Chapter 244: You Can Calculate All the People in the World, But Not Yourself!
"Sir, please have your wife video call you."
At this moment, Chen Tianji looked at the portly middle-aged man with a smile that was not quite a smile, whispering the suggestion like a devil whispering a temptation.
The portly middle-aged man hesitated. His face was pale, sweat beading on his forehead. He held the phone like it was a red-hot coal. He didn't want to doubt his deeply beloved wife that much; in his heart, she was still the virtuous woman who cooked him dinner.
Ye Yan, however, had no such patience.
His eyes were cold. He needed verification. He directly reached out, snatching the phone from the man's trembling hands, and tapped the video call button without hesitation.
Beep...
On the other end of the line, perhaps due to the intense activity or a slip of a sweaty hand, the call connected instantly.
The screen lit up.
There was no pixelated lag. It was crystal clear high-definition.
Instantly, the small screen revealed a scene that would burn itself into the retinas of everyone nearby. Two entangled, "unbearable" bodies—white flesh against tanned skin—were moving in a rhythmic, primal frenzy. The background was clearly a hotel room, not a gym.
"Ah! ... Yes! Harder!"
Screaming sounds, uninhibited and wild, pierced through the speaker, echoing loudly in the silent street.
The portly middle-aged man stood frozen, his mouth agape, his soul leaving his body.
Ye Yan looked at the stunned man, then glanced at the chaotic flesh on the screen with a frown of disgust. He handed the phone back to the man, patted his shoulder stiffly, and, with a rare tone of sympathy, comforted him:
"Calm down, calm down..."
However, Ye Yan's words were cut short by the portly middle-aged man's explosion.
"Calm down?! CALM DOWN?!"
The man's face turned a terrifying shade of purple. He smashed the phone onto the pavement, shattering the screen and the moans instantly.
"If you encountered something like this, would you be calm? Ah?! That's my wife! My virtuous wife!"
Looking at the portly middle-aged man who was now howling like a wounded animal, Ye Yan was speechless. He frowned, feeling a bit annoyed at being yelled at.
'Me?' Ye Yan thought, shaking his head inwardly. 'How could I encounter such a thing?'
First, he had no wife or girlfriend. He was a lone wolf, a War God dedicated to the blade.
Second, and most importantly... the woman he held in his heart, his beautiful sister-in-law Lin Keqing.
Ye Yan's eyes softened slightly at the thought of her. In his mind, Lin Keqing was a lotus flower growing in the mud—pure, untainted, traditional, and conservative. She was a woman who upheld the "Three Obediences and Four Virtues." Even though her husband (his brother) had passed away, she would surely preserve her purity for his memory.
'Unlike these vulgar women of the secular world,' Ye Yan sneered internally. 'Sister-in-law Keqing is a saint. Even if a knife were put to her neck, she wouldn't let another man touch her finger, let alone... that.'
The contrast between the "slut" on the screen and the "saint" in his mind made Ye Yan feel superior. He was confident. He was secure. (Little did he know, at this very moment, his "saint" was likely feeding Shen Anyu grapes).
Chen Tianji, meanwhile, watched this entire farce with the detached amusement of a puppeteer. He looked at the collapsing portly man and the arrogant Ye Yan with a smile, fan waving gently.
"Didn't I tell you accurately?" he asked leisurely. "A touch of green on the head, vibrant and glowing."
The portly middle-aged man's face flushed with shame and rage. He wiped his tears, took a deep breath, and cupped his hands towards Chen Tianji, bowing deeply—a complete 180-degree turn from his previous aggression.
"Master! I was blind! I'm going to deal with that wretch right now! I will definitely come to thank you in person later! I'll burn that hotel down!"
After speaking, the portly middle-aged man turned and sprinted away, his heavy footsteps fuelled by the adrenaline of betrayal.
And the surrounding onlookers, who had witnessed the miracle, immediately burst into an uproar. The atmosphere exploded.
"Good heavens! This young man really has some skill; he actually got it right!"
"It wasn't a script! That reaction was real! It seems he's a true fortune-telling Master!"
"Ten thousand for one divination? It's really worth that much! It saved that brother from raising another man's son!"
"A true Master! Master, please tell my fortune too! My girlfriend has been 'working overtime' a lot lately!"
"Queue up! Don't push! Master, look at me!"
For a moment, the surrounding crowd looked at Chen Tianji with eyes that were filled with fanaticism, adoration, and shock. The doubts vanished, replaced by the fervor one shows to a living god.
Chen Tianji stood with his hands behind his back, head held high, looking calm and composed like an immortal banished to the mortal realm.
But in his heart? He was screaming with joy.
'Jackpot! I'm rich! Hahaha!'
He was originally just a fresh university graduate, a corporate slave who had been working for less than a year. He had suffered the harsh realities of society—low pay, 996 work culture, and abusive bosses.
When his paternal grandfather passed away, he wanted to ask for leave to attend the funeral. But his leader, a fat pig of a manager, ordered him to work overtime and scolded him severely for "lacking dedication."
Chen Tianji, in a fit of rage, flipped his desk, cursed his boss, resigned, and returned to his hometown.
It was there, while sorting through his grandfather's dusty belongings in an attic, that he found it. An ancient, unassuming jade pendant.
When a drop of his blood accidentally fell on it, the jade recognized him as its master. It wasn't just jewelry; it was a [Cheat]. It granted Chen Tianji the ability to see the "Fortune and Misfortune" of any target.
Chen Tianji felt as if he had discovered a treasure trove. He was instantly overjoyed.
Only then did he remember family legends. His grandfather used to be the top fortune-telling Master in their hometown, feared and respected. It was his grandfather who gave Chen Tianji such a domineering name—"Tianji" (Heavenly Secret).
It was just that Chen Tianji's grandfather had retired very early and warned him against the trade.
When Chen Tianji was a child, he had asked for the reason, and his grandfather said with a sigh:
"What if you calculate the fortunes of all living beings? It's easy to calculate for others, but difficult to calculate for oneself! The Dao of Heaven is cruel, grandson. Knowing too much shortens your life."
Chen Tianji didn't understand this sentence back then. And now? He didn't care.
He knew that with this ancient jade, his chance to make a fortune and change his destiny had arrived! He would trample on those who looked down on him!
He directly sold his hometown house, borrowed from loan sharks, emptied his family savings, and rented this shop in the prime Ancient Street of Magic City. He poured everything into renovations, full of ambition to gain both fame and wealth.
The risk was high. The housing prices in Magic City were exorbitant, and shop rents were astronomical. Before today, Chen Tianji had very little money left; he was eating instant noodles and didn't even have enough for next month's rent.
However, Chen Tianji was very confident. With this [Tianji Jade], making money would be as easy as drinking water.
Sure enough, on the first day [Tianji Pavilion] opened, two hundred thousand Yuan arrived in his account!
Furthermore, Chen Tianji had even greater ambitions. With this mysterious jade, let alone making money, even entering the inner circle of the capital and becoming a great figure like a "National Teacher," influencing generals and politicians with every word, would be effortless.
What Chen Tianji found a bit regrettable was that this ancient jade could only see the fortunes of others, not his own. It was a blind spot. But he dismissed it. 'I am the master of the Jade; my luck must be heaven-defying.'
At this moment, Chen Tianji hid his inner greed. He smiled at Ye Yan, who had just swiped his card for another hundred thousand without blinking—a fat sheep in his eyes.
"Young man, do you know my abilities now?"
"Yes, Master Chen has great abilities! Truly eye-opening."
Ye Yan nodded heavily, looking at Chen Tianji with an unusual, serious gaze.
He was different from those skeptical onlookers. With his Grandmaster-level observation, he saw the portly man's micro-expressions, the dilation of pupils, the rush of blood. That man was not an actor. The pain was real.
This meant Chen Tianji indeed had some skill. A skill that could save Ye Yan's life.
"Master Chen, may I speak with you for a moment? Alone?"
"No problem! Please, enter the inner sanctum."
Chen Tianji said with a gracious smile, then led Ye Yan into the Tianji Pavilion shop. He closed the heavy wooden main door, shutting out the noise of the street and leaving behind the regretful sighs of the onlookers who wanted to watch the show.
Inside, the shop was dimly lit, smelling of sandalwood and new varnish.
"Young man, do you believe what I said earlier?"
Chen Tianji didn't even pour tea for Ye Yan—a tactic to maintain his superior status. He sat directly in the main rosewood chair, exuding the calm and composed demeanor of a legendary Master, and smiled faintly at Ye Yan.
Ye Yan didn't sit down either. He stood in the center of the hall like a spear, his aura sharp and pressing. He looked directly at Chen Tianji and said in a deep voice:
"Master Chen, you just said that my glabella is dark, covered by dark clouds, and I have a bloody disaster. You said if I seek revenge, I will definitely fall into an ambush from all sides, leading to a desperate situation?"
"Is that true? Or were you just using metaphors?"
Chen Tianji nodded calmly. He narrowed his eyes, pretending to inspect Ye Yan's face, while in reality, he was reading the glowing text provided by the [Tianji Jade] in his mind.
He pretended to be profound and said:
"The moment I saw you, I sensed a dark, ominous aura—a cloud of death—hovering over you. It indicates a deep-seated blood feud that has festered for years."
"And the path you are walking... before you is not a road. It is the gaping maw of a ferocious dragon, waiting to snap shut. If you step out and go to that place of memories... you will surely fall into a deadly trap. Ten deaths, no life. You will die without a burial place!"
In reality, Chen Tianji didn't know why Ye Yan would die. He didn't know about the Shen Family or the cultivation world. He barely understood the I Ching or Eight Trigrams.
But the Jade gave him the result: [Target: Ye Yan. Status: Great Omen of Death. Location: Ancestral Ruins.]
He just had to embellish the details. As long as the result was accurate, he would be revered as a Master!
'Can those old farts who study books for decades be more accurate than me?' Chen Tianji gloated internally. 'I have a cheat! If I can't surpass them, I'd be a waste of oxygen.'
Chen Tianji looked at Ye Yan with a profound, knowing smile, waiting for the praise.
Ye Yan, however, fell into deep thought. The silence in the room was heavy.
"The place I'm preparing to go is the Magic City Ye Family old residence. Is there an ambush there?"
His mind raced, connecting the dots.
"That's right. The Yanxia Shen Family... they are meticulous. They probably know I'm still alive, since they never found my corpse five years ago."
"Heh heh, do they want to cut the roots completely? Five years have passed, and they still haven't stopped? They set a trap at my parents' grave?"
Ye Yan's face twisted into a sneer. The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
"The Yanxia Shen Family is so ruthless!"
Murderous intent surged in his heart like a tidal wave. His eyes turned cold, shining with a terrifying light that made even the smug Chen Tianji shiver slightly.
In reality, Ye Yan was overthinking it. If Shen Anyu hadn't awakened his past life memories and actively intervened, the massive Yanxia Shen Family wouldn't have cared about Ye Yan at all. To them, he was an ant that had been crushed years ago.
Otherwise, in the original work, Ye Yan would have had the space to grow, develop, and eventually return to overthrow them. But now... the Villain knew the script.
[Akarin Note:
Your Support Keeps This Story Alive!
If you're enjoying this novel, your support means the world to me. Simple actions like leaving a review, power stone, comment, or sharing the story let me know you're out there. It's the greatest motivation for me to keep updating until the very end and ensures this project continues.
For those who wish to support me more directly, you can join my Patreon at [patreon.com/AkarinTL]. As a thank-you, you'll receive access to 50 advanced chapters.
I hope I am still worthy of your support. My life truly depends on this... haha, I know I'm so shameless.]