We Weren’t Fated, I Just Played My Cards Right - Chapter 1
*Qingcheng Forum*
Post—My Suffocating Hospital Roommates
Poster: Toes Tentatively Testing the Mental Hospital Entrance
1L (OP): Has anyone ever experienced the VIP ward at Qingcheng Second Hospital? If you have, don’t raise your hands—because I guarantee your experience wasn’t as bizarre as mine.
Here’s what happened: I was hospitalized for a minor illness and casually chose a VIP room. Coincidentally, on the day I was admitted, the rooms on either side of mine were also occupied, giving me two roommates. Let’s call them Old Man A and Old Man B.
2L: Casually picking a VIP room? OP must be a short, rich, and ugly guy.
3L: Don’t derail the thread. Did Old Man A and Old Man B fall for OP’s stunning beauty and try to set him up with their unmarried daughters?
4L: Matching daughters is nothing—introducing their sons would be worth posting about.
5L (OP): Friends above, you’re far too naive. The real protagonists of this story are Old Man A and Old Man B—I’m just a bystander whose worldview was shattered.
Old Man B is the father of a certain business tycoon in Qingcheng—the kind of person you can look up online. He was hospitalized for a broken leg, and when I saw him, I kept my distance, afraid the black-suited bodyguards outside his door would toss me out.
As for Old Man A, he looked healthier than me. Apparently, he was there for a sprained back and had his granddaughter, who’s under twenty, taking care of him. By the way, the granddaughter is adorable.
6L: If OP were a novelist, readers would’ve already kicked him out. Two paragraphs in and still no point—are you a chatterbox incarnate?
7L: Easy there, buddy. Take a deep breath.
8L (OP): Ahem, the main point. The main point is that on the second day of my stay—today—Old Man A ran into Old Man B’s son (the tycoon) in the hallway.
Then Old Man A told the tycoon that dark clouds loomed over him and his family would face bloodshed soon.
I was watching from nearby, thinking, “Whether his family faces bloodshed or not, he’s about to get some right now.”
Sure enough, the tycoon was furious. But out of respect for elders, he didn’t do anything to Old Man A—just stormed off angrily.
9L: What a letdown. Just a failed scam.
10L: Moving on. Nothing to see here.
11L (OP): Hold up, plot twist. At 1 PM today, the big shot suddenly went to Old Man A’s ward. I almost thought he was still mad from this morning and finally decided to beat Old Man A up. But turns out, he respectfully invited Old Man A to Old Man B’s ward instead.
12L: How do you know it was an invitation? Could’ve been coercion.
13L (OP): Nah, that attitude was way too familiar—exactly how I act when asking my parents for money. Couldn’t have mistaken it.
14L: What kind of attitude?
15L: Grandson-level groveling.
16L (OP): Anyway, the crazy part? The big shot brought Old Man A over to tell Old Man B’s fortune!
Getting a fortune teller in a hospital is as absurd as expecting a wife in a “wife cake.” You really believe he’s some master?
I sure don’t, but the big shot’s dad totally bought it.
Latest update: Old Man B offered a fortune for his fortune reading…
Gotta go get my hemorrhoids treated now. Update when I’m back.
17L: Emmmmm not sure what’s more shocking—the fortune teller or OP’s hemorrhoids.
18L: OP should call the cops. The police would teach that “fortune teller” how to be a proper human.
…
56L: It’s been a day. OP still not back?
57L: RIP OP. Probably got silenced by the big shot.
…
78L (OP): Back now. Currently typing in ORZ position, so bear with me.
Nurse just spilled—Old Man A said Old Man B’s grandson lacks “metal” in his destiny and needs a name change. They’re brainstorming new names in the ward right now.
Honestly? I could do this. Just name him Xin. One character not enough? Stack two—Xinxin.
Three’s fine too. Four-character names are trendy these days. Just keep adding until the “metal” quota’s met. Why pay a fortune for this?
Always assumed the man who raised the big shot must be brilliant. Reality just slapped me hard. Need a moment.
79L: Sounds like OP’s witnessing mass IQ drainage. Kinda wanna see this live.
80L: -_- Being in Qingcheng, I’ve guessed the big shot’s identity. Heard his dad’s always been into fortune-telling, but didn’t expect him to keep it up even hospitalized.
81L: Drop the big shot’s name???
…
Qingcheng Second Hospital, VIP Ward 456.
A rosy-cheeked, energetic old man in hospital pajamas was peeling an apple on the bed.
Beside him, a young girl rested her chin on her hands, staring intently at the fruit.
As the knife stopped, the long peel dropped. The girl reached out eagerly, only for the old man to grunt and plop the peeled apple into her palm with exaggerated force.
“Thanks, Grandpa.”
“All you know is how to eat. Twenty years old and still can’t peel an apple. What will you do when I’m gone? Stop eating apples altogether?” The old man wiped the fruit knife clean and set it aside.
Liu Mumu took a loud bite of the apple and mumbled, “I can just find a boyfriend to peel apples for me.”
The old man shot her a sidelong glance and ruthlessly crushed her delusion. “Stop dreaming. Based on my eighty-plus years of fortune-telling experience, your fate pretty much rules out any romantic relationships.”
Liu Mumu immediately pouted in displeasure. “That’s just your bad fortune-telling. Before we left home, I went to Blind Liu on the front street for a reading. He said I’d definitely find a boyfriend before I turn twenty-five!”
At that, the old man’s eyebrows nearly shot up to his hairline. He pointed at Liu Mumu. “You little brat! You actually went behind my back to see Blind Liu? Do you even know who he is? He’s my biggest competitor!”
“Oh, I don’t think Blind Liu sees it that way.”
The old man clutched his chest dramatically.
“I heard he makes twenty times what we do in a year,” Liu Mumu added.
“That fraud doesn’t know a damn thing!” the old man snapped. Then, after a pause, he asked, “Is it really that much?”
“Yep.” Liu Mumu took another bite of her apple and sighed. “Tell me, how is it fair? We’re both fortune-tellers, but he gets to earn a steady living while we got chased out of our hometown?”
Grumbling, the old man flopped onto his back and yanked the blanket over himself, refusing to speak.
Originally, the grandfather and granddaughter had made a living in a northern city. But a month ago, the old man took on a big job—a client was very satisfied, but the ex-husband, who had lost half his fortune after being exposed for meeting his mistress (down to the exact time and place), was considerably less pleased. So, the two of them had to pack up overnight and flee to Qingcheng.
These days, fortune-telling had become a high-risk profession.
“Did you do another reading for Old Man Tan today? In the hallway, Uncle Tan was looking at me weird.”
“How so?”
“Like I was some kind of scammer.”
Even though Old Man Tan in Room 458 trusted her grandfather completely, his son was the exact opposite—not only did he not believe in it, Liu Mumu suspected he wanted to bundle the two of them straight to the police station.
“Philistine,” the old man muttered unhappily.
Liu Mumu continued, “And that guy next door? The way he looks at you and Old Man Tan is like you’re both insane. Grandpa, tone it down a little.”
“What do they know? With Old Tan’s face, there’s an eighty percent chance someone set up a feng shui trap in his house. In a few days, his son will end up in the hospital too, and then he’ll come begging for my help.”
Liu Mumu crunched on her apple thoughtfully. “Business is pretty good in Qingcheng.”
Back in their small northern town, high-level mischief like feng shui sabotage was practically unheard of—any skilled feng shui master would’ve long since moved to the big cities to make money. Who’d stay holed up in a backwater like her grandfather?
“Don’t even think about making money from this. You can’t even cast a hexagram right—spare us the embarrassment and just focus on your studies.”
Indeed, the main reason they’d come straight to Qingcheng was because Liu Mumu had been admitted to university here. She still had to attend classes. Though her divination studies leaned a little toward the unscientific, both she and her grandfather still had a healthy respect for actual science.
“What’s wrong with making a wrong divination? As if you’ve never made a mistake before. Both the Six Yao and Plum Blossom Numerology are so difficult—how could any normal person master them?” Liu Mumu muttered under her breath, feeling guilty.
Though she had obtained a legitimate fortune-teller’s license, if there were a qualifying exam for practitioners, she would undoubtedly have failed.
Liu Yizhi had taught her for ten years, yet somehow, she still couldn’t grasp it. His granddaughter, Liu Mumu, was practically the shame of his eighty-year career.
“Enough, don’t anger me. I don’t have many days left as it is, and listening to you just shaved two more off my lifespan.” Liu Yizhi turned onto his side, refusing to look at her.
His words silenced Liu Mumu.
After a long pause, Liu Yizhi finally spoke again. “I’ve already divined it—your father is in this city. In a few days, you’ll go find him.”
“No.”
“Your bond with him isn’t severed. If you don’t seek him out now, you’ll still cross paths eventually. Running from your problems—is that what I taught you?” His voice darkened.
Liu Mumu stared at his back, pouting before finally squeezing out a reluctant, “Fine.”
……
*Qingcheng Forum*
Post—My Suffocating Hospital Roommate
152L (OP): OP’s back, and something terrifying just happened. Three days after Old Man A told the big shot that his whole family was doomed by bloodshed, the big shot broke his arm and got hospitalized—now neighbors with his own dad.
OP’s suddenly feeling a bit uneasy.
153L: OP, trust in science! This is all just coincidence!!!
154L: @153L, I’ve always thought fortune-telling is pretty scientific—just probability. The I Ching and Bagua have been around for thousands of years; there’s bound to be some causality.
155L: Doesn’t change the fact that most fortune-tellers today are frauds.
156L: Maybe OP just met the real deal.
……
185L (OP): Guys, stop arguing. The big shot just invited Old Man A over. Whether he’s legit or a scammer, he’s definitely cashing in.
OP did some digging—apparently, the big shot offered Old Man A seven figures.
186L: Could I even earn seven figures in my lifetime? This is just f*cking insane.
187L: No wonder our city’s average income is over 10k—mine’s getting dragged up by people like this. Does Old Man A even pay taxes?
……
310L (OP): Kinda funny update—Old Man A didn’t take the money. Instead, he asked the big shot to arrange his funeral after he dies as payment.
The big shot agreed.
Gotta say, fortune-tellers operate on another level. Planning ahead like this—OP’s mind is blown.
……
666L (OP): …………………… Old Man A passed away last night.
WHAT THE ACTUAL F*CK?! HOW IS THIS SCIENTIFIC???