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"I can't help you with that. The only assistance I can offer is to refrain from any involvement in gambling," Chu Yuening declared firmly. "You simply don't have the luck for it."

Undeterred, Ice Cream Hui persisted, "How about Mahjong?"

Mahjong was what he meant, but Chu Yuening shook her head.

"No Mahjong either."

"Well, how about cards then?" Desperate, Ice Cream Hui searched for an alternative, only to be interrupted by Zhang Jiande approaching.

"Drop it. With your total assets barely reaching 4,000 yuan, people might mistake you for a millionaire. Stick to selling ice cream cones and stop hindering Ning Ning's work."

Upon learning that gambling was completely off the table, Ice Cream Hui slumped away like a deflated puppet.

"Brother De," Chu Yuening greeted, turning to fetch a wooden chair from the table.

Zhang Jiande waved it off. "No need."

Then, he handed her the rolled-up newspaper. "Take a look."

Chu Yuening unfolded the newspaper, took a sip from her water flask, and found He Shifei's furrowed brow on the front page, holding a cleaver with a hotel bed in the background. A pixelated man in a crucial scene was surrounded by three women wrapped in blankets.

Large red letters accompanied the image:

- At Peninsula Hotel: One Man Fights Three Women; The Truth Unveiled: A Fortune-Teller's Ironclad Prediction?

"Phew," Chu Yuening nearly choked on her water. Setting down her flask, she widened her eyes in astonishment. "What's going on here?"

It was as if the sky had fallen.

The sidebar of the weekly magazine quoted He Shifei's on-site statement:

- "If not for that fortune-telling session, I wouldn't have known how I was being betrayed even on my deathbed!"

Beside it, the reporter summarized:

- Did the fortune-teller truly predict infidelity? Was it genuine insight or a lucky guess? Stay tuned for our journalist's upcoming exposé.

"How could there be gossip writers bored enough to write about this?" Chu Yuening flipped the paper over, searching for the author's name. "Which weekly magazine is this?"

"It's just the Big Joy Weekly, right? They're the ones who leak gossip about Aaron Kwok." Zhang Jiande folded the newspaper neatly, planning to lock it away at home. "That journalist is being a bit excessive. It's clear that our calculations were based on real evidence. How can we just let them accuse us of faking it?"

Chu Yuening covered her face, never imagining that she would one day end up in a gossip magazine.

Zhang Jiande took a puff from his pipe and chuckled. "How about this? I'll call the Big Joy Weekly and ask them to correct the journalist's language."

Chu Yuening jumped in surprise, waving her hands with a pained expression. "Brother De, don't joke around."

Zhang Jiande laughed. "I got it. Are you afraid of becoming famous?"

"People fear fame as pigs fear fattening," Chu Yuening sighed. "Besides, being in the newspapers isn't necessarily a good thing. If I become famous, I'll be treated like a zoo monkey on display."

"True. Ning Ning, have you had breakfast yet?" Zhang Jiande picked up another bag. "A friend treated me to dim sum at Lucky Fortune Restaurant, which is quite famous for its breakfast. I brought back a lot; see if there's anything you like."

"Really?" Chu Yuening blinked, quickly taking the bag. "Thank you."

"When has Brother De ever been bad?" Zhang Jiande hadn't been particularly close to Chu Yuening before, but after witnessing the live gossip together, he found her personality more and more appealing.

Chu Yuening dug through the bag for a moment, selecting two items with a smile in her eyes. "There's really a lot. I'll take the pork stomach siu mai and the sausage roll."

The burnished steamed buns radiated allure, their sticky rice filling infused with the aroma of dates. Chu Yuening had already had breakfast, but after the recent fortune-telling session for Che Zaiqiang, her stomach rumbled with renewed hunger, the scent igniting her appetite.

Zhang Jiande asked anxiously nearby, "How is it?"

"Right on time." Chu Yuening took a bite and gave her approval, "How about we plan to try stir-fried beef hor fun next time?"

"Absolutely not a problem." Delighted to have his taste buds approved, Zhang Jiande held the cigarette holder in his hand. "Brother De's taste is always spot on. Alright then, take your time. I won't get in the way of your work."

"Goodbye." As Chu Yuening bit into her steamed dumpling, she slipped back into her apron. After giving Che Zaiqiang his fortune, she felt her reservoir of magical energy nearly depleted. She was just about to put away the sign advertising her fortune-telling services, planning not to take any more clients for the day.

A faint whisper, barely audible, reached their ears.

"Excuse me, do you have any charms for sale?"

Chu Yuening, chewing on a steamed dumpling, turned to look.

The girl in a sailor school uniform held her backpack strap nervously.

A surge of dark aura emanated from the girl's back, constricting gradually like a cocoon forming around her. The encroaching darkness spread around the stall, but upon touching Chu Yuening, it recoiled as if burnt by a thorn.

Chu Yuening took a bite of the steamed dumpling amidst the black aura and put the cardboard back with a smile.

"There is."

Chapter 11

"Thanks for your trouble."

The girl's voice was soft as she pulled her backpack closer to the dessert stall and sat down at a small table. She had her hair tied up in a high ponytail, with a green ribbon tied around the collar of her white blouse, and wore a navy blue knitted vest over it.

Chu Yuening deliberately glanced at the school badge on the girl's school uniform skirt. "Chongzheng Middle School? You study there?"

Su Yinyin nodded absentmindedly.

Chu Yuening didn't expect to encounter someone from Chu Yi's alma mater. She rummaged under the food cart and pulled out a red plastic bag, placing it on the table. Inside were a stack of yellow talismans stuck together, a rough, bristly brush, and cinnabar stained red next to a small medicine bottle cap. She lifted her gaze.

"What kind of talisman would you like to buy?"

Seeing the makeshift setup, Su Yinyin grew even more nervous.

Did she accidentally stumble into a low-quality talisman factory?

"Will the talismans drawn this way actually work?"

When she visited the Yellow Great Immortal Temple with her grandfather in the past, the abbot's talismans and brushes seemed of much higher quality.

Chu Yuening cleared her throat and rubbed her nose, feeling inexplicably guilty. "The appearance is... indeed a bit lacking, but the effectiveness of the talismans is guaranteed."

"Oh," Su Yinyin replied, skeptical yet not rising to leave. Recalling Chu Yuening's eerily accurate fortune-telling just now, she asked, "Can I have my fortune told before buying a talisman?"