Chapter 16: Divining a Future Partner

Chapter 16: Reading Your Future Partner

Lou Xuemeng was Wen Yu's first friend at school.

It was Thursday afternoon of the second week of the semester.

Lou Xuemeng sent a message: "Third floor of the library, by the window. I saved you a seat."

When Wen Yu arrived, Lou Xuemeng had a copy of *Corporate Finance* spread open in front of her, with two cups of coffee beside it—one half-drunk, the other still steaming, clearly just bought.

She pushed the hot one toward Wen Yu without even a "please."

It had been a week since they met.

They'd eaten at the cafeteria together three times, bumped into each other in the hallway four or five times, and occasionally chatted on WeChat.

Lou Xuemeng could jump from interpreting tarot card spreads to the capital structure of ZAOHUA GROUP, then jump from capital structure back to celebrity gossip.

"I can tell you're not really into finance," Lou Xuemeng said, closing her textbook and resting her cheek against it, eyes fixed directly on Wen Yu. "Did your parents choose this major for you?"

Wen Yu held his coffee cup, fingers slowly tracing a circle around the rim.

"Yeah," the young man nodded. "I... I guess it's okay. It's just what my dad wanted me to study."

"I don't really know what I'm into."

Lou Xuemeng lifted her head from the book, leaned back against her chair, and stared out the window for a bit.

"Your dad," she paused, "what does he do?"

"He does business, I think. I don't know the specifics," Wen Yu answered honestly. "I used to live in a village. I just came back home recently."

Lou Xuemeng didn't press further. Her gaze settled on Wen Yu's face, and she suddenly smiled. "You know, you're the most honest person I know."

The third floor of the library wasn't high—you could hear people biking by below, bells ringing twice before fading away.

"I'm bad at lying," Wen Yu said, grabbing a book at random.

Lou Xuemeng raised an eyebrow. "You—"

"You read romance books too?" Lou Xuemeng noticed the book under Wen Yu's palm.

*Love*. That was the title.

Wen Yu looked at the book and suddenly felt it burning his hands.

"I just grabbed it randomly." Wen Yu's voice came out a bit faster than usual as he set the book down on the table.

Lou Xuemeng looked up, glanced at the pale pink cover, then back at Wen Yu.

She set down her cup, grabbed her bag from the chair next to her, dug around, and pulled out a palm-sized velvet pouch. She untied the drawstring and poured out her tarot deck.

"Fate," she said, pushing the cards toward him. "Want me to read your future partner?"

The cards fanned out in an arc on the table, their dark backs catching a faint gleam of sunlight.

What kind of person is your future partner?

Wen Yu randomly picked three cards.

The first card turned over.

"The Emperor," Lou Xuemeng read, tapping the corner of the card. "Upright."

"The Four of Pentacles, upright."

When the third card was flipped over, Lou Xuemeng went quiet for a moment.

"The Devil," she said—this card's meaning wouldn't change much whether upright or reversed. "Major Arcana, number fifteen."

From the Emperor to the Four of Pentacles to the Devil, she stared at the cards for a full ten seconds, then let out a long breath. She leaned back in her chair, arms folded across her chest.

"Do you want the truth or the nice version?" she asked.

Wen Yu's gut told him it wasn't someone good.

"The truth."

Lou Xuemeng nodded. She reached out and tapped the first card.

"The Emperor. Your future partner is someone who needs to be in control. Not the kind who tells you what time to come home—the kind who gets whatever he wants, no matter what."

"He has power and status, and he's used to everyone listening to him."

Her finger moved to the second card.

"Four of Pentacles. This relationship has a lot of possessiveness and protectiveness. He'll keep you locked in his world and give you the best of everything."

Wen Yu's fingers curled slightly.

Lou Xuemeng's hand hovered over the last card, not touching it.

"The Devil," she said softly. "This card... it's complicated. A connection you can't escape. You think you chose him, but you didn't—he found you, or something invisible bound you together."

She looked up at Wen Yu.

"Put together: your future partner is a man with immense power and possessiveness."

She paused.

"And he's not the type to talk things over with you. Your business is, by definition, his business."

Wen Yu stayed silent for a long time.

Was it his fiancé? Wasn't he supposed to be gentle? How could he be like that?

His gaze fell on the three cards, the Devil's wings seeming to glow with a pale golden light.

"It sounds," Wen Yu finally said, his voice barely a whisper, "like he's not a very good person."

Lou Xuemeng tilted her head. "Maybe you'd like that kind of thing?"

She tucked the velvet pouch back into her bag, picked up her cold coffee, took a sip, and frowned. "After all, the Devil—it's easy to get lost in him."

"But," she set the cup down, "cards are cards, and you're you. The future is something you look at, not something you take seriously."

"Come on, the cafeteria's about to close."

Wen Yu picked up the book *Love* from the table, hesitated for a second, then slipped it into his backpack instead of putting it back on the shelf.

..

That evening, Lou Xuemeng stood on the rooftop.

She wore a bodycon skirt with heavy makeup, the complete opposite of the image she had shown Wen Yu earlier.

She lit a cigarette, holding the tarot cards she had tampered with.

She had guessed right—Wen Yu liked pulling cards in a row, and every draw was The Emperor, Four of Pentacles, and The Devil.

"Just probability, that's all."

Two men in black suits appeared behind Lou Xuemeng, one on each side, standing like a pair of doors.

The one on the left pulled out a phone and handed it to her—screen lit, call already in progress.

Lou Xuemeng took the phone, a faint curl of a smile at the corner of her mouth as she held the cigarette.

"Cousin—" Her voice suddenly shifted, no longer the soft tone she used with Wen Yu, but a drawn-out, sing-song drawl with a chilly edge. "How long until you can get me that castle in Country A?"

There were two seconds of silence on the other end of the line.

Then a low, hoarse voice came through, steady and deep, like thunder rumbling low in the dead of night, weighing on the chest.

"He already trusts you that much?"

Lou Xuemeng's smile didn't change, but her gaze chilled slightly. The corner of her mouth, where the cigarette hung, tightened.

"Honestly, he's cute," Lou Xuemeng said, keeping the same tone. "When I was spinning that story, he listened so seriously."

"I mostly hinted around, getting him to think a future partner like you isn't scary—that even if you were desperate enough to jump him, he could still accept you."

"I said, with all that beating around the bush, aren't you just trying to get me a sister-in-law? And you called it some kind of pet."

Lou Xuemeng took the cigarette from her mouth and crushed it, shredded tobacco sifting through her fingers with a soft rustle. "Tsk, tsk."

"So, since he already thinks of me as a friend, where's my castle?"

There was no immediate answer on the other end.

Three seconds of silence, or maybe five.

Lou Xuemeng's fingers tightened slightly around the phone, her knuckles turning white.

"We'll talk when you get back."

The call ended.

The busy signal beeped twice. Lou Xuemeng tossed the phone back to the man in the black suit on the left, her movement casual. "Wen Yu, oh Wen Yu, better watch out—you might just end up locked away."