The first job

What she said immediately caught my interest, and I hurriedly asked, "What did the feng shui master you hired say?"

"The feng shui master in charge of moving the graves said he'd spent his whole life assessing feng shui, but he'd never seen anything so strange. He had no idea why bloody water was seeping out of the burial ground. He told all the workers to stop and said to my dad that he couldn't handle it, that we needed to find someone more capable. That's how we found your master, but Master Li refused to see us. Then we came to you, and you wouldn't take the job either. So many days have passed, and nothing's been resolved. My brother still has nightmares every night. He's almost at breaking point. If this keeps up, I'm really worried something will happen to him," Zhang Yunyao said anxiously.

Her story was rather eerie. I'd never heard my master mention anything like it, either. Still, I would have to visit their ancestral graves before I could judge how to deal with it.

Seeing that I remained silent, Zhang Yunyao continued, "Young Master Wu, my dad has approached everyone he can. He even used his connections to find several feng shui masters, but none of them could do anything about our situation. They took plenty of money, yet there hasn't been the slightest improvement. My brother really can't hold on much longer. If you won't help us yourself, could you at least recommend someone in your line of work? As long as they can resolve this, we'll certainly compensate you for your trouble."

I paused, then smiled. "My master is the only feng shui master I know. I really don't know any others."

Still, I did think of the experts who had come to my house back when I was facing my three tribulations.

Southern Monk, Northern Shen, Eastern Yang, and Western Ma.

If even one of those four agreed to help, they might be able to resolve this.

All four experts had once wanted to take me as their disciple, but I had no idea where they lived, so I couldn't recommend them to Zhang Yunyao.

At my words, Zhang Yunyao's eyes began to redden. She looked at me pitifully with those beautiful eyes and all but begged, "Young Master Wu, please think of something. As long as you can save my brother and agree to help my family, I'll do anything."

"Anything?" I immediately perked up and looked at Zhang Yunyao with a broad smile.

Zhang Yunyao blushed at once, lowered her head, and gave a slight nod.

I knew she'd gotten the wrong idea. How could I possibly be the sort of person who took advantage of someone in trouble? Pah! I was absolutely not that kind of person.

I cleared my throat to ease the awkward atmosphere, then asked, "Yunyao, are your family's ancestral graves in Yanbei too?"

Zhang Yunyao shook her head. "Our hometown isn't in Yanbei. It's Yongfeng County, more than three hundred kilometers away. My grandfather brought my dad to Yanbei to make a living, and it took two generations of hard work to build the family business we have now. After my grandfather passed away, he was buried in our ancestral burial ground in Yongfeng County."

Hearing her say that, I began to feel excited too.

The third condition my master had given me was that I couldn't take jobs in Yanbei.

But the trouble with Zhang Yunyao's family wasn't in Yanbei. It was in Yongfeng County.

If I helped them with this, it seemed I wouldn't be breaking my master's rules.

That thought immediately lifted my spirits. Uncle Huzi and I were almost out of food. If I didn't do something soon, the two of us could starve to death.

"Yunyao, I'll take your family's case," I suddenly said.

Zhang Yunyao was still a little dazed by my words. She looked at me in disbelief, her cheeks flushing slightly again. Somewhat shyly, she asked, "Young Master Wu, why have you suddenly agreed to help me? Do you have some condition?"

As she spoke, Zhang Yunyao lowered her head again and nervously clutched the hem of her clothes.

I knew she'd gotten the wrong idea again, assuming I'd decided to help because I wanted something from her.

How could I possibly be that kind of person...

"Yunyao, you've misunderstood. My master left me a rule forbidding me from taking jobs in Yanbei, but the problem with your ancestral graves is in Yongfeng County. Going there wouldn't violate his rule. That's why I've agreed to help. You can have your father pick me up early tomorrow morning, and we'll go take a look at your ancestral graves together," I said seriously.

Hearing this, Zhang Yunyao became excited at once. She grabbed my arm and said, "Young Master Wu, do you mean it? You've really agreed to help us?"

I nodded and smiled. "Yes. Why would I lie to you? But there's something I need to make clear first. Although I trained under my master for eight years, this will be my first job. I can't guarantee I'll be able to resolve your family's problem."

"You're the disciple of Li Xuantong, the Feng Shui King. As long as you're willing to help, I'm sure everything will work out," Zhang Yunyao said excitedly. Then she suddenly took out a bank card and offered it to me. "Young Master Wu, there's a hundred thousand yuan on this card. It's the spending money my dad gave me, and it's all I have. Please take it as a deposit. Once the matter is resolved, my dad will certainly pay you well."

I glanced at the bank card in her hand, feeling quite excited. If I didn't bring in some money soon, Uncle Huzi and I would have nothing to live on.

At the same time, I couldn't help marveling at it. She really did come from a wealthy family-a hundred thousand yuan just for spending money. Back when I was in school, the allowance my master gave me had never left me with more than a hundred yuan in my pocket.

Comparing yourself to others really could drive you mad.

I took the bank card from Zhang Yunyao and said, "All right, I'll accept this. Go home and tell your dad to pick me up early tomorrow morning."

"Okay! My dad will be overjoyed when he hears you've agreed!" Zhang Yunyao's little face flushed with excitement.

I smiled and got straight out of the car.

Zhang Yunyao rolled down the window and waved at me. "Young Master Wu, I'll come with my dad to pick you up tomorrow."

"Got it," I said casually, then walked toward Uncle Huzi.

Uncle Huzi gave me a meaningful look. "Young master, you spent quite a while in her car. You didn't get up to anything naughty, did you? Why was that girl's face so red?"

"Uncle Huzi, can't you be serious for once? Am I that kind of person?" I rolled my eyes at him.

"If the top beam is crooked, the ones below won't be straight. Your master raised you-how could I not wonder? Back in the day, your master and that young widow..."

"What young widow? How come I never heard about her?" I asked curiously.

Huzi immediately realized he'd let something slip and hurried to cover it up. "No, nothing. I was making it up. Anyway... what are we eating tonight?"

He promptly changed the subject.

I waved the bank card in my hand. "I've got money now, so of course we're going to eat something good."