The Thirty-First Chapter

"Okay," Liu Mumu replied. "How accurate do you want it? Ordinary divination is generally accurate. I can only tell you if you two can be together. I can't tell you anything more."

"There's something more accurate?" Everyone was curious.

Liu Mumu nodded. "The more accurate divination method requires a divination fee of ten thousand yuan, and it can only be done once."

"How accurate can it be?" Xue Lan asked.

"It can tell you your future experiences under the two choices of breaking up or not breaking up."

"That's so exaggerated. Can we do it too?" According to Liu Mumu, this was almost like predicting the future. Qian Xiaomeng was a little tempted.

Liu Mumu shook her head. "I don't recommend you do it. Knowing your future isn't necessarily a good thing."

She would do it for Xue Lan because she also wanted to know what Xu Anze intended to do to Xue Lan.

Xue Lan bit her lip. "Okay, I'll do it."

This was not a small sum of money, but luckily she had saved enough New Year's money. If spending money could buy her a result she was convinced by, she was willing.

Reason couldn't tell her the right or wrong of her feelings, but divination could.

"Then, Saturday morning, be ready with ten thousand yuan for the divination fee, and I'll tell you the answer."

Early Saturday morning, Dong Zhenghao was urged out of the house by a series of phone calls from his eldest daughter, who insisted he pick her up in person. He was very reluctant, but he drove over obediently.

Who told him he was a thoughtful Dad?

He parked his car for nearly ten minutes before he saw Liu Mumu walking over with a girl of the same age.

Facing his daughter's classmate, Dong Zhenghao put on a very kind smile. "Hello, classmate. I'm Mumu's Dad."

He found Xue Lan somewhat familiar. After thinking for a moment, he remembered seeing this girl on the first day of school.

"Hello, Uncle. I'm Xue Lan," Xue Lan politely greeted Dong Zhenghao. The two got into the car.

Dong Zhenghao thought Liu Mumu wanted to invite her classmate over, and was about to drive when he heard Liu Mumu say, "Dad, wait a moment."

Dong Zhenghao turned his head in surprise and found his daughter holding Xue Lan's hand and looking her in the eye.

Although he only saw her profile, for a moment, Dong Zhenghao suddenly shivered. His brain hadn't registered anything unusual, but his body reacted first.

The Liu Mumu before him seemed to have suddenly become a different person.

Dong Zhenghao wasn't the only one who felt this way. Xue Lan, who was looking into Liu Mumu's eyes, felt the same.

In Liu Mumu's emotionless eyes, her reflection stared back, causing an inexplicable unease.

"Mumu..." Xue Lan hesitantly called her name.

Liu Mumu didn't respond. Their hands were clasped for a full five minutes before she closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, she raised her hand and rubbed her eyes, instantly returning to her original self.

"Mumu, are you okay?" Xue Lan asked worriedly.

"I'm fine." Liu Mumu looked at Xue Lan with a complicated expression.

"Is... is the result not good?" Xue Lan sensed something was off in Liu Mumu's gaze and felt uneasy.

The result had nothing to do with being good or bad; it was completely beyond Liu Mumu's expectations.

She hadn't seen Xue Lan's future, but she had seen Zhuo Ran's.

Under what circumstances would the destinies of two people become so intertwined that her eyes couldn't distinguish them?

Liu Mumu remembered what her grandfather had told her: destiny could also be replaced. When one person stole another's destiny, their subsequent paths would completely change.

There were many possible reasons for a sudden change in a person's destiny, and even a diviner wouldn't easily conclude that the person had exchanged destinies with someone else.

But Liu Mumu could. Her eyes never made mistakes.

Therefore, it wasn't hard to guess. Someone had tampered with Xue Lan, replacing her destiny with Zhuo Ran's.

"Substitute Life" was not as simple as talking about it; its complexity couldn't be achieved overnight.

Liu Mumu suddenly understood. Between Zhuo Ran and Xue Lan was Xu Anze. She had initially thought it was a simple love triangle, but it involved such a complex background.

The divination didn't clarify things but uncovered a shocking conspiracy.

But at least, she knew one thing: Zhuo Ran's turning point would be next Saturday, her birthday.

Coincidentally, that was also Xue Lan's birthday.

After organizing her thoughts, Liu Mumu said to Xue Lan, "I didn't calculate whether the result was good or bad. I only calculated that you would make your own choice on your birthday, and that would be the most correct choice."

"On my birthday..." Xue Lan thought of her birthday being next Saturday, with only a week left.

Could a week be enough for her to make a decision?

"I understand. Although I don't think I can figure it out so quickly, I believe you." Xue Lan placed the envelope from her bag into Liu Mumu's hand, smiling. "Master, this is half a semester's worth of my meal expenses. My future depends on you."

Liu Mumu accepted the divination fee and smiled at her. "Don't worry, I won't let you lose out."

Xue Lan got out of the car and waved goodbye to Liu Mumu.

Dong Zhenghao watched from the front, dumbfounded. What was going on?

She dared to accept so much money just by saying a few words, and it was from her classmate. If that child realized what happened, wouldn't she report it to the school!

Dong Zhenghao hesitated, saying, "Mumu, if you need money, you can tell Dad. Why don't you return the money to your classmate?"

A rabbit doesn't even eat the grass near its nest. If you're going to deceive someone, you should at least go somewhere no one knows you!

Liu Mumu shot him a sideways glance and quickly stuffed a wad of cash into her bag, as if afraid he would snatch it.

Old Dong looked worried. How could this child not inherit any of his shrewdness? What was to be done?

Given Liu Mumu's good reputation, Xue Lan truly took her words to heart. She did not, as Dong Zhenghao had guessed, report him on the first day after the weekend ended.

During this time, Xu Anze had been sending her messages, but Xue Lan had not contacted him.

Just as Wei Xue had said, she needed to calmly think about her relationship with Xu Anze.

However, while she refused to contact him, Xu Anze could easily find her at school.

On Tuesday noon, the four of them in their dormitory were eating in the canteen when Xu Anze quietly stood beside her.

Xue Lan noticed him under the surprised gazes of her roommates. He seemed to have not rested well these past few days, with a faint bluish stubble on his chin, dark circles under his eyes, and bloodshot eyes.

He looked utterly dejected and exhausted.

"Lanlan." Hearing him gently call her name, Xue Lan's nose twitched.

They had always been so good to each other; how had things become like this?

"You guys talk, we'll wait for you outside," Wei Xue said first. She picked up her meal tray and gave Liu Mumu and Qian Xiaomeng a look. They both stood up as well.

After they left, Xu Anze sat down opposite Xue Lan.

Xue Lan refused to look at Xu Anze, afraid she would soften. She just lowered her eyes, staring at her meal tray.

Xu Anze gave a wry smile. "You don't even want to look at me now?"

She remained silent.

"I know you're angry that I hid things from you, and angry that I acted so obedient to Zhuo Ran in front of you."

Xue Lan's eyelashes fluttered.

"I didn't want to tell you before because I didn't want you to know how pathetic my past self was. Do you know, I'm actually an adopted son of the Zhuo family? I was raised by Zhuo Ran from a young age, as her playmate and also her punching bag."

Xue Lan looked up in surprise.

"When she was unhappy, she could hit and scold me as she pleased. But I couldn't make her angry, or her parents would kick me out." Xu Anze looked at Xue Lan with bitterness in his eyes. "Lanlan, you probably can't imagine, but the time I spent away from the Zhuo family was the happiest period of my life since childhood. I met you..."

"You never told me," Xue Lan said softly. She no longer deliberately avoided Xu Anze's gaze.

But she still felt that the past Xu Anze spoke of lacked a sense of reality.

Was it really just as he said?

"Because I didn't want you to know that everything I have now was obtained by pleasing Zhuo Ran's parents. The only thing I did out of line was insist on coming here to study with you, against their wishes."

Yes, Xue Lan had always known that Xu Anze's grades were much better than hers. He could have gone to a university in Jing City, but he had applied to the same school as her.

At that time, teachers from the school had taken turns trying to counsel him, but none could persuade him in the end.

Classmates who knew they were dating would say to her with envy: Xu Anze is so good to you.

Xue Lan thought that based on this alone, she should believe Aze, believe he was sincere.

But at that moment, Wei Xue's voice echoed in her mind.

Last Saturday night, Mumu wasn't there, and Xiaomeng had gone to the supermarket to buy things. Only she and Wei Xue were left in the dormitory.

She had told Wei Xue everything that had happened since they started dating, and how he had given up the opportunity to study in Jing City for her.

At that time, Wei Xue had told her: In a few days, Xu Anze will come to apologize to you. To move you, he might bring this up.

Xue Lan hadn't paid much attention then. Aze had done many things for her but rarely mentioned them.

And yet today, he had.

After that, Wei Xue had added: You need to think clearly, are all these things he's sacrificed truly for you? Don't forget, Zhuo Ran is also at our school.

Yes, it was precisely that Zhuo Ran was also at this school.

How strange. Everyone said Zhuo Ran's level was good enough for the Jing City Conservatory of Music, yet she came to their school.

Did Zhuo Ran come for him, or did he come for Zhuo Ran?

Was it really for her?

Xue Lan's heart began to waver.

She couldn't tell how much of what the person in front of her was saying was true.

Perhaps he wasn't lying, and she was just unwilling to believe him.

Outside the canteen, Liu Mumu and Wei Xue each had an ice pop in their mouths. They were the school's special supply, five mao each.

Both were very calm, only Qian Xiaomeng kept craning her neck to look into the canteen.

"Aren't you curious what he said to Lanlan?"

Liu Mumu, having already seen the ending: Not only was she not curious, she was a little bored.

Wei Xue, having predicted Xu Anze's actions: "What's there to be curious about? Men's tactics are nothing more than playing the victim and talking about how much they've sacrificed for you."

"Then it's over. Lanlan is the softest-hearted. Won't Xu Anze coax her back with a few words?" Qian Xiaomeng was even more worried.

"If Lanlan didn't know what he was going to say, she would naturally soften. But what if she knew?" Wei Xue calmly bit into her ice pop.

It was like facing a very difficult problem but seeing the standard answer beforehand. The twelve points of accomplishment would only leave one point in the end.

It was the same here. If it was originally ten points of gratitude, how much would be left now?