Chapter 45

Involving three generations

The fortune teller's words sent a shiver down Lu Qin's spine. She glanced down and noticed that Hao Jingshi had written "April 6th" on the paper, the original owner's birthday.

She understood the reason almost instantly: the true owner of the birth chart had died on his wedding day.

The old man did some calculations and predicted that the man's life was over, yet he was standing perfectly fine before him. No wonder the man was terrified.

Thinking of this, Lu Qin's palms became slightly sweaty, and she unconsciously fiddled with the hem of her clothes.

Although Hao Jingshi said she didn't believe in fate, she was still afraid that Hao Jingshi would overthink things after the old man revealed the truth.

However, it's clear that she's the one who's overthinking things.

Upon hearing this, Hao Jingshi simply crossed his arms and chuckled.

He wouldn't forget Lu Qin's birthday. This old man's stammering and mysterious behavior is enough to show that he's a charlatan.

"Old man, you really don't know how to do business."

Hao Jingshi couldn't help but joke, "Since you can't do the math, just say something nice to make the customers happy. I know you have a family to support, so even if you lie to me, I won't ruin your reputation."

After hearing this, the old man remained silent for a moment, his expression unchanged, still calm and composed.

Lu Qin secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Hao Jingshi was just accompanying her and wouldn't take the old man's words to heart at all.

Seeing the awkward atmosphere, she quietly tugged at Hao Jingshi's sleeve, intending to find an excuse to leave at the right time. Unexpectedly, at this moment, the old man suddenly said in a low voice, "Young master has no concubines and no children, am I not wrong?"

"..."

Hao Jingshi, who was about to take out his silver, paused for a moment. Lu Qin was also slightly surprised. The two of them looked at him at the same time.

Having earned Hao Jingshi's attention, the old man said slowly and deliberately, "Your wife's birthday is incorrect, but I didn't say yours was incorrect."

He squinted slightly, stroked his white beard, and continued his analysis, sentence by sentence.

"In my humble opinion, young master, you will likely have few children in this life... It's truly a pity."

"The young master has strict family rules and has been rebellious since childhood. His parents are not good at disciplining him, but he listens to his wife very much."

"By the way, young master, your family is involved in business, so you must be careful in everything you do."

"..."

Hao Jingshi's lips trembled a few times after hearing this, and he felt an instant displeasure.

This old man won't take the easy way out; he just has to keep arguing.

Putting aside whether he's rebellious or not, what's with all this talk about having few children and too many family entanglements? Isn't this just a blatant curse?

Who would believe that!

He couldn't help but take a step forward: "You—"

"My husband, my husband."

Before she could even speak, Lu Qin smelled the aroma of fire and quickly grabbed his arm.

She quickly calmed things down, saying, "Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. Give him a little more time. Your legs must be numb from standing, go buy me a sugar figurine."

Hao Jingshi's hand, which was pointing at the old man, froze in mid-air. Lu Qin, afraid that he wouldn't go, quickly grabbed his fingers and pulled her hand back, winking at him: "Husband, please go."

Hao Jingshi looked at his hand, which had been forcibly pressed down, and breathed a sigh of relief.

It would be fine in private, but in front of outsiders, he was still a little embarrassed, and the fire in his chest turned into a pool of water, causing ripples to spread through his heart.

He didn't want to waste any more time here, but Lu Qin's coquettishness was irresistible, so he casually agreed and then left with lightning speed to find the sugar figurine stall.

After Hao Jingshi walked away, Lu Qin immediately put her hands together and apologized to the old man.

"Grandma, I'm so sorry, my husband wrote down the wrong birth date. He's a very proud man, please don't take it to heart."

The old man was not angry. Instead, he shook his head as he watched the old man's retreating figure and smiled with a profound look in his eyes.

“It’s alright. I can tell that you are not a spoiled brat. On the contrary, you are kind-hearted. That’s why I said a few more words. Otherwise, I would have just ignored you.” He said, “In that case, please write down your correct birth date, young lady.”

Lu Qin nodded, took the pen, and carefully wrote down her birthday. After thinking for a moment, she decided to write down the year as the original owner's birth year. Coincidentally, the two of them were born a thousand years apart, which could be considered a kind of fate.

She carefully wrote the characters, then handed the paper and pen to the old man. The old man glanced at them, took them, and began to write and draw on the paper again.

Lu Qin watched intently, waiting anxiously. Fortunately, this time nothing seemed amiss. The old man quickly raised his head and said with a smile, "The two of you have a deep connection, spanning three lifetimes, and your obsessions with each other run very deep."

"Three lifetimes?" Lu Qin suddenly remembered the joke she had made with Hao Jingshi on Xuande Street, not expecting it to come true. "Does that mean we can be husband and wife for two more lifetimes?"

The old man shook his head slightly: "That's not the case. This is the second life." He paused for a moment, then slowly said, "Young lady, I shouldn't say more, but seeing how deeply you two love each other, I'll give you something."

After hearing this, Lu Qin stared blankly at the old man, who then took out two small beige pouches from the beige cloth bag on the ground, gave them to her, and said, "Take these to Guantao Temple and tie them to the first tree you see. You will then be able to pray for a reunion in the next life and continue your predestined relationship."

"But as for what the third life will be like, that depends on the fate of the two of you."

"Alright, I'll go when I have time." Lu Qin accepted the gift with both hands, but felt somewhat uneasy. "Old lady, I have another question. What is the meaning of such a deep-seated obsession?"

The old man lowered his head and pondered for a moment before replying, "Perhaps it was because we had a deep affection in our past lives, but we carried regrets with us, so we couldn't forget each other. As for anything else, I'm not in a position to say more."

Regret? Yes, do you mean offspring?

Lu Qin was puzzled, but it was inconvenient for her to ask further. So she nodded solemnly and carefully stroked the two purses: "I understand, old man, thank you."

...

A moment later, a wisp of cloud enveloped the moon, appearing light and ethereal from afar, almost as if it were there but not there, like the sorrow lingering in one's heart.

When Hao Jingshi returned with the sugar figurines, the stall had already been taken away, the old man was nowhere to be seen, and the place was empty. Only Lu Qin was squatting there, her figure thin, staring blankly at the two purses in her palm.

Not knowing what was going on, he ran a few steps over, looked around, and asked.

Where are the others?

Lu Qin snapped out of her daze upon hearing the sound and realized that Hao Jingshi was already standing beside her, holding a sugar figurine shaped like a rabbit holding the moon.

She changed her sullen expression, stood up and said with a smile, "They've left. They said they revealed too many secrets of heaven today and it's inconvenient for them to see other people."

"What nonsense about divine secrets." Hao Jingshi handed her the sugar figurine and sneered, "I think he's just talking nonsense. He saw right through me and didn't even dare to take the money. He just slunk away like that."

As they talked, they walked back together in tacit understanding. Lu Qin took the sugar figurine and took a bite. It was very sweet, but she couldn't taste anything special.

She replied, "He did say no, but I thought I shouldn't let him work for nothing. Since you weren't here and I didn't have any money on me, I gave him the jade bracelet."

She sounded a little guilty as she spoke. She had given the Wu family manager a bracelet before, and the one she was wearing was bought for her by Hao Jingshi when he saw that her hands were empty. Now she had given it to someone else.

"Hmm?" Hao Jingshi glanced at her, then said with a helpless smile, "I never knew you were so easy to fool, Madam. So all your shrewdness was used on me, huh?"

"Hehe, no way." Lu Qin guiltily bit off the rabbit's ear and vaguely changed the subject, "Why didn't you buy one?"

"Too sweet, I don't want to eat it."

"Have a little, just to try it."

Lu Qin held the rabbit with a missing ear to Hao Jingshi's lips, gesturing for him to take a bite, but Hao Jingshi didn't bite. Instead, he watched with great interest the ear she was holding in her mouth.

As he watched, he lowered his head and snatched the food from her mouth, not forgetting to use the tip of his tongue to clean the sugar residue off her lips.

Lu Qin was stunned for a moment, and when she came to her senses, the other person had already wiped their lips with their finger with satisfaction.

What else did he say to you?

"...It's nothing."

Lu Qin continued eating the rabbit's other ear, saying half-jokingly, "I told them I had miscalculated, and that our fate would last for three lifetimes, and then I got two amulets."

She opened the purse she was clutching in her hand to show him: "He told us to hang this on a tree in the temple so that we can be husband and wife in the next life. Husband, how about we go to Guantao Temple sometime when we have time?"

Hao Jingshi glanced at it, then clasped his hands together behind his head. He looked at the moon and said, "Then what are we waiting for? Guantao Temple isn't far. Let's go first thing tomorrow morning."

"Hmm?" Lu Qin smacked her lips at the sugar figurine. "But the flyers for the clothing shop haven't been drawn yet. We shouldn't delay the opening."

Hao Jingshi: "It won't matter if it's a day later, we're not short of money."

Lu Qin: "Uh, so enthusiastic? Didn't you not believe in this?"

"Who would believe that?" Hao Jingshi suddenly lowered his arm. "It's all nonsense. What three lifetimes? Even if it goes through thirty lifetimes, you'll still be my wife."

"Oh, then don't bother making the trip..."

"Why, don't you want to see the peach blossoms in the temple?"

"People prefer having money to peach blossoms."

"The way you say that makes it sound like I've mistreated you."

"No, I just like watching my husband paint so intently."

"..."

"It's settled then, we'll be drawing flyers tomorrow!"

"…………"

After much back and forth, Hao Jingshi finally gave in and agreed to stay home the next day and finish drawing all the flyers.

To appease Hao Jingshi, Lu Qin first tied the purse to a tree in the courtyard of the new mansion and then coaxed him with a sweet kiss.

At night, Lu Qin would often suddenly recall the old man's words, and even when the two were making love, they would still be slightly dazed.

The chance of having children is slim... Just from this one sentence, she could think of countless possibilities.

On the bright side, it's probably because he didn't take a concubine, which is why he didn't have many children.

Thinking the worst...

She dared not think about it.

Lu Qin glanced at Hao Jingshi. Come to think of it, she suddenly realized that Hao Jingshi had been extra careful about his boundaries when he was close to her in the past two years, and rarely made any advances.

The only reason she could think of was that she had run into Xuan Lan when she secretly went to prepare contraceptive soup.

Although Xuan Lan didn't mention it afterward, and Hao Jingshi didn't ask about it either, she still felt that it was somewhat related.

She also saw Hao Jingshi stroking the sachet in his clothes before falling asleep. Inside were notes they had written to each other while laughing and joking during their trip to Tongxin Lake.

She picked up her pen and promised to grant him one wish.

He must have wanted to speak several times, but held back...

"what's on your mind?"

The red candles flickered, and Hao Jingshi, seeing that she was distracted, immediately stopped unbuttoning her clothes.

Lu Qin snapped out of her daze, and after a moment of awkwardness, she stammered, "Husband, you...you knew all along that I was drinking the contraceptive soup, didn't you?"

Hao Jingshi was stunned, not expecting her to ask such a direct question.

"..." He slowly lay back down on his side. "Yes."

After a moment of silence, he said again, "I won't force you to have children."

Seeing his dejected expression, Lu Qin felt a pang of guilt and mumbled an explanation, "Don't misunderstand, I... I'm just scared."

"No." Hao Jingshi raised his hand to stroke her cheek, his fingertips running through her hair. "I am skilled in medicine, so I naturally know the hardships of childbirth. You used to be weak, but although you are much better now, you still need to take good care of yourself. It's better not to have children."

He looked at her, his brows furrowed with restraint. Lu Qin was deeply moved, but she could also keenly sense the change in his emotions. So she turned over and hugged him, then leaned forward to kiss his cheek.

She snuggled into his arms and said, "Husband, if you're willing, how about we raise a puppy together?"

Hao Jingshi agreed without hesitation: "Okay."

He put his arm around her and tucked the blanket in a little. Lu Qin felt warm against her back and then closed her eyes to sleep peacefully.

Even a pet is still a child, so surely Hao Jingshi won't have any regrets.