One divination a day, a trainee celestial master

From Cuiwei Mountain in the western suburbs of the county to the eastern suburbs, the distance spans almost the entire county.

By the time Jiang Shou arrived at the eastern suburbs on his three-wheeled motorcycle, it was already past three in the afternoon.

Jiang Shou, whose stomach was growling with hunger, randomly picked a hole-in-the-wall restaurant by the roadside, ordered a bowl of pork chop noodles, and slurped it down in a hurry.

While eating his noodles, Jiang Shou casually asked the noodle shop owner, "Sir, could you tell me some directions? There's a guy around here named Chen Sancan who's a security guard at the Da Zhou Porcelain Factory. Do you know which area he lives in?"

"Chen San? I know him, I know him. Everyone around here knows about the big thing that happened to his family." The shopkeeper was also a kind-hearted person. He wiped his hands with the towel around his neck and pointed in a direction. "Go straight along this main road. When you see an abandoned transformer station, turn right. Walk 300 meters and then turn right again into an alley called Shuijing Hutong. Walk about 200 meters in. The most dilapidated two-story red brick building is his house."

"Okay, thanks boss."

Jiang Shou paid for the noodles, got on his bike, and continued on his way.

The eastern suburbs are mostly old residential areas and urban villages left over from the early state-owned factories. The roads are narrow and winding. By the time Jiang Shou finally found the alley called "Shuijing Hutong" and located Chen Sancan's house, it was already getting dark and evening.

Jiang Shou stopped his tricycle and looked at the house in front of him.

This is an old-fashioned two-story red brick building located deep in an extremely narrow alley. The red bricks on the exterior walls are severely weathered, and the courtyard doesn't even have a proper gate, only two rusty iron gates.

At this moment, the iron gate was open.

Jiang Shou stood outside the door, peering into the living room inside.

The living room was dimly lit and sparsely furnished. Apart from an old television and a few cabinets with missing corners, there was hardly any decent furniture.

In the center of the living room stood a low, folding wooden table. Two children sat on either side of the table.

It was the same little girl, around nine years old, whom Jiang Shou had seen outside the hospital's intensive care unit yesterday, and a thin little boy, about eleven or twelve years old, with slightly dark skin.

Two children sat on small plastic stools, quietly doing their homework on a folding table under the dim light. There were no toys, and no television was playing; the quiet of the room was almost heartbreaking.

Jiang Shou stood outside the door for a while, glancing into the depths of the house, but did not see the limping woman with red eyes from yesterday.

"I wonder if Chen Sancan's wife is home right now..." Jiang Shou took a deep breath, raised his hand, and gently knocked twice on the rusty iron gate.

"Knock knock—"

Two children who were doing their homework at a small folding wooden table in the living room looked up. The thin, slightly dark-skinned boy put down his pencil, stood up, and came out.

He peered through the iron bars at the unfamiliar older man in a T-shirt and jeans outside the gate, and asked somewhat warily, "Big brother, who are you looking for?"

Jiang Shou tried his best to make his smile look kind and friendly: "Little friend, is this Chen Sancan's house? Is your mother home?"

"That's my dad's name," the little boy answered obediently, but the wariness in his eyes didn't lessen. "My dad is sick and in the hospital, and my mom hasn't come back yet. But she'll be back soon to cook for us."

The little boy paused for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Big brother, are you a coworker at my dad's factory? Why don't you come inside and sit down for a while?"

"No need, I'll come over in a bit."

Jiang Shou smiled, waved his hand, and turned to walk out of Shuijing Hutong.

Back at the tricycle parked outside the alley, Jiang Shou stroked his chin: "We're already at their doorstep. I can't just go around talking about 'dissociation syndrome' in this T-shirt, can I? It wouldn't be convincing at all, and I probably wouldn't even get in the door."

He looked around, found a deserted corner of an abandoned, unfinished building, and unzipped his backpack.

He quickly took off his T-shirt and put on the exquisitely crafted, high-quality blue Taoist robe embroidered with subtle Tai Chi patterns, then fastened the belt. Next, he held the weathered, worn wooden compass in his left hand and put his right hand behind his back.

Jiang Shou took a deep breath, adjusted his facial muscles, and instantly put on the aloof and detached air of a "reclusive master".

About half an hour later, it was already getting dark.

Jiang Shou, dressed in a green robe, once again walked to the rusty iron gate of Chen Sancan's house.

"Knock knock." The iron gate was knocked on again.

The same skinny little boy ran out again. When he saw that the person standing outside the door was the same older brother from before, only now he was wearing an "ancient Taoist robe" that he had only seen on TV, the little boy was stunned and his eyes widened.

His simple little brain clearly couldn't comprehend this sudden change of clothes, and he stammered, "B-Big brother, why are you dressed like this? My mom...she hasn't come back yet."

"Immeasurable Heavenly Venerable." Jiang Shou formed a Daoist finger with one hand, just about to reply in a profound and unfathomable tone, when he suddenly and keenly caught the noise coming from the corner of the alley.

He stopped himself from speaking, turned his head slightly, and said softly with some doubt, "Your mother is back. Let's wait for...them."

The little boy didn't understand what Jiang Shou meant by "them," but seeing the strange Taoist priest looking towards the alley entrance, he subconsciously followed suit.

Footsteps approached in the quiet alley. The sound was deep and shallow, moving slowly, accompanied by another extremely steady and powerful footstep.

About a minute later, two women appeared at the alley entrance.

Walking in front was a middle-aged woman, probably close to forty. Her hair was tied back with a hair tie in a somewhat messy manner, and she was carrying a plastic bag that appeared to contain meat and vegetables. The woman walked with a limp, her right leg clearly weak, and each step seemed quite strenuous.

It was Chen Sancan's lame wife.

However, what made Jiang Shou's pupils shrink sharply was another person closely following behind this limping woman!

She was a young policewoman wearing a light blue summer uniform. In her left hand, she was carrying a 20-pound bag of rice, and in her right hand, she was carrying a bucket of Luhua peanut oil.

That delicate nose, those sharp, piercing eyes, and that broad chest, still tightly bound by her uniform, yet seemingly about to burst forth...

Isn't that the beautiful policewoman, "Captain Xia," whom I caught a glimpse of yesterday afternoon at the corner of the stairs in the county hospital?!

"Holy crap!" Jiang Shou's head was buzzing instantly.

His brain, which had been modified by true essence, short-circuited in that instant.

Looking at Xia Qiu's bright and beautiful face, Jiang Shou's first thought was: "Oh no, I'm wearing a Taoist robe today! I have to quickly explain to her that we Zhengyi Taoists don't have any taboos about marriage, and we can get married, have children, and date! I'm not a monk!"

But only a fraction of a second had passed. Jiang Shou's frozen rationality instantly returned, and a chill swept through his entire body.

"Good heavens! I'm dressed like this and show up at the victim's family's door. Are the cops going to mistake me for some superstitious scammer trying to take advantage of a crisis and just arrest me on the spot?!"

Just as Jiang Shou was panicking and frantically thinking about whether to climb over the wall and run away or to kneel down on the spot.

The lame woman looked in surprise at the young man in an eye-catching Taoist robe standing at her door. Although she was puzzled, her lameness meant she could only walk over slowly and laboriously, with one limp at a time.

Xia Qiu, who was following behind her, also spotted the Taoist priest outside the gate, who was dressed in an extremely conspicuous manner.

Xia Qiu's eyes instantly sharpened. She strode forward, placed the rice and peanut oil on the ground, and scanned Jiang Shou up and down with her gaze like a searchlight.

"Who are you? Where did you come from? Why are you dressed like that? What are you doing here?!" Xia Qiu took a step forward and bombarded four deadly questions with an extremely oppressive tone, his right hand already subconsciously reaching for the single police uniform belt on his lower back.