A calamity of bloodshed.
The words made Wang Xiaoliang freeze.
The Taoist priest who had given him the Book of Fate had also said he would end up behind bars and die without a proper burial.
The two predictions meant the same thing.
He could not walk away.
The fortune-teller beckoned to him.
Step by step, Wang Xiaoliang made his way to the little stall with some difficulty.
He pulled over another small folding stool and sat down opposite the fortune-teller.
"How does this work?"
Only then did the fortune-teller slowly raise his head, revealing a thin, unremarkable face. Only his little goatee looked somewhat comical in the evening light.
"What would you like to know?" His voice was flat, betraying neither pleasure nor anger.
Wang Xiaoliang fell silent.
What did he want to know?
Whether he could graduate? Whether he could sort out his job prospects? Or what exactly was going on with this Book of Fate that had fallen into his lap?
He could not bring himself to ask any of those questions.
In the end, he chose the most practical one. "How much?"
The fortune-teller glanced at him.
"Nothing."
He spoke unhurriedly. "Our meeting here today was fated. Money is merely a worldly possession. I only wish to offer a little guidance to someone destined to cross my path."
"Young man, your mind is troubled. Something major has happened to you recently. You didn't cause it, but you've been dragged into it, caught between two difficult choices."
Wang Xiaoliang stiffened slightly.
He had not caused the incident that required him to testify in court, but choosing between honesty and his own future had indeed put him in a bind.
"You feel you've let your friend down, but you don't want to get yourself dragged under either. You value loyalty, yet you're afraid of bearing the consequences."
Those words were far too accurate.
Although he had chosen honesty under the Book of Fate's guidance, he still felt a little regret over giving up that opportunity.
"You feel lost, as though the road ahead is shrouded in darkness. You don't know where to go. You've even begun to doubt yourself, your life, and everything you've learned."
"And you're hiding a secret."
The fortune-teller lowered his voice and leaned forward slightly.
"A secret you've told no one."
The Book of Fate!
He meant the Book of Fate!
No one but him could possibly know that secret!
How did he know?
Could he... really see into people's hearts?
For an instant, Wang Xiaoliang felt stripped bare before this thin, middle-aged man, exposed inside and out, with nothing left concealed.
He even began to believe that the man's opening warning about a "calamity of bloodshed" might not have been mere fearmongering.
"Sir..." Even his form of address had changed, his voice carrying a barely perceptible tremor. "What... what should I do?"
The fortune-teller's goatee lifted slightly as he gave an inscrutable smile.
He held out two bony fingers.
"Only the one who tied the knot can untie it. Your calamity lies not in you, but in something outside you. Resolving it won't be difficult..."
With that, he began rummaging through a leather bag on the ground.
Just then, a voice came from nearby.
"Wang Xiaoliang!"
Wang Xiaoliang jolted and whipped his head around.
An elderly man stood beside the park path, dressed in a white Chinese-style martial arts uniform and carrying a sheathed sword. His hair was graying, but he looked hale and alert.
It was the vice president, Song Yi.
Wang Xiaoliang's mind went blank.
He was done for.
The man had just praised him in front of the entire student body, only to catch him red-handed now.
Being caught consulting a fortune-teller as a college student was a hundred times more embarrassing than being publicly criticized at an assembly.
His face flushed crimson, from the base of his neck to the tips of his ears. He wished the ground would open up and swallow him.
He practically sprang off the little stool, then hurried toward the vice president in a fluster, not knowing what to do with his hands or feet.
"H-hello, sir."
Behind him, the fortune-teller's voice drifted over, tinged with urgency.
"Hey, young man! You haven't paid yet!"
That shout pushed Wang Xiaoliang's embarrassment to its peak. He stumbled and nearly fell.
"Didn't you say it was free?"
Vice President Song Yi neither looked at the fortune-teller nor mentioned the fortune-telling. He simply gazed calmly at the red-faced Wang Xiaoliang.
"Walk with me."
"Huh? Oh, all right."
Wang Xiaoliang followed behind the vice president, hardly daring to breathe.
They walked slowly along the park's gravel path, one behind the other. The music from the group dancing in the square gradually faded away, leaving only the cicadas of the summer night and their footsteps.
Silence.
Those few minutes felt unbearably long to Wang Xiaoliang. His thoughts ran wild. What would the vice president do to him? Issue a public reprimand? Put a demerit on his record? Would it affect his graduation?
After a few minutes, Song Yi finally stopped.
He turned to look at Wang Xiaoliang, whose head was lowered.
"Wang Xiaoliang, have you run into some difficulty?"
His tone was gentle, without the slightest hint of reproach.
"Something that made you seek out a fortune-teller?"
Wang Xiaoliang's heart leaped into his throat. He stammered, unsure how to answer.
Tell the truth? Say he had acquired a magical Book of Fate? The vice president would surely think he was crazy.
"I... I've just been feeling lost. And then there's what happened to my roommate..."
In the end, he chose the safest answer.
It was not a lie. He really did feel lost.
And what had happened to Third really did pain him.
Song Yi nodded, seemingly accepting the explanation.
"There are roughly three kinds of people who tell fortunes."
He suddenly said something Wang Xiaoliang had never expected to hear.
"The first kind is the sort you just met." A faint smile touched Song Yi's lips. "They know a few basics and a little psychology. They read your expressions and reactions, then say vague things to swindle you out of your money. They're just making a living. There's no need to take them seriously."
Wang Xiaoliang froze.
Was the vice president... giving him a way to save face?
"But a lot of what he said... was really accurate," Wang Xiaoliang could not help protesting quietly.
"Was it?" Song Yi countered. "He said something was troubling you and you were caught between difficult choices. What college student your age doesn't have something on his mind? Graduation, work, relationships-which of those doesn't put people in a bind? He said you felt lost and couldn't see the road ahead. At a crossroads in life, feeling lost is the norm. Those who don't are the minority. He said you had a secret you couldn't tell anyone. Who doesn't have a little secret of their own?"
His words left Wang Xiaoliang speechless.
Indeed, thinking it over, although everything the fortune-teller had said seemed to strike straight at his heart, it would fit almost any college student about to graduate.
Was this what he meant by psychological tactics?
"What about the second kind?" Wang Xiaoliang asked instinctively.
"The second kind have read some books and know how to make predictions." Song Yi gazed into the distance, his eyes taking on a thoughtful depth. "Our ancestors left us a great deal of wisdom, such as the Book of Changes. It describes the patterns governing changes in heaven, earth, and all things. If you understand it, you too can make a few deductions using its hexagrams and principles. That isn't superstition. It's philosophy."
Wang Xiaoliang nodded, only half understanding.
"And... the third kind?"
"The third kind are true masters. Some may be born that way. Others cultivate themselves to a certain level, until their minds are as clear as mirrors, capable of reflecting all things. They are the people said to have opened their heavenly eye."
Opened their heavenly eye?
This was completely beyond Wang Xiaoliang's understanding.
"There's a book called Four Lessons of Liaofan. I don't know whether you've read it. It records just such a master, who saw Yuan Liaofan's entire future without the slightest error. But Mr. Liaofan didn't resign himself to his fate. Through his own efforts, accumulating virtue, doing good, and persevering, he ultimately defied heaven and changed his fate, living an entirely different life."
Defying Heaven to Fate Changing!
Those words struck like lightning, instantly cleaving through all the fog in Wang Xiaoliang's mind.
The Book of Fate said that Dao Heng was constant, and fate was bestowed by heaven. To change one's fate, one must follow the Way alone.
The meaning was clear: fate could be changed.
If Mr. Liaofan could do it, could he do it too?
Everyone in the world could.
As long as they followed the Way.
Wang Xiaoliang stared at the vice president in astonishment.
"Sir, you... you believe in these things too?"
A highly educated man who held a leadership position at a university was actually discussing "opening the heavenly eye" and "Defying Heaven to Fate Changing" with him?
Seeing his shocked expression, Song Yi suddenly burst out laughing.
His laughter was hearty and clear.
"I'm an old man nearing retirement. If I didn't even believe in fate, wouldn't all these decades of my life have been wasted?"
When he finished laughing, his smile faded, and he looked steadily at Wang Xiaoliang.
"Whatever happens, you can get through it. It's nothing you can't overcome."
Wang Xiaoliang had always thought belief in fate was a sign of weakness and superstition.
Yet coming from this respected elder, those words were filled with wisdom and an openhearted acceptance of life.
After a long while, he bowed deeply to Song Yi.
"Thank you, sir."
"If you hadn't come along just now... I might really have been fooled."
Song Yi accepted his bow without fuss, then stopped and gave Wang Xiaoliang a look.
That look held a wealth of meaning.
"Young man, you have a good grasp of things."
With that, he said no more. He turned and walked toward the nearby university staff housing, sword in hand.
His back was straight, and he carried himself with the bearing of a master.
Wang Xiaoliang did not follow.
He stood where he was, watching the vice president disappear between the buildings, and remained motionless for a long time.
A good grasp of things?
What did he mean by that?
The night breeze blew away the oppressive heat in the air, and with it, the confusion in Wang Xiaoliang's heart.
He no longer intended to search for the mysterious Taoist priest or dwell on the fortune-teller's words.
Now he had only one thought.
Go back and read!
Whatever the Book of Fate said, he would analyze it rationally before deciding whether to act!
He strode toward his dorm room, his steps firmer than ever.
He pushed open the dorm room door.
Li Jun was sitting at his desk.
The desk lamp was on, casting a dim yellow glow.
Wang Xiaoliang found it a little strange. At this hour, instead of watching a movie or gaming, Li Jun was actually reading?
He gently closed the door and walked over.
"Boss, you didn't go..."
His words cut off halfway through.
His pupils abruptly contracted when he saw what Li Jun was holding.
The book in Li Jun's hands was neither a textbook nor a novel.
It was an old-fashioned, thread-bound volume with yellowed pages.
That familiar cover, that familiar texture...
It was the very book he had hidden beneath his pillow... the Book of Fate!
Before you continue