“L-Little girl… you’re not talking about me, are you?”
Liu Jun, staring into Ye Zhishu’s eyes as if she could see through everything, forced himself to maintain a calm expression, showing just the right amount of feigned confusion as he asked.
“Yeah, little girl, you must be mistaken. Master Liu is a true diviner; how could he be a fraud?”
One of the bystanders, who had once benefited from Liu Jun’s “services,” spoke up.
“Yeah, yeah! Even if the police come, they’ll catch that old man Guan, not Master Liu!”
Encouraged by the first person, other neighbors began speaking up in Liu Jun’s defense.
Ye Zhishu ended the call and gave Liu Jun a faintly teasing smile.
“What do you think?”
Liu Jun: …
What does he think? He was furious.
“I just remembered—I have an appointment with a patient today, and the time’s almost up.”
Liu Jun got to his feet.
He frequently “consulted patients” at this stall. With neighbors watching, he’d never gotten into trouble, so when he said this, nobody thought it suspicious.
Ye Zhishu let out a cold snort. Watching his back, she kicked the chair behind him—it toppled perfectly, tripping him. Liu Jun stumbled and fell flat on his face.
“Perfect. Not only forging credentials but also practicing medicine illegally.”
Ye Zhishu calmly walked over, holding up her phone. On it was a recording of Liu Jun admitting he was about to see a patient.
Liu Jun: …
“Little girl, we have no grudges past or present. Why cut off my income?”
His face darkened, and his tone turned sharp, carrying a threatening edge. He seemed ready to go all out if Ye Zhishu persisted.
“You can play the fraud and take people’s money—but you ruin lives! Sorry, I just can’t stand it when morality is this corrupt, even if you’re richer than me.”
Ye Zhishu raised her hand and lightly tapped his forehead, her movements casual, showing she didn’t even take his threats seriously.
Liu Jun: …
He realized he was fixating on her last sentence.
At the same time, a chill ran down his spine.
How did this little girl know that he had actually killed someone?
In truth, Liu Jun felt unlucky. He never meant to harm anyone—he had merely tricked an elderly man into buying some health supplements. But one ingredient clashed with the medicine the old man was already taking. The family assumed the old man was just weak and quickly buried him without investigating further.
After that, Liu Jun learned to be careful. Even selling health supplements, he now only sold harmless starch pills, with no medicinal effect but completely safe.
This incident had been Liu Jun’s secret—no one knew except him and the deceased old man. How did this little girl know?
“Those who do wrong cannot escape notice. That old man has always been with you—didn’t you notice?”
Ye Zhishu was bluffing. The old man had long since passed on; she simply sensed his lingering resentment and appearance.
But Liu Jun clearly believed her. His eyes widened, as if he had seen a ghost.
“D-Don’t come near me!”
He screamed.
Ye Zhishu stood but kept her distance. Liu Jun seemed trapped in a nightmare, repeatedly slapping his own shoulders and muttering things like, “I didn’t mean it,” “I never wanted to kill anyone,” “It’s your own stupidity.”
To the onlookers, it appeared as if Ye Zhishu had tripped him, squatted down, and whispered something, and suddenly he went mad.
Seeing his grotesque expression and hearing his mutterings, the neighbors who had spoken in his defense went silent.
At that moment, the ambulance and police arrived.
Seeing Liu Jun losing his mind, the nurses immediately lifted him onto a stretcher. Two officers questioned him and, upon discovering he was a fraud, examined his stall.
“It’s all fake.”
They checked his Taoist certificate and found no record of Liu Jun on the official website.
The crowd immediately erupted.
“No way… Liu Jun really is a scammer?”
“I still have the medicine he sold me at home. I have to go throw it away immediately!”
Panic spread, and even those who had defended him looked shocked.
The police confiscated Liu Jun’s stall and took a brief statement from Ye Zhishu, then followed the ambulance to the hospital.
The chaotic farce was over.
Ye Zhishu felt this afternoon had been truly eventful—rescuing a patient and catching a fraud.
Returning to the store, she handed back the acupuncture kit and alcohol cup to the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper glanced outside quickly and cleared his throat. “Um… Fate brought us together, little girl. You can keep this acupuncture kit as a gift.”
“Gift it to me?”
Ye Zhishu raised an eyebrow.
“This kit isn’t cheap. The exterior is high-quality sheepskin, and the needles are specially forged—not the disposable kind you find on the market.”
“Ah, talking about money ruins the mood. As practitioners, we value fate. This kit is yours because of destiny.”
The shopkeeper chuckled.
“Really?”
Ye Zhishu’s fox-like eyes narrowed.
The shopkeeper nodded enthusiastically.
“Then can you throw in the yellow paper and cinnabar as well? You can refund the money,” she said, patting the packaged yellow paper.
The shopkeeper: …
His smile froze. This little girl didn’t follow the usual script.
“T-This…” he sweated profusely.
If he didn’t agree, the acupuncture kit wouldn’t be given. His master would scold him. But if he did agree, he’d lose a lot of profit today.
Ye Zhishu watched the shopkeeper struggle and laughed. “Just kidding. I’ll take the kit—thank you.”
The shopkeeper breathed a sigh of relief.
“You’re welcome.”
Watching Ye Zhishu leave, her figure disappearing around the corner, the shopkeeper’s smile faded. He cast a resentful glance at the small, messy old man who had walked up to the counter.
“Master, the junior apprentice begged for this kit for ages, and you never gave it. But now it’s handed to someone else so easily?”
The old man scoffed and rolled his eyes.
“Does your junior have the talent this girl does?”
The shopkeeper didn’t answer. He truly didn’t.
Not just her medical skill—even her talisman work. He had watched from a distance. The little girl’s movements were fluid, and the talisman radiated spiritual energy—even he couldn’t replicate it.