Chapter 515: Someone write the word "bowl", I say, you have a heart disease

I got home at noon, took an hour nap, and woke up around 3 p.m. Lao Xiao called and said that Nanli Town had postponed the groundbreaking ceremony to mid-April.

The entire ceremony was held by their town because they were building a school there. We were just the financial sponsor and the contractor.

"Oh—I responded and said, OK."

After receiving this call, I realized that the town must seize this initiative. They built the school, and Xuri only donated the funds.

In other words, in future ceremonies, Mr. Chen and Lao Xiao will also attend as guests. The district leaders simply thanked the Rising Sun Group for its emphasis on and support for education in their speeches.

After I hung up, my phone rang again. I saw it was Teacher Meng, and after answering, I said, "Hello, Teacher Meng."

"Mr. Wan, are you at home this afternoon?"

"Yes."

"I have a best friend who wants to see you. His last name is Liu and he's also a teacher. He wants to come and talk to you."

"Welcome, just ask him to contact me."

After sitting for a while, I got a call. The caller introduced himself as Liu and asked me to send him a map of the location.

After sending the map, I sat in my study, reading. Half an hour later, I looked out the window and saw a car pull up. An elderly man got out, then drove away.

I walked to the door to greet the guest, clasped my fists and said, "Hello, Teacher Liu."

The man was in his sixties, with a long flowing beard, and was wearing a Tang suit and bell-bottom pants. He cupped his fists and smiled, "Hello, Mr. Wan."

I ushered him into the study, brewed tea, and poured it.

He looked around and said, "Mr. Wan has made money."

I smiled and said, "In order to make my parents' later years more comfortable, I took out a loan to buy a house like this. I will suffer a little and pay it back slowly."

He smiled and said, "I don't believe it. Teacher Meng said that you are amazing at fortune-telling and character reading. There are many rich people nowadays, and the richer they are, the more they like to ask you to read their Feng Shui. You are not short of money."

I laughed heartily. "Mr. Liu told me my fortune right after he came in, and he said I'm not short of money. Thank you for your kind words."

The two sat down and exchanged some polite words.

I noticed that Teacher Liu looked back at the door. Then he understood immediately and walked over to close the door.

Teacher Liu smiled and said, "I heard that Mr. Wan can predict the future. I will write a word, and please guess my intention."

I burst out laughing: "Teacher Liu wants to test me, okay, then let's give it a try."

He wrote the character for "bowl".

Bowl, there is no other explanation, it is used to hold things. For this kind of word without other extended meanings, I will analyze it based on the structure of the word.

I pointed to the word "bowl" and explained it to him:

"Shi + Wan = bowl. Shi means stone, and Wan means 'covering with curved grass.' It means covering something with weeds. You're afraid you won't be able to find it later, so you put a stone next to the weeds as a mark."

His face was calm.

"So, I infer that you have something on your mind that you want to talk to me about."

Teacher Liu looked at me seriously for a long time before saying:

"Mr. Wan is indeed worthy of his reputation."

I said, "Well, it's not really a private matter. I think many people know what's on your mind. You just haven't thought of a good solution."

He said word by word:

"Mr. Wan, you are so capable that you can afford to buy two villas."

I just smiled, waiting for him to speak.

Teacher Liu picked up the cup and took a sip of tea. He stroked his beard and said slowly:

"As for me, I was a colleague of Teacher Meng and taught for my entire life, but fate was unfair to me. My wife couldn't have children. She didn't want to adopt someone else's child.

I respected her idea, and we lived in harmony without having children. Unexpectedly, my wife fell seriously ill at the age of 55 and passed away a year later.

With no children and my wife gone, my spiritual support was instantly shattered. Two years ago, I retired, renovated a few old houses in the countryside, and moved back to the village.

The reason I returned to the village was because I had a cousin four generations apart who was willing to take care of my funeral when I passed away.

I'm in good health and I love to cook. Sometimes I go fishing with Lao Meng, and sometimes I just sit on a bamboo chair on the ground in front of our yard and bask in the sun. My life is leisurely and comfortable."

At this point, Teacher Liu glanced at me and asked, "Mr. Wan, do you think I'm being too long-winded?"

I shook my head: "Don't look at me with my eyes half closed, I'm actually listening carefully."

He said, “If I don’t explain these things clearly, you won’t be able to understand what comes next.”

"I know. Go on."

"My cousin's business is doing well. So, I don't have any worries. But something happened six months ago that disrupted my life."

"Don't worry about it, just talk about your own things and leave me alone."

"One day, I was leaning on a bamboo chair in the sun, picking up the teapot and pouring a cup of tea into a bowl. Just as I was about to drink, a fat middle-aged man passed by my door and asked for a bowl of tea.

I went into the house, found a teacup, and poured a cup of tea for the fat man. The fat man drank the tea but refused to leave. He asked me where the teacup came from.

Hearing this, I sat up straight, opened my eyes, and said with a smile:

"The man who asked for tea was a door-to-door antique collector."

Teacher Liu slapped his thigh and said, "Yes."

I closed my eyes again: "Go on."

Teacher Liu said, "I saw that he was interested in this tea bowl, so I told him that it was passed down from my ancestors. He said his last name was Liu. I looked at him and suddenly realized that he was the famous 'Liu Gudong' in this area. However, it was my first time meeting him.

Liu Gudong asked me if I wanted to sell this tea bowl. My guard immediately grew. If he wanted to buy it, it must be valuable, I thought. But I didn't know how much it was worth, so I said no.

Liu Gudong offered 10,000 yuan, but I refused to sell it. Later, he came back several times and kept raising the price to 100,000 yuan. I refused to sell it anymore.

Liu Gudong came in and out of my house so many times that the villagers noticed. Then the rumor spread that I had a treasure. Some said it was worth millions, some said it was worth tens of millions. That's when trouble started.

At this time, I opened my eyes, waved my hand, and said, "Let me tell you what happened next."

Teacher Liu looked at me seriously.

I took a slow sip and said, "You live your life so cautiously. It's just a tea bowl you've used for decades, and suddenly Liu Gudong raises the price to 100,000. You have higher expectations. You think it must be more than 100,000, not to mention a million, but at least a few hundred thousand."

Teacher Liu said, "Yes, that's the idea."

I said, "You can't eat or sleep well now because you keep thinking that this bowl is not safe no matter where you put it. You can't sleep at night because you are afraid that if you fall asleep, the pirates sent by Liu Gudong will steal it.

Not only are you afraid that Liu Gudong will send someone to steal it, but you're also afraid that the villagers will plot against you. So, you're so suspicious now that you even carry a bowl with you when you go out to buy a bag of salt."

"My God, it's like you saw me. I made a lock-mouthed cloth bag and carry it with me when I go out to buy some daily necessities. I've turned down things like fishing and playing cards at my neighbor's house."

"You get a monthly pension, so just sell it. You don't have to live so cautiously and suspiciously."

“It can’t be sold.”

"Can't sell it?"

"Yes. I have a sister who is not very good at living up to expectations, and a nephew who is not very good at living up to expectations."

“They want this bowl?”

"It's a long and sad story. This will take up a lot of your time, but I have to tell you."

"It doesn't matter. My job is to give people advice."

Then, Teacher Liu talked about his sister and nephew.