LC chapter 50

 

Suanzi’s original surname was Wei, but he no longer remembered his given name.

He was born into a poor family on the outskirts of the capital city. When he was born, people could hardly make a living. His parents brought him to the city to beg for food. After one winter, those who starved died of hunger and those who froze died of the cold. Only Suanzi was left, wandering among a group of little beggar children.

The Master found Suanzi when he was seven.

The Master had once served in the Imperial Astronomy Bureau of the court. Before the dynasty collapsed, he resigned and returned to his hometown. There, in a dilapidated City God Temple, he found Suanzi. At that time, Suanzi was sharing a bowl of dog meat soup with a black dog. In Chinese culture, eating dog meat with a black dog is considered ominous, so since Suanzi was doing so, he seemed cursed as well.

The Master asked Suanzi if he would go with him. Suanzi shook his head. The Master didn’t give up, though, and stayed in the temple for a while.

Not long after eating the dog meat, the black dog died. There wasn’t a single wound on its body; it simply lost its life overnight.

The Master said it was retribution. “Cannibalizing your own kind violates the laws of Heaven.”

Suanzi was puzzled. “Haven’t you seen people eating people? Why don’t they get retribution?”

The Master replied, “They will.”

Then, the Master asked Suanzi again if he was willing to go with him. This time, Suanzi agreed.

Suanzi was a genius. In just three short years, he had mastered all of the Master’s skills. He was especially skilled in the art of divination—not a single one of his readings had failed since his very first.

There is a difference between talent and genius. No matter how hard a talented person tries, he can never become a true genius. Throughout history, countless talented people have become trapped in this chasm, filled with resentment and doomed to unhappy ends.

But the Master was always worried about Suazi.

There was an old saying among diviners: “Out of ten divinations, nine come true.” Revealing too many of Heaven’s secrets would invite divine punishment. The one failed divination was meant as a safeguard.

The Master told Suanzi, “Unless you find that one failed divination, your life may be short. Heaven is jealous of geniuses—those who are too capable are not tolerated by the heavens.”

Suanzi, however, didn’t care. “Heaven’s jealousy of talent is nothing but Heaven being embarrassed by its own weakness,” he said. “I’ll make every divination come true—who cares how long I live?”

Soon after, something happened to the young prince of Prince Chun’s manor, and someone came from the manor to invite the Master out of seclusion. The Princess Consort of Prince Chun had once saved the Master’s life during palace struggles, so he felt he must repay that debt.

He took Suanzi with him out of the mountains and soon found a child named Lin Ruan. The Master kept Lin Ruan by his side and altered his and the young prince’s fates. He tied the prince’s destiny to Lin Ruan’s, allowing Lin Ruan to share the prince’s misfortune and letting the prince borrow Lin Ruan’s good fortune.

While the Master was busy, Suanzi performed a divination for the child out of boredom. The result showed that the two were fated to clash—if they so much as brushed past each other, they might stumble and fall. The best solution was for them to never have any connection, not even crossing paths. That would be the safest outcome.

The Master spent three days working, and then the people from the manor took Lin Ruan away. A few days later, the Master suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. Suanzi knew the fate alteration had succeeded. At the same time, news came from the manor that the young prince had awakened.

Through this action, the Master altered the fates of two individuals and shattered Suanzi’s record of never having a failed divination.

Suanzi suddenly understood something. He looked at the Master, who beckoned him over.

“The art of feng shui is said to follow Heaven’s will,” the Master said as he patted Suanzi on the shoulder. “But in truth, a person’s destiny ultimately lies in his own hands.”

After finishing matters there, the two returned to the mountain. As they walked along the mountain path that day, a large rock rolled down from above, striking the Master directly. He was crushed to death, his body mangled beyond recognition.

Suanzi knew this was the price of altering fate. The Master had changed not only the destinies of Zhan Xi and Lin Ruan, but also Suanzi’s.

Suanzi gathered the Master’s remains, buried him in the Qinling Mountains, letting the dragon vein’s spiritual energy nourish him in the hope that he could be reborn.

After that, Suanzi never performed a tenth divination again. The Master had given him a new life, and he had to cherish it.

More than ten years later, Suanzi set foot in Beijing City once again. He saw the two people whose fates had changed back then. Zhan Xi was doing very well—he alone enjoyed the luck of two people and held a distinguished position. As for Lin Ruan, he wasn’t doing badly either. Aside from being a bit slow, he was fine.

The fortune-teller glanced at Lin Ruan a few more times. This was the first divination that he had failed. He didn’t truly believe this fortune was inaccurate — life is long, and its eventual outcome is still unknown.

The entanglement between two people often begins with just a few extra glances at the start. Fortunately, Suanzi didn’t truly belong to this world, so he shouldn’t form too many ties with anyone.

His aloofness and detachment became a mystery to Lin Ruan.

Lin Ruan could never figure out why he always ran into Suanzi. Zhan Xi thought Suanzi was deliberately creating so-called “chance encounters,” but Suanzi insisted they were just coincidences.

It’s like seeing something new and interesting one day; once it’s etched in your memory, you’ll keep noticing related things, even unintentionally. Suanzi couldn’t find any metaphysical theory to explain it, so he went on to study social psychology for that reason.

When that day arrived, Suanzi sensed it in his heart. He walked into the Lan Residence and saw Zhan Xi.

Suanzi still had a smile on his face. He thought he had a good temper, able to smile at any kind of client.

But he truly disliked Zhan Xi.

Zhan Xi probably saw that, too.

One damp morning, Suanzi left Beijing. Before leaving, he gave Lin Ruan the red agate prayer beads that he always carried with him.

Suanzi had few ties to the mortal world—the Old Master was one, and Lin Ruan was another.

By that time, he had already begun to doubt the divination he had performed in person.

After leaving Beijing, Suanzi began wandering from place to place. In September, war broke out everywhere. Someone told him that Lin Ruan had gone to Shanghai.

But that was just a rumor, Suanzi didn’t go to Shanghai. He kept wandering, like a poet, like a madman.

In the third month of spring, he arrived in Sichuan. The flowers in Chengdu City were in full bloom — breathtakingly beautiful.

Compared with Beijing, it was almost on par. Suanzi thought to himself and then suddenly froze. Why was he even comparing it to Beijing?

When one is away from home, it’s natural to compare everything to one’s hometown. But truthfully, Beijing could hardly be called Suanzi’s hometown.

In October, Suanzi returned to Beijing. At that time, the country’s situation had just stabilized. He heard that the young Gu family marshal would soon go to war again and that the wealthy Third Master Zhan of the Lan Residence had donated his entire fortune.

It was a rare fine day, with gentler winds. Suanzi leaned against a locust tree and played his erhu. Sunlight fell on him, warm and comforting.

At some point, someone came and blocked the sunlight. The person didn’t speak, and Suanzi was too lazy to open his eyes.

The erhu’s free-flowing melody ended on a peculiar note. The person standing there bent down and placed several items in front of him.

“Here’s payment for the music!”

Suanzi opened one eye. Lin Ruan stood against the sunlight, a golden halo tracing his figure.

In front of Suanzi was a string of red agate prayer beads.

“Is this yours?” Lin Ruan asked. “I found it by the table.”

Suanzi tilted his head slightly. “Mm, I must’ve dropped it by accident.”

Lin Ruan seemed to chuckle, his brows curving. “Then you’d better keep it safe and not lose it again.”

“It’s fine,” Suanzi said. “It’s not valuable.”

Lin Ruan smiled, and then Zhan Xi’s voice came from behind him. Lin Ruan turned to look and waved to Suanzi. Then he ran toward the other man.

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