Chapter 74: Chapter 74: Thin Fortune, Shallow Fate
Yang Xiao gave Su Tingting a look, and she immediately began to complain. When Manager Liu heard about them bringing Ms. Chun’s birth chart as well as what might be her child’s birth chart, his expression turned peculiar. His lips quivered, but ultimately he said nothing until Su Tingting finished speaking.
After a moment of silence, Manager Liu stretched out his hand, "Hand me that relic."
As he took the object from Su Tingting, Manager Liu caressed it with his rough palm, smelled it closely, then nodded, "It’s right, this came from a grave. It still carries a dissolving but lingering evil aura. It’s the scent from the object; I recognize it."
However, after Su Tingting recited both Ms. Chun and the Young Lady’s birth charts, Manager Liu calculated with his fingers for a moment and then shook his head, "That’s not right."
Su Tingting became anxious, "What’s not right?"
"Based on the birth charts, these two individuals’ fates do not align naturally. The older one has a poor destiny, destined to live a life of hardship and without affection, while the younger one’s fate is drastically different. She has an exceptionally fortunate and prosperous destiny, both in terms of birth and subsequent experiences, which are extremely favorable."
This statement shattered the hope of the three, including Yang Xiao. Ms. Chun’s child certainly did not have a good background, hence the Young Lady could not be related to Ms. Chun.
With this lead coming to an abrupt end, they would have to start all over, which made Yang Xiao and Kuang Hongyi feel extremely distressed.
Yang Xiao was still unwilling to give up, "Manager Liu, please could you look again? Could there possibly be... some mistake? Isn’t concluding so swiftly from just the two birth charts a bit rash?"
Manager Liu frowned, and before he could speak, Su Tingting also urged, "Godfather, this is very important to us. If you can confirm it, we’ll be saved!"
Upon hearing Su Tingting’s voice, Manager Liu’s face gradually softened. Exhaling deeply, he looked towards his apprentice and instructed, "Go to the ancestral master and offer three joss sticks on my behalf. Bring the Box Head Coffin here."
The apprentice was taken aback, his eyes reddening, "Master, requesting the Box Head Coffin requires a seven-day prayer with chickens and yellow paper, this..."
"Just do as I say!"
The apprentice was rebuked by Manager Liu’s stern command. He glared at Yang Xiao, then turned and went to the backyard. A moment later, he returned with a box wrapped in white linen.
Upon lifting the linen, Kuang Hongyi raised his eyebrows sharply. Inside was a small coffin; although not large, it was exquisitely crafted, pitch black, and had the feel of jade stone.
Kuang Hongyi couldn’t help but swallow hard. He knew of this item, but this was the first time he saw it in person. Known among insiders as the Box Head Coffin, this object was a rare guardian against evil for homes and was also the heritage of an old coffin shop.
After placing down the small coffin, the apprentice fetched water and filled the coffin several times until it seemed full. Manager Liu lifted his head and looked towards Yang Xiao and held a narrow wood-carving knife in his hand, "Come here."
Yang Xiao couldn’t help but step back and said with a forced smile, "Manager Liu, if I damage your treasure, I won’t be able to afford it, maybe you should..."
Noticing Manager Liu’s expression sinking, Yang Xiao finally walked over obediently. Manager Liu groped for Yang Xiao’s left hand, made a light cut on his finger with the knife, "Go on, write down the other person’s birth chart."
At that moment, the apprentice handed over a piece of yellow paper that was laid on the coffin lid, and Yang Xiao, enduring the pain, wrote down the Young Lady’s birth chart.
Manager Liu abruptly grabbed Yang Xiao’s hand, pulling him to stand side by side with him, then used his other hand to toss the yellow paper inscribed with blood characters into the water-filled coffin.
As the yellow paper was thrown into the coffin, Yang Xiao suddenly felt a bit dizzy, and his vision went dark in waves, as if he had been sitting for too long before suddenly standing up.
The water in the coffin was calm, the yellow paper soaked through and gradually sank beneath the surface. In a daze, Yang Xiao felt a very strange sensation, as though the dark water inside the coffin was somehow connected to the water of Fengfu Lake at night.
But what was even stranger was that as the yellow paper sank, the characters on it didn’t fade; instead, the blood characters on the surface of the water slowly dispersed and then, as if guided by some enigmatic force, began to recombine, ultimately forming a new set of ’birthdate characters’ on the surface.
"Manager Liu, the characters have changed, the characters have changed!" Yang Xiao ignored his dizziness; he also hadn’t expected such a scene to occur.
"Don’t read them out loud!" Manager Liu snapped, then rolled up his left sleeve. "Write, use your finger to write them down!"
Manager Liu’s withered and pale arm was covered in scars, big and small. Some were smooth and likely caused by a knife, but others, jagged and distorted, appeared to have been made by human claws.
Steadying his mind, Yang Xiao used his finger to write the newly-formed ’birthdate characters’ on Manager Liu’s arm, but each stroke he made, his feeling of dizziness worsened, and his hand began to tremble uncontrollably. It seemed as if the new ’birthdate characters’ had been deduced at the cost of his own life force.
After the last stroke was completed, Yang Xiao felt completely drained. Had Manager Liu not been holding onto him, he likely would’ve collapsed to the ground.
"Mr. Chu!" Su Tingting was alarmed and wanted to step forward to help, but she was vehemently stopped by Manager Liu’s apprentice.
The apprentice seemed to have an aversion towards Yang Xiao, pulling Su Tingting away while glaring at Yang Xiao with a hint of anger, "Sister, don’t pity him; that man is not good, he’s unscrupulous. It’s only right for Master to teach him a lesson."
"Don’t talk nonsense, Mr. Chu is a good person. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have survived until now," Su Tingting couldn’t stand to hear bad things said about Yang Xiao.
Eventually, it was Kuang Hongyi who stepped forward to support Yang Xiao, moving away as soon as Manager Liu let go. Kuang Hongyi, too, was wary of Manager Liu.
"Chu, are you all right?" Kuang Hongyi whispered, looking around cautiously, worried that someone would come out and cut off their retreat.
Yang Xiao shook his head, his already pale complexion turned even whiter, as if his blood had been drained, "I’m okay. Manager Liu... Manager Liu didn’t mean any harm."
As for Manager Liu, he didn’t seem to care much about their reaction. After a while, he sighed slowly, "You’re right, this child is Ms. Chun’s, she’s still alive. However, someone meddled with her ’birthdate characters.’ When she was young and naive, a master forcefully changed her fate. From a life of separation and resentment, they transformed it into one of fortune and prosperity - what a skillful move! Indeed a skillful move!"
"Yet, this child, like her mother, has a weak fate and shallow fortune, unable to bear such luck, and thus doomed to suffer backlash, to be mentally unclear and half-witted for a lifetime. Alas, what’s the use of such wealth?" Manager Liu uttered with a sigh, seemingly deep in thought.
He didn’t further investigate the matter regarding Ms. Chun’s resentful spirit and the child’s current situation. Kuang Hongyi also understood the principle; those in the shadowy business only care about silver; whatever the master says goes without questioning right or wrong, and they rarely inquire into the origins and consequences.
They believe in fate, taking others’ money to eliminate disasters is natural and justifiable. But once they understand the ins and outs of a situation, discerning right from wrong, rank and status, they become involved in others’ fate, which could spoil their own karma.
