Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
To tell the truth, contrary to the complex feelings of guilt of her senior classmates, Chi Shuyan was really quite happy. She had no favorable impression of these classmates, who watched indifferently and took delight in her misery in her past life. She was even more disgusted with that class teacher, who sided with the powerful. Being able to leave that unpleasant place in her past life, she was genuinely relieved and had nothing to worry about.
Moreover, she had also found that grades were sometimes disproportionate to human virtue. When she first transferred to the fifth class, she expected to be questioned as to why. She had long ago gone out of her way to speculate about the utmost malice of human nature. But to her surprise, the students in the fifth class treated her like an ordinary transfer student. They warmly welcomed her and did what they ought to do, without exposing Chi Shuyan’s scars – not the least bit.
Besides, she wasn’t the former Chi Shuyan, who was not only terrible in interpersonal relationships, but also shy and introverted. Having experienced violent storms and waves, she became quite lively in nature too. So she was pretty comfortable in the fifth class and made a few ordinary friends.
On top of that, the management of the slow stream was much more relaxed than the fast stream. It was easy to ask for leave, which was especially satisfying to Chi Shuyan. She didn’t want to be bored in school and study again. So, she started taking a leave of absence twice every three days. The class teacher was kind enough to talk her out of it at first, but seeing how Chi Shuyan insisted, she had nothing left to do but to let her go.
The bridge under the riverfront buildings had always been the home of Chinese geomancy or feng shui fortune-tellers. Every single one of them were dressed in a lofty, dignified manner amidst a myriad of items, such as Chinese fortune sticks, fortune copper coins, ink brush, white paper, and a lot of other things placed on the table. Then, underneath the table were all sorts of ritual artifacts necessary in the market, while a fortune telling sign stood in front of their tables.
But today was extra special, with the arrival of a beautiful little girl in a casual outfit. There was a stack of yellow talismans on the girl’s desk, and a large pile of white rabbit candy. In front of her table stood a sign written in bold cursive calligraphy that read, “Divine strategy and Miraculous insight”.
“Little girl, what about Old Liang who had set up his stall here before?” On her right side, Master Yuan, who was purported to be the 108th head descendant of Yuan Tiangang[1.Yuan Tiangang was a Tang dynasty fortune teller who wrote the Tui Bei Tu, a Chinese fortune book.], asked curiously.
Chi Shuyan glanced at him and shook her head, “I gave him 200 yuan, and he ceded the pen, ink, paper, inkstone, and table on this stand.”
“Little girl, are you here to experience life or to sell snacks part-time? Then, you’d better get up and promote, but I think it’s more profitable to sell candied fruits.” On her left side, Master Li, who was purported to be Li Chunfeng’s1 successor, also suggested.
“No, I’m not here to sell snacks, I’m a fortune teller.” Chi Shuyan took a big White Rabbit creamy candy unfettered and pointed to the sign next to her with her cheeks puffed out.
Master Yuan and Master Li instantly stared blankly at her. They had never seen a female fortune teller master, who looked like an 17 or 18-year-old child. Could it be that this child dropped out of school at random with this idea? The most important point was that pile of White Rabbit creamy candy on her table. The two masters shook their heads. She’d better dress and act like one. Otherwise, who would ask her to tell their fortune?
“Don’t children of your age believe more in those Western Tarot cards, Western astrology or horoscopes and whatnot?” Master Li then consulted her shamelessly and said that his business had been bad lately, so if those Western mystical arts were more in demand, he’d have to learn a few more trades too.
“Not really, I still think fortune telling in our country is more orthodox.” Chi Shuyan smiled faintly.
“Yeah, sigh, if only these kids’ minds were as enlightened as yours.” Master Yuan sighed.
Chi Shuyan laughed, without saying a word. Lifting a cinnabar pen on a yellow talisman, she drew a magic inscription like moving clouds and flowing water.
“Wow, that’s a nice pattern you painted, it looks a bit interesting. How much do you charge for a paper talisman?” Master Li leaned in closer for a look, “Still, with a smart kid like you, you can save a lot of costs if you beautifully paint everything yourself like this.”
Chi Shuyan didn’t stop until she finished writing the last stroke of a Chinese character. Under the dazzling sunlight, the glow of the talisman was directly obscured, then she lifted her head and extended five fingers.
“50?” Master Li guessed.
Chi Shuyan shook her head. This talisman had consumed a lot of her spiritual power, how could it be so cheap.
“500?” Master Yuan asked.
“50,000 a talisman, but I’ll offer a special price today first, so 5,000 a talisman.” Chi Shuyan blinked her eyes and looked at the two people aside, “I wonder if you two are interested in anything?”
Master Li and Master Yuan shook their heads with a rattle, and retreated back to their stalls.They realized that this girl had a problem with her head. She dared to sell that talisman for 5,000. Sure enough, young people were over-ambitious. The most important thing about fortune-telling was that it was easy and relatively less risky. Selling talismans would more likely lead to a pitfall.
On Chi Shuyan’s first day of business, there were quite a lot of people coming, but these people took a curious glance at her and her stall, then uniformly chose other stalls.
“Mom, why are you still believing in this? Modern science promotes and opposes feudal superstition. Even if some supernatural phenomena occur, they can be explained scientifically.” A young man in his thirties said with impatience to a woman in her sixties.
The woman was wearing a string of Buddhist beads on her wrists and a red-stringed jade Buddha around her neck. She was clearly either a fan of metaphysics or a believer in Buddhism. People of her age believed in Gods and Buddhas and were extremely gullible. Sometimes, spending money for them was just for peace of mind. For many fortune-tellers, the risk was small and the transaction was an easy deal. Though they were good at heart, many fortune-tellers were on the lookout when they saw this woman.
Zhao Zhicheng tried to persuade his mother, apparently unwilling to give the hard-earned cash to these fortune-telling crooks. If he’d said this in the past, his mother wouldn’t have gone against his wishes and even if she really wanted to go to a fortune-teller, she’d do it behind his back. He’d just turn a blind eye to it. Unfortunately, today was a bit special because his father was in the hospital. Even after Zhao Zhicheng’s sound reasoning, he still failed to get through to his mother.
Zhao Zhicheng’s worried mother looked at several fortune-telling stalls and scanned several of them indecisively, not knowing which one to go to.
Zhao Zhicheng looked around and of course noticed the stir among the fortune tellers. If he hesitated any longer, they’d probably all come down to hustle. He sneered. Just as many fortune-tellers looked on expectantly, he pulled his mother without hesitation and walked towards Chi Shuyan’s stall, with the eyes of a whole bunch of fortune tellers watching him.