Kuang Ming came mainly to discuss work with Xu Gui.
Of course, the so-called work was actually quite simple; it was just a matter of Xu Gui forwarding the message after *Fashion* magazine released it. His manager, or Xu Gui's assistant, Yuan Lu, could have done it.
However, Kuang Ming thought about it and still made the trip, specifically to remind Xu Gui to forward it. The reason was simple: to make Xu Gui more aware of her status as a "celebrity" and to give her a stronger sense of belonging to that identity.
After all, Xu Gui now mostly refers to herself as a fortune teller; she rarely mentions being a celebrity.
Kuang Ming: Having such a powerful artist can put pressure on a manager.
...
After discussing work, Xu Gui hastily ate the remaining two dumplings in her bowl and prepared to leave the hotel to go out for filming.
Kuang Ming left first. He needed to arrange for He Yuan to join the film crew. Compared to Xu Gui, who was now very famous, He Yuan was less well-known, so she needed Kuang Ming, her manager, to support her.
Besides, as Xu Gui and He Yuan's fame grew, Kuang Ming, as their manager, received many offers from potential collaborators. His job was to choose the most reliable and beneficial offer from these offers.
In short, Kuang Ming was very busy.
Kuang Ming came and went quickly. By the time Xu Gui finished getting ready and came downstairs, he had already been gone for a while. When Xu Gui came downstairs and saw Fu Xia, she saw Xu Gui standing next to their van, her expression somewhat subtle and blank, as if she was lost in thought.
"What's wrong?" Xu Gui asked casually.
Fu Xia snapped out of her reverie, her silent gaze falling on Xu Gui, and then she uttered a somewhat inexplicable question: "Is your manager out of her mind?"
Xu Gui: ?
Fu Xia said, "When he passed by me just now, he not only rolled his eyes at me, but also snorted at me... Did I offend him somehow?"
Xu Gui: "...Probably not, right?"
Fu Xia said, "Right? Although I've met him a few times before, we've never even spoken a word!" So why is this guy giving me such a sour look whenever he sees me?
Yuan Lu, standing to the side, listened to Fu Xia's words, her expression somewhat subtle: Perhaps, it seems, maybe she knows why Brother Kuang treats Miss Fu like this?
When she called Brother Kuang before to report on Teacher Xu's daily schedule, Brother Kuang inquired about Miss Fu's situation several times, and from what he said...
"Brother Kuang, are you worried that Miss Fu is trying to steal him away?" Yuan Lu whispered.
Fu Xia turned her head, looking completely bewildered: "Stealing his talent? What do you mean?"
Yuan Lu whispered, pointing out, "Miss Fu, haven't you noticed? Many of the things you're doing for Teacher Xu are
actually things that Teacher Xu's agent should be doing..." In other words, you're doing the work that Kuang Ming should be doing.
Fu Xia: "..."
Her expression froze, and after several seconds she finally uttered, "Huh?"
So, that Mr. Kuang is afraid that I'll steal his job? This person clearly exudes an elite aura, appearing upright and reliable, how come his actual personality is so, so... childish?
Fu Xia didn't know whether to be angry or amused.
However...
"So, does this mean I have a real talent for being an agent?" She looked at Xu Gui and the other two with bright eyes, her gaze questioning, "Or, should I try being an agent?"
Xu Gui thought for a moment: "That seems like a good idea."
Fu Xia's eyes lit up again: "You think so too?"
Hearing the two of them already discussing how Fu Xia should be an agent: ...Brother Kuang, it seems he's really in danger?
*
Xu Gui and her team were heading to another city today, a journey that would take over two hours. Because of this, Xu Gui specifically went live to inform everyone of the trip. After announcing this, she prepared to end the broadcast, planning to resume it once they reached their destination.
However, her viewers objected, saying:
[Time is money! These are precious two hours! Are you really just going to waste them like this?]
[Exactly! As a qualified fortune teller, shouldn't you use these precious two hours for something? For example, you could randomly select viewers to have their fortunes told! If I were chosen, that would be even better!]
[You guys are really good at this! But you're doing a brilliant job!]
[Yeah!! Little Turtle can randomly select people to have their fortunes told! Your new brains are so clever; why didn't I think of that?]
[Wait a minute, I'll immediately forward this message to the family group and call all my relatives and friends to be on the waiting list!]
[Pick me! Pick me! ] Seeing the enthusiastic suggestions from the fans in the live stream, Xu Gui thought for
a
moment but decided not to turn off the live stream. "
Is it okay?" Fu Xia asked her silently from the side.
Xu Gui said, "It's okay, I have nothing to do on the way anyway, so I might as well chat with everyone..." The journey was already boring, and maybe telling fortunes for everyone could help pass the time.
Xu Gui asked Yang Haolin to start a lottery, which lasted for five minutes. Anyone who wanted to have their fortune told by Xu Gui could participate.
As for the money for the fortune telling... Xu Gui didn't plan to charge for it; consider it a benefit for everyone. Hearing Xu Gui say this, the netizens in the live stream were overjoyed, almost jumping for joy.
And amidst this joy, five minutes quickly passed, and the first lucky winner of the morning was drawn.
[Little Jasmine]... This was the netizen's ID. Judging from the voice, it was a very young girl with a soft and bright voice, tinged with a bit of shyness.
"Hello, Teacher Xu!" The other person greeted Xu Gui immediately, their voice tinged with nervousness and respect. "I'm [Little Jasmine]."
Xu Gui: "Hello."
That was their introduction. After a few brief exchanges, sensing the other person had relaxed a bit, Xu Gui got straight to the point, asking what they wanted a divination for.
[They probably want a divination about love! Little Jasmine sounds very young; young girls are always full of fantasies about love, so they definitely want a divination about love!]
[Hehe, it seems the uncles and aunties don't quite understand young people these days. We young people don't fantasize about love anymore; we're all thinking about making money. So, Little Jasmine definitely wants a divination about her career! When will she become rich?]
[Maybe she wants a divination about her and her family's health? After all, love is good, and money is wonderful, but nothing is more important than health. Without health, even with a lot of money and love, it's all sadness. So, it really is a divination about health!]
[You're all wrong. What Little Jasmine wants to know is definitely the mystery of her own origins—an orphan without parents, all alone in a foreign land! Ah! How tragic!]
[…You guys are really something else, is this a novel?]
…
It's clear that netizens are genuinely bored, all starting to guess what Little Jasmine wants to know. It's also clear that everyone is talented, with incredibly imaginative minds.
However, surprisingly, what Little Jasmine said wasn't about career or love…
"…I…I haven't been feeling well lately," Little Jasmine said softly. Her voice was tense, making one involuntarily picture a tense figure in their mind.
[She's definitely asking about her health!] —Those who guessed Little Jasmine wanted to know about her health posted cheerful comments. Mental health issues, how can that not be health issues?
But soon, Xiao Moli continued, "I always feel like there's someone else in my room, not just me! Every day after I fall asleep, he stands by my bed and stares at me..."
"He also likes to walk around my room after I'm asleep; I always hear his footsteps in my dreams."
"I sometimes find the food in my fridge decreasing; a week's worth of food often runs out in two days... My clothes in the closet sometimes disappear, including my underwear."
Xiao Moli seems to be quite introverted and shy; her tone was tinged with shame when she talked about her underwear, but she still managed to finish her story.
Clearly, the problem she was facing was more troubling than the shame in her heart.
Xiao Moli said wearily, "Because of this, I can't sleep or eat well every day... I've told others, but they all say I'm overthinking it, that I'm paranoid."
Her friends said, "How can there be a second person in your room?" " If there really is such a person, how come you've never bumped into him?
" "I've never actually seen him, but," Xiao Moli's voice was agitated, "I really felt it, there really is a second person in my room! He's been staring at me in the room..."
Xiao Moli cried, "I really think I'm going crazy!" Her tone was on the verge of collapse.
After hearing Xiao Moli's words, everyone had different guesses:
[Is Xiao Moli mentally unstable? People with neurasthenia don't sleep well, always feeling like someone's around, paranoid, basically their whole mind is tense.]
[I also feel like she has mental problems; her emotions are a bit off.]
[Mental problems wouldn't cause her to feel like the food in her room is disappearing or her clothes are missing, right? I'm more inclined to think someone has a key to her room and sneaks in to steal from her while she's asleep. This has happened before!] [
I've actually had a similar experience to Xiao Moli. I was renting a place at the time, and I always felt like someone was standing next to my bed when I slept. So I installed a security camera in my bedroom, and I saw that every night after I fell asleep, when I relaxed, he would secretly open my door with his key.]
[!! Are you okay, sister?]
[I'm fine, but one night when I relaxed, I just stabbed him a few times with a knife... Oh, I forgot, I really have mental problems, so even if I stabbed someone, it didn't matter. Don't follow my example.
] [...Warrior!]
...
Amidst a barrage of "Warrior!" comments, Xiao Moli finally told Xu Gui what she wanted to calculate.
"Master Xu, I want to have this calculated. Is it that I have a mental problem, or is there really someone in my room…" Xiao Moli's voice was pained. "When I told everyone, they all looked at me like I was mentally ill."
She sniffed and whispered, "I know, they all say behind my back that I have a mental problem, that I'm crazy, that I'm not thinking straight, that's why I keep saying there's someone in the house. Because of this, my factory fired me, saying they don't dare hire me again."
It's no wonder Xiao Moli sounded so tired and broken. Because of this, everyone around her thought she was mentally ill, her friends distanced themselves from her, and even the factory where she worked fired her.
Now, she just wanted an answer.
Xu Gui asked her softly, "Did you call the police?"
Xiao Moli said, "Yes, the police came, but they couldn't figure it out. People in my factory even told the police that I have a mental problem, so I didn't want to bother the police anymore."
She was afraid that even the police would look at her strangely.
"What about the surveillance cameras?"
"We installed them, but they keep stopping working and haven't captured anything..."
Xu Gui nodded slightly, indicating she understood. She said, "What you want to know, I can tell you directly: there is indeed a second person in your room, and he lives in your room..."
After saying that, Xu Gui fell silent, and Xiao Moli on the other end also remained silent. Xu Gui's live stream suddenly went quiet.
After a long while, soft sobbing sounds came from the other end, starting with occasional sobs and gradually escalating into loud wailing.
"I told you, I didn't lie, everything I said is true," Xiao Moli said between sobs. "I'm not crazy, and I'm not mentally unstable. I really didn't misjudge; there is a second person living in my room!"
It was clearly a chilling thing, but when she heard this news, her first reaction wasn't fear, but rather a feeling of grievance and joy.
Hearing her cries, everyone felt a pang of sadness. The live stream fell silent, unlike the usual dense chat, as if everyone was silently comforting Xiao Moli.
Xu Gui didn't speak either; she simply waited quietly for Xiao Moli to cry until she had calmed down. Then she said, "Your first choice now is to call the police!"
"The second person in your room lives in the ventilation duct above your bedroom. He's very small, so no one can find him hiding there."
"He only comes out when you leave for work or when you're asleep... The ventilation duct is a blind spot for surveillance cameras, and because he lives there, he saw your installation of a security camera. Naturally, he wouldn't let the camera capture him."
Xu Gui spoke calmly, uttering words that sent chills down everyone's spines.
The viewers in the live stream trembled.
Xiao Moli, on the other hand, perhaps already certain that there was a second person in her house, remained remarkably calm upon hearing Xu Gui's words.
She told Xu Gui that after hearing so many people say she was crazy or mentally ill, she sometimes couldn't help but start to doubt herself.
Could it be that she was really mistaken, that she was just being paranoid and had a mental problem? Especially after she went to the hospital for a checkup and learned that she had neurasthenia and even mild depression, her self-doubt deepened.
"Thank you, Master Xu, for giving me a different answer..." Xiao Moli said, "It lets me know that I don't have a mental problem!"
Xu Gui said in a relaxed tone, "Of course there's nothing wrong with your mental state. But after this is resolved, if you have time, you can go to the hospital and have the doctor prescribe some calming medication so you can get a good night's sleep for a few days... I guess you haven't had a proper night's sleep in the past six months, have you?"
She said softly, "So, you always feel very tired, right?"
Xiao Moli said shyly, "...I always feel like someone is in the room, so I can't sleep soundly."
Even though she slept for a night, she often felt more tired than after a day's work. After six months of this situation, she did feel mentally exhausted, and her body felt uncomfortable as a result.
Xu Gui said, "From now on, you'll be able to get a good night's sleep."
She wouldn't be suspicious anymore, and she wouldn't doubt whether she really had a mental problem, which could eventually lead to a mental breakdown... Xu Gui didn't say these things; she just chatted with Xiao Moli in a relaxed tone.
She told Xiao Moli that after this matter was resolved, Xiao Moli could check out of the room and go to Y Province for a trip.
"I heard it's spring-like there all year round, with flowers blooming year-round. There are also many guesthouses and inns, and lots of job opportunities. You should be able to find a suitable job there," Xu Gui said with a smile. "I think you'll definitely like it there."
Xiao Moli: "...Me, can I? But, but I don't have much money."
Xu Gui said: "Your current savings are enough for you to go to Y Province. Once you get there, you can find a new job to support yourself, and the salary might even be higher than now."
Xiao Moli was still not very confident: "I can't do anything, and I'm gloomy. If I go to work, will people want me?"
"Yes..." Xu Gui's tone was certain, "They'll really like you."
Xu Gui was too amazing. In Xiao Moli's mind, what Xu Gui said must be true, so when she said that she could find a suitable job in Y Province and that many people would like her... Xiao Moli immediately believed it.
Xiao Moli suddenly felt courageous.
"Then, then I'll call the police, resolve things here, and then I'll go to Y Province!" she said happily.
Xu Gui: "Okay."
...
Xiao Moli's call ended.
Xu Gui saw some comments on the live stream asking why Xiao Moli didn't immediately cancel her lease when she sensed something was wrong. But not everyone has a way out.
No one knew that Xiao Moli had run away from home with only 500 yuan in her pocket. After going to work in a factory with some fellow villagers, she found a single room for 150 yuan a month, leaving her with only 350 yuan.
This 350 yuan would last her two months because the factory held back a month's wages; she wouldn't receive her pay for two months.
Thinking this, Xu Gui calmly lowered her head and took a sip of water.
*
Xiao Moli's situation made the atmosphere in Xu Gui's live stream somewhat silent. Fortunately, this silence didn't last long, because the second lucky winner had already been drawn.
Perhaps because Xiao Moli's situation was too heavy, the second lucky winner's divination was very simple; it concerned their own cat.
"My cat purrs like a machine whenever I pet it. Is it sick?" As a single woman, this netizen cared deeply for her cat, who had always been by her side, hence her worried tone—she wouldn't have used such a precious naming slot on her cat if she didn't care.
However, she didn't expect that her question would immediately fill the live stream chat with a cheerful atmosphere, sweeping away the terrifying silence that Xiao Moli had brought earlier.
The netizen was like: ? What happened? Was there something wrong with her question?
Xu Gui was also somewhat helpless. As an aquatic creature, although she didn't know much about cats, after her brief interactions with them, she knew that a cat's purring meant it was comfortable. So, this netizen's question...
"Have you ever thought that your cat just likes you too much?" she said. "Because it likes you so much, it gets happy when you pet it and makes that comfortable purring sound."
The netizen's voice stammered, "So, my cat isn't sick, but just likes me too much?"
Xu Gui nodded firmly, "That's right!"
"...Is that so?" The netizen was immediately flattered, then said happily, "Waaah, I knew my Tangyuan liked me the most! It's a two-way street!"
Hearing this, the other netizens thought: We're not jealous at all!
It's just that your cat likes you! Our cats like us too! We're not envious or jealous at all!
Despite the envy and jealousy, everyone was still happy for the mutual devotion between the person and their pet. It was a warm feeling, making them feel that the world was truly wonderful.
This incident swept away the gloom that had hung over the live stream regarding Xiao Moli's situation.
Everyone thought: Yes, although there are many sordid and shameful things in this world, there are also things that make us feel good. Things in this world are not simply black and white.
*
Next, Xu Gui asked a few more netizens to have their fortunes told, which caused time to fly by. When they arrived at their destination, everyone was still somewhat reluctant to leave.
"We're here already? Wasn't it supposed to take two hours?" the netizens said, then checked the time and realized it was already 9:30.
Netizens: Wow, more than two hours have really passed!
Xu Gui, who had been talking the whole way, was also a little thirsty. He gulped down several mouthfuls of water before getting off the bus.
Today they were going to the house of Fu Xia's father's friend, surnamed Wei. It was said that Wei had previously collaborated with the Fu family's company, which was how he knew Fu Xia's father.
Because Fu Xia had been grumbling about Xu Gui's fortune-telling at home, Fu's father, remembering his friend, introduced Xu Gui to him.
"The Wei family has recently encountered some problems and probably needs Master Xu's help..."