A Valiant Life

The first customer was a source of motivation for both Lin Fan and Fraud Tian.

Lin Fan stirred his tea slowly and patiently as he was deep in thought.

The introduction of the encyclopedia into his life was so sudden, he was caught unprepared. He admitted that there was such a huge change in his life after he had received it regardless of what else it was going to bring.

To make heavenly scallion pancakes? It used to be impossible for him. For Lin Fan to be a pin-point accurate fortune-teller, it was something that he had never thought of before. Lin Fan had also never expected to be able to own his own storefront in such a short time. His final conclusion was that the encyclopedia was doing more good than bad. Lin Fan had also concluded that it wasn’t even important anymore to judge if the encyclopedia was good or bad.

Most people won’t get to live more than a hundred years of age and to encounter something like the encyclopedia, it was like playing a game. Every second and minute was full of surprises and it was something that he would have never experienced before without the encyclopedia.

“Little Boss.”

Then, a deep voice could be heard. Lin Fan turned to look and smiled as he placed his teacup down and stood up to him.

“What brought you here today, Chief Liu?”

“I am here to give out a prize.” Chief Liu happily said as he stood at the entrance of Lin Fan’s stall. He took a close look at Lin Fan’s signboard.

“Indeed, it’s the reputable Master Lin.” Liu Xiao Tian happily said. He was in a good mood that day.

The Qin Chuan case was finally solved and it helped to lighten the burden of Liu Xiao Tian.

The management had given their word that if the Qin Chuan case was to be unresolved in seven days, the relevant officers would have to resign so that others who are more capable could take on the roles.

It was no surprise that Liu Xiao Tian was so thankful for Lin Fan.

“You’re flattering me, Chief Liu,” Lin Fan said politely. Liu Xiao Tian was considered to be Lin Fan’s first respectable believer.

If not for Chief Liu’s help in processing his license to run a scallion pancake stall, he would not have been able to set up his shop so easily.

Lin Fan didn’t know if he had saved Chief Liu’s life or was it the other way around.

“Little Boss… I mean, Master Lin, this is for you.” Liu Xiao Tian handed a nicely packaged flag over to Lin Fan the moment he stepped into the stall.

Lin Fan opened the package and looked into it.

“Good Citizen Award.”

There was even an honorary certificate which amused Lin Fan.

“Master Lin, it was all because of you. If not for your guidance, it would have been impossible to successfully arrest Qin Chuan.” Liu Xiao Tian said with gratification.

To Liu Xiao Tian, Master Lin had saved his entire career.

“It’s just something small, don’t mention it.” Lin Fan said casually.

“This is the monetary reward for you, thirty thousand dollars.” Liu Xiao Tian took out a silver credit card and handed it over to Lin Fan. Then, he patted him on his back and said, “Because of the responsibilities that I had, I couldn’t tell them everything that happened. So I just told them that you’ve seen Qin Chuan before.”

“Understood,” Lin Fan replied.

After all, Liu Xiao Tian was a civil servant. If the report was to mention that the fortune-teller had predicted the location of Qin Chuan, perhaps he would have been reprimanded instead.

“But I really believed in you. The colleagues whom I had worked with were also full of admiration.” Liu Xiao Tian said.

“Chief Liu, you just gotta believe in some things. I saw that you were honest and sincere. As long as you don’t do anything that would cause you to feel guilty, you have a bright future ahead of you,” Lin Fan looked at Liu Xiao Tian closely and said firmly to him.

Although Liu Xiao Tian was rather old, he was full of experience and that was precisely his trump card.

“Thank you for your kind words, may I have a word with you?” Chief Liu looked around and whispered softly.

“Of course, go ahead,” Lin Fan replied.

“I told my superior the truth about you and he really believed in what I had said. He pleaded me to let you have a look at him,” Liu Xiao Tian whispered again.

It was the kind of thing that could not be made known to everyone. If not, people would be laughing their ass off.

“This is his birth eight characters,” Liu Xiao Tian said as he passed a piece of paper to Lin Fan.

“Oh, looks like he knows a little about fortune-telling too,” Lin Fan smiled and said.

Liu Xiao Tian just laughed and didn’t say much. Nowadays, people who say that they don’t believe in this sort of things would still have things checked by a fortune-teller just for a peace of mind.

Lin Fan held the paper in his hands and studied it carefully. Then he looked at Liu Xiao Tian and asked, “Chief Liu, actually I have to look at the person physically in order to make a judgment. For those with no affinity, I wouldn’t even take a look at them. But since you have helped me so much, I won’t make things difficult for you. I’ll just leave you with a sentence. ‘If he believes in it, it’s fate; if not, it’s destiny.”

“Master Lin, thank you so much,” Liu Xiao Tian said.

Lin Fan took a pen and a piece of paper from his table and wrote another sentence.

“Follow your heart.”

When Liu Xiao Tian saw what was written on the piece of paper, he was stunned.

“Master Lin, just one sentence?”

“Take it back and pass it to him and he will understand,” Lin Fan smiled and replied.

“Are you sure you don’t want to add a few more sentences?” Liu Xiao Tian felt that it was too little. Usually, fortune-tellers would write a few paragraphs. He was afraid that his superior would be angry if he was to bring back just one sentence.

“There’s no need for that. Do you trust me, Chief Liu?” Lin Fan said.

Chief Liu looked at Lin Fan and just nodded. He said, “Alright, I’ll listen to you. If I were to get scolded, I will come back for you! Also, here’s some money for your fortune-telling.”

Lin Fan saw two pieces of red bank notes and quickly accepted them without saying much.

“I still have work to do, I got to go. Please contact me if you need any help in future,” Liu Xiao Tian said.

“Alright, no problem.” Lin Fan said as he waved goodbye to him.

When Chief Liu had left, Fraud Tian walked forward and held the flag in his hands. He observed it for a while, looked at Lin Fan and said, “When did you become a good citizen again? Plus, there’s still thirty thousand dollars.”

Lin Fan kept the card, smiled and said, “Why can’t I be a good citizen? Didn’t you hear that? Just a simple judgment from me and I’ve earned myself thirty thousand dollars. That’s how you make money. How could it be compared to the two hundred dollars?”

…

Chief Liu went back to his office and passed the piece of paper to his superior.

Liang Yong saw the piece of paper and was puzzled.

“Follow your heart.”

Liang Yong was extremely happy with the closing of the Qin Chuan case and he decided to ask Chief Liu for the truth. At first, Liu Xiao Tian wanted to hide it from him, but he still decided to tell him everything. After he understood what had happened, he was a little interested and so he asked Liu Xiao Tian to get help from Lin Fan on behalf of him.

The content written on the piece of paper really made Liang Yong sink into deep thought. Then, Liang Yong suddenly understood everything. To Lin Fan, Chief Liu’s superior was just considered to be someone random on the streets.