Chapter 23: There Are Gods Above, Watching All We Do

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Chapter 23: There Are Gods Above, Watching All We Do

After listening to Boss Wang’s account, Chen Yuan asked leisurely, “You still have that mirror hanging up?”

Boss Wang immediately shook his head. “No!” How could he possibly dare to keep that mirror hanging there? He had taken it down and smashed it long ago. He had thought that perhaps doing so would put an end to the trouble, but the bad things had continued happening one after another, leaving him completely overwhelmed.

In Chen Yuan’s eyes, the fact that Boss Wang had managed to find him under these circumstances meant that there was still a way out. No matter how many things Boss Wang had done wrong, Chen Yuan himself was the lifeline Heaven had given him. Since that was the case, there was no harm in helping him. Still, he had to make sure Boss Wang learned his lesson. If he helped him too easily, Boss Wang might lose the sense of awe he ought to have toward such things.

After thinking it over, Chen Yuan finally looked at Boss Wang and said, “I can tell you how to solve the problem, but you have to show some sincerity.”

Sincerity? Boss Wang didn’t understand at first and instinctively replied, “Master, I really am sincere! If this still can’t be resolved, I really won’t be able to go on!” His voice was full of bitterness.

He still didn’t understand. Chen Yuan looked at Boss Wang, held out his open palm toward him, and repeated the word he had just mentioned:

“Sincerity.”

Sincerity…? Boss Wang finally understood. He was asking for money! It was just like those frauds he had encountered before, who told him to give them money to offer before Guanyin!

For a moment, the sense of hope he had placed in Chen Yuan faded. That other suspicion surfaced once again. Could it be that Chen Yuan had deliberately caused all this trouble just to get money out of his pocket?

People were often like this. When they encountered bad luck once, they didn’t think much of it. When misfortune struck repeatedly, they attributed it to coincidence. But when they kept suffering one bizarre misfortune after another, they would start blaming it on ghosts and gods—or on someone deliberately pulling strings behind the scenes.

Boss Wang was now in that final state. On the one hand, he believed Chen Yuan really was a master and that he had brought this misfortune upon himself. He clung to Chen Yuan, hoping the latter would give him a way out. On the other hand, he wondered whether perhaps everything had been planned by Chen Yuan in the first place, simply to make him believe that Chen Yuan was some kind of master. His thoughts were tangled, and he couldn’t make sense of them himself.

People were complicated creatures like that.

Chen Yuan had met plenty of people like Boss Wang. Whatever they thought had no bearing on him, so he didn’t care. Under normal circumstances, if someone came to him for a fortune reading or a character divination, he charged the standard five hundred yuan and didn’t ask for anything more. But Boss Wang’s situation was different.

Just as Chen Yuan had thought, if Boss Wang could do something like this and then solve it with five hundred yuan, would he really learn his lesson? People had their inherent flaws, and Chen Yuan had always understood that. Since Boss Wang had been willing to disregard others for the sake of making money, then Chen Yuan might as well make him lose a substantial amount of money this time and give him a proper lesson.

And if he charged a little more, Chen Yuan could also save up enough money to open his own shop sooner, couldn’t he? Having a storefront was ultimately different from setting up a stall outside.

Boss Wang genuinely suspected that Chen Yuan had tampered with things. But in his current situation, even if Chen Yuan really had, what could he possibly do to him? After that day, he had asked the store employees and learned that Chen Yuan and Yu Shenliu were a couple. Yu Shenliu, the deputy mayor of Jincheng, was well known for his powerful background. Combined with Chen Yuan’s own abilities, even if Chen Yuan really was deliberately targeting him, all Boss Wang could do was swallow his grievances.

After being swindled out of quite a bit of money by a group of charlatans, Boss Wang had become much more cautious when dealing with Chen Yuan. He tentatively asked, “How much sincerity would be enough?”

Chen Yuan didn’t answer. He glanced sideways at Boss Wang, looking rather helpless. Old habits died hard. At a time like this, only someone like Boss Wang, who valued money above all else, could still ask that question in such a reluctant tone. When their own son had started running into trouble, who else wouldn’t have thrown caution to the wind and done whatever it took to hold their family together?

Seeing Chen Yuan’s expression, Boss Wang knew he had said the wrong thing, but he shamelessly continued testing the waters. “How about this? Would ten thousand count as sincere?” The charlatans he had consulted before had asked for as much as a hundred thousand outright, and he had chased those people away. Most of the rest had asked for around this amount.

Although he knew that the person standing before him genuinely had ability, Boss Wang still couldn’t help testing him with that price. If he could lose a little less money, that would certainly be a good thing.

It was still early morning, with the first light just beginning to break, but Chen Yuan didn’t miss the pained expression on Boss Wang’s face. It was obvious that Boss Wang had already lost quite a bit of money over the past few days. Chen Yuan couldn’t be bothered to quibble over it. If he didn’t need money for food, clothing, housing, and transportation, he really wouldn’t have much use for it.

“I only want that much from you. But you’ll also need to make some preparations. Not for me, but to offset the karmic debt from what you did before. Understand?”

Boss Wang didn’t understand. In his mind, Chen Yuan meant that he first had to give Chen Yuan ten thousand yuan, then spend even more money buying things like atonement certificates, luck-changing talismans, offerings for Guanyin, and so on. Naturally, he was reluctant. But at this point, no one except Chen Yuan could help him, so he could only swallow his unwillingness and nod.

“We’ll go to your store first.” Chen Yuan unfolded a sheet of paper he had brought with him and simply wrote, “Business Today. No Fortune-Telling,” leaving it on the table. He then gathered up his things, ignored Boss Wang’s displeasure, and said it directly.

At least he wasn’t dragging his feet or making excuses. Whether he was actually reliable was another matter. Boss Wang grumbled inwardly, but still took Chen Yuan to his car and drove toward the store.

Actually, resolving Boss Wang’s problem was both difficult and not difficult. In the end, it was simply that the evil cause he had sown had reached the point where its evil consequences were due to manifest. There was no way to reverse that by simply paying off the consequences, so things like talismans or luck-changing charms would all be useless. The only way was to find a way to delay the consequences, then offset them with enough good causes.

The key to what Chen Yuan needed to do was to delay the manifestation of those consequences. As for the good causes, that was something Boss Wang himself had to cultivate. Chen Yuan could tell him what he should do, but he couldn’t force him to do it.

Chen Yuan calculated that, if he wanted Boss Wang to learn his lesson, he would have to make him suffer a serious financial loss. Some good deeds had tremendous effects, such as saving a life, refusing to be swayed by wealth, or bringing about a good marriage. For an official like Yu Shenliu, if he could propose policies that benefited the people, then even if those policies ultimately failed to be implemented, they would still count for a great deal. Ordinary people simply couldn’t do things like that.

As for Boss Wang… Chen Yuan could have him donate to orphanages, nursing homes, or schools. The first two would help the disadvantaged and the vulnerable, producing both immediate benefits and long-term merit. Schools, meanwhile, were places for imparting knowledge and educating others. Perhaps Boss Wang might suddenly come to his senses and change his ways. That would be a good thing, too.

Chen Yuan had made up his mind, but as for how to delay the arrival of the consequences, he would have to see the site in person before he could know.

Boss Wang was anxious and drove quickly, taking Chen Yuan to the street where he had bought the phones not long ago.

After getting out of the car, Chen Yuan surveyed the entire street. Compared with the last time he had come, business at the other shops had improved considerably. Only Boss Wang’s shop remained closed, looking rather desolate.

Places with heavy yin qi naturally made people feel colder. A chill without any apparent reason. Chen Yuan had sensed it somewhat the last time he came, but this time, he no longer felt it. It seemed the problems affecting the other shops had already passed, leaving only Boss Wang to suffer the continuing consequences of his recklessness.

Since the entire area was no longer shrouded in that oppressive atmosphere, Chen Yuan felt more confident about the situation.

“Should I go open the shop?” Boss Wang asked anxiously when he saw Chen Yuan standing there as if lost in thought.

Chen Yuan shook his head. He had never even closed the car door, so he simply climbed back into the car. “Cinnabar, baijiu, a rooster, jade. Wherever we can buy those, take me there.”

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