And this was precisely what was strange... When interpreting the characters earlier, the fortune-teller had said Su Jingyan would experience a "tragic scene" in the Imperial City. But if he could not even survive the Provincial Examination, how could he experience that "tragic scene" in the Imperial City...
The fortune-teller shook his head and sighed deeply. This was a fortune he had not wished to tell.
Su Jingyan stared blankly at the fortune-teller. Whether from fear or his lingering ailment, his hand could not help trembling slightly...
Whether it was fear or his ailment, either was only natural for him...
He was a boy of only sixteen, who had yet to experience the many beautiful things in the world. Naturally, he feared death.
And the lingering ailment from the cold he had caught as a small child, before his adoptive parents found him, had left him terribly frail since childhood.
Yes... he still had that ailment, and could lose his life at any moment.
Dying in the examination grounds seemed so reasonable, too...
The fortune-teller sighed, seeming to sense Su Jingyan's fear, and slowly said, "It is not necessarily impossible to avert this calamity..."
At this, Su Jingyan raised his head to look at the fortune-teller, who lifted the sheet of paper they had just written on.
The paper lifted to reveal a jade pendant beneath it. The pendant had been positioned directly beneath the character "Mo," and the ink seeping through the paper had imprinted that character upon it.
The fortune-teller felt around, picked up the jade pendant, and held it out before Su Jingyan, slowly saying:
"Keep this jade pendant on you. Perhaps it can save your life..."
Su Jingyan stared blankly at the pendant and said bleakly, "I have no money to spare..."
The fortune-teller shook his