Fortune Telling

Zhao Xing recalled the vision she had seen before. She took a look at Zhao Qing, pondering how to warn her.

After thinking for a while she came up with an idea.

"Eh, Miss Zhao do you believe in fortune telling?"

Xiao Qi standing behind secretly questioned Zhao Xing's motive. 'What is she up to now? Can't she quickly eat so we can leave.'

Zhao Qing was puzzled by the sudden question, but still responded quickly, "I'm not sure…"

Zhao Xing smiled, if she was not sure then it was good. "Once a wondering taoist priest stayed in our small village for some time, I learnt how to tell one's fortune from him. Miss Zhao had suddenly encountered danger today, why don't I read your fortune? Maybe you could avoid a certain disaster in the future." She had heard lines like these in so many novels, manhuas and so one, she hoped she could use it to fool Zhao Qing.

Zhao Qing wasn't sure actually, it was not that she wasn't superstitious, but she just had certain apprehensions towards fortune telling, you might not end up hearing what you want to hear, in short, it was a bit scary. As for whether Zhao Xing's lie managed to fool her, she didn't think too much about it. She was the Noble Princess after all. People normally lie because of a certain gain, she didn't see any reason why Zhao Xing would mention this out of the blue just to lie to her.

"Alright." Even though she thought this, a part of her didn't believe. Besides even if Zhao Xing was taught, she might not be good at it.

Zhao Xing thought how she should go about it, what did she know about fortune telling? She could see the future, that was all, she was at lost on what to do, but she asked Zhao Qing to stretch out her arm, that she would read her pulse.

Zhao Qing stretched her arm as she was told, and Zhao Xing placed her two fingers on the pulse area.

"Zhao Qing! Wake up, don't scare me, don't scare me..."

Another vision, this time it was very clear, and not just a flash like the first time. Two people, in what seemed to be the woods, she couldn't really tell where they were, or whether the forest was a fake one or not. The sun was still out due to the brightness of the area, but the trees provided shade for them. The man sat on the ground holding Zhao Qing in his arms as he kept shouting her name, asking her to wake up with tears in his eyes. But the body of the lady in his arms had long turned cold, and was as pale as a piece of paper, one could tell by a glance that the girl was no more.

"Don't leave me…don't leave me alone."

Zhao Xing could feel his sadness, it hit her like a wave, and a tear rolled down her cheek. She could feel the stuffiness in her heart, it was also mixed with the feeling of losing something very important.

"Noble Princess?"

"Miss Zhao?"

"Mistress?"

Zhao Qing saw Zhao Xing crying and was almost terrified. She couldn't tell whether it was related to what Zhao Xing had read, or whether it was something else.

Zhao Xing's servants were also puzzled, wasn't she having fun just now? How come their mistress broke into tears?

Zhao Xing came back to her senses due to them calling her.

She realized she was crying and was stunned, the painful feeling just now disappeared without a trace, as if it didn't even happen, and it confused her. Was it her illusion?

"Miss Zhao are you ok?" Zhao Qing asked, she didn't know if she should be worried about Zhao Xing or herself. Her fate was already this painful, did Zhao Xing see it? Did she really know how to read fortunes like she had said?

Zhao Xing laughed and shook her head as she quickly wiped her tears. "It's nothing."

Zhao Xing coughed and thought about how to phrase her words. "Miss Zhao I've read your fortune, cough, what I saw was really devastating."

Zhao Xing said this and stunned the other party. What did she mean?

"There's a huge disaster waiting ahead for Miss Zhao, though, it's still few years ahead. So in the future you must be careful what you put your hands into."

Zhao Qing: "…"

It did sound weird but that was all Zhao Xing could come up with. The vision, though clear, she still couldn't make out the face of the man in it, so she dared not make any wild assumptions.

But judging from what he wore, he would be a noble of a very high rank, she even dared say that his status would be as high as that of a prince, or a duke. She had seen this girl's future, she wondered if she could help save her life once more with this warning.

After their meal, it was time for them to leave.

"Miss Zhao, the carriage is here, let's go, I'll send you home." Zhao Xing said as they stood near the entrance to the restaurant.

Zhao Qing smiled at her, she had already come up with an excuse so Zhao Xing doesn't need to send her back home. She lived with the Fourth Prince, and only a handful of people in the empire knew about this, if she allows Zhao Xing to send her straight to the Fourth Prince manor, it would only bring her trouble. She couldn't also trick them and ask them to send her to a fake residence, in the future it would be easy to find out she was lying. She preferred to quietly, and unnoticeably disappear, this way Zhao Xing wouldn't be able to trace her tracks no matter what.

"Noble Princess doesn't need to worry about this, I'll take another carriage home. My parents would be sure to ask people to look for me, if they saw me with you it'd be too troublesome to explain…"

Zhao Xing understood what she meant and nodded. "But it's still dangerous, why don't I ask one of my servants to go with you?"

Zhao Qing still declined. "Though I was almost kidnapped, I'm not that weak, I should be able to arrive home safely."

Zhao Xing no longer insisted, if someone didn't want to be helped one shouldn't force it. Though she had a feeling that she was hiding something, she wasn't worried. Who doesn't have secrets? She guessed that she, Zhao Xing, had one of the biggest secrets a person could have.

"Alright, then Miss Zhao, hope we'll have the opportunity of meeting each other in the future." Zhao Xing said as she prepared to board the carriage.

"Same, same." Zhao Qing waved at her. Today she had almost lost her life but it was alright, she had achieved what she came here for, it was worth the risk.

Zhao Qing watched the carriage leave and pondered on what had happened in the restaurant as well as what Zhao Xing had told her.

'A huge disaster?'

Her life was already a mess, how much worse could it get? She wondered what exactly it was that Zhao Xing saw. Zhao Xing had actually cried, did she see her life and took compassion on her and then shed tears.

Zhao Qing sighed as she mounted the carriage. She could think of this later, right now she had to come up with a good excuse, lest the Fourth Prince interrogates her and she wouldn't be able to answer.

In Zhao Xing's carriage it was quiet, and no one made a sound. They had heard a lot and seen a lot today, and were a bit confused. Everyone had their own thoughts.

For Zhao Xing after a whole evening of having fun she should have felt revitalized, but now she had other worries.

She didn't easily see other's future, how come she only took Zhao Qing hand to read her pulse and saw so much?

She held her head as she felt a mild headache.

"Mistress?"

Nuo Nuo's call awakened her from her thinking.

"Um?" Then she remembered something and interrupted Nuo Nuo's next words.

"Ah yes, this evening I wanted us to spend it together, too bad we couldn't, but I already had them prepare food into boxes." She pointed to the boxes she had asked the restaurant to prepare. "Those are for you." She smiled.

The two maids' eyes lit up. "Thank you, Mistress!"

Zhao Xing turned to Xiao Qi who sat opposite her with her eyes closed as if asleep. She rolled her eyes at her, she wasn't going to care about her.