I Am A Prodigy

Chapter 257: Mom and Dad’s Surprise

Ye Lingchen exited Weibo and was feeling rather delighted. His popularity would surely have shot up after making it to the top three trending searches.

He entered the system and saw that his original popularity of 50,000 had surged to 125,689.

He frowned unwittingly. Did his popularity only increase by 70,000?

Although the increase was no small number, it was not enough to satisfy Ye Lingchen’s appetite.

There was only one explanation for that. The increase in his little wolves’ popularity was not counted as his own.

That also made it easy to explain that the little wolves’ popularity was counted in the little wolves’ own capacity. At the time, they were probably one of the most famous animals on the internet, attracting countless followers. His popularity would only increase if he admitted the wolves were his pets.

Previously, one of his basic knowledge had evolved into intermediate knowledge. Having amassed more than 100,000 in popularity value, perhaps he could try upgrading another basic knowledge?

At the mere thought of that, Ye Lingchen’s mind began to go into a frenzy.

Just do it!

At that juncture, there was a steady increase in knowledge which he was 100% proficient in. They were Fortune Telling, Feng Shui Observation, Arhat Fist Force, Calligraphy, Massage, German, Russian…

Bits and pieces altogether amounted to more than twenty different kinds. Many of them were life skills whose subsequent evolution was anyone’s guess.

Let the upgrade begin!

The yellow halo flickered wildly. There were many different pieces of knowledge and Ye Lingchen was eagerly waiting for the result.

In the end, the halo landed on Fortune Telling!

F*CK!

Fortune Telling?

How awesome was that?

That kind of chaotic and bizarre thing was particularly intriguing. One might well proclaim that they did not believe in Fortune Telling, but there were occasions where things came true as predicted. Assuming that one believed it, there was no scientific basis for doing so. At most, it could only inspire feelings of awe.

Fortune Telling was already incredible enough, so it boggled his mind as to what it would become once it advanced.

Ye Lingchen looked forward to it greatly.

Following a flash of golden light, his fortune-telling skills were eventually replaced by a new skill.

Aura Divination (Basic)?!

Ye Lingchen took a deep breath and trembled slightly.

Aura Divination was no doubt a worthy evolution of Fortune Telling. Fortune Telling was divided into physiognomy, palm reading, deciphering one’s birthdate, and so on. A combination of all those factors was required to determine one’s fortune, but Aura Divination was different.

The so-called Aura Divination was the ability to see a person’s aura.

Everyone had their own unique aura, also known as a magnetic field. It was invisible and intangible, but it had an impact on the course of one’s life.

Aura Divination enabled Ye Lingchen to see other peoples’ aura!

By seeing a person’s aura, one could guess whether the person was lucky or unlucky that day, or whether the auras of two people would affect each other. Ye Lingchen could also determine whether a couple’s aura was harmonious or dissonant with each other through a mere glance.

It was so powerful that Ye Lingchen had the urge to establish himself as a medium.

However, Ye Lingchen was also aware that knowing an aura and deliberately changing it were two different things altogether.

Changing another person’s aura was tantamount to going against the heavens, thus affecting one’s aura as well. It was best to leave it to fate and refrain from doing something that would bite him in the backside.

The evolution of another basic knowledge surprised Ye Lingchen once more. If the Aura Divination continued to develop, his abilities might not be limited to seeing a person’s luck or identifying the person’s future trend—it might reach a level so frightening that he could see the entire process of fate.

If it turned out to be exactly as he imagined, it would be epic.

Ring ding ding—

Ye Lingchen was caught in his own reverie when his cell phone’s ringtone began blaring.

He was shocked when he saw the caller ID and immediately accepted the call.

“Hello, Mom?”

“Son, are you adapting to life in Capital?” Xu Zhen’s voice was heard on the other end of the light and she sounded very happy.

“I’m doing good.”

“Guess what surprise your mom prepared for you?”

“Surprise?” Ye Lingchen also smiled. He asked curiously, “What surprise?”

“Guess where are your mom and dad are now?” Xu Zhen continued, smiling.

“Are you guys…in Capital?” Ye Lingchen asked tentatively.

“Smart!” Xu Zhen gave Ye Lingchen a positive answer, “The hospital had been too busy a while ago, but there’s already an effective treatment for Wind-Heat Syndrome Flu. Your dad was busy for so long and it was difficult for him to get some time out. The hospital gave him a day off and since we have nothing to do at home during National Day, we decided to come over and visit you.”

“Well, where are you and dad now, I’ll pick you up,” Ye Lingchen stood up and said immediately.

It was the first time he had been so far away from home, and for a long time too at that. He did not realize that more than two months had already passed.

He recalled someone from the university posting a calculation question in the group, asking how many times on average the students met their parents after entering university.

The results of the calculation were that even if both parents lived to reach 100-years-old, they only had 55 years of life left. If children met their parents once every six months, there were only 110 opportunities for them to meet each other.

Assuming that one was lucky enough to live with their parents in the future, they can then be with their parents for a longer time.

Excluding social life, work, and sleep from the equation, a person could spend time with their parents for a daily average of four hours. The total cumulative time for one year was 1460 hours, while the total time spent with parents during a 30-year period would only be five years.

Most of those who work far from home could only go home during the New Year.

The Chinese New Year holiday was generally seven or so days. Excluding time spent going to-and-fro their hometowns, gathering with friends, and sleep, the fact was that there were only about 24 hours per year in which they could spend time with their parents. In total, they would spend only a month with their parents over a span of 30 years.

The statistic was a shocking one. If it was never calculated, he had no idea how limited the time was that he could have with his parents.

When he first saw that question, Ye Lingchen’s heart suffered a resounding shock and he felt a piercing pain.

Once upon a time, everyone thought that their parents would always be beside them, believing that the world continues to be constant—people were born as children and their parents would always be their parents.

When faced with reality, however, one would finally realize how powerless one was.

“It’s fine. We just got off the plane and we’re now waiting for the bus to go to Metropolis Hospital[1]. Just go straight to the hospital and we can meet there. It’ll save you the time to come here again. So troublesome,” Xu Zhen said.

“You’re going to the hospital? Why?” Ye Lingchen asked prudently.

“Your dad is going to pay homage to Miracle Doctor Y. He saved a lot of people, after all. You know your dad. Always taking medicine very seriously.” Xu Zhen said.

The site where Miracle Doctor Y cured patients the other day had been protected. It became a hospital exhibit and was used to express respect for Miracle Doctor Y lest the masses forget his good deeds.

“Yeah.” Ye Lingchen breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness it was not because his parents were sick. He then said, “Capital’s public transport is really crowded. Take a cab. Don’t be too worried about the money.”

“A bit of squeezing is fine. Capital’s taxis are too expensive. Why spend all that money just for that?” Xu Zhen smiled and scolded, “You can’t just spend casually even if you have money. Our bus is here. We’ll leave it that and meet at Metropolis Hospital’s entrance. ”

…

[1] The term used here is 京城医院, which would translate to Capital Hospital, but in previous chapters it was 首都医院 Metropolis Hospital. It is believed to be the same hospital, and we will retain the earlier translation of Metropolis Hospital for consistency purposes and leave this note here so readers are aware of the sudden change. This particular inconsistency prevails for this and the next few chapters.