Chapter 77: Heartache and Hard to Breathe
As Chu Qinghe's gaze moved, it was fixed on the old man sitting next to the fortune-telling stall on his left, only ten steps away.
The old man was wearing a white linen robe and had white hair, but his face was kind.
When his eyes fell on the fortune-telling stall, Chu Qinghe tilted his face slightly as he saw the old man's gaze on him.
Judging from the old man's gaze at this moment, the words just now were obviously spoken to Chu Qinghe.
After thinking for a while, Chu Qinghe walked towards the old man with light steps.
Seeing Chu Qinghe walking towards him, the old man was not surprised and still had a warm and kind smile on his face.
However, there was something cunning in the old man's eyes.
It was also after Chu Qinghe sat down that he raised his eyes and suddenly noticed that behind the fortune-teller there was an old man in a blue cloth gown, who was sitting in the corner with his eyes closed, smoking a pipe.
When Chu Qinghe noticed the old man in the blue cloth gown, he just took a puff of his pipe and then coughed violently a few times.
After the coughing subsided for a while, the old man seemed to sense Chu Qinghe's gaze and slowly turned his head to look at Chu Qinghe.
The old man's eyes do not have the cloudy feeling that should appear with aging, but instead give people a feeling of clear eyes.
When his eyes fell on Chu Qinghe and the others, the old man's eyes flashed slightly, and then he nodded politely to Chu Qinghe.
Then he put the pipe in his mouth again, took a puff, then frowned and started coughing again.
On the other hand, Chu Qinghe, listening to the old man's cough, couldn't help but glance at the old man in the corner again, and then looked at the old man in front of the fortune-telling stall.
As his eyes swept across the room, Chu Qinghe suddenly exclaimed "Ah!" in his heart.
At this time, the old man in front of Chu Qinghe suddenly said, "What do you want, sir?"
Hearing this, Chu Qinghe thought for a moment and then said, "Please trouble the old man to check my palm!"
However, after saying this, the fortune teller shook his head and said, "Palmistry? I can't read it."
Qu Feiyan beside him asked in confusion: "Aren't you a fortune teller? Why can't you read faces?"
In response to Qu Feiyan's question, the fortune teller said in a leisurely voice: "When I tell fortunes, it is not based on what the customer wants to tell, but on what I can tell."
As he spoke, the old man looked so unreasonable and confident that Qu Feiyan was confused for a moment.
Obviously, no one had ever seen such a peculiar fortune teller like the old man before.
"It's quite stylish."
Hearing the words of the old fortune teller, Chu Qinghe smiled softly in his heart.
Then, Chu Qinghe asked, "It is said that the more you calculate your fortune, the thinner it gets. If I let the old gentleman calculate it once, will my fortune be affected?"
The old man shook his head and said, "You can't say everything, you can't tell everything. Fate is profound. If you just mention it, it will naturally have no impact. You worry too much."
As if he was in a good mood, Chu Qinghe asked with great interest: "If you find out that I have done something bad, what should you do?"
The fortune teller said: "It is natural to seek good fortune and avoid disaster."
Seeing this, Chu Qinghe nodded and said, "Then old man, take a look!"
Hearing this, the old man said nothing more and began to look at Chu Qinghe's face.
After a moment, the old man said softly, "Eh?", as if he had discovered something wrong.
Afterwards, in the sight of Chu Qinghe and several women, the old man picked up several bamboo slips that were full of age on the table and kept flipping through them.
Perhaps noticing something strange about the old man, the other old man in blue who was smoking a pipe behind him also turned his gaze to Chu Qinghe and the others.
As his gaze moved carefully from the faces of Chu Qinghe, Dongfang Bubai and the other girls, the old man in green couldn't help but show a bit of surprise in his eyes.
Here, as the bamboo slips continued to turn, the old man's face became more and more puzzled, and he kept muttering "This shouldn't be the case!"
Seeing the old man mumbling, Qu Feiyan couldn't help but ask, "Hey, what's going on? Is there something wrong with the young master's appearance?"
After listening to Qu Feiyan's words, the fortune teller calmed down for a moment before saying, "Young Master has a broad forehead, a round chin, double peaks on the occipital bone, upright earlobes, crescent-shaped eyebrows, and a flat temple. In terms of physiognomy, he is the best choice and will be successful in everything."
Qu Feiyan said: "Isn't that great? Is it necessary to be so superstitious?"
In response to this, the fortune teller sighed and said, "If the rest of your face is what you said, you are indeed a person with good fortune. But there are nine vertical lines on your eyebrows and nose, which makes your face look completely different."
Chu Qinghe raised his eyebrows and asked, "What's the difference?"
The fortune teller said: "Young master's face, plus these vertical lines, should be a face that will bring good luck to his wife."
"Lucky wife?"
Chu Qinghe, the person involved, had a strange expression on his face.
The other women on the side listened to the fortune teller's words and looked at Chu Qinghe with a little surprise.
After a few breaths, Qu Feiyan said, "I have heard of the saying of bringing good fortune to the husband, but is there also the saying of bringing good fortune to the wife?"
The fortune teller said, "Yin and Yang are opposites, and husband and wife complement each other. If there is a prosperous husband, there will be a prosperous wife."
"A wife's nose is her husband's star, and a husband's outer side of the eyebrows and eyes is his wife's palace. Judging from the young man's face, he will have many wives and a bright luck in love."
"But the wife is the master and the concubine is the side. With so many women, how can such peach luck be all due to the wife? Moreover, nine is the extreme number, which means prosperity."
"A lucky wife is a byproduct of destiny, how can there be a reverse fortune that takes the main role in physiognomy? This is fucking irrational no matter how you look at it!"
As he spoke, the old man's eyes were still on Chu Qinghe's face, which was also full of confusion.
It was as if the knowledge accumulated over the years had been impacted, and I was filled with self-doubt.
He didn't even notice that he accidentally swore while talking.
At this time, Dongfang Bubai suddenly asked, "You mean, his luck in getting married is very strong?"
The fortune teller nodded and said, "According to the physiognomy books, this young man has a very strong luck in getting married. It's so strong that it's almost overflowing. It stands to reason that too much is as bad as too little. With such a prosperous peach blossom, it should have condensed into evil spirits. Why is there no sign of evil spirits condensing? Instead, it seems like fire borrowing wood to burn more vigorously? This doesn't look like a normal person's face."
At this time, Qu Feiyan asked curiously, "Since you are so lucky in getting married, how lucky can I be after becoming your wife?"
The fortune teller took a look at Chu Qinghe's face and said, "Let's put it this way! Among women, there is a true phoenix attracting dragons, which is the appearance of a queen. If she is a wife, the husband will be honored by her and have the opportunity to ascend to the throne. This is the tripod of prosperous husbands and the best fate. If compared equally, your true phoenix attracting dragons is much stronger than your fortune of prosperous wife."
Qu Feiyan asked: "In other words, if I become the prince's wife, I can become the empress?"
The fortune teller rolled his eyes and said, "It's just an example. Since ancient times, there has never been a woman who became an emperor."
While muttering to himself, the old fortune teller couldn't help but scratch his head, his face full of confusion and bewilderment.
Finally, the fortune teller sighed and said, "Forget it. My skills are not good enough. You can pay me as much as you want, young master."
Hearing the fortune teller's words, Chu Qinghe raised the corner of his mouth and said, "Old gentleman, you haven't even predicted the result yet, and you're asking for money?"
In response to what Chu Qinghe said, the fortune teller turned over a wooden sign on the table.
It clearly says "Fortune telling and physiognomy reading will cost you money even if it is not accurate."
Chu Qinghe: “…”
Looking at the fortune-teller in front of him, Chu Qinghe suddenly felt that the old man was very confident and it was obvious that he was not afraid of being beaten.
He set up a fortune-telling stall and blatantly put up a sign like this.
In the corner, watching the fortune teller's actions, the old man who was smoking a pipe smiled, and then he couldn't help coughing violently.
It was also during the coughing of the old man behind him that the fortune teller sighed and said, "Listen, my dear, this little brother behind me is weak and has one foot in the coffin. In order to treat his illness these years, I can only set up a stall to tell fortunes for people. Since you can win the hearts of the two beautiful girls next to you, you must be a kind-hearted person. You will definitely not let me go home empty-handed in this cold wind, right?"
These words not only played an emotional card, but also used Dongfang Bubai and Yao Yue who were beside Chu Qinghe as a cover.
However, in response to what the fortune teller said, the old man smoking a pipe in the corner grinned, obviously dissatisfied.
If it were an ordinary person, after hearing what the fortune teller said, considering the beautiful woman next to him, he would probably pretend to be generous and would feel embarrassed if he gave too little.
But is Chu Qinghe an ordinary person?
Facing what the fortune teller said, Chu Qinghe nodded slightly and said, "Of course I won't let the old gentleman return empty-handed."
As he spoke, Chu Qinghe raised both of his hands, clenched them into fists and held them flat in front of the fortune teller.
At the same time, Chu Qinghe said, "I have rewards in both of my hands, one is more and the other is less. Since you are proficient in fortune-telling, you can choose one of them as the reward for your fortune-telling this time."
"Eh?"
This fortune-teller was obviously encountering Chu Qinghe's operation for the first time.
Hearing Chu Qinghe's words, the fortune teller was slightly stunned and couldn't help but look at Chu Qinghe in surprise.
After pondering for a few breaths, the fortune teller couldn't help but say, "Young Master, you really know how to have fun."
Chu Qinghe smiled helplessly, then said, "Please choose, old sir."
Seeing this, the fortune teller glanced at the two fists raised in front of him, then raised his hands and began to calculate.
"The first quarter of the hour of Hai is Yin. This place is in the south, which is auspicious. There are five people, Kun five..."
After calculating and muttering, the fortune teller suddenly looked at Chu Qinghe's right hand, and then said: "I choose your right hand."
Chu Qinghe asked: "Are you sure?"
The old man looked at Chu Qinghe's left hand hesitantly, then fixed his gaze on Chu Qinghe's right hand and said firmly, "It's confirmed."
Hearing this, Chu Qinghe turned his right hand over and slowly spread it out.
When the old man saw the one-ounce silver coin in Chu Qinghe's right hand, he immediately smiled and stretched out his hand.
"Thank you, sir."
When putting the silver into the old man's hand, Chu Qinghe suddenly smiled, and then, in the sight of the old man and the other women, he opened his clenched fist and revealed a folded silver note in his hand.
But when he saw the silver note in Chu Qinghe's left hand, the smile on the old man's face suddenly froze.
Facing the old man's gaze, Chu Qinghe slowly unfolded the folded silver note in his hand.
As the banknote was unfolded, everyone could see the value on it clearly, which was "one hundred".
Looking at the hundred taels of silver in Chu Qinghe's hand, the one or two taels of silver in the fortune-teller's hand fell on the table as the old man's hands trembled, and his eyes became dull.
Then, after sorting out the banknotes, Chu Qinghe said with a smile: "Since the fortune-telling fee has been paid, I will take my leave."
As he spoke, Chu Qinghe slowly stood up and said to the old man smoking a pipe in the corner, "Don't learn to smoke at your age. Let this old man smoke instead!"
Listening to Chu Qinghe's words, a strange light flashed in the eyes of the old man in the corner.
Then, watching Chu Qinghe leaving with a few women taking a hundred taels of silver, the fortune-teller couldn't help but cover his chest.
It hurts so much that I can't breathe.
It seemed as if what was lost was not just a hundred taels of silver, but the whole world.
After Chu Qinghe and the others left, the old man who had been sitting in the corner smoking a pipe chuckled and said, "Interesting young people."
Then, looking at the fortune-teller who was holding his chest with a painful expression on his face, the old man holding the pipe shook his head and said, "The dignified old man Tianji was fooled by a young man today. It seems that I have to consider whether to move your name from the first place in my weapon list."
If Chu Qinghe and Dongfang Bubai and the other girls were here at this moment and heard what the old man said, they would definitely be able to identify the identities of these two people at the first moment.
It was Bai Xiaosheng, the current leader of the Jianghu Baixiao Pavilion, who had listed several lists in the martial arts world and everyone in the martial arts world was vying to be on the list.
As well as the masters of the late Grand Master stage who are on both the Weapon List and the Grand Master List under Bai Xiaosheng, Old Man Tianji, Sun Baifa.
Hearing the voice coming from behind, the old man who had just read Chu Qinghe's fortune, Sun Baifa, said unhappily, "Then you'd better move as soon as possible. It's better to remove my name from your two lists, so that I don't have to worry about someone coming to my door every day."
Bai Xiaosheng shook his head and said, "You, the older you get, the less courageous you become. With your current gloomy look, I'm afraid it will be difficult for you to enter the realm of Dingtianren."
Sun Baifa sneered and said, "You talk as if you have entered the Heavenly Man Realm, but you are only in the middle stage of the Grandmaster Realm. How dare you say that to me?"
Then, Sun Baifa changed the subject and said, "Why? From what you just said, it seems like you have taken a liking to that little bastard and want to recruit him into your group?"
After hearing what Sun Baifa said, Bai Xiaosheng nodded slightly.
"That's true, but unfortunately, such a person cannot be used by others."
Without waiting for Sun Baifa to respond, Bai Xiaosheng took the initiative to explain: "The two people standing next to the young man just now are Dongfang Bubai, the leader of the Sun Moon Sect, and Yaoyue, the Grand Palace Master of the Yihua Palace."
When these words came out, Sun Baifa was shocked.
"The two on your Hundred Flowers Ranking and Grandmaster Ranking?"
Bai Xiaosheng nodded slightly when he heard this.
After getting confirmation from Bai Xiaosheng, Sun Baifa couldn't help but take a breath.
"Oh my goodness, it's actually Dongfang Bubai and Yaoyue?"
Who are Dongfang Bubai and Yaoyue? There are probably few people in the martial arts world who don't know.
And now, these two high-ranking geniuses actually appeared at the same time and stayed by the side of a man.
Who wouldn't be shocked by this news?
But thinking of Chu Qinghe's appearance, Sun Baifa was jealous again: "Tsk, good-looking people are quite popular."
Then, Sun Baifa continued, "But the internal force fluctuations in that little bastard's body are only at the eighth level of the post-natal realm. With your means, it shouldn't be difficult to get him into the Qinglong Society!"
Bai Xiaosheng shook his head and said, "The fact that he could tell at a glance that it was my first time smoking this dry tobacco shows that he is very observant. And when he was talking to you, his demeanor was also evident. He is only at the eighth level of the Postnatal Realm, but he was able to fool an old loach like you."
"Looking at the way Dongfang Bubai and Yaoyue looked at that young master, they already had a secret crush on him. How could this young master be an ordinary person if he could have the company of two such high-minded people as Dongfang Sect Leader and Yaoyue Palace Leader at the same time?"
After a pause, Bai Xiaosheng continued, "Besides, I don't believe you didn't smell the blood on them."
Sun Baifa sighed and said, "It's because I smelled it that I didn't try to force him to pay more!"
Hearing Sun Baifa's words, Bai Xiaosheng couldn't help but laugh and said, "You are still so cunning and sly, always looking for opportunities to attack you."
After scolding Sun Baifa with a smile, Bai Xiaosheng looked back at the direction where Chu Qinghe and the others had just left, and said with interest: "I didn't expect to meet such an interesting young man. He is somewhat similar to me."
As if he had heard the hidden meaning behind Bai Xiaosheng's words, Sun Baifa said in a slightly surprised tone: "You don't mean the big dragon leader in your Qinglong Society, do you?"
However, Bai Xiaosheng did not respond to Sun Baifa's question, but changed the subject and said, "But is the so-called good luck in marrying a wife that you mentioned before true or false?"
Sun Baifa said slowly, "Just follow the book. If I am sure, do you think I will take one or two taels of silver from him?"
Finally, Sun Baifa muttered, "But that little bastard's luck with finding a wife is really a bit abnormal. It's a bit weird."
Listening to what Sun Baifa said, Bai Xiaosheng shook his head slightly, obviously not believing what Sun Baifa said.
Then he said, "Have you had enough fun? You can change your clothes now! Your pipe is too strong and it burns my throat. I can't stand it."
However, in response to Bai Xiaosheng's words, Sun Baifa snatched the pipe from Bai Xiaosheng's hand and said, "This is top-quality Yunshui tobacco. I don't blame you for wasting it, but you despise it."
After taking a few puffs of his pipe, Sun Baifa, whose expression had eased, suddenly said, "It's rare to see you speak so highly of a junior."
Bai Xiaosheng smiled and said, "It's just a matter of fact."
Noticing that Bai Xiaosheng looked thoughtful, Sun Baifa said with a soft "eh", "Looking at your expression, are you thinking of doing something?"
