Since Zhao Chongshan was saved by Gu Qin, he had become much more sensible. He no longer played games all the time and even helped his mother, Zhao Lingxia, manage their inn. During the day, he would review his studies. After the incident, he had really opened his eyes. Spending all day playing games was a waste of life. He had narrowly escaped death, so now he needed to accomplish something meaningful. Being young, he decided to focus on his studies first, and he wasn’t stupid.
He graduated from high school this year. Previously, he hadn’t taken his studies seriously and applied for a university without thinking. He hadn’t planned to go, wanting instead to repeat a year and take the university entrance exam again next year to get into a better university. His family supported this decision. However, he still took an hour or two every day to browse the internet, mostly to read the news or check out forums.
In his free time, he liked to browse the Tianya forum. He usually just looked around randomly at posts, whether about economics, international news, entertainment gossip, or ghost stories. Today, while randomly scrolling, he saw a post titled "Cute Girl Pretends to Be a Feng Shui Master to Tell Fortunes on the Street, the New Generation of Scammers Are So Unprofessional."
Normally, he wouldn’t have bothered reading such posts, but since Qin Mei was also a cute girl and had some connection to fortune-telling, he couldn’t resist clicking on it. The first post had a photo of a young girl, and Zhao Chongshan smiled, "Hey, this girl looks a lot like Qin Mei. She’s even posing in the same way... Wait, holy sh*t, that’s Qin Mei!"
Zhao Chongshan immediately sat up straight, staring at the computer. When he saw that the replies were mocking Gu Qin, with the original poster questioning why Qin Mei was pretending to be a so-called "diviner," he became furious. His fingers flew over the keyboard, and soon he typed a long response.
The child from the Zhao family: "Who said this cute girl is a scammer? I’ll tell you right now, this girl really has skills. If it weren’t for her, I would’ve died once already. She came to stay at our inn, and she immediately noticed I had a blood disaster. I, just like all of you, thought she was crazy at first. But if it weren’t for her pulling me out of danger, I would’ve been hit by a bag of iron objects falling from above!"
Swimming Fish: "Quit exaggerating. This must be a publicity stunt. You’re okay to promote a celebrity, but promoting a scammer like this? Are you trying to scam people on the internet too? Go ahead and take your cute girl back, but if you’re trying to scam people, at least find an old man or something."
The child from the Zhao family: "What publicity stunt? I’m not here to hype anyone. Believe it or not, whatever, but putting this girl’s photo up here like that isn’t right. Go ahead and apply to delete the post! She doesn’t need any publicity; she really has the skills, and one day she’ll be famous. Poster, come out and delete this post!"
Swimming Fish: "Oh, so now you want to delete the post? Come on, tell us what your relationship with this girl is. Are you a hired commenter? There are so many fools online who believe in these so-called diviners for everything..."
Zhao Chongshan grew even angrier. He didn’t mind if people insulted him, but he couldn’t stand anyone badmouthing Qin Mei. He couldn’t help but argue, and the thread was soon filled with pointless back-and-forths, with occasional comments from bystanders being ignored.
Finally, a bystander, unable to bear it any longer, suggested that posts about feng shui masters should be moved to the ghost stories section.
So the thread was moved to the ghost stories section, and Zhao Chongshan couldn’t resist bookmarking it. From then on, whenever he saw anyone slandering Gu Qin, he would argue with them, causing the thread to frequently get bumped back to the top.
Gu Qin, of course, had no idea about any of this. She wasn’t very familiar with the internet. Though she found it fascinating, she only used it occasionally to look up information on her brother’s laptop when she needed it.
Fast forward to August 20th, with just ten days left before school started. Over the past few days, Gu Qin’s stall hadn’t had any business, and many people who passed by would make fun of her. She didn’t take it to heart, as she understood the situation. Most people didn’t believe in this sort of thing, and even more so when it was a young girl like her.
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That morning, after returning from Daishan, Gu Qin went to Wufu Bridge. She took out her items from her backpack and set them up in front of her, with large characters reading "Feng Shui Master" displayed prominently. Half an hour later, no customers had arrived. Just when she was about to give up, an old man walked by. He was around fifty years old, dressed in a gray robe, and Gu Qin recognized him as Liu Bansian from the other side of the bridge.
Liu Bansian wasn’t blind, but he had a slight limp. When he approached Gu Qin, he said, "Little girl, sitting here is useless. If you want to make money, you need to have the skills. Even if you do have the skills, your face is too young, and no one will come to you for fortune-telling. You’re charging so much, right? You should just pack up and go home."
Gu Qin glanced at him and sat cross-legged, replying, "No need for you to worry, Bansian."
Liu Bansian was a bit annoyed. He thought Gu Qin was a scammer, but seeing that she had been sitting there for over twenty days without making a single sale, he felt a bit sorry for her. He continued, "Well, whatever. I’m just telling you this for your own good. Don’t say I didn’t warn you."
Just then, a young man appeared, about twenty years old, with thick brows and big eyes, but with dark circles under his eyes from staying up late. He was accompanied by a girl wearing a flowing dress and a short skirt. The young man walked up and said, "I’m here to get my fortune told."
Gu Qin replied, "Six hundred per person, regardless of what it is—destiny, handwriting, or fortune-telling."
The young man smiled and said, "Little girl, are you really not scamming people?"
The young man, named Jiang Cheng, had been arguing with Zhao Chongshan online for several days. He had seen the thread with Gu Qin’s photo, so when he recognized the place as Wufu Bridge in Daishan, he decided to visit and expose her. He was from a real estate family in Daishan, a well-known developer who had made money during the peak of the real estate boom. Now, he was a recent university graduate, bored and spending most of his time gaming and browsing forums.
Jiang Cheng was eager to expose Gu Qin. His girlfriend, Jiaojiao, whispered to him, "Chengzi, if you want a fortune told, let’s go to the other guy in front. I heard Liu Bansian is really good. This little girl looks like a scammer."
Jiang Cheng smiled but didn’t respond to her. He kept his eyes on Gu Qin.
Liu Bansian had also been watching Gu Qin. He thought it was tough for such a young girl to scam people. When he saw that a customer was approaching, he couldn’t resist walking over to watch.
Gu Qin looked at Jiang Cheng’s face and said, "Your parents are both healthy, and you have an older sister. You suffered some hardship in your childhood, but later your family prospered. However..." Gu Qin paused. "There is a red mark on your temples. Your parents may have some legal troubles."
When Gu Qin finished her first sentence, Jiang Cheng was momentarily stunned. What she said about his family was quite accurate, but he thought it was just a lucky guess. However, when she mentioned "legal troubles," he immediately understood what that meant. He was enraged, "What do you mean by that? Are you cursing my family?"
Liu Bansian couldn’t help but glance at Jiang Cheng’s forehead. He, too, knew about the red mark and understood its significance. It meant legal troubles, but usually, only skilled practitioners could identify such details. Was this girl really as capable as she seemed, or was she just bluffing?
Jiaojiao looked closely at Jiang Cheng’s forehead, confused, "What temples? I don’t see anything."
Gu Qin pointed at Jiang Cheng’s forehead, saying, "These are your temples. I’m offering this free face reading. Would you like to have me predict something or tell you your future?"
Jiang Cheng was silent for a while before responding, "Fine, tell me about my family. When will these legal troubles happen? If you're wrong, I’ll bring people to smash your stall!"
Gu Qin didn’t say much more. She took out three copper coins and prepared to use the ancient method of divination called "Six Lines of the I Ching," which dates back to the Zhou Dynasty. This method involves tossing three coins, six times, to form a hexagram, and then interpreting it using the I Ching and the Chinese calendar.
Normally, practitioners would use a piece of paper and a pen to record the hexagram and refer to the I Ching for interpretation, but Gu Qin didn’t need paper or books. She had mastered the method in her past
life, and the hexagram appeared directly in her mind after the tosses.
Liu Bansian stared in amazement, watching her. He was curious because she didn’t even use paper or the I Ching. "Little girl, is that how you do it?"
Gu Qin, seeing Liu Bansian’s questioning expression, didn’t bother to lie. There was no need to keep it a secret, as this was all simple for her. "No need to worry, Bansian. I’ve memorized the hexagrams. I don’t need paper or books."
Liu Bansian sneered inwardly. The girl certainly knew how to boast. She was no different from a scammer.
Gu Qin soon quieted her mind and focused. She tossed the copper coins six times, remembered each result, and formed a conclusion in her mind. Finally, she put the coins away and looked at Jiang Cheng. "The hexagram shows that your father will face legal troubles in twenty days, and it will be related to business you’ve done together." As for the specifics, that couldn’t be determined by divination, only through her Heavenly Eye.
Divination only gave a rough prediction. To see the most intricate details, the Heavenly Eye would be necessary, but Gu Qin wasn’t going to use it on Jiang Cheng, because it was clear to her that he wasn’t sincere. Why he was here, she didn’t know, but it definitely wasn’t for fortune-telling.