As his words fell, the wind stirred the cloth banner, and heaven's secrets rippled faintly.
Fu Sanyuan spread both hands, his face all innocence. "What's this about? This humble Daoist hasn't said a thing."
The young master in white watched calmly as the charlatan before him gestured and spoke to thin air, muttering all the while. He neither rose to leave nor called over the patrolling constables to have him chased away as a madman.
He simply sat there in silence. Only when the cloth banner bearing the words "Heavenly Secrets Primordial Divination Pavilion" stopped swaying did he lift his eyes and ask the question buried deepest in his heart.
"Sir, your story has ended, and the script reached its 'perfect conclusion.'"
"Then I would like you to divine something for me. If... I, too, am a piece in this game."
"If I act against my heart and follow the current into the game, sacrificing my true wishes and yielding to heaven's decree, yet can ultimately reach a 'perfect' ending."
"Should I follow the current, or break free against it?"
His exquisite, crystalline eyes looked straight at Fu Sanyuan. The young master in white rose and bowed solemnly.
"Please, sir, divine heaven's secret behind this choice for me."
Fu Sanyuan finally shed some of his flippancy.
He extended a hand.
"Please."
The young master in white took the copper coins and followed the ancient method, using three coins to cast the hexagram and six throws to determine its lines.
The copper coins rose and fell, revealing yin and yang.
Fu Sanyuan lowered his eyes to scan the hexagram, set his folding fan lightly on the table, and sighed.
"As this humble Daoist said earlier, your birth chart speaks of nobility and distinction, yet your fate conceals the sign of sacrifice."