Volume One, Chapter 16: Selling Spirit Talismans

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The driver found it rather strange. Why was this young woman staring at his face?

Uncomfortable beneath Jiang Rui’s gaze, the middle-aged driver said, “Miss, it’ll take an hour and a half to get to Xiaoyu Village. You can rest for a while. I’ll wake you when we arrive.”

He felt increasingly awkward as the girl continued to stare at him. He even began to wonder, “I’m no longer young. Could I really still be this popular with young women? Looks like I haven’t lost my charm after all.”

The driver was clearly rather self-absorbed. Jiang Rui, however, had no idea that such thoughts were running through his mind. She was staring at him not because he was handsome, nor because he still possessed some irresistible charm. She had noticed a mass of black energy coiling between his brows.

He had been entangled by something unclean. He simply had no idea.

“Uncle, your luck hasn’t been very good lately, has it? Your son is sick, but the hospital can’t figure out what’s wrong. And yesterday, while you were driving, you hit a woman.”

The driver was startled by her words. “Young lady, what nonsense are you talking about? None of that happened. Don’t make things up!”

Although he said this aloud, the shock in his heart was indescribable. Judging by Jiang Rui’s attire, she was obviously a Daoist priestess. The question was whether she was merely bluffing or actually possessed genuine ability.

Still, if she was talking nonsense, how could she have known that his son was ill?

And yesterday, he really had hit a woman while driving. She seemed to have been drunk and had crossed the road without looking at the traffic light. The driver had been approaching from the opposite direction, and the collision had happened in an instant.

Now, the driver was genuinely beginning to panic.

“Do you not believe me?” Jiang Rui asked.

The driver was torn. He had no idea whether he should trust this young woman. Jiang Rui did not take offense. Instead, she calmly continued, “The jade pendant around your neck is not clean. The reason your family’s fortunes have been steadily declining is because of that pendant.

“No, that isn’t quite right. It’s what’s inside the pendant that’s causing the trouble. If you keep wearing it, this won’t remain a matter of minor illnesses and misfortunes. Someone will lose their life.”

The driver felt thoroughly flustered. He desperately wanted to disbelieve her, yet reason told him that every word she had spoken was true.

“How did you know I was wearing a jade pendant?” he asked unwillingly.

Jiang Rui gave him a mysterious smile. “As long as there’s something I want to know, there’s nothing I cannot know.”

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The driver was about to say something more, but then remembered that she was a Daoist priestess and felt somewhat reassured.

Whether she was a genuine master or a fraud, anyone who could speak with such accuracy at the very first opportunity clearly had some real skill.

“Master, what should I do now? Please show me the way!”

“These are only minor problems. Nothing serious.” Jiang Rui casually took two sheets of talisman paper from her canvas bag. “Take these spirit talismans. Give one to your son and hang the other in your car. Then nothing else will go wrong.”

The driver was touched. This master was truly kind, actually giving him talismans for free. He must have met a good person.

He reached out to take the talismans from Jiang Rui, but just as his fingers touched them, she withdrew them and smiled.

“Uncle, you can’t simply take them like that, can you?”

The driver slapped his forehead and gave an embarrassed laugh. “Master, I was being presumptuous. Truly presumptuous. I’ll buy them, I’ll buy them. How much is one talisman?”

Jiang Rui held up two fingers.

The driver smiled. “No problem. Two thousand yuan each, right? Fine, I’ll transfer the money to you now.”

Jiang Rui fell silent.

Was that what she meant? She had only meant that one talisman cost two hundred yuan. Had this driver misunderstood her?

She was just about to say, “Uncle, you’ve misunderstood me. I meant—”

Before she could finish, the driver spoke again. “The moment I saw you, I knew you were a master with genuine abilities. The aura around you is incredibly powerful.”

Jiang Rui was speechless. She really wanted to ask him, “Uncle, where exactly did you see this powerful aura?”

She was utterly exasperated. The man’s train of thought was truly beyond comprehension.

The driver gave an awkward laugh. Jiang Rui herself had not expected that taking a taxi would bring her an unexpected windfall. What a delightful surprise.

She took out her phone and opened her payment code. The driver promptly scanned it and transferred four thousand yuan.

Jiang Rui’s face lit up with such a broad smile that her eyes nearly disappeared.

“Master, these talismans really work, don’t they?” the driver asked, still somewhat uneasy.

Jiang Rui waved her hand. “Don’t worry. Anything made by Jiang Rui is guaranteed to be top quality. If you run into any problems, message me on WeChat.”

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Only then did the driver finally relax.

In the years that followed, Jiang Rui’s talismans would sell for hundreds of thousands, even millions, each. It was only then that the driver realized just how fortunate he had been that day.

Because of those two talismans, his family remained safe and peaceful from that day onward. Not once did any of them suffer from being tormented by unclean things.

“Master, wake up. We’ve arrived at Xiaoyu Village.”

The driver parked the car and reached over to shake Jiang Rui awake. She rubbed her eyes.

“We’re here already?”

“Yes, we’ve arrived.”

Jiang Rui took a hundred-yuan note from her pocket and handed it to the driver. There was no way he dared accept it.

“Master, are you joking? Put that away quickly. What are you doing?”

“Take it. That’s how it should be. Drive carefully on your way back.”

After saying this, Jiang Rui opened the door, stuffed the money into the driver’s hand, and got out.

The driver gave a helpless laugh. “That’s the first time I’ve ever met a master like her. She’s quite something.”

…

Jiang Rui had barely walked a few steps when she saw a young man ahead. He looked energetic and full of spirit.

The young man was Yu Wenqiang. When he saw Jiang Rui, he jogged over and extended his hand.

Jiang Rui shook it. “You’re Master Jiang, right? I never expected you to actually come to my home. This is wonderful.”

“Just call me Jiang Rui. Your family’s situation is rather unusual, so I had no choice but to make the trip myself.”

If she had had any choice, Jiang Rui certainly would not have traveled such a long way. Unfortunately, the situation in the Yu household was far too complicated. If it was not handled properly, something disastrous would certainly happen.

Coming back to deal with it after that would be much more troublesome. More importantly, the Yu family’s situation was already dangerous enough.

If Jiang Rui had never encountered it, she could have ignored it. But now that she had, she had no choice but to intervene.

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