New Times, New Hell

Chapter 14 - The Daoist Who Rested on His Laurels

Li Tiantian stared at her best friend in shock. This plot was developing a bit too fast for her to keep up with. She subtly tugged at Chen Siyu and whispered, “Ey, isn’t that a little unnecessary?”

Li Tiantian had ultimately received a higher education. Though she constantly liked to talk about astrology and such, she didn’t truly believe in superstitions. At least, she wasn’t obsessed enough to accept someone raising the price right in front of her.

Only to see Chen Siyu bite her lip and say, “You don’t know this, but my dad really hasn’t been in great shape recently……”

Li Tiantian didn’t imagine this would happen, so made a sudden noise of surprise.

Chen Siyu’s family situation was a bit complex. Her mother passed away early on, and her father remarried after. Her stepmother even gave birth to a son. Her relationship with her stepmother and younger brother wasn’t so great, but her father had always doted on her.

It wasn’t too much to say that the only person she was truly close with in her family was her dad; he was also the most important person in her life.

But in the past two months, her dad suddenly seemed to have terrible luck. Several things went wrong with his business, causing him to lose a lot of money. Perhaps due to this, his health was also taking a rapid downturn. He spent his time in and out of the hospital, but the hospital couldn’t determine what was wrong either, only saying that he had an insufficiency in blood and Qi.

Chen Siyu could only watch her father’s condition get worse day by day, but couldn’t do anything about it. This obviously stressed her out. These days, she had to split her time between working and caring for her father, so became exceptionally busy. This caused her own health to decline too.

At first she was unconvinced by Li Tiantian’s suggestion, indifferent about this small company with its luck-changing magnets and luck analyses. But another reason was that she knew her condition was a result of her family situation. It wasn’t out of the blue, so she naturally thought that this company was trying to fool her.

But what she didn’t expect, was that this boss with his nasty attitude would open his mouth and hit the nail straight on the head.

Because of her family, she rarely spoke up about her home life. She had never even said anything to anyone about her father’s situation.

Yet Shang Que could so confidently state that there was something wrong with someone in her family. Just for this, even if he was guessing, she wanted to give them a chance.

Because of the unpleasant atmosphere, Chen Siyu more or less felt awkward now, but still braced for the worst and asked, “May I ask, how did you know that someone in my family wasn’t doing so well recently?”

Shang Que looked at her calmly. “Not ‘recently’. It started two months ago.”

Chen Siyu was truly surprised this time. She stared at Shang Que with wide eyes, the words stumbling out of her mouth, “How, how come you know that too?”

After hearing their exchange Li Tiantian was mindblown. “No way? Is it true?”

Yu Zhengdu chose this time to display his mysterious smile and insert a small advertisement for their company. “We already told you, we’re professionals.”

Shang Que had accurately described Chen Siyu’s family situation in only a couple of sentences. No matter how he had done it, Chen Siyu definitely wanted to give them a chance.

But now that she wanted to buy the magnets, Yu Zhengdu refused to sell them to her so casually. His excuse was that their company worked professionally in health and magnet management, and each magnet had to be uniquely matched to each person, so they needed to see her father’s condition personally before deciding which stone to sell her.

As for the real reason, it was that their pebbles had no true use. What actually worked was Underworld technology.

At a time like this Chen Siyu obviously didn’t dare to have any objections. She immediately cancelled her afternoon schedules and personally drove them to her house.

Li Tiantian watched as her originally reluctant best friend suddenly became even more fanatical than herself, suddenly speechless. She secretly took a picture of Chen Siyu and the small company, then uploaded it to their group chat.

Li Tiantian:【This morning Siyu was still reluctant to come and buy a magnet with me. Now she directly invited the ones selling the magnets to her house……】

She had previously shown off that pebble quite a few times in this chat. Everyone in the chat had more or less made fun of her for it, and among them Chen Siyu had said the meanest things. Thus, as soon as they received her message, the group chat immediately went:&#k3010;&#k2026;&#k2026;&#k2026;&#k2026;&#k2026;&#k2026;&#k2026;&#k2026;&#k2026;&#k2026;&#k2026;&#k2026;&#k3011;

Friend A:【……Siyu, if you’ve been kidnapped, press 1】

Friend B:【Li Tiantian what did you do to Siyu!】

Friend C:【My god, Tiantian successfully turned Siyu into her lower line?】

Friend C:【Tiantian wake up, pyramid schemes are dangerous!】

Li Tiantian:【……】

Without Chen Siyu’s permission, Li Tiantian didn’t feel comfortable sharing her family situation. She could only watch as the theories in the chat became more and more wild, then angrily head back to work.

***

Chen Siyu’s house was located locally, in a neighborhood famous for its rich residents. Supposedly, the average price was over 100,000 RMB; each house had its own independent garden. Upon reaching the door, they were even greeted by a maid.

Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que got out of the car, only to see Chen Siyu looking in the direction of the parking garage. There were four cars parked there, so she asked the maid, “Do we have guests over today?”

The maid responded, “A religious master is here. Sijie invited him over from Diyang. They say he’s here to perform an exorcism for Sir.”

Chen Siyu’s expression immediately darkened. Chen Sijie was her half brother. The two had an okay relationship, but because their stepmother often spoke ill of her behind Siyu’s back, their relationship had gotten worse in the past few years.

Chen Siyu scolded, “Bullshit. Are they trying to say Dad saw a ghost or ran into a demon? What year is it; how are they still so superstitious.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

Sigh.

The trio had just stepped inside when they heard the sound of conversation coming from the hallway leading to the living room.

“Master, please take a look here.” A middle-aged man who looked quite frail walked over first, making an inviting gesture.

“Dad.” Chen Siyu rushed over to hold his arm.

Father Chen was a bit surprised. “Siyu, how come you’re home so early today?”

Chen Siyu said, “I especially invited someone to come see you.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the young man who had walked out behind Father Chen mocked, “Where is the doctor from this time? So many have come, but I still don’t see Dad’s situation getting better. You should just stop wasting Dad’s time.”

This person was exactly Chen Siyu’s younger brother, Chen Sijie.

There were two more people next to Chen Sijie, but they were dressed as Daoist monks.

The one in front looked to be around 60; he was of slender build and had a greyish white beard, but seemed in great health. He truly appeared to be quite sagely and enlightened.

The one behind was very young, only about 20. It was likely he was the old Daoist’s apprentice.

“From what I think, Dad isn’t sick at all.” Chen Sijie glanced at the old Daoist, his tone pleased, “This is Daoist priest Mu, who I specially invited from Qinglian Temple. Daoist priest Mu just took a look at Dad’s situation and said that Dad is being harassed by some adverse beings. Hurry and tell your doctors to leave.”

Chen Siyu answered back scornfully. “Who told you that I invited doctors over?”

“They’re not doctors?” Chen Sijie looked at her in suspicion. “Then who are they?”

It wasn’t possible that she also invited a religious master back. His older sister had attended school overseas and was the most disbelieving of such things.

“They……” Chen Siyu turned around to take a glance at Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que, but couldn’t think of an introduction for them on the spot.

Yu Zhengdu stepped up just in time, nodding to all who were there. He spoke with the hint of a smile, “Hello everyone. Our company works in health management.”

Everyone present: “……”

Chen Sijie instantly burst out into laughter. He looked at Chen Siyu, “Please don’t tell me you plan on having dad eat healthcare products?”

Daoist priest Mu told Father Chen too, “Householder Chen, I’m about to open the altar and cast spells. It’s best that unrelated persons aren’t present, or they could become accidentally hurt.”

Father Chen looked at his daughter a little awkwardly. “Siyu, Daoist priest Mu is the head priest of Qinglian Temple. Sijie worked very hard to invite him. How about you ask your guests to leave first, we’ll pay for their transportation costs.”

Upon hearing this Chen Sijie looked at Chen Siyu, satisfied.

Chen Siyu was immediately unimpressed. “Dad, Mr. Shang and Xiao Yu are professionals. Let them take a look for you.”

Daoist priest Mu stroked his sleeve and told Chen Siyu, “Miss Chen, your father’s situation is not due to health-related causes. Your supposed health management cannot solve his problem and will only waste time. I recommend you don’t continue with this.”

Chen Sijie followed up with: “You hear what the master says?”

Chen Siyu was humiliated by this. Her entire face was red from anger, yet she had nothing to say in response.

At this time, Shang Que lifted his gaze and asked, “What era is it? How come Daoists still haven’t advanced? Still acting like the fools they’ve been since imperial times.”

Chen Sijie promptly became outraged. “Watch your words!”

The little Daoist behind Daoist priest Mu was also a bit angry, and stepped forward to argue.

On the contrary, Daoist priest Mu didn’t seem angry at all. He signaled for his apprentice to step back and bowed politely to Shang Que. He replied, “This householder, I know that due to the influence of new age teachings, you believe in science and not ghosts or gods. But, this world is so vast; there will undoubtedly be things that humans cannot completely understand, especially things dealing with the Underworld and mortal realm. Since historical times till now, it’s been several thousands of years, so we know these aren’t new superstitions. Just because humans can’t touch it, doesn’t mean it’s nonexistent.”

“I advise you to believe that there is, rather than believe that there isn’t.”

Daoist priest Mu remained unbothered. His voice was loud and clear, he didn’t speak for long, but everyone who heard was astounded. Even Chen Siyu couldn’t help but feel a sense of trust towards him.

Father Chen lowered his body in a bow, respectfully saying, “Master is right.”

Chen Sijie was even more pleased and made to denounce Shang Que.

Only to see Shang Que’s expression turn disdainful. He spoke apathetically, “Who said I don’t believe in ghosts and gods? I’m just saying that it’s been so long, yet you Daoists have rested on your laurels, not making any technological advancements at all.”

Daoist priest Mu: “????”

Everyone else: “????”

The words got caught in Chen Sijie’s throat. He stared at Shang Que, bewildered, and then turned to gape at Chen Siyu.

Chen Siyu was also very perplexed, turning around to look at Shang Que.

Don’t you guys work with luck-changing magnets?

Daoist priest Mu couldn’t help but inquire, “May I ask this householder, what you mean by technological advancements……”

Shang Que: “Even after all these years, you still need to open the altar and cast spells to remove evil. No wonder people say you are feudal.”

Daoist priest Mu suddenly felt that he had been lied to. His blank expression quivered for a brief moment. His apprentice, however, completely lost his temper. He took a step forward to say, “Are you joking? Without opening the altar and casting spells how will you remove evil? These skills have been passed down thousands of years from our ancestors. Don’t use feudal as an excuse……”

This time Shang Que didn’t hide his despise. “If it’s already been passed down for thousands of years, how is that still not feudal? Back in the day when they destroyed the Four Olds, they were aiming to destroy those like you.”

The Daoist became pissed.

Chen Sijie became pissed too.

Father Chen was terrified his son and daughter would start fighting in public, so urgently tried to mediate. “Friend, you can’t say it like that……”

Only to see Shang Que tug at Yu Zhengdu. “Take out our program. Show these Daoists some modern technology.”

Father Chen didn’t get to finish his sentence, so looked at him, bewildered, “Ah? What new technology?”

Shang Que hummed lightly, features becoming arrogant. “The Underworld Energy Detector: using the latest technology to determine the probability of you running into something evil.”

Everyone present: “……”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

Boss, can you at least round out your words……