I pointed at Lin Zhao and shouted, "Tell me, am I right?"

"Right, right, right..." Lin Zhao's face turned green. "You're absolutely right. I agree with both hands."

I immediately slammed the table. "You can't deceive female clients' feelings, and if you dare to swindle money and sex, I'll give you the knife, and you can chop it off yourself!"

"I...I..." Lin Zhao looked at the knife on the table, not knowing what to say.

Wang Butcher came up from behind, wanting to cover my mouth, while Feng Ruoxing stood in the distance, grinning with a look of grief and indignation, pointing at me without saying a word.

I immediately slammed the table. "What are you doing? If you keep doing this, will I still have any prestige as a hall master?"

Wang Butcher weakly gave a thumbs up. "Hall Master is mighty."

Feng Ruoxing also said helplessly, "Hall Master is wise!"

"Hmm!" I squinted and pursed my lips. "Very good! Little Lin, pack up, let's go. I'm leaving the matter of communicating with Jie Yueling to you. But, communication is not seduction, otherwise..."

"I know, I know..." Lin Zhao raised both hands. "Don't say it, I understand everything."

This little milk dog is quite sensible!

I waved my hand at Wang Butcher, whose face was dark. "Guard the gate well, and wait for this hall master to return victoriously."

Wang Butcher gave me a thumbs up and seemed to say something, but I didn't hear what she said. Judging from her mouth shape, it should have been "You're awesome."

I didn't think much about it and followed Lin Zhao to the Jie family villa.

The Jie family villa occupies a large area, and the internal Feng Shui layout is quite规中矩 (guī zhōng gu矩, standard and orderly).

Jie Sanbao must have hired a Feng Shui master, but it wasn't a master of any skill, at most a third or fourth-rate character in the art.

We hadn't even reached the door when a butler came up to greet us. "Gentlemen, President Jie said that when you arrive, please go directly to the Buddhist hall."

I really didn't expect Jie Sanbao to have a Buddhist hall in his home, and the one chanting sutras in the Buddhist hall was Jie Sanbao himself. The butler said politely, "Please wait a moment, gentlemen. President Jie never allows anyone to disturb him when he's chanting sutras."

I said, "Does he chant sutras every day? Or on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month?"

The butler said, "President Jie chants sutras on fixed days every year. As for why, you can only ask President Jie."

Feng Ruoxing transmitted his voice. "He's chanting the *Ksitigarbha Sutra*. Is he performing a requiem for the dead?"

I couldn't help but squint slightly. The butler didn't say anything else and just stood motionless at the entrance of the Buddhist hall.

After a while, Jie Sanbao said, "Please come in, gentlemen!"

After I stepped into the Buddhist hall, I glanced around. On the right side of the Buddhist hall, there were quite a few memorial tablets. I roughly estimated that there were about twenty or thirty memorial tablets, and they weren't all from the Jie family clan.

Jie Sanbao heard us come in and said without turning his head, "Hall Master Li, why do you think people believe in fate? Poor people believe in it, and rich people believe in it too."

I smiled. "I think you should have a deep understanding of this!"

"As the saying goes: 'The poor consult fortune-tellers, and the rich burn incense.' There's a reason for that."

"Poor people want to change their fate, but sometimes they're confused by the status quo, so they need some spiritual support. Sometimes, fortune-telling is also a kind of hope."

"Rich people believe in fate because most rich people, especially those who started from scratch, have experienced the ups and downs of fate, so they believe that some things are arranged by heaven. Burning incense is to accumulate more blessings for themselves, or rather, more luck."

I paused. "Haven't you noticed that the people who least believe in fate are those who have smooth sailing all the way? If you haven't experienced it, you won't believe it."

"That's right!" Jie Sanbao nodded again. "What about reincarnation? Why do some people believe in reincarnation?"

I looked at Jie Sanbao with some bewilderment, but Feng Ruoxing gently touched me. Her intention was for me to answer Jie Sanbao's question.

I said, "There are actually many explanations for reincarnation."

"When you find that the spirituality and sensibility you once experienced are vividly manifested in another life, you'll feel that it's reincarnation. The Chinese believe in reincarnation precisely because they've seen countless repetitions of fate."

These words weren't mine; they were what my master told me. He also gave me an example: You think it's painful when your father forces you to study when you're a child, but when you become a father, you might even intensify it.

Jie Sanbao nodded. "You're right! Sometimes, I also wonder if the deals I've made in the martial world will one day come back to haunt me."

"Ah, people only know what they want and what they fear in the dead of night."

"I don't want to believe in ghosts and gods, but sometimes I have to believe, because I'm afraid that one day, ghosts will come looking for me, and gods will come looking for me. Or they'll look for my family."

I frowned slightly. Jie Sanbao's words were a bit incoherent, but these rambling words were what the other party was thinking.

What did he want to tell me?

I said in a deep voice, "Mr. Jie, you didn't bring us here just to lament about life, did you?"

Jie Sanbao still hadn't turned around. "After I'm gone, I'll entrust the Jie family and my daughter to you. I believe in Hall Master Li's ability and I also believe in Hall Master Li's character."