Seeing Li Pei looking so agitated, his companions grew curious too.
“Spill it—what happened?”
Under the expectant gazes of the group, Li Pei recounted everything that had just happened.
As they listened to his story, one of the drunkards popped a salted peanut into his mouth and asked:
“From what you’re saying… You’re implying that you saw some sort of exceptional talent in that young master?”
Faced with his friend’s guess, Li Pei solemnly nodded.
“Exactly. That’s precisely why I refused the fifty gold coins!”
When the group heard this, strange expressions flashed across their faces.
“Seriously?”
“What kind of talent would make a stingy guy like you give up a fifty-gold reward?”
“That’s enough to keep our place running for years!”
Seeing their curiosity reach a boiling point, Li Pei stopped playing coy.
He poured himself a glass of wine, then said with great seriousness:
“Fortune.”
“Fortune?!”
At Li Pei’s explanation, the group paused in confusion.
They exchanged glances— none of them seemed to understand what exactly he meant by “fortune.”
Seeing their blank faces, Li Pei continued his explanation:
“In the local lingo, it means this person is blessed by the Goddess of Luck!”
“In Xuzu terms, that young master is wrapped in primordial purple energy—he’s someone born under an auspicious fate!”
“The fortune surrounding him is beyond anything ordinary. It’s what we call luck on a divine level!”
“Obviously, his missing magical energy must have been converted into fortune instead!”
“This fortune doesn’t just benefit him—he shares it with the people around him!”
“If you get close to him, he becomes your benefactor!”
As Li Pei spun this mystical-sounding theory, the people at the table looked both baffled and vaguely impressed.
“Fortune?”
“You just mean he’s ridiculously lucky, right?”
Among them, only the tipsy drunkard from earlier was grinning.
“Li, quit showing off with your Feng-whatever knowledge.”
“It’s not Feng-whatever, it’s Feng Shui!!”
Li Pei corrected him, but the drunkard didn’t care.
“Doesn’t matter.”
“What matters is…”
“If he really is that blessed, really favored by the Goddess of Fate…”
“Then why the hell is his family falling apart?”
“And another thing—”
“What makes you think you’re the only one who can see that so-called purple aura?”
“Wouldn’t anyone notice if someone was wrapped in purple mist like you claim?”
“And even if the guy is lucky, what’s that got to do with you refusing the money?”
“If you ask me, you just got exposed as a fraud and made up this nonsense to save face!”
“Hahaha!”
Though the drunkard was clearly tipsy, his mind was unusually sharp.
He pointed out several holes in Li Pei’s story without missing a beat!
Hearing this, the others at the table chuckled awkwardly.
Compared to Li Pei’s ridiculous explanation, they were more inclined to believe that he was just bluffing to protect his pride.
After all, we’re talking about fifty gold coins!
People like them, who scraped by wandering from place to place, would never give up that much money without a solid reason.
Rather than believe in Li Pei’s baseless ramblings, they’d sooner believe he was some lost illegitimate son of an emperor!
Facing their mockery, Li Pei just gave a helpless smile.
“It’s not some purple mist. I could see it because… ah, forget it!”
“Believe it or not, I gained something far more valuable than gold.”
That got their attention.
The group, who had just been laughing, now looked curious.
“More valuable than fifty gold coins?”
“What could possibly be worth more than cold hard cash?”
In response, Li Pei gave them a mysteriously smug smile.
“I latched onto his fortune.”
That statement left everyone dumbfounded.
“Latched onto his fortune?”
Li Pei nodded with a hint of pride.
“Getting just a little of his fortune is something no amount of gold could buy!”
“Gold runs out eventually.”
“But a life-changing opportunity? That’s priceless!”
Seeing how confident he was, the group began to waver a bit.
“Is fortune really that powerful?”
Li Pei nodded again.
“I don’t know why his family hasn’t been affected by it…”
“But I know I’ve tapped into that lucky aura!”
As they looked at the genuine joy on Li Pei’s face, the others swallowed nervously—envy starting to creep in.
“You got all that just from talking to him for a few minutes?”
“How could something that good be so easy to get?”
Faced with the question, Li Pei nodded enthusiastically.
“Exactly.”
“With someone blessed like him, all you need to do is genuinely wish him well—”
“And his fortune will rub off on you. It’ll smooth out your whole life!”
“That’s why I absolutely refused to take his gold.”
“Take his money, and I’d lose my shot at sharing his divine luck!”
“With someone that blessed,”
“All you need to do is sincerely wish them well, and you’ll get a piece of their luck—your own life will smooth out like never before!”
“That’s why I absolutely refused to take his gold.”
“If I’d taken the money, I wouldn’t have been able to tap into his fortune!”
As Li Pei spoke, the others’ eyes lit up with excitement, their faces full of envy.
Only the drunkard burped and said doubtfully:
“If that’s really how it works…”
“Shouldn’t you have just told him outright?”
“Keeping it from him—how’s that considered goodwill?”
Li Pei showed a troubled expression at that.
“I wanted to tell him directly.”
“But luck—true fortune—is tied to the secrets of heaven.”
“If I expose it, I won’t be able to benefit from it anymore.”
“Not only that, but breaking the cosmic balance could bring a streak of bad luck on me!”
“I had no choice!”
Hearing that, the others just shook their heads.
They honestly didn’t get a word of Li Pei’s “Xuzu-style” fortune-and-feng-shui logic.
Cultural gap, after all.
To someone from Xuzu, what he said made perfect sense.
But for these Vitanian natives?
No matter how clear Li Pei tried to be, it all sounded like gibberish—vague and mystical.
Most of them took his story as nothing more than a fun bit of barroom chatter.
Only the drunkard sneered in response:
“Sounds like a bunch of nonsense to me.”
Li Pei wasn’t fazed.
“Oh?”
“You don’t believe me?”
“Then let’s make a bet.”
“If my luck turns around in a few months, you owe me ten coins. Deal?”
The drunkard, unfazed, immediately accepted.
After all, it was just ten coins—not even enough to buy a proper meal.
Even if he lost, it wouldn’t hurt.
The small wager became the highlight of their drinking session.
Right after the bet was sealed, another man slapped his thigh in realization.
“Wait, hang on!”
“Li—if what you’re saying is true…”
“Then that young master is practically a walking lucky star!”
“If someone married him, wouldn’t they be set for life!?”
As soon as he said that, a name popped into all their minds—Crasis Phinip!
If her engagement to Ron went through, wouldn’t she skyrocket into glory and fortune?
But what they didn’t know was…
At that very moment, Crasis was desperately trying to dump Ron—the very same heaven-sent golden goose!