Chapter 73: First Encounter with Zhang Enpu! (2)

Liu Dashao sat on the small stool he had dragged out, staring coldly at the man. “What exactly do you want?”

Seeing Liu Dashao had finally been defeated, the fortune teller opened his half-closed eyes wide and smiled. “Now you believe we are fated to meet, right?”

“I believe you now. Just tell me what you want!”

“I can feel you’re treating me like an ant in your palm, able to do whatever you please with me,” Liu Dashao said, feeling helpless.

“The jade pendant around your neck—someone else gave it to you, didn’t they?”

“Yes, how did you know?”

The fortune teller smirked. “Have you forgotten what I do for a living?”

Liu Dashao glanced at the paper on the cement ground beside him, where the words “fortune telling” and a bagua diagram were scrawled. “Could you even have predicted something like that?”

The fortune teller suppressed his inner pride and confidence, replying, “If I couldn’t predict it, you wouldn’t have come back, would you?”

At this point, Liu Dashao had no choice but to admit defeat and respect the old man. He no longer felt any resistance and calmly said, “Let’s talk this through. Please, be merciful and return that jade to me first. It’s really important to me. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come back to you. Don’t you agree?”

“Is it because you are the fated person for this jade?”

“How do you know everything?” Liu Dashao was even more surprised than before. Knowing about the jade wasn’t a big deal, but knowing that he was the fated person for it was another matter entirely. Even the most accurate fortune-telling couldn’t possibly be this precise, could it? Liu Dashao began to suspect the old man might be a spy sent by the Kuomintang to mainland China—how else could he know so much?

Seeing Liu Dashao’s shock, the fortune teller chuckled. “I know much more than you think.”

Eager to retrieve the jade, Liu Dashao pleaded, “Please just give it back to me first. We can discuss anything else afterward.”

The fortune teller smiled again. “I never took your jade, so how can I return it? And you never lost it, so why are you demanding it from me?”

Liu Dashao repeated the man’s words in his mind and suddenly felt as though he had been toyed with by this so-called mystic. Irritated, he reached his hand to his chest, only to be stunned beyond belief.

He almost jumped up. Just moments ago, when he turned around and walked away, there had been nothing around his neck. Yet now, the jade pendant had somehow returned to his chest without him noticing, its coldness pressing against his skin. It was utterly inexplicable, as if it were magic—but he hadn’t even felt a thing.

The fortune teller nodded at Liu Dashao. “Didn’t I tell you it was still on you?”

“You can do magic tricks?” Liu Dashao removed his hand from his chest. The jade was too cold, making him uncomfortable from being pressed against his chest for too long.

“I’m just a fortune teller, not a magician.”

“Then what just happened?” Liu Dashao stared nervously at the man before him, who now frightened him. Who exactly was he? Why did he possess such extraordinary abilities?

The fortune teller spoke slowly, “What the eyes see isn’t necessarily real, and what appears in dreams isn’t necessarily illusory. Truth and falsehood intermingle. Who can truly distinguish one from the other? Perhaps only through personal experience can one understand.”

Liu Dashao felt something strange about the day but couldn’t pinpoint what. This fortune teller was clearly not someone he could easily shake off. He decided to get straight to the point. “Is there something you want to tell me?”

“How so?” the fortune teller asked.

Liu Dashao replied, “If you didn’t have something to say, why go through all this trouble just to make me come back to you?”

The fortune teller nodded excitedly. “Since you think that way, it proves we truly are fated to meet. How about a fortune reading?”

An old woman named Fan had already read his fortune before. Liu Dashao scratched his chin and said, “Then how about a character divination?”

“Please give a character!” the fortune teller gestured, indicating it was time to proceed.

Liu Dashao thought for a moment and, since he had just sat down, casually said, “How about the character ‘zuo’ (坐), meaning ‘sit’?”

The fortune teller immediately closed his eyes, using his right hand to write the character on his left palm while murmuring something unintelligible. Liu Dashao could not understand a word but patiently waited for the result.

“Oh!”

After a while, the fortune teller opened his eyes and said, “The character ‘zuo’ is composed of two ‘ren’ (person) characters plus a ‘tu’ (earth) character. This character carries deep meaning. Two people sitting on the earth—the long vertical stroke in the ‘tu’ character separates the two ‘ren’ characters. Young man, it seems you will soon part ways with someone, and that someone is the one you care about most.”

“Part ways? How exactly?”

Seeing the unusual expression on Liu Dashao’s face, the fortune teller nodded solemnly. “A ‘ren’ character sitting beneath a ‘tu’ character—perhaps it means returning to the earth in death!”

He stared intently at Liu Dashao, who felt as if his innermost thoughts had been exposed. He didn’t know who the old man was referring to as his closest person but could only nod. “I see.”

The fortune teller smiled broadly. “Are you really ready to accept this, young man?”

Liu Dashao gave a bitter smile. “Everyone must die eventually. Why do you say it’s fate? Do you say this to every person who comes to you for a reading?”

“No, no, no. I only say this to those fated to hear it.” Saying this, he put his sunglasses back on. Liu Dashao saw his own blurred reflection on the lenses.

“You’ll understand later.”

“Oh?” Liu Dashao stared at him. “Then tell me, what is my fate?”

“If the ending is already destined, why cling to it? Alas, what is fated will come to pass; what is not fated cannot be forced!”

Liu Dashao couldn’t grasp the meaning and asked, “Master, what do you mean? Why do you keep sighing?”

“Please give another character!” the fortune teller once again held out his hand before Liu Dashao.

Liu Dashao said, “How about the character ‘yin’ (因), which means ’cause’?” To avoid misunderstanding, he spoke loudly.

The fortune teller gazed at him for a moment before speaking. “Young man, in the end, you still cannot let go!”

“Master, what do you mean by that?”

The fortune teller smiled. “From the character you chose, I can tell what’s on your mind.”

The character “yin” is made up of the character “kou” (口), which means “mouth,” and the character “da” (大), which means “big.” The “kou” represents four walls, and the “da” can be divided into the character “ren” (人), meaning “person,” and the character “yi” (一), meaning “one.” This suggests a person trapped within walls, unable to escape. Since there is only one person in the character “yin,” it implies that you are trapped within walls you built yourself, stuck in endless struggle.

“Is there any way to change this?” Liu Dashao asked, still clinging to a sliver of hope.

“Of course there is a way,” the fortune teller replied, “but… but…” The rest of his words seemed to be cut off as if his throat had been gripped.

Hearing this, Liu Dashao smiled at him. “Master, don’t worry. If you think the money is too little, I can add more.”

The fortune teller’s face remained calm, showing none of the joy Liu Dashao had expected. “Young man, I think you misunderstood. Money is an external thing. If problems could be solved with money, they wouldn’t be problems at all.”

Tired of the fortune teller’s vague words, Liu Dashao said, “Master, if you have something to say, just say it directly.”

“The heavenly secret cannot be revealed!” the fortune teller finally said.

Liu Dashao was stunned. He had expected an answer, not this cryptic phrase. He felt like grabbing the stool and hitting the man. “Damn it! You only told me half the story—or even less! You’re just teasing me. I hate people who speak in half-truths!”

A gust of wind blew through the alley, flipping the red paper the fortune teller had weighted down with a stone. Liu Dashao casually pressed the stone on one corner of the paper. “If it’s a heavenly secret, better not to reveal it, so you won’t suffer divine punishment later.” Saying this, he took a one-yuan note from his pocket, placed it on the paper, and stood up to leave.

“Young man, everything is destined. It’s better to let nature take its course,” the fortune teller said behind him, his voice heavy with meaning.

Liu Dashao, with his back to the old man, replied lightly, “I think I already know what I should do.”

“Very well.” The fortune teller picked up the stone and slowly tucked his wrinkled bagua diagram into his robe. “Young man, I’ll be living in that small house across the alley from now on. We’ll be neighbors. Please take care of me whenever you can. Oh, by the way, my name is Zhang Enpu.”

“Alright, Master Zhang, see you later.” Liu Dashao paused briefly.

“The past life, what was it? This life, why was it lived? Five curses and three lacks in fate—loneliness, widowhood, isolation, and disability. I must inherit the Dao tradition, endure countless trials. In the future, you will rise like dragons and tigers, passing down the lineage for sixty-four generations.”

“Ah! Life and death, death and life. Living without dying, dying only to live again. In foreign lands, haunted by dreams, waiting for the right moment. All grudges and favors will vanish with the wind, scattered into nothingness!”

The fortune teller’s words echoed again in Liu Dashao’s mind. This time, he didn’t turn back to ask why the old man had recited such a long and difficult poem. But he silently memorized every word, even though he only half-understood them. At that moment, he didn’t realize that the poem was actually a reflection of his entire life.

Finally, he could leave this place that had made him feel so oppressed. As he stepped out of the alley, Liu Dashao suddenly felt reborn, as if he had escaped from hell itself.

The street was now nearly empty, with only a few people hurrying home in the distance. A cold wind blew through, lifting scraps of paper and leaves along the road, rolling them to the other side before they vanished without a trace.