On the busy streets, people come and go.
I squatted under the wall, with a piece of crumpled red paper in front of me, with eight characters crookedly written on it: Tiekou Divine Calculation, Divination by Testing Characters.
With a gray strip of cloth covering my eyes, I pretended to be blind for a while, and I mastered this acting skill very well. There is a chipped porcelain bowl next to it, with a few scattered coins and steel coins in it. From time to time, someone passes by and throws in a small note of one or two yuan, taking it as a beggar.
I am indeed lame, there is no need to pretend. The bones in his left leg below the knee are broken, and when he walks he feels like he is dragging a wooden stake.
"Master, please do the math for me."
An aunt in fancy clothes squatted in front of me, her voice full of excitement. She stood here for five minutes, watching me blindly fool three or four people in a row, and finally couldn't help but come closer.
I made a knot with my fingers and fiddled with it a few times: "There are three people in your family. Your husband works at a construction site, your son is in high school, and you have a dog."
