Shui Miao suddenly realized what she was supposed to do!
It was luck—this was what she truly needed!
With good fortune, no matter what she did, everything would go smoothly.
Shui Miao suddenly realized that her previous streak of bad luck, being replaced by the thousand-year-old female ghost Bai Niangniang, might have been because she had been trying to cultivate misfortune. If that were truly the case, she must adjust her strategy and focus first on cultivating good luck. She also realized that she couldn’t fully trust Ling Shuai. In this world, no one does something good for another person without their own motives. This was simply human nature, the way of nature itself.
The strong are honored, the adaptable survive. Shui Miao experienced a series of realizations and resolved from this moment on to only believe in herself. Moreover, to survive in this world, one must first transcend mentally.
Wisdom combined with luck—this was the eternal law.
Shui Miao discarded all her previous thoughts and decided from now on to face everything with great wisdom, focusing her efforts on absorbing and cultivating purple fortune, while neglecting the cultivation of misfortune altogether.
After thinking things through, Little Wife and the others returned.
To make Little Wife lose all hope in her and move on to find her own happiness, Shui Miao treated her coldly, refusing decisively when she brought over quilts and bedding. Seeing Shui Miao’s attitude, Little Wife felt deeply upset and stayed upstairs thinking all night.
Over an hour later, Third Elder finally returned.
Third Elder somewhat disappointedly told Shui Miao that the yin spirit had already selected two candidates for succession and was currently evaluating them. After much pleading, Third Elder managed to convince the yin spirit to consider Shui Miao as a backup candidate.
Hearing Third Elder’s words, Shui Miao didn’t respond.
At dawn, Little Wife came downstairs with a heavy heart and discovered that Shui Miao was already gone. On the chair lay a note that read: “I’m not stupid; there’s no need to look for me. I’ll return on my own at night.”
※※※
In the small town
Shui Miao, penniless, wandered the streets searching for a gambling place.
She felt somewhat uncertain because her dantian was sealed. Even if she found a casino and saw the purple aura, she might not be able to absorb it for cultivation. Nevertheless, Shui Miao still clung to hope and wanted to give it a try.
This Miao town wasn’t as bustling as the streets of big cities. Along a winding riverbank, chaotic rows of houses stood on either side of the bluestone path. These houses differed from those in the village. Most were built with stone at the bottom, wooden structures in the middle, and tiled roofs on top. At a glance, one couldn’t spot any modern concrete buildings. The people on the street wore Miao ethnic clothing, and there were many stalls selling farm produce, fruits and vegetables, medicinal herbs, and wild game. Of course, there were also fabric shops and restaurants.
Although Shui Miao wasn’t a local, she wore local attire.
Most people here spoke pure local dialects, which Shui Miao couldn’t understand at all.
Finally, Shui Miao spotted an arcade. Peering through the entrance, she found the arcade filled with outdated fighting video games—nothing related to gambling. The players inside were all around ten years old, clearly not what she was looking for.
Besides this, the street was short and had no other places for entertainment.
Even the ethnic minorities didn’t play mahjong?
Feeling frustrated, Shui Miao was about to leave when a middle-aged man came out of a house and whispered something to her. Shui Miao frowned and told the man she wasn’t local and only understood Mandarin. The man then asked in Mandarin if she wanted to play more interesting arcade games. Seeing the man’s sleazy look, Shui Miao nodded slightly.
However, when she entered the room, Shui Miao discovered that the so-called interesting arcade games were merely outdated slot machines, the kind that took one-yuan coins. There were five slot machines in the back room, but only two young men were playing.
Shui Miao, penniless, pretended to be wealthy and said she wanted to look around first.
The man wasn’t in a hurry. These slot machines were old ones he’d gotten from a friend in the city. Locals didn’t understand them. Thinking Shui Miao didn’t know how to play, the owner inserted a one-yuan coin into the machine to show her how it worked. Shui Miao secretly observed and noticed a faint purple aura around the man. After a few deep breaths, she found that she had indeed absorbed some of the purple aura into her body.
At that moment, a woman ran into the back room and called the middle-aged man out.
The man didn’t want Shui Miao to gain any advantage. He randomly pressed buttons to use up the points, started the machine, and only then left after hearing the sound of losing. Shui Miao sat in front of the machine and suddenly noticed a coin at the coin dispenser. She casually picked it up and inserted it. Not wanting to waste time, she imitated the owner and randomly pressed a button, then started the machine. As soon as she pressed start, loud music burst from the machine, drawing the attention of the two nearby players. After the music, the machine began dispensing points. Shui Miao had hit the jackpot with just one yuan, winning more than thirty yuan. The two nearby players were thrilled and quickly moved to play on this machine.
Shui Miao put the coins into her pocket and counted—thirty-six yuan in total.
Never expecting such good luck, Shui Miao took out six yuan to play again, but she lost all of it. She thought maybe she hadn’t absorbed enough purple aura. Unfortunately, there was no more purple aura here, so she left the arcade.
Just as she exited, Shui Miao saw a middle-aged man covered in misfortune sitting dejectedly on a stone bench not far away, looking extremely distressed, as if he had committed a grave mistake and was contemplating suicide.
Since she had nothing better to do, Shui Miao approached the man, squatted beside him, and asked, “Uncle, what’s wrong? Do you need help?”
Looking up at Shui Miao, the middle-aged man pitifully stretched out his hand toward her and said, “Little brother, can you lend me some money?”
“Haha, Uncle, I don’t have any money either. I only have a few coins. If you’re hungry, I can treat you to some noodles,” Shui Miao replied casually, not caring much about the thirty yuan she had just won. It wasn’t a big deal to help someone in need.
The middle-aged man sighed and waved his hand, “No, thank you. I’ll think of another way.”
After saying this, the man stood up and walked away.
Shui Miao felt puzzled. She thought since they had met, it must be fate, so she decided to follow him. If he tried to take his own life, she would stop him and prevent him from making a foolish mistake out of temporary despair.
Along the way, the middle-aged man asked everyone he met for money, but no one was willing to lend him any.
Shui Miao was very puzzled—what exactly had happened to this man?
Half an hour later, the man hadn’t borrowed a single cent and came to a quiet riverside, standing there blankly staring at the river. Shui Miao thought he was going to jump into the river and quickly walked over, “Uncle, why do you need money? Tell me about it. Maybe I can help.”
Shui Miao’s clothes and her fair, rosy complexion gave her the appearance of wealth, clearly not someone poor. Hearing Shui Miao’s words, the middle-aged man seemed to see a glimmer of hope. He slapped himself twice and then began telling Shui Miao his story.
It turned out this man surnamed Huo was named Yuanliang, a man addicted to gambling.
Huo Yuanliang had a wife who ran a clothing stall and a daughter named Huoxiang who had been accepted into university. This had once been a warm and happy family. However, Huo Yuanliang was hopelessly addicted to gambling, squandering all the family’s savings. He had sworn to quit gambling, but when his daughter was accepted into university, needing over ten thousand yuan, he had no money and couldn’t borrow any. He discussed with his wife and decided to gamble with the last three thousand yuan they had. If they won, the daughter could go to university. If they lost, the daughter wouldn’t attend school, and he would cut off one of his fingers and never gamble again. Huo Yuanliang’s wife couldn’t think of any other solution and, after discussing with her daughter, agreed to this plan to help the man stop gambling.
Three thousand yuan—that was the family’s entire savings.
But in the end, Huo Yuanliang lost it all!
Now, Huo Yuanliang felt guilty toward his wife and daughter and wanted to commit suicide by jumping into the river.
After listening to Huo Yuanliang’s story, Shui Miao fell silent…
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