Go all out

Chapter 39: Bad Luck Plagues Eight Generations

Fate—how should I put it? People often say that fate is in one’s own hands, and that with enough effort, anything is possible. but that’s only half true. Why do I say that? Everyone’s fate is predetermined—how long you’ll live, how many children you’ll have, who you’ll marry, whether you’ll have one marriage or several—all of these are predetermined. But the one exception is money—it really isn’t predetermined. People who understand their fate can become wealthy; those who don’t will remain poor. Yet the Yang family has been poor for seven or eight generations—this situation truly piques my curiosity. After all, that’s seven or eight generations—at least a hundred people, right? Yet not a single standout figure can be found among them. Fortunately, Yang Yun mentioned that his descendants live in another village, so at least my electric scooter won’t run out of power halfway there. Once I reached the village entrance, I suddenly thought of Yin Fang. If she were here, I’d ask her to analyze whether it’s because their family’s feng shui is bad—which is why Yang Yun’s descendants have been poor for seven or eight generations, to the point where even Yang Yun, as their ancestor, can’t stand it anymore. But my mom told me to be careful around Yin Fang, so naturally I have to listen to her. I’ll just keep it in mind. If Yin Fang really did show up and demand another 100,000, not only would I find it unbearable, but I suspect Yang Yun would give me a good scolding too. Yang Yun led me straight into the village. At this hour, the rural roads were practically deserted—it was pitch black and dead silent. But with a ghostly attendant by my side, I naturally had nothing to fear. About ten or so minutes after entering the village, I spotted a mud-brick house. The light shining through the windows looked like candlelight. I was genuinely speechless—houses like this are rare in the countryside these days. No wonder Yang Yun couldn’t stand it. On the way here, Yang Yun had mentioned that this was the sole surviving child of his descendants. The family was quite poor to begin with, yet they’d had three children. The oldest was only twelve, but he’d been taken out of school—they simply couldn’t afford his education. Yang Yun had once taken a risk to help him out a few times, encouraging him to open a small shop in the city so he could earn a little money to get by—at the very least, to send the children to school. But he was truly unlucky. He’d just invested in the shop—it hadn’t even been open for a few days—when someone actually died inside it. As everyone knows, these days, if someone dies somewhere, the family of the deceased will try to extort money from the place. He had no choice but to sell off almost everything he owned to pay the family over 100,000 yuan in compensation. That incident had only just passed, but with a death on his hands, how could he possibly keep the shop open? This has only made things even worse for the family. Still, it seems Yang Yun’s only son is pretty hardworking—it’s just that everything he touches turns to loss. A while back, he went to work on a construction site and had his leg crushed by a rock. The site paid him 30,000, but that was the end of it. A broken leg plus medical bills must have cost at least several tens of thousands, Well, the accident itself isn’t the main issue—the real problem is that his wife ran off because of it… And now, all three of his daughters have dropped out of school. How are they supposed to continue their education? I’d guess that right now, his family would have a hard time even coming up with ten yuan. There’s no choice. Once we arrived, Yang Yun was right by my side, but his family certainly wouldn’t be able to see him. It’s all up to me to sort this out. I parked the electric scooter and walked over to knock on the door. Soon, I heard the sound of bare feet running toward the door. It opened, and a girl with her hair in a ponytail looked at me with a puzzled expression. “Brother, who are you looking for?” the girl asked me. “Is your dad home?” I asked with a smile. “He’s here… Come on in and have a seat, big brother. Dad, there’s a guy here to see you,” The girl called out toward the interior, then opened the door wider to let me in. After stepping inside, I took a quick look around. Although there wasn’t much furniture, the place was clean and tidy—this girl seemed like a good kid. She poured me a glass of water, and just then, Yang Yun’s voice rang in my ear, “Her name is Yang Tao. See what becomes of her in the future,” Actually, even without him saying anything, I had already started observing this girl named Yang Tao. Her features were delicate and pretty, giving her a bit of a “girl-next-door” vibe. Her eyebrows were well-defined but somewhat faint, and she had a light black mole at the corner of her mouth. Combined with her habit of keeping her head slightly bowed, she had what could be described as the most common “servant’s face.” To put it bluntly, in ancient times, a face like hers would have meant a life as a maid serving tea and water to young masters and mistresses, But what puzzled me was that there was actually a faint glow in her Life Palace. If I hadn’t been actively sensing the energy emanating from people, I wouldn’t have noticed it. This glow signaled that she would encounter a benefactor today— me, I was a bit puzzled. I’m just a fortune-teller—what kind of benefactor am I supposed to be? “Well?” Yang Yun couldn’t help but urge me on, as sounds of people waking up were already coming from inside the room. “Not bad,” was all I could say. “Sigh,” Yang Yun sighed and fell silent, The sound of a cane hitting the floor echoed through the room, and a man leaning on a cane walked out. I glanced at him and immediately sensed that things were very bad for him. His entire Life Palace was shrouded in a layer of black mist. In other words, I didn’t even need to look at the rest to know his future was pitch-black. Perhaps he’d spend his entire life oscillating between misfortune and injury. But to my surprise, he actually had the features of a long-lived person. Oh my god, has someone desecrated Yang Yun’s ancestral graves or something? …… “You’re looking for me? I don’t know you,” he said in a hoarse voice. “Mr. Yang, someone asked me to come take a look at you,” It was actually a bit awkward to say that, since I had come empty-handed—I hadn’t even brought a single piece of fruit… “Check me out? Who told you to come see me? Was it that son of a bitch who sent you to see if I’m dead yet?” He flew into a rage and almost raised his cane to chase me out, Yang Yun’s voice said—he thought I was the foreman at his construction site, which is why he was so angry. I hurriedly said, “Don’t get the wrong idea—I’m from the neighboring village. Master Li, the fortune-teller, is my mentor.” “Oh, so you’re Master Li the fortune-teller’s apprentice…” He snorted coldly. “I went to see him, but he refused to read my fortune, saying I’d be unlucky my whole life. Just because your master won’t read my fortune doesn’t mean it’s true—what kind of curse is that?” I was speechless. My master speaks his mind—there’s really nothing worth reading in your face. “Please forgive me. My master sent me over to apologize to you. I’ll do your reading,” I said with an awkward smile. “No thanks. I don’t have any money for a reading right now,” he shook his head immediately. “It’s free. I just want to point you in the right direction,” “It’s free? Then what do you want?” he asked, sounding a bit wary. I was at a loss. What else could I do? I had no choice but to repeat word for word what his ancestor, Yang Yun, had said—combined with my own analysis—and then he slumped down into the chair, completely stunned. It was his daughter who kept comforting him by his side, her eyes red and teary—she looked quite pitiful. I couldn’t stand watching that anymore, so I quickly said, “If you trust me, let me give you a proper reading. Maybe I can help you. Let me see your hand,” His face was shrouded in darkness, so I had no choice but to start with a palm reading. He held out his hand in a daze. I flattened his palm with my own hand and stared intently at the three lines. Sweat beaded on my forehead, and I smiled wryly to myself. His palm lines truly reflected his destiny. His career line was practically nonexistent—broken and intermittent, like a dotted line. As for his love line, there was no need to mention it. The most prominent feature was his life line—long and enduring… Bad luck is one thing, but living this long? Isn’t that just torture? I felt helpless inside. Maybe I really couldn’t help him after all. I couldn’t see any signs of financial luck at all—how could I possibly point him toward a bright future? “Wait a minute,” was all I could say to him for the moment. He didn’t even acknowledge me. With a wry smile, I walked over to the door. As soon as I stepped outside, I voiced the question that had been on my mind: “Has your family’s ancestral grave been desecrated?” “Why would you say that? If my family’s graves had been desecrated, wouldn’t I know about it?” Yang Yun sounded a bit angry, then he asked, “Are you saying this will keep happening to my descendants too?” “It looks that way right now,” I didn’t hide the truth. “Sigh, all right. Could you lend him some money? Consider it a favor I owe you,” Yang Yun said with a sigh. I nodded. Just as I was about to reach into my pocket to see how much money I had, a warm little hand grabbed mine. I looked down to see Yangtao staring at me with reddened eyes. “Big Brother, is my dad really going to be unlucky for the rest of his life?” Tears were welling up in Yangtao’s eyes. I couldn’t bear to see her like that. As I watched her cry, something suddenly occurred to me—it seemed I’d overlooked something just now.