“I’d like to hear more details.”
“Actually, the most fundamental elements of Feng Shui are the Hetu and Luoshu charts, complemented by the Eight Trigrams and the Five Elements. Hetu is used to observe stillness, while Luoshu is for movement. Here, ‘stillness’ and ‘movement’ don’t refer to physical objects, but rather to the flow of energy or ‘qi.’ Therefore, now we should analyze this situation using Luoshu combined with the Nine Stars of Purple Wisdom.” Time to show off some professional jargon to get the client to open his wallet!
The Chen direction corresponds to the Xun trigram, and the Xu direction to the Qian trigram. The numerical value of the Xun trigram is four, which is not especially auspicious but also not extremely inauspicious. This means that even if there is some harm, it won’t threaten one’s life. However, over time, the effects might not be so favorable. Fortunately, I have here a Bagua mirror that my master recently blessed, which can definitely help you ward off negative energy and relieve worries.” He said, pulling out a Bagua mirror from his chest. Of course, it wasn’t actually blessed by any master—Zhang Enpu had been dead for nearly ten years, so where could he find another master? He said that merely to justify charging a higher price: “You see, is this Bagua mirror different from other ones?”
“I can’t really tell the difference…” the old man replied, puzzled.
“Hehe, Uncle Wang, you’re not familiar with this. Please look closely; this mirror is concave.” He carefully demonstrated it to the old man. Seeing the old man nod, he continued: “There are three types of Bagua mirrors: flat, concave, and convex. The difference lies in whether the negative energy reflected by the mirror will harm others when it’s being used to ward off evil. If it causes harm to others, it’s considered inauspicious, and in the long run, that could negatively affect you too. Some people only care about immediate results, but I won’t do that. Just hang this mirror on the wall outside the window, and in fifteen days, you’ll see the results for yourself. If it doesn’t work, I’ll personally destroy my own reputation.”
With these forceful words, he firmly established his professional credibility and moral integrity. He was sure he could retain this client!
“Great! Great!” Sure enough, the old man was very gracious: “You young people are impressive indeed. Thank you, Mr. Liu.”
After a bit more small talk, Old Man Wang sent Liu Dashao out the door.
Sitting in his small minivan, speeding along the city’s upscale roads, Liu Dashao felt a warm, satisfying sense of joy in his chest as he held the thick red envelope he had just received. He didn’t open it immediately upon getting into the car—he was afraid the old man might see. But judging by its thickness and weight, it must have contained at least twenty bills. Worth it! So great! Tonight he’d even eat crab—crabs must really bring him good luck!
Back at the shop, he had Bai Bing cook some noodles, and they ordered a braised eggplant dish from the neighboring restaurant to go with it. It was a hot summer day, and if the shop had better conditions, it would have been nice to eat some cold noodles. But these hot noodles… it felt more like taking a sweat bath. Fortunately, he was in a good mood today, so a little sweat didn’t bother him. Bai Bing, as usual, sat silently eating her noodles without saying a word, while Liu Dashao chatted about what had happened that morning. She responded half-heartedly, now and then. Liu Dashao sighed inwardly, “Bai Jie, close up shop early tonight. I’ll buy you some new clothes. You wear the same outfit every day, and if you keep wearing damp clothes, you’ll get sick.” Bai Bing didn’t have spare clothes to change into. In summer, she sweated a lot, and her clothes would get smelly within a day. She washed them at night and wore them the next morning, but it had been raining heavily these past few days, and the humid weather made drying clothes difficult.
Bai Bing didn’t respond, and Liu Dashao was already used to her way of reacting. He continued, “After buying the clothes, come back to my house. My old man isn’t home. Tonight, we’ll eat dinner at my place. Afterward, you can sleep in my bed, and I’ll take the couch. We’ll come to the shop together tomorrow. Tonight, we’ll buy some good food to give you some extra nutrition. Sigh! I always have you watching the shop, and you never get to eat anything nice.” That’s just how he was—he was usually tight-fisted, but once he suddenly had a few thousand yuan in his pocket, he couldn’t stand not spending it. Spending it just on himself made him even more uncomfortable. He was just born with the nature of a rogue!
Day by day passed, and the relationship between Liu Dashao and Bai Bing had truly become like that of a real brother and sister. This simple life was actually quite pleasant. Before they knew it, the Mid-Autumn Festival had arrived.
Liu Dashao sat idly at the shop entrance, staring blankly at a pile of miscellaneous old “antiques.”
He had flipped through a Republican-era edition of “The Curious Chronicles of Antiques” over a dozen times. Fortunately, Liu Dashao had an excellent memory. Although he lacked experience, he had memorized about seventy to eighty percent of the shapes and patterns of the treasures described in the book. He was now painstakingly examining a blurry photo of a Shang Dynasty Yi Wu attendant’s tray with a magnifying glass when suddenly his vision dimmed—someone had blocked his view, standing directly in front of the stall. With a loud “thud,” a black imitation leather bag landed on the counter.
Liu Dashao raised his eyes lazily, glancing at the coarse-looking middle-aged man standing opposite him. He mechanically offered a professional greeting: “Sir, welcome to my humble shop. Are you here to sell something?”
The man, sporting a mustache and a shabby appearance, grabbed the bottom of his bag and, with a “clinking” sound, poured all its contents onto the counter. Liu Dashao’s eyes widened. Wow, what a collection! There was an emerald—well, a fake one; a jade monkey, also counterfeit; a Han dynasty white jade ring finger guard—also damaged. Liu Dashao struggled to suppress his laughter. It seemed this fellow must have come from a scavenging background.
Liu Dashao idly rummaged through the pile of junk with one hand while teasing the sleazy man: “How much are you hoping to get for these treasures?”
Seeing Liu Dashao’s indifferent attitude, the sleazy man was already anxious, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. He nervously rubbed his rough hands together and stammered, “This… this… young brother, I see you’re an honest person. You name the price.”
Honest? Ha! Who in business dares to be honest these days? In this world, there’s no merchant without some trickery, and no business without deceit. Complimenting a merchant as honest was basically an insult, implying that the person didn’t know how to do business. Hearing this, Liu Dashao immediately understood the situation. Obviously, this guy must have noticed that there were no customers at his shop and thought he could take advantage of him. He was just coming here to sell trash.
“Sir, you know how it is—ask high, settle low. That’s been the rule since ancient times. You need to name a price for your goods, and I’ll see if I can meet it,” Liu Dashao thought to himself. Anyway, business was slow. Although the sleazy man’s goods were mostly junk, they were worth a few bucks. After some repairs, maybe he could get lucky and find a buyer willing to pay a good price. Even if the deal didn’t go through, it wouldn’t be a big loss. Thinking this, Liu Dashao casually continued sifting through the pile while picking up his teacup for a sip. “Hmm?!” he silently exclaimed. An ancient-looking ring had caught his attention.
The ring’s setting was neither gold nor silver, and it didn’t even seem to be made of any metal. The gemstone embedded in it was neither a diamond nor jade, but somewhat resembled ivory. However, unlike ivory’s smooth, silk-like texture, this stone gave off a faint chill when touched, as if it could seep into one’s bones. Although the coldness was piercing, Liu Dashao inexplicably felt a strong sense of interest in this strange ring. How to describe it? This peculiar ring exuded an aura that felt vaguely familiar to him.
“What do you think? How much do you want for all this?” Liu Dashao asked, drinking several sips of tea to suppress his rising excitement.
The sleazy man’s face turned deep red, looking even more nervous than Liu Dashao. He trembled as he extended the five fingers of his right hand and struggled to say, “Fif… fifty yuan… would that be okay?”
“Spit!” Liu Dashao couldn’t help but spray all the tea in his mouth straight onto the sleazy man’s ugly face without wasting a drop. “Sorry, sorry…” he apologized repeatedly, pulling out several tissues to wipe the tea off the man’s face. In his mind, he thought, “Damn, you scared me. What kind of antiques are you selling here? This is just junk disposal.”
The sleazy man didn’t mind much, instead nervously staring at Liu Dashao’s face, almost pleadingly saying, “If fifty is too much, then thirty, thirty yuan is okay?”
Without any particular reason, a surge of generosity welled up from Liu Dashao’s heart. He generously pulled out a 50-yuan note from the small crossbody bag tied around his waist and handed it to the sleazy man in a generous manner.
The sleazy man casually stuffed the banknote into his pants pocket, his voice trembling with emotion as he tightly grabbed Liu Dashao’s hands, his lips quivering: “Thank you, thank you, brother, thank you, thank you…”
Liu Dashao couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off, but even if he had taken a loss, it was only fifty yuan—no big deal. Regardless, just for that strange ring, Liu Dashao wouldn’t even flinch if he had to pay 500 yuan.
那个猥琐的男人来得快去得也快，仿佛害怕刘大少会反悔这笔交易。而刘大少却巴不得他赶紧离开，心里暗想：你怕我反悔？我更怕你想要回钱呢。哼，今天运气真不错，今天不干了，早早收工回家，去好好研究这枚老戒指。这就叫福从天降，不是你去找福气，是福气主动找上门来。人们总说什么林黛玉倒从天上掉下来，那有什么意思？今天，我可是有天降巨宝啊！呸呸！不，确切地说，是一座金山从天而降！
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage