My Apprenticeship to Uncle Jiu: I Was a Warlord in the Republic of China

Chapter 117: The Fortune-Making Formation

Ren Fa heard this and replied, "My great grandfather originally had three brothers. Because they made a fortune in business, they divided the Ren family into three. However, all three of our families are from the same lineage. Since my Ren family is not prosperous, the elders are all cousins."

Jiang Li heard this and asked curiously, "So, this situation has been going on for three generations. Don't you guys notice anything unusual?"

Ren Fa said, "I remember my father mentioned it to me before. After discussing it with the elders, there was no follow-up. I have been so busy with the family's bleak business these years that I have no time to think about these things!"

Jiang Li heard this and said, "Well, the elders do know something. I guess I have to ask them tomorrow."

Afterwards, Ren Fa and Ren Youfu started chatting with Uncle Jiu. Ren Zhuzhu ran to Ren Tingting and said, "Cousin, I heard that you got married. Is this your brother-in-law? He looks so strong!"

When Ren Tingting heard her cousin say that Jiang Li was strong, her face immediately turned red and she said unnaturally, "Yes, this is your cousin's husband. His name is Jiang Li and he is a Taoist priest of Maoshan."

Ren Zhuzhu was surprised and said, "Really? I've been studying abroad and just came back recently. I haven't seen a Taoist priest yet!"

Then he excitedly said to Jiang Li, "Brother-in-law, do you know any spells? The kind that can release fire and strong winds with one cast!"

Jiang Li smiled and said, "Your cousin's name is Zhuzhu, right? I didn't bring any gifts this time, but I have a peach wood sword in my car. I'll give it to you to play with later!"

"I do know some magic, I'll show you some more when I have the chance."

When Ren Zhuzhu heard about the peach wood sword, she immediately smiled and said, "Great, great! I've only heard of peach wood swords before, but I've never seen one. I wonder if your peach wood sword can slay demons and monsters, cousin-in-law?"

Jiang Li smiled and said, "It may not be possible to slay demons and monsters, but it is not difficult to kill a ghost or something."

As he said that, he went out and took out a peach wood sword from the carriage and handed it to Ren Zhuzhu. After playing with it for a while, she lost interest, and then she pulled Ren Tingting aside to play.

Seeing the two girls talking and laughing, Jiang Li did not disturb them. After a while, Ren Youfu invited them to eat.

It was already dark after the meal, so Ren Youfu did not send anyone to invite the elders.

At ten o'clock the next morning, several elders finally arrived, but since they were all elders, no one said anything.

Ren Fa found that everyone had arrived, so he told them the purpose of his trip. The elders looked at each other in confusion. Ren Fa found that their expressions were not right and asked immediately, "Do you know anything? This matter is of great importance. I hope the elders can tell us the truth."

After several people stared at each other for a long time, the oldest head of the house waved and pushed the servants away, then looked at Uncle Jiu and Jiang Li, and Ren Fa said, "Head of the house, please rest assured. This one is my son-in-law, and the other is Lin Jiu, a Maoshan master I invited. You can speak directly if you have anything to say."

The old man sighed and said, "Forget it, since you don't mind, there is no need for me to be the bad guy."

"This story started from the time of your great grandfather. At that time, the Ren family had not yet become wealthy, and by chance they saved a wounded Taoist priest."

"He was grateful to your great grandfather Ren Dashan for saving his life, so he set up a Feng Shui formation for the old man. This formation can gather wealth, but the price is that the descendants of the next generation will be small and have weak fortunes."

Ren Youfu stood up in surprise and asked, "There is such a thing, why didn't my cousin and I know about it?"

The head of the house shook his head and said, "This secret should have been guarded by the elders and the clan leader, but Afa's father Ren Weiyong has been worried about it since he learned about it."

"After collecting clues from many sources, he actually found a solution, which is to find a Feng Shui treasured site to bury the ancestors and protect future generations."

"Later I heard that he bought a good acupuncture point from a Feng Shui master, but seeing that you came to ask today, I guess it won't be of much help."

Ren Fa's mouth twitched when he heard this, but he did not refute. Instead, he asked, "Why didn't the elder tell me and my cousin about this? It's not good for you to hide it from us like this!"

The old man sighed and said, "We have no choice but to do this. Whether the population is prosperous or not, everyone will care about this matter."

"Your father has been making a lot of trouble since he found out about this. We are afraid that you will mess up, so we have decided that we will not tell you unless you ask. We just hope that this will continue forever."

Ren Fa was a little puzzled and said, "Logically speaking, although our Ren family is not rich at this time, we have some savings. Why do we need to use Feng Shui to gather money? We can just ask an expert to break this spell for us!"

The head of the house shook his head and said, "We have already asked people to take a look, but the ones who came were either charlatans who wanted to cheat people out of their money, and the few who had real magical powers said they could do nothing after seeing it."

"They said that if you forcibly break this spell, it will backfire and cause the Ren family's luck to be severely damaged and the family to be destroyed."

Ren Fa and Ren Youfu looked at each other in silence, then looked at Uncle Jiu together.

Uncle Jiu saw the two of them and said, "After listening to the elders, I have some guesses, but I have to go to the scene to confirm the details."

So Ren Fa and Ren Youfu immediately ordered people to prepare the things needed for the ritual, and then they and the clan elders brought Uncle Jiu to the ancestral hall.

After looking for a while, I found no other problems except that there were very few tablets for worship.

So Ren Youfu took Uncle Jiu to the Ren family's ancestral tomb. As soon as they arrived at the tomb, Uncle Jiu frowned and used the compass to check and confirm repeatedly.

After a long time, he came to Ren Fa with a serious face and said, "I have already checked the situation. This is a formation that can absorb the luck of future generations and help the living accumulate wealth. If you break it forcibly, you will be attacked by the formation."

Jiang Li heard this and asked, "Master, this formation of borrowing chickens to lay eggs is so powerful, why does it seem to be not very common? I haven't heard much about it."

Uncle Jiu frowned when he heard this and said, "What do you know? This formation of gathering fortune and making money, nine out of ten gathers fortune and only one out of ten makes money. It is an evil method of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Naturally, it is not common."

Jiang Li exclaimed, "Isn't this taking kickbacks?"

But then he immediately realized he had said the wrong thing and shut his mouth.

Ren Fa and Ren Youfu looked solemn when they heard this, and they really didn't react to Jiang Li's words, but the elders nodded and said, "It seems that the Taoist priest is really capable. What he said is absolutely right. I just don't know if the Taoist priest has other solutions. If you can help my Ren family break this formation, my Ren family will definitely reward you handsomely."

Uncle Jiu looked serious when he heard this and said, "There are a few ways, but they are not very realistic and I'm afraid they will be difficult to achieve."

Ren Fa immediately said, "Uncle Jiu, if you have anything to say, please speak up. My Ren family is quite wealthy. If there is a way, I will definitely do my best to cooperate."

The clan elders and Ren Youfu on the side also echoed and expressed their determination to Uncle Jiu, as if they were afraid of missing anything.