Chapter 48: A Guilty Conscience — A Scribbled Test Paper
Su Keke was still wondering what she had said wrong when Qin Mochen suddenly called out to her.
“Girl.”
“Huh! Uncle?”
“From now on, don’t say things like having an affair or indulging excessively.”
Su Keke thought he didn’t believe her and immediately grew anxious. “Uncle, I really wasn’t bad-mouthing them! Their facial features told me so!”
“I know,” Qin Mochen said, gently patting the girl on the head. “It’s just that such things aren’t suitable to come out of your mouth.”
Su Keke froze for a moment, then nodded. “I understand, Uncle. My master told me the same—when you see faces like that, just keep it in your heart and don’t say it aloud. Uncle, are you worried I’ll get myself into trouble? Don’t worry, I only say these things in front of you. I won’t tell anyone else.”
Qin Mochen gave a vague mm in response.
How was he supposed to tell this silly girl that those two weren’t father and daughter at all?
The man was over fifty, with limited stamina, and since the girl said the woman was indulging excessively… it seemed he’d been wearing a green hat.
The residential compound was huge. By the time the two finished strolling around, the sky had already grown dark.
After they got back, Qin Mochen led Su Keke straight into the study, saying he had something to ask her.
Su Keke sat down in the chair. Her bottom had barely touched the seat when she saw what was lying on the desk and sprang up with a whoosh.
“Uncle—this, this—why is it here?!”
The test papers she had done in front of the homeroom teacher during the day were actually lying on her uncle’s desk!
Too terrifying—more frightening than a vicious ghost!
Su Keke was extremely nervous. She lowered her head and didn’t dare look up, twisting her fingers together. Her little face turned red with embarrassment.
“Sit.”
Qin Mochen spoke a single syllable, deep and heavy, his emotions unreadable.
Su Keke glanced at him, then slowly stuck her bottom out just a little and cautiously scooted back to the edge of the chair, silently sitting down. She placed both hands neatly on the desk, posture perfectly proper.
“Uncle,” she called softly. “Other than the Chinese paper, I really didn’t know how to do the rest.”
Qin Mochen was flipping through the papers with his head lowered. Without looking up, he said, “Your homeroom teacher is quite responsible. He specifically called me today and tactfully asked me to come by.”
He had just left his name and contact information as her guardian that morning, and before a full day had passed, it was already being used. Qin Mochen’s feelings were… complicated.
Su Keke stiffened instantly and stole a glance at him from the corner of her eye.
“I couldn’t spare the time, so I had Assistant Wu go in my place and bring these papers back.”
The man calmly placed the first Chinese test aside. “Other than the classical prose and poetry dictation sections being left blank, you did very well on the rest. Teacher Zhao even praised you over the phone.”
Su Keke was flattered. “Really?”
Qin Mochen glanced at her but didn’t say whether it was true or not. He continued with the second paper. “As for the math test, you only did three extension problems unrelated to the textbook. However—”
Those three thinking-extension problems had been answered by Su Keke like this:
According to the Luo Shu Nine Palaces Flying Stars, Qian Palace 1, Kan Palace 1, Gen Palace 8, Zhen Palace 3, Central Palace 5, Xun Palace 4, Li Palace 9, Kun Palace 2, Dui Palace 7. Horizontally, vertically, and diagonally, the sum is always 15, so the southwest is Kun 2, and the northeast corner is Gen 8…
According to the number-based divination method of Plum Blossom Divination…
According to the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches…
Su Keke was so nervous she started biting her finger. “Uncle, I only know how to do these three questions. Don’t tell me I even got these wrong?”
Qin Mochen gave a soft chuckle. “No. You got them right.”
His sharp brows lifted ever so slightly. “It’s just that your problem-solving process completely baffled your math teacher.”
Su Keke couldn’t tell whether her uncle was praising her or scolding her. She pressed her lips together and didn’t dare make a sound.
Qin Mochen set the math paper aside as well. Two fingers landed on the next test and tapped it lightly twice. “Student Su Keke, can you explain what this is?”
Those long, elegant fingers were pointing at a blank spot on the physics test.
And in that blank space, someone had drawn a big round face… with noodle-like tears streaming down, the expression vivid and lifelike. Beside it was a line of neat little characters:
Teacher, I don’t know how to do a single question on this test.
Qin Mochen’s finger moved slightly, as if scraping across the big round face. His brows lifted, gaze deep. “Hmm? Care to explain?”
Su Keke muttered, “I really didn’t know how to do it, so I sincerely expressed that fact.”
Sincere enough to draw a big crying face—indeed, very sincere.
Qin Mochen said nothing more. He flipped past the physics paper with the crying face, revealing the final English test. “Then what about this? Ghost scribbles?”
The English paper also had not a single question answered, but this time the blank areas weren’t filled with a crying face—just messy lines so chaotic that only ghosts could possibly recognize them.
These scribbles covered almost the entire English test, like a naughty child deliberately doodling all over it. With such a “masterpiece,” it was a miracle that the homeroom teacher Zhao Changxing hadn’t exploded on the spot.
Su Keke slowly lifted her heels, leaving only her toes touching the ground as they rubbed back and forth restlessly.
“Well… that… that’s not ghost scribbles,” she stammered. “It’s a calming talisman I drew.”
She sneaked a look at her uncle and saw that aside from his gaze being a little deep, his expression… seemed okay?
Then she broke into a hee-hee smile. “I was afraid the teacher would get angry, so I tried drawing a calming talisman. If he saw it, even if he was angry, he wouldn’t blow up that badly.”
Talismans are usually drawn on yellow talisman paper—especially those meant to summon deities or exorcise evil—because yellow is a noble color, once reserved exclusively for emperors.
But simple talismans like calming charms, which only require gathering spiritual energy, don’t strictly need yellow talisman paper.
In the end, the yellow paper is just a medium for holding the symbols. Compared to that, the talisman patterns themselves—used to carry spiritual and divine power—are what truly matter.
Still, better tools produce better talismans, with stronger effects.
“…This test paper can’t compare to talisman paper, and I didn’t have cinnabar or a proper brush, so I tried over and over again.”
The little girl deliberately emphasized the words “over and over,” looking rather aggrieved.
“Finally, just before the paper was completely filled, I succeeded in drawing one calming talisman!” Su Keke raised a finger, her tone suddenly lifting, her small mouth curving into a smile again.
Then she cheerfully moved her uncle’s large hand off the test paper. “Look—it’s right under Uncle’s palm.”
Qin Mochen glanced at the little paw pushing his hand away, then at the spot the other little paw was pointing to.
Amid the page full of chaotic scribbles, one area had been specially framed.
Framed once, and then framed again—a double border, as if afraid no one would notice it.
Qin Mochen couldn’t help but twitch his brow.
So it really was… a talisman pattern?
