"As long as you give me your birth date, there's nothing this master doesn't know!"
Ding ding ding ding...
"I've told your fortune! I am the greatest fortune teller in the world. I know everything about astronomy and geography. I am omniscient and omnipotent."
Ding ding...
"Fortune teller, stop knocking!" Tang Suxiang shouted. "Both of your kids are sleeping. If you wake them up, will you take care of them for me?"
"This person is clearly blessed; their son is destined for greatness!" the master said, calculating with his fingers. "If I'm not mistaken, you have two sons. The eldest is destined for business and will make a fortune. The younger son is a scholar who will surely attain high office and great wealth in the future! Your daughters have also married well. You are truly blessed and will enjoy the happiness of your children and grandchildren in your later years."
Tang Suxiang was overjoyed, "Master, your prediction was so accurate!"
Qiao Guilan hurriedly said ingratiatingly, "Master, Master, please also help me with my fortune telling."
The master looked at Qiao Guilan and was suddenly startled, as if he had been frightened by something. "My lady, you look so distressed. You are possessed by evil spirits. I fear your life is nearing its end!"
This really frightened Qiao Guilan.
"My legs have been hurting terribly lately, my back hurts, and I feel pain all over my body. Is there something seriously wrong with me?"
Qiao Guilan had no doubt about the master's words.
"Master, please save me!" Qiao Guilan rummaged around for a while, then took out a small safety pin from the inside of her pocket, took out something wrapped in an old handkerchief, and unfolded it layer by layer to reveal the few cents she had saved up inside.
"Master, please take all this money. Please save me! My son isn't married yet, I can't die. If this isn't enough, I'll think of something else. Master, please save me, sob sob sob..."
Qiao Guilan burst into tears, while Tang Suxiang, standing beside her, gloated and pleaded with the master to save her.
The master's eyes lit up when he saw money.
He grabbed the money from the handkerchief and put it in his pocket. "My lord, Heaven cherishes life. Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. I will do my best. Tell me your birth date and I will calculate your fortune."
"I was born in 1942," Qiao Guilan quickly added, revealing her exact birth date.
What time was it born?
"I don't know about that. When I was little, my dad herded ducks for the production team. My mom told me that I was born when the ducks were entering the pen. She said that I was destined to be eaten like a duck, and that I was destined to be a good-for-nothing."
Qiao Guilan poured out her grievances to the master when talking about her deceased mother.
The master offered a perfunctory consolation, "It doesn't matter if you don't know your birthday, this master can still calculate it for you! Hold out your hand."
Qiao Guilan hurriedly stuffed the old handkerchiefs, whose colors had faded considerably, back into her pocket and respectfully and devoutly extended her hands for the master to see.
The master looked at Qiao Guilan's palm and muttered, "You are destined to have a son!"
“Yes, yes, master, you were right. I have a son named…”
"Don't say that!" the master suddenly interrupted, saying in a mystical tone, "Let me calculate! Your son should be 20 years old this year. Judging from this line on his palm, he should have a girlfriend."
Qiao Guilan nodded repeatedly in agreement: "Yes, yes, yes! My son is 20 this year and has a girlfriend."
Neighbors saw the three people standing outside the gate whispering to each other and came over to see what was going on.
"Your son didn't come easily!" The master closed his eyes and made a series of calculations with his fingers. "His name must contain the character 'Bao' (宝). If I'm not mistaken, your son's name is Baogen!"
“Yes, yes, yes, my son’s name is Song Baogen. Master, you are amazing.” Qiao Guilan was completely convinced.
"Your son is just like you, he's destined for bad luck and won't live long!" The master's alarmist words nearly made Qiao Guilan faint. She cried and begged the master to save her son.
"Don't cry yet, listen to what I have to say!" The master closed his eyes and made another series of finger calculations. "The reason you and your only son have such bad luck is because there are villains in your family causing trouble!"
A neighbor who came to watch the commotion chimed in, "Where did she get such a child? A couple with four kids."
The master's expression suddenly turned very serious, as if he had foreseen something dangerous and terrifying.
He asked Qiao Guilan, "Which child did you suffer the most during your pregnancy?"
Qiao Guilan was stumped by the master's question. Tang Suxiang, who had long disliked Song Yinhua, hurriedly said, "Yinhua! Guilan, you hurt your body when you gave birth to Yinhua. It took you five years to finally conceive your precious son. You even lost several babies in between. Have you forgotten?"
“My sister-in-law is right!” Qiao Guilan nodded repeatedly. “I suffered a lot when I gave birth to my eldest daughter. After giving birth to Yinhua, I couldn’t get pregnant for a long time. When I finally got pregnant, I couldn’t keep the pregnancy. It wasn’t until five years later that I finally had Baogen. During that time, I suffered so many scornful looks from my mother-in-law.”
When Qiao Guilan talked about the hardships she had endured, she spoke at length, and no one could get a word in edgewise.
“When I was pregnant with my son Baogen, I was in bed every day, eating, drinking and relieving myself in bed. It was so difficult. I was afraid that I would miscarry. My husband and I were only able to relax when Baogen was born.”
“But it’s strange, less than a year after Baogen was born, I got pregnant again. My mother-in-law had someone calculate that I was having a girl and told me to get rid of the baby. My husband and I couldn’t bear to, thinking that the baby might not stay, so we didn’t care.”
"If it had been born, I would have kept it; if it hadn't, it wouldn't have been a loss. But the baby was born smoothly, and I didn't even have morning sickness. It was a girl. Soon after, I had my fourth child. The fortune teller said it would be a boy, but it turned out to be another girl."
“Yes!” The master finally spoke up, seizing the opportunity. “Your eldest daughter is that villain. She brings you misfortune, which is why you suffer. After your son was born, you had two children in a row, which means your son is blessed and you will enjoy his good fortune.”
Upon hearing this, Qiao Guilan immediately smiled, "My Baogen is so filial, he's so good to me."
"Don't be too happy yet!" the master began to spread alarmist rumors again. "Your son was originally a blessed person, but your eldest daughter is a villain. She brings bad luck to you and your son. She will first absorb your good fortune, and then absorb your son's good fortune. You and your son will suffer great misfortune because of her, and you may even lose your lives!"
"What should I do?" Qiao Guilan was so frightened that she started wiping away tears, grabbing the master's hand and crying and begging for help for her and her son.
"Don't be in such a hurry, let me do some more calculations!" The master stroked his beard, closed his eyes, shook his head and muttered incoherently, "Your eldest daughter was originally the White Tiger Star in the heavens, who came down to earth to bring disaster to people."
"This white tiger is causing trouble, it sucks away the good fortune of those around it. Everyone whose good fortune is sucked away by it will be unlucky, so the first one to suffer the most misfortune is you, its mother."
"You, young lady, are destined to be a concubine, always stealing other women's men to be their mistresses. You have no sense of propriety or shame; you'll end up as a prostitute in the wild..."
Tang Suxiang seized the opportunity and deliberately shouted loudly, "Isn't it just that Yinhua is destined to be a prostitute?"
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