Chapter 90 - 89: When Conversations Don’t Click, Even Half a Word is Too Much

Chapter 90: Chapter 89: When Conversations Don’t Click, Even Half a Word is Too Much ... Tang Wenjun took a closer look. The object on the table appeared to be cast from bronze, roughly the size of a palm. Its form and shell closely resembled a tortoise, but its head, neck, and tail distinctly resembled a dragon. On its back, it carried a vertically upright square stele, looking exactly like the divine beasts depicted in many cultural relics carrying stone steles. Initially, Chen Jianguo wasn’t too fond of the "tortoise," but after listening to Dong Yuqing’s explanation, he was immediately relieved. "Alright, since it’s crafted by Daoist Xuanzhen, then it’s a treasure. I’ll buy it and take it home to properly enshrine it." As he spoke, Chen Jianguo pulled out his checkbook and asked for the price. Although today was Daoist Xuanzhen’s first time dealing with Mr. Chen, Chen Jianguo was introduced by an old friend of many years. Thus, he offered a friendship price: one hundred thousand. "What?" Chen Jianguo hadn’t reacted yet, but Chen Shaohua immediately exploded, "One hundred thousand? This is daylight robbery! Selling such a chunk of copper for one hundred thousand? You think it’s pure gold or something!" Daoist Xuanzhen kept his smile and didn’t answer back, his cultivation of temper quite exceptional. Dong Yuqing spoke up again to explain, "If you take a closer look at the Overlord Tortoise, the central pattern on its back has three divisions representing Heaven, Earth, and Humanity as the three cosmic elements. Surrounding it are two circles: the inner circle has ten divisions representing the Ten Heavenly Stems, and the outer circle has twelve divisions representing the Twelve Earthly Branches. Its mysteries are boundless. This is not just an ordinary decoration but a Fengshui Artifact." "I don’t care if it’s an artifact or not, copper is still copper!" Chen Shaohua exclaimed angrily. "Selling copper as if it were gold—that’s outright fraud!" "Shaohua, watch your mouth!" Chen Jianguo scolded his son. "Since young Mr. Chen doesn’t appreciate this copper artifact, that’s perfectly fine," Daoist Xuanzhen maintained his smile and extended his hand to reclaim the artifact. "Please wait, Daoist Xuanzhen." Dong Yuqing reached out to pick up the bronze Bi Xi, smiling as she said, "Fengshui Artifacts personally crafted by Daoist Xuanzhen aren’t that easy to come by. If Mr. Chen doesn’t buy it, I won’t hold back." Daoist Xuanzhen chuckled, "Miss Dong, doesn’t your Heavenly Water Pavilion already have enough treasures? Why are you now eyeing poor me?" "Who could possibly complain about having too many treasures at home?" Dong Yuqing flashed a clever smile, "Being able to resell this for several times the profit, how could I miss this opportunity?" Chen Jianguo recalled what his friend had said about Fengshui Artifacts crafted by Daoist Xuanzhen being highly sought after, almost priceless. Evidently, from Dong Yuqing’s words, this bronze Bi Xi’s true value far exceeded one hundred thousand. "Wait, wait, Miss Dong, I didn’t say I wasn’t buying this artifact..." Chen Jianguo was about to write the check when Chen Shaohua intervened, cutting him off with a cold laugh. "Dad, this woman is clearly in league with CCTV’s Dong Qing—look at how blatantly she’s playing the shill. If she wants to buy it, let her, but we’d better not fall for it!" To be fair, Chen Shaohua was indeed a sharp character, understanding that the prettier a woman is, the less trustworthy her words tend to be. However, sometimes being too clever can lead to misjudgment. "Yes, yes, I’m definitely the shill hired by Daoist Xuanzhen. Please don’t fall for it!" Dong Yuqing put away the bronze Bi Xi and cheerfully said to Daoist Xuanzhen, "Daoist, my little business at home doesn’t even qualify to use checks. Please join me at the bank; I’ll transfer the money to you personally." "Go ahead, keep acting!" Chen Shaohua sneered, "Scientists have already debunked Fengshui countless times. All these so-called Fengshui Skills are nothing but tricks. Certain people use Fengshui’s name, pretending to be masters, and claim to help people dispel disasters, achieve promotions, and wealth—when in reality, it’s just a front for scams and profits. Such things are exposed on the news broadcast every single day. Who are you trying to fool?" "Shaohua, you’ve crossed the line..." Chen Jianguo felt a bit awkward. Despite his own skepticism, openly expressing it in front of Daoist Xuanzhen was truly damaging to his reputation. "Dad, I don’t believe I’m wrong," Chen Shaohua uprightly declared. "I might have kept these thoughts private to avoid offending anyone, but if I don’t expose their tricks face-to-face, you might end up deceived in the future." Being called a fraud, Dong Yuqing was livid and couldn’t resist arguing back, "Fengshui Mysticism has been passed down for thousands of years. Do you really believe that everything our ancestors passed down is completely worthless?" "If you want to talk science, sure! Fengshui is actually a synthesis of disciplines like geography, geology, astronomy, meteorology, landscape studies, architecture, ecology, and human life information science. Its core principle is to carefully observe and understand the natural environment, conform to nature, moderately utilize and adapt to it, create a desirable living and survival environment, and achieve harmony with Heaven, Earth, and Humanity to reach the ultimate state of balance and goodness." "Ha! Harmony with Heaven and Earth?" Chen Shaohua mocked, "If Fengshui were truly as amazing as you say, why would we need education or hard work? Just burn some incense, pray to the gods, and buy an artifact to worship at home, wouldn’t that be enough?" "You’re mistaken. I never said Fengshui outweighs everything else," Dong Yuqing replied earnestly. "As the principle goes, ’The Way of Heaven depletes excess and supplements scarcity.’ Fengshui is merely an auxiliary measure to compensate for one’s shortcomings, not a replacement for personal effort." "Auxiliary? Compensation? And how exactly does that work?" Chen Shaohua sneered, "Talk is cheap. Show me evidence convincing enough to make me believe; otherwise, stop with the empty words to deceive people." The collision of these two ideologies was like fire and water—completely irreconcilable. Dong Yuqing and Chen Shaohua went back and forth, verbally sparring, neither able to convince the other. Yan Xiaobao, feeling bored from all the arguing, interrupted, "Wife Qingqing, why bother wasting so much breath on him? He’s about to land himself in big trouble soon, and then he’ll see just how real this all is." Chen Jianguo immediately grew tense, "What big trouble?" "Dad, don’t listen to this kid’s nonsense. They’re all in cahoots," Chen Shaohua glanced at Yan Xiaobao dismissively, "You think I’m that gullible?" Yan Xiaobao smiled playfully at Chen Shaohua, uninterested in wasting words. "Dad, let’s leave and stop wasting time here." Chen Shaohua stood up as he spoke. Chen Jianguo apologized to Daoist Xuanzhen and stood up to leave with his son. Daoist Xuanzhen, long familiar with being questioned and disparaged, remained unfazed, showing no anger. Instead, he turned to Dong Yuqing and asked, "Miss Dong, earlier you called me about an urgent matter?" "Here’s the situation..." Dong Yuqing explained the issue of Tang Wenjun’s family Fengshui Formation having gone wrong. Daoist Xuanzhen, upon hearing that Yan Xiaobao had pointed out the problem with Dong Yuqing’s Fengshui Formation setup, immediately began viewing him in a new light. ... [Please bookmark, recommend, reward, and support!] ...