Chapter 94

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

At noon this day, Lin Dajun settled the wages with Li Xiulan.

In fact, Li Xiulan hadn't worked at Lin Dajun's construction site for many days, just under a week, about four or five days, and in the end Lin Dajun gave her one hundred yuan.

One hundred yuan already counted as giving her extra.

Li Xiulan was endlessly grateful for this, and then sincerely apologized to Lin Dajun:

"Dajun Shu, I'm truly embarrassed, I've caused you trouble……"

Seeing Li Xiulan's guilty and sad expression, Lin Dajun couldn't help but feel sympathy:

"Don't be sad, once you've recovered your health, you can come find me anytime, and then I'll still let you do small worker work."

This was polite talk from Lin Dajun, Li Xiulan knew in her heart.

But she still had to thank Lin Dajun:

"Dajun Shu, thank you for your kindness."

This afternoon, Li Xiulan returned home alone from the town.

This time, she finally got a ride-share.

The ride-share driver was very nice, very enthusiastic, and only charged her one yuan for the fare.

The same price as Lao Lu, who specifically does the passenger business, charges.

But Li Xiulan couldn't be happy at all.

Because she had lost the job she had found with great difficulty.

These days back home, Li Xiulan had been in a daze the whole time.

Every day after finishing the housework, she would stare blankly in the living room, always unable to help wanting to cry.

Her mental state had entered an extremely empty, extremely terrible, extremely negative state.

In city people's terms, that is depression.

But the countryside has no such thing as depression.

Li Xiulan felt her fate was bad, she suspected whether she had run into something unclean, or her home's feng shui was bad, or perhaps the ancestral grave's feng shui had a problem?

So she decided to go ask a god.

On her maternal home's side there was a shenpo, heard to be very efficacious.

When young she didn't really believe in feng shui fate, but these years having experienced so much misfortune, past thirty she vaguely felt that in the dark there seemed to be an invisible giant hand controlling her life, making her want to struggle but unable to struggle free.

And this unseen giant hand, perhaps is what is called fate.

She planned to wait two days until the neighboring town's market day, then go ask the god, and incidentally go see her mother.

Speaking of her mother, ever since she finished surgery at the big city hospital, to now it's still unknown how she is.

Time flew and in a blink it was the neighboring town's market day.

Li Xiulan left Wang Xiaohua alone at home, then took a vehicle to the neighboring town.

Arriving at the town, she first bought some fruit at the market, brought the fruit to visit her mother, then went to ask the god.

Because she didn't know where the shenpo lived, she had her eldest brother take her there.

Arriving at her mother's home, Li Xiulan saw her mother, even thinner than before, this surgery not even half a month done, and the breath of life was already nearly gone completely.

Li Yaozu and Li Jiahao, the two elder brothers, had both already accepted the fact that their mother would soon pass away.

Their expressions were much calmer than before.

Because they had a clear conscience, the surgery that should be done was done, the money that should be spent was spent.

Morally they no longer had any psychological burden.

Only, they had spent all their respective families' savings, the various negative impacts that would follow would certainly surface one after another, at that time they wouldn't know how to face it, how to solve it?

But now they can only manage the present, who can still manage future matters?

"Eldest Brother, Second Brother, recently I've been having a rough time, I want to go ask a shenpo, I heard there's a shenpo in this town who's quite efficacious, do you know where she lives?"

After visiting her mother, Li Xiulan sat in the living room chatting with her two elder brothers Li Yaozu and Li Jiahao.

The atmosphere was somewhat heavy.

"Indeed should go ask a god, our whole family, recently all having a rough time."

Li Yaozu sighed this one sentence.

Then said:

"How about later the three of us go together."

Li Jiahao nodded and said:

"Mm-hmm, okay, go together, all ask, see if there's any solution."

So after the three ate lunch, they went together to see the shenpo.

The shenpo lives in an old house in the town's old street district.

That old street's alley was dark and damp.

The shenpo lives at the very back of the alley.

Her house is quite large.

A three-story building, outside a low wall encloses a courtyard, the low wall already mottled, the wall base even covered in green moss.

Pushing open the courtyard's rust-stained large iron gate.

Li Xiulan and her two older brothers saw that quite a few customers seeking divine guidance had already arrived in Shenpo's courtyard.

The courtyard held many old, worn benches and bamboo chairs, and the customers sat queuing up to wait.

They all wore worried, grim expressions; occasional low conversation arose, but the atmosphere remained heavy throughout.

No one joked or laughed, and no one spoke loudly.

Li Xiulan, Li Yaozu, and Li Jiahao found a spot and sat down.

After sitting in silence for a while, an older woman and an older man next to them began chatting quietly; as they talked, they drew Li Xiulan, Li Yaozu, and Li Jiahao into the conversation, and everyone started sharing their recent troubles and the hardships of their lives.

They were all wretched souls; when Li Xiulan heard the older woman say her daughter had died the year before last, her son had died this year, and now her grandson was gravely ill, she couldn't help but feel sympathy and shed tears.

The older woman asked Li Xiulan why she had come to seek divine guidance, and Li Xiulan poured out everything — how bad her husband was, how tragic her family situation was, her own health problems, and so on — all in one breath.

After queuing for nearly two hours, it was finally Li Xiulan's turn.

She walked into the dim interior of Shenpo's room.

She saw the room hung full of cloth strips, red candles burning on both sides, the atmosphere extremely eerie; Shenpo sat on a grand master's chair at the very back.

She was expressionless, eyes closed.

Just like a divine statue worshipped by ten thousand people, utterly motionless.

"Immortal Grandmother, I want to ask you some things..."

Li Xiulan knelt before Shenpo, looking utterly devout.

Shenpo, however, waved a hand, stopping her from continuing.

"What is your name? What year, month, and day were you born?"

Li Xiulan answered truthfully:

"My name is Li Xiulan, born the fifteenth day of the second lunar month in 1968."

Shenpo then said:

"Show me your Bazi."

Li Xiulan knew that seeking divine guidance generally required checking Bazi, so she had long since brought her Bazi with her.

She hurriedly presented her Bazi respectfully with both hands.

Shenpo examined it with profound mystery.

Then she said:

"You truly are a wretched woman; your fate is poor. You married a man, bore him three sons, but that man changed his heart; after going to the city he rarely returned home. Your mother recently fell gravely ill and is near death. You yourself have ailments and cannot do heavy labor or earn money. You are truly bitter and poor..."

Hearing Shenpo's words, Li Xiulan was immediately astonished beyond measure and hurriedly kowtowed: "Immortal Grandmother, your divination is too accurate! Not a single bit off! I am truly too miserable — what should I do!"

Li Xiulan had said nothing, yet Shenpo had already spoken everything, and with such pinpoint accuracy; therefore Li Xiulan's attitude toward Shenpo became even more respectful, even more trusting.

Li Xiulan said nothing, yet this Shenpo had already spoken everything out, and spoken it so accurately, that Li Xiulan's attitude toward the Shenpo became even more respectful, even more trusting.

"What can you do? I don't know either. I must go ask the immortals above; only the immortals above can change a person's fate. But if I go ask the immortals above, I must pay the road fee to the immortals above; without money they won't open their mouths."

Li Xiulan hurriedly said: "Immortal Grandmother, how much money do you need?"

Shenpo said: "It's not that I want money; it's the immortals above who want money. As for how much, that depends on your own sincerity. Generally at least fifty yuan; the more money given, the fuller the sincerity, and the more effective the answer the immortals above give."

Li Xiulan hurriedly fished out a small bundle of wrinkled money from her pocket.

All told, a scattered hundred-odd yuan.

That was already all her wealth.

The one hundred yuan salary Lin Dajun gave her was in there too.

Li Xiulan took out fifty yuan, intending to hand it over, but then thought better of it, fearing her sincerity might be insufficient; she added ten more, then another ten, still feeling it wasn't enough, added another twenty — ninety yuan in total — and presented it respectfully with both hands.

She thought: this Shenpo's divination is so efficacious; if I give full sincerity now, perhaps I truly can find a way out of life...

She thought, since this Shenpo's divinations were so spiritually efficacious, and she was now offering full sincerity, perhaps she truly could find a way out in life...