Seven fortune sticks sealed one person’s fate.
Water over Water, double peril. The stick bore the words, “Can I die in their place?” He used his own body to bear every fragment of their obsessions. His last words were, “Eat a double portion for me.”
Lake over Wind, a great excess. A boat sinks beneath the water. The stick bore the words, “Is someone who comes back still the same person?” The one who answered didn’t know he was in the fortune tube too.
Water over Thunder, difficulty at the beginning. The stick bore the words, “Is what I perceive real?” The truth had only just begun to emerge when the fortune tube started swallowing the answers.
Fire over Thunder, biting through. There is something in the mouth. The stick bore no question, only the hexagram text. It was the host’s fate hexagram, chewed over for a thousand years without being broken down. Pull out this stick, and the fortune tube shuts down.
Mountain over Fire, grace. Fire burns beneath the mountain, an outward show of splendor. The stick bore the words, “Can I get them out alive?” The person who drew it didn’t know the hexagram said they could get out, but not everyone would.
Earth over Thunder, return. After seven days, it comes back. The stick bore no question, but resurrection. The dead would return seven days later. The person who paid for someone else said nothing, simply setting out an extra empty bowl and pair of chopsticks at a window seat in the Yingyue Tower. They had spent half of the savings they’d scraped together over the years, and kept saving the other half to open a teahouse. The teahouse no longer offered discounts, because the person who’d promised to give them had forgotten making that promise.
Fire over Heaven, great possession. Great success and smooth progress. The only great auspicious fortune stick in the tube. Someone drew it for a dead person. The fortune text contained only two words: “Can live.”
Seven sticks: four ill-omened, three turning fortunes around. Anyone who draws a stick must answer. Silence costs sanity, and obsessions spoken aloud are taken away and turned into new bamboo sticks. When the fortune tube is empty, the mouth closes. When the tube breaks, the rules
After 10 chapters, I feel a sense of familiarity that I can't put into words.
Very good, the copies are all by Xu Ermu 😘