Chapter 28: A Mouth That Creates Sin Brings Heavenly Retribution

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Chapter 28: A Mouth That Creates Sin Brings Heavenly Retribution

No one noticed how remarkable Chen Yuan’s way of determining whether he knew someone actually was.

It was the woman’s tone, however, that made Yu Shenliu frown.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Huaxia’s moral culture had emphasized the conduct of a gentleman, placing the greatest value on treating others with the gentleness of jade and maintaining an attitude that neither indulged excessively in joy nor gave in to anger. This was an extremely difficult state to achieve. At least so far, Yu Shenliu had only ever met one person who possessed the demeanor of a true gentleman of jade to his very core: Chen Yuan. But even if someone couldn’t reach that level, there was no reason to be so sharp-tongued and spiteful, was there? This woman was going too far. She had none of the bearing one would expect from a citizen of a great nation.

Yu Shenliu grumbled inwardly, but ultimately, the woman had nothing to do with him, so there was nothing he could do about it. Although Yu Shenliu was a government official, officials in Huaxia did not actually enjoy many privileges in most situations. That was also why the woman still dared to speak this way despite knowing he was there.

He looked at Chen Yuan with some concern, only to find him completely calm, as though he didn’t care in the slightest.

Forget someone like this woman. In all these years, had Chen Yuan really met that few people? He had even encountered people who would pull out a watermelon knife and slash at him without a word. A few spiteful remarks like these were nothing. Besides, when he had read the woman’s fortune before, he had said something about “this exam,” not whether her daughter would “get into a school.” Now that he heard her explanation, it was obvious that those were two completely different things. If the woman insisted on being unreasonable, could he really crack open her skull, pour his thoughts into her brain, put the skull back together, and reboot her mind?

Chen Yuan had complete confidence in his own judgment. No matter what the other person thought, it could not affect him.

And he wasn’t concerned with what the woman had to say, either. What mattered to him now was the shop. Although, judging by the situation, the woman probably wasn’t willing to hand it over to him, he still had to ask. So Chen Yuan pointed at the shop and said, “Excuse me, how much would it cost to rent this shop? And how much would it cost to buy it?”

Standing beside him, Yu Shenliu couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. What composure! If it were anyone else, including Yu Shenliu himself, after being snapped at by this woman several times, they would probably have exchanged a few sharp words with her. And Chen Yuan had even said “please.”

Unfortunately, treating others with courtesy did not necessarily mean they would return the courtesy.

The woman had still been mocking Chen Yuan, but when Chen Yuan brought up the shop, she froze for a moment before immediately realizing that he was the one who had called her today about viewing it. And after all the overt and covert jabs she had thrown at him, the fact that he remained completely calm only made her angrier.

“I won’t say anything about other people, but you, Master? You’ve swindled so much money from people. If you want to buy my shop, you’d better come up with at least a hundred or eighty thousand, right?”

Yu Shenliu’s expression darkened.

The woman’s words were barbed and cutting. Most people would have been angry by now, but Chen Yuan merely thought to himself that, sure enough, buying the second-floor shop was probably out of the question. In fact, a small shop like this would cost at most around a hundred thousand yuan in this world’s prices. Considering the feng shui issues with these few shops, the actual price should be even lower. And yet this woman had opened her mouth and asked for eighty to a hundred thousand. At least she had managed to make her meaning clear. Unfortunately, she simply couldn’t stop herself from saying hurtful things, and that was a bad habit.

Setting metaphysics aside, speaking carelessly in everyday life could also cause trouble. Every word and action would affect how others viewed you, which in turn could affect your circumstances. From the perspective of metaphysics, there was also a distinction between “oral sin” and “oral virtue.” Being spiteful, using foul language, and saying things that drove wedges between people were all forms of creating oral sin. Plant an evil cause, and naturally you would reap an evil consequence. Oral virtue, on the other hand, meant treating others kindly and speaking gently, which was also a way of accumulating blessings. After all, in Chinese legends, the first level of the Eighteen Levels of Hell was the Hell of Tongue Pulling. Those who slandered others, spoke maliciously, incited people against one another, or were glib and deceitful would all be sent there.

Being gentle by nature did not mean being easy to bully. Confucius said: If you repay resentment with virtue, then what will you repay virtue with? Repay resentment with straightforwardness, and virtue with virtue. This was also how Chen Yuan conducted himself. The woman kept picking fights with him, yet he did not get angry because he understood that if she continued like this, she would naturally suffer the consequences. Since Heaven would resolve the matter for her eventually, why should he say anything? If it were someone else, Chen Yuan might have offered a few words of guidance, which could also be considered an attempt to encourage someone to do good. But with a woman like this, all he could do was remain silent.

So Chen Yuan simply maintained his calm expression and nodded at the woman. “I’m sorry, but that price is too high for me to accept. I’m sorry to have troubled you by coming all this way.”

With just those two sentences, he ended the conversation with the woman. Chen Yuan glanced at Yu Shenliu, who immediately understood. The two of them turned the corner and headed up the stairs.

The shop on the second floor was out of the question. There were still the third and fourth floors above it, so why bother getting into a pointless argument with that woman?

Yet when Chen Yuan walked away, the woman was once again left stunned. In her mind, after she spoke to him like that, he should have gotten angry and argued with her. Then she would have found all sorts of ways to mock him, won the argument, and triumphantly declared that she would sell the shop to anyone but him before walking away victorious. But Chen Yuan’s reaction had been so indifferent that it was as if she had thrown a punch and hit nothing, leaving her feeling exceptionally frustrated. For a moment, she simply couldn’t figure out what she was supposed to say next. Should she say they could negotiate over the shop? How could that possibly happen?

Watching the two of them walk up the stairs, the woman stomped her foot angrily before turning around and marching away in her high heels, seething with rage.

After they went up another floor, Yu Shenliu glanced at the woman’s retreating figure. Seeing how furious she was, he couldn’t help laughing.

He hadn’t expected Chen Yuan’s response to put him in the upper hand so effortlessly. Compared with arguing with her, this approach had made her lose ground without him even seeming to do anything. Had Chen Yuan known all along that things would turn out this way? This guy really was a little mischievous.

Chen Yuan glanced at the woman’s furious back and smiled faintly. “Respond to change with constancy.” He had come here to find a shop, not to argue with someone. People were always squabbling and fighting over a moment’s anger, without realizing how much energy they wasted on it. What was the point?

“You…” Yu Shenliu sighed, pointing at Chen Yuan as he shook his head with a smile.

Chen Yuan raised his brows slightly, then picked up his phone and dialed the number posted on the shop on the third floor.

Whatever else could wait, the matter he needed to deal with today was still finding a shop.

This time, the person who came was a young man.

“Huh?” The young man froze when he saw Chen Yuan, then his face lit up with surprise. “Isn’t this, uh, Master?”

What a coincidence. This young man was also one of the customers whose fortunes Chen Yuan had read for twenty yuan each when he had first arrived in this world. But compared with the woman earlier, the young man’s tone was delighted and sincere.

Chen Yuan himself was wondering how it could be such a coincidence. But then he thought about it and understood. The schools in this world were assigned according to region, so it was highly likely that two people from the same examination center would live in the same area. The real coincidence was that they happened to own two of the shops Chen Yuan had taken a fancy to.

The young man showed his goodwill, and Chen Yuan responded with a gentle nod. “How did you do on the exam?”

“Hehe, I did way better than usual!” The young man scratched his head. At first, he had genuinely thought Chen Yuan was just a scammer trying to make money. But when the exam results came out, they had astonished his entire family. He had performed unbelievably well, far beyond what anyone had expected. After remembering what Chen Yuan had said, he realized that Chen Yuan really did have some ability. He had gone back to the area near the school several times afterward but never saw Chen Yuan. And now, when he had been sent out to take care of the shop, he had happened to run into Chen Yuan again. It was a pleasant surprise.

“Master, you want to see my family’s shop? Wait a moment!” Remembering the matter at hand, the young man pulled a key from his pants pocket, opened the shop’s rolling shutter, and beckoned Chen Yuan and Yu Shenliu inside.

Chen Yuan exchanged a glance with Yu Shenliu and blinked. Without offering any explanation, he stepped into the shop.

“Uh, there are just a few cabinets in the shop. The floor and ceiling have been finished, and the walls have been painted, but other than that, there isn’t much,” the young man said straightforwardly as he pulled three stools out from under a dustproof tarp and set them down. “Master, are you looking to rent or buy? There isn’t much in the way of renovations, and the furniture can be included for free. But, Master, there’s something I should make clear first.”

Chen Yuan sat down on one of the stools. He found the young man quite pleasant, so he smiled and asked, “What is it?”

The young man’s expression turned serious. “The shops on the second and fourth floors, as well as ours, are actually a little strange. How should I put it? People tend to have especially bad luck when they’re in these shops, and there are often little accidents and things like that. No matter what kind of business you run, it just never does well. It’s really strange.” Since it was his family’s shop, he refrained from calling it “haunted.” “So, Master, you should think carefully about whether you really want our shop. We do want to sell it, but we can’t exactly harm someone else!”

Chen Yuan admired him even more. With such an honest and upright personality, it was hard to imagine him not receiving good fortune in return.

After explaining the drawbacks, the young man scratched his head. “But it’s not all bad. These shops are priced at less than half of what the surrounding shops cost, so you can save a lot of money. If you want it, twenty thousand yuan will do.”

Sure enough, it was an incredibly low price. Chen Yuan understood. Unfortunately, he only had a little over ten thousand yuan on hand.

But before Chen Yuan could say anything, Yu Shenliu extended his hand. A stack of bills rested between his fingers as he handed it to the young man. “Twenty thousand.”

The young man stood there, stunned, looking at Yu Shenliu. Wasn’t Master the one buying the shop?

Chen Yuan also looked at Yu Shenliu, who gave him four words: “A loan to you.” Borrowing meant repaying.

Chen Yuan smiled. “Okay.”

At that point, the young man finally understood. When they said it was a loan, what they really meant was… something else. He gave an awkward little cough. Since the two of them had already reached an agreement, he accepted the money Yu Shenliu had handed him, then rummaged around in his bag for a moment before taking out all the paperwork for the shop and placing it, along with the key, into Chen Yuan’s hands. Still, he couldn’t help wondering to himself. Wasn’t this normally the part where they were supposed to haggle a little? Yet just like that, after only two or three sentences, everything was settled? He felt like he should say something to dissuade them, but what could he say? Don’t buy my family’s shop? That would be even stranger.

As expected, a Master was a Master. Even the way he bought a shop was different from everyone else.

The young man tucked the money into his pants pocket and stood up. “Then, uh, should I help Master clean up the shop?” He just felt like he ought to do something, otherwise the whole thing felt too strange.

What a straightforward kid. Chen Yuan’s eyes curved into a smile. “No need. I’m going to renovate the whole place from scratch.”

“Uh… then what are you going to do here? This shop really isn’t going to do very well.”

“Don’t worry.” Chen Yuan reassured him. “You called me Master, didn’t you? Don’t forget what I do.”

Only then did the young man remember. Right. Wasn’t Chen Yuan a Master? If he really was a Master, then solving a problem like this shouldn’t be difficult. With that thought, he immediately became happy. He had been worried that selling the shop might end up harming someone else, but if Chen Yuan had a way to solve the problem, then there was nothing to worry about.

Yu Shenliu watched from the side, finding the way Chen Yuan and the young man hit it off incredibly well more and more unbearable to watch. Was this perfectly good, very much alive man standing right here really being completely ignored?

“All right, it’s almost noon,” he said. “Let’s go home and have lunch first. We still need to get some other things ready afterward.”

“Uh?” The young man blanked for a moment, then raised his hand to check the time. Sure enough, it was almost noon.

“Master, go eat first. It’s getting late, and that’s not good for your health! Um, can I come find you in the future? I know I shouldn’t bother you, but—” The young man rattled on, stumbling over his words.

“Sure.” Cutting him off, Chen Yuan gave him a straightforward answer. He genuinely liked this young man. But as Yu Shenliu had said, they still had other things to do that afternoon, and it was time to go home for lunch.

“Take care, Master! I’ll come find you!” Even after Chen Yuan got into Yu Shenliu’s car and drove away, the young man was still calling out from the window.

What an interesting person. That was what Chen Yuan thought.

What an eyesore. That was what Yu Shenliu thought.

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