At this point, those who had originally wanted to watch the fortune telling for a while longer lost interest. The female fortune teller didn't seem that impressive, and the crowd dispersed.
Li Zhiyi continued to sit there waiting for someone destined to meet him. He waited from 7 p.m. until 11 p.m. Apart from the food vendors who were still holding their posts, many of the book and shoe vendors had started to pack up.
An older woman selling underwear saw that Li Zhiyi was still sitting there, and since the night breeze was still quite cool, she kindly reminded her, "Young lady, you should go back. It's so late, there won't be anyone around. Why don't you come back tomorrow?"
Li Zhiyi turned to the old woman and said, "Thank you, Auntie. I'll wait a little longer. You can go back now."
The old woman shook her head. She knew all too well how difficult it was to do business. She always thought that if she waited a little longer, someone would come to buy, but tonight she had only made a few dozen yuan, not even enough for her family to eat and drink.
Just a few minutes after the old lady left, a man walked by with a bottle of liquor, drinking as he went, looking quite drunk.
When she reached Li Zhiyi's stall, she seemed to be drawn to it. "Miss, are you fortune teller?"
"Yes, I'm honest and fair. Would you like a fortune telling?"
The man downed his beer in one gulp and sat down casually. "Alright, then tell me your palm." He held out his palm and presented it to Li Zhiyi.
Li Zhiyi didn't look at his hand, and laughed, "You can read, right? Look at what's written on this Bagua diagram. I can only do divination in two ways: the six lines and the eight characters. I don't count anything else." It wasn't that she didn't know how, but she felt that the accuracy of those methods was not high.
The man laughed too; it was the first time he'd ever seen a fortune teller so assertive.
"Okay, then I'll choose the Six Lines divination method."
Li Zhiyi took out a tortoise shell and copper coins from the package and handed them to the man, saying, "Throw them away, and silently recite what you want to say in your heart."
The man saw this for the first time and examined it with some curiosity, asking, "Is this an antique? Can such a small thing really be accurate?"
The man's suspicious tone immediately displeased Li Zhi, who said, "Give it back, you don't need to calculate it." As he spoke, he snatched his treasure back from the man's hand.
"What's wrong with you? It's not like I'm not going to give you money. It's just money, I'll give it to you." As he spoke, the man pulled out a wad of 100-yuan bills from his bag, all of them consecutively numbered.
"I said it doesn't count as your divination."
The man was furious. "What's wrong with you, woman? You want money or power? I can give you either, but you have to settle things with me today."
Li Zhiyi laughed in exasperation, "Are you really that domineering?"
This was the first time the man had ever seen anyone dare to defy him, and he was truly enraged! "Miss, are you deliberately trying to attract me?" This was the only possibility he could think of, after all, he had met too many people since childhood, and every single one of them had intentionally gotten close to him.
He's never lacked women, brothers, or money! But he lacks only genuine affection, which is why he's drowning his sorrows in alcohol today.
He didn't even know what he was dissatisfied with. He had lived like a prince since he was a child, with everything done for him and a large group of followers around him every day.
"Woman, say something!"
Li Zhi wondered to himself, "Could my intuition be wrong? Could this drunkard be the big client I thought I had?"
She had no intention of taking his order! This person wasn't sincere, and his divination wouldn't be accurate. If she did the divination, who knew what might happen? Wouldn't that just ruin her own reputation?
Seeing that Li Zhiyi was already putting away her small stool and the Bagua diagram on the ground, the man realized that she was clearly planning to leave.
He blocked Li Zhiyi's path, "Miss, why are you ignoring me?"
"Get out of the way!"
The man wouldn't move aside and stood still. Li Zhi turned around and walked back, but the man ran ahead of her again.
At this moment, the uncle selling fried rice noodles nearby realized that the fortune-telling girl was being harassed, and the other party looked like a drunkard, which was a dangerous situation.
He immediately took out his phone and secretly called the police. Then he walked over to Li Zhiyi and said, "Miss, you haven't eaten the rice noodles you just ordered. Eat them before you go back."
Li Zhi looked at the uncle and knew that the uncle wanted to help him out of this predicament.
In that instant, she felt that the world was beautiful again.
"Okay, I'll have a mildly spicy one."
Seeing that she completely ignored his presence, the man became even angrier. He sat down next to Li Zhiyi and ordered, "Uncle, I'd like a plate of fried rice noodles too, the same kind as hers."
The man who was making fried rice immediately agreed, but he didn't cook quickly, as he wanted to delay until the police arrived.
It was the man's first time eating this kind of thing, and he found it surprisingly delicious.
Just as Li Zhiyi finished eating, the man stood up, pulled out a hundred-yuan bill, and waved it in a big hand: "Keep the change, I've already paid for her."
The middle-aged man insisted on giving the man his money back. Just then, a police car arrived, and two men got out of the car. One of them turned out to be Officer Li.
Who called the police just now?
The rice noodle vendor was also calling the police for the first time. He secretly glanced at the man, not expecting the police to ask him questions as soon as they got out of the car. He was actually very afraid of being retaliated against, after all, he had elderly parents and young children to support, and it wasn't easy for him to make a living.
Li Zhiyi said, "I was the one who called the police."
It was only then that Officer Li realized that the person holding the small stool was actually Ms. Li.
He asked in surprise, "Ms. Li, what are you holding? What are you doing here?" Then, realizing he'd gone off-topic, he asked again, "Ms. Li, you called the police saying someone was harassing you. Where is that person?"
"He has always been with me."
The man immediately waved his hand and said, "Miss, you should speak with a clear conscience. Put your hand on your heart and tell me, what have I done to you? You're eating rice noodles here, and so am I. I even treated you to a bowl of rice noodles. How am I harassing you?"
Li Zhizhi didn't want to talk to him. "Well, then it was a misunderstanding. Goodbye."
Officer Li glanced at the man, feeling he looked vaguely familiar, but couldn't quite place him. He warned, "Be more careful when you eat out in the future. If a girl doesn't agree to sit with you, don't do it on your own. It's easy for people to misunderstand."
The man looked aggrieved: "Yes, officer."
Officer Li insisted on taking Li Zhiyi home, saying that it wasn't safe for a girl to take a taxi so late. Li Zhiyi felt embarrassed to refuse Officer Li's kindness and got into the police car.
After thinking about it, Officer Li sent a message to Jiang Yu.
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