Chapter 115: Fortune-telling at the dilapidated temple by the river

"Chen Pi Ah Si was not a local of Changsha; he lived by the river since he was a child."

"Therefore, his skill with the nine-claw hook for catching crabs was formed during his youth."

"The place where Chen Pi stayed was a dilapidated temple."

"Inside and outside the temple were beggars. Candles and incense burned all night in the temple, and the replaced offerings were sometimes thrown to the beggars to eat."

"Chen Pi found a spot in the corner. Other beggars saw him return and scattered!"

"Chen Pi took out a board; he had stolen it. The back of the board was painted with red lacquer, and on it were written a few words: One hundred coins, kill one person."

"He wiped the wooden board, finished his meal in the dilapidated temple, and then took the board to set it up at the entrance of the alley, while he squatted at the base of the wall."

"He had been doing this for three days, but not a single business deal had come."

"In these times, even having enough to eat was a problem; who had the money to find a beggar to hire a killer?"

In a few words, Zhang Lin had outlined the image of Chen Pi Ah Si in his youth for the audience.

A destitute beggar, and some actions that looked like he was mentally ill.

One hundred coins to kill one person?

Why?!

By the Yangtze River in those years, there were plenty of river pirates and killers. Why hire a beggar instead of these local thugs?

Unless the person hiring the killer was crazy, they wouldn't throw those hundred coins away!

The sign had been hanging for three days without any business, which already explained the problem.

At this moment, the audience was watching Chen Pi Ah Si with a sense of schadenfreude.

Zhang Lin continued: "One hundred coins to kill one person; why did Chen Pi set this amount when he was young?"

"Actually, there is a legend behind this. At that time, there was a scholar named Xi Qi living in the dilapidated temple."

"This person only had seven fingers, but he could write a beautiful Slender Gold script!"

"Besides helping the temple with copying to earn some money, Xi Qi would also help people write letters."

"Perhaps it was fate; everyone was afraid of Chen Pi, but only Xi Qi was willing to talk to him more."

"After a few times, the two actually became familiar with each other."

"Unfortunately, good times didn't last long; Xi Qi caught the plague."

"One day, he was lying on the bed, using the board Chen Pi had stolen as a pad to copy characters."

"As he copied, he suddenly coughed violently, and then turned his head to look at Chen Pi."

"Xi Qi asked Chen Pi: 'Chen Pi? You've killed so many people, yet you are still a beggar. This shows that you killed them all in vain. You killed them, and it did you no good at all.'"

"Chen Pi stared at Scholar Xi. He didn't understand immediately, but he suddenly felt he understood something."

"Xi Qi slowly moved away the yellow paper with the characters and wrote on the wooden board: One hundred coins, kill one person."

"Then he said to Chen Pi: 'These six words are for you. The wealth and honor of your whole life are on this board.'"

"This was the last sentence Xi Qi said to Chen Pi. Not long after, he died of illness."

Hearing this, the audience already had a strange feeling.

The Chen Pi of his youth seemed to be very different from the later one.

He also killed people, but he also had friends.

This dead Xi Qi was actually his friend! ===== CHAPTER 116 =====