[Twenty-Three Arts of Changing Fate: Take no pride in knowing the powerful, nor borrow their names to bolster yourself. Doing so transfers your fortune to others, while further diminishing your own allotted fortune.]
On his first reading, Wang Xiaoliang merely thought the literal meaning was easy enough to understand.
But when he read it again, word by word and line by line, a chill shot through his entire body, instantly raising goosebumps.
Cold sweat broke out all at once.
He turned the words over and over in his mind.
Do not take pride in befriending people of high status, power, and influence, and certainly do not use their names to elevate yourself or show off.
Doing so was tantamount to transferring your own fortune to others, while damaging your own blessings and allotted fortune!
He thought of An Peiwen! Hu Yang! And Liu Xinyu and Zhou Qiang.
Over the past few days, he really had felt pleased about establishing a connection with Anyang.
He had also felt proud to have brothers with such tremendous potential as Zhou Qiang, Liu Xinyu, and Huang Xueli.
Although he had not gone around talking about it, that sense of superiority-"I know important people"-had indeed quietly taken root and sprouted in his heart. He had even been wondering whether, if he ran into trouble in the future, he could invoke those two men's names.
Wasn't that a textbook case of "taking pride in knowing the powerful"? He had even begun entertaining the idea of "borrowing their names to bolster himself"!
The Book of Fate practically seemed able to read his mind. Before he had actually made that mistake, before he had borrowed someone else's power to throw his weight around, it had delivered a resounding slap to his face, a sharp wake-up call!
*Thank goodness...