Chapter 6

chapter 6

It all started a month ago.

Lu Lingzhu received a commission from a major client. He said his great-grandfather had appeared to him in a dream and told him to retrieve something from his grave.

The client’s surname was Yu. One of his ancestors had risen to the post of Governor of Hubei in the late Qing dynasty, making him just about the highest-ranking official in the Hubei region.

His family had an heirloom Qilin Ornament, and when his great-grandfather was buried, the ornament had been placed in the tomb with him.

After that, each generation of the family fared worse than the last. In particular, after the upheavals of a certain special era, the whole family emigrated overseas, and their social status fell by more than just a little.

Boss Yu had the same dream three nights in a row.

In the dream, his great-grandfather kept sighing and lamenting, saying it was his own fault for being greedy back then. He had liked that Qilin Ornament too much and wanted it to stay by his side forever.

Who could have known that the thing was a feng shui treasure tied to the family’s fortune?

Only by bringing it back and enshrining it at home could the Yu Family rise again.

So the Yu Family paid a hefty sum to find Lu Lingzhu and ask for her help.

Digging up your own ancestral grave sounded simple enough. It wasn’t illegal, either, and the pay was excellent, so Lu Lingzhu agreed on the spot.

But when she followed the Yu Family to the burial site, Lu Lingzhu was dumbfounded.

It turned out to be a lakebed tomb, sitting at the very bottom of a lake. Every year, only during the two-month dry season from winter to spring would the water recede enough for anyone to get down to the lakebed.

And the lake was huge, covering almost half the area of West Lake.

Even once they reached the lakebed, there was no tombstone. They had no idea where to start looking.

Left with no choice, Lu Lingzhu dragged Qiao Moyu in and asked her to use astrology to pinpoint the burial site. Once the job was done, they would split the payment fifty-fifty.

After Qiao Moyu fixed the location, the two of them started digging with a Luoyang Spade.

“Dig down four meters, then go west. Yes, keep digging in that direction.

“All right, now dig upward.

“Lakebed tombs follow different rules. The sealing stone is usually pressed down from above. We’ll circle down and around-yes, go up from here, and we’ll enter the main burial chamber directly.”

Lu Lingzhu got angry just talking about it.

“Pah! What a bullshit Earth Master. Look at this! We dug straight through and ended up back on the surface. Where’s the Yu Family’s tomb?”

My whole face scrunched up as I listened.

“Lu Lingzhu, senior disciple of Maoshan?

“Qiao Moyu, the sole heir of the Earth Master lineage?”

Qiao Moyu nodded calmly.

“As the saying goes: a first-rate Earth Master observes the stars; a second-rate Wind Master seeks the water mouth; a third-rate practitioner wanders the land.

“Most people active in the world today are ordinary feng shui practitioners. Those who truly mastered the art of reading the stars and observing qi served in the Imperial Observatory in ancient times, working for the imperial family.

“My Qiao ancestors once held the post of Director of the Imperial Observatory, and our lineage has inherited the title of Master of the Wind Gate for generations.”

“Pfft-”

I clapped a hand over my mouth.

“You two are so cringe!”