Inheriting a Taoist temple, the story begins with Wu Zetian offering incense.

Chapter 50 The Fire in the Neighboring County! [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

Inside the restaurant of Hunyuan Palace, a large pot of stewed goose was served, along with two pan-fried cold-water fish, a plate of fried peanuts, and a plate of smashed cucumber.

Upon seeing this, Chen Tang was immediately seized by a strong craving for alcohol. He secretly took out a bottle of 42-proof blue-bottled Erguotou, intending to have a taste.

Upon seeing the wine, Li Bai licked his lips, but before he could speak, Gongsun Da Niang tapped him on the head:
"What are you doing drinking alcohol, kid? Hurry up and eat. Have you forgotten all the things you've ruined by your drinking?"

Li Bai: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
I haven't even experienced that yet, okay?

The Book of Changes says:

"Don't touch alcohol before adulthood, it will affect brain development."

Seeing that no one was drinking, Chen Tang felt embarrassed to open the bottle, so he decided to take it with him and share it with Lao Gan.

Gongsun Da Niang picked up a piece of goose leg from the basin and put it into the bowl, then asked Li Bai:
"When I go back this time, I will be heading from Luoyang to Chang'an. I want to compose a poem when I pass through Tongguan. Can you write one for me now? Don't worry, I'll exchange it for 'General Pei's Full House of Power'."

Upon hearing this, Li Bai actually began to rack his brains. Writing poetry was not difficult for him, but exchanging a poem for a set of sword techniques was definitely a great deal.

Of course, Gongsun Da Niang also felt she had made a great deal, after all, a poem that has been passed down through the ages is not so easy to obtain.

Zhou Yi stopped the two from cheating:

"Based on my observations over the years, every celebrity who tries to cultivate a cultured persona has invariably failed. If you can't write poetry, don't bother. If someone asks you to talk about poetry, you'll be exposed."

When Gongsun Da Niang heard this, she thought it made sense.

But she felt this opportunity was too rare, so she planned to search on her tablet and copy down any relevant ancient poems to leave her name in Tongguan.

Modern people love to check in and mark their travels. As a celestial being, it's perfectly normal for me to compose an impromptu poem in Tongguan, right?

Thinking about all these random thoughts, Granny Gongsun muttered:

"It's a pity that the sister from the Song Dynasty named Li Qingzhao is not here, otherwise she could definitely arrange a series of poems suitable for girls for me, so that I could go to Chang'an and become famous overnight!"

Zhou Yi said with a smile:

"Given Li Qingzhao's personality, she most likely wouldn't help you cheat."

Gongsun Da Niang looked smug:
"Not necessarily. I'm very good at getting along with girls. Even the Empress can become my good sister. I'll definitely win over the number one talented woman."

Zhouyi: "..."

I've been discussing something that's completely baseless with you in such a serious manner; you've really led me astray.

After the meal, Chen Tang was the first to leave. He stuffed the bottle of Erguotou into his pocket, poured the remaining stewed goose from the iron pot into a stainless steel basin, and left Hunyuan Palace to find Gan Yanshou for a drink.

Next, the two will lead the army across the Tianshan Mountains until they reach Wensu, where they can rest and recuperate.

Just as Li Bai was about to approach Gongsun Da Niang to exchange his poetry for swordsmanship, he heard the girl exclaim in surprise:
"Haha, I've found a poem or prose suitable for writing at Tongguan... uh, it should be a poem with varying line lengths, but it's all the same, and it fits the teachings of Hunyuan Palace perfectly."

The girl found it online; it was Zhang Yanghao's poem "Mountain Slope Sheep - Reminiscing about Tongguan" from the Yuan Dynasty. The line "When the dynasty prospers, the people suffer; when the dynasty falls, the people suffer" perfectly echoes the teachings of Hunyuan Palace.

Li Bai read it and felt that it truly captured the essence of "reminiscing about the past." As for the form of this poem with varying line lengths, he wasn't very familiar with it, so he didn't offer any opinion.

However, he was quite interested in the first talented woman mentioned by Gongsun Da Niang:

"Could Li Qingzhao's talent surpass that of Zhuo Wenjun, Cai Yan, Xie Daoyun, and Shangguan Wan'er?"

Grandma Gongsun swiped the tablet screen and said:
"She is universally acknowledged as the most talented woman. Li Bai, you wouldn't want to compete with her in poetry, would you? Let me tell you, Li Qingzhao's poems are magnificent and grand, and her lyrics are delicate and graceful. They are both very impressive."

Zhou Yi, too lazy to participate in the two children's discussion, went to the God of Wealth Temple, checked the progress of the incense and candles burning, then sat on the threshold, enjoying the breeze, and started watching short videos on his phone.

As he was watching, he suddenly came across a video of a fire, uploaded five minutes earlier, with the location showing Lushan County next door.

"Come and see! The house of Xu, the richest man in Lushan County, is on fire! My goodness, the fire is burning so fiercely! I wish Xu a prosperous fortune, good luck, and a thriving career..." Zhou Yi knew this Xu, who owned a crane equipment factory and was quite wealthy.

I had visited Yunwu Town before, hoping to ask my grandfather to help me look at my homestead, but he had to go on a long trip at that time and didn't take the job.

The number of likes for the video about the fire quickly rose, which Zhou Yi found strange. He opened the comment section of the video and found many people from Lushan sharing their experiences:

"We just stopped the meal allowance for night shift workers last month, and today there's a fire. They deserve it!"

"I heard that Xu, the richest man, has invited a group of Taoist priests to his house to perform some kind of fortune-changing ritual these past few days. It was quite a grand affair, costing at least several hundred thousand yuan."

"They're so stingy with the five-yuan meal allowance, yet they spend hundreds of thousands of yuan unnecessarily. This fire really deserved to burn."

"Hahahaha, my wife gave birth to a big, healthy baby boy today! I'm so happy, I can't even contain my joy! I'm not just gloating, hahaha!"

"Seeing everyone so happy, I know this fire was the right thing to do."

"Is Xu, the richest man, out of money? I heard that his eldest son sold his newly purchased Land Rover a while ago, and his house caught fire. It feels like a fire dragon has burned down his warehouse."

"Upstairs, the fire dragon burned the warehouse, not their own house."

"Anyway, today is a good day, even if we have to borrow money, we have to make dumplings!"

"..."

The comments section was filled with schadenfreude, which made Zhou Yi curious about his grandfather's sudden departure back then... Could it be that he disliked this rich man Xu and deliberately made an excuse to avoid it?
Just as I was looking at it, Uncle Ming sent me a message:
"Master Yi, did your grandfather leave you anything strange before he passed away?"

Ok?
What's this guy up to now?
Zhou Yi replied:
"Does leaving me with a bunch of unfinished buildings count?"

Uncle Ming sent a scratching head emoji:
"A few days ago, someone asked you to perform a ritual to change their luck, but you declined because of other matters. Then, the person who commissioned the ritual had a fire at their house... I have a feeling that Master Zhou left you some kind of amulet to ward off evil and bring good fortune. Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence?"

Zhouyi: "..."

It seems that the last 25,000 yuan fortune-changing ritual was performed by the Xu family, the richest man in Lushan County. But they spent hundreds of thousands of yuan, and you only want to give me 25,000 yuan. Isn't that making too much money with tears in your eyes?

No wonder the divination showed great fortune when I refused. If I had accepted the job, I would be a huge victim now.
Zhou Yi replied:
“Grandpa didn’t leave me any magical artifacts. He just told me to be a good person and said, ‘Heaven is watching what people do,’ so I shouldn’t be lazy or cunning.”

Uncle Ming even forgot to send the emoji:

"If I had talked to you earlier, I wouldn't have taken that job from that wealthy family. Let's leave it at that for now. I need to take care of the aftermath properly."

After ending the chat, Zhou Yi felt that the probability of a fire during a religious ceremony was very small, which he found quite strange. So he strode back to his room, found the Taoist classics passed down from his grandfather, and looked through them one by one.

As he looked and looked, he finally found the answer:
Those who are utterly wicked, incorrigible in their evil deeds, disregard human life, or are morally corrupt must stay away from religious ceremonies and rituals; otherwise, they will offend the gods, and punishment will come swiftly and the consequences unpredictable.

Punishment... Could it be that the fire at Xu's house was caused by angering the gods?
Come to think of it, a person of questionable character like you, instead of avoiding the gods, holds a religious ceremony at home. Isn't that the same as breaking the law and then showing off to the police in a fancy way?
The gods were already merciful enough not to send down a lightning tribulation.

However, the fire was probably just the beginning. If they were truly wicked, fate would continue to torment their family in various ways.

Soon, official reports about the fire appeared on short video platforms, and when the words "no one was injured" appeared, the comments section was filled with regret.

Putting away his phone, Zhou Yi suddenly felt like sitting at his grandfather's grave for a while.

He picked up a bottle of wine, instructed Li Bai and Gongsun Da Niang to keep an eye on the incense at the God of Wealth Temple, and then passed through the back door of Hunyuan Palace, arriving at a gentle slope covered with green grass.

Grandpa's grave is right here!

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Second update delivered, please vote with monthly tickets, brothers!

(End of this chapter)