Killing is a craft.

Fortune telling is also a craft.

It's all craftsmanship.

It's all about the craft of dealing with 'life'.

Someone once said that the business of "life" to eat must be repaid sooner or later.

Therefore, whether it is a killer or a fortune teller, they are often not allowed to live long and die well.

In the depths of Yangliu Hutong, Bailing Street, Changzhifang, there is a fortune teller, because of the calculation, so although the place where he lives is remote, the guests who come and go for divination are really not few.

The fortune teller is average-looking, the kind that you can't find immediately when you throw it in the crowd. His face made others look at it, and it seemed that there was nothing wrong with saying that he was twenty years old, thirty years old, or even forty years old. It seems that no matter how old he is, there is not a trace of change in this ordinary face.

In fact, there are many such people in the world, who look very old when they are old, like a thirty-year-old person, and look very young when they are forty years old, and they look like a thirty-year-old person.

Some guests who came to divination once asked curiously how old the half-immortal was, but they did not get a conclusive answer.

The fortune teller just smiled and replied, "It's not time to pay it back yet." ”

Different from the fortune teller who is accustomed to the lottery holder, the plum blossom is used, and this person uses a new 'pinch of gold' method that has appeared in the past ten years.

Fortune tellers only need to give two words as internal and external trigrams, and the fortune teller can read your recent fortune with a twist of his fingers.

The guests who have come to count are very accurate, so although this gentleman is not nine, the fame has been hit early, and there are more and more visitors during this time, so that the gentleman has to stipulate that he will not pick up guests between Shenshi and noon on the second day every night, and he will go out on the first and fifteenth day of each month.

At this time, a pretty young woman wrote two words nervously, and handed them into the hands of the gentleman, who did not dare to come out, but a pair of translucent eyes were full of different hopes.

Not to mention a fortune teller who can observe words and feelings, even ordinary people can see that this girl is asking for a marriage sign.

The gentleman pinched his fingers and said with a smile: "Di Zelin, 922 Yao, this is signed! Congratulations girl, you will be able to make your wish come true in a few days." ”

The fortune teller dipped the pen in ink and left a few words of iron drawing silver hook on a small piece of paper, which was naturally the word of unsigning.

Seeing the curiosity on the pretty girl's face, the man smiled slightly and said, "Although there is no signature, you should always give the girl an explanation, right?"

The pretty girl took the note, and wrote two rows of dangerous and straightforward, smooth handwriting with the shape and arrangement.

The first row reads, 'Harmony, laughter.' ’

The pretty girl was overjoyed.

In the second row, it reads, 'The sound of joy is halfway through, and you can walk up to the clouds.' ’

The joy on the girl's face was even worse, and she hurriedly took out a copper coin with a little fragrance of her daughter's family from her bosom and handed it to the fortune teller, who had already given it early in the morning, and this was naturally an additional reward.

The gentleman calmly accepted the girl's bounty, and did not mean to thank the other party for his generous reward, but immediately issued an eviction order, and called the next person waiting outside the door to come in.

A man with a knife and wearing a poor uniform walked in, it was Han He, who had just returned from Hotaru City.

The fortune teller saw the menacing Han He, but he was still unmoved, his eyes looked at his nose, his nose looked at his heart, and he said calmly: "May I ask Your Excellency what is it to be here?"

Han Hao sneered: "Everyone else came to you to tell your fortune, but I want to calculate it for you today!"

"Oh?" said the fortune teller with a nonchalant smile.

Han Yi said: "You like to use a pinch of gold, then let's use a pinch of gold, since it is a fortune teller for fortune telling, naturally use the word fortune telling,"

The fortune teller was noncommittal, and waited for the rest without saying a word.

Pinching his fingers and laughing, Han Yi continued: "Hmph, life is outside, counted as inside, this is the Earth Water Master, six... Fourth, the four Yao won the lot, and the criticism was 'The green mountains will eventually return to the old, and the fruits on the branches will grow wind, which is not a moment of joy, and I suspect that this is like a murderer!'"

Han Yi said: "I don't know if this gentleman has calculated that he will have a catastrophe today?"

The fortune teller smiled: "Doctors can't heal themselves, and we fortune tellers naturally can't calculate our own lives. ”

The man stood still and walked back and forth in the room with his belief, and the guests who came to tell fortunes outside had been driven away by the servants in the yamen of Long'an County in such a short time that Han He came in. The whole room, the whole courtyard was surrounded by water.

Han Hao knocked on the wall, but failed to find any mechanism and secret door, and returned to the fortune teller's table, removed the pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, and then knocked and fumbled again, but still found nothing.

"Guest, what are you looking for?" the fortune teller smiled, but there was a hint of provocation or sneer in his unwavering eyes.

Han Yi naturally wouldn't be disturbed by these clumsy little tricks that he had already played, but became more and more calm.

Suddenly, he remembered the prayer tree in the courtyard that was tied with various ribbons, and a smile began to flood his face!

"Xu Yan" Han Yan's voice came from the room.

Xu Yan heard the boss calling his name and immediately walked in.

"The tree in the yard, the ribbons on the tree, look for me one by one!" Han Hao sneered.

The fortune teller still sat behind the desk lightly, not in the slightest hurry.

For a whole hour, the two sat opposite each other across a table, until the sun went down and a waning moon rose from the sky, Xu Yan walked in from outside the door and shook his head at Han Yan who was sitting at the table.

The fortune teller stood up with a smile, touched his slightly shriveled abdomen with his left hand, and said: "From breakfast to now, so far there is no water, this son is really a little hungry, this poor master, I have seen everything that should be seen up and down here, if you are not a fortune story, can you make it convenient, let me go out for a meal first, and then it will be late, and it will be quiet outside!"

Han Yan still didn't have the slightest intention of leaving, so he turned his head and said, "Xu Yan, go, find someone to go outside and get him something to eat!"

The fortune teller Han Hao sent a bunch of people to watch, while he himself walked into the courtyard, came to stand under the tree, looked up at the prayer ribbons that looked a little dark in color under the dim moonlight, and muttered to himself: "If it wasn't here, where else could it be?"

"Madame!"

"Madame!"

The officers outside the courtyard spoke in unison.

As soon as Han Yi turned his head, he saw his own county magistrate, Jiang Ning, holding his wife Su Que, and walking in from outside the gate.

Without waiting for Han Yi to say hello, Jiang Ning said, "How is it, have you found anything?"

Han Yi shook his head a little embarrassed.

The existence of Hotaru City was a gray area for the government, and Han He didn't dare to let Jiang Ning know about it at all.

Over the years, the reason why he has been able to solve so many cases is mostly with the help of the power of those friends in Hotaru City, but it is not easy for him to succeed on his own.

In the past, every once in a while, he would disappear inexplicably, and once it was about a morning or an afternoon, he never said what he was doing when he left, and Jiang Ning never asked. There seems to be a tacit understanding between the two, and neither will cross the line to ask each other about their secret things.

Han Yi knew that Jiang Ning was just turning a blind eye, this kind of thing, before it was completely clear, everyone pretended not to know and it was over, but if he found the right place, even if Jiang Ning could tolerate him, Han Yi himself didn't know.

"What about people?" said Su Que abruptly.

"Inside, Xu Yan and they are guarding. Han Yi said.

Jiang Ning ignored the conversation between the two, but walked to Han Hao's side, looking up at the canopy of the big tree tied with prayer ribbons.

It was getting late, the cold wind was blowing, and the ribbons were raised, Jiang Ning raised his eyebrows, and he couldn't find the names of the people he wanted to see, but he saw a name that he had often heard in recent days on one of the ribbons fluttering.

Li Ningzhu!

Jiang Ning's heart jumped, and he said, "What about that person, take him out quickly!"

Han Yan said: "Xu Yan, bring people out!"

There was no answer in the room.

Han Yan said again: "Xu Yan, what are you kid doing? Hurry up, bring people out!"

There was still no answer in the room.

By the time Jiang Ning and the others entered, Xu Yan and a cadre of officials in the house had already fallen asleep. The food on the table was not touched.

The fortune teller from before was no longer in the house.

"Quick! Quickly take someone to Li's house! Find Li Ningzhu! Don't wait for me!" Jiang Ning urged loudly.

Different from Jiang Ning, a scholar who has no power to tie the chicken, those who catch heads and catch fast in Long'an County will more or less work hard, this heavy snow has just passed, and the road is slippery and not suitable for horseback riding, if Han He and them are waiting for him, I am afraid that it will be too late when they arrive at the Li family!

Han He took a breath, kicked his feet, jumped directly over the wall, and did not take the twisting and turning roads on the main street, stepped on the pale gray tiles on the roof, and went straight in the direction of the Li family!

The rest of the catchers also jumped up in the same way, and went in the direction of the Li family who followed behind their own catchers!

As for those officials who did not do their best work, they also received Jiang Ning's order, left from the courtyard gate, and followed the road on the main street to Li's house.

At tea time, only Xu Yan's gang who had fallen asleep were left in the courtyard, as well as Jiang Ning and Su Que.

"Lord County Commander, do you need to count the poor road for you?"

A gloomy voice came from the room, and soon a vague figure appeared in front of Jiang Ning and Su Que.

Isn't that fortune teller?