Chapter 19 - Happy Cooperation

While Qiu Ling was delighted, that his plan had succeeded this easily, the fate's scribe Shun Tao was on his way to thwart said plan, even though he still didn't know, that Qiu Ling was the one, who changed Jing Yi's fate every time.

In the nine heavens, only some minutes had passed, since the heavenly emperor and the god of war had gone. The young gods were still in the courtyard and Shun Tao made his way over to a servant girl, who hurried along outside.

"Miss!", he called out to her and smiled, when she stopped.

The girl returned his smile at once. Shun Tao's task might not have been the most prestigious one in the nine heavens, but he was still somebody no one wanted to cross. What if you had to go for a trial in the mortal world and were on his bad side? A mortal life might seem like the blink of an eye, while they were up in the nine heavens, but being down there as a mortal and leading a hard life felt for them like torture, too. The fact, that Shun Tao looked quite handsome, did help, too. And a lot of people attested him to have a lot of charm.

Being called by him, a lot of goddesses would have been happy. Even more so a small servant girl, who didn't have much of a status. What she thought of at this moment would have made a beautiful tale for him to write into a love trial, if another god descended to the mortal realm.

"Fate's scribe, what may I do for you?"

Shun Tao nodded at the small goddess and motioned her to the side, where the young gods from the courtyard couldn't see them. "First of all, might I know your name?"

The goddess smiled shyly. "But of course. This one is called Hong Bao."

"Hong Bao, it's a pleasure to meet you. It's like this: The scribe's palace wants to monitor some of the young gods, to find out, if they would be eligible for joining our ranks in the scribe's palace. But of course, they would notice, if I went myself and a lot of the other gods at our palace are also quite well known. So I am in search of someone, who could help us with this task."

"Oh! I can help!" Hong Bao took the chance to volunteer. Her eyes seemed to sparkle, being presented with such an opportunity. Who wouldn't want to help the scribe's fate, if he was only a servant? That could be the beginning of a new life. And furthermore, Hong Bao just liked Shun Tao. This was the perfect opportunity for her!

Shun Tao was a little taken aback at her enthusiasm. But then again … at least she'd be serious about the task. "That would be wonderful! Mn, we're the most interested in three of them. If you have a look now, they are writing at the stone tables or monitoring something in the human world. The ones reading could be possible candidates as well, but they are less likely. Just make sure, that it's not too obvious, you're only interested in some of them. That might give the plan away."

"Of course!" Hong Bao tensed up. I'll be extra careful! If the fate's scribe sees, how dependable I am, this might just lead to him falling in love with me!

Shun Tao nodded, satisfied. He couldn't guess Hong Bao's thoughts, but her enthusiasm was plain to see. The latter convinced him. Had he known about the former … he might have asked somebody else.

But since that wasn't the case, Shun Tao and Hong Bao happily started their cooperation. Hong Bao skipped away, asking for leave from her regular job, so she could work on her new mission. Shun Tao returned to the scribe's palace and sat down at his writing table.

"Hong Bao is observing you, so I'll use this time to give you something to work on. Let's see how you'll fare against this!"

He dipped his brush in the ink and wrote with fast strokes: After the sagely old man left, Zhong Jing Yi followed his advice. Soon, the people of the village noticed, that he wasn't just avoiding Fa Chao Fu, but all girls instead.

Madam Pan, who liked the Zhong's child and worried whether he'd turn out alright, if this went on, tried to persuade him: Seeing that the child was especially dependent on his mother, she used this to persuade the child.

Shun Tao put the brush down and smirked. He was far from being at the end of his rope!