliar with the people and surroundings. If she caused trouble by injuring someone on the first day and attracted the authorities, it would be problematic.

She didn’t want to attract attention; she just wanted to stay quietly for a while, then leave without a trace.

Su Mingyue subtly shifted her leg back a fraction, avoiding Liu the Scabby’s touch. Her voice remained calm, but a hint of chilliness was added: “Excuse me, palm reading is fine, but please show some respect.”

Liu the Scabby felt embarrassed when she dodged him, and her words “please show some respect” choked him, making him even more annoyed.

He snorted, a fake smile on his face: “Alright, alright, I’ll show respect! Now hurry up and tell me, is my palm destined for great wealth and nobility!”

With that, he spread his palm and leaned closer, his eager expression showing no intention of having his fortune told; he clearly just wanted to take advantage of the situation.

Su Mingyue slightly furrowed her brow. That almost negligible change in expression made the few older people watching closely feel a pang in their hearts.

They had lived in this town for most of their lives, seen all sorts of people, and this girl had an indescribable aura that made people dare not underestimate her.

She stared at Liu the Scabby’s greasy, calloused palm for just a glance, only two or three seconds.

Then, she slowly opened her mouth, her voice not loud, but clearly reaching the ears of every bystander:

“Sir, as for your palm… there’s no great wealth or nobility.”

“Huh?”

Liu the Scabby frowned, clearly dissatisfied with this answer. “Are you f***ing capable of fortune-telling? This hand of mine, a full forehead, a square jaw… bah, I mean deep palm lines, clearly a fortunate person!”

He hadn’t even read a single book on palmistry; he was purely spouting nonsense.

“Since that’s the case, then tell me, how’s my luck with women!?”

Liu the Scabby’s pair of shifty eyes scanned Su Mingyue’s shapely figure up and down, lingering especially on her exquisite face for a long time. He unconsciously swallowed, asking in a frivolous tone, his greed almost overflowing from his eyes.

He thought, if this little woman said his luck with women was strong, he could then naturally tease her.

Su Mingyue looked up, her cold gaze sweeping over Liu the Scabby’s repulsive face like an icy spring. The corners of her lips curled into a faint, almost imperceptible arc, yet without the slightest hint of a smile: “Luck with women? You certainly have peach blossoms in your destiny, but unfortunately…”

She deliberately paused, keeping Liu the Scabby in suspense and making the surrounding onlookers prick up their ears.

Liu the Scabby impatiently pressed: “Unfortunately what? Is it that my peach blossoms are too strong, and I can’t handle them all? Hahahaha!”

He laughed triumphantly, as if he already had women on both arms.

Su Mingyue then calmly continued: “Unfortunately, they are like reflections in a mirror, flowers in water—visible, but untouchable. What you yearn for, you cannot obtain; what willingly comes to you, you avoid, fearing endless entanglement. What is forced will be a thorny rose, only causing you to suffer a bloody head.”

At these words, the smile on Liu the Scabby’s face instantly froze.

Among the surrounding crowd, several who knew Liu the Scabby’s background couldn’t help but let out suppressed snickers.

Who didn’t know that Liu the Scabby had coveted the “Tofu Beauty” at the east end of town for a long time, constantly trying to curry favor, only for her to not even spare him a glance, and for him to be warned multiple times by the Tofu Beauty’s formidable brother?

As for what willingly came to him, the town’s notorious shrewish women did have some interest in him, scaring him into walking a wide path whenever he saw them.

Su Mingyue’s few sentences literally poked at Liu the Scabby’s sore spots!

“You… you’re talking nonsense!” Liu the Scabby, embarrassed and enraged, his face alternating between green and white, pointed a trembling finger at Su Mingyue.

He hadn’t expected this little woman’s tongue to be so sharp, exposing all his embarrassing secrets in a few sentences. Although it was said implicitly, who among those present couldn’t understand?

Su Mingyue ignored his shouting and continued in her unhurried tone:

“However, compared to these trivial matters of love, you should be more concerned about something else right now. Your forehead is dark, showing a hidden ill omen. I see that you, within three days, will suffer a bloody calamity.”

“Bloody calamity?”

Liu the Scabby burst into loud laughter, as if he had heard the biggest joke, using it to mask his previous embarrassment and anger. He pointed at Su Mingyue and said to the surrounding people:

“Listen, listen! This little woman is cursing me! Saying I’ll have a bloody calamity! Hahahaha!”

His two lackeys also joined in with mocking laughter.

“I think your business is bad, and you’ve gone crazy trying to extort money!”

Liu the Scabby finished laughing, his face darkened, and he stared fiercely at Su Mingyue, “You little b***h, I’m in a good mood today, so I won’t bother with you!

But, remember my words, three days from now, if I’m still standing here perfectly fine, I’ll let you taste what a real ‘bloody calamity’ is!”

He intentionally emphasized the words “bloody calamity,” his lewdness and threat undisguised in his eyes.

Su Mingyue’s expression remained unchanged, she simply replied indifferently: “The words have been spoken. Whether to believe or not, is up to the viewer.”

“Hmph! Playing the ghost!”

Liu the Scabby, seeing that she was unyielding and he couldn’t gain anything, felt bored.

He also didn’t want to actually lay hands on an unarmed young woman in front of so many people; it would be demeaning if it got out.

He glared fiercely at Su Mingyue, then scanned the onlookers, spat on the ground, and grumbling, led his two thugs away.

“Three days from now, I’ll come back to settle accounts with you!” his shouting could still be heard from afar.

After Liu the Scabby and his group had left, the onlookers finally burst into a wave of discussion.

“This Liu the Scabby, he’s getting more and more lawless!”

“This girl is really bold, daring to talk to him like that. What she said about his luck with women just now was truly brilliant, did you see Liu the Scabby’s face?” A middle-aged aunt covered her mouth and chuckled.

“Isn’t it though! That Tofu Beauty incident, and the Wang family’s shrew, who doesn’t know about them! This girl spoke so accurately!”

“Ah, I just wonder if what she said about the bloody calamity is true or false. If it really comes to pass, that would be amazing…”

“How could it be? I think that little girl was just pushed too far and was talking nonsense to scare him.”

The old man selling malt candy came over, looking worried, and said to Su Mingyue:

“Girl, you should pack your things and leave quickly. That Liu the Scabby, he’s very petty, and he’ll seek revenge for the slightest grievance. If nothing happens to him in three days, he’ll definitely come looking for trouble.”

Su Mingyue gently shook her head, a hint of a faint smile appearing on her face that was hard for others to detect, like thin ice melting under the spring sun: “Old man, don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”

What she didn’t say was that Liu the Scabby’s bloody calamity wasn’t something she simply conjured; it was something she “saw.”

The dark qi between his eyebrows had already solidified and wouldn’t dissipate. Coupled with his usual malicious acts and the malevolent aura clinging to him, an accident within three days was practically a certainty.

As for the specific nature of the calamity, she hadn’t looked closely, nor did she care to.

And the luck with women, that was merely a deduction she made based on his facial features, words, actions, and the subtle reactions of the people around them.

After the commotion, the crowd gradually dispersed, and the bridgehead returned to its previous deserted state.

Su Mingyue’s stall remained untouched.

She wasn’t anxious, just sat quietly, as if waiting for something.

She knew that sometimes, waiting itself was a form of cultivation.

And she had all the time in the world.

As night fell, Su Mingyue packed up her stall and returned to the simple inn.

The plump auntie saw her return and even asked caringly if she had found work.

Su Mingyue merely said she would keep looking.

She took out the still-intact silver dollar from her pocket and sighed.

It seemed she would go hungry again tonight.