Chapter 7 The Rogue of Jianghu

  Why do so many people believe in lies?

  Because it's a matter of great importance to them, they lose their sense of proportion. At this time, even the most absurd lies have a certain degree of credibility. When the person involved has lost their judgment, lies are naturally easier to believe. Especially when this absurd lie comes from the mouth of Chen Jia's honest and timid husband, its credibility increases by several degrees.

  The housekeeper stole a glance at the lady's chest, if this matter is pinned on Chen Housekeeper's head, Chen Housekeeper can be said to be wrongly accused to death, his indignation index is comparable to that of Yue Fei in the Wind and Cloud Pavilion.

  As for how Chen Guan explained to Chen Si Liu that he didn't peek at his wife's breasts, and what kind of "this place has no silver three hundred taels" impression Chen Si Liu would have in his heart, and what kind of ending Chen Guan would ultimately get...

  This has nothing to do with Xiao Fan anymore.

  It's like a mischievous kitten playing with a ball of yarn, tangling it up, and the owner is always the one to clean up the mess, not the cat.

  Xiao Fan is like a cat who has played with a ball of yarn and then abandoned it.

  The kitten is now walking with a light step, like a small drop of water, flowing into the bustling streets of Jiangpu County.

  Everything was so novel, so unfamiliar. Standing in the bustling streets, Xiao Fang felt flustered, like a child who had been separated from his parents. He stared blankly at the people passing by, feeling lost and unsure of which direction to go.

  This is a genuine ancient street, with the road surface paved with long rectangular bluestones. On both sides of the street, there are small buildings or shops with white walls and gray tiles, standing quietly. The eaves of the houses are carved with intricate designs, and the corners of the roofs are curled up like flying stars. Everything is full of ancient charm. Men wearing rough linen shirts, or scholars in soft silk robes, even young women in red and green clothes, pass by one after another. Merchants along the street call out to sell their goods, and occasionally a few officials in black uniforms walk by, slapping their iron rulers, strutting through the street with an air of importance.

  Xiao Fan's eyes gradually became misty with a few points of confusion.

  Is this the Great Ming Dynasty? The Great Ming Dynasty that existed for two hundred and seventy-six years in the long river of history?

  This Zhu family, filled with the hardships of the common people and displaying the strong vitality of the grassroots, was like a charming young girl who lifted the corner of her mysterious veil, quietly and slowly revealing her beauty to Xiao Fan.

  At this moment, the dynasty is radiating its vitality. In the twenty-ninth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang had just unified the country for less than thirty years. This dynasty bears the weight of history and has just begun its long journey...

  Standing in the midst of the bustling city, Xiao Fan felt a surge of emotions, his long-dormant heart stirring with excitement. His eyes, once calm and still as an ancient well, now sparkled with a bright light - if only he could travel back to modern times again! In theory, picking up a few ceramic bowls that people used for eating here and selling them in modern times would be a lucrative business opportunity...

  So, people can't be greedy, once they are greedy, bad luck will follow.

  Just as Xiao Fan was filled with emotion, a dirty hand that couldn't be discerned from its original color landed on his shoulder, leaving a black paw print on his long shirt that had been washed until it was faded and white, looking like it had been scratched by Mei Chao Feng, exceptionally eye-catching.

  In an unfamiliar environment, Xiao Fan was highly vigilant towards the outside world. As soon as that dirty hand touched his shoulder, Xiao Fan suddenly reacted violently and jumped forward, quickly turning around to stare warily at the owner of the hand.

  The owner of the hand was an old man, to be exact, an old Taoist priest, even more exactly, a dirty and disheveled one, as if he had just been dug out from a garbage heap.

  He wore a black, greasy and dirty Taoist robe, holding a dusty feather duster that was knotted like a rag. His hair was disheveled, with white temples combed up and tied into a bun on top of his head, secured with a short wooden stick at an angle. His face was etched with the lines of hardship, with dry, cracked skin that was black in some places and white in others - it was unclear whether it was dirt or scars from being beaten that had not healed well. The corners of his mouth were stretched wide, revealing more than half of his missing teeth, which shone yellow in the sunlight like a city gate that had been breached by the enemy, with a few green leaves stuck between them...

  At this moment, the sloppy old Taoist was grinning at Xiao Fan with his mouth open, and his other hand was steady and powerful, holding a dirty flag with four crooked and twisted big characters: "Iron Mouth Straight Cut".

  As soon as Xiao Fan saw this flag, he immediately understood who he had run into.

  To put it politely, this is a religious person who cultivates in the mortal world. To put it bluntly, this is a swindler who makes a living by fortune-telling and deceiving people. There were many such swindlers on the streets of ancient times. What's surprising is that over the centuries, although these swindlers' tricks have been endless and varied, their image has remained unchanged - a feather duster, Taoist robes, plus an inscrutable smile like Zhuangzi's butterfly dream. It turns out that this standard set of equipment for deceiving people has been passed down for over 600 years. If he could travel back in time again, Xiao Fan thinks it would be worth applying to have this outfit recognized as a World Cultural Heritage.

  The old Taoist stroked his whiskers with his dirty black hand and said something profound and mysterious that could attract anyone's attention: "You young man, you have a bad omen!"

  Xiao Fan suddenly became displeased, frowning and subconsciously saying: "You have a bra, your whole family has bras!"

  Everyone knows that the thing a swindler fears most is that you won't give him the time of day. If you once start talking to him, it means he's got his hooks on you, and if your luck is bad, maybe for life.

  Many years later, whenever Xiao Fan recalled the encounter with the Taoist priest, he would always sigh with a deep sense of regret: If only I had ignored him at that time, or even stabbed him to death, how wonderful this world would be...

  Xiao Fan felt a sense of foreboding as soon as he finished speaking, for he saw the slovenly Daoist's eyes light up with an expression that seemed to say he had spotted a foolish rabbit caught in a hunter's trap.

  Before he could react, the sloppy Taoist flashed out his hand and grabbed Xiao Fan's wrist. Xiao Fan's wrist was instantly printed with a bright black claw mark, as if he had been hit by a Black Sand Palm.

  "You have an ominous sign, you really have an ominous sign!" The old Taoist was stern-faced, like a doctor announcing that a patient has terminal cancer.

  Xiao Fan glared at him, his face gradually darkening: "Let go! Otherwise I'll beat you up!"

  The old Taoist let go of the horse, and at the same time, he cleverly used his dirty hand to wipe away the black claw marks on Xiao Fan's wrist. As a result, the black claw marks became blurred, and the entire wrist turned completely black.

  The old Taoist smiled awkwardly: "I'm not speaking nonsense, you really have a bad omen."

  This swindler Xiao Fan has been seen in his past life, how could he be deceived by him?

  Xiao Fan hummed and walked away with a swing of his leg.

  The old Taoist hastened after him, shouting a sentence that made Xiao Fan stop in his tracks.

  "You have been possessed by an evil spirit, great calamity is near!"

  Xiao Fan was shocked and immediately turned his head to look at the old Taoist priest. —— Everyone knew that Xiao Fan was a transmigrator, and he was a transmigrator who had taken over someone else's body. In this era, it could be said that he was indeed possessed by a demon, and that demon was himself.

  This was originally a secret that nobody knew, but now it's being loudly shouted out by an old Taoist priest in the bustling streets. As a demon himself, he naturally feels guilty and has a feeling of being like Bai Suzhen running into Fahai. At the same time, he also sincerely admires the old Taoist's sharp eyes, and this admiration is the beginning of the tragedy of this book.

  "How did you know I was possessed by a demon?" Xiao Fang asked curiously.

  The old Taoist snorted, with an arrogant look: "I am a transcendent being who has never been outdone, of course I can see it at a glance..."

  Xiao Fang looked at him suspiciously: "Are you a superior being?"

  The old Taoist stroked his whiskers, which were as windy and ancient as the Way: "I've been cultivating myself on Mount Zhongnan for ages, and I'm well-versed in astronomy, geography, the Five Elements, the Eight Trigrams, the Book of Changes, and the River Chart. Do you think I qualify as a superior being?"

  Xiao Fan looked at his tattered Daoist robe, which seemed to have been dug out of a garbage heap, and frowned: "To be honest, you say you're practicing in Zhongnan Mountain, but it doesn't quite look like it... If you said you were grave-robbing in Zhongnan Mountain, I'd actually believe it more..."

  The old Taoist was unhappy: "Hey, how can you talk like that? Such a profane and external person, aren't you afraid of being blamed by the Buddha?"

  "Buddha? Aren't you a Taoist? Do Taoists worship Buddha?"

  "Cough, as they say, one dharma is universal, all dharmas are universal. The Buddha's way is originally one family... even if I explain it in depth, you won't understand."

  Xiao Fan's mind was a bit muddled, he shook his head vigorously and didn't bother to pay attention to the saying "Buddhism and Taoism are one family". This sloppy Taoist priest saw through him as a demon at a glance. He just wanted to know how deep this old Taoist's cultivation was.

  "What did you mean by saying I was possessed by a demon just now?"

  Xiao Fan clenched his fists tightly in his wide sleeves as he asked this question, secretly deciding that if the old Taoist tried to deceive him with something like "Humans are born of human mothers, demons are born of demon mothers", he would punch the old scoundrel until he couldn't even recognize his own mother...

  Fortunately, the old Taoist was a very down-to-earth immortal. He smiled mysteriously and said, "Do you want to know?"

  Xiao Fan nodded: "I'll think about it!"

  The old Taoist flipped his white eyes, stretched out his black hands, and pinched his thumb on his index and middle fingers, pretending to calculate. Then he suddenly opened his eyes, gazed intently at the front, and after a while, pointed east-southeast with his hand, as if he had discovered an evil spirit. With a solemn face, he said in a low voice: "Follow me!"

  Xiao Fan's heart sank, this old Taoist really had some skills, looking very profound and not to be underestimated.

  Xiao Fan no longer hesitated and followed the old Taoist priest without any hesitation.

  Two people, one in front and one behind, crossed the street horizontally, and then walked along the street for dozens of steps. The old Taoist priest pinched his fingers to determine the direction, muttering to himself, and finally stopped in front of a restaurant.

  The old Taoist looked up at the sign of the rice shop, his face solemn and serious, and said in a low voice: "We've arrived."

  Xiao Fan's pupils contracted violently: "What... does this place have to do with the demon?"

  The old Taoist shook his head profoundly: "There is no connection whatsoever."

  Xiao Fan's expression became even more worshipful: "Then why did you bring me here?"

  The old Taoist looked at him and said, "You want to know how I knew you were possessed by a demon, don't you?"

  "Right."

  "Treat me to a meal and I'll tell you everything."

  Xiao Fan's face turned as black as coal: "………"