Chapter 5: Analyze the Character First

The Taoist priest smiled slightly and said: "If you want to convince others, you must speak accurately. If you speak accurately, you must first learn to observe people, grasp their characteristics, and speak without hesitation.

For example, this woman is wearing a red dress with a wrinkled collar, and she doesn't look like an unmarried woman.

The two people just now were not married and were very concerned about their appearance when they went out. She didn't care. This was one of the reasons.

Her hands and feet weren't fat, and could even be considered thin, but her breasts were enormous, a characteristic of women who have given birth and are breastfeeding. This is the second point."

It turns out that the teacher didn't tell that she was married from her standing position, but from her physical characteristics. I learned a new trick.

"Then how can you tell from the word 'Li' that everyone in his family opposed the marriage, and only she insisted on it?"

The Taoist priest wrote a "Li" on the paper and said:

"The key to this character lies in the middle part. The art of fortune-telling relies on adding and subtracting strokes. The middle part of the character 立 (立) consists of a left stroke and a right stroke. If we add two strokes, it becomes 人人 (ren ren), right? Now the character 立 (立) is missing two strokes, so 人人 (ren ren) is not complete and lacks support."

I only understood the general idea. I asked, "What if she picked the character 'zu'? Would everyone support it?"

He smiled and said: "I have been fortune-telling for decades, but I have never come across anyone who predicted the character 'zu'.

People use fortune-telling to predict a happy ending. They either choose a character with auspicious meanings or a character from their own name.

I nodded.

The Taoist priest suddenly asked me, "Is the woman behind here specifically to have her fortune told, or is this just a spur-of-the-moment decision?"

I touched my head and thought for a while, then smiled with shame.

He smiled: "It was a spur-of-the-moment decision."

"You know this, too?"

The Taoist priest taught me: "Everything in the world is interconnected. Let me give you a logical deduction.

I nodded: "You go ahead."

"The two women in front and the woman behind are all foot-washing girls. They are from the same place."

I stared at him, afraid to miss a word.

The Taoist priest continued his analysis: "First, I could hear that the three of them all had a slight Henan accent in their Mandarin.

Secondly, because you measured the girl in front accurately, the girl in front immediately called the woman in red to come for the measurement.

Third, it also tests marriage."

I think the Taoist priest's reasoning makes some sense.

He said: "After answering the phone, the woman in red pushed the child to her mother-in-law and other family members, without even having time to change clothes, and came here in a hurry."

Although I dare not say that the director's judgment is 100% accurate, his analysis is well-connected.

The teacher stood up and came out of the study room a moment later, throwing two books to me and saying, "Read for a month, and I'll test you again."

This month, I have been almost always reading "The Art of Observing People", which is much more difficult than "The Secret Book of Divining by Characters".

After all, fortune-telling involves a single word, so it should be broken down into words.

When observing people, you have to tell them everything they have done, and they have to admit it.

For this experiment, apart from careful observation, I can only try it on my family and friends.

One day, I saw a little ink stain under my brother-in-law's fingernail. I laughed and said, "Do you want to be a calligrapher?"

My brother-in-law had a big question mark on his face: "How did you know I was learning calligraphy?"

I really didn't know, so I smiled and said, "I'd like to remind you that I'm now a disciple of Master Hongyi."

My brother-in-law pulled me aside and said in a deep voice:

"Now that the store has expanded, your sister is in charge of the front desk, there's a chef making fried noodles, and there are waiters in the lobby. I'm only responsible for purchasing.

Purchasing is no longer like going to the market. Now people deliver the goods to my door, and I just need to inspect them. When I have nothing to do, I set up a table in the basement warehouse to practice calligraphy.

I was secretly pleased with myself for having predicted it right, so I said, "Your handwriting is already good. If you practice a little, you could become a member of the provincial calligraphy association. Then, you could give my sister a scare."

My brother-in-law sighed, "If you don't want me to take care of things, you should at least have some fun."

I feel a bit sorry for my brother-in-law; he's also an intellectual, and my sister only had seven years of elementary school. I don't know how they got together back then.

A few days later, Dongzi came to see me.

I could tell something from his happy yet somewhat uneasy face, so I said, "You look happy. Let me tell you your fortune."

"I'm a materialist and I don't believe in your stuff."

I glanced at him disapprovingly and said, "Try it. If it's not accurate, you can just laugh it off. If it is accurate, maybe it can give you some confidence."

"Then tell me."

"You were supposed to have a happy event recently, but it didn't come to fruition."

Dongzi was shocked and didn't believe that I said this.

"You're absolutely right. After graduation, I've been looking for a job. This time, I took the city government's civil service exam. I got first place on the written test, so I'm waiting for the interview."

I came here to ask, your sister's business is now big, and she even participated in a symposium for female entrepreneurs. I wonder if she's familiar with the city leaders, and if I could say hello to them."

I shook my head. "My sister is just starting out, and I was the one who wrote the speech for the symposium. She's not familiar with the city leaders, let alone saying hello."

Dongzi was a little disappointed: "I didn't come here to ask anyone I know. Maybe the interview will be fair."

"How about I give you a character test?"

"I told you I don't believe that."

"Didn't I just say it was accurate?"

Dongzi hesitated for a while and couldn't make up his mind.

"How about this, you sign this paper first."

He was too lazy to ask and signed "Qiao Dong" in a flamboyant manner.

"You say a word, and I'll write the result on the back and put it in this drawer. We'll look at it again when the results come out."

Dongzi said lazily: "Just casually."

I changed my location and wrote: convenience, people + update. A new environment. Admission successful.

She entered the room and, in front of him, crumpled up the paper and put it in the drawer.

After Dongzi left, I went to find my sister and told her why Dongzi came.

She sternly scolded him, "The leader and I are only acquainted by appearance. Besides, we have a lot of requests to make ourselves. Why would I make requests on his behalf?"

I was disappointed.

Half a month later, Dongzi called me and said I had been recorded. He asked me what I had predicted.

I took two photos for him.

The phone rang again, and Dongzi said, "Master, I really want to kneel down to you. Come over and have dinner. After dinner, wash your feet."

We met at the Fengye Hotel, and he introduced me as "Xiao Xiaoyun, my classmate."

Xiao Xiaoyun said: "Master Wan, Dongzi introduced you to me a long time ago."

After dinner, Dongzi took us to the fourth floor of Liangzi Foot Bath.

Three women came in, and I was startled, and they were startled too.

Dongzi saw this scene and asked: "Are you familiar with each other?"

The thin girl said, "Yes, the master from You Ran Ju."

I couldn't help but marvel: the teacher is really a half-god. I knew they were all foot-washing girls, all from the same place.