In the airport hotel's top luxury suite, Yao Hongguang had been cooped up all day, and he was in a terrible mood.
"Young Master, I found the shop. It seems to be a fortune-telling place," Uncle Li reported.
Yao Hongguang immediately sat up, full of anticipation. "Then that's the place! We'll go over tomorrow morning."
Uncle Li hesitated for a moment, then said, "That shop seems to have quite a few rules. If you want a reading, Young Master, you'll probably have to make an appointment first."
"Then make an appointment!" Yao Hongguang said, unconcerned.
"But... I asked around nearby, and if we go through the normal appointment process, it'll probably be hard to meet the master who does the readings."
Yao Hongguang frowned. "Then we won't go through the normal process. We'll go straight there tomorrow."
"I asked about that too. Apparently, plenty of people try to skip the appointment and go straight to Master Shen for a reading every day, but they all get turned away!"
"Of course, I've already made an appointment for you, Young Master. Judging by what the shopkeepers nearby told me, hundreds of people try to book each day, but fewer than twenty actually get an appointment. Some have been trying for over a month without success."
Uncle Li watched Yao Hongguang's expression closely, but to his surprise, Yao Hongguang wasn't angry about how hard it was to get an appointment. Instead, he said with interest, "Master Shen really is something else. No matter! We'll go straight there tomorrow. I don't believe he'll be able to refuse me."
Five hundred thousand for a reading! Yao Hongguang didn't believe Shen Qiong could turn that down.
The next morning.
Shen Qiong brewed a pot of Yunnan Pu'er tea and took a small sip. It really did taste different from what he usually drank.
"Master Shen, how do you calculate Talent Skill? Can you tell what talents I have?"
"Other than singing, I don't think I have any other talents."
"How about I hum a couple of lines for you?"
Holy crap! Shen Qiong hurriedly stopped the guy. What the heck? His singing Skill Value was only 25—a total amateur!!!
"No, no, forget the singing. Here, there are darts to your left, and the dartboard is on the left wall. Try throwing a dart at it."
After that awful group meal last time, Shen Qiong had felt that he didn't have enough ways to tell fortunes. He'd come up with an idea and bought a dart set to try out.
"Stand back a bit. Of course, if you think you're too far away to even hit the board, move closer until you think you can reach it."
As he instructed the customer, he pulled out his phone and looked up the man's information.
Dai Kangping (within 100 meters)
Talent Skills, ranked from highest to lowest
Magic: 45 Acting: 41 Acrobatics: 39...
The dart shot straight into the ring just outside the bullseye. The customer grinned. "Hit it!"
Shen Qiong could tell at a glance that this guy was trying to fool him. The information wouldn't lie: the man in front of him was a magician, not some singing enthusiast!
Dai Kangping grinned. "Well? Master Shen, can you tell what special talents I have?"
Shen Qiong glanced at where the dart had landed. Good grief, it had almost hit the bullseye! As expected, people who knew magic could handle little tricks like this with ease.
"Mm! Not bad! You're pretty accurate, and your acting is good too," Shen Qiong said.
Dai Kangping froze. He really had been pretending to be clueless. He wasn't one of Shen Qiong's die-hard fans, but his sister was. She went on and on about Master Shen at home every day. Dai Kangping refused to believe anyone could be that amazing, so he'd made an appointment just to test him. As it happened, he'd gotten lucky and succeeded!
That was why he'd pulled that little stunt just now: he wanted to see whether Shen Qiong really had any skill.
Dai Kangping's eyes shifted, and he pretended not to understand. "Acting? What acting?"
"You put on a pretty convincing act! Too bad you can't fool me! I saw the way you handled the dart just now. You're a magician, aren't you?" Shen Qiong looked at the young man with a smile.
"Whoa! You figured that out too?" Dai Kangping stared at Shen Qiong in shock.
Shen Qiong shook his head with an amused smile, as if to say, I saw through you from the start.
Dai Kangping blinked. He finally understood why everyone said Master Shen was amazing! His eye for detail and powers of observation really were extraordinary!!!
"Then, Master Shen, can you tell if I have any other talents? I mean, besides magic, what else would I be good at?" Dai Kangping asked earnestly.
Many talents were related. For example, magic required a certain level of acting. The entire performance was really an act; the magician knew the methods and effects by heart, but had to make it all look convincing for the trick to succeed.
Actors, for instance, often did more than act. Many could sing, and some even worked as hosts. That was why different talents often overlapped!
But this young man didn't have any other particularly outstanding abilities. Shen Qiong could only shake his head and say, "Magic counts as a fairly impressive talent, and you're good at acting too!"
Although Dai Kangping hadn't gotten any special insights, at least he'd witnessed Master Shen's abilities. He could go back and brag about it to his classmates and friends!
After he left, an Audi pulled up in front of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion.
After getting out, Yao Hongguang looked up at the old shop. The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's decor seemed stuck in the style of the 1960s and '70s, completely at odds with its surroundings.
That unusual sense of history only made Yao Hongguang more certain that he'd come to the right place. Master Shen might really be a hidden expert.
He stepped into the shop and immediately saw the calligraphy hanging on the wall: Glimpse Heavenly Secrets, Calculate Human Fate!
Yao Hongguang had seen calligraphy by many famous masters, and this piece was definitely exceptional.
Ren Tianxue was organizing the information for the next two customers when she happened to glance at Yao Hongguang as he walked in. She immediately said, "Hello. You don't seem to be like most of our customers. You're standing outside the rules?"
Outside the rules?
Yao Hongguang stared in surprise at the beautiful woman with her extraordinary bearing. Could she be Master Shen? And had she seen at a glance that he wasn't like ordinary people?
Shen Qiong happened to come out to pour some tea and teased Ren Tianxue, "You're being mischievous again! What do you mean, 'outside the rules'? He just doesn't have an appointment. No need to make it sound so mysterious."
Ren Tianxue smiled smugly. "I learned it from you!"
Shen Qiong hurriedly shook his head, signaling that it had nothing to do with him.
Yao Hongguang was at a loss for words. So after all that, she was just saying he didn't have an appointment. He'd let his imagination run wild for nothing.
He looked at Shen Qiong and thought to himself, This must be Master Shen. He's so young!
Shen Qiong had no time to deal with people who showed up without appointments to ask for readings. He raised his voice and said, "You didn't get a confirmation that your appointment was successful, did you? If not, go home. Our next customer will be here any moment."
Yao Hongguang, of course, hadn't gotten an appointment, but he wasn't worried. Looking expectant, he asked, "You're Master Shen?"
"That's right. You can call me that!" Shen Qiong replied, then turned and walked away with the teapot.
"Wait! Do you remember, 'I searched for her in the crowd a thousand times'?" Yao Hongguang asked urgently.
Ren Tianxue giggled. "I know! The next line is, 'Then I turned around and saw her, where the candlelight was dim.'"
"Handsome, I know you admire our Master Shen, but that won't help! You still have to make an appointment. Once you've booked, go home and wait for a reply!" Ren Tianxue said with an amused look.
Shen Qiong also thought the man had come to make a joke. He muttered, "These days, you really get all kinds of people."
Yao Hongguang was completely dumbfounded! What was going on? Were they making fun of him?
Before you continue