Tihu Notes | Thunder Master

My cousin’s classmate Xin Xin once told her that he worked as a lightning-protection engineer for an engineering technology company. Back when he was a student, he had majored in lightning protection at a certain university of information engineering. Because the specialty was so obscure, he had once worried deeply about finding employment. Yet as graduation drew near, Xin Xin began receiving one recruitment call after another from engineering companies and meteorological centers. After much hesitation, he chose the position he now holds. His grades had not been especially distinguished, but none of his classmates in the same year received any attention at all. Most of them later switched into other lines of work.

Tihu Notes | Boycott

Old Third once told me about a fellow townsman of his, Fan Yun, who worked as the IT director of a company in Pusen. At the start of the new year, the company gave him a budget to upgrade its office network, hardware and software alike. After replacing the servers, he still had some money left over, so he bought the latest version of RTX for the company’s internal network.

Tihu Cipher | Alpha (4,8)

“Are you certain you’ll make it back?”

She sat on a weathered wooden bench outside the cafe at the street corner. Even after all this time, remembering the expression on her own face when she asked him that question still tightened something in her chest.

She took a small mirror from her folded shoulder bag, checked her face, pressed her lips together, then set the bag down beside her and lifted the tea bowl with both hands for a careful sip.

Tihu Notes | Chi Cat

The Dengzhou sea route began at Penglai. In ancient times it was the most prosperous harbor in the north. Though it has long since declined, the fish market of old Dengzhou Port remains famous, and rare treasures from all directions still often appear there. One year an old woman arrived at the ancient port market with a tabby cat in her arms. On a sheet of paper before her were written two characters: appraise treasures. When people asked how she appraised them, the old woman said nothing, only pointed to the cat she was holding. Some busybody borrowed a pair of porcelain cups and placed them before her. She gently stroked the cat behind the ears. At once it leapt to the ground and stretched itself out to nearly two feet in length. On its back were seven or eight yellow spots the size of tea cups. First it arched and stretched, then crouched over the porcelain cups, sniffing them without stop and even licking them with its tongue. After a while the cat jumped back into the old woman’s arms, cried “awu” three times, and shut its eyes. The old woman pinched her fingers in calculation and said, “These porcelain cups are celadon from the official kiln of Jade Emperor Mountain, made in the second year of Jingding under Emperor Lizong Zhao Yun of the Southern Song.” The owner of the cups was astonished and filled with admiration. The pair had come down through his family, and though he knew they were Southern Song ware, he had never known the exact date. The antique dealers gathered around began bringing their own objects to be appraised, and there was not a single one the old woman failed to identify correctly. From then on her fame spread far and wide, and merchants from distant places came in an endless stream to seek her judgment.

Tihu Notes | Blind Master

There was a man surnamed Yang from Fenyang. I no longer remember his given name. His home was in Yanwu Town, and his family was a wealthy one. The Yangs had long been at odds with the Dai family of the same town. The two households checked one another, now one rising, now the other, so that in the end neither could do anything decisive against the other. One year, when the coal-mine bosses of western Shanxi gathered in disorderly protest and smashed the town government offices, the Dai family took advantage of the chaos to send men to burn the Yang granary. They also wounded several of the Yang kinsmen with blades and killed one of them. Because Yang himself had taken part in the disturbances among the mine owners, he fled far away to avoid trouble. The Yang family, lacking evidence and not daring to report the matter to the authorities, could only swallow the bitterness in silence. From then on, the hatred between the two families deepened all the more.

Tihu Notes | Louse Divination

In the spring of the Dinghai year, I returned with my family to Jinzhong to visit relatives. Among my cousins on my uncles’ side, most of those of my own generation were already married, and my elders reproached me often enough on that point. One day my grandmother heard that north of the city gate there was a beggar skilled in divination, and that people seeking readings went to him in an endless stream. It happened that my cousin Zusheng also meant to go and ask about his fortune, so my grandmother sent the two of us together. Beneath the old northern wall of the city there stood a wooden basin, more than four feet across and the color of jujube pits, and the beggar sat cross-legged inside it. There was more than an inch of filthy water pooled in the bottom, giving off waves of stench. Along the foot of the wall, dozens of people were lined up waiting for their fortunes to be told. We joined the end of the line and waited more than an hour before our turn came. I had always known that diviners observe four prohibitions, one of which is that the unclean are not to be divined for, so I did not believe in him at all. I let Zusheng go first to see what sort of trick the beggar had up his sleeve.

Weekly Live | Oilback Whale

Oilback Whale

English name: oil whale

Scientific name: Eubalaena petroleum

A marine mammal of the order Cetacea, suborder Mysticeti, family Balaenidae, the oilback whale is a new rising member of the right-whale family. It is distributed in the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic, with small numbers also found in the North Pacific. The oilback whale has a spindle-shaped body, measuring between 10 and 15 meters in length and weighing 10 tons. Its baleen is long and dense, with four baleen plates on the lower jaw, each 3 to 4 meters long, for which reason it is also called the broom whale. Its flippers measure 1 to 1.5 meters, while the tail fin spans 50 percent of the body’s length, and it swims at 5 to 6 nautical miles. The oilback whale possesses the two blowholes characteristic of right whales and can spout columns of water as high as 10 meters. Irregular protuberances grow across its back, densely covered in a distinctive gland, so that the entire back appears coated in a thick layer of gelatinous crude oil.

Weekly Live | Lithium Cat

Lithium Cat

English name: celli

Scientific name: Leptailurus celli

The lithium cat is a new felid of the serval genus that evolved in the middle of the twenty-first century, though some experts deny that it is a naturally evolved animal. Although in appearance it closely resembles a Siamese cat, with soft short fur and chocolate-colored spots or cap markings, by bloodline it is closer to the serval. Its head is small, its muzzle relatively long, and it has a pair of very large ears set high and close together. The lithium cat’s body length ranges from 42 to 71 cm. Its limbs are long and slender, and near the soles of its feet are faint copper-colored spots. Its tail is short, only 10 cm long.

Nine Stories, Season Two | Shahtoosh

Nine Stories, Season Two | Shahtoosh

Welcome to *Nine Stories*, Season Two. This is a private writing project. As before, I will personally invite Fanfou friends to take part. Requirements: a short story of 1000 to 1500 words, containing the sentence "So we went to get the blankets." Genre unrestricted. Please submit within two days after the New Year holiday ends, publish it on your blog, and announce it through Fanfou. Together we are creating a mysterious plan.

We had already been trapped in the frozen wasteland for three days. Other than half a sheep’s leg and a barrel of gasoline, there was nothing left.

Nine Stories, Season Two | Tihu's Empty Room

Welcome to Nine Stories, Season Two. This is a private writing project. As before, I will personally invite Fanfou friends to take part. Requirements: a short story of 1,000 to 1,500 words, containing the sentence “So we went to get the blankets” (from Assassin Mission). No restrictions on genre. Please submit within two days after the New Year holiday ends, publish it on your blog, and announce it through Fanfou. Together we are creating a mysterious plan.