Ye Zhengqing has been very tired lately.

Su was so eager to have a child that she asked for one almost every day.

Li Chenghai was jealous, and every time Ye Zhengqing finished spending time with Su, he would vent his anger by tormenting Ye Zhengqing.

Ye Zhengqing was repeatedly harassed by the couple and had no way to express his suffering.

Because the Su family was generous with the money, Li Chenghai kept his promise and allowed Ye Zhengqing to regain his footing in the government office.

He also promised that as long as Ye Zhengqing got Su pregnant, he would let Ye Zhengqing skip two grades.

Ye Zhengqing, even in middle age, was still willing to risk everything for the sake of his official career.

Li Chenghai's promise was like feed dangling in front of a donkey pulling a millstone, and Ye Zhengqing was that donkey. Success was within reach, so how could he give up?

Even the strongest body can't withstand such torment, especially since he's no longer young. Therefore, he can only secretly take kidney-tonifying and essence-boosting medications.

Fortunately, he was able to barely handle Su Shi, but he collapsed from exhaustion in front of Li Chenghai several times.

Even the highest-ranking official has to live. Ye Zhengqing wasn't stupid, so he found a doctor and told Su that frequent and excessive pregnancies were actually detrimental to conception. Finally, he got a chance to catch his breath with Su.

Thinking that he should avoid Li Chenghai and take good care of his health, he made an excuse to go outside the city. Unexpectedly, Li Chenghai came looking for him right afterward.

Before Ye Zhengqing collapsed from exhaustion again, he felt that returning to the Ye residence was the safest option, since he could at least use Wang Shi as an excuse.

After dealing with Li Chenghai in the morning, he covered his back and climbed into the carriage.

He was slumped in the carriage, feeling dizzy and disoriented, when he heard someone outside saying that his kidney essence was depleted and his time was coming to an end. This frightened him so much that he quickly lifted the curtain.

He knew very well that if he continued like this, he would end up like that.

Outside the carriage stood a Taoist priest with a youthful face and white hair, his eyes fixed on the city gates.

Fear of death made Ye Zhengqing call out to the Taoist priest.

Ye Zhen, disguised as a Taoist priest, glanced at him indifferently before frowning slightly. "If you value your future over your life, this humble Taoist has no choice..."

He didn't linger, nor did he take the opportunity to say anything like, "This humble Taoist priest sees your forehead is dark and you need to perform a ritual to ward off disaster." Instead, Ye Zhengqing believed him somewhat.

He called out to the Taoist priest again, "Master, what did you mean by what you just said?"

Ye Zhen glanced at his lower body, gave him a knowing look, shook her head, and continued walking forward without stopping.

"Master, please get in the carriage and let's talk."

The Taoist's gaze startled Ye Zhengqing. His affair with Li Chenghai and his wife was extremely secretive, and the Taoist's words clearly indicated that he knew about it.

Whether it was truly divined through divination or learned through other means, Ye Zhengqing could not allow the Taoist priest to leave just like that.

He winked at the newly bought Kunlun slave beside him, signaling the slave to take the Taoist priest onto the carriage.

If it's the former, then he needs to have a Taoist priest calculate his future and help him out of his current predicament.

If it is the latter, then he cannot spare the Taoist's life to prevent him from spreading rumors.

The Kunlun slave was tall and strong. When he stood in front of Ye Zhen, he was like a wall of flesh. His arms were thicker than an ordinary man's thigh. He blocked Ye Zhen's way and said, "Get in the carriage."

Ye Zhen seemed somewhat afraid and reluctantly boarded the carriage, even lightly slapping his own mouth, "It's all your fault for having such a big mouth, always making trouble."

"When the Taoist priest spoke of my impending death, was he referring to me?"

Ye Zhengqing cut to the chase and asked the question.

Ye Zhen rolled her eyes. "If it wasn't you, then it must be me."

"But I was in the carriage just now, and I didn't lift the curtain. How could you tell that my forehead was bluish and that I was deficient in vital energy?"

Ye Zhen rolled his eyes again. "Taoist arts are profound and extensive. Do you even know what the Heavenly Eye is? I could smell your death aura from miles away. I don't need to look at your face."

Ye Zhengqing had heard of the concept of opening one's third eye.

However, since Wang had once hired someone to impersonate a Taoist priest, he was worried that the person in front of him was also an imposter, so he asked, "What else does the Taoist priest know?"

Ye Zhen remained calm and composed, saying, "Fortune telling costs five taels."

Five taels wasn't much, Ye Zhengqing handed it over, and Ye Zhen took it and stuffed it into his Taoist robe. "Hold out your hand."

While feeling Ye Zhengqing's bones, Ye Zhen kept rambling about his birth date and time, "He was born on the eighth day of the Gengxu month in the Gengxu year. The date is not bad."

Although the birth date is correct, it is not difficult to find out his birth date if one is interested.

Ye Zhengqing did not believe it completely and waited for the Taoist priest to continue his story.

"...Born into wealth and nobility, he should have had a bright future, but unfortunately, his family had even stronger destiny charts of Xin Hai and Ren Chen, which blocked his path to success."

The Taoist priest continued his rambling.

Ye Zhengqing's expression gradually became serious. Ye Jinghong was born in the Ren Chen month of the Xin Hai year.

After Ye Jinghong became a general, his father often told him to keep a low profile and not to cause trouble for his sister.

Even when he was striving for advancement and official position, they poured cold water on his ambitions.

He felt that his father was worried that with a military officer in the family, his success in becoming a civil official would arouse the emperor's jealousy.

So his father not only refused to help him, but also retired early, causing him to remain at the fifth rank to this day.

Ye Jinghong never helped him during those years; in fact, she pointed out several of his mistakes, hindering his promotion and blocking his path to success.

What will happen to the person born in the Ren Chen month of the Xin Hai year?

Ye Zhen held out his hand to him, "This is another destiny, one hundred taels."

"You just said it would cost five taels."

Ye Zhengqing was somewhat displeased.

“Everyone’s fate is different. This is a top-tier fate of wealth and nobility. Whether you consider it a fate or not is up to you.”

Ye Zhengqing was even angrier. They were born of the same parents, so why was his official career inferior to Ye Jinghong's? Now, even in fortune telling, his life was worth ninety-five taels less than Ye Jinghong's.

But in the end, he still took out one hundred taels of silver, wanting to see if this Taoist priest could accurately predict Ye Jinghong's fate.

Ye Zhen accepted the silver note, closed his eyes, and rapidly counted on his fingers, "Year of Xinhai, Month of Renchen, Jiawu, Gengwu, Year of Xinhai, Month of Renchen, Jiawu, Gengwu..."

With metal and wood complementing each other, and water and fire in harmony, one is blessed with both wealth and official rank, possessing innate nobility. Although one may experience hardships in childhood, these will be resolved by encountering benefactors.

She was both talented and beautiful, destined to marry a noble man, but they parted ways. Her official career was prosperous, and she rose to the highest position in the government…

Ye Zhen suddenly opened his eyes and stared intently at Ye Zhengqing. "But the clash between Mao and Wu means you must be wary of jealous and malicious people, otherwise you will not escape the danger of an early death. This person is already dead!"

Ye Zhengqing paused for a moment.

A first-rank general, the number one female war goddess of the Great Abyss, highly valued by the emperor, she is indeed at the pinnacle of her position.

Everyone thought Ye Jinghong's husband was a martial arts practitioner who died young, but only she knew that he was the ruler of a country, and that the two had separated long ago.

They were all right.

If the Taoist priest had inquired beforehand, he could have calculated Ye Jinghong's birth date and childhood experiences.

But Ye Jinghong had never told either his father or himself about Shi Yan.

He only found out through the log.

As for the jealousy and harm caused by petty people, Ye Zhengqing felt somewhat guilty. He dreamed of bringing Ye Jinghong down so that he would have a chance to rise to the top.

Unfortunately, Ye Jinghong died before he could even make a move.

Ye Zhengqing's expression became even more serious; it seemed this Taoist priest did indeed possess some skill.

He then said, "My fate is not yet sealed. Does the Taoist priest know what my future holds?"

Ye Zhen rolled his eyes at him again and said, "You're haunted by a lecherous ghost, your life is near, you're about to die, what future do you have?"

Ye Zhengqing was greatly alarmed. "Is there any way to break this?"