Chapter 191
Chapter 191
“Uh… what I mean is, you’ll guide them away from the crooked path and back onto the right one.”
The Driver inwardly cursed. He had gotten carried away and nearly let the truth slip.
“Besides, look at the street we visited earlier. Every business there had a license. That proves the authorities approve of it. It’s a legitimate profession, so what are you afraid of?”
That argument won Liu Ye over. He trusted the state. If the state recognized fortune-telling, then so did he.
“But I don’t know how to do it.”
Liu Ye looked deeply troubled.
“That doesn’t matter. You can learn.”
“From whom?”
“The teacher you need is right in front of you.”
The Driver pointed at the Old Man. The Old Man froze and pointed at himself in disbelief.
“Me?”
The Driver hurried over and whispered in his ear, “Don’t you spend all your spare time reading the history of classical literature?”
The Old Man silently produced his book. The Driver looked at the title.
The Plum in the Golden Vase!
“Holy crap! You spend all day reading pornography? No wonder your face and neck are always red! I thought you were practicing some cultivation technique!”
The Old Man rubbed his hands together and whispered, “The Plum in the Golden Vase is an important treasure in our nation’s literary history. Many historical figures wrote commentaries on it.”
“Did those historical figures read the modern fully illustrated edition too?”
The Driver shot him a sideways glance, then casually flipped through the book. The damned thing had over three thousand pages, and he couldn’t find a single printed word.
The Old Man immediately stopped talking.
“Anyway, Liu Ye is in your hands. You’re the oldest one here, so it’ll be easier for you to fool him. I don’t care how you do it, but you have to teach him well enough to pass for the real thing.”
The Old Man pursed his lips. For the sake of his own future, he had no choice but to work hard.
And so, he taught Liu Ye for three days. Then Liu Ye graduated.
“That fast? Are you sure he can deceive… guide people?”
“Don’t worry. I passed on the full measure of the deception skills I have accumulated over several centuries. How much he comprehends will depend on him.”
The Old Man stroked his beard with a wistful expression.
The Driver stared at him.
Give him an inch and he took a mile. Did the old bastard genuinely think he was some enlightened sage?
Still, the proof of the pudding was in the eating. He needed to find someone on whom Liu Ye could practice.
As soon as the Driver left, the Old Man hurriedly said to Yellow Hair, “Go buy me a lightning rod.”
Yellow Hair asked in confusion, “What do you need that for?”
“What we’re doing is too wicked. I’m afraid Heaven will strike me with lightning.”
Yellow Hair fell silent.
One day later…
“Ahahaha! Little Lü, your place is really hard to find. By the way, where’s that child you mentioned?”
A smiling man in a white lab coat walked in. This was the friend the Driver had invited, the founder of an internet-addiction treatment center. The public knew him as Professor Yang.
“There! That Yellow Hair! He does nothing but play games all day. A perfectly good person, completely ruined!” the Driver said, his face filled with anguish.
Yellow Hair glanced at them and gave a disdainful snort.
Professor Yang smiled faintly. Arrogance was good. He liked arrogance best. The more arrogant they were, the more excited he became.
He walked over and was about to order his people to take Yellow Hair away when a voice suddenly came from the room nearby.
“Master! Thank you so much! Your prediction was perfectly accurate. I really made a fortune!”
Then a Black man-Ah Biao-emerged from the room in great excitement, carrying a case in his hands. In his excitement, he dropped it with a bang, revealing a huge amount of cash inside.
Ah Biao hurriedly gathered up the money, then rushed out.
“Professor Yang! Professor Yang!”
“Huh?”
Professor Yang came back to his senses. He pointed toward the room and pretended to ask casually, “What was that about?”
“Oh, just some wandering fraud. He claims he can divine anything under heaven. What an outrageous boast. I certainly don’t believe him,” the Driver said disdainfully.
Professor Yang saw things differently. He had seen the money in Ah Biao’s hands. Good grief, that had been an entire case of American dollars.
Judging by the eye he had honed over many years, every bill was genuine.
Perhaps it had something to do with his profession, but he was obsessed with fortune-telling and got a reading nearly every month.
Now that a fortune-teller happened to be here, he immediately began itching to try. He hadn’t had his reading this month yet, so he said, “Little Lü, I’ve studied fortune-telling myself. If the man inside is a fraud, then I have a duty to go in and expose him.”
“Excellent! Professor Yang is truly a model for us all. Come, let us confront this fraud.”
The Driver led Professor Yang inside.
There, Liu Ye was sitting in a chair with a bewildered expression. Ah Biao’s performance had left him thoroughly confused. When he saw the Driver enter, he hurriedly began, “Big-”
“Big what?” the Driver snapped, glaring at him.
“Big Brother…”
“Who’s your big brother? Don’t go claiming relatives you don’t have!”
The Driver turned to Professor Yang.
“See? Guilty conscience.”
“Indeed.”
Professor Yang also thought Liu Ye looked far from professional. He was simply too young. Still, he had already come all this way, so he decided to get a reading first.
“Master, I’ve come to have my fortune told.”
“That’s right. We’re here for a fortune reading!”
Behind Professor Yang, the Driver frantically rubbed his fingers together, signaling Liu Ye to bring up money and charge him everything he could.
Liu Ye quickly nodded.
“Our fees are very high.”
“How much?”
Professor Yang decided he would leave if it was too expensive.
The Driver held up three fingers behind him. Understanding dawned on Liu Ye, and he said solemnly, “Thirty!”
Thud!
The Driver collapsed to the floor. The corner of Professor Yang’s mouth twitched as well.
That price was certainly affordable.
Then he looked at the Driver on the floor.
“What happened to you?”
“Nothing. It’s too hot. I think I got heatstroke.”
The Driver was drowning in regret. He had forgotten to set the kid’s rates beforehand.
Professor Yang decided he could spare thirty yuan to see what the kid was made of. He took out the money and said to Liu Ye, “Master, I would like you to divine my fortunes in the near future.”
“Oh, your fortune? Let me see.”
Liu Ye took out the stack of notes the Old Man had printed for him. He looked at Professor Yang, then at the notes.
Professor Yang stared.
“Master, why are you looking it up now?”
And the material was illustrated too.
Behind him, the Driver hurriedly coughed several times.
“Ahem, ahem. That must mean your fortune is a textbook case, Professor. You studied medicine, so you should understand. How often do you actually meet a patient whose symptoms match the textbook perfectly?”
Inwardly, the Driver was furiously cursing the Old Man and his entire family. This was what he called ready to graduate?
Professor Yang suddenly understood. That explanation did make some sense.
Time passed, minute by minute. Liu Ye flipped through the entire stack without finding a single picture that matched Professor Yang’s face.
But that was all right. The Old Man had taught him what to do in this situation: predict misfortune for the other person.
Liu Ye cleared his throat.
“Sir, your luck in the near future looks rather poor!”