Chapter 5: There Is a Patriarch in the Painting

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The following morning, Li Chengfeng took the key his grandfather had given him and went alone to the old quarter of Qingzhou.

An aging street ran through the neighborhood, lined on either side with two rows of plane trees bearing countless fuzzy little seed balls. Shops stood shoulder to shoulder along both sides of the road. Beneath an old residential building was a shop with its door tightly shut. A vermilion plaque hung above it, three large characters picked out in gold: Fate’s Accord Hall.

Years of neglect had caused some of the gilding to peel away.

Beneath the shop’s name ran a smaller inscription: Dream interpretation, name selection, character divination, feng shui consultation—specializing in all manner of difficult ailments.

Li Chengfeng unlocked the door and entered Fate’s Accord Hall. The interior was exceedingly plain. The white walls were almost undecorated, save for a portrait of the patriarch Guo Pu. Beneath the portrait stood an offering table.

Li Chengfeng failed to notice that, the instant he entered the hall, the figure in the portrait moved ever so slightly. Its eyes remained fixed upon him.

The shop was not large, no more than thirty or forty square meters. A bedroom occupied the rear, serving as a place to rest.

Against the wall on the left stood a rosewood writing desk and a grand master’s chair.

To the right of the entrance was a tea table carved from a tree root, accompanied by a rosewood sofa.

Li Chengfeng slowly bent down and spotted several copper coins beneath the tea table.

He remembered his grandfather once telling him that the feng shui arrangement of Fate’s Accord Hall was called “Welcoming Guests at the Door,” a very common layout for attracting wealth and customers.

In restaurants, private clubs, bathhouses, hotels, and similar establishments, one could often see a sofa and tea table placed just inside the entrance or in the lobby, with several copper coins set beneath the table.

To ordinary people, it was simply a place for guests to sit and rest.

To a feng shui master, however, it was the wealth- and customer-attracting formation known as “Welcoming Guests at the Door.”

Li Chengfeng walked to the offering table and first lit three sticks of incense for the patriarch. Raising them above his head, he bowed three times before placing them in the censer.

Then he began cleaning. No one had tended the shop for more than two years, and dust covered every surface.

As Li Chengfeng bent over his work, a voice suddenly came from behind him.

“Boy, come over here and clean this immortal’s dining table!”

The unexpected voice made Li Chengfeng shudder. He spun around at once, but there was no one behind him—only the portrait of the patriarch hanging on the wall.

He stared at it in bewilderment.

How strange. Could he have heard incorrectly?

Li Chengfeng thought no more of it. Taking up a rag, he carefully wiped down the offering table beneath the patriarch’s portrait.

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While he was lowering his head to clean the table, Guo Pu, the patriarch in the portrait, actually smiled and nodded.

Fortunately, Li Chengfeng did not see it. Had he witnessed the figure in the portrait nodding at him, he would certainly have fled for his life.

Entirely unaware, Li Chengfeng continued cleaning.

He worked from morning until noon, finally finishing just as he was preparing to drink some water and take a rest. At that moment, a fair and delicate-looking woman in her twenties appeared in the doorway.

“Excuse me. Is Elder Li here?”

“May I ask who you are?”

“My name is Ye Mengyao. I’ve come to see Elder Li.”

Li Chengfeng was somewhat surprised. His grandfather had withdrawn from society for so many years and no longer helped people with matters of divination and the supernatural, yet someone had still come seeking him by reputation.

A visitor was a guest. Facing his very first customer, Li Chengfeng felt a small surge of excitement. He put on a smile, though his tone carried more than a hint of boasting.

“My grandfather has retired and no longer takes on such matters.”

“If there’s something you need, you can tell me. I’m Elder Li’s grandson. My name is Li Chengfeng.”

“Whatever my grandfather can discern, I can discern as well. And what my grandfather cannot discern, I can discern too.”

Ye Mengyao looked him over, disappointment showing in her eyes. He appeared so young—what ability could he possibly possess? His confidence, however, was considerable.

In most people’s minds, anyone skilled in the arts of divination, feng shui, and the esoteric traditions would be an old man past fifty, with white hair and beard.

Ye Mengyao reiterated the reason for her visit.

“I came to see Elder Li. I have an urgent matter to discuss with him. Can you take me to him?”

“If you can take me to him, I’ll make it worth your while.”

His grandfather was advanced in years, and Li Chengfeng did not want outsiders disturbing his peaceful life.

He understood perfectly well that the woman before him did not believe in his abilities. Given how young he was, her disbelief was entirely natural.

Li Chengfeng was not angry. Instead, he studied Ye Mengyao’s features.

Her Wealth Palace was full and rounded, marking her as the daughter of a wealthy family.

Then he examined her Parents Palace. The left corner of her Heavenly Court, representing the father, was dark and dull in color. From this, it was clear that her father’s health had encountered trouble. Perhaps he was suffering from some difficult and inexplicable illness.

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When Ye Mengyao noticed Li Chengfeng staring at her face, disgust surfaced in her expression.

How could Elder Li’s grandson be such a lecher?

Though she was repelled by him, the thought that he was Elder Li’s grandson made her force out a faint smile. Her tone was no longer as respectful as before.

“Please, take me to your grandfather, will you?”

“No.”

Ye Mengyao’s expression darkened slightly. She had not expected him to refuse, much less to reject her so bluntly.

After examining her features, Li Chengfeng had already guessed the purpose of her visit. He needed to show her a little of what he could do and make her believe him, so he asked tentatively:

“If I’m not mistaken, you’ve come to see my grandfather because of your father, haven’t you?”

“How—how did you know?”

Ye Mengyao, who had still been angry a moment before, was now visibly astonished.

Li Chengfeng had guessed correctly. Ye Mengyao had come to see Li Tiancheng precisely because of her father.

Two years earlier, Ye Mengyao’s father had awoken one morning to find that, for no apparent reason, he had suddenly lost his sight.

To cure him, the Ye family consulted countless medical specialists and visited numerous hospitals. Using the most advanced instruments in the world, they conducted comprehensive examinations of Ye Gucheng’s eyes and body.

The results were astonishing. Every physical indicator was even better than that of a normal person, and no illness could be found.

The strange thing was that although every examination came back normal, his eyes remained unable to see.

After two years of treatment and an enormous expenditure of money, Ye Gucheng’s condition had not improved in the slightest.

A few days earlier, Ye Mengyao learned from an old traditional physician named Kuang Guohua that her father’s condition might not be an illness at all—ordinary doctors would never be able to cure it.

He then offered her a suggestion: she should go to Fate’s Accord Hall and seek out Elder Li Tiancheng.

For half a month, Ye Mengyao had come to Fate’s Accord Hall every day, only to find the shop locked.

Today, at long last, she had waited for the doors to open—only to find Li Chengfeng inside.