Chapter 20 Human Face

"Third Young Master has been practicing in this temple for many years. Could you show me your face?"

Perhaps it was for Mrs. Li's sake, or perhaps he wanted to get closer to the Li family. The middle-aged man wearing a jeweled warm hat looked at Li Daoxuan with a flattering smile on his old face.

After hearing what this person said, Li Daoxuan did not refuse. He just asked the middle-aged man to spread out his hands and he looked at the other's palm.

When asked about his birth date, the middle-aged man hesitated after hearing it.

"Hand the pen and ink to Master Yan." Madam Li could see the middle-aged man's concerns, so she ordered the servant to hand over the pen and ink. After all, a person's birth date and horoscope cannot be easily disclosed, otherwise you may encounter some trouble.

The middle-aged man called Master Yan smiled with relief when he heard this. After the servant brought him pen and ink, he happily wrote down his date of birth and handed it to Li Daoxuan.

Li Daoxuan looked at the birth date and then looked at Master Yan, and couldn't help but frowned.

"What do you think of my appearance, Third Young Master?" asked Master Yan.

"..." Li Daoxuan didn't reply to him first, but calculated it before asking, "Did your family break ground for an elder a few months ago?"

"Ah, yes! Absolutely!" Master Yan was stunned for a moment when he heard what Li Daoxuan said, and then he hurriedly said yes as if he remembered something. The expression on his face was not false, and he was still surprised that Li Daoxuan could predict that his family would dig up the ancestral tomb.

After all, no one would tell the Third Young Master about this kind of thing, not to mention that he had just returned. This can only mean that the Third Young Master is indeed quite capable, as he could tell that his family had moved their ancestral graves.

Master Yan felt a little impressed, but he didn't understand why the Third Young Master mentioned this, so he quickly asked, "Why did the Third Young Master mention this?"

"Master Yan's ring finger is black, and the lines on his palm are messy. The little finger is stained with blood, but it is also purple. This is the White Tiger facing the Black Tortoise, which means there are many evil spirits in the family. The White Tiger belongs to the element of gold, which means it is the master of killing." Li Daoxuan didn't continue talking after he finished speaking. He was not very good at fortune-telling and could only make out some clues.

It can only be said that there may be misfortune in Master Yan's family, which must be related to the disturbance of the ancestral tomb. As for what problems will arise, Li Daoxuan is not too sure. After all, this kind of thing can only be understood by him going to the scene in person. To be able to see everything just by palmistry, it must be a master who specializes in this field.

Li Daoxuan's words startled Master Yan, who quickly stood up and asked, "Is my palm reading auspicious or inauspicious? Or is there something wrong with it? I hope the Third Young Master can give me some pointers."

"Please forgive my limited knowledge. I can only see that the palm lines of Master Yan are a bad omen. As for other things, it is difficult to see clearly." Li Daoxuan shook his head regretfully.

"It's a bad omen, a bad omen. How can it be a bad omen? The end of the year is approaching, and I hope the Third Young Master will not tease an old man like me." Master Yan was really unwilling to believe that there would be a bad omen in his family, but he felt that Li Daoxuan was right. He was so confused that he couldn't sit still. In the end, he could only bow and say goodbye, and go back home to take a look.

Madam Li sent him off in a gentle voice and said a few words to Master Yan. She distanced her second son from the matter and gave him a gift to apologize. After all, this was the New Year's Eve dinner hosted by the Li family, and it would be inappropriate for Master Yan to suffer.

This move could be considered as a way to comfort Mr. Yan, so that he would not be angry with Li Daoxuan for no reason.

After Master Yan left, the banquet became even more lively. It was not until 5:00 pm that the banquet ended and everyone dispersed. Madam Li sent the guests back and also arranged a place for Li Daoxuan to stay.

Sitting in the newly bought house, Li Daoxuan let out a long sigh. He had spent a very memorable day. Just as Li Daoxuan was preparing to rest, Granny Zhang, who was several miles away, was having trouble sleeping and eating. Ever since she met the young master while setting up a stall, she always had a knot in her heart.

The young master said that she had something at home, and Granny Zhang felt uneasy. After accepting the talisman from the young master, she packed up her stall and returned home. If she didn't get this matter clear, Granny Zhang would always feel uneasy.

As soon as she entered the door, she met her own Dalang. Grandma Zhang, who didn't think it was strange at first, felt that everything was strange about her son when she looked at him again.

Dalang was supposed to be a sturdy man, and he had been fat since he was a child. But after he got married, he started to lose weight. Granny Zhang asked him a few questions at first, but Dalang just said that his wife didn't like him being fat, so he lost weight for this reason.

This was true, so Granny Zhang didn't pay any more attention to it. But today, she felt that her son had not lost weight at all, but had been sucked away by some bad thing.

His cheeks were sunken, his face was sallow, his eyes were dull, and he walked lightly as if he had lost his balance. How could he be called thin? He looked completely disfigured.

Granny Zhang was extremely anxious, and wanted to rush into the room to see what the daughter-in-law was. But she knew that she couldn't rush into this matter, because her son must have been dazzled by the thing and was in a state of deep affection with it. If she acted rashly, there might be an accident. After all, Granny Zhang was not stupid, and she knew everything in her mind.

She touched the talisman in her pocket and remembered what the young master had said. She went into the kitchen and took out thirty-six grains of rice, soaking them in wine. She also prepared some food and brought it into the house for her daughter-in-law to eat.

She looked at her daughter-in-law quietly. She was very special. Her face was delicate and her eyes were full of spring. No wonder her husband was so fascinated by her. But if you look closely, there is not a trace of human under this mask. Even when she talked and laughed, she was as stiff as a mask, without any human spirit.

"Mom, why did you come back so early today?" the daughter-in-law asked with a smile.

Granny Zhang listened to her daughter-in-law's words, but her palms were sweating. She suppressed her panic and smiled reluctantly, "There are not many people outside, they all went home, so I wanted to come back early to take care of you two."

"Mom, you are so kind." The daughter-in-law smiled happily. But this smile seemed particularly terrifying in the eyes of Granny Zhang. Granny Zhang felt her scalp tingling and her hands and feet felt as if they had fallen into an ice cave and she had no feeling at all.

When she thought of her son, Granny Zhang didn't know where she got the courage from. She calmed down and walked out, pretending nothing had happened. She went back to the kitchen, picked up the rice soaked in wine, and sprinkled it on the steps of the house.

She also took advantage of the intimacy between her son and daughter-in-law to stick the talisman in a hidden corner. After doing all this, Grandma Zhang poured out the wine without saying a word.

The young master said it would only take fourteen days, so Granny Zhang decided to wait and see.

But when she went to bed at night, Granny Zhang thought about her daughter-in-law. She always felt a stone in her heart that she couldn't let go. She wanted to know what her daughter-in-law was, so she quietly left a gap between the closed paper windows.

When her son was washing and her daughter-in-law was alone in the room, Granny Zhang looked through the window and saw her daughter-in-law putting on makeup in front of the mirror, then she peeled off her face bit by bit and held it in her hands.

Granny Zhang's eyes widened, she covered her mouth and stepped back. After she could breathe smoothly, she moved stiffly, and when she looked at the paper window again, she dared not move forward.

Covered with the quilt and lying on the bed, Grandma Zhang did not notice that through the slightly opened window, a pair of cold eyes were looking at her.

(End of this chapter)