Chapter 326 - 322: Heavenly Master_1
Chapter 326 - 322: Heavenly Master_1
Chapter 326: Chapter 322: Heavenly Master_1
Yingbao saw it too, but she didn’t move, grabbing Onto Erni’s sleeve to comfort her.
Xiao Chengjun stormed in with several guards, showing clearly that he was there with ill intentions.
Seeing his adversary approaching, Zhang Min hastily got ashore, wrung his clothes dry, changed into his outerwear and then stepped out.
“What are you doing here?” Zhang Min gazed coldly at Xiao Chengjun, “Could it be that you want me to help you exorcise some evil spirits?”
Xiao Chengjun ignored him, instead turning to Yingbao: “Jiang Yingbao, you had ulterior motives all along! You tricked people out of their money with those worthless items in those five boxes!”
It then dawned on Yingbao that Xiao Chengjun had come here to complain and make a scene.
She did not admit anything. “What are you talking about? I don’t understand a single word.”
Xiao Chengjun was so angry he was grinding his teeth, pointing at Yingbao: “Stop pretending. Were you deliberately trying to trick us? Not a single thing in those five boxes is valuable, yet you tricked my family out of thousands of taels of silver.”
Yingbao blinked, asking: “What do you mean, Xiao? Are you here to rob us again? The gold silk fabric granted by the Empress has already been taken away by you. Today, are you trying to take back what your family paid me as compensation?”
“How dare you······” Xiao Chengjun was about to curse, but he swallowed his anger: “I am not here to argue with you, either return the items my elder brother give you before, or hand over the items granted by the Empress.”
Zhang Min, unable to bear it, sneered: “Xiao Chengjun, I didn’t expect you to get more shameless with age. You took my junior sister’s belongings without reason, and after one or two years you shamelessly demand repayment. Aren’t you ashamed?”
He knew something about his junior sister’s situation, especially how Xiao Chengjun had abandoned her en route from Beijing, also swallowing the wealth inside her boxes.
Zhang Min was disgusted by him, relieved that they never became friends.
When they were in Beijing, this boy used to put on such a facade in front of others. Zhang Min had never realized he was such two-faced.
Unexpectedly he became more outrageous as he grew, even bullying a little child.
Seeing Zhang Min criticizing him, Xiao Chengjun redirected his fury at him: “Shut up! Who do you think you are to judge me?”
Yingbao instantly retorted: “You are the one who is nothing! Everyone knows that you, Xiao Chengjun, bully others with your power. I tell you, the things that your family compensated me with, you owe me. Now you want them back, no way! I will write to the Prince and tell him about all this!”
The quick-witted comeback left Xiao Chengjun breathless. He managed to say: “Fine, go ahead and write! The Wen sisters have told me already, the things in those boxes of yours are nothing but rubbish, not one high-quality item.”
Yingbao immediately widened her eyes, exclaiming: “Didn’t your elder brother’s servants say earlier, all my boxes fell into the river? How did my boxes end up with the Wen sisters? Are you guys in collusion? Did you guys divide up my gold and silver fortune? Tsk tsk, I never thought that you, a high-ranking official’s son, could break the law and steal my treasures to sell to others.”
Zhang Min added sarcastically from the side: “Junior sister, you can’t blame him. The poor guy is so deprived that he is even eyeing a child’s money.”
Xiao Chengjun responded with scornful laughter, pointing at Zhang Min and Yingbao: “You just wait, I will uncover the truth. By then you will pay for your actions! The wealth in those five to six boxes is no small amount. My family’s money doesn’t come from windfalls. I will make you pay back double.”
Having said that, Xiao Chengjun stormed away.
Yingbao rolled her eyes at him and turned to her second elder brother: “Why do you think Xiao Chengjun came from the Prefecture City?”
Zhang Min, too, was puzzled.
Xiao Chengjun had a position in Zhechong Prefecture in the Prefecture City, so it was unlikely that he would suddenly run to a small county town hundreds of miles away.
It is estimated that he came here to enjoy schadenfreude to his junior sister, incidentally.
The next day, Zhou Wuchang and the eldest disciple returned from outside and brought back a piece of news.
It was said that there was a Celestial Master in the county who could communicate with the spirits and predict the future.
And this man was none other than Xiao’s associate Pei Shixian.
Upon hearing this, Yingbao frowned and quickly asked her master: “Why is Pei Shixian in Qinchuan County? What can he predict?”
Zhou Wuchang did not reply. Instead, the eldest disciple Zhou Hao said: “Pei Shixian came to Qinchuan County with his wife Han. Not soon after, he had publicly foreseen several things. Although minor they all became much more convincing when all came true.”
“What minor things?” Zhang Min was curious too. “Eldest brother, tell us about them.”
Zhou Hao said: “He first went to a family’s house and told them not to let their child go out for the next couple of days, saying there would be a risk of drowning. This family initially thought he was a fraud and ignored his warning, but within days their two children had drowned in the river while playing, one of them was saved by a passerby. The man who saved the child had been informed by a Taoist with a severed hand.”
Zhang Min’s eyes widened: “Does Pei Shixian really have this ability? Could it be he was just causing mischief?”
In the countryside, there are often religious charlatans who act and make themselves appear as spiritual masters.
Zhou Hao glanced at him: “Pei Shixian has been doing free fortune-telling on the street ever since, so he wouldn’t have the time to cause mischief.”
“Free fortune telling?” Yingbao’s eyebrows tightened. She had a feeling that Chen Tiantian and her family were up to no good.
Zhang Min questioned again, “What else? Pei Shixian could not be called a Celestial Master just because of this one thing?” Even their own master has never been called a Celestial Master.
Zhou Hao was particularly patient that day and went on to tell his junior siblings about several other incidents.
Yingbao, with her attention to detail, noticed that all these incidents occurred near Chen Tiantian’s house. These events might not involve serious national matters, but they all involved ordinary people, giving more credit to his predictions.
Why could Pei Shixian foresee events near Chen Tiantian’s home? Was there a necessary connection?
Zhou Hao further mentioned: “Yesterday, at the Gold Top Taoist Temple, Pei Shixian even predicted a major rainstorm in two days, and let people notify the nearby fishing and merchant ships not to leave the river.”
Suddenly, a lightning bolt of realization struck Yingbao.
She suddenly remembered that in her previous life when she was eight years old, an incident that shocked the entire county did occur in the summer. On the river within Qinchuan County, a merchant ship and several fishing boats had capsized, resulting in many casualties.
Even she, the poor girl at the Chen’s house, had heard of this. It was told by Chen Changping’s eldest brother when he returned home.
This incident, which she had even forgotten, was suddenly predicted by someone.
But how did Pei Shixian know about it?
No matter what, Yingbao didn’t believe in any gods.
Even though she herself had reincarnated, and there was a strange cave mansion, she still did not believe that there were gods in this world.
Could it be that someone else, like her, also had memories of their past lives?
Is this person Han or Chen Tiantian?
For some reason, she was certain that this person must be Chen Tiantian.
A chill ran down Yingbao’s spine.
If it was indeed Chen Tiantian who had been reincarnated like her, what would she do to her, to the Jiang family, in the future?
And her stepfather, who had been clearly helping Chen Tiantian devise plans and was now trying to build a reputation of a divine master for him, had great ambitions.
Yingbao remembered how she had created miracles in Jujube Tree Village in Jingzhou.
If anyone could play the role of a divine master, no one could do it better than her master and herself.