Chapter 45: Peach-Sharing and Sleeve-Cutting: Whence Comes the Trouble?

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Chapter 45: Peach-Sharing and Sleeve-Cutting: Whence Comes the Trouble?

With a touch of bashfulness, Huo Shu nodded, drawing a few good-natured chuckles from those nearby.

Chen Yuan smiled as well. Sometimes, a person’s fortune was quite apparent. Even two people who drew the same stick could receive different results depending on what they were asking about. Take this nineteenth stick, for example. The verse sounded very auspicious at first, but if someone were asking about an examination or their official career, the result probably wouldn’t be nearly as pleasing.

“Although this is a Superior Auspicious stick, it isn’t one of the most auspicious. There are twists and turns hidden in it before the outcome described in the verse comes to pass.” Chen Yuan’s second sentence took a turn, causing the people who had just been so excited to quiet down as they began to worry that there might be some hidden bad omen in the verse after all.

Watching everyone’s expressions change with his shift in tone, Chen Yuan secretly found it amusing. Moments like this were one of his greatest sources of entertainment.

Huo Shu looked at Chen Yuan, growing nervous along with his words, and couldn’t help tightening her fingers.

“However, if you’re asking about romance, then it is indeed a good omen.” Chen Yuan looked at Huo Shu and reassured her.

“This stick is an omen of getting what you wish for. When it comes to romance, as long as you let things take their natural course, things will naturally work out. Keep a calm heart and follow your feelings, and everything will proceed smoothly.” As Chen Yuan spoke, his gaze drifted toward Sheng Kong. He had more or less figured out that these two seemed to have gotten together after their last meal at Wangjiang Tower. After some time together, they were already approaching the tipping point. As for that unlucky kid Huo Jian, who still wanted to stop them? Time would prove that Huo Jian was worrying over nothing.

Chen Yuan had barely finished speaking when the Daoist beside him nodded as well. “Just as it should be!” If he had interpreted the nineteenth stick himself, he would have arrived at more or less the same conclusion as Chen Yuan.

The others had initially thought that the young man interpreting the stick had been far too brief, making his words seem somewhat unconvincing. But after hearing the old Daoist’s words, they felt reassured. It seemed that this young man really did know what he was doing.

After praising Chen Yuan, the old Daoist changed tack and glanced at the several disciples responsible for interpreting the sticks. “Hmph. As for those who can explain a simple matter in two or three sentences, must you really twist and turn for eighteen bends until it becomes a whole essay?”

The young Daoist disciples over at the table looked a little embarrassed. It wasn’t actually that they were poorly trained. Interpreting fortune sticks generally wasn’t all that difficult. The basic meaning of the auspicious or inauspicious omen could usually be summed up in a dozen or so words. That was precisely how Chen Yuan had just interpreted it: simple and straightforward, leaving the person who drew the stick to ponder the rest for themselves.

But if they interpreted things that simply, how could they maintain an air of mystery and profound wisdom? The Daoists who interpreted fortune sticks at the temple had always tried to cultivate the bearing of an enlightened master. If something could be left unexplained, then it should remain unexplained; if something could be glossed over, then it should be left vague. Everything was attributed to the will of the gods and the workings of the supernatural. That way, ordinary people would remain in awe.

Those who knew the trade understood the problem perfectly well, so the old Daoist merely grumbled and let it go. Yet to the people listening nearby, his words sounded very much like he was saying that Chen Yuan was far more skilled than the people interpreting the sticks over there.

Suddenly, someone broke through the crowd that had been quietly watching and rushed up to Chen Yuan.

“Master, could you interpret my fortune stick too?”

It was as if concentrated sulfuric acid had been poured into water. The entire hall exploded into chaos in an instant. People crowded around Chen Yuan, jostling one another and talking over each other until the noise was deafening. Huo Jian was lucky enough to be standing close to Chen Yuan. Despite the crush, no one had managed to push their way into Chen Yuan yet. Huo Shu and Sheng Kong, however, had been shoved off to the side.

Even Chen Yuan, who had seen his fair share of situations, couldn’t help being startled.

Seeing that the situation was getting out of control, Huo Jian panicked and shouted at the top of his voice, “One thousand!”

The hall fell silent for an instant, only to erupt into even greater chaos.

“What are you yelling about? What do you mean, one thousand? You think shouting louder makes you important?”

“Let me through! I want the Master to interpret my fortune stick!”

“Who just touched my wallet?! I’ll fucking kill you!”

Most people had a tendency to follow the crowd blindly. Once they accepted someone as an authority, they would find all sorts of ways to demonstrate their trust and admiration. Under ordinary circumstances, they could still remain level-headed. Just as with the people Chen Yuan had encountered before, even after witnessing his abilities, they would still think things over and have their doubts. But when the surrounding atmosphere became one in which almost everyone was caught up in a frenzy, even the most rational person would be swept along by it and become irrational themselves. That was exactly what was happening now. Chen Yuan’s way of interpreting the fortune sticks was simply much more direct and straightforward, yet it had driven everyone into a frenzy of adoration.

Actually, though, breaking such a frenzy wasn’t difficult. Just as in The Emperor’s New Clothes , when everyone was praising the emperor’s clothes, a single child’s honest remark was enough to shatter the illusion.

Huo Jian shouted again, “My master charges one thousand yuan minimum for a single reading!”

His words were like a bucket of cold water dumped over everyone’s heads.

People immediately began shouting.

“The people here only charge twenty yuan to interpret a fortune stick. How can you charge that much? What kind of logic is that?”

“After all that talk, you still don’t have any money? If you can’t afford it, don’t expect a master to make a reading for you! Move aside, I want to get through!” some sharp-tongued people sneered.

“So having money makes you so great? You stepped on my foot!”

There was still plenty of shouting and jostling, but the price was enough to make many people back off. One person, however, was clearly not convinced.

“A thousand yuan just to say a single sentence? Doesn’t the Price Bureau regulate this sort of thing? Could this be some kind of scam they’ve all agreed on?”

The accusation was quite a serious one, and the Daoist’s expression darkened with displeasure.

But someone else quickly spoke up. “If you can’t afford it, then don’t make snide remarks. Nobody’s forcing you to have your fortune stick interpreted. If you don’t want a reading, then don’t get one!”

Meanwhile, a girl in the crowd stared at Chen Yuan in confusion and murmured, “This person looks so familiar. Where have I seen him before?”

Her boyfriend heard her and asked, “Familiar? Don’t tell me he’s actually a fraud.”

The girl shook her head, racking her brain. After a moment, her eyes suddenly lit up.

“Isn’t he that Chen the Half-Immortal from around Songxian Bridge?”

The people nearby overheard her and couldn’t help asking curiously, “Chen the Half-Immortal?”

“Yeah, he’s a master who’s skilled in everything from fortune-telling and physiognomy to feng shui. He has a shop near Songxian Bridge. I pass by it on my way to school, so I’ve seen him a few times. His shop is only open in the mornings, and he’s closed on weekends too. His fees really are that high. Even so, there are still plenty of people trying to get him to do a reading for them. I heard the latest appointments are already booked several months out. I can’t believe I’d run into him here.”

The people nearby had also noticed their conversation.

“I’ve heard there was a Half-Immortal around Songxian Bridge. That’s him? He looks so young!”

“He may be young, but he has quite a presence. Don’t you feel like you don’t even notice his age when you look at him?”

Another round of whispers broke out, and this time, most of the people were convinced. If he really was that capable, then a thousand yuan for a few words wasn’t so outrageous after all. There was nothing they could do about it.

Chen Yuan, however, hadn’t come here to interpret fortune sticks for people. Even after many had backed off, there was still a whole crowd left. He sighed helplessly, then held up three fingers.

“Three people. No more.”

And so, there was another great commotion. Chen Yuan interpreted three people’s fortune sticks, and the crowd spent quite some time afterward showering him with admiration. In the end, Chen Yuan casually tossed all the money he’d received into the merit-incense fund. He wasn’t short of money now, so there was no need for him to save it.

In the end, what had started as a trip for everyone to sightsee had somehow turned into an event for Chen Yuan to expand his business. It was quite amusing.

After spending the entire day there, Chen Yuan and the others finally descended the mountain and headed home. Before they left, the Daoist sincerely invited Chen Yuan to come stay at Luhan Mountain whenever he had the chance. The Daoists who interpreted fortune sticks, however, weren’t nearly as enthusiastic about having Chen Yuan around. But that was another matter.

After saying goodbye to Qin Zui and his wife, Huo Jian took the train back to school, while Huo Shu drove herself home. Yu Shenliu, meanwhile, drove Chen Yuan back.

They had been on the road for several minutes when Chen Yuan leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes to rest. Climbing the mountain that day had genuinely worn him out. Just then, Yu Shenliu suddenly recited:

“Though I regret losing the fish, I can bear the loss; The placid lake stirs with hidden waves. The road ahead is long, awaiting your decision; Only with great difficulty will you find a beautiful view.”

Chen Yuan frowned slightly and opened his eyes to look at Yu Shenliu. “You just now…?”

“I drew a fortune stick too,” Yu Shenliu said, pretending to be casual. “But it sounds like the meaning isn’t particularly good?”

Chen Yuan went over the verse in his mind a few times before smiling. “I wouldn’t put it that way. Your fortune stick is actually rather ambiguous.”

“How so?”

Chen Yuan thought for a moment before answering, “The line about the placid lake stirring with hidden waves refers to the matter you asked about. On the surface, everything appears calm and uneventful, but things are changing in subtle ways beneath it all. As for the last two lines, that’s where things become ambiguous. The first half suggests that the road ahead is uncertain, while the second half says you may eventually achieve a good outcome. Exactly how things will turn out, though, still depends on what actually happens.”

Hearing Chen Yuan’s explanation, Yu Shenliu felt both delighted and uneasy.

What he had asked about was romance, too.

“An uncertain road ahead, yet perhaps you may still achieve a good outcome?”

Hearing Chen Yuan put it that way, Yu Shenliu felt rather conflicted. In truth, the outcome of this whole matter depended entirely on Chen Yuan. He should have known that this was the kind of result he would get from the fortune stick. Chen Yuan was clearly an exceptionally perceptive person, yet when it came to this particular matter, he acted as though he knew nothing at all. Yu Shenliu couldn’t quite make sense of his own feelings. On the one hand, he didn’t want Chen Yuan to realize what he was thinking. He had a feeling that tearing through that last thin layer between them might not lead to anything good. On the other hand, he desperately hoped that Chen Yuan would see through his thoughts…

“You explained the last three lines. What about the first one?”

“‘Though I regret losing the fish, I can bear the loss.’ The interpretation of this line is rather complicated. The regret of losing the fish could refer to Mencius’s famous metaphor of ‘the fish and the bear’s paw,’ which describes having to choose between two things that one desires. It could also refer to ‘water gaining a fish,’ an allusion to attaining an official position. There’s another interpretation, too, involving the story of Lord Longyang . If you were asking about your love prospects, I’m afraid you might have a case of peach-sharing and sleeve-cutting on your hands!”

Lord Longyang had been a favored male companion of the King of Wei. According to the story, Lord Longyang once wept while fishing because he had caught a beautiful fish and feared that, if he caught an even better one, he would cast the first fish aside. The story later became an allusion to male love and the fear of being replaced.

Peach-sharing came from the story of Mi Zixia, another famous tale of a male favorite who shared a peach he had already bitten into with his ruler. Sleeve-cutting referred to the story of Emperor Ai of Han, who cut off his sleeve rather than wake his sleeping male favorite, Dong Xian, who was lying on it. Both expressions eventually became literary euphemisms for male love.

Chen Yuan didn’t think Yu Shenliu would be asking about love. Rather, he assumed Yu Shenliu was probably asking about his official career or something along those lines. So he made a joke, and seeing Yu Shenliu’s expression instantly stiffen in the rearview mirror, he found it rather amusing.

The moment Chen Yuan mentioned Longyang Jun and peach-sharing and sleeve-cutting, Yu Shenliu’s back went hot, then cold. Cold sweat broke out over him, leaving his entire body feeling clammy.

Longyang? A fortune-stick interpretation could actually hint at something like this? The marriage laws of Huaxia had stopped restricting marriage based on gender and other such factors centuries ago. Same-sex couples were extremely common. Even so, after observing Chen Yuan for so long, Yu Shenliu had realized that Chen Yuan had never once considered anything involving peach-sharing. It simply hadn’t occurred to him that he might have anything to do with such matters.

Even so, Yu Shenliu felt that if he took things slowly, there would eventually come a day when he could gradually realize what he wanted. He had never imagined, however, that merely asking Chen Yuan to interpret his fortune stick would result in his thoughts being exposed in a single stroke!

This wasn’t scientific!

You could see a person’s fate through fortune-telling, a person’s fortunes through physiognomy, and influence their surroundings through feng shui, but could a fortune-stick verse actually mention something like this? And for it to hit upon the exact issue weighing on his mind, with Chen Yuan, the person involved, being the one to expose it in a single sentence… It was simply too difficult to explain!

Still shaken, Yu Shenliu couldn’t help studying Chen Yuan’s expression carefully through the rearview mirror. Had Chen Yuan already figured out what he was thinking? Or was this merely a coincidence?

Chen Yuan had no idea that he had scared Yu Shenliu half to death. He simply thought Yu Shenliu had been startled by his joke, which was why he was staring at him like that. So he shot him a teasing look and said nothing.

He didn’t realize that, in Yu Shenliu’s eyes, that expression was maddeningly ambiguous, making it impossible to tell whether Chen Yuan had figured something out. It seemed as though he was joking, yet it also seemed as though Chen Yuan already knew everything. That uncertainty left Yu Shenliu on edge. Though his heart was in turmoil, he could only keep his expression calm, pretending that nothing had happened. Then, stiffly, he changed the subject.

“Do you think there’ll be more people coming to see you after today? In the world of metaphysics, you’re starting to look more and more like a master yourself.”

“…”

Their conversation continued as they drove, but a seed of doubt had already taken root in Yu Shenliu’s heart.

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