The Girl with the Heavenly Eye: Feng Shui Destiny

There are many fortune-telling stalls under the bridge in Daishan, but none of them are famous. The more well-known fortune tellers in Daishan can only be called fortune tellers, not feng shui masters. They all have their own shops, usually located in quiet alleys. Why not set up in the busy market? Gu Qin thought it might be because such locations give off an air of masterly prestige.

Since Gu Qin decided to start small and set up a fortune-telling stall, she had the skills to read faces, analyze palmistry, fortune-tell, and cast horoscopes. So she needed to prepare her tools. For fortune-telling, all she needed were a person's birthdate and some paper and pen to calculate the chart. For divination, she preferred using the Six Lines and the Eight Trigrams, and for this, copper coins were enough—three coins in total. Ideally, the coins should be ones that have been nourished by the vitality of heaven and earth, but such coins are rare. She went to the antique market and bought three ordinary Qianlong copper coins.

With everything prepared, Gu Qin didn't waste time. There was about a month before school started, and she hoped to make some money in this period.

Her stall was simple. On a white piece of paper, she wrote "Feng Shui Master" in large characters, unlike other stalls that offered face reading, fortune-telling, naming, marriage advice, or even "curing extramarital affairs." She only had a pen, a stack of paper, and three copper coins. She had completely memorized the "I Ching" and didn't need to bring it along.

The next morning, after returning from Daishan, Cheng Yinxiang had already gone to work, and Gu Jia had gone for extra classes. Gu Qin put everything in a small bag, carried it on her back, and rode her bike to the bridge. The location she rented was a bit far from the bridge, and it took nearly an hour to get there.

The bridge was actually a pedestrian overpass, not in a secluded spot, but in a busy area with lots of foot traffic. Apart from fortune-tellers, there were other small stalls selling curious knick-knacks.

After arriving, Gu Qin locked her bike at the bike rack beneath the bridge and then carried her small bag up to the overpass. There were many available spots, and she found a place to sit. She opened the bag, took out the paper with "Feng Shui Master" written on it, and spread it out.

Sitting cross-legged in a standard meditation posture, the other stall owners quickly noticed her. They stared at her for a while, and when they saw the four large characters in front of her, they looked at each other with strange expressions. When did young girls start pretending to be yellow shamans and conning people? She was so young—who would come to her stall for fortune-telling? And on top of that, her stall had the bold title "Feng Shui Master," such arrogance.

A young man selling small trinkets nearby couldn't help but speak up. "Little sister, are you here to tell fortunes? How much do you charge?"

Gu Qin glanced at him and said solemnly, "Pure fortune-telling, six hundred."

The young man chuckled. "Little sister, are you joking? Do you know how much Liu Banxian charges for his fortune-telling? He's good and accurate, and he only charges one hundred for pure fortune-telling. How dare you ask for six hundred?"

"You're twenty-five this year. Your mother passed away, and your father is seriously ill, not just a small illness. You have two older brothers and a younger sister. Both of your brothers are useless—they don't care for your sick father, and all the money for his treatment comes from you, but it's still far from enough. Your younger sister has a good heart, but her meager salary clearly isn't enough," Gu Qin said, glancing at the young man's stall.

The young man was dumbfounded, his hair standing on end. "How... How did you know?" Everything about his family situation was exactly as she described.

Gu Qin continued, "Just from your face, I can tell all that. Now tell me, is six hundred too expensive?"

The young man felt a chill run down his spine. This girl couldn't be just pretending—she was so young, yet so knowledgeable about fortune-telling. He had gone to Liu Banxian before, and some of what he said was right, but some of it was vague. There was no way this little girl could know so much. She couldn't have known about his family, could she? But he had never met her before.

Gu Qin then looked at the young man's stall again and sighed. "I can also tell that you're going to lose money today, and it's going to be a big loss."

"What do you mean?" The young man was confused.

Just then, a customer walked up and squatted down in front of his stall, picking up a rusty iron vessel that looked like an antique wine container. The thing was so dirty, covered with mud, and he had been selling it for half a month without anyone even glancing at it. But now, a customer was showing interest. He didn't care to respond to Gu Qin and immediately greeted the customer. "If you want it, you can take it for one hundred."

The customer hesitated. "It's so dirty. I'll give you fifty."

The young man refused to lower the price. "One hundred…"

"One hundred is too much. I was just thinking it might make a nice retro vase for flowers. My daughter likes retro stuff…" The customer was still hesitating. Gu Qin couldn't stand it anymore. "Don't sell this thing."

Both the customer and the young man looked at Gu Qin. The young man hesitated. "Little girl, what do you mean by that?"

The customer was getting impatient. "Just sell it or not? If you want one hundred, forget it. I won't buy."

Gu Qin pointed at the rusty vessel. "You should clean it up. Don't use a brush—just wash off the mud. Then take it to the antique stores on the antique street."

"Ah? What?" The young man's jaw dropped, his ears ringing in disbelief.

Gu Qin said, "This should be a bronze wine vessel, something like a bronze goblet. It looks like an ancient bronze piece with taotie patterns, and its value should be around a million." She had noticed its faint aura when she first arrived and recognized it as an item from the Zhou Shang period. She had been planning to check out the antique street to find bargains, and she had studied some materials online about ancient bronzes.

The young man stared at Gu Qin for a long time before reacting. "Little… little girl, you're lying, right?"

Gu Qin replied, "You can go and try it. Remember, don't sell it for less than a million, or you'll regret it."

The young man stared at her for a long time, then finally packed up his things and decided to go and try it. His father's cancer was costing a lot, and the local hospital only provided minimal insurance, which wasn't enough. They had borrowed over two hundred thousand from relatives and sold their old house for another twenty, but it still wasn't enough. His father was still undergoing chemotherapy, and although the doctors said the situation was improving, they would need expensive foreign medication for maintenance, costing thousands each month. If this object turned out to be valuable, it could help with the medical bills and the debts.

When the young man left, many of the other stall owners on the bridge cast curious glances at Gu Qin. They had all heard what she had said just now. This little girl certainly knew how to fool people, and one of them couldn't help but laugh. "Little girl, you're quite the con artist. Aren't you afraid that guy will come back and beat you up?"

Gu Qin remained serious. "I'm not conning anyone." With that, she didn't want to talk to them any longer. She crossed her legs, placed her hands on her knees, and closed her eyes.

The young man who had just left was named Fan Cheng. He hurried home, threw the item into his room, and quickly washed off the mud. The patina revealed traces of rust, and when he saw the piece clean, he still didn't recognize it as an antique, having no knowledge of antiques. He had only kept it for a few years after picking it up from a junkyard, but now he thought, if it was really worth that much, he could cover his father's medical expenses and debts.

After a few minutes of hesitation, Fan Cheng finally decided to take it to the antique street. If it was really an antique, his father's medical bills and their debts could be solved.

He went straight to the largest antique store, "Zhenbao Zhai," where there was an old man and a young man lounging in a rattan chair.

Fan Cheng put the item on the counter and asked the old man, "Do you buy this?"

The old man glanced at him, then at the bronze vessel, surprised for a moment before saying nonchalantly, "This is a replica of a bronze goblet from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, made very well. The shape is a wide flared mouth, thin body, with taotie patterns. It's quite a decent reproduction. If you're selling, I'll give you one thousand yuan for it."

Is it really a bronze goblet? Fan Cheng bit his lip. The little girl was right, but how come this man said it was a fake? He thought about that mysterious little girl and felt that this old man was

probably trying to deceive him. He had no knowledge of these things, so he said directly, "Give me one million, and it's yours."

The young man lying in the rattan chair finally lifted his head and glanced at Fan Cheng without saying a word. The old man smiled and said, "You're a young man, and you're asking for one million for this? One thousand yuan is already a good offer. If you don't believe me, go ask around, no one will pay you more than that. Five hundred would be a good price."