A pampered young master from a wealthy family, stripped of his family’s protection—when cold, who would bring him clothes? When hot, who would fan him?

Zhu Weixi’s voice was faint as gossamer: “It must have been very hard.”

Geng Songsheng’s lips drooped slightly before rising again: “It’s all in the past.”

He refused to say even one extra word about it in front of Zhu Weixi, which made everyone feel even more favorably toward this man.

“Little girl, you really understand him. Don’t let his loud laughter fool you—when I first found him, he was curled up in a broken temple, crying his heart out.”

The old monk passed over his pipe: “He cried so pitifully, tears streaming down like waterfalls!”

“Old bald donkey!”

Geng Songsheng exploded instantly, “What nonsense are you spouting?”

“No nonsense.”

The old monk looked at him with a serene expression, “I just let out a fart!”

With one sentence, he broke the strange atmosphere in the stone room again.

Yan Sanhe felt the old monk did it deliberately, deliberately preventing these two from rekindling their old flame.

“Geng Songsheng, what exactly was taken from you?”

“This question, little girl, you need to ask me. This kid is blockheaded and knows nothing.”

Everyone looked at him in astonishment.

Seeing all eyes fixed on him, the old monk excitedly rubbed his hands together, then said with a face thicker than a city wall:

“Me? I’m different. I’m a high monk that only appears once every three hundred years.”

Young Master Pei: Did he give himself that title?

Li Buyan: His shamelessness surpasses even Young Master Pei!

Yan Sanhe spoke: “I heard Master Chanyue can read fortunes. Did you divine what disaster befell him?”

“Why would I need to divine it?”

The old monk snorted coldly: “The moment I laid eyes on this kid, I knew someone had switched his fate.”

Switched his fate?

The shock came without warning, making everyone’s hearts sink heavily.

Yan Sanhe quickly asked: “Who did he switch with?”

“It’s not that he switched with anyone, but that his destiny was switched—his Star of Literary Excellence was taken away.”

The old monk’s gaze turned coldly toward Zhu Yuanzhao.

“In his fate chart, the Star of Literary Excellence should have remained from age three to twenty-three—a full twenty years. A twenty-year Star of Literary Excellence is rare, so this kid was actually…”

Li Buyan asked urgently: “Was what?”

The old monk’s eyes suddenly blazed with sharp light: “The Star of Literary Excellence descended to earth!”

The Star of Literary Excellence descended to earth?

No wonder he was so intelligent!

Young Master Pei: “Who has the ability to take away his Star of Literary Excellence?”

The old monk looked at Young Master Pei as if looking at a simpleton. Young Master Pei’s heart jolted, and he shouted loudly:

“Old Master Zhu!”

His shout was earth-shattering, making even the flames flicker several times.

Zhu Weixi grabbed Zhu Yuanzhao’s arm, “Brother, is it Father?”

Zhu Yuanzhao seemed not to hear, staring fixedly at the old monk, grinding his teeth: “Tell me how my father changed his fate?”

“You study this profession yourself, yet you’re asking me? Young people these days…”

“Speak!”

Zhu Yuanzhao’s angry roar made his entire face contort with bulging veins.

The old monk unhurriedly cleaned out his ear, then unhurriedly spat out three words—

“Altered the ancestral grave.”

“Clang!”

The teacup by his knee overturned, spilling tea all over the floor. By now, Zhu Yuanzhao’s lips had turned somewhat pale, his voice trembling uncontrollably.

“Who are you? How do you know these things?”

“Who I am isn’t important.”

The old monk smiled at him.

“What’s important is that you should carefully recall whether your father ever tampered with the Geng family’s ancestral grave.”

Zhu Yuanzhao’s temples began throbbing, a chill racing up his spine.

The year before the Spring Examinations, the Geng family sent a letter asking Father to return when he had time to examine the Geng family’s burial site, saying the family had been rather unlucky the past couple years—perhaps something was wrong with the burial site.

Father didn’t want to go; he was too busy with affairs in the capital and couldn’t get away.

But he couldn’t withstand Mother’s pillow talk.

That time, Elder Brother accompanied Father and Mother. Father wanted him to gain some experience.

A month later, they returned.

After returning, Elder Brother secretly called him and Third Brother to the study and excitedly told them:

“The Geng family’s ancestral grave is truly an excellent feng shui location. Not only does it have the ‘Heaven’s Gate Open,’ it also has the ‘Earth’s Door Closed.’

Mountains govern descendants, water governs wealth. With two mountains embracing one water, the Geng family not only has good fortune but also flourishing descendants—this is a location of great nobility.

Even more rare, the embracing mountains are quite low. Such a burial site produces scholarly achievements and can produce high-ranking officials!”

Third Brother had naively asked at the time: “With such an excellent burial site, why ask Father to examine it? It couldn’t possibly be causing bad luck!”

Elder Brother said: “Two trees weren’t growing well, they had grown crooked. Father had people cut some branches and loosen the soil.”

He and Third Brother didn’t think much of it.

Cutting branches and loosening soil were the simplest practices in burial site feng shui, meant to make descendants’ fates run more smoothly.

So Father really had tampered with the Geng family’s grave?

“Impossible, impossible!”

Zhu Yuanzhao shook his head repeatedly.

“Defying heaven to alter fate—the one who alters it must suffer heavenly punishment. There will be karmic backlash. My father is alive and well, how could he…”

“Who said the backlash has to be immediate?”

The old monk smiled: “Coming ten or eight years later is no big deal. Besides, heavenly punishment and karmic backlash—these things can be resolved, can’t they?”

“How to resolve them?”

“How would I know?”

The old monk looked disdainful: “Ask your dead father!”

Zhu Yuanzhao was too shocked to speak, his head turning inch by inch toward Zhu Weixi.

Meeting his eyes, wave after wave of panic swept over Zhu Weixi like a tide. Her face, already bloodless, slowly flushed with an unhealthy crimson.

Father altered Geng Songsheng’s fate!

Father took away Geng Songsheng’s Star of Literary Excellence!

Father.

The person in this world who loved her most.

Blood rushed to her heart. With a “puff,” a mouthful of fresh blood spurted from her mouth.

Her body tilted back, falling straight down.

Zhu Yuanzhao caught her, “Big Sister, Big Sister!”

“Why are you shouting? Quickly pinch her philtrum.”

The old monk seemed very dissatisfied with this Zhu fellow. “Coughing up this blood is good. If she couldn’t cough it up, then you’d need to shout more.”

“Don’t panic, Second Brother.” Young Master Pei quickly reached out to pinch Zhu Weixi’s philtrum.

Zhu Weixi slowly awakened, first stunned for a few moments, then slowly closed her eyes again.

Old people once said that after death, one meets the Judge.

The Judge evaluates a person’s good and bad deeds in life to determine whether they go to heaven or hell.

Just this one matter made Zhu Weixi feel that for the rest of her life, only the path to hell remained.

She had harmed Geng Songsheng!

Caused him to fail the imperial examinations, prevented him from becoming a high official; caused him to be expelled from the Geng family, finally driving him to take Buddhist vows…

Zhu Weixi lay motionless with closed eyes, tears flowing from the corners.

One was her most respected father;

One was the man for whom she had once been willing to abandon everything.

Visibly, Zhu Weixi became like a rapidly drying riverbed, leaving only lifeless stones.

She was completely crushed.