Chapter 21: The Way of Feng Shui Must Not Be Recklessly Altered

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Chapter 21: The Way of Feng Shui Must Not Be Recklessly Altered

“So, what exactly was that ‘feng shui mirror’ all about?” Still bleary-eyed and yawning, Huo Jian sat cross-legged on his chair after his uncle had dragged him out of bed to eat. Following Yu Shenliu’s request, he asked Chen Yuan.

Chen Yuan glanced at the bird’s-nest mess of hair on Huo Jian’s head, took a sip of tea, and ignored Yu Shenliu, who was sitting beside him and pretending he did not exist. Then he explained to Huo Jian, “Actually, mirrors like this aren’t uncommon. In many regions, especially places where traditional architecture and customs have been well preserved, hanging a mirror near the entrance is quite common. And it’s not limited to entrances. In residential areas where the layout is relatively cramped, it’s also fairly common to hang mirrors on balconies.”

“Master, if it’s so common, then why did you say Boss Wang would suffer retribution if he kept doing it?” Huo Jian found that rather strange.

Yu Shenliu calmly counted the grains of rice in his bowl, as though he had absolutely no interest in anything Chen Yuan was saying.

Chen Yuan was remarkably patient, as though he were genuinely teaching his disciple. He answered, “Beef is delicious and nourishing, but if you eat beef and chestnuts together, they can make you vomit. Why do you think that is?”

“Because they’re incompatible? No, because the circumstances are different!” Huo Jian blurted out the first answer that came to mind, then immediately understood what Chen Yuan meant. Chen Yuan was using an analogy: just as eating beef with other foods would not necessarily cause a problem, eating it with chestnuts could. The same applied to so-called feng shui mirrors. A mirror could be hung, but it depended on where it was hung!

Chen Yuan nodded with a smile. Huo Jian had understood the point immediately. It seemed he really did have quite a talent for metaphysics.

He continued explaining, “Generally speaking, mirrors are a very important tool in metaphysics, especially in feng shui and geomancy. Under normal circumstances, a mirror shows a person’s reflection and reflects reality, so it is considered ‘upright’ and ‘true,’ allowing it to ward off evil and drive away strange entities. That is why mirrors can often be used to ‘suppress’ or ‘seal’ things.”

“Wait, Master, did you say ‘seal’?” Huo Jian looked astonished. “Are you saying that ghosts and gods and things like that actually exist?”

If feng shui or fortune-telling could still be explained as things that human beings had yet to fully understand through science, bringing up gods and ghosts seemed far too unscientific. At least Huo Jian found it easy enough to accept things like feng shui and fortune-telling, but when it came to the existence of ghosts and gods, he simply could not bring himself to believe it completely. All he could do was remain half-convinced.

Chen Yuan shook his head. “That’s just one interpretation. It’s like how many banks nowadays have auspicious beast statues at their entrances. They serve the purpose of ‘suppressing’ and ‘guarding,’ too. Do you understand?” Many tombs also deliberately have mirrors placed in key locations, again with the intention of ‘suppressing.’ But ‘suppressing’ doesn’t necessarily mean suppression in the sense of forcefully restraining something. It can also mean stabilizing something, and so on.

Huo Jian nodded. Put that way, he understood.

“Another reason is that mirrors reflect light, so they also carry the meaning of ‘using another’s method against them.’ If someone’s home is in an unfavorable location, with some kind of negative influence or ill fortune around it, they might use a mirror to block and reflect it away. Hanging a mirror this way is meant to ward off bad things and deflect misfortune, so there’s nothing inherently wrong with it.” Chen Yuan continued, “It’s just that as this custom gradually spread, people eventually started wanting to use mirrors whenever and wherever they could, hanging them all over the place for no reason.” At this point, Chen Yuan shook his head. “Take residential areas, for example. Once there are a lot of people living in one place, the buildings are often designed with little consideration for feng shui, and situations where one residence conflicts with another are common. In that case, it’s perfectly normal for residents to use mirrors to neutralize negative influences. But hanging a mirror on your balcony facing another household, or hanging one at your front door facing the house opposite you, is going too far.”

Hearing this, Huo Jian suddenly understood. “So hanging a mirror like that is basically benefiting yourself at someone else’s expense.”

The household facing the mirror would naturally be harmed, while the person who hung it was simply transferring the negative effects from their own home onto someone else.

The boy was teachable. Chen Yuan gave Huo Jian an approving smile and continued, “Some people may not realize what they’re doing, and in those cases, it’s one thing if it’s unintentional. But some people know exactly what the consequences are and do it deliberately. There’s a saying that goes something like, ‘If a person doesn’t act for their own sake, Heaven and Earth will destroy them,’ but if your selfishness goes too far, you will inevitably suffer the consequences.”

“I’ve said before that a person’s blessings are limited. They will receive exactly as much as they are meant to. As the saying goes, ‘There are gods three feet above your head.’ Everything is accounted for clearly.”

“Feng shui is placed alongside fortune-telling as one of the major branches of metaphysics because of how much it can accomplish and how powerful it can be. Simply put, even if someone’s fate is terrible, feng shui can temporarily bring out their potential, granting them tremendous wealth, career success, and so on. It can even make an ordinary person seem so successful that others can only look up to them, thinking they’ve suddenly risen to the top. But feng shui isn’t a person’s true fate. It’s merely an auxiliary means. It can bring out what’s already there for a time, but it can’t change a person’s fate. If they do not do good deeds or accumulate merit, they will eventually come crashing down and suffer the consequences. In fact, because they overexerted their fortune earlier, the eventual outcome may be even more tragic.”

“That Boss Wang is exactly like that. No matter how I look at his face, he doesn’t seem like someone whose business should be doing this well. I already felt that something was wrong when I saw that mirror outside his shop.” Chen Yuan sighed. “Several of the businesses around here are doing only so-so. In a downtown area, that’s actually strange in itself. The fact that his is the only one doing so well makes it even stranger.”

“From what I can tell, the area where those shops are located probably wasn’t a good place to begin with. That would explain why several businesses around there are doing completely differently from those just a few dozen meters away.”

As soon as Chen Yuan voiced his conclusion, Yu Shenliu immediately agreed. “That area used to be called Lao Tanzi. Supposedly, there was once a deep pond there, and the water stayed cold year-round. A lot of people used to swim in it, and for some reason, accidents would happen. Eventually, they filled it in and turned it into a residential area. It wasn’t demolished and redeveloped into what it is now until the year before last.”

Chen Yuan finally gave Yu Shenliu a proper look. “Did you actually go through the records from previous years?”

“The current mayor’s achievements include developing more than a dozen commercial districts like this throughout the city.” Yu Shenliu spread his hands.

“Water belongs to yin. If the water in a pond stays cold year-round, that means the area has a strong yin nature. A place like that isn’t good for commercial businesses, so business there usually won’t be very good.” Chen Yuan analyzed the information Yu Shenliu had given him. “Those shops are probably doing poorly because of the nature of the area.”

“Boss Wang’s shop is a commercial storefront, and he hung the mirror right in the center. It’s almost like tampering with the spot between a person’s eyebrows, so its effect is quite strong. That’s why, for a while, his shop wasn’t affected by the local energy and business was booming. But problems are better diverted than suppressed. There are only a few dozen meters between those shops, and that one mirror is forcibly suppressing everything. Tsk.” Chen Yuan shook his head. “Back when this was a residential area and so on, the local energy couldn’t be suppressed. But after it was redeveloped into a commercial district, without that mirror holding it down, the flow of people alone would have gradually dispersed the yin qi. Give it a few years, and it would basically have been cleared out. But with the mirror suppressing it like this, his own shop is fine while the other shops are being made even more unlucky. And how long can a single mirror keep suppressing something like that? Judging from his complexion, I’d say it won’t be long before the yin qi that’s been suppressed there for so long bursts out.”

“Boss Wang has had everything go his way these past few years. He’s already used up all that good fortune. Even with a fate like Yu Shenliu’s, no one can have good luck forever. You’re bound to have some bad luck from time to time, right? So his period of misfortune is coming next. Add the problem with the yin qi, and that’s why I told him that if he doesn’t want something serious to happen, he should take the mirror down. At least that would solve the problem with the yin qi. Otherwise, with one blow after another, he really could end up losing his family and everything he has.”

Chen Yuan sighed at last. “What a pity. Judging from the mirror he hung and the way he used it, I could tell he probably just happened upon it by chance. That’s why I went to give him a few words of advice. Since he wouldn’t listen, there’s nothing more I can do.”

That earlier tone of his counted as giving advice? Yu Shenliu’s gaze drifted away somewhat awkwardly. It was the first time he had ever seen Chen Yuan speak in such a tone.

Perhaps noticing Yu Shenliu’s expression, Chen Yuan curled the corners of his lips and said meaningfully, “Sometimes, once you’ve said enough, you should leave it at that. Anything more would be overstepping.”

Huo Jian hadn’t noticed the undercurrents between Chen Yuan and Yu Shenliu at all. What puzzled him was, “Then, Uncle, how much merit could you really gain just by mediating between them?”

“After all, he is a deputy mayor. His official aura can help alleviate the yin qi problem. He went to mediate between several key figures, which also had an impact on the situation in that area. Understand?” As Chen Yuan spoke of “him,” his gaze drifted toward Yu Shenliu, whether intentionally or not.

Huo Jian nodded, accepting Chen Yuan’s explanation. “But, Master, don’t you think all this talk about ‘yin qi’ and ‘official aura’ is a little too metaphysical?”

“It’s just one way of describing it. You can think of it as a kind of magnetic field or biofield.” Chen Yuan glanced at the clock on the wall. “It’s about time. You still have work this afternoon, right? Yu Shenliu, you should get going.” Yu Shenliu had spent quite a bit of time accompanying him to buy the phone, so they had ended up eating later than usual.

Yu Shenliu glanced at the time and saw that Chen Yuan was right. Although he still wanted to linger a little longer, his self-discipline ultimately made him get to his feet without hesitation. “Then I’ll be going.”

As he said goodbye, he made a mental note of the possibility that something might happen at the mobile phone store soon. Perhaps he could use the opportunity to do something… At the very least, this incident could help him gain some leverage, couldn’t it?

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