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Fortune telling? Wealthy?

He had seen this kind of trickery from charlatans many times in his previous life.

They'll just say a few nice things to fool you first, and then say something like, "But your forehead is dark and you're in for a bloody disaster."

Finally, when the true intentions are revealed, they'll try to trick you into buying their worthless talisman water or consecrated magical artifacts.

"Did he ask for the money back then?" Chen Qian asked, though he already had a pretty good idea of ​​the answer.

No!

Little Fish shook her head, her pigtails swaying back and forth, and she held a small bell in her hand.

"He left right after he finished speaking, all smiles, he looked so kind."

"They even gave me a little bell."

The little fish shook the small bell in its hand.

"jingle"

The sound of the bell wasn't loud, but it was long and clear.

Chen Qian focused and looked at it carefully again and again, but couldn't see anything wrong.

You didn't ask for money?

Chen Qian's inward sneer intensified.

Return the items? This is what they call casting a long line to catch a big fish.

Asking for money on the spot would be a poor choice.

That's the point—to use this push-and-pull technique to make you feel like you've truly met a master.

When they "coincidentally" meet again, it's like a fat sheep being delivered to their doorstep.

Even more sinister thoughts flashed through Chen Qian's mind in an instant.

Could this be a trap within a trap, designed to target him?

Could it be that word of my deal has leaked out and I'm being watched?

"Ah Qian, I also find it a bit strange."

While wiping Xiaoyu's face, Chen Ke hesitated and said:

"That man is blind."

"His eyes were covered with a black cloth, and he was holding a bamboo pole."

"But then, right there in the crowd, he suddenly grabbed my sleeve, as if he had seen it with his own eyes."

"Do you think this might be someone faking blindness?"

blind?

Who knows better than him the tricks of pretending to be a ghost?

Take, for example, the scene that intimidated Zhao Feng.

He could predict that a naughty child would pass by the alley entrance; was he a prophet?

fart!

He had paid for a string of candied hawthorns in advance to bribe Xiao Hu from the next street so that he could see his signal on the other side and pass by the alley entrance on time.

As for the old man with a mole on his left cheek who sells candied hawthorns...

He even deliberately took Xiaohu to the stall to buy candied hawthorns and pointed them out to him, just to deepen the child's impression.

So-called brilliant strategies are nothing more than a carefully crafted script.

Even someone with a cheat code like him has to go through all sorts of trouble, from asking favors to scouting locations, to meticulously plan and scheme in order to appear as a master.

You could just randomly run into a blind man on the roadside, grab his hand, and he could tell you the secrets of heaven in a couple of moments?

If someone truly possessed such talent, they would have been invited as an honored guest by high-ranking officials and dignitaries long ago, instead of ending up homeless on the streets.

But they remained vigilant and even considered leaving Linjiang later.

"Brother, don't overthink it."

Chen Qian said to Chen Ke, who was tidying up firewood:

"He's probably just a conman. These days, there are more people pretending to be blind than actually blind, and the ways they try to swindle money are endless. I'll tell my sister-in-law and Xiaoyu to stay away from this kind of person from now on."

As night deepens, the alleyways are filled with the aroma of food from every household.

The Chen family is having an exceptionally lavish meal tonight.

In the afternoon, Chen Qian specially went to cut two catties of high-quality pork belly, and also bought a roast chicken and some seasonal vegetables.

Lin Xiu is a very skilled cook. Even the simplest braised pork is made by her to be glossy red and fatty but not greasy.

The atmosphere at the dinner table was warm and peaceful.

"How's Ah Qing doing?" Lin Xiu asked casually as she placed a piece of meat on Chen Ke's plate.

"They're not back yet."

Chen Ke sighed and put down his chopsticks:

"I heard from the neighbors that although the yamen has classified the case as Zhang the butcher having lost his mind, there's still a lot to come."

"Aqing's mother's body was retrieved, but the butcher Zhang was killed by evil spirits, and the yamen said that the body should be burned in a unified manner, so they didn't even let us claim it."

"This girl is really unlucky. She's so young, she's probably going to be busy tonight. We'll have to help her out tomorrow."

Chen Qian silently ate his rice without saying a word.

This approach is in line with the rules of this world.

If a corpse contaminated by evil spirits is not handled properly, it is very easy for it to turn into a zombie.

Although the government's actions were ruthless, they were for the safety of the entire city.

"It's just a pity for that young girl, Aqing. Overnight, her family was destroyed and she died," Lin Xiu sighed, her eyes slightly red.

After dinner, Chen Qian took out two heavy silver ingots from his pocket and stuffed them into Lin Xiu's hand.

"Here's two taels of silver, sister-in-law, please keep it."

Chen Ke was taken aback: "Qian, where did you get so much money?"

"Take it."

Chen Qian's tone left no room for argument: "Things aren't very peaceful these days, so we need to have some extra money at home. Besides, I need to practice martial arts, and my expenses will only increase later. Keep this money for Xiaoyu and your sister-in-law to buy them something nice."

In fact, he had already divided all the remaining money into five parts, four of which were hidden in the cracks in the walls of the courtyard, under the floor tiles, and on the roof beams.

She left a suicide note under her pillow.

If I were to die unexpectedly, my brother and sister-in-law would surely find out when they clean the house.

That money was enough for them to leave Linjiang County and find a stable place to live a good life.

Looking into his younger brother's determined eyes, Chen Ke finally accepted the gift, his eyes reddening.

He knew that his second son had grown up and had become the pillar of the family.

It was late at night.

As usual, Chen Qian practiced the Eight Steps Startling Cicada in the courtyard.

He was then beaten by Chen Ke with a stick for practicing the Golden Bell Shield technique, which he had only just begun.

[Golden Bell Shield Experience +1], [Eight Steps to Catch the Cicada Experience +1], [Health Preservation Technique Experience +1]...

Only after feeling completely warm did I go back inside and take a medicinal bath.

The scalding hot medicine stimulated his skin, and the tingling, stinging sensation made him exceptionally alert.

Until midnight, Chen Qian lay in bed and habitually calculated the divination results one last time.

"Little Lucky".

The hexagram indicates stability.

He finally breathed a sigh of relief and fell into a deep sleep.

Outside the window, the distant sound of the night watchman's gong drifted in, long and desolate.

"Midnight, the third watch of the night"

"All is well"

……

The sky is bright.

A slight noise came from the courtyard, followed by the sound of the gate creaking shut.

That was when his elder brother, Chen Ke, went out to work at the grain store.

Not long after, Lin Xiu, the sister-in-law, also took the still-sleepy Xiao Yu out the door to do sewing work for a wealthy family in the west of the city.

To outsiders, Chen Erlang was a sickly child who was always ill and had a cold.

He usually had to lock himself in his room and study hard.

Chen Qian walked to the desk with a missing corner.

Most of these books were miscellaneous books he had previously picked up from secondhand bookstores, some of which were even incomplete.

But he read it very carefully.

Rather than reading, it's more like trying to piece together a more authentic picture of the world from these fragments of information.

As the setting sun was swallowed up, the outline of Linjiang County gradually blurred in the gloom.

The light inside the room gradually dimmed.

Chen Qian put down the tattered scroll titled "Fengwu Zhi" in his hand and ran his fingertips along the rough, fuzzy edges of the pages for a moment.

This book is too old; the pages are yellowed and brittle, and it has a musty smell.

It records some strange and unusual events in Linjiang County and the surrounding areas, but most of them are vague.

The page Chen Qian is turning to now records the horrific drought that occurred thirty years ago.

"The land is barren for thousands of miles, and occasionally strange beasts are seen, resembling black dogs that devour people."