A life of success begins with being a landlord.

The courtyard house is very quiet and peaceful, with fresh air mixed with a faint fragrance.

A thin old man emerged from the west wing. He was in his early sixties, but his hair was already gray.

He was about 1.75 meters tall, wearing a light gray traditional Chinese jacket, and had a serious and unsmiling demeanor, giving off the air of a hermit.

"Greetings, Taoist Master."

I knew this was Master Zhongyun, so I went up to greet him: "My name is Wang Yaozu, and I am your second uncle, Wang Zongchun. He asked me to come and find you."

"I understand, please come in."

The Taoist priest nodded and went into the west wing.

I followed them in and found that it was a study, filled with three shelves of books, with a coffee table in the middle.

The Taoist priest sat down behind the tea table and gestured for me to sit as well.

I looked around and saw two stools opposite the coffee table, one tall and one short, so I chose the shorter stool and sat down opposite the Taoist priest.

The old man with the gardenia flower brought in a pot of tea and poured tea for the Taoist priest and me.

"Have some tea," the Taoist priest gestured.

"Thank you, Taoist priest." I picked up the teacup and took two trembling sips.

The shivering wasn't from nervousness, but from being both hungry and cold.

The Taoist priest smiled faintly, stood up and said, "Could you do me a favor and go to the kitchen to light the fire for Old Xie? We can talk after we've eaten."

"Yes, Master." I put down my teacup and stood up.

The old man with the gardenia was actually Lao Xie. He led me to the kitchen in the back and had me tend the fire in front of the stove.

The stove here is still an old-fashioned wood-fired stove, and a fire has already been lit. I am facing the firebox, and a huge wave of warmth washes over me. It feels so good!

It seems that Master Zhongyun didn't ask me to start the fire, but rather to warm myself by it.

I was warming myself by the fire, while Lao Xie was cooking.

I asked, "Master, are you the only two people here?"

Clang, clang, clang, Old Xie swung his small spatula, clashing it against the iron pot, making a series of clanging sounds, but he didn't answer me.

Damn it, I'm not asking anymore!

Twenty minutes later, my clothes were completely dry, and I regained my energy.

Lunch was ready, and the Taoist priest invited me to eat in the dining room.

There was no alcohol, just vegetable rice, egg drop soup, and a plate of dried salted fish.

But the food tasted amazing, just like the New Year's Eve dinner I had when I was a child.

I wolfed down two large bowls of food.

The Taoist priest stopped eating and looked at me with a half-smile.

"Master, I didn't eat this morning..." I laughed awkwardly and put down my rice bowl.

The Taoist priest nodded and beckoned me back to the west wing.

Old Xie stepped forward, lit an incense stick, poured us tea, and then quietly withdrew.

I suspect that Lao Xie is mute.

The Taoist priest took a sip of tea and said, "Have some tea first, then I'll tell your fortune."

Fortune telling?

I was taken aback for a moment, then nodded: "Thank you, Taoist Master."

Since I'm already here, I might as well make the best of it. I'll listen to the Taoist priest and see what he can predict.

The Taoist priest turned around, took six copper coins from incense table, shook them in his palm, and then tossed them one by one onto the tea table, staring at the coins.

I stared at the copper coin, and all I could see were characters on it and an eye in the middle.

"Do you know him?" the Taoist priest asked me.

"Xianfeng... Tongbao?" I stared at the characters on the copper coin.

"I'm referring to the hexagram," the Taoist priest sighed softly. "This is the Well hexagram, the 48th hexagram in the I Ching, which is Water over Wind."

My face flushed, and I clasped my hands in a fist and said, "I don't understand this. Please enlighten me, Taoist Master."

The Taoist priest thought for a moment, then picked up the brush on his desk and wrote eight characters: "A pearl hidden in the deep abyss, quiet and steadfast."

The small regular script was written so well, it looked like it had been printed.

I still don't understand, and I frowned slightly.

"That means your time hasn't come yet. You need to be patient and just do what you need to do," the Taoist priest explained.

I couldn't help but speak frankly: "Master, someone has challenged me to a fight the day after tomorrow, to spar with me. I don't know if it's auspicious or inauspicious, and whether I should go."

"I only perform one divination per day, and today is my day, so I cannot perform another one."

The Taoist priest stared at the copper coins on the coffee table again: "According to the divination just now, you are simply trapped by the current situation, unable to move forward or backward, like falling into a deep well. However, there is no danger."

I breathed a sigh of relief; I hope so.

Not wanting to leave yet, I tentatively asked, "Master, did you and my second uncle, Wang Zongchun, know each other before?"

"Your second uncle has been kind to me; he's both a teacher and a friend." The Taoist priest nodded.

It turns out that my second uncle had been kind to the Taoist priest, but is it enough for the Taoist priest to repay this kindness by giving me these eight words?

The Taoist priest seemed to have the ability to read minds: "Since you are the nephew of an old friend, you are no outsider. You are welcome to come here anytime, and you can ask me anything. However, I have one condition."

"What are your conditions? Please speak, Taoist Master."

"I'll pick out a few books for you to take home and read," the Taoist priest said, pointing to the bookshelf. "Next time you come, make sure you read all the books I give you carefully, or I won't see you."

Read a book.

I nodded: "Alright, Daoist Master, I'm willing to read the book."

The Taoist priest smiled and casually picked out five books for me from the bookshelf.

One book is "A Brief History of China", one is "Guanzi of Ancient Prose", and the remaining three are also ancient books.

With so many books, it would probably take me two years to read them all.

I was a bit overwhelmed, but I had no choice but to put away the five books and prepare to leave.

The Taoist priest pointed outside the door: "Go down the mountain along the same path. At the foot of the mountain, if you see a girl in red, take her to Dongguan City."

I was completely bewildered: "Take them to Dongguan, and then what?"

The Taoist priest was also taken aback: "He's just hitching a ride, what are you trying to do?"

"A rideshare? Oh, right!" I rubbed my face.

I had the wrong idea just now; I thought the Taoist priest had arranged for me to...

The Taoist priest closed the door and asked me to leave, so I turned and took my leave.

At this moment, the sky cleared up, becoming a clear, bright blue, with a gentle breeze blowing, bringing joy to both body and mind.

I rode my motorcycle down the mountain, looking around as I searched for the girl in the red dress.

As I arrived at the foot of the mountain, a girl in a red dress waved to me from the roadside: "Master, take me with you, I'm going to Dongguan."

The girl was graceful and elegant, probably not even twenty years old, with a delicate beauty and a touch of heroic spirit.

Who is this girl? How did the Taoist priest know she was waiting for a car by the roadside and happened to run into me?

I didn't have time to think much and pulled over to the side of the road: "Hello, Master Zhongyun told me to take you to Dongguan City."

The girl shook her head: "What Master Zhongyun? I don't know him."

"Ah, you don't know Master Zhongyun?" I was genuinely surprised.

What kind of skill does Master Zhongyun possess to be able to calculate that a strange girl needs to hitch a ride to Dongguan?

Why do you want me to bring her along? Will this girl and I ever cross paths again?

The girl in the red dress lifted her long legs and got into the back seat: "Let's go, Wang Yaozu, I'm in a hurry."

I was shocked and turned to ask, "How did you know my name is Wang Yaozu?"

"That's what my dad said."

"Who...is your father?"

"My dad, Ke Zhongyun, aren't you eating at my house?"

"Ah, Master Zhongyun is your father? Then why did you say you didn't know him?" I was both amused and exasperated.

How can an old Taoist priest get married and have a daughter? Whose Taoist priest is this?

"Yeah, I only know my dad, I don't know any Taoist priests." The girl in the red dress shrugged. "Are you leaving or not? Why are you asking so many questions?"