64: Go and tell Buddha what's on your mind.
Seeing this, Chen Kai hurriedly quickened his pace and walked up.
The red envelope lying on the ground was faintly glowing. Although he didn't know why this Old Woman had thrown the envelope away, it would be a waste not to Score a Bargain.
Just as he was a few steps away from being able to pick up the envelope, an Old Woman leading her grandson walked out from the back entrance.
"Grandma, look! There's a red envelope on the ground!"
The little boy, sucking on a lollipop, immediately pointed at the red envelope on the ground and muttered.
When Chen Kai heard this, his heart tightened. He wanted to jog a few steps to pick up the envelope first—as a strong Young Man, surely he could outrun an Old Woman?
But to his surprise, the slap in the face came so quickly. The Old Woman's eyes narrowed as she saw that Chen Kai also had his eyes on the red envelope, and she pulled her grandson along, quickening her pace.
When Chen Kai was only five steps away from the red envelope, she managed to pick it up first!
Chen Kai was stunned. Looking at the Old Woman who seemed like she would fall over with a slight push, how the hell could she run so fast? Was she running on new energy?
He wanted to slap himself twice. He should have followed more closely and picked it up as soon as it was dropped!
How could this Old Woman not accept a red envelope found on the side of the road like this?
There was no way he could trick it out of her hands now!
Chen Kai sighed helplessly, turned around, and was just about to walk home to slap himself twice.
Then he heard the Old Woman curse behind him.
"Bad luck! Grandson, let's go! Next time you see this kind of red envelope on the side of the road, just pretend you didn't see it!"
Upon hearing this, Chen Kai turned his head sharply and watched as the Old Woman, with an expression of disgust mixed with fear, resealed the envelope and threw it back to its original spot.
"Oh! Grandma, there are red bills in here, why aren't we picking it up? Can't we use it to buy lots of candy for your grandson?"
The little boy, still sucking on his lollipop, crouched down, wanting to pick up the red envelope that the Old Woman had thrown back on the ground.
However, he was yanked up by his hand by the Old Woman, whose face was full of disgust.
"This is blood money! You can't pick it up, it's bad luck! It's better to be safe than sorry. Grandma will buy you candy in a bit, don't want his lousy money!"
The Old Woman hurriedly pulled her grandson away, looking disgusted, and kept muttering "Amitabha" under her breath.
Chen Kai was stunned for a moment, but he didn't think too much about it. He walked a few steps quickly to the red envelope lying quietly on the ground and stepped on it.
He looked back and saw no one around, then bent down to pick it up.
He squeezed it hard in his hand, and sure enough, there were a few hard objects the size of a copper coin inside.
He was overjoyed, quickly stuffed it into his bosom, and walked quickly to a bench on the side of the road to sit down.
After checking that there were no security cameras around, he hurriedly took it out from his bosom. As soon as he opened the envelope, he was startled to see a few large characters written in black ink on the flap.
[Lending you three years of life.]
"What the hell? Blood money?"
Chen Kai was a bit dumbfounded. He turned the envelope upside down and poured out all the money inside.
There were three coins in total: one was a one-yuan silver coin, one was a piece of mountain ghost flower money, and he didn't recognize the other one, but judging by its shape, it should be an ancient copper coin.
Besides that, there were only three red bills.
Tucked between the three red bills was a piece of white paper, with [Lending you three years of life] written in red ink.
No wonder that Old Woman was so scared after one look that she threw it away in disgust.
Old men and women were most superstitious about others mentioning their lifespan and the like.
Chen Kai looked at the red "lend life" words and fell into a dilemma.
People in the Dragon Country all believed in this sort of thing to some extent, or at least would feel it was bad luck.
But then he thought about it: just by stuffing three hundred yuan in cash, someone wanted to borrow three years of his life?
If Zhuge the Prime Minister couldn't borrow extra life even after lighting the Seven-Star Lamp, could three years of life be borrowed for just three hundred yuan? How worthless must it be?
If you could borrow three years for three hundred, the richest person would have achieved immortality long ago.
Besides, this Old Woman probably didn't know the value of the copper coins, otherwise, she wouldn't have put them together with a one-yuan coin.
"Believe it and it exists; don't believe it and it still exists—three hundred yuan and two copper coins."
"And they want to borrow three years of life from me; what a nice person."
Chen Kai muttered, and just as he stood up to leave, he was dazzled by the reflection from the plaque of the Temple across the street.
He had been feeling a little uneasy, but seeing the reflection from the Temple's sign, he suddenly had an idea.
He put the copper coins and the three hundred rmb in his pocket, put the one-yuan silver coin back into the red envelope, and stuffed the white note with the red writing back into the envelope as well.
He patted his pocket again to make sure the copper coins and the three hundred yuan were properly stowed away, then slowly got up and walked toward the Temple across the street.
Crossing the road, he picked up three sticks of incense at the entrance of the Temple and walked straight toward the Buddha Hall.
As soon as he stepped into the Buddha Hall, a magnificent golden Buddha statue came into view. Three small lotus-shaped stools were placed beneath the Buddha statue, and a donation box was placed next to them.
He lit the three sticks of incense, inserted them into the incense burner, and then took the red envelope out of his pocket and threw it into the donation box without hesitation.
"I'm just an honest person and I don't know anything."
"If you have any business, go talk to the Buddha; we are all just struggling to survive."
Chen Kai muttered in his heart, then bowed devoutly three times before walking out of the Temple.
He felt much better now. Borrowing life? Borrowing what life? If you have any business, go tell the Buddha.
Chen Kai then walked out of the Temple, rode his little electric donkey, and headed straight for Yunshang Pavilion.
...
Half an hour later, Chen Kai slowly parked his little electric donkey in front of the Bank, withdrew 120,000 in cash from the Bank near Antiques Street, and put it into the bag given by the Bank.
He also bought two cartons of brand of cigarette, and then rode his little electric donkey back to the entrance of Yunshang Pavilion. He got off the bike and ran straight into the shop.
Zheng Liu Chang had been mindlessly scrolling through videos, but as soon as he saw Chen Kai arrive, he knew more business was coming.
"How's the live streaming been these past two days?"
Chen Kai pushed the door open and walked in, slowly sitting down opposite the Counter.
"Not bad! Thanks to your guidance, Godfather, I can make a few hundred a night now, which adds up to twenty or thirty thousand a month!"
Zheng Liu Chang laughed, "Mainly... there's also extra income; every day, a few customers send goods to our shop."
"More importantly... I get to look at legs every night, hehe..."
Zheng Liu Chang chuckled. Not only could he look at legs, but he could also get the contact information of many young ladies. He had never had it this good before.
"You kid, just keep streaming well, and you'll definitely grow bigger and bigger in the future.
By the way, do you buy mountain ghost flower money?"
Zheng Liu Chang frowned, "mountain ghost flower money? This stuff isn't worth much. The market price is only about eight hundred to a thousand. Most of it is bought by special people to ward off evil spirits."
Chen Kai smiled faintly and took out the two copper coins he had picked up from the envelope from his pocket, "But these are mother coins, and they are large caliber ones, too. Take a look at them."
"What?! Mother coins? Holy crap! Then that's worth a fortune!"