Chapter 42

"What are you planning to do?" Xu Yonglin asked with a smile.

Liu Mumu placed the three coins in his hand and said, "Just give them a shake."

Xu Yonglin clicked his tongue and shook his head. That was way too perfunctory. Still, he shook the coins and spread them out for Liu Mumu to see, then asked, "Don't I need to shake them a few more times?"

He remembered that Three Coins divination was supposed to take six shakes.

"I'm just doing a casual reading. No need to be so formal," Liu Mumu replied nonchalantly. She nudged the coins in Xu Yonglin's hand. "Let's see how your luck has been lately."

Xu Yonglin waited to hear her read his fate.

"Hmm... your luck hasn't been very good lately."

Here it came, the most basic trick: first lower expectations, then raise them. He didn't know how good this girl was at fortune-telling, but she was certainly familiar with the routine.

"What's wrong with it?" Xu Yonglin asked cooperatively.

Liu Mumu rested one finger on the coins and looked up to meet his gaze. "A prison sentence is right around the corner."

The moment he met those hollow eyes, utterly devoid of emotion, Xu Yonglin couldn't help shivering. He instinctively took a step back. A grown man had just been startled by a little girl.

"What—what do you mean?"

Liu Mumu drew her hand back, and there was no trace of anything unusual about her anymore.

Isn't it obvious? You're going to be arrested. Not only are you facing prison time, but your life is short, too. I'm afraid you won't make it out of prison alive."

Even though he was convinced Liu Mumu was just using a sales pitch on him, anyone would feel uneasy hearing something like that.

Besides, the work he did for his brother was the kind that could get him killed. Saying he might be arrested wasn't exactly baseless.

Xu Yonglin's Adam's apple bobbed. He forced a laugh. "Is there any way to avert it?"

Liu Mumu stared at him for a few seconds, thinking he had a pretty good temper.

If it had been anyone else who didn't know her, they probably would have tried to hit her after hearing all that.

"There is." Liu Mumu smiled. "But even if I told you, you might not believe me. Why don't we talk about your prison sentence instead?"

"Fine. Go ahead."

"You won't be arrested for a crime you committed yourself. You'll be implicated, but the charges will be serious, and you'll spend the rest of your life in prison. Unfortunately, you're unlucky, and the rest of your life will be pitifully short." Liu Mumu glanced at him, her tone somewhere between sympathy and teasing.

"That's all?"

It wasn't an outrageous claim. The more frightening the prediction, the higher the fee she could charge to break the curse afterward.

Xu Yonglin thought he'd already seen through her routine.

Liu Mumu hadn't missed the distrust in his eyes. She continued, "Not long after you're arrested, your younger sister will die."

Xu Yonglin gave a laugh. "I don't have a younger sister."

Liu Mumu tilted her head. "Are you sure you don't?"

As their eyes met, Xu Yonglin felt as if she could see right through him. His heart clenched, and the smile slowly faded from his face.

The only blood relative he had was his brother, Xu Yongshuang.

But he did have a younger sister.

She was the daughter of his adoptive parents. For more than ten years, he'd lived with them and his sister.

"Th-then what?" Xu Yonglin's voice trembled slightly.

"She has no other family. She won't be found until several days after she dies. Eventually, someone will get in touch with you after you've already been arrested. You'll be desperate and regretful. You'll want to confess everything, but then you'll suddenly die."

"Is that it?"

"You still don't seem to believe me," Liu Mumu said.

Xu Yonglin didn't answer. This time, he didn't dare believe her.

Liu Mumu pulled the wooden plaque hanging around her neck and held it up for him. "Do you think this makes what I said more believable?"

His gaze sharpened. "A Diviner's License?"

When his adoptive parents had taken him in, he'd still retained a few childhood memories. He'd once lived in a large family, and whenever the holidays came around, visitors would arrive to pay their respects. He'd seen this wooden plaque with his own eyes.

An elder in the family had told him it was called a Diviner's License, and that anyone who carried one was a powerful fortune-teller.

He remembered it so clearly because the visitor had glanced at him and said to his elders, "This child's fate is not a good one."

Later, his family fell into ruin, and he was sent to live with his adoptive parents. Later still, he'd been arrested for swindling people out of money. He'd thought the life he'd lived was proof enough that he was unlucky.

Could there be... more to it than that?

"You're a diviner?" A chill crept up Xu Yonglin's spine.

The Diviner's License meant the things she'd just said weren't some scam to get his money. They were true.

"Are you one of their people?" Xu Yonglin blurted out.

"Huh?" Liu Mumu looked completely confused. "Who?"

"...The police?" Liu Mumu's expression made Xu Yonglin hesitate. Had he guessed wrong?

"Do I look like a police officer? I'm so young. How old do you think I am?" Liu Mumu was very offended. Did she really look that old? She hadn't even graduated yet!

Xu Yonglin leaned back a little. There was no need to get so worked up. He'd only been guessing.

"You weren't waiting here for me?"

"I live there." Liu Mumu pointed at the residential complex where Xu Yonglin had just been turned away. "Didn't I tell you?"

"Then why did you read my fortune?" That was what Xu Yonglin couldn't understand. The odds of meeting a diviner on an outing these days were about as high as getting hit by an iron pancake falling from the sky.

"Do I need a reason to tell someone's fortune?" Liu Mumu asked, as if it were only right.

Xu Yonglin thought about it. Gu Masters needed a reason to lay a curse on someone, but diviners could read your fortune when they were in a good mood, or read it when they weren't. There really wasn't any logic to it.

He decided not to dwell on the question and asked sincerely, "Then... Master, is there still hope for someone like me?"

After a pause, he added, "Even if you can't save me, could you at least save my sister?"

"The only person who can save her is you. I can't help. Before that, you should be thinking about how to save yourself. If you die, your sister definitely won't survive."

"I..." Xu Yonglin hesitated.

Just then, his phone rang again.

He picked it up and glanced at the screen. The name Xu Yongshuang was flashing there.

Liu Mumu glanced at the screen. "You only get one chance to choose. If you miss it, there won't be another."

Xu Yonglin gripped his phone tighter. At that moment, he seemed to have made up his mind. "I understand."

Liu Mumu held out her hand. "Divination fee."

Xu Yonglin placed a crumpled ten-yuan note in her palm. Looking at the amount, he felt a little embarrassed. "Um, I didn't bring any more money when I left home."

He knew the rules. Ten yuan wasn't enough to buy even a punctuation mark in a diviner's reading.

"That's all right." Liu Mumu looked at him and said meaningfully, "There's plenty of time. Whatever you're thinking of doing, you'd better do it now. Be careful you don't run out of time."

Xu Yonglin nodded firmly. "Master, I have an urgent matter to attend to, so I'll take my leave. If... if I get the chance, I'll come visit you again."

It had been difficult to make the decision, but as he turned to leave, he felt a sudden sense of relief.

A few words from this young master who had appeared out of nowhere had strengthened his resolve.

As Liu Mumu watched Xu Yonglin leave and turned around, her foot slipped, and she went sprawling onto the ground.

Fortunately, she was bundled up for winter, so it didn't hurt much.

Home was right within reach, but the way back seemed impossibly far.

By the time Xu Yonglin appeared outside the residential complex where Dong Zhenghao lived, the news had already been passed along.

They had planned to keep him under surveillance a little longer, but the officer watching him noticed Liu Mumu approaching.

The officer had originally worked under Fang Chuan. Everyone in their department knew Liu Mumu. She was the one who'd boldly declared she would win over Consultant Yan. Not only had she never been banned from seeing him, she could even wander into Consultant Yan's office whenever she pleased. She was worthy of everyone's respect.

So the news that Liu Mumu had made contact with a suspect was sent to Fang Chuan immediately.

"Did you actually tell her last time that she should contact the police as soon as she ran into a dangerous person?" Fang Chuan asked when he heard Liu Mumu's name, completely baffled.

Why was it her again? Why was it always her?

Yan Xiu shot Fang Chuan a cold look and said nothing. The atmosphere in the car kept growing heavier.

Fang Chuan shut his mouth. Yan Xiu had definitely told her, but the girl hadn't listened.

While Liu Mumu was telling someone's fortune for ten yuan, Yan Xiu's car was already close to her home.

Xu Yonglin had left, and Liu Mumu was struggling to make her way home when Yan Xiu got out of the car.

"Consultant Yan, he just left," the officer reported.

"Got it. Keep following up, and report to your captain at any time." Yan Xiu tapped his earpiece and ended the call.

Liu Mumu was sprawled on her stomach at the entrance to the residential complex, being "trampled" by a husky, when Yan Xiu caught up with her. She'd already reached the gate when a husky came charging out of nowhere and hit her with a "war stomp." Down she went.

Next, the glass in the security booth would probably explode. Liu Mumu figured as much and had already covered her head.

She shouldn't have been so stubborn about walking home. She should've asked Old Dong to carry her back.

Before the glass had a chance to explode, a large hand covered her face. She felt the person's finger tap her forehead, cool against her skin.

She instinctively reached up to touch it, but someone caught her wrist. A familiar voice rang above her, deep and magnetic. "Don't touch it."

Liu Mumu lifted her head and looked at the handsome face close by. "Why are you here?"

Yan Xiu hauled her to her feet and said coolly, "Because a criminal suspect showed up here."

Liu Mumu fell silent. She thought she knew who he meant.

Yan Xiu fixed his dark eyes on her. "I'm pretty sure I told you yesterday not to go out for a while."

"I just went out for breakfast." Liu Mumu put on an innocent face.

"And then you happened to walk up and chat with a criminal suspect?" Yan Xiu was so angry he almost laughed. "Didn't I warn you not to handle this kind of situation on your own? You even read his fortune."

"He paid the divination fee. I couldn't very well turn him down," Liu Mumu retorted softly, knowing she was in the wrong. She showed Yan Xiu the ten-yuan note in her hand.

Yan Xiu closed his eyes, afraid he might lose control and do something to her. "And now you're exchanging money with a criminal suspect."

Liu Mumu puffed out her cheeks. "You're framing me."

Yan Xiu ignored her and carried her off with a cold expression. Just then, his phone rang.

It was Fang Chuan.

As soon as Yan Xiu answered, Fang Chuan's booming voice came through loud enough for even Liu Mumu to hear. "Xu Yonglin just turned himself in and said he wants to report his brother. What kind of bizarre turn is this? What exactly did Liu Mumu do to him?"