A simple character reading had resulted in both financial ruin and a mortal threat. Many crew members, who had originally just wanted to crowd around for the fun of it, now wore dazed expressions of "Who am I? Where am I? What just happened?"
Yang Jiantao opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but Du Anrao interrupted him first.
"The way a character is written might just be a personal habit, but character reading interprets the state of mind of that exact fleeting moment and the future. Just like when I asked Brother Yang to write a character just now, the one that popped into your head first means your future is connected to it."
Yang Jiantao was struck dumb. Just as some people always say on their lips what they would do if they could start over, can things in this world really be redone just by saying so?
By the same token, he now desperately wanted to go back to a moment ago and replace the character he had written with a different one.
Could he really do that? Could a future that can be altered still be called destiny?
Without bluntly forcing Yang Jiantao to believe her, Du Anrao effortlessly dragged him into a logical trap, making him fall into self-doubt.
Watching his old friend, who was clearly being sweet-talked into a daze, Du Hexuan twitched the corner of his mouth, gaining a deeper understanding of his younger sister's ability to talk nonsense with her eyes wide open.
"It sounds pretty serious; you really have to take it seriously. It's just that what you said, An'an, is a bit too broad. Even if Brother Yang wants to take preventive measures, there's no way. Can you be a bit more specific?"
Du Anrao immediately put on an unfathomable and troubled expression: "Then I'm afraid we'll have to ask Brother Yang to write another character, because that's all I could make out from the previous one."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's gazes once again converged on Yang Jiantao in unison.
With ten reasons to refuse and a heart full of reluctance, Yang Jiantao was terrified that any character he casually wrote would turn into yet another time bomb ready to explode at any moment.
Helplessly, the crew members on the sidelines who loved watching the excitement and wouldn't mind making things bigger refused to let him off so easily, laughing and booing: "Brother Yang, just write another character. The little girl is just playing around, as adults we shouldn't be party poopers."
"That's right, that's right, just write another character and let's see what else she can tell us."
Caught between a rock and a hard place, Yang Jiantao picked up the pen. Thinking of Du Anrao's words from moments ago, as if guided by some mysterious force, he dropped a character onto the notebook.
Out of the corner of her eye, Du Anrao caught a glimpse and almost couldn't help shouting out loud on the spot: *Oh, wow!*
The second character Yang Jiantao wrote was *di*—the *di* from his wife's name!
*[Could it be that some mysterious providence is at work, and even the heavens can't bear to see an honest man being tormented by two villains? With a woman and a younger brother, aren't these laid out completely bare and clear for you? The people trying to harm you are your wife and your brother-in-law! Well, a brother-in-law is still a brother, only they never treated you like a brother.]*
To those in the know, this character was as plain as day, but explaining it gave Du Anrao a headache.
*[If I just tell him straight out, 'Your wife and your brother-in-law are preparing to clean out all your money and saddle you with a sky-high loan shark debt,' how is that any different from a reckless fool running up to someone and smashing them right in the face?]*
In short, saying it too bluntly lacked style, and trying to fool—*cough*, guide—someone that way would yield half the results with twice the effort; it wasn't mysterious enough.
*[At a time like this, we need to apply a little linguistic art. Watch how I trick... ahem, remind him next.]*
Du Hexuan, whose filter of his sister being an expert had completely shattered, and Xi Jingyue—who had just gone out to curse his own cousin and returned just in time to hear Du Anrao preparing to con someone—both fell silent: ......
Du Anrao first ran through a draft in her mind, then drew out her tone and leisurely began: "As for this character..."
Yang Jiantao's heart suddenly leaped into his throat: "What about this character?"
"First of all, looking at the structure: the female radical on the left and the younger brother character on the right. The person represented by this female radical on the left corresponds to the person at the bottom left of the *jian* character from earlier. If the blade on the right side of that *jian* character pointed to a person on the right who represents Brother Yang, then the person represented by this female radical on the left must be someone else who had a verbal dispute with Brother Yang. From this, it can be seen that this should be..."
"A woman?" Many people widened their eyes in shock.
With Du Anrao having just rattled off a bunch of stuff about financial disputes and edged weapons, almost everyone had subconsciously assumed that whoever could get physical with Yang Jiantao and injure him was most likely a man. Now she was saying it was a woman!
Looking again at Yang Jiantao's drained, ashen face, could it be... she got it right again?!
"The overall definition of the character *di* tends to lean toward sisters-in-law, younger brothers' wives, and even co-wives among concubines. In other words, judging by the definition of the character, this person has a close relationship with Brother Yang—you could say they are relatives, yet there is no blood tie between you."
With so many preconditions set up like that, guessing who this person was became child's play.
Stopping before going too far, Du Anrao shifted the topic to the other person: "Now let's look at the right half of the *di* character, which is 'younger brother' (*di*). This younger brother corresponds to the blade on the right. From the perspective of cause and effect in the past, the one on the right is the cause, and whatever happens afterward in relation to the one on the left will be the effect."
Having already had his suspicions earlier, Yang Jiantao was prompted by Du Anrao's pointed remarks to make the connection himself, and his complexion turned even uglier.
Realizing the strangeness of the atmosphere, the crowd that had been egging him on didn't dare to make a sound anymore, and for a moment the scene became somewhat deadlocked.
"Why are you all gathered here? Do you have nothing to do?"
The slightly stern reprimand startled everyone, and they only now noticed that the director was standing behind them at some point, his sharp gaze fixed on the people in the circle.
Several crew members who were quite close to the director were shrewd enough to shift the blame onto Yang Jiantao and the other two with cheeky grins.
"It's just that Brother Yang found a little girl to help him read characters, so we were watching the fun for a bit. We were just watching for a moment."
It would have been better if they hadn't spoken, but that remark made the director laugh out of anger: "Watching the fun, huh? Don't think I don't know the little tricks you old foxes play. Watching the fun is fake, slacking off is real! Get back to work right now; if today's shooting is delayed, pay will be docked for everyone."
As soon as the ultimate weapon of salary deduction was deployed, the crowd instantly scattered like birds and beasts.
The director let out a cold snort and glanced at the three people involved. Knowing he couldn't afford to offend the major Buddha present, he decisively aimed his artillery fire at Yang Jiantao.
"Fortune-telling isn't done by finding those blind-glass-wearing old codgers under the overpass, you go and find a little girl like this. It's one thing if she gets it wrong, but if she gets it right, were you planning to swallow the divination fee and not pay her? Old Yang, it's not like me to nag, but how old are you? Have some shame!"
Yang Jiantao at this moment felt a bit like a survivor of a catastrophe. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and smiled ingratiatingly: "Yes, yes, yes, my fault, my fault."
The other party's good attitude in admitting fault actually made the director feel a twinge of guilt. After thinking about it, he decided to strike both sides equally.
"Little Du, your uncle knows you're young and like to play with novel things, but the crew is a serious place. We'll let it slide this time, but let this be the last time!"
That remark was practically shouting at Du Anrao to stop pulling that feudal superstition nonsense on their set.
Du Anrao: "......" *Oh great, now I'm really being treated as a con artist!*