Lu Chen raised his hand and said, “Hold on, Head of the Sun family, I’m not finished yet. Although Lord Yama has only agreed to add seven days of life for now, I’ve already made a deal with him. Making sure the old gentleman lives a few more years might not be too difficult.”
“A deal?” Sun Qingcang immediately became interested. “Please, tell me more, young friend Lu!”
So Lu Chen told Sun Qingcang everything about the deal he’d made with Old Lord Yama, just as it happened.
When he mentioned building a temple and gilding a statue, Sun Qingcang’s expression shifted slightly, but not too much.
Clearly, it was well within the realm of acceptability.
After all, the Sun family temple was so big—adding one more Yama Hall wasn’t exactly difficult.
But then, when they heard that Lu Chen planned to invite Lord Yama into his own home for worship—
The Sun family members all gasped at the same time.
“Young friend Lu… aren’t you afraid of bad luck?”
“Yeah, inviting Lord Yama home to worship him—if you look through ancient texts, you’re probably the first person in thousands of years to do this, Mr. Lu!”
Lu Chen’s face was full of helplessness. He clasped his hands and said, “Well, for the sake of the old gentleman, I really had no other choice. Otherwise, Lord Yama wouldn’t agree.”
Sun Qingcang was deeply moved and immediately clasped his hands in return.
“Young friend, your sense of loyalty is truly admirable! I’m at a loss for words! Don’t worry—I’m not the kind of person who tears down the bridge after crossing it. Your generosity and righteousness will be repaid with a generous gift!”
See? This is what high-end clients are like!
Just for that one sentence alone—
All this talking today wasn’t a waste!
“So what happened next?”
“Next is…”
Lu Chen told Sun Qingcang the most crucial part: one thousand offerings of incense—or to be more precise, one thousand incense-offering believers—in exchange for five years of life.
As soon as he said it—
The Sun family members were both shocked and overjoyed, but also surprised.
Five years?!
That number was way beyond what they’d imagined!
But once they calmed down—
Sun Qingcang’s face suddenly showed difficulty. “One thousand incense-offering believers… that won’t be easy, I’m afraid!”
Even Sun Yourong, who rarely spoke and had a noticeably cool temperament, furrowed her brows. “One thousand believers? If we were talking about a heavenly deity, that might be manageable. But an underworld lord?… That’s practically impossible!”
She glanced around and said, “Even if we count ourselves, that’s only a handful. We’re still so far from a thousand!”
Lu Chen asked, “Miss Sun, how many employees does your group have?”
Sun Yourong replied, “The Sun Group has quite a few people—about two thousand. But worshiping a deity is completely voluntary. Even if we forced it, if the employees aren’t sincere, it wouldn’t matter.”
Lu Chen nodded. “That makes sense… How about this? Let’s take our time figuring this out. You go ahead and build the temple and gild the statue first. Also, try to get as many believers as you can—at least enough to guarantee the old gentleman’s short-term lifespan. I’ll also actively look for solutions on my end. After all, I’m the one who made this deal with Lord Yama, so I should be the one to shoulder most of the burden.”
Sun Qingcang excitedly grabbed Lu Chen’s hand. “Young friend Lu, I won’t say any more words of gratitude. Just know this—from now on, in Jiangdu City, if you run into any trouble, come to the Sun family. We will never refuse to help.”
“Oh, that’s… that’s too kind!” Lu Chen offered a polite refusal, then stopped being modest. “Alright, thank you for your generosity, Head Sun.”
“Don’t be so formal, young friend Lu. No need to call me ‘Head Sun’ anymore—just call me Uncle Sun from now on. And I’ll call you Xiao Chen, how about that?”
He hadn’t succeeded in becoming a sworn son, but he did gain an uncle.
Alright, alright, alright—no loss there.
After all, the Sun family was one of the four great families of Jiangdu City.
Having them as a backer was something countless people would dream of!
Lu Chen certainly wasn’t about to refuse.
But he also knew very well that the reason Sun Qingcang was acting this way was entirely because the old gentleman’s fate was now in his hands.
Thinking about it that way—
Old Lord Yama’s deal had actually done him a huge favor without him even realizing it.
Another big win!
“In that case… I’ll gladly accept, Uncle Sun!”
Sun Qingcang laughed heartily. “Excellent, excellent! Two joyful occasions in one day! Yourong.”
“Father.”
“Later, transfer the money to young Lu. Oh, by the way, Xiao Chen—where do you live?”
Lu Chen’s heart tightened, but he said, “Uncle Sun, I live in the northern part of the city.”
Sun Qingcang asked, “Which neighborhood?”
Lu Chen thought for a moment. Since he couldn’t hide it anyway, he decided to be honest. “Nanshan Neighborhood. It’s an older neighborhood, not far from the temple.”
Sun Qingcang nodded. “Perfect. Our Sun family happens to have a small villa in the northern part of the city, up in Yunding Mountain Villa. It’s not far from the Zhao family temple either. Yourong, later transfer this house to Xiao Chen’s name. As for the keys, find a time to hand them over to him.”
“Yes, Father.” Sun Yourong didn’t waste a single word.
Yunding Mountain Villa?
That villa complex really wasn’t far from Nanshan Neighborhood.
It was only about a few minutes’ drive.
Not exactly the most luxurious mansion in the north end of the city—
But at least it was above average.
Market price—around twenty million.
“Whoa, Uncle Sun, that doesn’t seem right. That’s way too generous!”
“Alright, don’t be shy with me, Xiao Chen. What you did today for my father—it truly moved me. A simple house—what’s that compared to everything you’ve done?”
Well then. Lu Chen had originally only planned to squeeze out a few million extra.
He never expected they’d just hand him tens of millions.
Looks like the joys of rich people are truly beyond the imagination of the poor.
“How about this, Uncle Sun? Just give me five million as the reward for now. I only secured seven days of extended life, after all. I’d feel bad taking the full thirty million. Besides, what Young Master Sun said earlier wasn’t wrong. Wait until I’ve gathered a hundred believers—enough to guarantee at least a year of the old gentleman’s life—and then you can pay the rest. How does that sound?”
Sun Qingcang thought it over and didn’t refuse. “Alright… let’s do it your way, Xiao Chen! And if you really manage to gather a thousand believers, giving my father five more years of life—I promise there will be another hefty reward!”
Lu Chen thought to himself that Sun Qingcang was truly a filial son.
Spending money like this just to give his father a few more years of life.
This was the kind of person worth befriending!
Soon enough, Lu Chen received the five million yuan transferred by Sun Yourong.
“Let’s go to the temple hall and request the statue of Lord Yama,” Sun Qingcang suggested.
“Sounds good. And I need to request another deity as well.”
“Another deity?” Sun Yourong asked. “Lord Jun of Wealth?”
Lu Chen nodded. “Yes. To be honest with you all, the only reason I volunteered myself today was for him. Otherwise, seven days from now, I probably wouldn’t be able to worship Lord Jun of Wealth anymore.”
Sun Qingcang, being who he was, immediately sensed something interesting behind those words.
The very foundation of the Zhao family temple was Lord Zhao of Wealth.
And now, out of nowhere, came this unusually gifted Lu Chen, who worshiped another wealth deity—Lord Jun of Wealth.
No wonder the Zhao family manager had been so aggressive and rejection toward Lu Chen earlier.
So that was the real reason.
Sun Qingcang nodded. “Alright, I’ll go with you. Let’s request both deities!”
A moment later.
Inside the temple hall.
Lu Chen completed the paperwork and paid the fee.
Thanks to Sun Qingcang’s influence—
The final price for requesting Lord Jun of Wealth dropped from one million down to eight hundred thousand.
As for Lord Yama, the Zhao family only charged four hundred thousand as a friendly gesture.
And on top of that, Sun Qingcang voluntarily paid that four hundred thousand himself—as a sponsorship for Lu Chen.
Looking at the brand-new statue of Lord Jun of Wealth and the spirit tablet of Lord Yama in his hands—
The heavy stone in Lu Chen’s heart finally hit the ground.
“I thought I’d reached a dead end, but it turns out there was a whole new path waiting for me.”
At the temple entrance.
Both sides said their goodbyes.
“Here, let me scan your code.”
Sun Yourong took the initiative to pull out her phone.
“Scan what?” Lu Chen quickly realized and pulled out his phone, adding her as a contact.
Sun Qingcang laughed and said, “Good, you two are around the same age anyway. It’s good to stay in touch. Xiao Chen, my Yourong has never voluntarily added anyone before. You’re the first.”
“Dad!” Sun Yourong’s face turned red.
Sun Qingcang burst into laughter.
“It’s getting late. We should head back.”
“Alright, goodbye, Uncle Sun!”
Lu Chen got into another one of the Sun family’s private cars, waved, and left first.
“Manager Zhao, see you around.”
“Take care, President Sun!”
As both families’ cars drove away from the temple—
Zhao Zhihong’s smile slowly faded, but his gaze lingered on the direction Lu Chen had gone.
“Damn brat! Your luck with money sure is something else!”
Each word seemed to squeeze through his clenched teeth.
…
On the way back.
Lu Chen was also thinking about how he was going to complete this mission of finding a thousand believers.
Getting Lord Yama into thousands of households—
If word of that got out, people would probably drown him in spit.
After all, what normal person would worship Lord Yama?
He didn’t mind it himself, but that didn’t mean others wouldn’t mind!
Lu Chen could already imagine the look on his parents’ faces when they saw Lord Yama’s spirit tablet.
“The neighborhood is full of people with wandering eyes. If news somehow gets out that I’m worshiping Lord Yama at home—
The whole neighborhood might explode!
They might even hold a community meeting to publicly criticize me!
Worst case, they might kick my family right out of the neighborhood.
Unless…
I help them truly understand the benefits of worshiping Lord Yama.
That way, the news could spread—one person telling ten, ten telling a hundred—until it reaches a viral level.”
But Lord Yama’s powers were mostly related to the dead.
It’s not like I can have him extend people’s lifespans every single time, right?
They’d start treating him like the God of Longevity.
That’s clearly not realistic either.
“The living, the dead, Lord Yama…”
Lu Chen kept muttering to himself.
But as he kept thinking—
A sudden idea slowly began to take shape in his mind.
“Wait a minute. If my original memories are correct, people in this world don’t seem to have any tradition of ancestor worship. At most, they display a few photos at home to remember them by.
What if I could follow the ancestor worship practices from my previous life—tightening the connection between the living and their ancestors?
Then, naturally, I could bring the underworld into the earthly market.
That way, the underworld would get everything it wants.
Would I ever lack believers or incense offerings?
Not a chance!
Who doesn’t have ancestors?
This is a genuine need!
By then, I wouldn’t even need to promote it myself. This news would spread even faster than a shopping app’s group deal—viral, unstoppable.
And I could even get into the underworld currency business!
Perfect timing—Lord Jun of Wealth will bless my commercial success!
This underworld currency business is absolutely legitimate!
But I’d need to negotiate with Lord Yama for a monopoly!
Make my underworld currency the only officially recognized currency between the underworld and the human world!
If that happens—I’d make an absolute fortune!
Once this path is clear—
I can rake in money nonstop on one hand—
And rake in spiritual merit nonstop on the other!
Maybe I’ll even catch the attention of the Heavenly Dao and gain heavenly fortune!
And achieve my own path to enlightenment!
Who knows—maybe one day, even Lord Yama will have to recognize me as his sworn father!”
Lu Chen’s brain was firing on all cylinders, and he couldn’t help but admire his own shocking brilliance.
Out of nowhere, a single thought had resolved a problem that had been troubling him!
But this was still just a rough idea. To go further, he’d need to discuss it with Old Lord Yama first.
As long as He agreed—
Then Lu Chen would start immediately!
By now, the lights of Nanshan Neighborhood were already right outside the window.
Lu Chen’s heart started buzzing with excitement again.
Dear folks—
I’ve brought you some benefits!
After all—
I, Lu Chen, won’t keep this glory all to myself!
