Gu Liming

At the airport's Blue Mountain Coffee shop, a man in brown casual shoes read a fashion magazine and drank his coffee.

Shen Qiong pushed open the door and immediately spotted Gu Liming sitting to the right. His face lit up as he walked over.

"Well, well, Master Shen has arrived?" Gu Liming teased with a grin.

Shen Qiong rolled his eyes. "Come on, tell me! Things didn't work out for you overseas, so you had to come crawling back?"

Gu Liming gave Shen Qiong a look of disdain. "Give me a break. I came back to serve my country."

Just then, Gu Liming's phone rang. He glanced at it but made no move to answer.

Shen Qiong snatched the phone from him. The caller ID was in English, of all things.

"Oh! I get it! You slept with some foreign girl, didn't want to take responsibility, and ran back here." Shen Qiong laughed. He knew what a ladies' man Gu Liming was.

Gu Liming's expression darkened. "It wasn't that dramatic. We both wanted it at the time. Who knew she'd cling to me the next day?"

"Tsk, tsk, you animal. You just got up and pretended you didn't know her?" Shen Qiong said scornfully.

"Hey, hey, don't tell me you've never done that?" Gu Liming asked, looking at Shen Qiong with an innocent expression.

Shen Qiong waved a hand. "Of course not!"

Gu Liming gave a bitter smile. "I'm not that kind of guy, either! But I really had too much to drink that night. I couldn't tell people from ghosts. Then I woke up the next morning and—damn! I reckon she weighed close to two hundred pounds!" He looked miserable.

Thinking of his buddy pinned beneath a woman whose arm was thicker than his thigh, Shen Qiong laughed so hard he nearly doubled over. "Well, look at you! Turns out you were helping out a 'refugee.' That fat girl's probably got her sights set on you now."

Gu Liming looked shaken. "Don't bring it up. Just thinking about it turns my stomach. I guess if you spend enough time by the river, you're bound to get your shoes wet. Don't drag me to bars anymore. I wouldn't go back if you paid me."

Shen Qiong shook his head with a laugh. "Karma finally caught up with you! You've been living the good life every day."

"Hey, enough about me. Tell me about you. How have things been these past two years?" Gu Liming sighed.

Shen Qiong smiled mysteriously. "I've been thriving."

"Oh? Seriously?" Gu Liming asked in surprise.

"Some things can be understood, but not explained," Shen Qiong said cheerfully.

Gu Liming took a sip of coffee. "All right, spill it. Don't tell me you've inherited your dad's talent? I know exactly how capable you are."

"You just don't get it. Once I had my breakthrough, I surpassed my teacher in no time." Shen Qiong beamed.

Looking at Shen Qiong, Gu Liming wondered if he was telling the truth.

"Then it's settled. I'm counting on you, buddy! I came back in secret this time. Even my parents don't know." Gu Liming sounded helpless.

"That bad?" Shen Qiong asked, taken aback.

Gu Liming sighed heavily again. "It's tough. These days, even returning from overseas doesn't guarantee an easy ride. My parents didn't want me to come back. They kept telling me to work hard abroad, make it big, then bring them over to enjoy the good life."

Shen Qiong nodded to show he understood.

"If I snuck back without telling them, my dad would probably whip me," Gu Liming said, hunching his shoulders and shaking his head.

Shen Qiong laughed. "Don't worry. You're not like me. You're good with people and have plenty of connections. You won't starve."

Gu Liming gave a bitter smile. "Of course I won't starve. But honestly, having connections depends on how well you're doing. If you're successful, a single word from you and you'll have friends everywhere. If you're down on your luck, you can beg on your knees and people still might not give you the time of day."

Shen Qiong knew exactly what Gu Liming meant.

"I might need to stay at your place for a while after I get back. I'll see if I can find a job around here after a few days. I did study overseas, after all. I shouldn't have much trouble finding something that pays over ten thousand a month."

Shen Qiong asked, "What did you study in Germany again?"

"Advertising and marketing," Gu Liming replied.

"Perfect timing. I need someone to help promote my business and manage my followers' reputation." Shen Qiong's eyes lit up.

Gu Liming stared at him. "Followers? Aren't you a fortune-teller? You have followers?"

Shen Qiong grinned. "These days, even cats and dogs can become internet celebrities. Why can't I have followers?"

"Fine. You've compared yourself to cats and dogs. What can I say?" Gu Liming said with a smile.

"Come on, I was just making a comparison. Anyway, I happen to need someone to run my Weibo account, promote stories about some of my more unusual clients, raise my profile, and interact with my followers now and then. I'm no good at that stuff, but you know how to do it," Shen Qiong explained.

Gu Liming frowned. He knew what running a Weibo account involved, and asked curiously, "How many followers do you have?"

Shen Qiong thought for a moment. He must have nearly twenty thousand by now.

"About twenty thousand. It's doing all right for now, but there'll definitely be more in the future." Shen Qiong explained his plans.

Gu Liming looked at him in surprise. "Not bad! Twenty thousand isn't a huge number, but it's enough to make you somewhat well-known. Is fortune-telling really that popular in China now?"

Shen Qiong chuckled. "Of course not. Just look at who's sitting next to you. You're looking at Master Shen, who can glimpse heavenly secrets and tell people's fortunes."

Gu Liming wanted to kick the guy. What a show-off.

He considered it for a moment. Rather than work for someone else, he might as well give Shen Qiong a hand. That was, of course, assuming Shen Qiong really had the skills for it.

"I'll think about it..."

Shen Qiong smiled. "Think it over. The monthly salary is twenty thousand, twice what I pay my assistant. That's pretty good."

Gu Liming stared at him, stunned. "You have an assistant? And you pay them over ten thousand a month?"

Shen Qiong knew that would impress him. That was exactly the effect he wanted, and he smiled. "Of course!"

"Damn, you must've conned a lot of big clients!" Gu Liming said scornfully.

Shen Qiong couldn't let that pass. What did he mean, conned? He made his living through genuine skill.

"All right, let's do this. You can stay at my place. There's an empty room, anyway. Take two days to think it over, and you can come visit my shop." Shen Qiong figured that if Gu Liming went to the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion, he'd understand why Shen Qiong could offer him such a high salary.

After all, clients came by for fortune-telling one after another.

They chatted for a while longer, then took a cab back to Shili Street.

Gu Liming asked curiously, "You're not pulling my leg, are you? If you can afford to pay salaries of tens of thousands, why haven't you bought a car?"

Shen Qiong smiled wryly. "I'm just getting my business off the ground. I have to watch my spending."

Gu Liming knew Shen Qiong was joking. He understood what kind of person Shen Qiong was. He might brag now and then, but he rarely let anyone down when it mattered. That was why he'd contacted him as soon as he returned to China.

The car drove slowly along the airport expressway as a plane streaked across the sky.

If Shen Qiong had known that the big client willing to pay him five hundred thousand for a reading was on that plane, he would have been heartbroken for days.