August 31st, the first day of the eighth lunar month, clear with a light breeze.
Auspicious for marriage, adoption, opening businesses, and travel; inauspicious for breaking ground.
Chang'an Airport.
Zheng Qing calculated the good and bad omens for a long time, very satisfied with the date chosen by the University.
Before coming to the airport, he went to Hui Zi Market again and carefully asked Pan Lver about the boarding process.
"Take your boarding pass to any counter with no queue, find a ground staff member to exchange it for a boarding card, then follow the instructions on the boarding card and go straight to the plane."
Pan Lver explained it easily, but Zheng Qing listened with great apprehension.
"Any counter? Why do I need to find a counter with no one?" he pressed.
"Isn't it slower if there's a queue!" Pan Lver looked at him as if he were an idiot: "Ignoring counters with no queue and deliberately queuing up, you must be incredibly bored."
Zheng Qing silently lowered his head, taking notes of the general process in his small notebook.
"When you're out and about, ask if you don't understand, don't be shy. There are many people taking a plane for the first time, and there are inquiry desks everywhere at the airport; just find a pretty older sister and ask," Pan Lver waved him off impatiently.
"Can I use a regular airport inquiry desk?" Zheng Qing emphasized the word 'regular'.
"Do you want First University to hang a Wizard Alliance sign at Chang'an Airport?!" Pan Lver rolled his eyes, blowing a wisp of hair from his forehead upwards.
Zheng Qing was speechless.
He always felt that the boarding method should, perhaps, probably, have a Wizard style to it.
Like dragging a suitcase and crashing through a wall?
Or chanting a Spell in a deserted airport restroom in front of a strange mirror?
However, reality is always surprisingly simple.
Holding his ticket confirmation, Zheng Qing found a counter with no queue and exchanged it for his boarding pass in less than a minute.
There was no luggage check-in, no long waiting time, not even a complicated inspection or complex boarding gate; Zheng Qing simply declared an additional 'pet carry-on' and carried Poseidon into the waiting hall.
After the ground staff in the waiting hall led him to a VIP entrance, they politely bid him farewell. Following the signs, Zheng Qing walked across soft red carpet, hard passageways, and soft upholstery, quickly boarding First University's flight.
The cabin was much more spacious than it looked from the outside, arranged with two seats on the left and one on the right. Every two rows of seats faced each other.
The flight attendants on the plane wore crisp dark blue robes, with their hair in buns and waists belted. They wore polite smiles, holding a spell book in one hand and guiding Zheng Qing to his seat with the other.
Zheng Qing noticed that the spell book in the flight attendant's hand was a Bologna binding he had seen at Shangyuan Bookshop, with exquisite patterns and ornate florets that looked brand new and clean.
These flight attendants seemed very rich, Zheng Qing secretly marveled. He still remembered that this spell book cost over twenty jade coins at Shangyuan Bookshop, while his full scholarship was only ten jade coins.
Under the flight attendant's guidance, Zheng Qing found his seat without much effort.
His seat was in the fifth row, on the left, by the aisle. The surrounding passengers were already seated, with only the window seat next to him empty.
Zheng Qing prayed that this seat belonged to a beautiful woman.
The seat was spacious, with soft black leather that made him feel much more relaxed. The armrests on both sides shimmered with a silvery-white metallic luster, and his arms would always slide back into his lap when he rested them.
Placing Poseidon on his lap, Zheng Qing surveyed the other passengers around him.
Directly opposite him sat a short boy with a bowl cut, wearing large black-rimmed glasses, busily writing in a large black hardcover notebook. Next to the bowl-cut boy sat a slender, handsome classmate with a mid-length ponytail. This classmate held a suspicious long, cylindrical package, silently turning his face to look at the dry concrete outside the window.
Maybe it's a girl, or maybe it's a boy. Zheng Qing looked at the handsome classmate, feeling a bit unsure. He turned his head to look at the two people across the aisle.
Across the aisle sat a short, chubby bald man, wearing a gray cloth straight gown, with a string of dark purple longan prayer beads around his neck, engrossed in a scripture, shaking his head. The passenger opposite the little monk was sleeping face down on the tray table; Zheng Qing could only guess the passenger's gender by the burgundy wavy hair exposed.
Looking around, no gaze met his.
Zheng Qing suddenly felt bored.
So he pulled out his talisman scroll from his gray cloth bag, flipped out the small table hidden under the armrest, took out his brush and vermilion ink, rubbed his hands, and began his daily practice.
The talisman scroll was bought at Hui Zi Market, with 'Hui Zi' grids and yellow paper, sixty pages per scroll, each page featuring a commonly used talisman, such as ghost expulsion, Tranquility Talisman, evil warding, heavenly petition, deity summoning, and transcendence, among others.
Copied talismans could be torn off and used at any time; if not used, they could be sold back to the paper and brush shop. Six intact talismans could be exchanged for one blank scroll, fair to all. If an entire talisman scroll had no mistakes, Zheng Qing could exchange it for ten scrolls, and Granny Cai of Baicao Hall would also smile and give him a piece of vermilion ink or a goat hair brush.
Since he was ten years old, Zheng Qing had never spent money on talisman scrolls again; in fact, the vermilion ink and brushes he exchanged from the paper and brush shop owner would last him for many years.
He breathed on the vermilion ink, straightened the brush, focused, and in a moment, finished with a flourish.
Zheng Qing looked at this Tranquility Talisman and nodded with satisfaction.
Nothing was more relaxing than writing a talisman. If there was, it was writing two talismans.
He picked up the brush again, but was interrupted by a voice.
"Hello." A timid voice sounded beside him.
Zheng Qing looked up.
A little girl, about ten years old, stood uneasily in front of him, dragging a pink trolley suitcase.
The girl had two pigtails, wore a pink dress, and white round-toed leather shoes, clutching a crumpled boarding card tightly in her hand.
Loli! Zheng Qing roared in his heart.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the bowl-cut boy opposite him stop writing and look up.
"I think my seat is inside," the little loli said timidly.
"Oh, I'm sorry, please come in, please come in." Zheng Qing quickly stood up, trying to show a kind smile: "Where are your adults? Aren't they with you?"
As he spoke, he helped the little girl stuff the pink trolley suitcase into the overhead storage compartment.
Zheng Qing had already stuffed all his heavy luggage into his gray bag; he hadn't expected any Wizard to drag such cumbersome luggage.
"Didn't First University's notice say that parents aren't allowed to accompany students?" The little loli's surprised voice sounded behind him.
Zheng Qing's hand slipped, almost dropping the pink little suitcase on his head.
He stuffed the suitcase into the storage compartment and slammed the door shut.
Then he lowered his head and looked at the little loli in front of him.
This girl is my classmate??!!