Chapter 8
Fang Rong stood behind Xia Sheng, her expression complicated.
Her daughter… was she really some kind of mystic?
Fang Rong wanted to tell her daughter that one should believe in science, but she was worried that saying so would make the child resentful.
She hesitated, torn about whether to lecture her daughter, but before she could organize her words, Xia Sheng welcomed her first customer of the day.
The newcomer was a young man with dyed yellow hair and tattooed arms, looking every bit the street punk. He stared straight at Xia Sheng, his eyes full of greed, clearly not here for fortune-telling.
“Hey, pretty girl, fortune-telling is boring. Come with me, I’ll introduce you to a job that’s both lucrative and fun. Interested?”
A mother’s instinct made Fang Rong step in before Xia Sheng could speak. She snapped, “My daughter is a decent girl. Don’t you dare lead her astray!”
The yellow-haired punk laughed. “You call fortune-telling and scamming people decent? Lady, are you out of your mind?”
Fang Rong was at a loss for words and could only glare at him fiercely.
Xia Sheng spoke in a calm, distant tone, “Sir, I see darkness clouding your brow and your complexion is dull. Today, you will suffer great misfortune.
“I advise you to leave within one minute, or disaster will surely befall you.”
The yellow-haired punk’s sneer deepened. “I’ve had nothing but good luck these past few days. What disaster could possibly happen? Are you trying to say that if I don’t leave, you’ll beat me up?”
As he spoke, he leaned his face closer to Xia Sheng. “Come on, pretty girl, hit me. Right here, give it your best shot.”
As soon as he finished, Xia Sheng obliged him without hesitation.
The punk had been squatting in front of the stall, but Xia Sheng slapped him so hard he was stunned, falling back onto the ground.
Realizing he’d been hit, the punk instantly flew into a rage. “You little brat, how dare you hit me!”
Fang Rong immediately shielded her daughter, but Xia Sheng showed no sign of panic. She said slowly, “I was just fulfilling your request.
“Ask the people around-who didn’t hear you ask me to hit you?”
The punk didn’t care about any of that. Gritting his teeth, he spat, “Bullshit! Twisting words! You dare hit me? Watch how I deal with you today!”
After his threat, he quickly got up, ready to start a fight.
But the next second, a middle-aged woman grabbed his arm from behind. “Officer, this is the guy! Yesterday he tried to trick my daughter into something illegal!
“I’ve already contacted several girls who almost fell victim to him. Hurry up and arrest him! Scum like this should spend their whole life in jail!”
The punk turned around and saw several police officers standing behind him.
Shocked, he forgot all about teaching Xia Sheng a lesson and tried to shake off the woman’s grip to run.
But the police had already been waiting nearby. They quickly subdued him and took him away.
On the busy pedestrian bridge, many people stopped to watch the scene unfold.
Someone exclaimed in surprise, “That Little Celestial Master just said the punk would run into disaster in a minute, and the police really did show up exactly a minute later…”
Hearing this, the people around looked at Xia Sheng with new eyes.
Of course, most still thought she was a little scammer, suspecting the whole thing was staged.
Fang Rong was a bit dazed as well. She looked at her daughter. “Sheng’er, did you really predict the police would come and arrest him?”
Xia Sheng replied calmly, “Yes.”
Fang Rong lowered her voice, “And yesterday you said you made a million from fortune-telling…”
Xia Sheng answered coolly, “That’s true as well.”
Fang Rong was shocked, but still half in doubt.
After all, anyone who has believed in science for decades would find it hard to accept such a sudden overturning of their worldview.
Because of the incident with the blond-haired man earlier, more than a dozen people quickly gathered in front of Xia Sheng’s Fortune-telling Stall to watch the commotion.
A man with a scruffy beard, looking rather dispirited and unkempt, squatted down in front of the stall and asked, “Little Celestial Master, I’ve lost over a hundred thousand yuan in the stock market. Can you tell me which stock will rise tomorrow?”
Xia Sheng’s voice was clear and cool: “You have no luck with wealth in this lifetime. If you keep trading stocks, you’ll only keep losing. You won’t win the lottery either.
“There is cause and effect. If you wish to encounter great fortune, that would mean defying fate and changing your destiny, and you would have to bear an equal risk of disaster.
“Your daughter is about to undergo a heart transplant, isn’t she? If you want wealth, I can show you a way, but your daughter will leave you on the day of the surgery, and before long, your wife will fall gravely ill from grief and pass away as well.
“If you follow the natural course, your daughter’s surgery will go smoothly, your wife will avoid disaster, and your family will be safe and healthy for the rest of your lives.”
When the man heard Xia Sheng say he had no luck with wealth in this life, he was a little angry at first. But when he heard her mention that his daughter would soon have a heart transplant, he was instantly shocked.
“You’re right. My daughter is indeed scheduled for a heart transplant the day after tomorrow.
“But the doctor said the chances of a successful surgery are very low. Even if it succeeds, we’ll need to spend a lot of money on anti-rejection medication and regular check-ups for her, so I wanted to make a fortune in the stock market to prepare for her future…”
The man muttered to himself, then looked at Xia Sheng. “Little Celestial Master, you said my daughter’s surgery will go smoothly this time? Is that true?”
Xia Sheng nodded. “Absolutely. Although the survival time for heart surgery patients is generally not long, if your daughter follows the treatment plan after surgery, she can live for more than ten years.
“By then, with advances in medical technology, if your daughter has another surgery, she can live at least to eighty.”
When people are in desperate situations, what they need most is hope.
The man didn’t fully believe Xia Sheng, but just these few words of encouragement were enough for him to move Xia Sheng from the category of a swindler to that of a good person.
“I understand. I’ll take good care of my family and won’t chase unrealistic dreams of getting rich anymore.”
As he spoke, he took out three hundred yuan and handed it to Xia Sheng.
Xia Sheng accepted the money and continued, “Don’t sell your stocks for now; they’ll rebound in a couple of days.
“Remember, sell as soon as you break even. Don’t get greedy, or your daughter will be in danger.”
Hearing that he could at least recover his principal, the man was already very happy. He nodded solemnly and said, “Thank you for your blessing. If my stocks really rebound, I’ll give you half the money!”
“There’s no need for that. Just use it for your daughter’s treatment.”
“Alright, thank you, Little Celestial Master.”
After the man left, several others came to Xia Sheng for fortune-telling. Each time, Xia Sheng could accurately tell the person’s life story. When she encountered poor families, she would only charge a token amount, sometimes just a few dozen yuan. Her reputation quickly improved among the onlookers, and many who had only come to watch joined the line for a reading.
Xia Sheng only took a few readings that day. Once she was finished, she told everyone to disperse and began to pack up her stall.
An old fortune-teller nearby, seeing how well her business was doing, making over a thousand yuan in just one morning, said sourly, “Young people really are different. You even know how to use scarcity marketing. I wonder how many of those people earlier were actually your shills.”