Chapter 10: Materialism

Cen Baihe listened to the host speak with a sharp and excited voice to describe the appearance of the brave and good-hearted man. The more he listened, the more difficult it was for him to eat his porridge. He looked up and watched the TV. The parents of the rescued boy were thanking the person on camera. The piece of news was broadcast for five or six minutes, but there were no clear photos of the kind person, let alone a first name or last name.

In the end, this news broadcast ended with the host wishing the kind person a good life. Cen Baihe put down his half-eaten porridge and laid back down on the bed, not wanting to move anymore.

When Liang Feng came and saw that he barely touched the food, he moved the table to the side and said, “Director Ced, you ate so little?”

“I have no appetite.” Cen Baihe saw that he didn’t bring anything with him, switched off the television and asked, “Why are you here so late?”

“I just heard the news that Old Mr. Cen was preparing to renovate the ancestral house and was looking for a Feng Shui expert,” Liang Feng saw that Cen Baihe did not have much expression on his face and added, “I heard that someone told Old Mr. Cen that the Feng Shui of the house might have been affected as the house was in disrepair for many years, which might cause harm to the future generations. So Old Mr. Cen decided to do that.”

Everyone knew that among the five siblings in the Cen family, only Cen Baihe had health issues since he was a child. Old Mr. Cen was doing that for him.

Old Mr. Cen’s youngest son was his favourite. He loved Cen Baihe even more compared to his grandsons.

Cen Baihe frowned and looked as though he was going to say something, but he remained silent.

Liang Feng caught his expression and he didn’t know what to say in that instance. After sitting there for something, he finally opened his mouth, “Maybe it would work?”

However, he only received a cold look from Cen Baihe after saying that.

“Fine,”  Liang Feng shrugged, “I just thought, since the world is so big, maybe there’s some mysterious force that we didn’t know about, right?”

Cen Baihe curled his lips up slightly and looked indifferent, “It’s late, why don’t you go home.”

Liang Feng could not persuade him, so he left after he gave a report about the situation in the company.

When passing by the nurses’ station, he suddenly remembered what the nurses said a few days ago. An expert read the Feng Shui at a patient’s home and he soon woke up. He didn’t believe this statement completely in his heart, but thinking of the boss’s indifference to life and death, he stopped and turned to look at the nurses on duty.

Perhaps his luck was good, he immediately spotted the nurses who were gossiping the other day. He went up and knocked on the nurses’ desk and looked at one of the nurses’ name tags, “Miss Zhang, I’m sorry to disturb you. Do you have time for a question?”

Nurse Zhang didn’t expect such an important person to look for her, so she froze for a while before turning to look at the head nurse. After the head nurse gave a nod, she stood up and said, “Please tell me Mr. Liang.”

Liang Feng looked at his surroundings and said to her, “I heard you talk about a patient who woke up from a coma a few days ago, could you help me contact her family?”

Upon hearing that, Nurse Zhang said, “Please wait for a moment, I need to ask for the consent of the patient’s family.”

Liang Feng smiled and nodded, “Thank you for the trouble.”

Du Dong had been in a good mood recently, his chubby body exuded vibrancy when he walked. His mother’s surgery was a success and she could go home after resting for a while. His wife had also mostly recovered and his daughter was lively and wanted to go to school. There was new investment in his company and had a smooth turnover. The current situation made the days from half a month ago seem like a bad dream.

So when he heard that Fifth Master Cen’s assistant had contacted him, he still agreed politely even though he didn’t know what the reason was.

“Expert?” Du Dong’s heart jumped and smiled, “Mr. Liang, the whereabouts of the expert is uncertain. When I manage to contact him, I’ll let you know, ok?”

Even though he wanted to get on the good side of the Cen family, he was not a traitor. Liang Feng was looking for Master Qi but refused to tell him the reason. What if he invited Master Qi and caused him trouble?

He could not forget his roots. Master Qi had saved his entire family. How could he just betray him for his own benefits?

Liang Feng knew that Du Dong was not telling the truth and guessed his thoughts, so he didn’t force him. He only smiled and said, “I hope Mr. Du would bring me some good news.”

Du Dong laughed lightly and nodded without saying more.

When Qi Yan realized that he was on television, he hid in the house for a few days. He was so sick of takeout, so when Wang Hang called him and invited him to dinner, he agreed without hesitating.

Business at the night market during summer was good. Well-dressed women, eager men, and some families who were taking a stroll were all gathered in the narrow and shabby street. The atmosphere was lively.

Wang Hang’s car could not get in, so he and Qi Yan could only walk. They found a busy stall in a corner and ordered a lot of meat skewers and two grilled fish.

The two of them sat down on a table. Wang Hang took a sip of beer and said, “I met a classmate from primary school. He told me that he’d invited an expert to read Feng Shui at his house. Since then, his luck has become better. He even said that the expert’s surname is Qi, are you the expert?”

“What’s your classmate’s name?” Qi Yan did not like drinking, so he bought a can of herbal tea and was drinking it slowly.

“His name is Yang Tao. He used to not think before he speaks, but now he’s a lot better.”  After drinking some beer, Wang Hang felt a lot of the heat in his body dissipated and he looked more comfortable, “Tell me quickly, are you the expert that they invited?”

Qi Yan nodded, “We bumped into each other, so I helped him take a look.”

After hearing that Wang Hang looked at Qi Yan curiously, “Qian Qian, do you really know how to change people’s destiny?”

“I couldn’t change people’s destiny, only make their life a little easier.” Qi Yan shook his head and said, “There is a beginning and end to life, we can’t force things in life.”

“I don’t really understand what you mean,” Wang Hang scratched his head, “But after thinking about it, I think I do. You mean you could only help others obtain what they meant to have, but not what they don’t?”

“More or less,” Qi Yan stretched his finger and pointed at his head, “There will be consequences if you do things indiscriminately.”

Wang Hang’s face was filled with admiration. Even though he didn’t understand a lot of things, he felt that Qi Yan was amazing.

“You left in the middle of reading Feng Shui at my house. What a pity.” Wang Hang was filled with regret and it showed on his face.

“So what, I could go again next time,” Qi Yan smiled, “To be honest, I didn’t detect anything bad in your house, so it won’t make a big difference.”

After hearing that, Wang Hang felt better. After their meat skewers arrived, he ate a few of them before saying softly, “I heard that the Cen family is looking for a Feng Shui expert, do you want to try it?”

Qi Yan shook his head, “No, there are many talents in the Capital City, I won’t compete with them.”

But regarding these so-called experts, some really were capable, others were just pretending to know Feng Shui. They relied on their mouths to convince others. This type of people were just greedy, there was another type who was malicious.

Some scammers not only wanted to make money, but they also harmed others. They let those with little knowledge do stupid things. This type of person deserved to be slashed to death.

When he was young, he once met a sorceress who claimed that a young lady from some family brings bad luck to her family. Her family actually believed the sorceress and abused the young lady. In the end, she couldn’t bear the situation and drowned herself in a river.

After knowing that, his master told him that this was the evil in human nature. The sorceress knew that the young lady’s parents preferred boys over girls and the financial situation in their family was not good, so she used that to manipulate them.

Besides, those who refused to see a doctor when they got sick but drank holy water instead were all foolish.

If sickness could be cured by just asking God, then what was the use of doctors in this world? How could there be old age, sickness and death?

“I knew that you wouldn’t want to go,” Wang Hang wiped his oily mouth and said, “There are too many people who wanted to get the Cen family’s attention.”

“The important person you wanted to visit in the hospital is from the Cen family?” Qi Yan liked eating chicken wings, so he quickly finished two of them. He was nonchalant when he asked the question.

“Everyone wanted to go to the hospital to express their sincerity, it would be a bad look if we didn’t go.” Wang Hang knew that his family was considered respectable for ordinary people, but in the eyes of the Cen family, they were nothing. 

He waved his hand and said, “But no one managed to see him.”

Qi Yan expressed his understanding. That was normal human behaviour.

After they finished eating the skewers, they saw a skinny man telling the fortune of two young women by the road as they were preparing to go through an alley to go home.

It was fine if he was just telling them their fortune, but this man kept caressing one of the ladies’ hands. It was obvious that he had bad intentions.

The lady sensed that something was wrong and wanted to take back her hand, but the man gripped it tightly so that she couldn’t move.

Sensing the lady’s behaviour, the skinny man said helplessly, “Lady, I see that your boyfriend’s mind is straying.”

The young lady looked at the man with shock and forgot to struggle.

How did he know that she had a boyfriend?