Chapter 162
Chapter 162
After the familiar white light vanished, Yun Youyou opened her eyes and found herself in a strange city.
She stood beside a quiet lake, with several large birds perched on the branches nearby.
Yun Youyou’s sudden appearance probably startled them. With a chorus of cries, they all took off into the sky.
Yun Youyou first checked that every part of her was intact.
Good. No missing arms or legs.
She was not sure what form she was currently in.
Logically, she should still be a ghost. Even if she wandered through the human world, no one ought to be able to see her.
But could a ghost stand under the sun?
Yun Youyou remained where she was and squinted up at the blazing sun.
She did not feel as if her soul were scattering, but she did feel a little like she was getting heatstroke.
To be safe, Yun Youyou stayed beneath the shade of the trees.
If possible, she also wanted to use this opportunity to visit home. She had no idea how her family was doing and could only hope all her loved ones were well.
The brutal sunlight had left the park deserted.
Only the cicadas screeched noisily from the trees, irritating even a ghost.
Yun Youyou felt almost as if she had switched back into human mode. If she did not drink a bottle of Huoxiang Zhengqi tonic soon, she might collapse on the spot.
As she walked along the scorching cobblestone path, Yun Youyou finally spotted a person.
An old man wearing sunglasses sat on a wooden bench. A large banner hung beside him.
Eight big characters had been written across it in red cinnabar ink: BLIND FORTUNE-TELLER: HONEST DEALINGS FOR YOUNG AND OLD!
Curious, Yun Youyou stopped nearby and watched for a long time.
If Yun Youyou had once been a staunch atheist, becoming a ghost had transformed her into a staunch believer in ghosts and gods.
Unfortunately, hardly anyone was passing through the park, so no one could test whether the old man’s abilities were real.
Assuming the blind man could not see her, Yun Youyou boldly walked over.
First, she waved a hand in front of his face.
The old man did not react.
Then Yun Youyou remembered she was a ghost and grew even more brazen.
She sank into thought as she studied the bagua mirror on the table and the assortment of Talismans.
Did this stuff actually work?
Like a kitten testing the waters, Yun Youyou reached out a paw.
She carefully poked the Peachwood Sword.
Nothing happened.
Then she tentatively poked the bagua mirror.
The old man endured and endured until he finally could not take it anymore.
“What are you doing?”
Yun Youyou instantly snatched her hand back.
She looked from side to side and found no one else around.
When she turned back, the blind old man had removed his sunglasses and was glaring furiously at her.
Yun Youyou: ???
“You can see me?”
Yun Youyou pointed at herself in astonishment.
The old man glared at her. “You’re not a ghost. Of course I can see you!”
Yun Youyou: “…”
From that single exchange, she could already confirm that the fortune-telling old man in front of her was a fraud.
She silently pointed to the words on his large banner. “Didn’t you say you were blind?”
The old man was struck speechless. He craned his neck and sputtered for a long while before shamelessly declaring, “My name is Blind Man!”
Yun Youyou: “…”
Perhaps Yun Youyou’s unrelenting stare finally pricked his conscience.
The old man hurriedly invited her to sit.
“Come, come. Sit down first. Forget all that irrelevant nonsense. I’ll tell your fortune.”
Under his enthusiastic urging, Yun Youyou had no choice but to sit down.
There probably was not a second genius in the world willing to tell a ghost’s fortune.
The old man pretended to study Yun Youyou for a long time.
Just when she thought he was about to deliver some earthshaking revelation that would make even ghosts and gods weep, he finally spoke.
He awkwardly stroked his beard. “Haha… There seems to be some glare here. Why don’t you move to another spot? I can’t see clearly.”
Yun Youyou, who had been holding her breath in concentration, felt like an idiot.
Expressionless, she changed seats.
After a while, Yun Youyou finally could not resist asking, “Have you figured anything out?”
The old man nodded confidently. “Of course!”
He swept his gaze up and down Yun Youyou and announced with certainty, “If my calculations are correct, the second-to-last digit of your ID number should be even.”
Yun Youyou: “…”
No kidding!
The second-to-last digit on every woman’s ID was even!
Yun Youyou said, “Heh. If my guess is correct, the second-to-last digit of your ID number should be odd, right?”
The old man awkwardly smoothed his beard. Relying on the extraordinary thickness of his skin, he pretended not to hear her.
He forged ahead. “How about this? Give me any number, and I’ll guess where you’re from!”
That trick sounded rather novel.
Could he really determine where she came from based on a single number?
Yun Youyou found it somewhat interesting and immediately supplied one.
“Three!”
The old man said, “You’re from Earth!”
“…”
The old man continued, “I can narrow it down even further. You must be Asian!”
This was Yun Youyou’s first time encountering such a shameless old man.
With fortune-telling skills like these, it was a miracle none of his customers had beaten him to death over the years.
Yun Youyou drew a deep breath and calmly told him, “I can tell fortunes too. I can even read palms.”
The old man’s gaze immediately turned suspicious, as if asking, For real?
After some persuasion from Yun Youyou, he doubtfully extended his hand.
Yun Youyou examined it with more care than she had ever used checking an exam paper.
Even the old man grew nervous.
The longer she looked, the more tightly her brow furrowed, as if she were a doctor facing an impossibly complicated illness.
Under the mounting tension, the old man’s heart beat faster and faster.
He asked shakily, “What’s wrong? Am I going to die?”
Yun Youyou shook her head. “Not yet, but…”
The old man released half a breath of relief, while the other half remained lodged in his throat.
He raised his eyes halfway and glanced cautiously at Yun Youyou.
“But what?”
Yun Youyou drew her gaze away from his hand and said gravely, “Your five elements seem to be missing something.”
The old man grew even more nervous, believing Yun Youyou might be a hidden master.
“What’s missing?”
“Basic decency.”
The old man: “…”
What an idiot I am. How did she manage to fool me?
After swindling people in public for so many years, this was the first time the old man had been swindled himself.
He shot up from his seat, his two wisps of mustache fluttering with every furious breath.
“How did a little girl like you learn to deceive people at such a young age? You’re the one with no decency! You don’t respect your elders or care for the young at all. How can you bully a poor, helpless old man like me?”