Chapter 23 "Mo Xia" comes to challenge
The next day at work, Master called me into his study and said with a serious expression:
"I heard rumors that someone is coming to destroy your place."
"How to smash it?" I asked hurriedly.
Master said that before he came here, there were three great masters in the city. Two were truly blind, and the third, surnamed Mo, was known as "Mo Xia," though he wasn't actually blind and was a formidable figure. Mo Xia had an agent named Qiang Si. He had a dark face and an even darker heart.
After the master finished introducing himself, he said, "Because you and I are both outsiders, we are taking jobs from the locals here. They can't do anything about it, so they have to teach you a lesson."
I said, "Don't worry, I will use courtesy before force."
The master nodded and said, "Don't be afraid. You will have to face the challenge sooner or later."
On my first day, I was extremely cautious. I arrived at the fortune-telling room early. Around eight o'clock, the waiter brought a man in.
I took a quick look at him and didn't think he was a challenger, so I politely asked him to sit down.
The man wrote the Chinese character "万" (wan), walked over and handed it to me, saying, "I have an idea. I'm planning to open a restaurant. Can you help me calculate whether it's possible?"
I laughed and said, "You're not just planning to open a restaurant, you've already entered the substantive stage. For example, you're purchasing supplies and renovating the shop."
The man smiled and said nothing.
My expression was serious. I said, "Just this first. If it's not right, I won't test any further."
This is called calming people down. The first sentence should calm them down.
The man smiled and said, "You are indeed right. The store is being renovated."
I said, “It can be done.”
He asked, "What is your basis?"
I explained, "First, when you wrote the character '万', you walked over and handed it to me. So, the character '万' plus the character '走之' becomes the character '踏'. This means you took a step forward, meaning it's not just an idea, but actual action."
"Is that so? Then why is it possible?"
"This character 'Wan' is half of the character 'Cheng', which means success. Right now, you're renovating, using saws, knives, and hammers, which aligns with the characteristics of the character 'Ge'. Wan, and Ge represents 'Cheng'. So it can be done."
The man was very happy to hear this. He thanked her several times and left.
After a while, the waiter came in with an old man and a young boy.
The old man, with droopy eyelids, was about sixty years old; the young man was as strong as an iron tower and his face was as dark as Li Kui. I knew what they were.
This is what Master meant by Mo Xia and Qiang Si.
Qiang Si glanced at me and said, "You are the one who predicted the fortune?"
I smiled and said, "Yes, I was the one who did the fortune telling."
Qiang Si asked again: "Why is your chair one high and one low?"
I smiled and said, "When there are more than two people, there must be a hierarchy, and they should find their own place."
Qiang Si said: "My name is Chen Qiang, and this is Mr. Mo."
In his opinion, when I heard these two names, a smile should immediately appear on my face.
However, I just said calmly: "Please sit down."
Mo Xia sat on a high chair and said:
"I've recently heard that Mr. Wan is very accurate in fortune-telling, so I'm here to ask for his advice. May I ask who his teacher is?"
"I learned a little bit from Master Hongyi."
Mo Xia asked, "Who was Master Hongyi's teacher?"
"I learned from Master Hirohara."
Mo Xia asked again: "Who was Master Hongyuan's teacher?"
I know that fortune-telling and divination have their own schools of thought, but I really don't know who Master Hongyuan learned from. So, I replied in a neither soft nor hard way:
"All characters in the world were created by Cangjie. If you ask our ancestors, we are all his disciples. Old sir, I wonder if you agree with this statement."
Mo Xia felt a little embarrassed and said, "Mr. Wan, although fortune-telling is a lowly profession, it's not polite to call someone a dog, right?"
I laughed heartily. "Sir, you don't know. We are well-educated and feel honored to be dogs. If we were illiterate, we wouldn't even be qualified to be dogs."
Mo Xia said, "I always feel that the word 'dog' is not elegant. Is Mr. Wan dissatisfied with me?"
I said, "Mr. Mo, do you know what the most loyal animal in the world is? Is it the dog? Those of us who read characters and read physiognomy are most loyal to Cangjie. Cangjie created Chinese characters and invented the six principles of pictographic, phono-semantic, indicative, ideographic, transliteration, and loan.
When we divine characters, which character isn't calculated using these six methods? Who in the world uses these six methods every day to interpret characters? Isn't it us? We are the most loyal to Cangjie, and so, we are dogs, Cangjie's disciples through and through."
Mo Xia smiled awkwardly. Then he asked:
"Mr. Wan is a man of profound learning. He is a disciple of Cangjie. Cangjie created traditional Chinese characters. Do you interpret Chinese characters using traditional or simplified characters?"
"Traditional and simplified Chinese are one. I interpret the characters based on what the person writes. Don't you have any set rules? Do you interpret the characters based on what you write?"
Mr. Mo said, "Mr. Wan is a young and talented man with a great tongue. A few days ago, a customer came and wrote the Chinese character '丰' to predict whether his business would be successful. What advice do you have for him?"
I said each word seriously, "Sir, I make money from this. I don't want to discuss anything academic with you. Tell me what you want to know now."
"Hey, you're so arrogant. Do you know who is talking to you?" Qiang Si, who had been sitting next to him, spoke.
I pretended not to know: "It doesn't matter who it is. I charge for fortune telling, and I don't engage in idle chatter."
Qiang Si said, "I'll use the number '1' to test how long I can live."
I said coldly, "There are three things you can't predict with fortune telling. One is if you don't have a specific event. Two is if you don't have sincerity. Three things you can't predict are life and death. You've got two of them."
He sneered, "Are you unpredictable?"
I looked at him and said without hesitation, "I'm sorry, it was an accident."
He snorted and said, "Just chat casually, even if the conversation is not right, I don't care. But if you are not prepared, why are you sitting here?" He spread his hands out, looking like a gangster.
I said coldly, "No test, then. So what?"
This remark infuriated him, and he raised his eyebrows and snapped, "How do you do business?"
I must let a provocateur like him suffer a heavy blow the first time, otherwise, provocateurs will come one after another. So, with a contemptuous smile:
"Yes, business is all about sincerity. If you have something to ask, just be specific. If not, I don't have time to chat with you."
His eyes widened angrily: "Believe it or not, I tell you to get out tonight."
I smiled and said, "Then you try and see who makes whom get out."
He was stunned for a moment and asked sharply, "Really?"
I hummed, "Want to try?"
The atmosphere was tense.
"I just don't believe you!" Qiang Si stood up and punched me.
But just as he made a move, his legs went weak and he sat down.
He looked at me in surprise, twisting his body in defiance, but like a fish cast on the shore, his head and tail moved but he couldn't struggle.
Mo Xia, who was standing next to him, was also shocked and shouted to Er Hei, "He has the Five Thunder Palm."
I said, "Come on, come and fight."
Mo Xia shouted, "Hurry up and give him the antidote, otherwise he will die."
I said, "Don't scare him. He can move now."
After saying this, Qiang Si became active again. He grabbed a stool and prepared to throw it at me.
It happened so quickly that I flicked my two fingers and a cloud of medicine powder flew towards his nostrils.
His legs gave way again and he sat down on the ground.
I said, "Would you like me to give you some antidote? If he really died, he would be too young."
Erhei stammered, "Master... I... was wrong... help me."
I pulled a talisman from the table, burned it in his teacup, and said, "Drink it."
The man gritted his teeth and drank the half cup of dark water.
I said contemptuously, "Want to compete? You're not qualified. Get lost!"
The man bowed and nodded repeatedly, and Mo Xia's face turned pale.
I said, "A real man never changes his surname or given name. If you dare to cause trouble again, we'll try again. You can walk in and lie down to leave."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
