Chapter 56: Underhanded Plot

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Qi Zhenbai watched as she looked at him with her wide, round, feline eyes, focusing completely on him alone, and felt even more happy. The smile beneath his eyes grew deeper, with his partly drooping long, thick, and delicate lashes masking it. He covered his slightly upturned lips with a fist, as if considering whether to agree.

However, Zhu Bocheng took Qi Zhenbai’s bow and reticence as a silent rejection. In fear that Chi Shuyan would be embarrassed and offended, he hurriedly pitched in to smooth things over, “Sister Shuyan, you gave Zhenbai a divination last time, so it’s now my turn. You can’t be biased, ha!”

Chi Shuyan looked at Zhu Bocheng as if sweeping a glance at his glabella. She had some doubts, but without batting an eyelid, she joked, “Fine, I’ll help you calculate this time, but you can’t laugh at me if I can’t do it.” In fact, she had long wanted to perform a divination for Zhu Bocheng. Since he brought it up first, it saved her the trouble.

Seeing that the atmosphere had eased, Zhu Bocheng was relieved, but secretly complained: Zhenbai is too disrespectful! Fearing that he would neglect his savior, he was even more energetic in cooperating, laughing heartily. “How come? I’m begging for it, Sister Shuyan, so hurry up and calculate for me.”

Chi Shuyan pursed her lips and smiled, stretching five fingers towards him.

Zhu Bocheng immediately fished out 500 cash from his wallet, all the while saying cheerfully, “Calculate slowly. I’m in no hurry.”

A few black lines slid down Chi Shuyan’s forehead: Brother, you don’t trust my fortune-telling skills, do you? But remembering the last failed fortune telling experience, it was quite understandable.

“Do you want me to calculate a character or your birth characters¹?”

“Let’s calculate a character.” Zhu Bocheng twirled a chopstick and dipped it into the water, then wrote the character “Yan” on the table, “Is this okay?”

Chi Shuyan nodded. Probably due to the blow of her defeat in fortune-telling last time, she stared at the character with a serious expression this time. After staring for a few seconds, she pinched her fingers and had some results in her mind.

She heaved a sigh of relief and her eyebrows stretched a bit. She said she wasn’t that bad. She had just made herself nervous.

“This Yan should be your original name, but your hand was blown up playing with a firecracker when you were a kid. You then encountered another fire incident and your father thought it was unlucky to have two fires in your name, as fire was related to both your accidents. So, he changed it to Cheng. With the Earth character, you can beat fire!” Chi Shuyan narrated neither too fast nor too slow.

Zhu Bocheng’s eyes flashed with suspicion. He casually wrote “Yan”. He couldn’t remember most things when he was a child, so he couldn’t judge whether she was telling the truth.

Chi Shuyan didn’t care about Zhu Bocheng’s doubts and continued, “You should have had an older brother, but unfortunately, he died young.”

“Sister Shuyan, you’ve miscalculated. I’m the only one in my family and my parents never mentioned that I had other brothers.” Zhu Bocheng began to speak and then hesitated. He did want to give Sister Shuyan a round of applause, but the problem was she said something that was too outrageous.

Chi Shuyan didn’t mind Zhu Bocheng’s questioning at all. She sipped some tea to moisten her throat and continued without haste, “I haven’t finished yet. Your parents have a harmonious relationship, but there was a time when they had difficulty conceiving an heir. Your family tried to give up your grandfather’s youngest son, your uncle, for adoption to your father, but because you were born, this matter was dropped.”

Zhu Bocheng’s eyes widened in astonishment. Sister Shuyan was right about this. But did she really calculate it or had she just guessed it? He was at a loss, knowing that the adoption matter was known only to those within the Zhu family. There was no way that it could’ve been spread outside.

Zhu Bocheng was torn, unsure whether to believe her or not. Of course, he trusted Sister Shuyan’s character, but he couldn’t rule out the possibility that her fortune telling was erroneous.

A familiar voice came, interrupting Zhu Bocheng’s thoughts. He turned his head to see He Yuanzheng.

“Bocheng, dear boy, I can’t believe I’ve run into you here.” A young man came and patted Zhu Bocheng’s shoulder, grinning happily ear to ear. Seeing Qi Zhenbai on the table, he also respectfully greeted Young Master Qi.

Qi Zhenbai, who seemed indifferent, didn’t get up and only nodded to him. With that, He Yuanzheng was flattered.

“Yes, Yuanzheng, what a coincidence!”

“How have you been?” He Yuanzheng looked at Zhu Bocheng, who was spirited, with a few hints of doubt in his eyes. He had only seen him from afar and thought he was mistaken.

“Good, my foot! You’ve no idea how unlucky I’ve been lately. I almost died in a car accident a few days ago.”

When He Yuanzheng heard this, his eyes twinkled, and he was secretly relieved. It seemed to be working. He hastened to feign surprise and advised, “You can’t do it that way! Have you hung up that blessing chime I brought you last time? As a brother, I’m breaking out into a cold sweat for you.”

“I hung it up long ago. But Yuanzheng, have you been cheated? I think it’s useless.” Zhu Bocheng said, depressed.

“How could that be? Didn’t you say before that you wouldn’t even lose sleep with it? You must have hung it in the wrong direction. Is it hanging in the Northeast and Southwest of your bedroom?”

“Yes, I did as you instructed. Forget it. Though it didn’t help much, it did improve my insomnia.”

He Yuanzheng originally wanted to chat more with Zhu Bocheng, but after sneaking a glance at Young Master Qi from the corner of his eye, he had some qualms in the end, so he left after exchanging a few pleasantries.

Chi Shuyan watched as He Yuanzheng’s departed and sneered in her heart. Is this really a blessing or an invitation to ghosts? Looking at Zhu Bocheng’s intimacy, her eyes dimmed silently.

Qi Zhenbai and Zhu Bocheng drove Chi Shuyan back to school and as they were about to say farewell, she stared at Zhu Bocheng for a moment. It wasn’t until she saw Zhu Bocheng panic that she warned, “If you really want to sleep soundly, throw away that string of wind chimes.” After she said this, she left, leaving Zhu Bocheng in a state of confusion.

“Sister Shuyan, what did that mean?”

“Do you remember when you started having bad luck?” Qi Zhenbai didn’t answer his question.

Zhu Bocheng froze for a moment. Looking at their attitude, it penetrated a bit and his eyes instantly widened in incredulity. “Is it that string of wind chimes?” The more he thought about it, the more suspicious he became. It seemed that he had started to become unlucky after he received the wind chimes.

“Where are the talismans and jade pendants she gave you?” Qi Zhenbai asked flatly while Zhu Bocheng was lost in thought.

Zhu Bocheng didn’t think too much of it either and instinctively took them out of his pocket, asking, “Here? What’s wrong?”

He then watched as Qi Zhenbai took five of the 10 remaining talismans and one of the three jade pendants, and put them into the inner pocket of his suit. He then closed his eyes and leaned on the car seat for a nap.

“Ah! You robbed…” Zhu Bocheng was stunned, but then protested aloud after he snapped out of it.

“So what?” Qi Zhenbai’s pitch-black eyes were like two shooting stars piercing sternly, his tone dangerous.

Zhu Bocheng was immediately terrified and felt a throbbing pain in his heart. “…” He could understand. Sister Shuyan’s talismans were so useful. How could Zhenbai not be impressed? On the surface, he was indifferent and unruffled, but maybe, he had long set his sights on taking advantage of his generosity.