A Valiant Life

Thereafter, all the neighbors left. Lin Fan felt a little awkward as Aunt Zhang had started to cook a spread in his kitchen. although it was the best meal that Lin Fan had eaten since he had gotten to Shanghai.

Most men were after all, kind-hearted and favors ought to be returned.  Lin Fan knew that the reason why Aunt Zhang cooked was to thank him for his free fortune-telling. Naturally, Lin Fan accepted it.

Initially, Lin Fan had thought the fortune-telling was nothing but a scam. After he found out how powerful his fortune-telling skills were, he became extremely excited about it.

Especially those that believed in him and managed to escape the disasters- they all had returned to thank Lin Fan. This gave him a great sense of satisfaction. Which young chap didn’t like the feeling of being praised? It was especially so for Lin Fan who had not accomplished anything after being in Shanghai for such a long time.

It wasn’t that Lin Fan wasn’t hard working, it was just that he wasn’t very lucky.

Just then, Lin Fan looked at the time and realized that it was only 1 pm. There was still quite some time before he needed to set up his stall.

Lin Fan proceeded to lie down on his bed. He whipped out his phone and had an idea after he saw the Weibo app on his phone.

In the era of the Internet, anything could be found online. For his current mission to be a well-respected Master Lin, the Internet was a great place for him to fulfill his mission. Weibo was a favorite among the netizens. If Lin Fan could appear on the top searched list on Weibo, he would surely become famous.

Lin Fan had registered for Weibo before, but he rarely used it and didn’t have many fans. In his opinion, that wasn’t a problem. He was now a man of substance and talent and he felt that he would definitely become famous.

Lin Fan opened the Weibo app and logged in. He saw that he only had 35 fans which was a hard-earned achievement back then.

His username was: An ordinary but extraordinary man.

The name was tacky, it looked like it belonged to a school kid. As he thought of it further, he remembered that he had created it back when he was in University and it was some time during his second year. Then, he immediately changed his name.

“Old chauffeur-turned fortune teller, Master Lin.”

The name looked rather impressive to Lin Fan. As long as a person’s not stupid and understands Chinese, he would definitely understand Lin Fan’s username.

Then, he changed his personal bio. “One look to know your past life and another to know your current life. Tag: Know-it-all.”

Once Lin Fan was satisfied with everything, he posted on Weibo for the first time. “Divine fortune teller on earth, there’s nothing that I don’t know. Free fortune-telling for a limited time only. Leave your name and eight characters at birth in the comments.”

After typing the last sentence, Lin Fan felt like something was missing. So, he added another sentence in: “If it’s not accurate, I’ll eat sh*t for you immediately.”

Lin Fan was finally satisfied with everything. As for the people he used to follow, he unfollowed all of them. After all, he was a divine fortune teller now. He thought that he should wait for people to take the initiative to follow him and not the other way round.

Then, Lin Fan downloaded a picture of the eight divinatory trigrams of the Book of Changes from the Internet and used it as his profile picture. After he was done with it, he closed the Weibo app. All he had to do now was wait for people to approach him.

Soon, it was 4 pm in the afternoon. Lin Fan left his house to set up stall punctually. There was a huge crowd waiting for him when he had arrived at Red Star Primary school, as if he was a superstar.

Lin Fan’s scallion pancakes were considered to be heaven on earth by residents in the area. A day without it made them anxious. Hence, those that loved the pancakes all added each other on WeChat and created a group. A notification would be sent out immediately when Lin Fan came to set up his stall.

“Breaking news: Little Boss is back!”

“Those who’re free please come here quickly. I’ll go queue up for it first.”

Lin Fan was that popular. Just one morning without selling his pancakes made life difficult for a lot of people. “Pal, why are you so slow today? Did you get a girlfriend? Was yesterday night too tiring for you?” Fraud Tian laughed and asked.

“Go, go.”

Fraud Tian was acting chummy with Lin Fan. One look at him and he could tell that he wanted a favor from Lin Fan. But as Lin Fan thought about his fortune-telling career further and said, “Fraud Tian, don’t rush back home later. I have something to tell you.”

“What is it? Could it be that you’re gay for me…” Fraud Tian’s stall counter was stuck beside Lin Fan’s. As a result, his business had also improved. However, the tone he had adopted was suspicious.

“Get lost…” Lin Fan did not want to speak to Fraud Tian further. This b*stard was already quite advanced in age but he was still so wretched and perverted.

As for the residents who had eaten Lin Fan’s scallion pancakes, they were all making awkward facial expressions which made the situation a little worse.

“Handsome, can I have your WeChat?” a girl said to Lin Fan loudly and clearly, just as his head was lowered while he was preparing the pancakes.

Lin Fan raised his head and was a little taken aback. The girl was so pretty. It looks like the area was definitely a precious plot of land. There were so many pretty babes around that area.

But for Lin Fan, was he really going to give his WeChat so freely?

“Why do you want it for?” Lin Fan said coldly in pretense.

“Huh?” Huo Han was shocked. She was such a pretty lady and she didn’t expect to be asked such a question when she had already taken the initiative to ask for Lin Fan’s WeChat.

Huo Han felt that something was wrong. “Handsome, you’re so indifferent…” Huo Han was a little angry when she had said it.

“Yeah.” Lin Fan just nodded and said.

“Babe, I have WeChat. How about I add you?” Fraud Tian suddenly interrupted. As for Lin Fan rejecting such a request from a pretty lady like Huo Han, he deserved to be struck by lightning.

“You, get lost.” Huo Han said, without even looking at Fraud Tian. Then she turned to Lin Fan and asked, “You’re really not giving me your WeChat?”

“Yeah, I’m not giving you.” Lin Fan replied.

Huo Han was so furious that her face had turned red. Then, she said, “If you don’t give it to me, I would shout to everyone saying that you abandoned me and you’re my husband.

Lin Fan furrowed his brows and thought, “This chick has got some tricks up her sleeve. But if he was to really talk about tricks, she’s probably just a beginner compared to Lin Fan.”

“Babe, shout then I’ll kiss you. Do you believe me?”

Lin Fan wasn’t afraid to match up to her shameless behavior.

Lin Fan counties with his work and waited for her to make her next move. After waiting for a while, he realized that she had not moved. Out of curiosity, he looked up.

Just as he raised his head, he realized that the girl’s eyes had turned red, her nose was wiggling as if she was going to cry.

“What the f*ck… This brat could really put up a show, she could even cry on the spot.” Lin Fan thought in disbelief. Then, he waved his hands and said “Fine, fine, you win. Just take it and scroll through.”

Lin Fan took out his phone and opened the WeChat app before letting her scroll through once.

After she had added him on WeChat, she let out an evil and cunning smile.

“What the f*ck… Are you really an actor? If you were, I’d give you full marks for that.” Lin Fan felt defeated when he saw that the girl was instantly back to normal.

“Handsome, how did you know I had always wanted to be a superstar?” Huo Han asked.

“Um…” Lin Fan took another look and realized that this chick really wanted to become a superstar. She wasn’t joking.

“Your scallion pancakes.” Lin Fan passed her a bag of pancakes that he had just wrapped.

Huo Han quickly took the pancakes over from Lin Fan and smiled. She then said, “I am Huo Han, my colleagues and I are all loyal fans of your scallion pancake!”

Lin Fan introduced himself, smiled and said, “Your dream to become a superstar might really come true one day.”

When Huo Han heard what he said, she laughed and replied, “Handsome, you’re using such an outdated method to flirt. I love my job now, I guess my dream’s impossible to come true.”

“But still, thank you for that. See you!”

Lin Fan shrugged his shoulders and thought, “This chick has got so many tricks up her sleeve.”

Then, Lin Fan continued with his work until he finished selling his ingredients. By then, it was already night time, and so, he started to pack up his stall.

“Fraud, let’s go.”

…