020 See God again

  "Have you eaten?"

  "I'm full."

  "What's the point of licking the plate after you're full?"

  "Who ate it! …… So much oil, what a waste."

  "Not full yet, let's have some more dishes."

  "No need, we've had enough dishes."

  "Or should I get Xiao Er to go downstairs and order some flatbread?"

  "Flat food... doesn't seem particularly delicious either."

  “……”

  After devouring six dishes and a soup in a whirlwind manner, the brother and sister were both stuffed and sat by the window, lazily chatting to aid digestion. Su Heng recalled that he had only eaten about one-third of the food on the table, while the remaining two-thirds had all gone into Lu Xiuer's stomach. This was also intentional on Su Heng's part, as he had eaten countless delicacies in his previous life and didn't need to compete with a poor little sister for food.

  "Brother, it would be great if mom could also eat with us here." Lu Xiuer started thinking of Yang Genjuan, she had always been a kind-hearted girl, whenever there was something good, she would think of sharing it with her family and even friends. Just now, she was too busy eating and didn't think much about it, after finishing the meal, she felt a bit guilty, thinking that such delicious food should be saved for when her foster mother comes to the city.

  "Suhao said: 'Let's settle down first, after we've collected everything and my errand is stable, I'll bring mom to live in the city, at that time, we can eat even better things.'"

  "How can we always eat like this? This meal alone, I don't know if three silver coins are enough." Lu Xiuer said softly.

  At this time, the shopkeeper came over with a smile and bowed before speaking, asking: "Have you gentlemen finished eating?"

  "Done eating."

  "Would you like some tea?"

  "Ah, is there any free tea? Brew a pot for me. And by the way, let's settle the bill on the counter."

  "The bill has been calculated, you two's wine and dishes together are 2 coins and 7 cents of silver, and there is still 30 cents left." The shopkeeper replied.

  "You've worked hard, here's 30 cents as a reward." Su Hao said generously. In the Ming Dynasty, China still had the good tradition of tipping service staff. Looking at this shop assistant who was both diligent and clever, Su Hao felt that not giving some tip would be unreasonable.

  "A small thank you for the reward." The shopkeeper was overjoyed, as it was common to receive tips from customers, but it was rare to receive 30 cents at once. He deeply regretted underestimating Su Hao earlier.

  The shopkeeper went to make tea, and Lu Xiuer had a mind to discuss the small fee with Su Hang. After thinking about it, she didn't bother to open her mouth again. She knew that as soon as she spoke, her brother would definitely use that set of excuses again, saying things like how much money he earned, and she wouldn't be able to argue with him. Since she couldn't change anything, she simply followed Su Hang's example and turned her head to look at the street scene.

  "Two destined ones, would you like me to cast a divination for you?"

  A voice sounded beside them, and the brother and sister turned their heads to look, both of them couldn't help but laugh. Standing at the edge of their table with a serious expression, pretending to be mysterious, was actually an acquaintance, Chen Guanyu, the geomancer who had previously divined the well location in Zhegui Township.

  "What? Isn't this Mr. Chen? How did you become an old Taoist?" Su Hao asked with a smile.

  "Ah, it's Su Xiuzai and Lu Niang...". Chen Guanyu saw that the other party was an acquaintance, and one who had made him lose face before, and he couldn't help but feel a bit awkward. He stammered: "This humble monk hasn't changed his profession, this humble monk has always been a Taoist."

  "Aren't you a geomancer? Why aren't you out surveying the feng shui, but instead ran to the wine house to help people calculate their fortunes?" Su Hao asked.

  At this mention, Chen Guan's eyes were about to fall with tears. He let out a long sigh and said: "I have fallen into such a state, all thanks to your kindness."

  "Hey, don't blame me, okay? You're the one who didn't master your skills well, how can you blame me?" Su Hao replied irritably.

  Chen Guanyu nodded and said: "Indeed, so I don't resent you, young master. However, although you didn't kill Bo Ren, Bo Ren died because of you, isn't that true?"

  Su Hao smiled and said: "You're not at the point of death yet, are you?"

  Chen Guanyu said: "Although I'm not dead yet, I'm not far from death either. In half a day, I haven't even earned 10 cents, if it goes on like this, it's hard to die a good death."

  "What's going on?" Su Hao saw that Chen Guanyu didn't look like he was joking, so he hastily said: "Sit down and talk about it, what happened? By the way, have you eaten yet?"

  Chen Guanyu pulled over a stool and sat down on one side, shaking his head and saying: "I haven't eaten a single grain of rice since morning."

  "Waiter!" Su Hao raised his hand and called out to the shop assistant, "Give this Taoist priest a bowl of noodles with extra meat sauce."

  The shopkeeper came over and first poured tea for Su Hang and Lu Xiu'er, then asked with a difficult expression: "This Taoist priest's facial recognition fee..."

  "Put it on my bill." Su Hao said, he found that after he finished speaking, the little waiter's face looked even more difficult. After a moment's thought, he realized what the little waiter was worried about. He smiled and said: "Don't worry, the money I rewarded you earlier is yours, and I'll settle the Daozhang's bill separately."

  "Heh heh, where are you from, sir? I was just asking this Taoist priest if he wanted a large or small bowl of noodles." The shopkeeper was caught off guard by Su Huan's words and felt embarrassed, so he quickly covered it up.

  Before long, the noodles were served, but it was a 10-cash affair. Su Hang let Lu Xiuer pay the bill.

  Chen Guanyu said thank you, picked up his chopsticks and started eating noodles with a loud slurping sound. In less than a minute, the bowl of noodles was gone, and Chen Guanyu's face began to show some spirit, with a hint of the same vigor he had when he was in Longkou Village.

  "Sir Su, Miss Lu, you don't know..." Chen Guanyu began to recount his hardships.

  It turned out that after the well drilled by Su Huao's guidance produced water, Zheng Chun's attitude towards Chen Guanyu became worse. Zheng Chun knew that although he could drill a few good wells with Su Huao's help, he would definitely be scolded by the county magistrate for drilling so many useless wells before, and the root of all this was Chen Guanyu's incompetence.

  Li Xing brought back a verbal order from the county town, saying that Chen Guanyu was a swindler and ordered Zheng Chun to drive him away. With this statement from Han Wen, Zheng Chun gained confidence and immediately summoned Chen Guanyu, first scolding him severely, then ordering the yamen runners to take away all his money, leaving him only with a Taoist robe. Zheng Chun also said that since Chen Guanyu did not understand the art of divination, he deliberately deceived the government, causing serious waste of government funds for drilling wells, and ordered Chen Guanyu to compensate.

  Chen Guanyu was originally just a third-rate feng shui master, and on ordinary days, he would only help people look at the feng shui, jump around and make some money to make ends meet. He didn't have any savings to compensate for the cost of drilling wells. Zheng Chun didn't care about this, and had Chen Guanyu driven away, and also publicly declared that he would continue to demand compensation from him in the future. This claim was just a reason made up by Zheng Chun himself, and with this reason, Zheng Chun could extort money from Chen Guanyu at any time in the future, and Chen Guanyu became Zheng Chun's ATM.

  Chen Guanyu was driven out of Longkou Village by Zheng Chun early in the morning and arrived at the county town with an empty stomach. He had no means of making a living, so when he was extremely hungry, he could only run to a restaurant to help people tell fortunes. In fact, there were not many people in the restaurant who would want him to tell their fortunes, but he just used this as an excuse to find some leftover food from customers to fill his hunger.

  Su Hao is a kind-hearted person, and he has no grudges against Chen Guanyu. Although Chen Guanyu initially tried to shift the blame for not being able to dig a well onto Lu Xiuer, Su Hao later used his own skills to prove Chen wrong, so they can be considered even. Now that Su Hao sees Chen Guanyu reduced to eating leftover rice at a restaurant due to his own misfortunes, he feels some sympathy and this is also why he invites Chen Guanyu to have a bowl of noodles with him.

  "Mr. Chen, what's your next move?" Su Hao asked.

  Chen Guanyu said: "The money on my body was all taken away by Zheng Dianli, and now I can only think about how to make a living. Once the news of Longkou Village spreads, I'm afraid there will be fewer people asking me to inspect the feng shui in the future. I really have no one to blame but myself. Ah, right, Master Su, what brings you to the county town with so much leisure time, and also..."

  He didn't continue, but the expression on his face had already hinted at his doubts. He had been in Longkou Village for these days and had not paid less attention to Su Hao, so he naturally knew about Su Hao's family situation. Now seeing Su Hao bringing Lu Xiuer to eat in such a high-end restaurant, and sitting in the luxurious private room upstairs, there must be some mystery behind it. Chen Guanyu made a living by fortune-telling and exorcising ghosts, and observing people's words and expressions was his specialty. Seeing that Su Hao was a kind-hearted person, he keenly sensed that his own misfortune might be able to be turned around with Su Hao's help.

  "I won't hide it from Mr. Chen, I came to the county town also because of the well-drilling matter. The magistrate heard that I have some skills in selecting well locations, so he hired me to work at the county government office, responsible for all the well-drilling affairs in the county." Su Hao replied.

  "In charge of drilling wells for the entire county!" Chen Guanyu could naturally hear the meaning of this sentence, and he asked in surprise: "That little Tao Da dared to ask, what title did the magistrate give to Su Gongzi?"

  "Master of the workshop." Su Hao said, this was originally not a matter that needed to be kept secret, so it didn't matter if he said it out loud.

  "Master?" Chen Guan's heart churned with a mix of envy, jealousy, and hatred. Damn it, I was left penniless, but you've suddenly become a Master. Although the title of Master can be either grand or humble, it's still a position by the county magistrate's side, which means face and money won't be lacking.

  A thought suddenly flashed into Chen Guanyu's mind, he stood up, faced Su Huan, and knelt down with a thud, reciting: "Chen Guanyu, humbly requests Master Su to take him in, willing to serve as Master Su's vanguard!"