Chapter 10

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The fortune-telling stall was unusually lively for quite some time, drawing the curiosity of many around it. Some onlookers asked those in line about the commotion and heard a few people praising the oddly shaped felt dolls on the stall as if they were miraculous. Some were skeptical, while others sneered, suspecting these people were all planted by the stall owner.

However, Tongcheng University wasn’t that large, and there were always one or two well-known figures on campus. It just so happened that Su Xiaoqing, the head of the campus radio station, had personally vouched for these dolls as having sleep-inducing effects. Hearing this, others began to line up as well.

The queue in front of the stall grew longer and longer. After waiting for quite a while, Chu Mingming’s roommate finally managed to buy one of the dolls.

He happily inhaled the faint herbal scent emanating from the doll, took out his phone to find a flattering angle for a photo, when he overheard some murmurs nearby:

“That ugly thing made of wool felt — who knows what junk is stuffed inside its belly. I can smell that foul stench from so far away. How can people still be fighting to buy these?”

“I don’t get it either. So ridiculous.”

“The sleep incense from Tarot House smells so much better, only one hundred fifty per box, and it lasts me forever.”

A group of fashionably dressed girls stood not far from the stall, pointing and sneering with disdain.

After finishing his photo, Chu Mingming’s roommate put away his phone and bluntly said, “Hey, what are you guys talking about? If you have something to say about the dolls we bought, say it to our faces!”

The girls were suddenly called out and looked very embarrassed. They exchanged glances before the tallest girl stepped forward, her expression and tone hostile.

“If you want to say it to our faces, fine. We just think these dolls are ugly and smell terrible. And they claim to help with sleep? Don’t tell me the stall owner stuffed some inhaled anesthetic inside those things?”

The moment those words came out, expressions of surprise rippled through the queue and among those who had just bought dolls. Doubt crept into many minds.

After all, the dolls’ sleep aid effect was heavily promoted, but on closer thought, there was nothing particularly special about them. Who knew if the doll’s insides were really soaked in anesthetics?

An overdose of anesthetic could be fatal; this was no trivial matter.

Someone in line immediately spoke up, “Boss, do you want to explain?”

Chu Ning’s face showed no sign of panic; he calmly replied, “The dolls contain no illegal additives. If you don’t believe me, feel free to have them tested. As for the belly filling, it does contain a small amount of herbal medicine: polygonatum, cinnabar, and a sour jujube seed. You can open them up and check.”

“Oh, I know this. The boss uses common herbs for aiding sleep!”

“If the boss says so, then I guess there’s really nothing else added?”

“...Please don’t jump to conclusions. Look up the price of inhaled anesthetics first, then compare that with the price the generous boss charges for these dolls, okay?”

“Spreading rumors is costless, but refuting them is exhausting!”

Voices in the queue began to agree, while the fashionable girls’ faces turned redder. The tallest girl, now flustered, retorted, “Even if these dolls are fine, just a few herbal seeds inside — do you really believe they work as well as advertised? It’s all exaggeration! False advertising! You’ve all been duped!”

But the crowd wasn’t so easily swayed. Chu Mingming’s roommate laughed mockingly, “Come on, a sleep aid doll is only thirty-nine yuan—hardly more expensive than your daily coffee. Why not give it a try?”

“And the stall owner is a student from Tongcheng University, too. Even if he was cheating us, he couldn’t get away with it.”

“Exactly! Boss, I’ll take two! Forget about what they say!”

“Those ahead, pay up quickly. I’ve been waiting so long, I’ve memorized thirty sets of CET-4 vocabulary!”

“Wait, didn’t you forget this was originally a fortune-telling stall? Maybe the boss cast some anti-insomnia spell on the dolls…”

“An anti-insomnia spell? That’s hardcore mysticism, haha.”

The fashionable girls were soon ignored by the crowd.

They stomped their feet in frustration and turned away angrily.

Chu Ning sat at the stall, collecting payments while keeping an eye on them. He soon noticed the girls reentered the Tarot House.

About ten minutes later, they emerged again, now looking satisfied and their moods visibly lighter. Each carried a fragrant bag as they passed the stall, leaving behind a cloying scent.

…

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All day long, the flow of people at the stall remained high. The wool felt dolls sold out completely before sunset. Chu Ning planned to prepare a new batch while, surprisingly, some customers came to him for fortune-telling and palm reading.

The two customers were young women dressed in professional attire. Passing through the creative market after work, they stopped at Chu Ning’s stall.

They lingered briefly, playfully nudging each other before sitting down on the bench in front of the fortune-telling stall. Without hesitation, they asked Chu Ning to read their palms and inquire about love.

“Hey handsome, when am I going to find a boyfriend?” The woman with big wavy hair flipped her hair teasingly, her tone flirtatious and ambiguous. “Help me see if there’s a chance tonight?”

Chu Ning remained unfazed. “...Please extend your right hand first.”

She winked at him and obediently held out her hand.

Chu Ning studied it quietly for a moment, then said calmly, “Your marriage line is thin, short, and irregular. You have had relatively rich romantic experiences and a rather loose view on chastity, indulging more in pleasure than spiritual commitment. Your marriage path is mostly rough. As for a boyfriend... you broke up just last night, didn’t you?”

The woman’s expression darkened as she listened, eventually frowning at her companion. “You told someone about me breaking up with my supervisor? Didn’t I tell you to keep that secret? What are you doing?”

Her companion panicked. “No, I didn’t tell anyone! Believe me…”

“If you didn’t, how did he find out?” The woman’s voice suddenly rose as she slapped her companion’s face.

Her companion screamed, “I really didn’t tell him! Are you crazy?!”

The woman sneered, “If it wasn’t you, was it really him who divined it?”

The companion covered her face, biting her lip. “Then test him again. I never said a word!”

The woman looked suspiciously at her, then turned her chin up to Chu Ning, asking, “Did you really find this out by reading my palm?”

Faced with their fake friendship, Chu Ning shook his head and slid the payment QR code toward them. “Three hundred yuan, please pay first.”

The big-waved hair woman stared at him for a moment, then scanned the code with a sigh and crossed her arms. “Okay, handsome, tell us everything you see, and be quick about it.”

“You’re pregnant with your ex-boyfriend’s child,” Chu Ning said slowly, ignoring her shocked face. “This is your fourth pregnancy. You can’t abort anymore or it will be life-threatening. Also…”

“You need to get rid of the little ghost you’re raising at home as soon as possible.”

The woman’s eyes widened, staring hard at Chu Ning. “You really divined that…”

Chu Ning, always doing a good deed, advised, “The little ghost is jealous. Once you have a child, it won’t tolerate you anymore.”

The woman was unwilling. “But it helps me so much!”

Money, power, status, men… ever since raising the little ghost, she always got what she wanted.

She absolutely refused to get rid of it. Not a chance.

Her expression turned grim and fierce. Her companion, seeing this, stepped back in fright, pale-faced.

“You’re not only pregnant…”

“But also raising a little ghost?!”

“You’re crazy! Seriously crazy!!!”

The companion’s accusations made the woman’s face darken.

Her deepest secret was mercilessly exposed by Chu Ning; she immediately felt guilty and hurriedly left, clicking away in her high heels.

The companion, both scared and worried, touched the bruised cheek, stomped her foot, and quickly followed.

Chu Ning watched their departing figures from afar, a faint frown between his brows. He sighed and shook his head.

Sigh, why are there so many people who have peaceful lives yet insist on flirting with disaster every day?

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It’s clear: excessive greed leads to ruin.

…

“Jiang Weizhen!!!!!!”

“What kind of hideous thing did you buy me?!” Jiang Yuhan was furiously shaking a doll that looked neither like a dog nor anything else, in the large classroom, completely oblivious to Jiang Weizhen’s increasingly dejected expression.

“It’s my birthday, and you give me this!” Jiang Yuhan was utterly exasperated, convinced that the scientific and engineering type’s aesthetic sense was truly heartbreaking.

Jiang Weizhen pushed up his glasses, trying to save face, “But lots of people were scrambling for this doll. I even picked the best-looking one inside.”

Though in truth, he had only chosen the least ugly from a pile of ugly things.

Jiang Yuhan wasn’t convinced and pinched the doll from various angles. “Who lines up to fight over such an ugly doll? Jiang Weizhen, you’re just teasing me.”

Jiang Weizhen: “They really are.”

Though he didn’t understand why anyone would want that ugly thing.

Jiang Yuhan pouted but, thinking it was Jiang Weizhen’s first gift to her, gracefully forgave him. “Alright, since it’s your sincere gift, I’ll keep the doll.”

After saying this, she caught the faint herbal scent from the doll and felt her mood lift. Happily, she hung it on her phone case and showed her boyfriend with a smile, “Looking at it like this, it’s not so ugly after all!”

A small smile appeared on Jiang Weizhen’s face as he ruffled her hair. “When I get my scholarship, I’ll buy you a bigger one.”

Jiang Yuhan blushed, turned away, and whispered, “No, I want this one.”

She wanted to cherish this first gift.

Nearby, Jiang Weizhen’s wealthy classmate overheard them, trying to hold back laughter but failing. He clutched his stomach, laughing loudly and mocking, “Jiang Yuhan, you’ve done such a good job with poverty relief! Holding onto something this ugly and disgusting as a treasure, haha, impressive!”

His laughter was loud, and classmates around exchanged glances.

Jiang Weizhen frowned and clenched his fists.

Jiang Yuhan, furious, shot back loudly, “Who are you calling disgusting?”

The rich kid couldn’t say Jiang Weizhen was poor and ugly directly, so he said, “The doll’s ugly and gross.”

Jiang Yuhan was boiling with anger, about to retort, when a loud exclamation came from the classroom.

A male classmate, always browsing forums and gossip, rubbed his eyes hard, stood up, and came over to Jiang Yuhan. He studied the doll carefully and kept exclaiming.

The rich kid was annoyed, grabbing him and asking if he was crazy. Did he really think the ugly doll was some rare treasure?

The male classmate looked at him with an expression that said, “How do you know?” Then he glanced enviously at Jiang Yuhan and excitedly said, “It’s not a rare treasure, but just now someone posted on the forum offering five thousand yuan to buy this doll!”

Five thousand yuan!!!

That’s no small amount!!

The male classmate showed the post to those nearby. Everyone was shocked by the price at first, but after reading the discussions about the doll’s original price, the whole class fell silent for a moment, then looked at Jiang Weizhen with admiration.

Damn!

Truly worthy of being a top student in the finance department! Whatever he touches turns into a hundredfold investment. Impressive!