Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Totally Fooled

From a simple character reading, it had turned into talk of losing money and even killing. Many crew members who had only wanted to join the fun now all had dazed looks like: “Who am I? Where am I? What just happened?”

Yang Jian Tao opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but Du An Rao cut him off first.

“The way people write a character might just be personal habit. But character divination looks at your state of mind in that moment and your future. For example, when I asked you to write a character, Brother Yang, the very first character you thought of was this one. That means your future is tied to this character.”

Yang Jian Tao was speechless. It was like when some people always say that if they could live again, they would do this and that. But can things in this world really start over just because you say so?

In the same way, right now he very much wanted to go back to a moment ago and change the character he had written.

But could he really do that? If the future could be changed so easily, could it still be called fate?

Du An Rao did not plainly tell Yang Jian Tao that he had to believe her, but she still easily pushed him into a logic trap and made him start doubting himself.

Seeing his old friend already completely talked into it, Du He Xuan’s mouth twitched. He now understood even better how good his own sister was at lying with her eyes wide open.

“It sounds pretty serious, so we should take it to heart. But An An, what you said is a bit too general. Even if Brother Yang wants to prevent it before it happens, he has no way to. Can you be a bit more specific?”

Du An Rao at once put on a deep and troubled look and said: “Then I am afraid I will have to ask Brother Yang to write one more character, because that is all I can see from the first one.”

As soon as she said that, everyone’s eyes once again focused on Yang Jian Tao.

Yang Jian Tao really wanted to refuse. He was afraid that any character he wrote casually would become another bomb that could explode at any time.

But the staff around them, who were happy to watch the drama, were not willing to let him go so easily. They laughed and urged him on: “Brother Yang, just write another character. The little girl is only playing around. We, as the older ones, can’t kill the mood.”

“Yeah, yeah, just write another character. Let us see what else she can say.”

Stuck in a hard place, Yang Jian Tao picked up the pen. When he thought of what Du An Rao had said just now, he somehow, as if pushed by ghosts and gods, wrote down another character in the notebook.

Out of the corner of her eye, Du An Rao took a look and almost could not stop herself from shouting on the spot.

The second character Yang Jian Tao wrote was “Di”, the “Di” in his wife’s name!

[Could it be that there really is fate in the dark, and even heaven cannot bear to see an honest man being used up by two bad people? One is a woman and the other is a younger brother. Aren’t they openly telling you that the ones who want to hurt you are your wife and her younger brother? Cough, a wife’s younger brother is still a younger brother, but he does not treat you as his older brother.]

To people who knew the inside story, this character was very direct. But how to explain it out loud gave Du An Rao a headache.

[If I just tell him straight that his wife and his brother-in-law are planning to run off with all his money and even dump a huge usury debt on him, how is that any different from some fool running up and using his ultimate move right in someone’s face?]

In short, it would be too blunt and not classy at all. It would make it much harder to fool someone, and it would not feel mysterious enough.

[At a time like this, I need to polish the words a bit. Watch how I trick… cough, remind him next.]

The “master” filter on Du He Xuan’s eyes shattered all over the ground, and Xi Jing Yue, who had just gone out to scold his own cousin and came back only to hear Du An Rao getting ready to trick someone: …

Du An Rao first silently rehearsed her words once in her heart. Only then did she slowly draw out her voice and say: “This character…”

Yang Jian Tao’s heart suddenly jumped up: “What about this character?”

“First, looking at the shape, it’s a woman on the left and a younger brother on the right. The woman on the left matches the person at the bottom of the left side of the ‘Jian’ character just now. If we say that the person on the right that the knife in the ‘Jian’ character was pointing at just now stands for you, Brother Yang, then this person on the left stands for the other person who will have a quarrel with you. So we can see that this should be… a woman.”

“A woman?” Many people stared with wide eyes.

Just now Du An Rao had talked about money disputes and blades pointing at each other. Almost everyone had quietly decided that the one who could fight with Yang Jian Tao and even hurt him must be a man. Now she was saying it was a woman!

They looked again at Yang Jian Tao’s suddenly pale face. Was this… another hit?

“The whole meaning of the character ‘Di’ leans more toward the way co-sisters-in-law, younger brothers’ wives, or even co-wives of the same husband address each other. In other words, from the meaning of the character, this person and Brother Yang are close and can be counted as relatives, but you are not related by blood.”

With so many conditions set up, it was hard not to guess who this was.

Du An Rao also knew when to stop. She changed the topic to another person and said: “Next, look at the right side of the character ‘Di’. It is the character for younger brother, and this younger brother matches the knife on the right side. If we talk about cause and effect from past to now, the right side is the cause, and everything that happens related to the left side is the result.”

Yang Jian Tao had already had some doubts in his heart before. After this round of hints from Du An Rao, he could not help matching them to people in his life. His face grew darker and darker.

The people who had been making noise before now sensed the strange mood and did not dare speak anymore. For a while, the scene became quite stiff.

“What are so many people doing here? Do you all have nothing to do?”

The slightly harsh shout scared everyone. Only then did they realize that the director did not know when he had come to stand behind them. His sharp eyes were fixed on the few people in the middle of the circle.

Some of the staff who were closer to the director were quick-witted. Grinning, they pushed the blame onto Yang Jian Tao and the others.

“Brother Yang asked a little girl to help him with character divination, and we were just watching the fun for a bit, just for a moment.”

It would have been better if they had not said anything. As soon as they spoke, the director got so angry that he laughed and said: “Watching the fun, huh. Don’t think I don’t know what you old hands are thinking. Pretending to watch is fake. Slacking off is real. Hurry up and get back to work. If today’s filming is delayed, everyone will have their pay docked.”

Once he used the salary-cutting move, the crowd scattered like birds and beasts.

The director gave a cold snort and glanced at the three people involved. Since he could not afford to offend these big Buddhas, he decisively pointed his fire at Yang Jian Tao instead.

“If you want fortune telling, you don’t go find those old guys in sunglasses under the bridge, but come to this little girl. If the reading is wrong, fine. But if it turns out right, are you planning to swallow her divination fee too? Old Yang, really, look how old you are already. Have some shame!”

Right now, Yang Jian Tao also felt a bit like a man who had just survived a calamity. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said with a smile: “Yes, yes, my fault, my fault.”

Seeing how good his attitude was when he admitted his mistake, the director instead felt a little guilty. After thinking for a moment, he decided to scold both sides.

“Little Du, Uncle knows you’re young and like to play with new things, but a film crew is a serious place. We’ll let it go this time, but there cannot be a next time, all right?”

He was just one step away from directly telling her not to bring this feudal superstitious stuff into their crew.

Du An Rao: “…”

[Great. Now they really think I am a fraud.]