Chapter 12: Li Banxian Displays His Clever Tongue Again

Li Banxian spoke a string of clever words, coaxing Zheng Guotai into continuous laughter.

Zhang Yunxiu felt as if a cat were clawing at his heart; he interrupted the two of them, picked up a brush, wrote a character, and handed it to Li Banxian.

Li Banxian took it and saw it was a large "Sun" character.

He examined it for a moment and exclaimed, "Wonderful! This 'Sun' character is excellent."

"How so?"

Li Banxian stood up and walked outside the room; the others, not understanding the situation, followed him out.

They saw Li Banxian wearing a smile, pointing his finger at the sky, and Zhang Yunxiu looked up.

"What is it?"

"What is in the sky?" Li Banxian asked.

Zhang Fu, who had not spoken until now, smiled and was the first to answer: "The moon!"

"That is correct." Li Banxian slapped his thigh, picked up the "Sun" character in his hand, and gestured, "Look, this 'Sun' character and the 'Moon' character intertwined perfectly form the character 'Bright'."

"In our Great Ming, is there any character more precious than this?"

Everyone was stunned.

Li Banxian continued to speak vividly: "The noble person is destined for the life of a prince or marquis, and now with this 'Bright' character protecting his body, he will surely enjoy glory for ten thousand generations and live as long as the Great Ming."

"Could it be that he is even more prosperous than us imperial relatives?" Zheng Guotai swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

"It is different; each has their own path to prosperity." Li Banxian shook his head and paced back into the room.

The others followed closely behind.

As they each took their positions, Zhang Yunxiu already trusted this half-immortal seven or eight parts, but Zhang Fu felt something was fishy.

So, with a sudden thought, he picked up the brush and actually wrote a large "Sun" character on the paper as well, handing it over.

"Wonderful, Brother is also divining with this 'Sun' character." Han San could not help but exclaim.

Zhang Fu looked smug as he looked at Li Banxian; he wanted to see if this old Daoist could make anything else up.

As he thought this, a cold wind suddenly rose outside, and the candlelight inside the room flickered.

Li Banxian glanced at the "character" in his hand, then looked at Zhang Fu, shook his head, and sighed: "Time and fate; if it is in your fate, you will eventually have it; if it is not in your fate, do not force it."

"What is your zodiac sign?"

"I was born in the year of the Dog," Zhang Fu replied, and seeing the man acting mysterious, he frowned and asked, "What does my zodiac sign have to do with you?"

"This character of yours is not good."

"Wonderful, when our young master divines, it is a good character, but when I divine, it is not?" Zhang Fu slammed the table and stood up, grabbing Li Banxian by the collar.

Zhang Yunxiu signaled for him to calm down and let Li Banxian continue.

"Speak! If you don't give me a reason today, I'll let you know the power of your Master Zhang!" Zhang Fu let go of his hand hatefully.

Li Banxian straightened his clothes, pointed at Zhang Yunxiu, and said to Zhang Fu: "Just now, when this noble person divined, the moon was bright and the sky was clear for ten thousand miles. When you wrote this 'Sun' character, a cold wind blew."

"Go out and look now; is that moon still whole?"

Zhang Fu ran out in a hurry, looked up, and sure enough, saw the moon was half-gone, vaguely covered by clouds.

"Ah!"

It felt as if someone had struck him in the heart, and he fell to the ground.

Everyone ran out together, and seeing the waning moon, Li Banxian said slowly: "The Heavenly Dog eats the moon, and you happen to be born in the year of the Dog; it is time, and it is fate."

"Isn't that just a lunar eclipse? What Heavenly Dog eating the moon," Zhang Yunxiu muttered in a low voice.

At this time, Zhang Fu stood up from the ground and asked again: "Half-immortal, is there anything bad about this single 'Sun' character of mine?"

Li Banxian drafted a response in his mind for a moment and smiled: "It is good that it is dry around here with no water, otherwise if your 'Sun' turned into 'Tears', that would be very bad indeed."

Zhang Fu breathed a long sigh of relief upon hearing this.

Li Banxian began to show off again: "If a single 'Sun' cannot be called too good, it is not too bad either, but look at the sky?"

"What about the sky?" "That round moon, has it not shrunk into a small dot? What is 'Sun' plus a stroke?"

"White!" Zhang Fu blurted out and laughed loudly: "Does this mean I will also have the fate of an imperial relative in the future?"

Zheng Guotai frowned; as an imperial relative himself, he naturally did not want others to share in it.

Li Banxian smiled and shook his head: "Look closely, it is not certain where that stroke is added. If added inside, a horizontal stroke makes 'Eye' and a vertical stroke makes 'Field'; only when it is placed steadily on top is it half of the character 'Emperor'."

Zhang Fu licked his lips and asked: "Then how can it be added to the top?"

"Well, follow the noble person closely, be loyal and devoted, and when the noble person rises to success in the future, he will ensure you also ascend to heaven," Li Banxian said, pointing at Zhang Yunxiu.

"Right! Following the young master, we will be able to rise to success." Zhang Fu nodded vigorously.

Zhang Yunxiu smiled at him, then moved inside with Li Banxian.

Han San, who had been watching from the side for a long time, was already itching to try; as soon as they sat down, he picked up the brush, wrote the character "Master", and handed it to Li Banxian.

Li Banxian picked it up and glanced sideways at Han San.

He said: "This character of yours is not bad, but it is a pity."

Hearing the first half, Han San was happy, but that "pity" immediately cut off his joy, and he hurriedly asked: "Pity what?"

"Look at what is around it?"

"There's nothing?" Han San rolled his eyes and looked around.

"People! They are all noble people!" Li Banxian glared at him and added, "When this 'Master' character has no noble person, it is naturally a master who can make decisions, but once there is a noble person by your side, 'Master' plus 'Person' becomes the character 'Stay'."

"That is why I said it is a pity."

"Wonderful, that is also fine, as long as I can follow the noble person!" Han San looked at Zhang Yunxiu, then at Li Banxian, and said, "In this life, I just regret not following the right noble person, which is why I have wasted my time until now. If I have a noble person to help me, this life will be worth it."

Li Banxian had been talking for a long time and felt his throat smoking; he picked up a cup of tea, gulped it down, and asked Han San: "What is your zodiac sign?"

"Born in the year of the Ox."

"Born in the year of the Ox is wonderful; the ox is capable and loyal," Li Banxian said, then tilted his head to look at Zhang Yunxiu and said, "Noble person, this man will surely be a great help to you in the future; I hope you will not fail him."

Zhang Yunxiu was seven or eight parts convinced in his heart, and seeing that Han San looked clever, he naturally felt the urge to promote him.

"Many thanks for your guidance, sir."

"If you have any orders, Young Master, Han San will go through fire and water without hesitation!" Han San's knees went weak, and he knelt before Zhang Yunxiu.

Zhang Fu felt a bit jealous, but hindered by Zhang Yunxiu's presence, he could only grit his teeth and endure it.

Afterwards, the few of them settled the silver and stepped out of the small hut.

By this time, the sky had turned completely dark; Zheng Guotai hooked his arm around Zhang Yunxiu's shoulder and smiled mysteriously: "Let's go, it's time for us brothers to go and have a good time."

By the time Zheng Guotai returned home, it was already the morning of the next day.

Because he had not yet married, and coupled with his parents' doting, it was a common occurrence for him not to return home for several days.

They had not even remotely associated this with the fact that their son had been caught by the Eastern Depot and then released.

He tiptoed into the house, but was suddenly interrupted by a roar: "You scoundrel! All you know is to go out and fool around all day; my family fortune will be squandered by you sooner or later."

Looking back, he saw the owner of the voice was about forty years old, tall, lean, with prominent cheekbones and a pair of sharp eyes.

He wore a green wide-sleeved Daoist robe and black boots, possessing a natural air of authority even without anger.

It was none other than Zheng Guotai's father, Zheng Chengxian.

Seeing he had been discovered, Zheng Guotai gave a hollow laugh and made a move to walk inside.

Zheng Chengxian grabbed his son by the collar and shouted with a glare: "You scoundrel, you're nearly twenty years old and still have no proper job, knowing only how to eat, drink, gamble, and visit brothels all day."

"Are you not going to be satisfied until you've angered me to death?"

"Father, who says I only know how to eat, drink, gamble, and visit brothels? Last night, I made connections with a big shot."

"Hmph, I'm afraid it's just another one of your foul-smelling, like-minded fox friends!" Zheng Chengxian's face was full of disdain.

"Who says so? That person is a noble, a noble who can help our family's Yufeng become a true phoenix!" After saying this, Zheng Guotai pried open his father's hand, walked into his room as if no one else was there, and fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

(End of this chapter)