I attained immortality in the real world.

Chapter 20 Chain Reaction
One day later.

Zhu Zicheng's teahouses and taverns saw their business double.

Not only were all the square tables occupied, but many people were also sitting on individual stools, standing to fill the remaining space in the teahouse.

Inside the Liuhai Teahouse, the owner, having made a fortune, was not stingy and hired a storyteller.

The storyteller was no longer telling the old story; he was now vividly recounting the untold tale of Chen Banxian, Zhou Qing, and Zhou Silang at the entrance of a small alley in the east of the city.

There was a loud 'bang'.

The storyteller slammed his gavel, displaying his superb ventriloquism skills by frequently switching between long, thin tones: "Ten days will be the time to calculate whether I will have good or bad fortune. If you guess right, my three brothers and I will avoid you like the plague. If you guess wrong, I will pull out your teeth one by one."

Seeing that Chen Banxian remained silent, Zhou Qing quickly added, "You call yourself a half-immortal, surely you can't even predict the simplest fortune? Perhaps you think the stakes are unreasonable? I can even offer you an arm."

"Master Chen remained unmoved, his sharp eyes scrutinizing Zhou Qing's face through his skin. He replied calmly, 'Your forehead is dark and your eyes are dull. This is an ominous sign. You will certainly not live more than ten days.'"

Hundreds of people witnessed the event that day, and the process cannot be altered, but the causes and consequences that no one knows were fabricated at will.

A burly man said to the other tea drinkers at the table, "I heard that Master Chen is a wandering Taoist priest. He passed through Zhu Zi City and heard that someone in the east of the city was targeting fortune tellers, so he set up a stall to seek justice."

The tea drinker shook his head: "It was clearly Chen Banxian who saw that Zhou Qing was destined for death. Although he was a villain, he was willing to give him a chance to live, so he set up a stall to test him. He didn't expect that this man was so incorrigible. Now that there is no Banxian to guide him to break the calamity, he is definitely going to die!"

A wealthy merchant's son on the second floor scoffed, "Absurd! Zhou Qingzhou, the fourth son of Zhou, was born into a prestigious family and has already had his fortune told by a master of physiognomy. What does a commoner so great think he is? How dare he predict other people's life and death? In ten days, no, in nine days, this 'half-immortal' will only be able to drink thin porridge."

Prophecy, the ability to foresee the future, and the common people are extremely interested in such events.

Other things are known only after the fact, and success or failure is already a foregone conclusion. But prophetic events are known beforehand, allowing one to take sides.

Some people believe that Master Chen is a fortune teller, so his predictions must come true. Others believe that Master Chen is a fraud who is only talking nonsense when he has no other choice.

Where there is controversy, there is attention; the news is spreading at an alarming rate.

One day, two days, three days...

Zhou Qing is in good health, but the incident has only increased in popularity.

The teahouse was well-informed, and one of the doctors who had treated Zhou Qing stepped forward and declared that Zhou Qing was in good health and would never suddenly fall ill. This greatly emboldened the supporters who believed Chen Jing was a fraud.

Chen Jing ignored public opinion and continued to set up his stall at the alley entrance every day as usual, seemingly not taking the ten-day bet to heart.

Although no business came to his door, quite a few young women, married women, and rough men came to take a look and enjoyed the treatment of staring at Wei Jie. However, their eyes were not filled with admiration; some looked on with curiosity, while others showed pity.

"........."

Fourth day.

The market in the east of the city has opened.

The market is open for one morning every three days.

Although they do business on a regular basis, they are only fixed vendors with shops, selling daily necessities, fruits and snacks.

On the morning of the opening day, the crowds are even larger. Vegetable vendors from outside the city will bring their produce to sell, and fishmongers and butchers will set up mobile stalls to sell freshly slaughtered meat or poultry such as chickens and ducks that can be killed on the spot.

On the morning of that day, Zhou Qing also left the Zhou residence alone.

He didn't believe anyone could predict the future, but just to be on the safe side, he asked a doctor to check his pulse. He was completely relieved to hear that he was healthy.

First, he went to a pastry shop and bought a bag of pastries. Then, he walked through a small alley and knocked on the door of a house: "Aunt Wu, I've come to see you again!" After waiting for a while, an old woman wearing a red flower opened the door, took the pastries from Zhou Qing's hand, and said with a charming smile: "Come in quickly and have a cup of tea."

Zhou Qing took the pastries and eagerly went inside to drink tea, but he didn't stay at Wu's godmother's house for even a second.

She went out through the back door again and came to a dark and gloomy alley. She knocked on a small door and said, "Lingniang, it's me. Open the door quickly."

As soon as the door opened, Zhou Qing embraced the woman who opened it, feeling the soft touch of her voluptuous body.

The woman slapped away Zhou Qing's groping hand and said coquettishly, "Why didn't you let Aunt Wu check first? What if someone saw this and it got back to my husband's ears?"

Zhou Qing pressed on again, saying nonchalantly, "I could take on ten of your little dwarfs by myself."

Hearing this, the woman stopped resisting and asked curiously, "Everyone outside says you've offended a fortune teller and that you have a very bad omen. Why do you still have time to come and see me?"

Zhou Qing tackled the woman to the ground, a lewd smile playing on his lips. "His predictions about bad luck are completely inaccurate. If it were you who did the predictions, I would definitely believe him."

"…………"

Zhou Qinggang knocked on Wu Gan Niang's door.

An inconspicuous little beggar by the roadside quietly left.

A few days ago, someone told him that as long as he saw the rich young master enter the house, he could sing a lotus flower ballad to ask a girl for money and get a coin.

"Thirty-three days to heaven, immortals emerge from beside the white clouds. Immortals are originally mortals. I only fear that mortals' hearts are not firm. I always urge mortals to be firm, and they will all become immortals for you."

"The drums and gongs are beating, the music is lively..."

Yu Zhu, a maid in the Zhu family, has been assigned to learn embroidery in the east of the city these past few days.

Upon hearing the beggar sing Lotus Ballad, following the young master's instructions, he took out a small piece of silver and threw it into the beggar's broken bowl.

Then he found a traveling merchant from out of town in the east of the city, gave him a ten-tael silver ingot, and said, "This is the deposit!"

The traveling merchant was from out of town. He had lost money doing business in Zhu Zicheng, and a few days ago someone approached him to do a business deal.

He claimed that as long as he transported two hundred live ducks back to his hometown, he could make a profit of twenty taels of silver, which would be enough to make up for the losses incurred in this business deal.

However, only local Muscovy ducks are allowed, and it must be purchased from the short poultry vendor.

The traveling merchant turned a corner from the inn and walked up to a short man in the eastern market: "I need two hundred live ducks, to be transported today. Do you have any?"

Live ducks, no processing needed, and customers who buy 200 at a time without any price reduction.

Wu Ji put away the knife he used to kill chickens and ducks, wiped the chicken and duck blood splattered on his face, and laughed, "Yes, I have all three hundred, but you'll have to wait an hour."

The merchant readily agreed: "Okay! As long as we can prepare everything by today."

Wu Ji handed over his stall to a neighbor to watch over, and then walked through an alleyway to go home first.

Although her home was not far from the market, Lingniang said that doing business required concentration and the stall could not be left unattended, so she never went home halfway through.

This time, collecting two hundred ducks requires money. Since we just went to the market and haven't sold many ducks yet, we naturally have to go home.

As Wu Ji walked through the alley to his front door, he heard discordant sounds coming from inside, and his face instantly turned extremely ugly.

(End of this chapter)