"I’m telling you, it won’t work! You can’t read my fate."
Saying this, the old man rummaged through his clothes and took something out in his hand.
Chen Yan looked earnestly and couldn’t help but grin.
Unexpectedly... it was a... Mahjong tile!
This yellowish Mahjong tile was a Red Dragon tile!
The middle of the tile was pierced, threaded with a string, and worn around the old man’s neck.
The old man looked a bit proud and smiled, "Your grandmother gave this to me back in the days. When she wanted to read my fate, I refused. She said she feared that one day her curiosity might get the best of her and she might sneak a look at my fate, so she made this for me as a gift.
She said that as long as I wear this thing, no one, no matter what strange skill they use, could see my fate clearly—and not even she could see it."
Chen Yan was taken aback, looking at the old man smiling at him: "If you don’t believe me, you can try. Use the method that your grandmother taught you to see my fate."
Then, Chen Yan used the Qi Observation Skill on the old man, and his face changed!
Under the Qi Observation Skill, the old man’s head was perfectly clear, with no sign of any aura whatsoever!!
It was as if the Qi Observation Skill had completely failed on the old man.
Looking at the "Red Dragon" Mahjong tile in the old man’s hand, Chen Yan couldn’t help but feel a bit envious!
This thing is a treasure!
"You want it?" The old man laughed heartily, but then he tucked the Mahjong tile back into his clothes and said, "I can’t give it to you now. I have an agreement with your grandmother; this treasure is for me to wear for my lifetime. When I die someday, it will be passed on to you as a return to your family."
Chen Yan nodded and laughed: "Fine! Master Zhao, let’s wait another forty or fifty years before you pass it to me!"
This made the old man very happy once again - old folks always enjoy listening to such auspicious words of longevity.
After staying at the old village chief’s house for about an hour, drinking a cup of water and smoking a cigarette while chatting for a long time, Chen Yan said goodbye and left. The old man didn’t bother with formalities and waved him off without any of the usual polite invitations to stay for dinner.
Walking out of the old village chief’s house, Chen Yan was inexplicably in a good mood.
It seemed trip back home made the old village truly feel like the home he had been hoping for.
Humming a tune, Chen Yan slowly walked towards his house, and from a distance, he saw a figure pacing back and forth at the entrance of his yard.
Chen Yan smiled, walked over slowly, and greeted: "Chuyi? Why aren’t you staying at the temple? Came down the mountain to find me?"
Seeing Chen Yan approaching, Chuyi suddenly turned red in the face. When Chen Yan got closer, Chuyi was even more flustered, unable to form a coherent sentence.
He already had a slow mind and a clumsy tongue; now he was stomping his feet and turning red but couldn’t utter a single complete sentence...
Suddenly, this guy got so anxious that he knelt down in front of Chen Yan.
"Brother! Brother! Can you help me?"
"Help you with what?" Chen Yan was stunned and quickly reached out to help Chuyi up.
"I just... I need your help! They told me that the only hope is to see if you can help me."
"They? You mean the ones up the mountain?" Chen Yan pointed towards the distance.
"Yes!!" Chuyi nodded vigorously, his face flushed.
Chen Yan thought it over and seemed to have guessed what it was: "Alright, you tell me what exactly you need my help with..."
[On one hand, reminding myself that it’s hard to write more, can’t post everything and update won’t keep any drafts, but once I wrote it down, I thought, might as well post everything...
It’s so conflicting, wanting to save drafts and also there are eager readers waiting...]