How come I was born a deity?

Chapter 49: Keep Acting, Kid

After receiving the Bodhi prayer beads from Wang Shande, Chen Qi noticed that Sun Yiyan's gaze seemed filled with envy. Curious, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing." Sun Yiyan turned her head away.

Wang Shande explained, "Perhaps it's envy. After all, Bodhi prayer beads are a very precious treasure. Even in a Buddhist holy site like Mount Wutai, the annual production is only a handful."

"There are generally only two ways to obtain Bodhi prayer beads: one is through gifts from Buddhism, and the other is through official channels."

Wang Shande continued, "The former is easy to understand. Those who have special significance or friendship with the Buddhist community can receive Bodhi prayer beads. For example, your father, Chen Fuzhou, provided assistance in the past and received Bodhi prayer beads as a gift from the Buddhist community."

At this moment, Chen Qi suddenly remembered that when he was a child, he had played with a string of beads that his father had.

So that's what it is?

"The second type of official gift mainly comes from the Buddhist community regularly providing Bodhi prayer beads to the government. You can think of it as protection money."

Wang Shande did not defend himself on this matter, since it looked to everyone as if he were collecting protection money.

Chen Qi didn't delve deeper into the matter, but instead asked, "So, what are the approximate effects of this thing?"

"As for the effect..." Wang Shande thought for a moment and replied, "Under normal circumstances, the effect is similar to that of the luminous pearl in your arms, or even not necessarily comparable. It is the common function of calming the mind and warding off evil and disaster, which can help cultivators to some extent."

"But there is one thing that the luminous pearl cannot do."

Chen Qi's curiosity was piqued. "What is it?"

"It can ward off disasters." Qin Bo chimed in, "Bodhi prayer beads can ward off disasters, but not the kind of disasters you usually think of."

"A person's fortune is balanced. When your fortune changes, some things will begin to accumulate. Practitioners call this 'karma.' When your karma accumulates to a certain extent, it will begin to adjust your fortune from a macro perspective."

"If a practitioner's luck reaches its peak, karma will pull their luck down to the ground to achieve balance. At this time, the practitioner will be very unlucky. Conversely, when luck declines, karma will accumulate. After a certain period, it will cause luck to rise, and everything will go smoothly for you."

"The degree of bad luck varies from person to person. When it is so severe that it can threaten one's life, it is called a calamity. The heavenly tribulation you have heard about in movies and TV shows is one of them."

Qin Bo paused for a moment, "And the effect of the Bodhi rosary is to block this kind of calamity, which is why this thing is so precious. Because this thing is disposable, it can only block one calamity, and it can block any calamity, no matter how big it is."

Hearing this, Chen Qi finally understood.

The long, elaborate introduction, about things like luck, karma, and calamities, is all unimportant.

In layman's terms... this thing can make things go smoothly for me twice!

I'm a genius at summarizing.

After summarizing everything, Chen Qi understood just how valuable this thing really was.

No wonder Sun Yiyan, despite having a family behind her, still cast envious glances at her.

Not only is this thing hard to obtain, but its effects are also just as powerful!

Wang Shande indeed kept his promise.

Shen Nianxu, who was standing to the side, was clearly not very interested in this thing. She turned to Wang Shande and asked, "Is there any other praise?"

Wang Shande shook his head. "That's all."

"That's it?" Shen Nianxu looked at Wang Shande with suspicion. "Not even a penny of bonus?"

Wang Shande: "No."

Shen Nianxu: "Then I'll make a call and ask..."

"Hey!" Wang Shande quickly raised his hand to stop him, "You don't believe me?"

Shen Nianxu stared at him. "Do you want to recall what your nickname is?"

Wang Shande paused for a moment, then looked at Chen Qi beside him.

Chen Qi immediately understood and looked at Shen Nianxu, "Shen Nianxu! You've gone too far! Senior Wang has been so good to us, and you actually doubt him!"

Shen Nianxu's eyes widened. "You traitor! I'm trying to help our bookstore, and you're siding with outsiders!"

"What a joke! Do you think I'm that kind of person?" Chen Qi retorted confidently. "I believe Senior Wang is a gentleman like me, how could he possibly keep the prize money for himself?"

Chen Qi stepped forward and stood in front of Wang Shande, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Senior Wang, you agree, right?"

Wang Shande: "..."

Shen Nianxu's eyes flickered slightly, and she instantly understood Chen Qi's meaning. She put down her phone and said, "Indeed, I was judging a gentleman by my own petty standards."

"Ever since the previous owner died, Senior Wang has been very kind to our bookstore. Now I'm actually questioning his character... I deserve to die."

After saying that, Shen Nianxu pulled a bartender's knife from the bar counter, pointed it at her neck, and said with tears in her eyes, "I can't forgive myself for this. I'm sorry, Senior Wang..."

Wang Shande's face turned black.

"Alright, alright," Wang Shande waved his hand, "I was originally planning to get some of the 200,000 yuan I lost back, but since you two have put on such a show, what else can I say? I'll just transfer it to your card in a bit."

"Yay!" Shen Nianxu gave another thumbs-up and then high-fived Chen Qi.

Chen Qi didn't react, so Shen Nianxu slapped him across the face.

Everyone: "..."

Chen Qi: "? I'm serious, I really believe in Senior Wang."

Wang Shande had a "keep acting" look on his face.

After the brief incident, Wang Shande said, "Since your bookstore handled the Wan Yao Club incident so well, I am even more relieved."

He originally intended to conjure something out like a magician, but Wang Shande hesitated for a moment, seemingly considering that Chen Qi, who was standing next to him, could learn any skill with just a glance. Instead, he obediently opened his shoulder bag and took out a blue semi-transparent folder.

"These are basically all the works that were left behind after the previous owner of the bookstore passed away, and now they're being handed over to your bookstore."

Chen Qi: "?"

Shen Nianxu: "?"

Holy crap, it's so thick!

That would take so much work!

Chen Qi took the file bag, opened it, and all the paper documents of various sizes were piled up on the table, as thick as a coin standing upright.

You should know that basically every two or three pages represent one event, and with such a thick stack of paper documents, the number of events must be astronomical!

"So many things can happen in our small city of Qingcheng?" Chen Qi couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"A tiny Qingcheng?" Sun Yiyan thought she had misheard. "You're not kidding, are you? Qingcheng is a representative of the new first-tier cities, and it's also one of the largest cities in the country. With such a large area, isn't it normal for there to be many incidents?"

After hearing all that, Chen Qi really had no way to explain. He picked up the document and flipped through it page by page, examining its contents.

Taking this opportunity, Wang Shande said, "These things are things that the bookstore should handle. I was just handling them on its behalf. Even if we hand them back to you now, the payment will still be made. You can rest assured."

"I'm not worried about the compensation," Qin Bo shook his head. As the third-generation patriarch of the Qin family firm, he was practically a third-generation rich kid and had no worries about money. "I'm just more concerned about what to do if there are any difficult situations to handle."

Sun Yiyan nodded in agreement. "Indeed, the reason why the bookstore was so efficient back then was mainly because the previous owner was a cultivator and had strong enough power."

"And now, the only pillar of the bookstore is Shen Nianxu... uh, I don't mean to say that Miss Shen is not capable enough."

Noticing Shen Nianxu's expression, Sun Yiyan quickly corrected himself, "It's just that the overall strength of the bookstores has clearly declined. If they encounter powerful cultivators or powerful demons and monsters, are they really capable of dealing with them?"

"It's nothing," Wang Shande said casually. "The path of cultivation is all about 'struggle' and 'adventure.' Take your Sun family's old patriarch, for example. Did he have a smooth journey all the way? He encountered many forces that he couldn't fight against and had to do everything he could to survive and hold on until now."

What Wang Shande really wanted to say was that Chen Qi, as Chen Fuzhou's son, could never truly have a smooth and successful life.

The reason he was treated kindly by various forces in Qingcheng was mainly because Chen Fuzhou had not made any enemies in Qingcheng.

But outside of Qingcheng, especially in recent years when Chen Fuzhou was at the height of his power, the enemies he made outside would turn their attention to Chen Qi when they realized they couldn't get revenge on Chen Fuzhou.

It's for his own good to let him experience more hardships now.

The cruelty and danger of the cultivation world... Chen Qi has yet to truly experience it.