We Weren’t Fated, I Just Played My Cards Right - Chapter 19
Her first time in an interrogation room was because she’d tried to divine her own love life and ended up incriminating herself.
If her grandfather were still alive, he’d probably disown her out of sheer frustration.
Liu Mumu buried her face in her hands, feeling like she’d brought shame to the entire divination community.
“Liu Mumu, you’d better answer our questions truthfully. Why did you go to the 23rd floor of Binjiang Tower and stay there for an hour?” Fang Chuan and another officer sat across from her, interrogating with stern expressions.
Having been taught by her grandfather since childhood never to lie, Liu Mumu thought for a moment and decided to be honest.
Though the police might think she was a bit crazy, she wasn’t spreading superstitious beliefs to others—she just believed them herself. Surely that wasn’t enough to get arrested, right?
“To be frank, I did a divination for myself this morning and calculated that I would meet my future boyfriend on the 23rd floor of Binjiang Tower. So I went there an hour early,” Liu Mumu replied with equal seriousness.
Truth be told, the officers were stunned by her answer.
While Fang Chuan remained composed, the officer beside him covered his mouth: “Pfft—”
The seemingly unflappable Captain Fang’s current thought was: Who exactly did this girl divine as her future boyfriend? Consultant Yan???
Fang Chuan cleared his throat, his gaze drifting toward the one-way mirror in the interrogation room. He wondered how Consultant Yan, who was undoubtedly standing outside, was feeling right now.
A girlfriend falling from the sky. What a surprise, huh?
“Do you really expect anyone to believe your answer?”
“Probably… yes? My divinations are quite accurate. My dad believes me completely.” Liu Mumu wasn’t entirely certain, but the police officer’s attitude gave her some hope.
“Oh? What’s your father’s name?” Fang Chuan was speechless. What kind of parent was this?
“Dong Zhenghao.”
“…” The surprises just kept coming.
Fang Chuan couldn’t help but marvel inwardly at the coincidence—father and daughter reuniting here today of all places.
He set down his pen and changed the subject: “Did you know the deceased?”
“What was his name?” Liu Mumu had been brought straight to the police station and hadn’t seen the body.
“Zhan Hongye.”
A flicker of surprise crossed Liu Mumu’s eyes. Zhan Hongye was dead? Her first thought was: Did Dong Zhenghao do it?
But then she reconsidered—her biological father wouldn’t have the guts to commit murder. Besides, he valued his own life far too much to risk execution for killing someone else. He’d never do something so unprofitable.
“Did you know him?” Fang Chuan repeated.
“Yes. He was the husband of my father’s second wife’s younger sister.”
“When was the last time you saw him?”
“A few days ago, at a private club. My dad, stepmom, and I had dinner with them.” Liu Mumu answered without hesitation.
“Was there any conflict during the meal?”
Recalling that evening, Liu Mumu said, “I wouldn’t call it conflict, but I don’t know how he felt about it.”
Fang Chuan raised an eyebrow: “Explain in detail. What happened that day?”
“Nothing major. He brought along a guest who claimed to be a fortune-telling master. This master read my fortune and said I had bad luck that would bring misfortune to my family.”
Fang Chuan straightened up—this sounded like motive.
Even if no one in the family believed in fortune-telling, such words would inevitably leave a mark. And if they did believe, it would be far worse. Zhan Hongye, who brought the fortune-teller, had undoubtedly made an enemy of Liu Mumu.
“What happened next?” Fang Chuan’s gaze sharpened as he waited for Liu Mumu to continue.
“Then I asked that master if he had a diviner’s license, but he didn’t answer me.”
This was taking an odd turn. And what exactly was a diviner’s license?
While Fang Chuan was still puzzled, the interrogation room door was knocked.
He turned to see Yan Xiu stepping inside.
Yan Xiu’s eyes swept over Liu Mumu before he said to Fang Chuan, “Bring her out.”
Liu Mumu was escorted out of the interrogation room.
Outside, Yan Xiu studied her with a scrutinizing look. “You’re a diviner?”
“Yep, I passed the diviner’s exam,” Liu Mumu declared proudly, lifting her chin.
Getting a diviner’s license was about as difficult as the college entrance exams. Her grandfather had once joked that it was lucky she was young—if she’d been a couple of years older, she probably wouldn’t have passed, and she’d have had to practice without a license.
“Proof?”
She pulled out a red cord from around her neck, at the end of which hung a wooden token about the width of a finger. On the front was Liu Mumu’s name, and on the back was a seal imprint.
Yan Xiu tilted his chin toward Fang Chuan. “Test it with your sword.”
Fang Chuan pulled a pen from his pocket. Before the blade in his hand could even touch the token, the seal on the back instantly darkened, and his hand was forcibly stopped.
“Whoa, this thing’s a magical artifact?” Fang Chuan had some knowledge of these things and couldn’t help but whistle in surprise.
It was a protective artifact, and a powerful one at that. It seemed the girl wasn’t lying.
Liu Mumu was bewildered. Since when did police officers know about magical artifacts?
She couldn’t help asking, “Aren’t you guys cops?”
“We are,” Fang Chuan said, showing her his badge. “See? Special Cases Division. We handle cases involving the occult.”
Liu Mumu was stunned. There were actually people who dealt with cases like this? Her grandfather had never mentioned it. If she’d known, she would’ve just reported Zhan Hongye when she first noticed something off—no need to go through so much trouble.
Fang Chuan continued chatting with her. “If your divination is so accurate, didn’t you foresee getting arrested today?”
Liu Mumu maintained her composed, masterful demeanor and said solemnly, “Even masters make mistakes.”
She certainly wasn’t going to admit that her divinations were right about half the time. A true master never made mistakes—unless, of course, they did today.
“Alright, Master, then can you divine something for me?” Fang Chuan pointed at himself.
Liu Mumu pulled out her ancestral coins and solemnly handed them to Fang Chuan. “Shake them.”
Fang Chuan stared at the three fifty-cent coins, feeling the master was being a bit too casual, but he obediently shook them for a reading.
After staring for a long while, Liu Mumu looked up sympathetically at Fang Chuan and said, “Officer, you’ve been cheated on!”
Fang Chuan was startled, then realized—wait, how could he be cheated on when he didn’t even have a girlfriend yet?
He replied helplessly, “Master, I’m still single.”
Liu Mumu: Oops, messed up.
“Ahem, just a momentary slip. The weather’s bad today, not suitable for divination.” Master Liu snatched back her coin, her face thicker-skinned than Captain Fang’s.
Seeing their exchange end, Yan Xiu’s cool voice interjected, “You may leave now. Don’t leave Qingcheng in the coming days—the police may need your cooperation in the investigation at any time.”
Coming back to her senses, Liu Mumu felt slightly disappointed. They were just letting her go like that?
Tucking away her coin, she shuffled over to Yan Xiu and, under Fang Chuan’s horrified gaze, extended her phone: “Officer, let’s add each other as contacts! You can reach me anytime if you have questions.”
Though she wouldn’t be getting a brand-new boyfriend today, getting his contact information was an acceptable consolation prize.
Feelings could always be nurtured gradually—her tolerance for handsome men had always been exceptionally high.
How bold!
Fang Chuan genuinely felt this girl was rather thick-skinned, unafraid of Consultant Yan losing his temper and tossing her out.
“I’m not a police officer, just a consultant. You can add him.” Yan Xiu remained unmoved, though he showed no displeasure at her words.
To be precise, he might have been slightly exasperated.
This whole fortune-telling-to-find-a-boyfriend episode had certainly broadened Consultant Yan’s horizons—he hadn’t fully processed it yet.
Liu Mumu glanced at Fang Chuan, then decisively turned back, refusing to exchange contacts with a square-faced man.
Captain Fang: ??? Square-faced discrimination right here.
“Add me, maybe I can provide new leads,” she persisted.
With an expressionless face, Yan Xiu escorted her out of the office.
Standing outside the police station, Liu Mumu sighed inwardly: Ah… men are so cold, heartless, and unreasonable.
With their only suspect released, Fang Chuan leaned back in his chair and remarked to Yan Xiu, “You just let her go like that? She’s Dong Zhenghao’s daughter. The father hires killers, the daughter appears at the crime scene—what a coincidence.”
Though the girl was amusing, Fang Chuan hadn’t forgotten his duty—his suspicions about her remained.
“The fortune-teller’s token proves she wasn’t lying. Whether she’s involved still requires further investigation.”
“What exactly is this fortune-teller’s token?” Fang Chuan asked curiously.
“It’s an officially recognized emblem of orthodox fortune-tellers, endorsed by both authorities and the entire metaphysical community. Only two or three are issued each year—extremely rare.”
“She got one at just twenty? Doesn’t that mean she’s exceptionally skilled?” Then recalling his earlier “cheated-on” reading, Fang Chuan asked with a dark expression, “Her token isn’t fake, is it?”
Liu Mumu’s abilities made one seriously doubt the token’s authenticity.
A faint smile touched Yan Xiu’s lips. The token’s markings couldn’t be forged—the only question was whether she’d earned it through genuine skill or through having an exceptionally talented fortune-teller in her family.
In the metaphysical world, it all came down to lineage and inheritance.
It wasn’t uncommon for elders to seek benefits for younger generations—as long as it wasn’t excessive, most would turn a blind eye. However, one’s standing must match their capabilities; without the corresponding strength, they ultimately couldn’t gain a foothold in this circle.
After a busy morning, Captain Fang, wanting to thank Consultant Yan for his help, invited him to eat at the police station cafeteria.
Yan Xiu had probably never met someone so shameless—using a ten-yuan meal to brush him off.
The two carried their trays and found seats. Fang Chuan habitually took out his phone and opened a life simulation game he’d been playing recently.
Though he was single in real life, in the game, he had a girlfriend.
Just two days ago, the most beautiful tavern owner in the game had confessed to him. He had just finished building their new home and was planning their cohabitation.
But when he opened the game, Fang Chuan was stunned. The system had sent him a letter—his NPC girlfriend had written him a breakup note.
To summarize: She was already with the NPC owner of the neighboring hotel. “We were never meant to be. Goodbye!”
Before Fang Chuan could recover from the trauma of being cheated on by an NPC, he remembered Liu Mumu’s fortune-telling.
He pushed his phone toward Yan Xiu and whispered, “Take a look.”
Yan Xiu swiped across the screen, read the letter, and raised an eyebrow.
“Are all you metaphysics people this terrifying? Even predicting that an NPC in a game would steal my girlfriend? That’s beyond absurd! It defies all logic!”
Before, he could dismiss Liu Mumu’s words as a joke. But now that it had actually happened, he felt goosebumps all over.
When he went to the capital for training, he had met fortune-tellers—after all, as a police officer handling special cases, their first screening criteria was birth charts and fate. Those with weak or unlucky fortunes could easily perish in such cases.
Those masters were impressive, able to summarize a person’s past just by reading their face. But he still felt that little girl was even more unsettling.
Yan Xiu was silent for a moment before pushing the phone back. “Getting cuckolded by an NPC while dating one isn’t exactly logical either.”
Fang Chuan: “…”
Fine. He’d brought this humiliation upon himself.
*
That afternoon, Jiang Jia received a notice to go to the police station to identify a body.
Jiang Jia was completely dazed. She didn’t even know how she got to the station.
Her usually distant stepchildren followed along. Jenny walked beside Zhan Huitian, clutching his sleeve. Zhan Huitian glanced down but didn’t shake her off.
Originally, given Jenny’s young age, Zhan Huitian hadn’t planned to let her see the body—but she refused his kindness.
She saw her deceased father clearly. Although the coroner had stitched the body together meticulously, she could still tell that his body had been shattered into many pieces.
Just yesterday, when she learned that her father wanted her dead, she was filled with rage. But now he was gone, and in such a horrific manner. The hatred she once felt had transformed into uncertainty about the future.
Jenny’s body trembled involuntarily. Subconsciously, she thought of that bottle—could her father’s death be… related to that thing?
Jiang Jia fainted after just one glance at the corpse. Revived by the police coroner, she quickly came to but seemed to have lost all vitality afterward.
To all appearances, she was a grieving widow devastated by her husband’s death.
Zhan Huitian glanced at Jiang Jia, who was being comforted by two female officers, and scoffed.
“Brother, what do we do now?” Jenny asked Zhan Huitian anxiously.
“We proceed as planned. Father left a will long ago,” Zhan Huitian replied coldly.
Jenny looked at him, confused.
He patted her shoulder meaningfully. “You’re my only bl00d relative left. Even without Dad, I’ll take care of you.”
The three of them stayed at the police station until past nine in the evening. Since the case wasn’t closed yet, they couldn’t claim the body. After answering more police questions, they returned home exhausted.
None of them spoke, each retreating to their rooms to sleep.
If Jenny hadn’t fully understood Zhan Huitian’s words before, she grasped their meaning the next morning when Zhan Hongye’s lawyer arrived with the will.
Zhan Hongye had left all his assets and company shares to his eldest son, Zhan Huitian.
Jiang Jia received nothing except a few properties already in her name. When she married Zhan Hongye, he was already successful—a prenuptial agreement had been signed as a matter of course.
Back then, Jiang Jia believed their love would ensure he’d consider their marital bond. Only now did she realize what nonsense that was—he hadn’t left her a single extra cent.
As for Jenny, the daughter brought home later, she too was left with no inheritance. The will had likely been made before her return, with no time for amendments before his death.
Naturally, Jiang Jia refused to accept this distribution. She’d married Zhan Hongye at her youngest and most beautiful, devoted five years to him, only to get nothing in return—this was clearly a slap in the face!
Before the lawyer could leave, Jiang Jia erupted.
Pointing at Zhan Huitian, she spat, “I won’t recognize this will, mark my words.”
Turning to the middle-aged lawyer, she accused, “And you—you’ve been bribed by Zhan Huitian! This will is fake!”
The lawyer replied impassively, “Ms. Jiang, this will is notarized and legally binding. If you dispute it, you may file a lawsuit. However, if you continue slandering my professional integrity, we’ll see each other in court.”
“Court it is then! You think I’m afraid?” Jiang Jia’s bravado faltered even as she lifted her chin. “Old Zhan was murdered, and the killer’s still at large. Who’s to say someone didn’t kill him for the inheritance?”
Zhan Huitian’s face darkened as he said coldly, “Aunt Jiang, you shouldn’t speak carelessly, or don’t blame me for not giving my father face. Also, I expect you to move out of here by this evening. According to my father’s will, this villa is now mine to inherit.”
Just like that, Jiang Jia was thrown out.