Chapter 10

Chapter 10: It Would Be a Waste Not to Be a Fortune Teller

The Du family had many children, but Father Du and Mother Du had always treated them all the same. They almost never showed any special favoritism to one child over another. So after hearing what happened with Yang Jian Tao’s wife and brother-in-law, Du He Xuan was deeply shocked, and when he looked at his old friend, there was more sympathy in his eyes.

After she figured out the whole story, Du An Rao started to worry again.

[Just now I was thinking this man has sharp eyes. He saw the true face of that top star at a glance. So how did he become blind when it comes to his own wife and brother-in-law? He is Second Brother’s friend, and he even took care of Second Brother before. Should I remind him?]

[But how should I remind him? Do I have to pick up my old trade again, like when I warned Ye Meng Zhen?]

When he heard this, Du He Xuan’s eyes lit up. Mother Du had told them before about what happened at the restaurant, so of course he knew what kind of “old trade” Du An Rao was talking about.

His gaze circled once around Yang Jian Tao, and finally stopped on the enamel mug in his hand. He suddenly had an idea.

“Brother Yang, this cup doesn’t look like the one you usually use.”

Yang Jian Tao touched the mug, a bit of regret and nostalgia showing on his face, and said: “I accidentally knocked the old one off the other day.”

People who knew Yang Jian Tao all knew that he had the habits of an old cadre. He neither smoked nor drank. After acting in shows for decades, whenever he had free time on set, he liked to carry his enamel mug around and wander everywhere.

That old mug had been with him for more than ten years. When you use an old thing for a long time, you get attached to it. Even though he had now bought a similar one, he still felt a bit not used to it.

“Lately I don’t know if my luck is bad or something. I keep losing things.”

He said it without thinking, but others listened carefully.

A gleam flashed in Du He Xuan’s eyes. He smoothly followed up and said: “People often say that when something is too strange, something is wrong. Losing one or two things is nothing, but if you lose a lot, you should pay attention.”

Hiding behind Du He Xuan and thinking about how to speak, Du An Rao nodded hard in agreement.

[Exactly. Nine times out of ten, the things your family ‘lost’ were taken and sold by your wife to fill in your brother-in-law’s debt pit. When the house is emptied and there is nothing left to sell, she will start eyeing you yourself!]

“Just right, my little sister grew up in a temple and has studied this kind of thing a lot. How about letting her do a reading for you?”

As soon as he said this, quite a few people nearby stopped what they were doing and looked over.

Du An Rao also jumped in fright. She did not understand how the topic had suddenly turned to her.

Yang Jian Tao froze for a second, then laughed again and said: “Your sister can even do that? Then I have to show my support.”

It was clear that he did not really believe in so-called fate arts, or maybe he simply did not believe a young little girl could have this kind of skill.

He was only playing along to give Du He Xuan face and help him coax the child.

Du An Rao pretended to stay calm and nodded. She still had many questions in her heart, but she had to admit that her brother’s clever move had saved her a lot of trouble.

“Then please write a character, Brother Yang.”

“Write a character…” Luckily, these old seniors all had the habit of carrying pens and paper with them, so they could mark their scripts at any time.

Very soon, Yang Jian Tao wrote down the character he wanted to test on a notebook. It was the “Jian” in his name, the one that means “sword”.

Du An Rao stared at that character for a long while, and her face grew more and more serious.

Even though Yang Jian Tao did not believe in this stuff, when he saw her like that, he could not help feeling nervous.

“An An, did you see something?”

Du An Rao let out a heavy sigh and frowned: “This is a character of harm and loss.”

“A character of harm and loss? What does that mean?”

“A character of harm and loss, simply put, is a character that might cause someone to get hurt and also make them lose money.”

“This…” Yang Jian Tao’s face turned a bit ugly. Even a person with a good temper would not be happy to suddenly be told that he might get hurt and lose money, especially when that harmful character was in his own name.

Du An Rao also knew that these words were unpleasant to hear. But honest words sound harsh. To keep this person in front of her from walking down the same old path as in the original story, she still gritted her teeth and went on.

“The character ‘Jian’ has gold on the left and knife on the right. Gold is money and fortune. Knife is a sharp blade. The curved hook points left, which means losing money.”

“Only losing money?” Du He Xuan frowned. He felt this did not quite match what Du An Rao had just said.

“Of course it is not only losing money.” Du An Rao took the pen from Yang Jian Tao’s hand and wrote another character in the notebook.

“This is…”

“Jian, this character is also read ‘jian’. It is actually the same character, just the difference between simplified and traditional script. Now look at this one again. Can you see what is different?”

Yang Jian Tao carefully compared the two characters. His expression sank a bit: “The gold on the left now has a mouth and a person at the bottom.”

“Right. The bottom of the original gold has turned into two mouths and two people. These two mouths and two people suggest that, Brother Yang, you might soon have a quarrel with someone over money.”

When he heard this, Yang Jian Tao’s eyes widened. Recently he really had been arguing with his wife about money.

It started because his wife’s younger brother had gotten a girlfriend. They had only been dating for less than two months, but they were already talking about marriage. All the costs added up to a lot, so his wife wanted him to take out most of their savings to help her younger brother get married.

But Yang Jian Tao’s daughter was about to go to college. His daughter had very good grades and loved fashion design. He was planning to send her overseas for further study after her college entrance exam.

Because of this, the couple had been fighting like crazy.

His wife believed that no matter what, a girl would get married one day anyway. Why study so much? Going abroad to study was just wasting money. It would be better to use that money to find a wife for her younger brother.

Yang Jian Tao, however, felt that he only had this one daughter. He had spoiled her like a pearl and a treasure since she was little. He thought any money spent on her was worth it, and he would not allow anyone to point fingers or talk nonsense about it.

After all, this was a private family matter. He had never told anyone, not even Du He Xuan.

Now that Du An Rao had mentioned it, Yang Jian Tao’s heart gave a hard shake. On one side, he kept telling himself it was just a coincidence. On the other side, his hand could not help rubbing the mug he was holding.

Du He Xuan saw all of Yang Jian Tao’s changes. He was full of admiration for his own sister’s ability to make things up.

If he did not already know what was on Yang Jian Tao’s mind, he might have been fooled by her too.

If nothing else, with this talent, it would be a waste if she were not a fortune-teller con artist.

“Not only that. Because the gold on the left became people, the knife on the right is now pointing at people too.” Du An Rao pointed at the character Yang Jian Tao had just written and said: “In the character you wrote, the tail of the knife on the right is stretched out and curves upward. If we replace it with the character I wrote, it would point right at the person on the right.”

“Just now we also said that the knife is a sharp blade. When the curved hook points to the gold on the left, it means losing money. Now the knife is pointing at a person…”

“…What will happen?”

Du An Rao’s eyes grew cold. Her face also became very serious. People could not help ignoring the youth on her face and feeling a bit of respect.

“Before, it was only a dispute over money. But if a war of words joins with real weapons, it turns into blades pointing at each other. This is the killing intent hidden under the loss of money.”

The crowd of onlookers: !