Chapter 62 The old lady is really dead
A week later, Master was taken to Shandong by Mr. Lan. It seemed to be a very secret matter.
My master didn’t take me with him.
The day after my master left home, Chang Nanxi called me and said he had discovered a business opportunity that was even broader than fortune-telling.
The business opportunity he mentioned is "psychological counseling" - he said mental illness is common among modern people.
I thought about it and couldn't help but admire his foresight. If I could offer both fortune-telling and psychological counseling, I could reach a wider customer base.
So, I decided to move to my own noodle shop for two reasons.
Although I have gained a certain degree of fame on "Fenghuaxueyue", the number of customers who come to me for fortune-telling is limited after all.
Most of them are from other places, most of the locals are looking for masters.
Secondly, psychological counseling focuses on privacy, and naturally people don't want to go to a teahouse where people come and go. Furthermore, teahouses take commissions, which is a significant loss.
At noon that day, I asked my sister if I could have a room downstairs.
My sister thought for a long time and said, "There's a warehouse over there in the old store. You can renovate it if you want."
I gave him a thumbs up and said, "Don't forget the well-digger when you drink the water. I'll give you half of the money I make."
She squinted at me and said, "I don't want a cent. If you want to buy a house and get married, just don't borrow money from me."
My mother glared at my sister and said, "You're so heartless! If you don't lend it to me, who will?"
I smiled and said, "Mom, you have to believe in me. I can be self-reliant and have enough food and clothing."
So I asked a craftsman to spend three days to divide the warehouse into two rooms, and repainted them. The outside was a tea room and the inside was a bedroom.
On another day, I asked Gao Xu, a non-famous calligrapher, to write the inscription "Night Talk" and make it into a sign to hang in front of the door.
Mark two lines of small words under "Night Talk":
Character divination.
Psychological counseling.
I go to work at Youranju during the day and sit in the night talk room at night. If there is business, I take orders. If there is no business, I read and drink tea.
Three days after Master left, he called me and said he would be away for a longer time this time, probably in about a month.
He didn't say why it would take a month, and I didn't dare ask. Was it a month for recuperation? Probably. He said he had been transferred from Shandong to the famous sanatorium in Beidaihe.
I asked, "Do you have any other instructions?"
He said, "You have to go to Youranju every day. First, you can't stop your business. Second, you have a man at home who can be your backbone when things go wrong."
I replied, "Don't worry."
About ten days after Master left, Lao Lin called me and told me that the government had signed a contract with a businessman named Zhang.
I asked, “So fast?”
Lao Lin said, "It's all in the newspaper."
Since I got WeChat, I really haven’t read the newspaper anymore.
If there's a fire, a car overturn, a broken bridge, or someone's dead, you'll immediately find out about it on your social media feed. But for more serious matters, you have to read the newspaper.
"Which day's newspaper?"
"yesterday."
After hanging up the phone, I went to look for yesterday's "Wuxiang Evening News" among the pile of newspapers.
When I opened it, it was still the headline news, with the title "Our city signed a contract for the overall relocation of Shen Family Courtyard with Runsheng Culture Company."
To ensure public safety, the city government decided to demolish the Shen Family Compound, a dangerous building, in an orderly manner. The city government and Runsheng Company jointly built a new resettlement area.
I laughed to myself, thinking, Master's predictions are so accurate. Sure enough, it wasn't Mr. He who signed the contract. I began to reason:
Mr. He asked someone to build a resettlement community.
He is not a philanthropist, so the terms of the exchange must be: the removed blue bricks and carved wooden boards belong to him.
He would even spread the word that he would deal with the waste.
Of course, he would admit that some of the wood is still very valuable.
Because of its preciousness, he paid for the construction of a resettlement area.
For ordinary people, it is worth exchanging these rotten wood and bricks for a resettlement community. There is no doubt that Wuxiang has made a lot of money.
So, both parties were happy.
…
Before I could finish my reasoning, a man walked in. He looked familiar, but I couldn't place him. I smiled and said, "Please sit down."
"Where is the Taoist priest?" He looked around.
"He's out of town and won't be back for more than 20 days. If there's anything, tell me."
He looked lost. "Last time I came here, I took the test for 'turn.'"
I looked carefully and saw it was indeed him. I wondered if the 86-year-old lady at home had died. The shop usually didn't make tea for people who came to ask fortune-telling questions, but for some reason, I got up and made a cup for him.
He took the tea, said thank you, and then told me that his old lady had died last night and he wanted to choose a day for the funeral.
I looked a little sad and asked, "Did the old lady die at home or outside?"
He asked, “Is this important?”
I nodded slightly. "There's a huge difference. Dying at home is called a natural death, but dying outside... I won't explain. Anyway, we have to make the distinction."
The man's face turned pale and he said angrily:
"Master Wan, I'm not afraid of you laughing at me when I tell you this, but I'm the old lady's nephew. When my cousin was on stage, there were so many people who called him mother.
Now my cousin has passed away. Even calling a nurse is useless. He's still breathing, but he's slow to respond when we call this one, and he's taking a while to come back home to rest. Damn it, we just watched him die.
I reassured him, "The doctors and nurses don't know you. Their mission is to save lives. Perhaps you have some misunderstandings."
He didn't argue, but watched me flipping through the almanac, his eyes wide open, as if he was afraid I'd give him a half-hearted answer.
I stood up and pulled out a piece of red paper. I wrote the year, month, day, and time on one side, and the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches on the other. Then I deduced them one by one...
Honestly, choosing a date doesn't have to be that serious; you can figure it out just by counting on your fingers. I just wanted to give him some warmth—even though his family is in dire straits, as a Feng Shui master, I'm not going to be perfunctory.
He stood up and walked over to me and said:
"You must help the old lady choose a good date. Even if you postpone the funeral for a few days, it doesn't matter. Her son was not a good person, and the old lady was angry to death, but we hope that our grandchildren will have a promising future."
After I sorted it out, I said with an undeniable expression: "No need to postpone it, the best day is the day after tomorrow."
He paused. "I heard you went to Hangzhou to study astrology and feng shui. Could you also help my old lady look at the land?"
I was stunned for a moment. How could he know anything about me, his apprentice? According to Master, his family had never even looked at Youran Ju.
I nodded.
"Then please take full charge of my family, okay?"
I said simply, "Okay."
He stood up and said, "Time is tight, please go now. My car is outside on the road."
"I have a car, just lead the way."
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