Chapter 27 Fate Has Changed

Yu Qingci knew that Mr. Li was hard to impress, so she thought of sending him a chess manual to try and see if she could please him.

The old master rarely formally accepted disciples, and his requirements for accepting disciples were quite different from those of other great Confucian scholars. He mostly relied on personal liking; as long as a disciple met his standards, he was willing to accept them regardless of their family background.

Unfortunately, although scholars flocked to his door after he retired from public life, very few of them truly caught his eye and were accepted as his disciples.

For a time, Qiao Yuantao was scheming to get closer to Mr. Li. At that time, she was also eager to help her husband and almost always granted Qiao Yuantao's requests for money.

She also learned from Qiao Yuantao that the old gentleman was a chess fanatic and had a deep understanding of chess. In order to stop the endless stream of people who came to visit him, the old gentleman simply set up a chess game that was very difficult to solve, and claimed that only those who could solve the game were qualified to drink and chat with him.

At first, a few experts managed to break the game set up by the old man, but later, the old man got angry and came up with an even more formidable game, which, as expected, remained unsolved for a long time.

However, she knew that in a few months a young scholar named Zhou Jing would break the game, and Zhou Jing was fortunate enough to be chosen by the old master to become his last disciple.

Under the guidance of the old master, Zhou Jing successfully passed the imperial examinations two years later and was selected as the second-place scholar by the current emperor. Later, relying on the reputation of being the old master's closed-door disciple, he quickly gained a foothold in the court and enjoyed great prestige.

What made scholars across the land even more envious was that this man was eventually chosen by the Prime Minister to be his son-in-law.

This was supposed to be a time to enjoy life to the fullest, but three years later, Zhou Jing's first wife came to the capital with a young child to look for her husband. Only then did everyone realize that he had already married and had children back in his hometown.

The Prime Minister's daughter was a wise and sensible woman. After seeing her husband's first wife, she resolutely divorced him and returned to her parents' home. When the Prime Minister learned the truth, he was furious. In an instant, Zhou Jing went from being a favored son of heaven to the target of public criticism. He was impeached by many officials, and the Emperor also issued an edict to demote him from the capital to serve as an official in another place.

Who would have thought that a few years later, Zhou Jing would become the biggest corrupt official in the area. After being reported, he was imprisoned. People then learned that his first wife and children had been abandoned and their fates unknown after he was driven out of the capital. Mr. Li was also implicated by this disciple and almost lost his reputation. In the end, he died in depression.

At that time, the chess game that Zhou Jing solved attracted a lot of attention in the capital. Many students and Go masters set up the game and studied it repeatedly. Yu Qingci was fortunate enough to see it and remembered it.

In this life, she will be the one to break this deadlock.

Having initially resolved a major issue, Yu Qingci felt relieved and happy. The two of them quietly returned to the back hall along the way they had come, just in time to see the monks performing rituals in the back hall walking out one by one.

Is this finished?

Yu Qingci secretly rejoiced that she had returned in time.

They stopped and stepped aside, waiting for the monks to leave one by one before entering the back hall.

They heard the Qiao family members talking to Master Yuankong inside, and they all seemed quite excited.

Qiao's incredulous voice came through: "How could this be the result? When our two families arranged the marriage, we specially sent the birth charts of the two children to the temple to ask the master to approve them, saying that it was a match made in heaven. How did it become such a terrible thing?"

Master Yuankong's calm and resonant voice carried a hint of helplessness: "I was the one who analyzed the birth charts of the young general and Miss Yu back then, and they indeed showed to be a match made in heaven. However, their fates have now changed, which is also the will of heaven. If the two families disregard the will of heaven and insist on this marriage, it may bring adverse effects or even disasters to the fortunes of both families, and may even affect the lifespan of the elders in the family. I urge the two ladies to think it over carefully."

Upon hearing this, Madam Qiao looked at Old Madam Ning, who also looked incredulous: "How could this be? Does this mean that my son sacrificed his life for the country, only to end up all alone with no one to mourn him?"

Master Yuankong clasped his hands together and continued to comfort her, saying, "Don't be sad, benefactor. The result of my divination is that Miss Yu's birth chart has changed and she is not a match for the young general's spirit. This does not mean that others are not suitable either. The beginning and end of a relationship are all due to cause and effect. Everything is preordained. Just let nature take its course."

Qiao's eyes lit up: "Does the master mean that there is another woman who can marry the young general?"

Master Yuankong's expression remained inscrutable: "Amitabha, the young general is a person of great merit, and Heaven has its own destiny."

Upon hearing this, Yu Qingci couldn't help but let out a sarcastic smile. Here it comes.

In her previous life, after the religious ceremony, Qiao pretended to take out Yu Qingyan's birth chart and asked Master Yuankong to divine her future fortune. As a result, after some calculations, the monk concluded that fate had changed and the two could not get married.

Looking back now, wasn't all of this arranged by the Qiao family? The so-called enlightened monk in front of me was nothing more than someone who took money to solve problems for others.

It seemed that only then did Madam Qiao notice Yu Qingci's entrance, and she asked, "Qingci, why did you come back from outside? Where did you go just now?"

Everyone looked over, and Yu Qingying was the first to rush forward and question, "Well, Yu Qingci, you dared to sneak out and wander around while everyone was performing the ritual! You have quite the nerve! Tell me, where did you go just now, and why are you only coming back now?"

Yu Qingci looked up and saw that Yu Qingying had a sullen expression and seemed to have been crying. Looking at her, the pale yellow pleated skirt embroidered with colorful butterflies that she had worn that morning seemed to have some dirt on the hem, making her look somewhat disheveled.

What happened?

Seeing this, Yu Qingyan stepped forward and stood between the two, asking Yu Qingci softly, "Why did you leave without a word, Third Sister? Why didn't you take a servant with you? What if someone bumps into you?"

Yu Qingci calmly explained, "I felt a little dizzy just now and was afraid of disturbing everyone's ritual, so I just went for a walk in the bamboo grove at the back and didn't go far. I'm sorry to have worried Madam and Second Sister."

Upon hearing this, Qingying's eyes widened again: "You went to the backyard? No wonder I couldn't find you in the front yard for so long. You have no manners at all!"

Everyone was here listening to the master perform the ritual, but you got dizzy and ran away. I think you were just pretending; you just wanted to wander around!

Yu Qingci looked at the two sisters apologetically and said, "It was my fault. I should have told Madam. But what's wrong, Fourth Sister?"

Yu Qingci deliberately looked Yu Qingying up and down with a suspicious expression on her face.

Yu Qingying said with a sob in her voice, "How dare you ask me? It's all because of you that I..."