The sun was setting in the west and the sky was getting dark. People were hurriedly walking on the street, all rushing home to cook.
Beside the gate of a century-old temple in China, a young man set up a stall to read fortunes. At this time, the man looked up at the Queen of Heaven, stood up, stretched, and then put away his feet.
After taking out the Bagua cloth and lottery tube, he collected the small chair behind him and put it into his backpack.
Judging from his appearance, he is only over 20 years old. He is as tall as a jade tree, with a tall nose on his jade face, eyebrows like willows on both sides, and a pair of bright eyes like stars under his eyebrows.
Such a young and handsome man does not look like a fortune teller. He should be a pretty boy at last. But he is a fortune teller, and he is the most famous fortune teller in this city.
This young man's name was Xiao Shizhu. His parents died young, and his relatives disliked that he was a boy and were unwilling to adopt him because they would have to worry about marrying and having children in the future, so they sent him to an orphanage.
When he was alone in the orphanage, he was best friends with the gatekeeper. And coincidentally, before the uncle came to the orphanage to look after the gate, he happened to be a man who had been sent out because he had been in trouble several times and received ideological education.
The famous stick; that’s why he became what he is today.
Not long after the two met, they became more and more attached to each other. The uncle, who was also unrelated, treated him as his own grandson and secretly gave him some thousand skills in private.
The so-called Thousand Techniques, to put it bluntly, is a lie; but don’t underestimate it just because you say it is a deception. The deceitful way of the soldier actually refers to Thousand Techniques. And the uncle taught Xiao Shizhu
Qian Shu is the essence of this academic discipline. It can steal the country at high level and defraud money at low level. It is very magical.
The uncle’s original intention was for Xiao Shizhu to study hard and become an official when he grows up and enters the society. Then he can use a thousand skills to establish himself in the officialdom and bring glory to his ancestors. However, he never thought that not long after leaving the orphanage, Xiao Shizhu would become
A fortune teller, street liar.
When he first entered the society, he first moved bricks on the construction site. Later, because he offended the foreman, he simply began to use a thousand skills to read people's fortunes, gain insight into the psychology of each visitor, prescribe the right medicine and talk nonsense; in addition, he
He is also very talkative and can always speak to the customers' hearts and make them pay obediently. Therefore, apart from being chased by the city management occasionally, no customer has ever scolded him or thought it was inappropriate, and wanted to arrest him or put him in trouble.
of.
Not only that, he gradually became known to everyone on the streets as a so-called "master". Many rich ladies and nouveau riche came here because of his reputation, and some people actually took him to their homes in their cars to tell their fortunes.
Of course, Xiao Shizhu was not a gentleman. When he went to see the fortunes of these rich people, he also did not forget to pry the bamboo poles hard. Because of this, in just a few years, he became extremely rich.
At the same time, in order to crack down on his peers, even though he had money, he did not forget to find a few people to threaten and intimidate his competitors. Or he hired people to settle matters in front of his peers, so as to avoid ruining others' business.
But just because he did a lot of bad things, he who should have lived a long life had his life shortened again and again. Today, when the world is at peace and there are no riots in foreign countries, it seems that this is the day of his death.
.
After closing the stall, Xiao Shizhu went to a snack bar near the temple and had a good meal as a reward for his "hard work" today.
After eating and drinking, Xiao Shizhu burped, patted his slightly bulging belly, picked his teeth, paid the money, and walked out of the snack bar slowly.
When he left the store, the sunlight had completely dissipated, and the coolness accompanied by darkness shrouded the earth. Xiao Shizhu stood at the door of the store for a few seconds, and after recognizing the road through the street lamp that had just turned on, he hummed a ditty and walked to his residence.
And go.
Although he was rich, he was reluctant to rent an apartment. Instead, he rented a shabby little attic on the edge of the city, in a remote alley with no street lights, and the monthly rent was only 300 yuan.
When Xiao Shizhu walked to the entrance of the alley, a gust of wind blew from the depths of the alley, carrying paper scraps and dust scattered on the ground, and blew it towards him, causing him to subconsciously pull up his coat. But he still didn't realize it.
The crisis was dormant in the darkness not far ahead of him, quietly waiting for his arrival.
He just walked into the alley, and before he could walk ten meters, he saw a tall figure flashing out of the darkness on the roadside, holding a dagger with cold light in his hand, and then the dagger was pressed against his head.
Chest.
Xiao Shizhu was shocked when he saw this, and started to break out in cold sweat. He was still in shock, but before he could recover, he heard the other party say in a deep voice: "Hand over the money.".
As soon as these words came out, Xiao Shizhu reacted. Although he couldn't see the other person's face clearly, he knew that he had met a robber today. At the same time, he quickly calmed down.
At this time, this narrow alley was silent. There were no street lights in front or behind and no one coming. Most of the houses on the left and right were dilapidated. Most of the people who originally lived here had moved away long ago. It was useless to call for help. Xiao Shizhu was there
I cursed in my heart: "Didn't you read the almanac when you went out today?" But he still didn't take out the money.
This is not because he wants to do something stupid and kill birds for money, but he has already heard about the robbers in this area. The local robbers are famous for their lack of moral integrity and their ruthlessness.
They often take the money but don't leave. In order to prevent the police from being caught, they always give the victim two stabs before leaving.
After Xiao Shizhu thought about it carefully, he felt that he would be stabbed even if he gave money, and he would be stabbed even if he didn't give it. Why should he give it to him? With this thought, he straightened his back and faced the robber who was hiding in the darkness with a fierce look.
Looking in the direction of his face and the fierce eyes on his face, he sneered and mocked: "I have no money, but you are so awesome, why don't you rob a bank?".
The word "OK" came out of his mouth, and before he hit the ground, he paid a heavy price for his arrogance. The robber put the dagger back in his hand without hesitation; the next second later, the robber
The dagger stabbed him hard in the heart.
It's also ironic that Xiao Shizhu, the fortune-telling "master", didn't know that the robbers he encountered today had no intention of taking lives, but only wanted to steal money; if he had given money, even if it was just three melons and two dates, he would have survived.
Irony is irony, but fate is like this. The King of Hell wants you to die at the third watch, who dares to keep you until the fifth watch? This is the final reason why Xiao Shizhu made a mistake in judgment and made an irreparable impulsive move.
At first, Xiao Shizhu did not feel any pain when the dagger tore through his clothes and penetrated his skin. Instead, he felt a warmth in his chest, and then bursts of pain came one after another from the wound, flowing along his blood vessels throughout his body.
, making him breathe gradually faster.
Then the furious robber stabbed him twice in the stomach. He groaned a few times and leaned back, then fell to the ground. Then he leaned over and stretched out his trembling hands to turn him over.
pocket.
I never thought that it would be better not to look through it. After flipping through it, I took out a handful of Ming coins. With the dim light of the slowly rising stars and moon shining on the earth, I could see clearly that what I was holding was a handful of coins.
After the death of the money, the robbers who were so bold that they dared to kill people without batting an eyelid in a legal society were trembling with fear.
He suddenly fell to the ground, his eyes widened as he looked at Xiao Shizhu, who was bleeding from the mouth and nose, and stepped back involuntarily.
Who could he have guessed that Xiao Shizhu, who used to always pretend to be gods and ghosts in the past, actually believed in the theory of gods and ghosts in the world over time. He knew that talking nonsense every day was very harmful to his moral character, and he also believed that money could make ghosts go around.
Although Xiao Shizhu was not a person who cherished his life, he was still afraid that one day he would die for no reason due to the loss of his moral character. Therefore, without any relatives or friends, he would always carry many large denomination coins in his pocket for emergencies.
As for the money he earned in the human world, he hid it in the middle of his clothes.
The robber was completely frightened and didn't even dare to look through the remaining pockets. In panic, he hurriedly threw away the coins in his hand, got up and ran away. In the blink of an eye, he stumbled and disappeared.
In a dark alley.
Xiao Shizhu, who was lying on the ground, only felt that he was taking in less and less air, exhaling more and more, and his body was getting colder and colder, and his consciousness was disappearing little by little.