Tricks

Zhang San looked at Su Che and recounted in detail how he had gone to see that lady for character divination.

The Qi Household lady being possessed by a demon quickly became news throughout Shanyin County. When that demon decided to come out and sell fortunes and divine characters, it frightened a whole crowd of people even more.

Who would seek out a demon to have their fortune told when they had nothing better to do? For a time, her doorstep was practically deserted.

Later, several hooligans wagered among themselves over who had the most courage, and one fearless fellow went to have the Qi Household lady tell his fortune.

The Qi Household lady had set up her fortune-telling stall right outside her own home. Dressed as a handsome young gentleman, she sat there as the hooligan steeled himself and went to ask about his financial prospects.

At first, he had been somewhat worried. A demon telling fortunes would most likely be plotting something strange, and the hooligan had even prepared himself to sacrifice his chastity.

Yet who would have thought that the Qi Household lady would take out three copper coins, cast a divination, and truly point him toward a path to wealth?

She said that a clay jar was buried two chi southeast beneath the large tree in his home. One of his ancestors from some past generation had buried it there, and later descendants had forgotten about it. She told him to dig it up at once, and he would find twenty-three taels and seven qian of silver, along with twelve strings of copper coins.

The hooligan returned, gathered his companions, and dug it up. Sure enough, they found a clay jar, its contents not one coin more or one coin less than she had said.

That immediately made her name. People from every walk of life came to the Qi Household lady for divinations.

Her fees were exceedingly arbitrary. She charged some people nothing at all, while demanding the enormous sum of ten taels from others. Added to the fact that every prediction she made came true, people came not only from Shanyin County, but even from the prefectural city to have their fortunes told.

The Qi Household instead began to appear prosperous because of it.

According to Zhang San, that old woman truly was the Qi Household lady's mother-in-law. She had always possessed an unyielding temperament and had never found her daughter-in-law pleasing. Now that her daughter-in-law had been possessed by a demon, she spent every day lodging complaints.

She had made the entire county, high and low, sick to the teeth of her. First, the old woman was far too unreasonable; second, nobody knew whether they might someday need to seek help from that demon. Thus, everyone collectively kept her down.

Old Madam Qi, however, was the sort who grew braver with every setback. She came every day to make trouble, until finally the Qi Household father and son hardened their hearts, locked the old woman inside the house, and kept her fed three meals a day.

Who knew what had happened last night? Somehow, she had escaped and gone to beat the Grievance Drum outside the county office.

After listening to Zhang San's account, Su Che suddenly felt as though the world had become bizarre and fantastical.

Zhang San was a local who knew Shanyin County well. After winding through several turns, he led Su Che to the Qi Household lady's fortune-telling stall.

There sat an ordinary-looking woman in men's clothing, her face painted with thick makeup. Before her lay a tortoise shell and copper coins, yet not a trace of demon aura could be seen about her.

Four or five people stood in a line before her, waiting for the Qi Household woman to divine their fortunes.

Without speaking, Su Che silently joined the line with Zhang San and listened as the woman told fortunes.

"Great Immortal, I have something to ask. I wish to ask about marriage."

A middle-aged man in ragged clothes, his complexion sallow and withered, was having his fortune told.

"You wish to ask about your wife?"

The middle-aged man nodded.

The Qi Household woman placed three copper coins into the tortoise shell and shook it. The coins fell to the ground.

"Your wife has been bedridden since last July. She has now lain ill for a full six months, and you have spent seven taels and three qian of silver in total. You also owe five taels outside."

The middle-aged man sat opposite her, his face bitter, merely nodding in silence.

"Great Immortal, can my wife still be saved?"

"Your wife's illness has entered the marrow; medicine and stones cannot cure her. She has only four months left to live. Prepare her funeral affairs early. But as they say, the Great Dao has fifty, Heaven unfolds forty-nine, and one escapes. There truly remains a thread of hope."

"Please enlighten me, Great Immortal."

The Qi Household lady arranged the copper coins on the table, as though that single movement could reveal still more information.

"For what follows, there is no need to seek me. Those dead yet unrigid may become walking corpses. By drawing in and exhaling the transformations of the Lunar Essence, and condensing it with their own yin energy, they can produce a strange object known as a Jade Fat Flower. It resembles an udumbara flower, though common folk call it coffin grass."

"Song Qi, the proprietor of the coffin shop south of the city, possesses one. Go ask him for it. Take it home, divide it into three portions, and decoct them for your wife in succession. She will pass this trial, and gain another thirty years of life."

The man suddenly froze, tears bursting from his eyes.

"Great Immortal, for saving her life, Great Immortal, for saving her life... But such a strange object, Shopkeeper Song, he..."

"He will naturally give it to you, but I must tell you one more thing."

"You and your wife were never destined for a good fate together. Being together, you are fated for five strains and seven wounds, and you are also destined to have no children."

"By your fate, six months after your wife dies, the Red Luan Star will stir. You will meet a fine companion who will build your household and prosper her husband in this life—wealthy, long-lived, blessed with many sons and much fortune. How much better that will be than enduring hardship with her. You have already done all that benevolence and righteousness demand for her. I have made both paths clear. Choose for yourself."

The man remained silent for a long time.

"Thank you, Great Immortal. May I ask how much this divination costs?"

"One copper coin."

The man took a copper coin from his sleeve and placed it on the Qi Household woman's table, then respectfully kowtowed to her three times.

"Thank you, Great Immortal, for saving her life."

With that, he left.

Behind that miserable-looking man stood a short, stout middle-aged woman. She had only just sat down before the Qi Household woman's stall when the Qi Household woman spoke.

"What you wish to ask costs one hundred taels of refined silver."

The woman clenched her teeth, forcing a smile onto her face. She raised her plump little finger, slick with grease, and gestured with it. "Why does it cost so much? What I want to ask is far smaller a matter than that man's."

"Your husband came yesterday and delivered twenty taels of silver. He wanted to protect his mistress."

"That damned bastard."

The fat woman's face turned red as she stormed away in fury.

After that, the Qi Household woman cast several more fortunes, all about trivial matters that neither hurt nor itched.

At last, it was Su Che and Zhang San's turn.

The Qi Household woman asked a question.

"Which of you two will go first?"

"I will."

Su Che sat down in front of the fortune-telling stall.

"What does this gentleman wish to ask about? Marriage, prospects, or lifespan?"

Su Che smiled.

"I watched several people seek your fortune-telling just now, and the fees for each reading were different. I left in a hurry today and did not bring enough silver. I hope you can name a price in advance, so that I do not find myself short of money."

The Qi Household woman raised her head and glanced at him. Her eyes were like cold pools, yet within that single glance, ten thousand charms gathered without breaking free.

With that glance, the ordinary-looking woman before Su Che seemed to vanish, replaced by a petite woman overflowing with charm, sending all her longing straight toward him.

"Since it is you, how could I possibly charge you?"

"If you do not charge me, would that not make me a freeloader?"

"Ah, if you can come, then forget freeloading—even black freeloading, freeloading until flowers bloom, freeloading until your legs break—this servant would still do so willingly."

Su Che swallowed.

This demon truly was very demonic.