bookbashuk Chapter 85 Borrowing Treasury 2
Chapter 85 Borrowing Treasury 2
"If God dies, you don't have to pay back!"
Fatty Lin shook his head, pointed at Boss Zhang, and said, "You're such a cunning fellow. It's one thing to play tricks on people—if you get caught, they might just punch you a couple of times. But if you try to outsmart a god, do you think the god will let you off the hook?"
Boss Zhang slowly exhaled and said, "I was just curious, so I asked the old Taoist priest how a god dies. He said that when the incense was gone, the statue was broken, and the temple was destroyed, the god attached to the statue naturally wouldn't live long!"
"Later, I went bankrupt and had no other choice, so I remembered the time I dug out copper coins under the statue with the old Taoist priest!"
"In order to turn my life around, I specifically went to those dilapidated temples in the countryside to borrow from their treasury!"
"Following the old Taoist's method, I actually dug up quite a few good things!"
"In order to avoid repaying this money, I agreed to a relatively long repayment period, twenty years!"
"I've made a fortune again thanks to the money I got from borrowing from the treasury!"
"Later I tried investing in stocks, but then a stock market crash happened, and I lost everything!"
"I had no choice but to resort to the old method of borrowing from the treasury again!"
"I turned things around again!"
"Later, I ran into financial difficulties and borrowed money again. After three times, I had borrowed from more than twenty temples!"
At this point, Boss Zhang gave a bitter smile and said, "Over the past ten years, more than half of the temples I've borrowed have fallen into disrepair due to lack of worshippers and neglect. But in the last two years, things have changed!"
"What changes?" I asked.
"The country's policies have changed. Some dilapidated temples have been protected as cultural relics, and their incense offerings have become popular again. With the increased incense offerings, the gods attached to them have come back to life!"
At this point, Boss Zhang swallowed hard and said, "For the past two months, I've been having recurring dreams where someone I can't see clearly asks me when I'm going back!"
"Master Lin, are you saying that those deities came to find me?"
Boss Zhang looked at Fatty Lin pleadingly.
"This is a complete scam!"
Fatty Lin didn't answer, but instead pointed at Boss Zhang and said, "I've seen a lot over the years, but I've never seen anyone like you who dares to deceive the gods. The key is, you're not even deceiving a proper god, but a shady god from a brothel!"
"You can deceive those legitimate gods, they have many followers and many things to do, they don't have time to deal with you, they won't do anything to you. But those wandering gods are different. They worked hard to accumulate something, and you deceived them all. Now that they've recovered, do you think they'll forgive you?"
"What should we do then?" Boss Zhang asked hurriedly.
"What should we do?"
Fatty Lin snorted coldly and said, "It's just fulfilling a vow!"
"You owe them what you promised them, and you'll have to pay them back double! Luckily, you set a long repayment period, so it's not time yet, otherwise you'd be dead!"
At this point, Fatty Lin stood up and said, "Come with me, let's offer incense and request ritual implements from the Ancestral Master to help calm your mind and clear your spirit. Remember, when offering incense, your heart must be sincere. The more sincere you are, the greater the chance that the Ancestral Master will help you!"
I couldn't help but scoff. Boss Zhang is quite something. This isn't just fraud; he's ripping off the poor and even managing to get his hands on God.
The world is truly vast and full of wonders.
This made me think of Li Feihong and Zhao Jing'er. In essence, Boss Zhang and they are the same kind of people, no different from each other.
"Okay, okay!"
Boss Zhang nodded repeatedly.
Arriving before the statue of the patriarch, Boss Zhang respectfully offered incense, then knelt down to make a wish, praying for the patriarch's help, to bestow upon him a sacred object, and to protect him!
After finishing his prayers, Fatty Lin handed the ox-horn divination stick to Boss Zhang, asking him to cast the divination to see what the ancestral master meant.
"A Yin hexagram!"
After throwing the bull horns, seeing two tails, Fatty Lin looked at Boss Zhang and said meaningfully, "Boss Zhang, your heart isn't sincere enough!"
"After this is accomplished, I am willing to donate 300,000 incense money!"
After a moment's hesitation, Boss Zhang understood a little, made a vow, and threw out the ox horn divination again.
This time it's one positive and one negative, it's a Yang hexagram.
The meaning of the Yang hexagram is quite simple: it's under consideration; I neither oppose nor agree with it.
"Boss Zhang, you're not sincere enough!" Fatty Lin said in a deep voice.
"This disciple is willing to donate 500,000 incense money!"
After thinking for a moment, Boss Zhang raised the price again and threw the bull horn for the third time.
The ox-corner land, is it a positive or negative hexagram, or a yang hexagram?
Looking at the divination results, Fatty Lin's face fell, and he said, "Boss Zhang, if you're still not sincere, you can leave!"
Boss Zhang gritted his teeth and said, "This disciple is willing to donate two million in incense money!"
After saying that, he threw the bull horn for the fourth time.
A soft sound came from the ox horn; it was two upright pieces, a sacred hexagram, indicating that the patriarch had agreed.
Looking at the divination result, Fatty Lin's lips curled into a smile, and Boss Zhang also breathed a sigh of relief.
Just then, the Three Pure Ones Bell placed on the altar rang undisturbed, its clear and ethereal sound giving people a refreshing feeling.
"The Patriarch bestowed the Three Pure Ones Bell to protect the devout believer Zhang Dingjun!"
Seeing this, Fatty Lin quickly said something.
At first, Boss Zhang looked incredulous, then he kowtowed to the ground and said, "Thank you, Ancestor! This disciple is willing to donate another million incense money!"
I looked at Fatty Lin. I was certain that he hadn't tampered with the divination by casting the ox horn, but the Three Pure Bells rang out automatically. Whether he had tampered with the divination or not, I wasn't sure.
Fatty Lin understood what I meant, rolled his eyes, ignored me, and respectfully took down the Three Purities Bell and handed it to Boss Zhang.
Just like borrowing from the treasury, returning the treasury also has strict rituals.
Three million incense money is no small sum, so Fatty Lin and I decided to make the trip ourselves and take Boss Zhang to return it.
Only then did Boss Zhang tell us the truth.
In the sixteen years since the collapse of the Qiongzhou real estate market in 93, he has borrowed money from 28 temples in three separate transactions.
Before coming to me, he had already done some research.
Of those twenty-eight temples, twenty have disappeared, either due to lack of incense offerings or because of demolition.
There are currently eight temples still standing, four of which are quite popular with worshippers.
As Boss Zhang laid out the situation of the remaining eight businesses one by one, Fatty Lin and I exchanged a glance. This old fox, Boss Zhang, he won't act until he sees the profit!
If the Three Pure Bells hadn't vibrated and rang, suppressing the old man, he probably wouldn't have told the truth.
"Master Lin, before coming to you, I consulted four other masters. One of them was all talk and no action, spouting a lot of boastful things. He even appeared in my dreams to mediate between me and the deity who came to me, but I almost ended up with a mental disability. I had to pay a large sum of money for his medical expenses afterwards!"
"The other two are feng shui masters, who said they weren't familiar with the ritual of returning the treasury to its proper place and dared not interfere!"
"The last one is closely related to the entertainment industry!"
When the last one was mentioned, Boss Zhang paused for a moment.
Who is it?
His words piqued my interest.
"The mother of Li Weinan, a host on Hunan TV, is known as the 'Fortune Teller of Changsha'!"
"That's what Boss Zhang said."
Hearing this name, my heart skipped a beat. If I remember correctly, Aunt Xiao and the others said that He Yi and Li Weinan were inseparable and that the two of them were having an affair.