Fate-altering Copper Coin
Chapter 1: Transmigration
Recently, the ancient style has become popular. Tourist destinations that preserve ancient architecture are places people flock to. The antique street is bustling with crowds, and even though few people can distinguish between real and fake antiques, they still join in the excitement, treating it as buying a handicraft.
"Dad, Mom, hurry up! There's something exciting to see over there." A seven or eight-year-old girl, holding her parents' hands, shouted with curiosity, her face full of excitement.
At the street corner, a group of tourists had gathered. The girl's parents were also attracted, walked over curiously, and picked up the little girl.
Through the gaps, one could see a young man in a Zhongshan suit sitting in the center of the crowd. He looked plain and unremarkable, and he was shaking a tortoise shell very seriously.
It turned out to be a fortune teller. In modern society, not many people actually believe in fortune telling; it was just for the fun of it in such an atmosphere.
On the table in front of the young man, there were no other items, just a pen and a stack of white paper. The table was covered with a white cloth, and on the side facing the tourists, there were two lines of characters. The first line read: "Fortune Telling and Character Analysis." However, the second line read: "Fate is fickle; nine out of ten readings are wrong."
The father holding the little girl laughed: "Wife, this fortune teller is quite honest. He actually wrote that nine out of ten readings are wrong. It would be better not to write it at all."
"Indeed, since they aren't accurate, what's the point of having your fortune told?" the girl's mother added with a smile.
A stranger nearby heard this and became unhappy, interjecting: "Don't speak nonsense. This Mr. Yang is not ordinary. The hexagrams he casts are extremely accurate. He only comes out to set up his stall one day a month and only accepts ten guests. He only charges ten yuan per person, and he won't serve anyone after the ten are done. Last month, a big boss from out of town offered one hundred thousand for a reading, but he just shook his head and walked away."
"Is he really that capable?" The couple couldn't believe it, their faces full of suspicion.
"Are you two here in Dujiangyan for the first time? This Mr. Yang doesn't rely on fortune telling for a living. I heard he specializes in interpreting fortune slips at a Daoist temple. He was adopted by an old Daoist priest when he was small and grew up in the temple. His skills are truly great," the stranger praised.
"Mom, can we go in and look?" the little girl called out.
"Alright," the young woman replied softly.
"Qian is above, Li is below, Heaven Fire Tongren. Asking about your future: Your Excellency has a bright future and a life of wealth. As long as you do not walk down crooked paths, you will sooner or later become rich and noble," Yang Tong said indifferently.
The person sitting there for the reading said skeptically, "Fake? I wonder if you can calculate my name, sir?"
"I'm sorry, when I cast hexagrams for people, I only answer one question. Fate is fickle; nine out of ten readings are wrong. Whether you believe it or not has nothing to do with me." Yang Tong packed up his paper and pen without lifting his head and said, "Now, for the last person today."
"Oh." The man didn't say much more, stood up, and left. Upon hearing this, many people in the crowd dispersed.
"Uncle, can you tell me what my name is?" A young woman holding a little girl sat down, and the little girl spoke. The young woman leaned her back gently against the man behind her, using him as support.
This couple was the family of three who had just been asking questions and talking to others; they had accidentally squeezed in when the crowd dispersed earlier.
Yang Tong looked up and took a glance. It was a normal family of three. This was the first time a child had asked for a reading since he started sitting here. "Ten yuan."
The child's father handed it over; ten yuan wasn't much.
"You only want to ask this?" Yang Tong shook his head and sighed. Without waiting for an answer, he picked up the tortoise shell and the three bronze coins on the table to start casting the hexagram.
The hexagram appeared very quickly.
"Hmm, Chen with the ear radical, single name Yue. So, little one, your name is Chen Yue." A smile appeared on Yang Tong's face, but it was only for the little girl. He liked children because they were pure enough...
"Uncle is amazing!" the little girl exclaimed in surprise.
The child's parents were even more astonished. They were definitely here for the first time, had never known this young man before, and they themselves were not a wealthy or noble family. Who would investigate them? Could this really have been calculated?
"Wait, sir, can we ask one more hexagram?" the Chen couple asked.
"No, missed is missed. We shall meet again." Yang Tong began to pack up his stall. He simply tidied up the things on the table and packed them away. The table and chairs were borrowed, so they had to be returned to their owners.
The nearby tourists were amazed. It was so accurate? Is this still considered nine out of ten readings being wrong?
Before long, Yang Tong finished packing his things, shouldered his bag, and left.
The Chen couple looked at each other and sighed: "We gained some insight today. It turns out there really are people who can cast hexagrams with such precision. If we had known, we would have asked about our future too." After speaking, they carried their daughter and continued shopping, though it was unknown how much of their enthusiasm for sightseeing remained.
When Yang Tong walked out of the antique street, it was still a bit before lunchtime. He wasn't in a hurry to go back today anyway; after all, he wasn't the only one at the Daoist temple who interpreted fortune slips, and it happened to be his day off.
Deciding to have lunch, Yang Tong slowly walked to a small restaurant he often visited after coming down from the mountain, ordered one meat dish and one vegetable dish, and began to eat slowly.
As he ate, he thought: "It has been three years since Master passed away. I have learned almost enough of the Plum Blossom Divination Art, but my experience is still lacking. I still haven't reached the realm where everything can be known with a snap of the fingers."
After finishing his meal, Yang Tong planned to return. He only came down once a month to enrich his knowledge of the art of hexagrams.
Just as he was about to cross the street, he suddenly heard a somewhat familiar shout from across the way: "Uncle, Uncle, I'm here!"
Yang Tong looked up, and wasn't it the little girl Chen Yue who had come for a reading earlier?
At this moment, the light was red, and the little girl ran over quickly.
Just then, a red sports car came speeding over like a crazed wild horse, heading straight for Chen Yue.
"Be careful!" Yang Tong didn't have time to think and ran over at top speed.
"Screech—" A harsh sound of braking came.
"Ah—" A sharp scream, "Yue Yue—"
Yang Tong grabbed the little girl, only having time to turn halfway around, when a sharp pain struck him, and his whole body flew out uncontrollably.
Yang Tong only felt a stream of heat flowing out of his body, and gradually, his body's energy slowly ebbed away, as if it were being absorbed by something. Before losing consciousness, he vaguely heard the crying of the little girl Chen Yue and the shouts of many people.
Fresh blood flowed, quickly spreading out, and the white bag was soon stained blood-red.
No one noticed that one of the three bronze coins in the bag used for divination seemed to be thirstily absorbing Yang Tong's blood. The originally unremarkable bronze coin emitted bursts of faint purple light. The light was very weak but very agile, blocked by the blood-red bag.
The originally ordinary and inconspicuous ancient coin began to change. The entire coin body turned a noble purple-red, and patterns appeared, looking incredibly mysterious. Looking closer, the bronze coin was not intact; on it were six abrupt traces, like scars, which ruined the perfection of its original patterns.
The light lasted for about three hundred and sixty breaths, and then the purple bronze coin vanished from the bag without a sound.
In the next day's morning newspaper, the headline "Rich Second Generation Runs Red Light, Fortune Teller Sacrifices Himself to Save Child" appeared on the front pages of major newspapers.