The old fortune teller smiled.
“This old man has been telling fortune for his entire life. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes wrong, but this time…” he studied Yan Huan’s face once more. “I’m almost certain I’m right.”
“Out of goodwill, I have some advice for you,” he said. “Everything in this world is predestined. Revealing things about the future will court divine retribution. Somethings are better left undone, and some things unsaid.”
“Otherwise, you will be the one to suffer in the end. Think more carefully about your actions.”
Lu Yi’s fingers tightened around the wheelchair handles, his joints cracking noisily until there was a loud snap, as though it was his heartstring that had snapped.
Disconsolate, he continued pushing the wheelchair forward, treading on heavy steps.
Yan Huan dipped her head and bit her nails without a word. To someone else, the fortune teller’s words might have meant nothing, but both Yan Huan and Lu Yi were well aware about what he was talking about.
She knew too much. Said too much.
So her Midas touch had come with a price. Using her knowledge of the future to determine which film to invest in shouldn’t be a problem since it didn’t involve lives. But she had saved people who should have died. If so, what kind of disaster awaited her?
Would there even be one?
She couldn’t believe it. Saving lives was a good deed, no? She had saved so many during the earthquake.
Doesn’t everyone say saving a life undoes many sins? She had saved so many.
Is saving lives a sin?
“I want to eat that,” said Yan Huan when she saw a group of kids holding cotton candy. When she was little, her mother had bought it for her, but that had been so long ago she could hardly remember its taste.
Lu Yi stopped the wheelchair and pressed Yan Huan’s cap further down.
“Stay here. I’ll be right back.”
“I will,” nodded Yan Huan. It wasn’t as if she could go anywhere.
Lu Yi went to get her cotton candy, looking out of place among the queue of women and children.
Yan Huan’s head was still dipped low. Her profile was indescribably beautiful, a sad beauty. The light gave her orange clothes a warm glow.
Orange was a warm color.
It added a glossy glow to her face.
A hand grabbed the wheelchair. Assuming it was Lu Yi, Yan Huan paid little mind as the wheelchair was pushed off. She thought Lu Yi was trying to push her off to somewhere less crowded.
She was still looking down, with so much on her mind that she forgot to speak, ask, or even look.
Suddenly, the wheelchair stopped. She heard the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.
There was a loud bam, accompanied by a man’s wail.
A large cotton candy appeared before her.
Yan Huan took it. What took him so long? She could smell the faint sweetness of the cotton candy. She took a lick…
It was too sweet, but still tasty.
She didn’t know there was a man behind her, doubled over and gasping for air. Lu Yi took out his phone and made a call.
“Where are you, Lei Qingyi?”
“Chilling at the temple fair,” said Lei Qingyi, munching on roasted fish skewers. “The things are pretty damn tasty. I should’ve come here earlier and bought a few snacks for my Lingling. She would love it. Oh, what about you? Aren’t you at the temple fair too, with your best actress? What happened? Did someone recognize her?”
“Nah,” said Lu Yi, placing his fingers on Yan Huan’s cap and playing with a strand of her hair. “Come to where I’m at. You should be able to find me, right?”
“Yea. You aren’t that far away,” said Lei Qingyi, tapping on his phone to reveal his location. There were some good stuff installed in Lu Yi’s phone, which made it easy to locate him.
Yan Huan turned around and noticed a crowd, murmuring and pointing at someone.
She wasn’t the sort to be interested by such commotions, and neither did she want to get in the middle of them. She couldn’t afford to have someone knocking her injured arm, so it was in her best interest to avoid large crowds.
Lu Yi pushed her off to somewhere cool, equally uninterested in the commotion.
“How’s the cotton candy?” he asked.
“Not bad,” said Yan Huan, plucking off another piece to put into her mouth. It tasted equally sweet.
“Now I want to eat stinky tofu,” she said, pointing at a stinky tofu vendor. Stinky tofu didn’t smell good, but it sure as hell was tasty.
“Okay,” said Lu Yi, navigating the wheelchair.
Yan Huan took another bite of the cotton candy. “You don’t have to push me everywhere. I’m not a luggage. No one would try to steal me.”
Lu Yi suddenly stopped. His serene eyes looked thoughtful.
He continued pushing Yan Huan until they reached the stinky tofu vendor, his hand on the wheelchair handle the whole time. Lei Qingyi arrived right after Lu Yi paid for the smelly tofu. Lei Qingyi’s impressive height made it hard to not stand out.
Lu Yi turned around and continued eating stinky tofu with Yan Huan.
To be frank, he didn’t have much praise for the taste. Neither did he know why Yan Huan wanted to eat it so badly. Even so, the hungry look on her face made the odd taste and long wait tolerable.
Not far from them, Lei Qingyi jostled his way into the crowd with a few lackeys behind him. The chattering swelled around them.
According to the gossip, a man had kicked the victim so hard he stopped moving, and escaped afterwards without a word.
Escape? Lei Qingyi curled his lips. As if Lu Yi would run. He knew his strength too well to kill by accident. Even if he did kill him, he wouldn’t run away.
So the guy stopped moving, huh. Lei Qingyi went up to look at the death-feigning man.
He went a circle around him.
“Boss, I think he’s knocked out cold,” whispered one of his lackeys.
