Chapter 58 Master's Prediction

Since July, my master has been paying me 10,000 yuan a month. I also work at "Feng Hua Xue Yue" at night, earning over 10,000 yuan. All told, I make over 20,000 yuan a month.

I am very content.

My high school classmates who graduated from graduate school only make about 10,000 yuan a month.

Besides, I live in Wuxiang, a prefecture-level city, where housing prices aren't too expensive. I figure if I can hold on for a few more years, I can buy a house.

When you feel contented, the days pass quickly, and before you know it, it’s mid-October.

The weather is getting cooler.

I had nothing to do this morning, but business was surprisingly good in the afternoon. I did four predictions in a row.

The master laughed and said, "The joys and sorrows are uneven. In the morning there is no business at all, but in the afternoon it is very busy and enjoyable."

While I was taking a short break, a woman came in, about fifty years old.

She sat down and said, "Master, please tell me the 'xi' in 'hope', to ask if any of my relatives have been imprisoned.

The master said coldly in a tone that brooked no room for negotiation: "Write it down."

It was obvious that the woman was dissatisfied. This word was not an uncommon one, so why did she have to write it? She stared at the master with resentment, as if the master was deliberately making things difficult for her.

The Master never repeats his requests.

The woman hesitated for a moment and wrote the word "希".

The master looked at the words and said in a low voice:

"The character '希' has a cross on top, and the upper part of the character '杀' is a symbol of danger. The character '大' in the middle is missing a stroke, and the character '中' below is missing a horizontal stroke. It means you want to reduce a big problem to a small one, but you lack the right people. You want a turning point in the middle, but it's not sealed, leaving many loopholes."

The woman asked, "You mean even if we go out for activities, it's all in vain?"

The master nodded and said, "Not only is it all in vain, but someone in my family has died."

The woman had a sad face. She counted the money, turned around and left without saying a word.

Master asked me, "Do you know the identity of this woman?"

I shook my head.

The master sneered, "Her brother is a high-ranking official in a certain province. Normally, she looks up at the sky and knocks people down with the corner of her clothes. However, I heard that something happened recently."

Since something had happened, and the master's predictions showed no improvement, it wasn't really a divine prediction. I was puzzled by his assertion that someone else in the woman's family was going to die, so I couldn't help but ask:

"Why do you say someone else died in his family?"

The master sighed, "They have an eighty-six-year-old mother."

"Even if there is an old mother, how can you be sure that she will die?"

The master took a sip of tea and then asked me, "Have you read The 15th Year of the Wanli Reign?"

I shook my head.

"Zhang Juzheng, do you know?"

I nodded: "I know, a famous prime minister during the Wanli Dynasty."

The master said, "Let me tell you a story first."

When Zhang Juzheng was alive, he was a highly respected figure. His mother, Old Lady Zhao, lived a life of exceptional splendour. When Old Lady Zhao turned seventy-two, Zhang Juzheng decided to take her in to live with him.

Upon learning of this, the Wanli Emperor dispatched a special eunuch to bring the old lady to the capital. The procession personally dispatched by the emperor was quite grand. Local officials were also deeply apprehensive, fearing that they would not treat Old Lady Zhao well, and served her with reverent devotion.

The journey was smooth. However, when crossing the Yellow River, Mrs. Zhao was a little scared and said to her maid privately: "It's too dangerous to cross such a wide river."

The local officials learned about this and came to comfort the old lady: They had to wait until the sea calmed down before crossing the river, which would take a few days.

After a few days, the old lady became anxious and asked those around her: "Why haven't they crossed the Yellow River yet?" The officials reported: "We have crossed the Yellow River and are almost reaching the capital."

It turned out that the local officials knew that the old lady was afraid to cross the Yellow River, so they connected the north and south sides of the Yellow River with boats, filled the boats with soil, and planted willow trees on both sides. So the carriages and sedan chairs could pass by as if they were walking on flat ground.

Three years later, Zhang Juzheng died. Political events reversed, and before Zhang Juzheng's body was even cold, the Wanli Emperor changed his attitude, dug up Zhang Juzheng's corpse and whipped it. Old Lady Zhao's grandson was forced to commit suicide, and when his grandson's wife failed, she blinded her own left eye, and the youngest grandson jumped into a well.

As for my hometown, it had long been ransacked by local officials, and more than a dozen people starved to death, leaving behind a 76-year-old woman...

I understood the saying, "Under an overturned nest, how can any egg remain intact?" and said, "Mrs. Zhao probably won't live long.

The master said sadly, "Back then, I lived my whole life in fear and humiliation."

I didn't say anything for a long time.

The master then told me, "When it comes to fortune-telling, you only need to get one thing right; the rest is just inference. His mother is over eighty years old, like a candle in the wind. This stimulus is like a strong wind blowing. The candle will definitely go out."

I couldn't help but say, "Hide it."

The master sneered, "Hide? Even if her family hides it from her, the old lady will find it strange.

Those Zhang San who usually call me "mother" are not here anymore.

Li Si, who delivered the foot fish, disappeared.

Wang Wu, who often came to greet us, disappeared.

Old people are naturally suspicious, how can you hide it?"

I sighed in my heart, my master was teaching me the logical reasoning in the art of fortune-telling bit by bit.

As the master and his disciple were talking, a man came in, wrote the character "转", and said hurriedly:

"Master, my second uncle wants to go out and do business. He has been very quiet at home. I wonder if there is any improvement outside."

The master asked, "What kind of business are you in?"

The man gestured, "A normal business, like a small shop or a breakfast shop."

The master shook his head and said, "If you invest in stocks or real estate, there might be some hope."

The man looked shy and said, "How can I do that with such a small amount of money?"

The master smiled and said, "The word 'turn' can be separated into 'special car'. Special cars are not used to transport goods. One day they carry some rice, the next day they carry some clothes. That's called a truck. Special cars have a full-time driver. They are suitable for large businesses, not small shops."

The man smiled awkwardly: "Why not stay at home?"

The master nodded.

The man took out his money. The master waved his hand and said, "It's the same thing. I've already counted the money before. I won't charge you a second time."

The man's face flushed red. He bowed, said nothing, and turned away.

I was shocked and asked, "How do you know that this woman is asking the same question as the one before?"

My master taught me carefully:

"This is called desperately seeking help from all quarters. Think about this family. They used to have a high-ranking official as their protector, and they were incredibly arrogant. They never looked anyone in the eye. Now, the monkeys scatter, and the family is in chaos. They cry out to the heavens and the earth, but no one responds.

So, they had to come to the fortune telling to see if there was any room for maneuver. So, after the first one came, they were worried, so they sent a second one to ask. "Can't you see how panicked they both look?"

I admired him and said, "You are really observant."

Master then taught me: "People with uneasy hearts always start their speech with a high tone and end it with a low tone. Have you noticed?"

I touched my head and said with a wry smile, "I didn't notice."

The master said seriously, "It's the same with writing. Older people write a horizontal stroke with a long beginning and a short end. Young people, especially children, write a horizontal stroke with a short beginning and a long end."

"Why is that?"

"As they get older, they focus on memories of the past, which is called sedimentation. Therefore, their emphasis is on the past, which is why the left side of the character is longer. Children, on the other hand, have almost no sedimentation and are full of curiosity about the future. Therefore, when they write a horizontal stroke, the right side is longer."

I asked, “Is this graphology?”