Not until the other party shifted their gaze onto her did the fortune-telling girl, with great patience, ask again, "Young Master, do you wish to have your fortune told?"
The girl tried to maintain a mature and composed demeanor, her distinctive almond-shaped eyes gleaming, as the winter sun streamed down from the eaves and touched her neck, showing the fine, soft hairs in the backlight, as if radiating a halo.
Jiang Shouzhong hesitated for a moment, then simply sat down on the stool and said softly, "I'm looking for someone, can the Immortal help me find out where she is?"
Looking for someone?
The fortune-telling girl was taken aback and then became furious.
If it weren't for the fact that the man before her was so exceptionally handsome, given her temperament, she would have already slapped the cactus on the table onto his face.
The fortune-telling girl took a deep breath.
Stay calm, stay calm...
The not-so-obvious high mount on her chest suddenly revealed a more imposing contour beneath the wide, old Taoist robe as she inhaled.
Forcing a smile, the fortune-telling girl lowered her voice intentionally and said in a grave, old-fashioned tone, "Young Master, I specialize in the elements of Yin and Yang, Zi Wei Dou Shu astrology, I can read faces, palms, ears, interpret dreams, predict fortunes and marital matches, and I have some knowledge of geography and feng shui, but when it comes to finding people... I am helpless."
"I see."
The man did not show any disappointment, his gaze falling back onto the palm-sized cactus.
The fortune-telling girl's eyelids twitched, and she moved her treasured cactus slightly towards herself, fearing that this jade-like, seemingly gentlemanly fellow would snatch it away.
This was a treasure left to her by her mother.
It could be used as part of her dowry in the future.
Having passed the age of prime youth, the fortune-telling girl, who applied two goat's whiskers above her lip, cleared her throat and said slowly, "How about this, Young Master, let's calculate your marital connection? It's only ten copper coins for one try."
Two well-polished bamboo tubes sat on the table.
The left one for fortune and fate, the right one for marital connections.
Each contained one hundred and eight sticks.
Jiang Shouzhong came back to his senses, pondered for a moment, and after a slight hesitation, nodded, "Alright then."
A business opportunity has knocked!
The fortune-telling girl was immediately vibrant, happily saying, "Just by looking at the Young Master's features, I can tell that your romantic fortune is thriving; you're bound to draw an excellent fortune stick, bringing you a fine marital match..."
Jiang Shouzhong casually took one stick from the left tube and before he could look closely, the fortune-telling girl interrupted, "You're mistaken, Young Master, that's the fortune and fate stick, this one is for marital connections!"
The girl pushed the tube labeled "marital connections" towards him, her face turning sour.
Jiang Shouzhong paused, showing a look of apology, and embarrassingly returned the fortune and fate stick to its tube. As his fingertip hovered over the tube for marital connections, he suddenly stopped and then, with a flushed face, said, "I almost forgot, I'm already married."
"???"
"And twice, at that."
"!!!"
Watching the girl's face turn an embarrassed shade of black, Jiang Shouzhong tried to offer an out, "So no need for drawing a stick then. Since the Immortal can read faces, could you possibly determine how my current marriage is doing? My name is... Jiang Mo." He ultimately did not give his real name.
The girl's mouth twitched.
She subconsciously gripped the antique-looking pottery jar with the cactus tightly.
Stay calm, stay calm...
The girl, whose name happened to be "Leng Jing," silently recited a "Supreme Purifying Heart Spell" she had learned furtively from Endless Mountain, smiled peacefully and said, "Alright, let's observe your facial features."
The fortune-telling girl scrutinized the man's features carefully.
With sword-shaped eyebrows and starry eyes, his bearing was composed and dignified, with a gracefulness in his brows that set him apart from the world. Although she had seen many a nobleman of fine appearance, seldom did any rival the man before her.
Suddenly, the girl's cheeks flushed red without reason.
However, she quickly masked the lapse, furrowing her brows with a look of unspeakable troubles.
As the man opposite did not ask any questions, the fortune-telling girl felt a bit embarrassed. Thus, she stroked her own fake goat whiskers and accidentally ripped off the left one. She hurriedly stuck it back on and sighed, "Cheekbones as peaks, the helmet bone heavy, the middle ridge filled with vigor, the philtrum evenly broad, the nine facial features each with flaws. With such facial readings, even if spared from harming wife or losing children, there still lies a sorrow of wounds. Early marriage bears thin affinity, resulting in frequent separations, if not the lament of life and death apart..."
As she rambled on, the girl covertly watched the man's expression, contemplating when to use the words "but" to easily coax more money out of him.
However, the man's expression remained calm.
Eventually, when the fortune-telling girl truly had nothing more to fabulate, Jiang Shouzhong finally spoke, "Miss... Immortal, your divination is spot-on. My former wife left me, and now we are 'separated by life and death.' My current wife and I are often apart, and she never even looks at me properly."
Seeing the man's resigned expression accelerated the girl's urgency.
Sitting upright and with a gaze that was both pitiful and sympathetic, she bravely assumed a determined demeanor as if to imply that fate had brought them together and that she, the Immortal, would risk her life to change his fortune, "Enough, enough. Since fate has brought us together, I shall offer you a method to defy destiny and change your fortune for... a mere Silver Tael."
The girl felt uneasy.
Was she asking for too much?
Jiang Shouzhong, however, laid out Er Liang of broken silver on the table, his eyes warm and tender.
The girl reminded him of his former wife.
Lively and endearing just the same.
Gazing at the silver on the table, the fortune-telling girl couldn't help but beam with joy.
Indeed, she still had the knack for charming people... She straightened her expression, laid out a yellow paper on the table, picked up a stiff brush, and said, "I will write a petition for you. You can take it to a Daoist temple or a monastery. If at home, you must offer it on the altar: the gracious hosts, Nangong Fuyou, the approving emperor of the Nine Heavens, the predestined spirits, the loyal and martial spirits, all the divine teachers' tablets. This ritual can be performed day or night. Prepare the incense, joss paper, invite the spirits. Bow three times, make a heartfelt vow to request a change in fortune, then burn the petition, bow three more times, and offer incense again..."
Jiang Shouzhong suddenly asked in a soft voice, "I remember you saying earlier that you also interpret dreams?"
The girl, interrupted in her instructions, was somewhat displeased, but considering the Er Liang of silver, she let it go and grandly motioned with her hand, "Correct, if the gentleman wishes to have a dream interpreted, this Immortal will do it for free this one time."
Jiang Shouzhong said with a bashful expression, "It's not for me, it's to help a friend interpret a dream."
A friend?
The girl furrowed her delicate brows and, seeing the man's embarrassed demeanor, suddenly realized.
Imaginary friends?
Understood, understood.
Stroking her whiskers and smiling, the girl asked, "What dream did you... oh, what dream did your friend have?"
Jiang Shouzhong pursed his lips, weighed his words carefully, and began, "My friend often has prophetic dreams. He dreamt he found money, and then he actually did. He dreamt he married a beautiful wife, and he really did. But over the past two days, he keeps having a strange dream about someone who looks very much like him, no, very much like my friend..."
Jiang Shouzhong paused, emphasizing with a heavier tone, "I mean, someone who looks very much like my friend having an affair with a colleague's wife. When the affair was exposed, the adulterer was killed by his colleague. Could you, Immortal, explain what this dream means?"
The fortune-telling girl's beautiful apricot eyes went wide.
Her delicate body shuddered uncontrollably.
At that moment, the man who had seemed so pleasant to look at began to appear utterly contemptible.
Vile! Depraved! Shameless!