If guests were coming, Yun Zhaozhao would certainly have asked Daoist Chang Kong to prepare a tableful of good food and Daoist Priest Jingting to clean Clear Breeze Temple from top to bottom, inside and out, because that was how Clear Breeze Temple treated its guests.
But this great-nephew clearly did not qualify as a guest. At present, he could even be considered an enemy of Clear Breeze Temple, so Yun Zhaozhao neither asked Daoist Chang Kong to prepare fine food and wine nor asked Jingting to make a special effort to clean the courtyard. She even put away everything in Clear Breeze Temple that was worth a little money, deliberately creating the illusion that the temple was desolate and rundown.
Nor did she wait in Clear Breeze Temple for him to arrive. She carried on with her work in the back courtyard as though nothing was happening, only ambling over from the back after he arrived.
Although Granny's great-nephew was about as distant a relative as could be, he did bear a slight resemblance to her. Except he had dyed his hair in an alternative style, and on his arm was a tattoo of a coiling
dragon
, giving him quite the air of a hired thug.
Those following him were almost all alternative-looking youths too. Anyone who didn't know better might have thought an alternative youth group had come to hold a meeting at the temple.
Yun Zhaozhao swept her gaze over the group, then settled her eyes on the great-nephew. "You're the great-nephew, then?"
The great-nephew nearly bristled. "Who are you trying to pull rank on?"
Yun Zhaozhao said, "...That wasn't what I meant..."
The great-nephew said, "Enough nonsense. Let's get down to business! This temple belonged to my great-aunt. In terms of how closely we're related, my father and my great-aunt were cousins. They might not have been actual siblings, but he was definitely much closer to her than your father was, so I'm obviously the one who should inherit this temple..."
Jingting was about to start cursing before he had even finished, but Yun Zhaozhao spoke first. "So you want Clear Breeze Temple, right?"
The great-nephew said, "That's right!"
Yun Zhaozhao said, "Sure, no problem. Are you free this afternoon? If you are, come straight to the Taoist Association with me to handle the transfer paperwork."
At Yun Zhaozhao's words, not only Jingting and Daoist Chang Kong froze, but even the great-nephew was stunned for a good while.
Before coming today, he had actually prepared himself for things not to go smoothly, which was why he had specifically brought a few extra friends. If negotiations fell apart, they could overwhelm the other side with their presence alone. Yet before the battle had even begun, the other side surrendered. That actually left the great-nephew feeling a little panicked.
Uneasy, the great-nephew asked for confirmation. "You really are willing to give me Clear Breeze Temple?"
Yun Zhaozhao said, "I am!"
The great-nephew said, "No going back on your word, no backing out, and no transfer fee or anything?"
Yun Zhaozhao smiled. "Of course! Having someone willing to take it off my hands is already more than I could ask for. Why would I ask for a transfer fee? Come on, let's go right now. The transfer paperwork is very simple. When I took over Clear Breeze Temple from Granny, we got the paperwork done very quickly too."
Yun Zhaozhao was so eager that not only did the great-nephew feel uneasy, even the lackeys who had come with him noticed something was off.
One lackey leaned close to the great-nephew's ear and warned him, "Boss, this woman doesn't look like a good person to me. There's definitely a catch."
The great-nephew said, "You think I need you to tell me that? I'm not stupid. But look at her. Does she look like she'd tell us the truth?"
The lackey thought for a moment, then had a sudden flash of inspiration. "Didn't you say your great-aunt hired a lawyer before? Why don't you call that lawyer again and ask what's really going on with Clear Breeze Temple?"
The great-nephew thought that made a lot of sense, so he no longer bothered with Yun Zhaozhao and went off to the side to call Lawyer Wang.
As soon as Lawyer Wang heard that the great-nephew was at Clear Breeze Temple, his first reaction was to rush over immediately. When he then heard that Yun Zhaozhao had offered to transfer Clear Breeze Temple to the great-nephew, he grew even more anxious. "She really said that?"
The great-nephew said, "She sure did. She even said we could do the paperwork this afternoon. Tell me the truth, Lawyer Wang. Is Clear Breeze Temple actually a hot potato that ruins whoever takes it over?"
Lawyer Wang was a shrewd man. By this point, he had all but guessed Yun Zhaozhao's intentions. As the saying went, it wasn't the thief stealing that you feared, but the thief setting his sights on you. Clear Breeze Temple was out in the open, while those coveting it were hidden in the shadows. Even if they drove one group away, another might turn up next time with a different pretext. To settle this once and for all and prevent any future trouble, they had to address the root of the problem. And the best way to do that was undoubtedly to let these people know that Clear Breeze Temple wasn't worth fighting over at all.
With that thought, Lawyer Wang calmly told the great-nephew, "I wouldn't call it a hot potato. It's just that this temple is state property, and private sales are prohibited. You knew that, didn't you?"
The great-nephew said, "..."
He really hadn't known that!!!
In fact, before coming, he had already planned to sell Clear Breeze Temple straight on once he got his hands on it. After all, what ambitious young man would run a Taoist temple these days? Anything else would make more money than running a temple. Yet now Lawyer Wang was telling him that the temple couldn't be sold???
Lawyer Wang continued, "And then, Granny... your great-aunt, that is, actually lost some money running the temple back then, so Clear Breeze Temple still owes a substantial amount of debt. If you want Clear Breeze Temple, that's fine. You'll just need to repay that money on your great-aunt's behalf."
The great-nephew asked shakily, "How much debt does Clear Breeze Temple still owe?"
Lawyer Wang steeled himself. "Not much. Just under ten million!" A debt of one million is also under ten million. That shouldn't count as lying, right?
"...???"
Hearing that Clear Breeze Temple couldn't be bought or sold had already made the great-nephew start thinking about backing out. Now that he heard this shabby temple also owed such an enormous debt, he wished he had never come today.
When he turned to look at Yun Zhaozhao's smiling face again, he felt even more strongly that this girl was truly vicious. Good grief, he had wondered why she agreed so readily when he asked for Clear Breeze Temple. So she had dug an enormous pit ahead of him and was waiting for him to jump in!
At this point, he couldn't spare the time to say much to his buddies. Afraid that spending even another second in Clear Breeze Temple would give Yun Zhaozhao the chance to latch onto him, he hung up and immediately strode out.
Seeing that he was leaving, Yun Zhaozhao immediately made a show of going over to grab him, not forgetting to tease him as she reached for him. "Don't go, great-nephew! Didn't we agree to do the transfer paperwork this afternoon? This temple was your great-aunt's life's work. Since you were so close to her, you can't just abandon it. Otherwise, if your great-aunt knows in the afterlife, she certainly won't let you off..."
The more Yun Zhaozhao spoke, the faster the great-nephew walked, until he broke into an outright run.
The turn of events was so sudden that no one present reacted in time. Only when the great-nephew had almost run out through Clear Breeze Temple's main gate did his lackeys hurry after him in a panic.
The lackey who had offered the great-nephew advice earlier ran the fastest, reaching his side first, then asked breathlessly, "Boss, why are you running all of a sudden? Ah, I get it. Is there something unclean in Clear Breeze Temple? Is it haunted?"
Panting heavily, the great-nephew snapped, "Unclean? Clear Breeze Temple is too damn clean. Its pockets are cleaner than my face. Go, go! Don't let those paupers behind us catch up."
The lackey said, "..."
Their whole group was unemployed and already so poor they could barely afford food. Yet the people behind them were poor enough for paupers to call them paupers? Thinking of it that way really was frightening. The lackey put on a burst of speed and ran ahead of the great-nephew.
The more impressive their arrival had been, the more pathetic their fleeing departure was, making everyone at Clear Breeze Temple laugh.
Yun Zhaozhao resolved this crisis over the temple changing hands without the slightest effort, leaving both Daoist Chang Kong and Jingting unable to help seeing her in a new light.
Jingting in particular had braced himself to take on the whole crowd in a war of words, only for the matter to end so abruptly that he never even got his turn. While he admired Yun Zhaozhao, he also felt uncomfortable with all that energy he had nowhere to use.
To burn off his excess energy, Jingting had no choice but to go livestream for another two hours.
Ever since the viewer called "Back to Learn How to Curse Again" had asked to buy that merit wooden fish in Jingting's livestream, the viewer had asked whether it had shipped every single time Jingting went live.
Jingting had genuinely thought he was joking before, but seeing how persistent he was—and, more importantly, being thoroughly fed up with his pestering—Jingting actually listed the merit wooden fish Daoist Chang Kong had made for him in the shopping cart during that day's livestream.
To his surprise, it sold out instantly.
Most importantly, the anti-fan called "Back to Learn How to Curse Again" hadn't managed to get it.
Back to Learn How to Curse Again: [Daoist, I missed it. Please list another one. I'm begging you!]
Jingting: [There aren't any more. That was the only one.]
Back to Learn How to Curse Again: [Didn't you say your senior brother made that wooden fish for you? Then ask him to make a couple more. I refuse to believe I'm the only one in this stream who wants one.]
Back to Learn How to Curse Again: [Guys, type "I want one" in the chat.]
The other viewers in the livestream:
[I want one.]
[I want one.]
[I want one.]
Looking at the enthusiastic, proactive fans in his livestream and the screen full of "I want one," Jingting slowly sank into thought. Could this entire livestream be full of anti-fans like "Back to Learn How to Curse Again"? Otherwise, he simply couldn't understand why they were so interested in a merit wooden fish.
Still, baffled though he was, Jingting ultimately agreed to their request. That evening over dinner, he even took the initiative to tell Yun Zhaozhao about it.