On the bus returning home after graduation.
"Haha, Lin Xu, you didn't attend the school's job fair either."
Zhang Yang put away his suitcase and just happened to see his roommate Lin Xu sitting on the bus. He plopped down on the seat next to him.
"You didn't either."
Lin Xu smiled.
"Every year, it's always those same factories coming to the school to recruit cheap labor. Who goes? Who's stupid?"
Zhang Yang waved his hand: "My family arranged it for me. I'm planning to start as a city administrator in the county first, and then take the civil service exam, just like my dad, to become a police officer."
As he spoke, he suddenly looked at Lin Xu with confusion: "By the way, we are both from the same hometown. Are you also planning to look for a job in the county?"
"It's sort of like that."
Lin Xu nodded: "I'm planning to go it alone."
"Self-employment?"
Zhang Yang's eyes lit up: "Do you have any good projects? Want to bring a buddy along?"
Lin Xu smiled slightly: "Setting up a fortune-telling booth."
"Aha?"
Zhang Yang had a bunch of question marks on his face.
But seeing Lin Xu's serious expression, he suddenly remembered the special feature of this roommate.On the bus returning home after graduation.
"Haha, Lin Xu, you didn't attend the school's job fair either."
Zhang Yang put away his suitcase and just happened to see his roommate Lin Xu sitting on the bus. He plopped down on the seat next to him.
"You didn't either."
Lin Xu smiled.
"Every year, it's always those same factories coming to the school to recruit cheap labor. Who goes? Who's stupid?"
Zhang Yang waved his hand: "My family arranged it for me. I'm planning to start as a city administrator in the county first, and then take the civil service exam, just like my dad, to become a police officer."
As he spoke, he suddenly looked at Lin Xu with confusion: "By the way, we are both from the same hometown. Are you also planning to look for a job in the county?"
"It's sort of like that."
Lin Xu nodded: "I'm planning to go it alone."
"Self-employment?"
Zhang Yang's eyes lit up: "Do you have any good projects? Want to bring a buddy along?"
Lin Xu smiled slightly: "Setting up a fortune-telling booth."
"Aha?"
Zhang Yang had a bunch of question marks on his face.
But seeing Lin Xu's serious expression, he suddenly remembered the special feature of this roommate.
If each dormitory has someone closest to the divine, then this roommate of mine, Lin Xu, is the deity among deities, and he is literally a god.
Since entering the school, this guy has hung an ancient costume portrait on his bedside, claiming it is his ancestor. Every New Year's Eve and the fifteenth day of the lunar month, he would light incense and bow, offering various sacrifices.
Moreover, at twelve o'clock every night, he would sit cross-legged on the bed with his eyes closed, looking very much like he is meditating and practicing cultivation.
He is also not sociable. When everyone is thinking of various ways to play, he is reading some obscure ancient books that he got from nowhere. At the same time, he is scribbling many diagrams and pictures of Tai Chi,八卦 and talismans in his notebook while mumbling to himself. At first, everyone was very curious about him, but after a while, they got used to it.
Everyone thought those were just Lin Xu's personal hobbies and regarded him as a little sorcerer, and didn't pay much attention to him.
But now that graduation is approaching, he actually said he wanted to set up a fortune-telling booth?
"Brother, are you serious?"
Zhang Yang looked at Lin Xu with a strange expression.
"Let me tell you a story."
Suddenly, Lin Xu looked very mysterious.
Our family lives in the countryside. My grandfather used to collect herbs in the mountains and once saved a young Taoist who was seriously injured.
Later, that young Taoist priest, in order to repay my grandfather's kindness for saving his life, chose a feng shui treasure spot and asked my grandfather to build his ancestral home there. The layout of that treasure spot was called "Golden Rooster Holding an Egg", which was said to ensure that the Lin family would be prosperous and powerful for a hundred years and that descendants would surely produce outstanding figures.
My grandfather followed his words and did as he was told. After the house was built, everything went smoothly and life became better and better day by day. Two daughters and two sons were born in the family, all of them handsome, intelligent and clever. They all ranked top in their school classes.
My father was ranked fourth and was the youngest son in the family. Later, the Xiao family in the village planned to build a new house and also eyed the treasure spot of our ancestral home. They wanted to buy it for money.
My grandfather was certainly unwilling. At that time, his medicinal business was doing well and there was no shortage of money at home. Moreover, that young Taoist had also instructed him before leaving that he should never sell this land under any circumstances.
The Xiao family was a big family in the village and had always been powerful there. When my grandfather refused, they began to use various threats and even collaborated with the gangsters in the county to cause trouble at my grandfather's medicinal shop.
Even so, my grandfather still did not give in.
The Xiao family, seeing that this method wouldn't work, began to use underhanded tactics. Their eldest son, Xiao Laosi, had learned some aspects of yin-yang and feng shui and contacted the township. They spent money to buy two plots of land in front of and behind our ancestral home, saying that they wanted to build two fish ponds to develop the economy of the village.
From the perspective of experts, this was a serious taboo. As the saying goes: "Water ponds in front and behind the house, children in the family die young and prematurely."
At that time, apart from the third son of the Xiao family, no one in the village knew about these things and thus didn't pay any attention.
As a result, just a few days after the two fish ponds were built, the second daughter of the grandfather accidentally fell into the fish pond and drowned on her way home from school.
A month later, the eldest son got into a fight with someone at school and accidentally fell down the stairs and died.
The grandfather and grandmother lost their beloved children and were extremely sad. However, in the midst of their grief, they finally realized something was wrong and thus sought the help of a master. Only then did they understand the danger involved.
It was clear that the Xiao family was targeting the Lin family.
My grandfather led people to severely beat the Xiao family and then sold the county pharmacy. He also used the connections he had accumulated over the years to put pressure on the Xiao family. Finally, he bought the two fish ponds and filled them in on the same day.
The feud between the Lin family and the Xiao family was thus completely settled.
This incident, although causing a heavy blow to the Lin family, solved the problem of the ancestral house. Within a few years, the grandfather made a comeback and became even wealthier year by year.
There were hundreds of employees under his command, and the shops were opened in the provincial capital.
But the grandfather was honest and upright and wouldn't engage in any backstabbing activities.
However, the Xiao family, seeing that the Lin family was growing stronger and fearing another retaliation from the Lin family, became panicked. The third son of the Xiao family then started causing trouble again.
And this time was even more vicious.
He had someone carve out more than ten eagles' statues and placed them on the mountain opposite our ancestral house. The eagle's beaks were directly facing the ancestral house of the Lin family. He set up an array and cast a spell. He also tampered with the ancestral graves of the Lin family.
If the construction of the fish ponds last time was only targeting the eggs in the golden rooster's nest, then this time it was directly targeting the golden rooster and the roots of the Lin family. This was an attempt to wipe out the entire Lin family.
At that time, the grandfather was busy with business in the city, and his children had just gotten married, so he rarely returned to the village. He didn't notice the sinister tricks of the Xiao family at all.
First, my grandfather fell seriously ill and passed away shortly after.
Then, the third daughter was diagnosed with cancer and passed away two months later. My father died in a car accident while traveling. The rest of the family members also fell ill one after another.
The Lin family's business also plummeted. It declared bankruptcy within just one year.
Later, it was heard that the ancestral house in the village was hit by a mudslide and was completely buried in the soil.
My mother returned to her parents' home while pregnant with me, but still couldn't escape the disaster. She passed away shortly after giving birth to me.
The Lin family was left with me, the only newborn child.
At this time, the Taoist who had saved my grandfather years ago returned to the village. Finally, he noticed something was amiss.
He said that all this was because he had chosen a feng shui spot that year, planting the cause of the disaster, and it was his duty to rectify this karma.
So he took me from my grandfather's home and raised me, sent me to school, made me his disciple, and taught me all his skills.
The master told me that I must not use the skills he taught me until my studies were completed.
As for after graduation...
Then there would be retribution for grievances and revenge for hatred!"
The story ended and the bus stopped.
They had arrived in the county town.
"The story is good."
After hearing it, Zhang Yang was still not satisfied and seemed to be still immersed in that bizarre story.
However, this person always disbelieved in these superstitious things and just regarded it as a story told by Lin Xu.
So he teased, "Then what skills have you learned?"
"Divination and fortune-telling, divination of auspicious and inauspicious events, yin-yang and feng shui, difficult and complicated diseases, driving away ghosts and demons..."
Lin Xu looked at him with a half-smile.
"Then calculate for me."
Seeing that Lin Xu was still pretending, Zhang Yang decided to expose his lie.