Chapter 834: Xiang Sheng Hao’s Feng Shui Shop
Outside the casino, Xiao He was still unaware that he had once been mistaken by others in the Bao Family as Shipping Tycoon Bao Xingsheng's illegitimate child.
Fortunately, he did not know about this.
Otherwise, Xiao He, who would have suddenly had his "biological father" changed, would likely have been so angry he'd cough up blood.
After declining Bao Wenqi's invitation to gamble, Xiao He and the others walked out of the casino without any obstruction.
Everyone had originally thought that things might not go smoothly this time, but in the end, nothing happened at all.
The other party seemed to have really just extended a simple invitation and had no intention of making things difficult for them.
Even so, when they stood outside the casino perimeter again, everyone finally let out a long sigh of relief, feeling as if they had survived a disaster.
Although nothing had happened, they all felt that the way that young President Bao and his friends looked at them was very strange, especially toward Xin Yiran.
Just thinking back on it, they felt like prey being watched by a hunter.
Xin Yiran had seen such looks too many times in the entertainment industry, so she had truly been a bit frightened just now.
Fortunately, Brother Xiao had never let them down and successfully brought them out safely.
"It's fine, you don't need to be afraid."
Xiao He saw that the young people were looking a bit pale, and he couldn't help but smile helplessly, soothingly saying: "Young President Bao's father is one of the organizers of this gala, so they are also responsible for looking after some of the guests. What just happened was just a friendly greeting."
"Phew."
Liang Cheng was the first to react, letting out a long breath and smiling at Xiao He, saying: "Brother Xiao, we know, it's just that the scene was so grand earlier that we didn't react in time."
In fact, they had been in the entertainment industry for so many years and had seen many big scenes, but when facing people with such vastly different social status, they still couldn't help but feel intimidated.
Because of this, seeing the calm and composed Xiao He, Liang Cheng couldn't help but feel admiration, and the others nodded along in agreement.
"Brother Xiao is so amazing. Everyone was looking at me earlier, and I felt like I couldn't say a single word."
"Yeah, yeah, I've never even been that nervous on stage before."
"Maybe it's because the feeling that young President Bao and his friends give off is just too... well, it's a feeling I can't quite describe."
"Yes, I didn't even dare to raise my head just now..."
The atmosphere returned to harmony, and everyone began to discuss what had just happened in a flurry of voices.
The Feng Shui shop was very close, and just as they walked to the entrance, they heard the door staff calling out numbers again.
"Number 29!"
"Number 29!"
"That's me, that's me!"
Xin Yiran immediately took out her number tag and reached out.
Then she hesitated for a moment, looked at Xiao He, and with a hopeful expression, she invited him: "Brother Xiao, could you accompany me inside to take a look? I'm a little scared right now."
The queuing system here had strict requirements on the number of people; each number allowed a maximum of two people to enter. As it happened, they originally had five people and had taken three numbers, so one number still allowed for an extra person.
Xin Yiran immediately invited Xiao He to be her safety charm.
Xiao He was also quite interested in the Feng Shui shop they mentioned, so he nodded: "Sure!"
Before coming this time, Xiao He had not heard that anyone from the Celestial Master Association would be on the ship. Even President Mao and Daoist Hu, whom Shipping Tycoon Bao Xingsheng visited frequently, had not mentioned this to him.
Therefore, the Celestial Master on the ship must not be from the Celestial Master Association.
That left only two other possibilities.
One possibility was that the Celestial Master on the ship was from abroad and had no connection to the Hong Kong Feng Shui Association, and therefore would not be subject to official control.
Another possibility was that the Celestial Master on the ship was a rogue practitioner who had avoided official control.
Neither of these situations was good.
Coupled with the Bao Family's absurd superstition over the years, perhaps they were taking advantage of this voyage to secretly do something.
Thinking of this, Xiao He felt his head start to ache.
Why did it feel like there was nothing good on this ship, with various conspiracies brewing?
After dealing with the Dong Family's black-market transactions, he now had to deal with the Bao Family's petty issues. The only fortunate thing was that the current person in power of the He Family was a young person who had just taken office, was not firmly in power, acted relatively low-key, and had a relatively clean record.
Otherwise, Xiao He suspected that after the Xiangsheng Cruise Ship returned, the Police would spend over an hour just arresting people.
"Welcome!"
Although the Feng Shui shop didn't look big from the outside, the interior was exceptionally spacious, and there was even a staircase to an upper level.
However, the overall decoration of the shop didn't have as many metaphysical elements as imagined. Everything was clean; apart from the display cabinets placed inside, the rest was just standard cabin fittings.
Xiao He just scanned the place with his eyes and knew that this was probably a makeshift storefront. It likely hadn't been used as a Feng Shui shop before. Everything was simple and plain, not at all like a shop on the Xiangsheng Cruise Ship.
However, there were quite a lot of miscellaneous items inside: Taoist, Buddhist, and others—everything common on the market was available.
Things like peach wood swords, Five Emperor coins, bronze gourds, golden toads, and kylin ornaments were all displayed in the brightly lit glass display cabinets.
In addition, various prayer beads, bracelets, and talisman pouches were hung on the display cabinets. In the corner of the wall, there were many jars of various sizes, similar to medicine jars, and right in the center was a luxurious, shiny, all-gold alms bowl.
However, when Xiao He lightly sniffed the scent in the shop, he couldn't help but want to frown slightly.
The scent of the incense used inside the shop was too heavy, so heavy that it was almost choking, making it impossible for people to smell what was truly permeating the air in the shop.
"Wow, this alms bowl is so beautiful."
Xin Yiran, who had just entered, was the first to fix her gaze on that alms bowl.
The display cabinet for this alms bowl was the most special, forming a sharp contrast with the other plain display cabinets; even the light above it was more sacred and bright.
Therefore, it was hard for guests who had just entered the shop not to fix their eyes on this alms bowl at first glance.
After walking closer and looking carefully, everyone would realize that the alms bowl part wasn't actually the most dazzling part; the base made of pure gold, specially designed to hold it, was an even more stunning work.
The base as a whole looked like a cluster of raging flames, or perhaps a blooming, sacred lotus, or even a pair of soft, boneless hands held together, holding up the alms bowl in the center.
On the contrary, the alms bowl itself was not as dazzling as the gold beneath it.
But from this, one could also see that something that could be held by gold must be even more valuable.
Xin Yiran walked over curiously, then leaned against the railing outside the display cabinet, observing the alms bowl inside the cabinet closely, clicking her tongue in admiration.
But Xiao He narrowed his eyes.
As someone who already possessed the criminal skill 【Art of Dissection】, his brain now held theoretical knowledge equivalent to that of an excellent forensic doctor.
So, with just one glance, he recognized what this was.
—A human skull.
More accurately, it originated from Tibetan Buddhism, and its scientific name is a Kapala bowl, which is made from the skull of an eminent monk.
At this moment, Xiao He suddenly understood something, and he turned his head to look closely at the other ornaments and bracelets, his expression gradually becoming strange.
Infant skulls, a young girl's tibia, the carapace of a protected animal...
Good grief.
No wonder it was opened on the High Seas. These things are really a major problem!