Chapter 67: Fate and Numbers

"Look, what is this?" Song Xirui held the silver note and smiled at Hongdou.

Hongdou's eyes lit up as she eagerly started counting: "One, two, three, wow! Madam, a full eight thousand taels in silver notes! Was this sent by that General Xiao?"

Song Xirui curled her lips: "He wants me to work for him. How could I work for free? Naturally, I had to make a small profit off him."

"General Xiao is so extraordinarily wealthy, much better than our young master!" Hongdou nodded heavily.

Song Xirui chuckled: "The two of them are completely different; how can you compare them casually?"

Su Yun was a scholar whose only pursuit was a smooth official career, while Xiao Yunci was a military general holding immense power yet surrounded by danger.

Their ways of doing things naturally could not be mentioned in the same breath.

Hongdou nodded: "Yes, yes, yes, Madam is completely right. In Hongdou's opinion, our husband isn't even worthy of carrying General Xiao's shoes!"

"..."

Song Xirui massaged her temples.

Her intuition told her that Hongdou must have misunderstood something.

She didn't bother to explain, instead pondering quietly in her heart how to use these eight thousand taels to make money beget more money, endlessly.

After a moment, she parted her rosy lips and instructed: "Go tell your brother to have the owners of those shops wait at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion tomorrow. I have instructions for them!"

"Yes, Madam!" Hongdou responded crisply and hurried out.

Going out the next day, Song Xirui was actually the hidden owner behind those shops. She instructed everyone on how to manage the shops down to the finest detail, and everyone nodded repeatedly.

Learning of her movements from his trusted aides, Xiao Yunci also secretly lent a helping hand.

In barely half a month, her income had grown substantially.

---

Having been busy for half a month, Song Xirui finally stole a moment of leisure amidst her busy life.

With Hongdou absent, she sat alone in the room, recalling every detail since her rebirth, feeling as though it were truly all a dream.

However, now was not the time for sentimentality; she had to remember if any major events were about to happen. To what extent had the struggle among the various imperial princes progressed?

Yet just as she was about to remember, a sharp pain suddenly struck.

Her memories abruptly became chaotic!

Finally, feeling the world spin around her, she didn't even have time to call out for Hongdou before fainting away.

When Song Xirui regained consciousness, she saw Hongdou with a pair of red, swollen eyes, clinging to the bedside and looking at her. Seeing her wake up, Hongdou asked anxiously: "Madam, what happened to you? You scared me to death!"

Nearby, the physician packed away his silver needles: "Madam is frail; she must by no means overthink or dwell anxiously, and must prioritize her health above all."

He then wrote a prescription, stood up, and took his leave.

---

"Madam, did something happen?" Hongdou saw the physician out, brought over a bowl of ginseng soup, and handed it to Song Xirui.

Song Xirui shook her head weakly, took the ginseng soup handed by Hongdou, took a light sip, and slowly said: "Nothing major happened."

She then muttered: "Acting against the heavens will ultimately invite retribution. It was my perverse defiance of the natural order that caused the heavens to disapprove."

Yet since the heavens disapproved, why let her live another lifetime?

Could it be that she ultimately still could not escape her destiny and was doomed to repeat the tragic path of her past life?

Impossible!

Even if it meant death, she would drag Su Yun and Luo Yun'er down with her!

---

The next day, Song Xirui gathered her spirits and went out.

As her carriage reached the street corner, she witnessed a lively commotion.

A man in blue robes was holding onto a robust fellow while shouting at the top of his lungs: "No money needed, only forging good karma!"

A thought stirred in Song Xirui's heart; she ordered the carriage to stop and walked toward the man.

The two men were locked in a fierce tug-of-war.

The robust man being pulled shouted loudly: "My life is fantastic! I have a complete family with both a son and a daughter, my parents are both alive, and I have plenty of strength to eat my fill. My little life is happier than you can imagine—why would I need you to fortune-tell for me?"

"Brother, if that were truly the case, I would never have grabbed your sleeve to read your fortune," the blue-robed man said, his face flushed red in disregard of the pointing onlookers, refusing to let go.

"You must know that your fate is one of having neither parents nor children; before the age of thirty, you are blessed with no offspring, and even your... your wife is not your true destined partner!"

Hearing this, the robust man's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he roared: "By your logic, I was born a jinx! Then what do you say about my family living in such joyful harmony?"

"Father is no father, mother is no mother, son is no son, daughter is no daughter, wife is no wife," the blue-robed man pressed his lips together and murmured softly.

The surrounding crowd instantly burst into an uproar.

The robust man raised his hand, ready to strike: "I see you're just asking for a beating!"

"Stop!"

At that moment, a cold, sharp voice rang out.

Only then did the crowd notice a veiled woman of luxurious attire, who had quietly approached the two of them while everyone else was watching the spectacle.

The robust man sized up her attire, thinking she must be a lady from a wealthy household, and reined in his temper somewhat: "What business does a little lady like you have sticking your nose into this?"

What kind of bad luck had he run into today?

Song Xirui slightly raised her gaze and explained: "What he says is true. According to your destiny, you are fated for isolation and misfortune before the age of thirty. Now that you claim your parents are alive and your house is full of children, there must be something strange about it. You might as well think carefully: have you ever been separated from your family in childhood? Have there been any strange occurrences in your daily interactions with your wife?"

Hearing this, the robust man's expression changed abruptly. As if remembering something, he glanced at the two of them and turned on his heel to leave.

Seeing no more excitement to watch, the surrounding crowd quickly dispersed.

Only then did Song Xirui call out to the person trying to sneak away: "Senior Brother Ye Qing, it has been many days. Why run away the moment you see your junior sister?"

Ye Qing belonged to the same sect as her, but he possessed a free-spirited nature and loved performing good deeds. While traveling through famous mountains and grand rivers, he never forgot to help others avert disasters.

He enjoyed a considerable reputation.

"Junior Sister, it's not like you don't know your senior brother. My reputation is grand, and many people look for me. If I linger here, I'll be hunted down and dragged away by tomorrow," Ye Qing said, forced to halt and turning around with a wry smile.

Song Xirui smiled faintly: "Both Senior Brother and I practice the Dao of metaphysics, and all these occurrences are matters of destiny. If Senior Brother truly wanted to escape, you wouldn't have returned to the capital, would you?"

"Long time no see, Junior Sister's tongue has certainly grown sharper," Ye Qing laughed sheepishly.

Song Xirui smiled softly: "To meet is to share a bond; please, let us have a chat."

Inside a teahouse.

Song Xirui concealed the matter of her rebirth, but told Ye Qing that her memories were in chaos: "Please help me divine my fate, Senior Brother."

Divining one's own destiny was something others could do, but she could not do for herself.

Seeing her speak thus, Ye Qing's expression grew solemn.

He accepted Song Xirui's birth characters, closed his eyes, and muttered incantations under his breath.

A full half-hour later, he finally opened his eyes slowly, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and remained silent.

Song Xirui's eyes stared intently at Ye Qing: "Senior Brother, have you calculated it?"

"It is truly bizarre. With senior brother's cultivation level, let alone you, even princes and nobles can be divined to some extent. Yet for some reason, Junior Sister's destiny is a completely chaotic expanse. You are someone whom Master described as having no heavenly mandate," Ye Qing exclaimed in wonder.

Song Xirui murmured to herself: "Someone with no heavenly mandate?"

Suddenly, a surge of wild joy erupted in her heart.

No heavenly mandate meant that her destiny was entirely in her own hands.

This was a special type of destiny her master had once mentioned; those who possessed this fate had both their misfortunes and fortunes, their rise and fall, governed entirely by themselves.

If one performed many good deeds and sought blessings for the common people, one would naturally be blessed with deep fortune and a smooth life; if one committed evil, retribution would surely follow.

This was a destiny neither subject to the suffering nor the blessings of the cycle of reincarnation!

It seemed that though she had lost one life, the heavens had finally opened their eyes just a fraction!

"Junior Sister, why is your destiny like this?" Ye Qing asked anxiously.