A Valiant Life
Page 38The conversation with Chen Xin Yi ended quickly. In their hearts, Lin Fan was just a fortune-teller. Furthermore, they had no mutual friends at all, so there wasn’t much to chat about.
But what really annoyed Lin Fan was that young lady, Huo Han from Youth Arts Magazine Publisher. She harassed Lin Fan every day with her messages.
‘Hello’ x20 messages
‘Please reply me, Little Boss’ x15 messages
‘I want to eat scallion pancakes, I want to eat scallion pancakes’ x50 messages
Huo Han’s tenacity almost moved Lin Fan, but Lin Fan had already decided to stop selling scallion pancakes, so it was all in vain. He ignored her completely.
Lin Fan opened his shop punctually every day. Although there weren’t many customers, he believed that he would eventually strike gold and become rich.
All he needed was a spark to set his fortune-telling business on fire.
He had one or two occasional customers in a day but they usually didn’t have much to ask. Most of them just wanted a simple reading. There wasn’t anything significant in their lives.
4 days later, Lin Fan was calmly sitting in his shop and he was just idling in it. Fraud Tian was nearly bored to death.
However, the staff from some of the neighboring shops had been observing Lin Fan’s fortune-telling shop.
One of them was the clothing shop opposite his shop.
“This fortune telling shop has been open for a few days already. I’ve been counting, and the number of customers that have entered didn’t exceed 10.”
“Who knows if it will even survive through the month. I think it’s hopeless. It might even close down within the next few days.”
“I don’t get it at all. In this age, who even spends so much on rent, just to open up a fortune-telling shop?”
“In my old neighborhood, people only did fortune-telling in their own homes.”
…
Lin Fan was indifferent towards all their criticism. On the other hand, Fraud Tian couldn’t tolerate it. The last time someone criticized them to their faces, Fraud Tian engaged in a heated debate with him.
But Lin Fan didn’t stop him since there was nothing to do each day. Finding someone to bicker with was not a bad idea after all. Suddenly, a commotion could be heard from outside.
However, his phone was getting old and it was about time to get a replacement.
Fraud Tian loved it when there was commotion going on. He stood at the shop’s entrance and looked outside.
“Huh? That’s weird. Who would put such an obnoxious signboard?”
‘Afterlife Fortune-telling’
That huge signboard was being carried by 2 people. It had captured the citizens’ attention, especially because of those words on it.
“Master Lin!”
“Master Lin!”
At this moment, a middle-aged woman started shouting. Her tone was filled with gratitude.
“Lin Fan, those people are coming towards us!” Fraud Tian heard her and he cried out in shock.
Lin Fan was puzzled. Wondering why was there such a huge commotion all of a sudden, after such a quiet and peaceful day?
When that middle-aged woman appeared at the entrance, Lin Fan finally put down his phone and asked in a surprised tone, “Madam Huang, what’s going on?”
“Master Lin, you’re a living god!” Huang Hong Rong stepped forward and held his hand, then exclaimed.
Huang Hong Rong had two men by her side. One was close to her age, while the other was a young man, roughly the same age as Lin Fan.
The two of them looked at Lin Fan with uncertainty written on their faces.
The citizens who were passing by heard the commotion and naturally became curious. They crowded around Lin Fan’s shop entrance and peered inside but they had no idea what was going on.
“Master Lin, this is my husband and this is my son. Our family of three is here today to thank you,” Huang Hong Rong said sincerely.
“Madam Huang, there’s no need to be so grand about it,” Lin Fan said bluntly as if he wasn’t touched at all.
Fraud Tian looked over at Lin Fan with his eyes and mouth wide open.
Suddenly, Fraud Tian remembered Madam Huang. The other day when she had her fortune read, nothing significant was said other than that their marriage was not suited. Even if that reading was true, it didn’t warrant such a grand thank you.
“No, Master Lin, you are our family’s savior,” Madam Huang said, “If it wasn’t for you, the three of us wouldn’t be alive.”
When Madam Huang left the shop that day, she rushed home and discussed with her husband. They decided to do a check on their would-be daughter-in-law and it turned out that the prediction was true.
She was found to have terminal cancer. They would have had to sell their apartment just to pay for her treatment fees, but unexpectedly, she passed away the next day.
Madam Huang’s son was in grief, so her husband went online and booked a vacation with a travel agency to bring their son out to forget his sorrows.
At that time, Madam Huang also agreed that they should bring their son out, but then she suddenly recalled Master Lin’s words.
The first incident that Master Lin predicted happened way too accurately.
That’s why Huang Hong Rong didn’t doubt him anymore. She told her husband to cancel the trip and stay put at home.
At first, her husband and son were doubtful of what she was saying. In the end, they gave in after Huang Hong Rong’s persistent persuasion and canceled the trip.
Afterwards, the travel agency called a few times, but Huang Hong Rong ignored them.
Just a days ago, her husband was watching the news and saw that an incident had happened with the travel agency he booked with. A number of people died as a result. He was dumbfounded when he saw this.
After this incident, Huang Hong Rong’s husband kept on mumbling to himself, “We’re lucky, we’re so lucky.”
Huang Hong Rong even shed tears of gratitude towards Lin Fan, as if he was a living god who had descended onto Earth. So, they decided to pack their things and come over to thank their savior the very next day.
“Master Lin, I can’t thank you enough, I really can’t thank you enough,” Huang Hong Rong repeated over and over again.
By now, her husband had started to thank Lin Fan as well. The incident was still fresh in his mind and it frightened him whenever he thought about it.
Lin Fan calmly shook their hand, but he was also extremely surprised. This involved their lives!
As for those who were met with death, Lin Fan was helpless. He wasn’t some savior, he was just a fortune-teller.
Lin Fan could only feel sorry for them. The crowd of citizens surrounding them were confused and wasn’t sure what to make of this.
Huang Hong Rong proceeded to explain the happenings to them.
When the crowd heard what she said, they were in disbelief.
“Damn… are you sure you aren’t making this up?”
“Sounds unreal, are you trying to bluff us?”
Some of the spectators started to get angry.
“Are you for real? Using this incident to bluff us?”
“That’s right! How can he be so accurate? This is definitely some scam.”
“Report them, we have to report them!”
“What Afterlife Fortune-teller? You have no integrity at all. I want to give all of you two big slaps!” Those angry citizens suddenly exploded with rage.
People these days have a very strong sense of justice, especially with incidents like these where lives were lost. To make use of others’ sorrowful incidents to scam people, made other people feel that he was very heartless.
Lin Fan was speechless, he didn’t think that something like this would happen. Now, everyone was pissed.
However, Huang Hong Rong couldn’t let Master Lin be misunderstood like that.
“Everyone please calm down. Our family is really not bluffing you. Look, this is the evidence.” Huang Hong Rong grabbed her husband’s phone, opened the trip cancellation message and displayed it to the crowd.
When those angry citizens saw the phone, they went totally silent.
…
“Holy sh*t.”
The crowd’s eyes all fixated on Lin Fan.