Oh. My. Fate?! (BL, Volume #1)

15 Who's Messing with Me?!

While a year had gone by in thehuman world only one day had passed in the Nine Heavens. Normally,the gods wouldn't feel this to be a long time just like a day inthe human world didn't feel long to the mortals. But on this dayeven one hour felt painfully long to the Fate's Scribe Shun Tao.

He had been staring at his newestcreation unblinkingly since he adjusted it. Each time one of thesmall black signs solidified into the unchangeable form of afulfilled fate he wanted to leap from his seat and dance around hischamber. He never gave in to this urge though because he felt like hecouldn't leave. There were still characters that hadn'tsolidified and only when the last one became a certainty could herelax.

Another one changed, showing thatthis part of Zhong Jing Yi's fate had been fulfilled: The Zhongsand the other villagers got into an argument. Shun Tao stared at theblack lines, his whole body tensed.

Just one more step, just one morestep ..., he chanted inside his head. Nothing can go wrong here!

Madam Zhong fell. Shun Tao sprangup. He sucked in a large breath, opened his lips, prepared to laugh.The next character lit up, about to solidify and ... crumbled. Theair got stuck in Shun Tao's throat. He dropped the scroll, bentover, pressed a hand to his chest, and coughed until tears spilledfrom his eyes.

Bloody hell! Did I jinx it?!

Shun Tao threw an accusing gaze atthe scroll lying motionless on his writing table. The damned thingglowed and changed his carefully crafted characters. Again!

"Why did I become the Fate'sScribe? Why didn't I apply for another job?" He sniffled andslumped into his seat. Without any motivation whatsoever, he watchedthe changes on his scroll. "Once is an accident, twice is acoincidence, thrice is someone messing with me. So ... This couldjust be a coincidence?"

Zhong Jing Yi's mother hadn'tdied at birth and now she hadn't died in the scuffle.

The first time, well ... such thingscould happen. A Daoist happening upon such a scene wasn't thatstrange, even though the village wasn't close to any sect. Therewere wandering practitioners and cultivators out on missions, afterall. A lot of things could have led to this. It seemed like one ofthe gods had his hands in it but that was only speculation on hispart and not something he had definite proof of.

The second time, however, was quitea bit suspicious. If some gust had blown the sickle in anotherdirection, it would have been strange but acceptable. But a gust ofwind pushing Madam Zhong in the other direction? And even all of theother villagers?

This was definitely the work of agod!

"This might not be the thirdtime but someone is definitely messing with me! Who could it be?"

Shun Tao stood up again, notbothering to make any rash adjustments to the scroll. If some othergod was really sabotaging his work, then it wouldn't make anydifference if he did. That asshole would just thwart him again!

"I need to find out who isresponsible for this mess." Shun Tao paced up and down in hisstudy. "Certainly, nobody would do this just for the fun of it.There has to be a reason. But what could it be?" He stoppedbefore the door and looked out at his garden. "What happens whenthat person succeeds?" He leaned against the door frame andcrossed his arms, his fingers drumming in a fast rhythm. "Messingup such an important fate ... I'd certainly lose my job. If I lostmy job ..." His face fell and he slammed his fist against thedoor frame. "Despicable! Someone's out to get his hands on myjob! Tch!"

Shun Tao paced back to his table. "Ispent several thousand years to get this job! Even if it's terriblytroublesome sometimes, I definitely won't hand it over so easily!Don't think you'll get away with this! I'm going to catch youin the blink of an eye!"

He picked up his brush and preparedthe ink. The tip of the brush hovered a finger's breadth over ZhongJing Yi's scroll of fate. He didn't know how to proceed, though.

"I'll have to take a trip andobserve those younglings. It has to be one of them. But ... how toexpose him? I'd need to catch him red-handed. That guy is surelywatching His Highness from the Nine Heavens. He wouldn't dare todescend considering that His Majesty certainly has somebody watchingover his son down there. He can only mess with Zhong Jing Yi's fatein the last possible moment and only through indirect means like thatDaoist or the gust of wind. He wouldn't dare to go down personally.Then ... how to catch him?" He needed time and a ploy to catchhis enemy.

Slowly, the brush advanced towardthe scroll. Shun Tao hesitated only a moment longer then wrote intothe gaps that had opened once again in Zhong Jing Yi's fate: Afterthe Daoist leaves, the villagers don't speak of the hereticpractitioner anymore. Zhong Jing Yi grows into a cute little boy thatis loved by all the womenfolk in his village and the surroundingones. The other boys grow angry seeing this and decide to teach him alesson.

"He! Let's see how you'regoing to mess with this! Even if you indeed manage to prevent ZhongJing Yi from experiencing this lesson, I can still use some littlegirl! Being betrayed by a childhood sweetheart is certainly evenworse than being played by some servant girl. Hehehe. I really ambrilliant." Shun Tao put down his brush, rolled up the scrolland hid it in his sleeve. He'd never let this scroll out of hissight or reach!

With his preparations complete, ShunTao set off to the palace where the young gods waiting for anofficial position were staying. He was sure he'd find the culpritthere! Little did he know that the culprit had been in the mortalrealm all along and was even now looking out for any slight mishapthat may befall Zhong Jing Yi.