What does it mean to “land one punch to avoid a hundred coming at you”?
This is exactly it.
Zhao Zhenzhen held her steaming drink, tucked her worn cardboard sign under her arm, and made her way toward her stall.
Along the way, stall owners kept smiling at her, nodding, and greeting her proactively.
Many of them were the ones who had danced along with Spock yesterday, sneering maliciously at Zhao Zhenzhen.
But so what?
No matter what they truly thought, right now they were showing her friendliness.
Even if it was fake.
Zhao Zhenzhen responded with a cheerful grin, her gaze sweeping over the Virtual Lightbulbs above their heads—some white, some yellow.
Only a handful of red names remained, pretending to be busy to avoid Zhao Zhenzhen, refusing to interact with her.
But Zhao Zhenzhen didn’t care.
They might be harboring resentment, but they wouldn’t dare provoke her easily either.
Treating each other as if the other didn’t exist—that was polite enough, in its own way.
Anyway, after yesterday, Zhao Zhenzhen had thoroughly established her footing on this little stall street.
“Zhao!” Ava waved at Zhao Zhenzhen from a distance. “Morning!”
“Morning.” Zhao Zhenzhen smiled at Ava, then turned to greet Stuart proactively. “Morning.”
Stuart froze for a moment before snapping back to reality and nodding at Zhao Zhenzhen. “…Morning.”
“I brought your stool too.” Zhao Zhenzhen handed over the stool Ava had left behind yesterday. “Here you go.”
“I told you, it’s yours.” Ava patted the stool she was sitting on. “I brought another one today—this one’s for you to sit on.”
Fine, then.
Zhao Zhenzhen shrugged, sat down, and placed her cardboard sign in front of her.
Same “guess my age” side facing out, same crude setup as yesterday. Only today, no one was pointing at Zhao Zhenzhen and laughing.
Crude? This was clearly minimalist style!
Don’t you understand environmentalism?
Beyond that, Zhao Zhenzhen pulled out a small notebook and a pen, tucking them into the side pocket of her backpack for easy access.
“What do you need pen and paper for?” Ava tilted her chin toward the notebook.
“To keep count of the people,” Zhao Zhenzhen said.
Guessing ages was fast—even with a long line, each person took less than a minute.
Like yesterday with over thirty people, finishing all of them took less than half an hour.
What really ate up time was fortune-telling for Ava and the others.
“I also brought eye drops.” Zhao Zhenzhen patted her backpack.
Ava’s eyes lit up at that, and she leaned in with a mysterious expression. Stuart, who was pretending to organize his stall nearby, was also making a bunch of fake movements.
He looked like he was diligently tidying up his little shop, but in reality, his ears were practically flying over to Zhao Zhenzhen.
Ava whispered, “Is it bull tears in there?”
“?” Zhao Zhenzhen gave her the old-person-and-phone look. “These are just regular eye drops.”
Ava wore an expression of “oh come on, you’re still pulling that with me?” and gave a knowing smile. “I get it, I get it.”
…No, seriously, what exactly do you think you get?
Sometimes I really don’t understand the thought process of you foreigners.
Ava slapped a $10 bill into Zhao Zhenzhen’s hand, brimming with excitement. “Quick! Do a reading for me!”
Spock had originally been about to come over now that their conversation had paused, but when he saw Ava asking Zhao for a fortune-telling, he immediately crouched back down.
Holding his sign, he stared longingly across the aisle.
“You don’t need to do this every day, do you?” Zhao Zhenzhen wasn’t opposed to money—she just didn’t see the point. Nobody had something going on every single day.
But Ava insisted. So Zhao Zhenzhen had no choice but to reluctantly earn that $10 from her.
“Shall I check your health and today’s fortune for you?” It just so happened she could also put her new skill to use and give it a try.
Ava’s eyes went wide, and her voice rose involuntarily. “You even know astrology?!”
Zhao Zhenzhen shrugged. “Just a bit.”
Ava let out a “whoa” and looked utterly incredulous. “I know—you Chinese people love to be modest. You say you only know a little, but it’s actually a whole lot. We had an exchange student in our class back in high school. I get it.”
Ava nodded silently, with a look of someone who’d rather not revisit the past. “Back then I was on the school table tennis team, competing in intercollegiate tournaments and doing really well. After she arrived, I asked if she could play table tennis. She said she was too busy studying and had only played as a kid around seven or eight, then stopped.”
By this point, Zhao Zhenzhen couldn’t hold back her laughter.
“And then?” she asked Ava, struggling to keep the corners of her mouth from curling up.
Ava was furious. “And then she skunked me! Three rounds! You know, I originally wanted to be a professional athlete. But she ended that dream!”
Zhao Zhenzhen burst out laughing.
Ava looked at her with a mournful expression. “You’re laughing at me too!”
“It’s not about you,” Zhao Zhenzhen said, still smiling. “I just suddenly thought of something happy.”
Ava shrugged, with a resigned “fine, fine” look, muttering under her breath, “Well, you’re the fortune teller.”
And a fortune teller with real skill, at that.
If she wanted to laugh, let her laugh.
What else could she do?
“Anyway, that’s how my athletic career came to an end,” Ava said, pointing at the various bottles of nail polish on the small table. “But being a nail artist isn’t bad either.”
“Right, there’s money in it,” Zhao Zhenzhen agreed. “You’re my first customer today, so I’ll give you a discount—5 dollars.”
Zhao Zhenzhen tried to give her change, but Ava stopped her.
“Keep it. Consider it my reservation for tomorrow’s first fortune-telling slot.”
Zhao Zhenzhen insisted on giving her the change. “Tomorrow’s Monday—I have school.”
Ava paused, then realized. “Almost forgot you’re still in school. Then save it for next weekend.”
“We’ll talk about next weekend when it comes,” Zhao Zhenzhen said, pressing the money back into her hand. “Let’s look at your health first.”
Sure enough, that did the trick—it immediately stopped Ava from haggling over the 5 dollars. She held out her open palm to Zhao Zhenzhen.
“Aren’t you going to read the lines on my palm?”
“That’s palmistry,” Zhao Zhenzhen said.
Ava didn’t quite understand but was impressed, thinking that for someone her age, Zhao Zhenzhen really knew everything.
“You’re a bit malnourished. And you’re consuming too much sugar—you need to cut back. High blood sugar isn’t good.” Zhao Zhenzhen was a little shocked after saying this.
Don’t underestimate Ava’s little nail stand. Business was actually quite good.
She could afford to rent a decent place in New York on her own and had savings. That meant her financial situation wasn’t bad—so how did she end up malnourished?!
And she had other minor health issues too.
“Mm-hmm, got it. So what about my fortune today?”
Seeing that Ava didn’t care, Zhao Zhenzhen dropped the health topic and switched to fortune. “Today will be smooth, but you should be careful not to judge people by appearances—or rather, don’t judge people by your preferences.”
“What do you mean?” Ava pressed.
“Hard to say.” The truth was, Zhao Zhenzhen couldn’t make anything up.
That’s just what the panel said. If you asked her what it meant, she had no idea either.
Zhao Zhenzhen read it out directly, “Your luck today comes from the water sign. She will be your lucky star today. Be careful of the King of Hearts—someone who smiles at you and calls you honey may be hiding a knife behind their back, bringing you misfortune and trouble.”
“Exactly!” Eva suddenly grew angry. “He might even rob your house! Not even leaving the toilet paper or pickles behind!”
Zhao Zhenzhen was shocked. She knew Eva was thinking of her ex-boyfriend.
He wouldn’t even spare the toilet paper and pickles?! That’s impressive.
He plucks every goose he passes.
“Uh, that honey and this honey are two different honeys,” Zhao Zhenzhen said dryly.
“Right.” Eva sneered. “That honey from yesterday has already been thrown in jail by us—did you not know? It wasn’t the first time he’d done something like that! If you hadn’t reminded me yesterday, then…”
Eva shuddered.
She thought of Nana.
Her good friend had almost died. …Hmph, now she was her former good friend.
After Eva finished huffing, she urged Zhao Zhenzhen, “Is there more? Is there more?”
“Your lucky color this week is blue. Carrying more blue items will boost your luck. Your lucky stone is aquamarine. That’s all.”
“Wow! I happen to have an aquamarine bracelet!” Eva began rummaging through her suitcase. She dragged a suitcase with her every day to set up her stall.
Inside the suitcase, besides nail polish and such, were odds and ends of small jewelry she’d tossed in carelessly. There was even a makeup bag and a spare set of clean clothes.
Though they’d only known each other for a day, Zhao Zhenzhen already knew that Eva also did makeup and would occasionally go to people’s homes to do their makeup. Some occasions required a slightly more formal appearance to get in, so she kept a spare set on hand.
Zhao Zhenzhen quite liked Eva’s way of working. It was free, happy, and relaxed.
Adam nudged Spock with his elbow.
Spock quickly stood up and leaned over, smiling ingratiatingly at Zhao Zhenzhen. “Hehe, Zhao, I made this myself—didn’t cost anything. It’s for you.”
Whenever Zhao Zhenzhen saw Spock now, she remembered how his tears had fallen on her hand yesterday.
Even though she’d washed it long ago, she couldn’t help flexing her fingers. “What is it?”
A brand-new sign.
The corkboard material was very light, with English letters pieced together from leather scraps on both sides.
One side read “Guess My Age for a Dollar,” and the other read “Fortune Telling.”
It was far better than the cardboard Zhao Zhenzhen had scribbled on with a marker! Honestly, it instantly elevated the whole vibe.
Afraid Zhao Zhenzhen wouldn’t accept it, Spock kept talking. “It didn’t cost anything—this was leftover material from a photo wall I made before, and the leather scraps too.”
“How much?” Zhao Zhenzhen asked.
Spock quickly waved his hands. “It’s a thank-you gift! No charge! …I didn’t spend any money making it, and it didn’t take much time either.”
Zhao Zhenzhen knew very well how expensive handmade crafts were abroad. She thought for a moment. “I can’t take it for free. How about I do a reading for you instead?”
Spock’s eyes lit up and he nodded vigorously. “Please read my fortune!”
When she’d read Eva’s fortune earlier, Spock had been envious on the side.
He’d been wondering whether to pay for a reading, and now it was free!
Hehe, there was a secret thrill of getting a bargain.
Zhao Zhenzhen opened Spock’s fortune for the day and furrowed her brow.
Adam had already sidled over when Spock mentioned checking his fortune. Now seeing Zhao Zhenzhen’s expression turn odd, he gasped along with Spock and pressed, “Zhao! Is Spock having a really bad day today?”
Spock stared at Zhao Zhenzhen, ready to pack up and head home the moment she nodded.
He wasn’t setting up this stall today.
Zhao Zhenzhen glanced at Spock and said, “No, it means you’ll have some windfall luck today.”
“What does that mean?” There was no such concept as windfall luck in foreign countries.
“It means wealth that doesn’t come from work, but from other channels.” Zhao Zhenzhen thought for a moment. “It’s unexpected gains, or side income. Like gambling, lottery tickets, that sort of thing!”
Before she even finished speaking, Adam burst out laughing. “Cool!!”
He slapped Spock hard on the shoulder. “Spock! Zhao says you’re going to win big!”
His voice wasn’t quiet, drawing every passerby and stall owner to stop what they were doing and stare over in unison.
A pair of eyes gleaming so brightly it was unsettling.
“?!” Zhao Zhenzhen quickly waved her hands. “I didn’t say that! I didn’t! I only said he has good fortune and windfall luck today!”
What winning big! She didn’t say that, she really didn’t!
Zhao Zhenzhen glared at Adam, but Adam was too busy excitedly ruffling Spock’s head to notice. “Bro! When you get rich, don’t forget about me! Got it?”
“Got it, got it!” Spock’s face flushed red, as if he’d already won the jackpot. Ignoring Adam’s ruffling, he eagerly pressed Zhao Zhenzhen further. “Anything else? What’s my lucky color? And my lucky stone? And my lucky person?”
“…” Fine, so you heard every single word I said to Ava, not missing a single one, huh.
“I said you have windfall luck today! Not that you’ll win big!”
Zhao Zhenzhen emphasized loudly, speaking to him and to the crowd still staring at her with burning eyes.
“Stay away from feudal superstition! Embrace a rational life!”
On the streets of America, Zhao Zhenzhen finally couldn’t help but let out a slogan from the new era of socialism.
Wake up, all of you!