Chapter 1: A Destiny of Pure Yang

This was my first time being in such close contact with a member of the opposite sex.

Even though I didn’t even know his name yet.

If this were an anime, I would definitely be squealing and internally combusting from the cuteness of the boy beneath me – eyes as black as ink, handsome features, a complexion as pale as snow, hair as smooth as silk, and two fluffy white ears on his head.

I might even want to pinch them a little, cover my mouth with my hand, and squeal excitedly,

“Wow! So cute!

“But in reality…

My first reaction was a daze: “Huh? Is this guy playing cosplay at home? Does he have some kind of special fetish? Is this long hair real? What brand of conditioner does he use to make it so silky smooth! And those ears look so realistic, they’re actually moving!”

It wasn’t until I noticed the boy’s delicately carved, jade-like face slowly turning red that my heart began to pound like a drum, and lust arose within me: “Hehehehehe, this guy is way too pretty and cute! Ooh, he’s even blushing! He must be an innocent little puppy who’s never been in love!”

So much so that I completely ignored the fact that I was currently straddling the boy, my hands propped on his chest, in a kneeling position.

As for my expression… it must have looked pretty lascivious.

As I was indulging in all sorts of wild fantasies, coincidentally, out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of something white swaying back and forth on the floor beside me.

Before I could turn my head to see what it was, I was transformed into a graceful parabola, thrown away by the boy beneath me.

“Ah—!”

The scream didn’t stop my head from accurately hitting the wall. After a flash of golden light, I lost consciousness in a matter of seconds.

My vision blurred, but before losing consciousness, I was almost 100% sure that the white thing was a fluffy tail!

Because when the boy walked towards me in a fit of embarrassment and rage, he used it to give me another slap in the face.

What the heck is going on! Why does my employer have ears and a tail! Is this a monster transforming into a human, or some kind of new type of scam?

Scam?!

Crap, if I’m unconscious, will I be sold to Myanmar to have my kidneys harvested?! Is my twenty-two-year-old flowery maiden life going to end because of this job search?

I haven’t even had a sweet romance yet! I haven’t even gotten my university diploma yet!

I shouldn’t have been greedy for that 10,000 yuan monthly salary! There’s really no such thing as a free lunch!

As for how all of this came to be, it all started with the resume I submitted the day before yesterday.

My name is Le Xiao Mai, a senior graduating with a degree in civil engineering.

I chose civil engineering because the tuition was lower, so I could take out fewer student loans, making it easier to pay them back later.

There are very few girls studying civil engineering, and for rural kids like me who don’t have family connections to get us jobs, graduation is basically equivalent to unemployment.

So I decided to find a job before my thesis defense, no matter how low the salary was, at least I’d have something to eat, so I wouldn’t end up homeless after moving out of the dorms after graduation.

This was because my family had used the excuse of buying a house for my younger brother to empty out the family savings, and seeing that I was about to graduate and get a job, they stopped my already meager living expenses.

At the same time, they issued a firm order that after I found a job, I had to send two thousand yuan back home every month.

I don’t know if only my parents think this way, or if most parents think this way – they think that as soon as their children graduate, they will have a job and money in their pockets, and a single dog will immediately find a partner.

I can confidently tell all parents that we are very poor!

Especially rural university graduates without any connections will quickly realize that the goal they strive for their entire lives is something that some people easily inherit upon graduation.

Do I hate God for being unfair?

I hated it long ago.

Now, I’m just numb and… resigned to fate.

‘Resigned to fate’ are the two words I’ve heard the most since I was a child.

When I was just two years old, I was playing in the yard, mixing mud, when suddenly an old Taoist priest with long hair came to our house asking for water to drink. As soon as he saw me covered in mud, he was immediately shocked.

He said that as a reward, he could help me look at my birth chart, predict my future fortune and misfortune, and help me avoid disasters.

Rural people tend to believe in these things, so Grandpa immediately went back to the house to get paper and pen to write down my birth information.

Grandma happily pulled me to wash my face and hands, meaning that he could also take a look at my face and palm reading.

At that time, I was the most famous cute and beautiful girl in the village, praised by everyone. My grandmother once believed that I was a reincarnation of the Ziwei Star (a lucky star in Chinese astrology).

So, she automatically ignored the last words of the villagers: “Xiao Mai from your family is very lovable and loved when she’s quiet, but when she starts moving, she’s so naughty that even the dogs in our village tuck their tails and walk around her. Who will dare to marry your Xiao Mai in the future?”

At the age of two, I had already beaten all the children of my age and even two years older in the village with my fists. Herding ducks and chasing dogs was even more commonplace. People gave me the nickname: “McHammer.” (A play on her name and a tough persona).

Grandma and Grandpa didn’t think it was a problem. They protected me and said, “That way she won’t be bullied by her husband’s family. There is no girl in these ten miles and eight villages more beautiful than my Xiao Mai. The handsome young men who want to marry my Xiao Mai in the future will line up from Wang Village to our Lejia Village. It will dazzle her eyes!”

After retorting to the villagers, they would touch my head with their withered and kind hands, smiling and saying, “In the future, whoever marries our Xiao Mai will be blessed.”

Then, they paused, pointed to the golden wheat fields in the distance outside the village, and said earnestly, “Just like these harvested wheat fields, our Xiao Mai will always have plenty of food and clothing, without worries or sorrows, isn’t that right, Xiao Mai?”

A two-year-old toddler didn’t understand any of this and only nodded ignorantly.

The birth chart was handed to the old Taoist, and I was washed clean and pushed in front of him.

The old Taoist stroked his gray-white, grass-like beard, looked at the birth chart, pinched his fingers, squinted at me, and said with a mysterious smile, “A fully Yang birth chart, with a prominent seal star, immune to all evil. However, she will bring misfortune to her closest relatives, have a difficult destiny, and struggle to find marriage. If she wants a good match, she must have a Yin husband.”

The two old people were stunned. Although they didn’t understand the full meaning, the eight words ‘difficult destiny, struggle to find marriage’ struck them like lightning. The two old people quickly asked the old Taoist how to solve it.

My mother, who happened to be coming home from work outside the gate, heard what the old Taoist said. She parked her bicycle, supporting her lower back with her hand, and walked over, worried, “What do you mean by bringing misfortune to her closest relatives?”

The old Taoist’s eyes fell on my mother’s six-month-old belly, but he didn’t spell it out: “It means what you think it means.”

My mother glanced at me and asked, “Sir, is there any way to resolve this?”

The old Taoist didn’t beat around the bush and went straight to the point: “This noble girl has a pure Yang constitution, so she is naturally naughty. Ordinary evil spirits cannot get close to her, and she is prone to being lonely in her old age.””

The strong are easily broken, the soft are easily bent. This noble girl’s birth chart is too rigid, not only will she bring misfortune to herself, but she will also implicate her family, especially… bring misfortune to her mother.”

After hearing this, Grandma spat several times, saying that the sir must have seen it wrong. How could our Xiao Mai bring misfortune to her family, let alone her own mother?

The old Taoist smiled and shook his head, without explaining.

Although I didn’t understand what the adults were saying at the time, I could feel the venomous look in my mother’s eyes as cold as a knife, which made me scared and burrow into Grandma’s arms, so I didn’t hear the rest of what they said.

From that day on, my mother, who didn’t smile at me very much in the first place, became even more gloomy.

Grandpa and Grandma only considered the birth chart incident as an interlude and still loved me very much.

But in the year I turned six, they both died of cerebral hemorrhage and myocardial infarction, respectively. My mother blamed everything on me.

Despite my father’s opposition, she resolutely sent me to boarding school in the county town.

At that time, I didn’t know the reason and was super happy because I was the only one in the whole village who had seen a ‘big city’ at such a young age.

Every weekend when I was on holiday, I couldn’t wait to go back to the village to show off what I had seen and heard in the ‘big city’ to my friends.

Seeing their envious looks, I raised my head, as proud as a rooster.

Until the afternoon of the day I came back from summer vacation in the fourth grade, my parents had the biggest argument in their marriage that I could remember. They locked the bedroom door, and my younger brother, Xiao Dao, knocked on the door from outside in fear.

I had to take out a lollipop from my schoolbag, hug him, and hide under the wall to eavesdrop. Only then did I know that they sent me to school in the county to keep me far away from home—