After the Immortal Disappeared

Chapter 113: Chapter 114: Lord Water Spirit’s Lots

Fuzzy Peach raised his hand. "I want to try, too!"

So he tried, and ended up with a medium-low fortune. The verse read:

With a heart full of devotion, the clay pot is always broken by the well.

Fuzzy Peach’s face was a mask of gloom. Hee Yue laughed, "Come on, at least it’s a little better than my brother’s."

Fuzzy Peach muttered anxiously to himself, ’Maybe I need to eat more pork knuckle noodles to get rid of this bad luck?’

It was Mrs. Zhu’s turn. She took the container of fortune sticks and shook it a few times.

The one she drew was also a medium-high fortune.

"The first year I was sold here, I came to draw a fortune twice. Several months apart, both were medium-high fortunes. They both said my future would definitely be good." She bit her lip. "If it weren’t for that encouragement, I would have thrown myself into the lake to end it all long ago."

Watching and listening to all this, Madam Ying couldn’t hold back any longer. Curiosity finally won out over fear.

When the stick she drew landed on the ground, everyone gasped in unison.

"A highest-grade fortune!"

Written on this stick was: "Embroidered with flowers, morning greets the auspicious purple haze, and night rests on clouds."

Fuzzy Peach was deeply envious. "Mistress, you have flowers, auspicious haze, and clouds—it’s all good things!"

Who doesn’t love hearing auspicious words? Madam Ying was grinning from ear to ear. "This is... oh, well, these fortunes can’t be taken too seriously."

Hee Lingchuan silently took the container of sticks and shook it a few more times.

The result was predictable. The red, lowest-grade fortune stuck to him like glue.

Seeing his older brother’s expression grow even uglier, Hee Yue couldn’t help but cough.

"There should be a Fortune Interpreter in this temple, right?"

The Water Spirit Temple was once bustling with visitors and received abundant offerings; it was impossible that it didn’t have a resident Fortune Interpreter.

"Old Liu, the temple’s caretaker, is in charge of interpreting fortunes," Mrs. Zhu said. "But he’s in the west of the village now. The bandits probably didn’t kill him because he’s a good cook."

"Then we’ll get him over here." Hee Lingchuan put away the fortune sticks and turned to walk toward the west side of the village.

"Chuan’Er, are you going to deal with those vicious thugs?" Madam Ying was worried. "This isn’t the time to stir up unnecessary trouble."

Hee Lingchuan didn’t reply, his steps only growing more resolute.

Everyone else thought he was overreacting, but only he knew that the phrase "a cuckoo stealing the nest" pierced his heart like a nail, striking the deepest secret hidden within him.

This was something he absolutely had to get to the bottom of!

Xianling Village wasn’t that big. He walked quickly and soon reached the boundary line negotiated between the officials and the bandits.

Two soldiers stood on one side, and two bandits on the other.

Hee Lingchuan called out to the two bandits, "I want to buy someone: Old Liu, the caretaker of the Water Spirit Temple."

A bandit asked nonchalantly, "What do you want him for?"

"I’ve got nothing better to do. I want him to interpret my fortune." Hee Lingchuan produced a large silver ingot and flashed it at them. "A useless old man is no good to you. Why not trade him for some silver?"

The silver ingot was a full ten taels, and of high purity.

A useless old man was indeed not much good for anything, except that he was a decent cook. The two bandits huddled together to confer for a moment, then turned back and said, "You’ll have to add more."

Hee Lingchuan sneered and turned to leave. ’How dare they try such a low-level trick on me?’

He highly doubted whether these two small-fry ever got a big enough cut from their pillaging to afford a night of carousing.

Sure enough, seeing him about to walk away, the two got anxious. "Come back, come back! Fine, fine!"

And just as he expected, they didn’t consult anyone else. Bringing in another person would just mean another share of the money to split.

A short while later, the two bandits returned with an old man with grizzled hair and a beard, shoving him across the boundary line. "Here. The money."

Hee Lingchuan tossed the silver ingot over without hesitation.

Unexpectedly, this act was witnessed by the surrounding villagers. A few of them, men and women, rushed forward, shouting, "Buy us, too! Lord Official, Madam, have mercy and buy us, too!"

Who didn’t know that the east side of the village was safe while the west side was misery? Seeing Old Liu successfully make it to safety, the other villagers were frantic.

Fuzzy Peach grabbed Old Liu and followed behind Hee Lingchuan.

Madam Ying started to say, "Everyone, please calm down..." but Hee Yue grabbed her arm and pulled her back without a word.

’It’s not time to rescue them yet.’

Soon, the commotion attracted the bandit leader, who rushed over to demand an explanation. His two subordinates stammered, and only after getting slapped twice did they finally spill the beans.

"He wants to buy something, so you just give it to him?" The leader slapped them both again. "What if he wanted to buy your lives? Would you give those away, too?" ’Are these two idiots?’

The two men, faces full of misery, repeatedly said they wouldn’t dare.

The leader angrily held out his hand. "Where’s the money?"

...

Meanwhile, Old Liu, having entered the eastern part of the village, was thanking the group profusely, stopping just short of kneeling and kowtowing.

The bandits were savage brutes. Like the other villagers, he had thought he wouldn’t live to see the dawn.

It was these living Immortals who had saved him from his sea of suffering.

"How about you thank us with actions instead of words." Hee Lingchuan pulled the two lowest-grade fortunes from his robes. "Interpret these for me, will you?"

"Ah?" Old Liu took the red sticks and froze. "Who drew these?"

"I did."

Old Liu looked at him, then back at the sticks. "And the other one?"

Hee Lingchuan grew more annoyed. "Also me."

"How is that possible?" The old man’s mouth nearly formed an ’O’. "You drew two lowest-grade fortunes in a row?"

"I’ve drawn more than ten times, and it’s always these two sticks." Hee Lingchuan pointed to the others. "They got medium-high fortunes, and even a highest-grade one."

Old Liu had never heard of such a thing. He stood stunned for a good while before asking for some light.

Old eyes grow dim, and the characters on the sticks were small.

Fuzzy Peach moved the torch closer, so close it almost singed the sticks, before Old Liu could squint and read the contents of both fortunes aloud.

"Oh, it’s these two."

Fuzzy Peach played the part of a perfect straight man. "What’s wrong with these two?"

"These two are newly made. They were only put in ten days ago."

’No wonder the red lacquer is so fresh.’

"Around here, whenever a lowest-grade fortune is drawn, it’s supposed to be removed and set aside, never put back in the container. That’s because everyone’s great calamity is unique. The Lord Water Spirit hasn’t allowed mortals to draw fortunes for a long time, so the sticks in this container haven’t been replaced or replenished in two years." Old Liu spoke as he recalled. "But just ten days ago, the Lord Water Spirit suddenly came to me in a dream and told me I was about to face a great disaster. I was scared to death and immediately begged for a solution. The Lord Water Spirit then said that as long as I made two new sticks like these and put them in the container, I would be able to turn my misfortune into good fortune."

Everyone exchanged glances. It seemed to be true. Because Hee Lingchuan needed his fortune interpreted, Old Liu was now safe.

"So you’re saying these two sticks were prepared specifically for me?" Hee Lingchuan’s eyes filled with suspicion. ’Could this be a trap?’ "Then interpret them for me."

"I can’t interpret them."

"What?" Hee Lingchuan was thoroughly displeased. "Did I waste my money? Aren’t you the Fortune Interpreter?"

"These two are ’Silence Seals,’ meaning they can only be seen, not interpreted," Old Liu said with a bitter smile. "This humble old man has a secret. There’s no harm in telling my saviors now. I used to be able to interpret fortunes because the Lord Water Spirit shared a sliver of Immortal Power with me. But..."