Not lucid in the slightest.
Especially when you actually have a bit of psychic ability.
Spock and Adam didn’t even bother with their business anymore. After confirming that the lucky color was white, the lucky stone was silverware, and that Pisces could bring him good fortune, they charged straight at the other clothing stalls and immediately bought themselves an entire outfit in white.
Zhao Zhenzhen hated that her gaze had been a beat too slow to look away. Because she saw Spock even buy a dozen pairs of underwear.
…White.)
…Pure white.)
Sometimes having too good eyesight was truly helpless.
…And so was having too good an imagination.
“Whoa, so he wasn’t wearing white today after all…”
Zhao Zhenzhen whipped her head furiously toward the voice, and the sound cut off abruptly. She couldn’t find who it was.
So what if you figured it out—why did you have to say it out loud!
Now she was getting led astray too!
Spock and Adam retreated with bags and bundles in tow, and even while making a phone call, they didn’t forget to wave goodbye to Zhao Zhenzhen. The moment the call connected, his attention snapped away. “Hey! Carl! I remember your son was born in March, right? Pisces? …Then I need his help right now!”
“What?! …So what if he’s a year and a half old—a year and a half is exactly the time to strive!”
Spock left with his booming voice and unfinished words trailing behind him.
Zhao Zhenzhen turned around, speechless as she stared at the long line that had formed at who-knows-when. She was silent for two seconds before making a weak attempt to struggle. “…Guess my age?”
“No! Read today’s fortune!” A middle-aged white man in a sharp suit stared at Zhao Zhenzhen with bright eyes, as if she were his savior.
He held out ten dollars to Zhao Zhenzhen, utterly devout. “Please, I have a very important meeting today. I need to know my lucky color.”
Of course, the lucky stone and lucky person couldn’t be missing either. The more the merrier—plenty was never enough.
Zhao Zhenzhen turned to look at the long line behind him, and apparently the look on her face that screamed “You’re not all like him too, are you?” was too obvious, because the people in line gave her a synchronized smile and waved ten-dollar bills at her in small gestures.
Someone at the back of the line raised his money high and shouted loudly, “I can pay more! Fortune-teller! I can pay more!”
He was shouting at the top of his lungs, terrified that Zhao Zhenzhen might not hear him.
Zhao Zhenzhen had no choice but to yell back at him, “Don’t be superstitious! I’m just giving you a little reference! It’s not accurate!”
“Ah, yes yes yes.” Everyone nodded with faces that said “We understand,” and humored her with agreement. “Got it, fortune-teller. Hurry up and start.”
With no other option, Zhao Zhenzhen could only earn money through tears.
Even while collecting payment, she didn’t forget to add, “This is just a reference. Don’t believe it too much.”
And without exception, she received a knowing look in return, as if they were completing some secret transaction, nodding at her with lowered voices. “Got it. Start, fortune-teller.”
…You don’t got it at all.
Zhao Zhenzhen made money coldly.
Besides daily fortune, Zhao Zhenzhen would also take a look at health.
After seeing enough people, she began to pick up on new things.
For instance, the life countdown that suddenly appeared above Nana’s and the fat cop’s heads represented that the person would die a violent, accidental death—something that could be intervened in and fate could be changed.
But if it was death from old age or illness, with no cure to be had, even if Zhao Zhenzhen knew the person didn’t have much time left, there was nothing she could do.
Like the elderly person she had just examined. She didn’t have much life left, yet no life countdown appeared above her head.
Because she would die of natural causes.
Zhao Zhenzhen kept taking money and reading fortunes continuously for two full hours before she could finally take a break.
Even if she was just reading off the script, it was pretty hard on her throat.
But her wallet was nice and full, which was satisfying.
Zhao Zhenzhen was delighted. A rough calculation told her she’d earned about 200 dollars.
And that wasn’t even counting what was on her virtual panel.
Ava had just finished up too, smiling and saying goodbye to the girl who was getting up to leave, then bowed her head and went back to fiddling with her nails.
Zhao Zhenzhen leaned over and saw she was removing her nail polish. “Isn’t that pretty? Why are you taking it off?”
“I’m switching to blue.” Ava didn’t look up, busy as a bee.
Zhao Zhenzhen remembered that Ava’s lucky color was blue. She swept her gaze over Ava—huh, she now had an aquamarine bracelet on her wrist.
“…Alright then.” Zhao Zhenzhen shrugged.
After Ava finished painting her nails, she raised her hand to admire them happily and sighed, “I really look good in any color.”
Then she turned to look at Zhao Zhenzhen and leaned over enthusiastically. “Zhao, what’s your lucky color? I’ll paint them for you! Free!”
That panel of hers that only showed name, age, and occupation—how could it reveal any lucky color?
Zhao Zhenzhen was about to refuse when she caught sight of her own panel and let out a “Huh?!”
Her personal panel had changed too!
[Name: Zhao Zhenzhen
Age: 17
Identity: New York high school senior/Medium/Fortune teller/Hex master
Health
Today’s Fortune
Fortune Adjustment: 0/3 (+)
Hexes: 0/3 (+)
Experience Points: 200 (+)]
Her panel suddenly had all these extra things on it!
But what was that last identity supposed to be?!
Hex master?!
Great, now she was getting more and more superstitious and feudal.
Zhao Zhenzhen 🙂
A passerby came over to ask Zhao Zhenzhen for a fortune reading, but Ava waved them off. “She’s communicating with spirits. Wait a moment.”
The person suddenly understood, eyes widening in amazement as they stared intently at Zhao Zhenzhen.
Not just them—other people passing by also stopped when they heard, staring at Zhao Zhenzhen.
It was like they were all thinking, “Whoa, a medium?! A real one!”
Everyone stood off to the side cautiously, even deliberately softening their breathing.
The more they looked, the more mysterious she seemed.
Soon people were whispering to each other.
“She’s Chinese, right?”
“Definitely.” A decisive answer. “Only Chinese people have skills like that.”
Someone objected, “Korea can do it too!”
“Huh? Isn’t that part of China?” A confused voice.
The person immediately stammered, “No! Korea is…”
Zhao Zhenzhen wasn’t actually communicating with spirits—she was just looking at her panel, tapping through it to study it one by one.
She could now “tap” the panel with her mind, though she wasn’t very skilled at it yet. In emergencies, her hands were still faster.
Given enough time, her mind would definitely become quicker. After all, thoughts follow the heart.
But that conversation drifting over from somewhere really made her fail to hold in a laugh.
One of the voices in particular sounded utterly exasperated, yet didn’t dare get angry at the other person. She could feel him trying to suppress his frustration, attempting to appear friendly and magnanimous, earnestly explaining things like “Korea is also a country with great strength and heritage, you just don’t know much about it” and so on.
But whether it was because he’d only recently come to America and his English wasn’t great, or because he was too anxious, he ended up speaking haltingly with an accent that made him hard to understand.
This made the man even more anxious. He wanted to say more, but everyone’s attention had been on Zhao Zhenzhen the whole time.
Seeing her snap back to focus, they immediately formed a line.
Ava took the initiative to help maintain order, standing up and clapping her hands as she said, “Alright, alright. Line up, line up.”
She bent down to ask Zhao Zhenzhen, “Can you still see people with this many?”
The passersby stared at her with eager eyes.
Zhao Zhenzhen thought for a moment. “Nine more, I guess.”
Ava made an “OK” gesture and stood up to announce, “Everyone heard that—only nine more! Nine! Those who didn’t get a number, come back next weekend.”
Someone protested, “Can’t we come tomorrow?”
Ava knew exactly how to communicate with people in New York. She shot back without the slightest politeness, “If they didn’t say tomorrow works, then of course it doesn’t!”
The people behind the ninth person reluctantly left the line. But none of them actually went away—they lingered around, watching curiously.
Zhao Zhenzhen also wanted to see if she’d have a chance to try out her new skill, so she looked seriously at the first person.
But before starting, she said, “This is just life advice. It won’t decide your life—it only speaks in terms of probability. In any case, whether good or bad, I hope you remember: human determination conquers fate, no free lunch falls from the sky, and stay away from feudal superstition?”
“Mm-hmm, mm-hmm! I’m not superstitious at all—I just came to satisfy my curiosity. Master, please take a look at me, quick.”
“…” Zhao Zhenzhen.
I think only the last sentence you said was true.
Whatever.
Master Zhao collected the money and began giving a little life advice to the lost lamb.
Things like what her lucky color was, what her lucky stone was, and which zodiac sign was most compatible with her magnetic field this week, and so on.
Occasionally, when she encountered someone whose [Health] status wasn’t particularly good, she’d add a reminder in passing.
Ava stood to the side with her arms crossed, beaming with pride.
Whenever someone gasped, “She even knows that!” Ava would join the conversation with a sense of shared glory.
—”Zhao is very versatile in this area.”
—”You know, she’s Chinese.”
—”See, this is my lucky color. Zhao said it would bring me good fortune.”
People kept joining the discussion, and then some became enamored with Ava’s nails, going from “Your nail polish looks so pretty” to “So you’re a nail artist” and finally “I was just thinking of changing my nail color—how much?”
The result was that Ava’s stall was also booming with business, especially from those who had just learned their lucky color from Zhao Zhenzhen but didn’t have anything in that color on them.
They’d turn around and head straight to Ava’s stall. Women would browse her display while asking, “Do you have earth tones? The fortune-teller said that’s my lucky color.”
If it was a man, he’d simply pay to buy the whole bottle of nail polish and tuck it into his bag.
If their lucky item was something else, they’d go search at other stalls.
For a moment, Zhao single-handedly gave a modest boost to the entire market’s economy.
After finishing her work, Ava was still chattering away with the passersby, proclaiming loudly, “See, I told you she’s accurate! Zhao said blue is my lucky color and would improve my luck. Look! Look! How great my business has been in this short time today!”
“Zhao is really accurate!”
“…” Zhao Zhenzhen.
Ava, is there any chance it’s because your nail polish colors are comprehensive enough? That they already happen to match the lucky color condition?
And the rest of you stall owners! Don’t look at her with that “I’m starting to believe it” expression!
The most terrifying part was that Zhao Zhenzhen could hear other stall owners joining Ava’s ranks.
Starting to say, “Zhao is actually somewhat effective.”
Hearing this made Zhao Zhenzhen break out in a cold sweat. She hurriedly sped through the last person and wrapped up for the day.
The plastic stool was too much of a hassle to carry around—she couldn’t be bothered to haul it back and forth. She simply handed it to Ava and asked her to bring it on the weekend.
She’d treat her to coffee then.
Ava said that was absolutely no problem, then leaned in and whispered with a grin, “Zhao, what do you think about me starting to sell some jewelry next week?”
Zhao Zhenzhen looked at Ava, froze for two seconds, then it dawned on her. Her eyes widened. “You…?!”
Ava raised a finger, closed her eyes, and shushed her. Her fiery red lips paired with sapphire blue nails gave her all the charm of a femme fatale.
“Anyway, they need lucky stones, right?” Ava said cheerfully. “If I happen to have some right here, aren’t I saving them the trouble? Don’t worry, I won’t sell them too expensively—just regular prices.”
Zhao Zhenzhen slowly let out a breath. “So that’s why you all…”
She’d been wondering why these stall owners had suddenly started believing in her. So it was because there was profit to be had!
Who said foreigners had no business sense? Look at how fast this one’s brain worked!
Zhao Zhenzhen wished she could get online right that second and shatter those stereotypes on the internet.
“No, no,” Ava said seriously. “You really are effective too!”
She sighed. “This must be a talent unique to you Chinese people, right? You can do kung fu, have high spiritual energy, and you’re good at math too.”
“…”
Okay, okay.
Some stereotypes disappeared.
And some stereotypes came right back.
Zhao Zhenzhen: )