Seeing directly how her father's political fate had changed before, and now with this guest elder breaking her divination result right in front of her, Fu Xuan had no choice but to believe—this guest elder really played on a level higher than all the diviners of the Fu family—no, even higher than the Divination Commission itself!
Fu Xuan often wondered if fate truly only had one single path, absolute and unchangeable, but now, she was sure—it did not.
"Can you teach me?" Fu Xuan asked once again, her eyes looking hopeful.
"You're not my disciple. How could I teach you my divination arts?" Lucian replied with a calm smile.
"B-But… my family's divination says that in the future I'll be a Master Diviner..." Fu Xuan said while fiddling with her fingers. "Naturally, that means I must become a disciple of the current Master Diviner... I can't take you as my master..."
In the next moment, she tugged at her skirt with unease before continuing.
"Just teach me a little of the basics, how about that...?"
Lucian looked into Fu Xuan's watery, wide eyes and couldn't help but feel his heart soften.
Originally, he had planned to use this as a way to tempt her into becoming his disciple, deepening their bond to make things easier in the future—but now, the Master Diviner of the Xianzhou Yuque was blocking their master-disciple fate.
Knowing this, he would need to find a chance to make the Master Diviner back out on his own.
"Fine then." Lucian smiled faintly. "However, call me teacher first—let me hear it."
"Teacher!" Fu Xuan blurted in an instant.
Hearing her so eager, Lucian chuckled, then casually went over some of Fu Xuan's lessons.
As for changing fate itself... It was, unfortunately, something he couldn't teach her at all.
Of course, he wasn't deceiving her either.
As long as he completed the script and she became his follower, she would be able to borrow Sham Diviner.
Wouldn't that count as imparting everything to her?
===
A few days later, at the Starrest Pavilion.
"Guest Elder, this is what the Patriarch specially ordered to be brought from the storeroom—the 'Complete Atlas of the Yuque Constellations.'"
A servant spoke while struggling to carry a jade case half his height.
"And there's also 'Essentials of Astrology' and 'Secrets of Divination'... Please, Guest Elder, help annotate them for use in teaching the Fu family's next generation."
Lucian lounged against a ginkgo tree, casually opening a scroll on top of the jade case.
Yes, he could recognize the characters in it, but when put together, they made no sense to him. If it weren't for Sham Diviner aiding him, he definitely wouldn't have lasted three days in this family.
"Alright, put them in the study." Lucian waved his hand, then suddenly remembered something. "By the way, what does your young lady usually do?"
Upon hearing this, the servant's eyes lit up before he coughed softly and explained with a serious expression.
"Young Lady rises at dawn every day, first studying the 'Treatise on the Celestial Sphere' for one hour, then going to the Divination Hall to practice astrology. In the afternoon..."
As the servant went on and on, Lucian's lips pulled downward.
He had to admit, Fu Xuan's schedule, despite her young age, was even more packed than a college entrance exam student's.
No wonder she would one day become a Master Diviner.
"Does she have any hobbies?" Lucian raised his hand, interrupting the servant's ramblings. "I mean... something like... eating sweets, for example?"
"Eh?"
At Lucian's question, the servant paused for a moment before answering in a low voice.
"Well, the young lady does often have the kitchen make sweets, and also, milk tea..."
Hearing this, Lucian narrowed his eyes and smiled.
As expected, even a genius couldn't resist the temptation of sweets—especially one who constantly strained her mind.
===
Near noon, in the side chamber of the Fu residence's Divination Hall, Fu Xuan frowned over her astrolabe.
Even though the divination she had pushed last night concerning 'the Yuque's thirty years of fortune' showed 'water and fire in conflict,' no matter how she adjusted the parameters, the result remained shrouded in mist.
"Sure enough, mastering other arts of divination isn't so easy. Not to mention Teacher's secret art of changing fate..."
Fu Xuan muttered to herself before sighing tiredly, intending to rest her mind for a few minutes, but—
"Little Xuan?"
Being suddenly called by the affectionate nickname her father usually used, Fu Xuan was so startled that her hand slipped, nearly knocking over her astrolabe.
Looking up, she saw Lucian leaning against the doorframe, shaking a paper-wrapped package in his hand, which drifted a faint, sweet aroma over.
"Teacher..." Fu Xuan immediately straightened her face. "No outside food is allowed inside the Divination Hall."
And that nickname—Little Xuan—if her father ever heard it, a bloody storm was bound to follow.
Lucian, ignoring her warning, chuckled, sat across from her, then snapped the paper package open with a crisp sound.
In the next moment, amber-colored candied fruits, piled like a small mountain and dusted with sugar, revealed themselves.
"My own exclusive recipe, special sweets." Lucian placed the paper package on the table. "I thought you might like them, so I made them for you."
Fu Xuan's gaze unwillingly stuck to the sugar-glazed fruits, her throat moving ever so slightly, but she quickly forced herself to look back at her astrolabe.
"I-I'm still working on a proper divination..." Fu Xuan said with a frown.
"Eat first, then divine." Lucian pushed the paper package closer to her. "Nobody's watching right now."
In Fu Xuan's ears, his words sounded like a devil's temptation.
In the end, five minutes later, she was nibbling candied fruit like a hamster, sugar crystals clinging to the corner of her lips.
"Hmm, the water position shifted?" Lucian tilted his head, glancing at the astrolabe in front of Fu Xuan.
"Mm..." Fu Xuan nodded softly. "I can't resolve it. Can you guide me?"
Infected by Lucian's relaxed and natural attitude, she had unknowingly shed the stiffness she had carried these past few days—especially now, after eating his hand-made snacks, she felt even more familiar with him.
"No problem." Lucian chuckled softly, activating Sham Diviner as he traced an invisible line above the astrolabe. "Move the Rui star three degrees toward the Zen star and see."
Fu Xuan, half-believing, adjusted the star track, and in that instant, the mist cleared away, and the constellation revealed the clear image of 'water and fire in harmony.'
In the next moment, she snapped her head up, her pink hair whipping in an arc.
"Amazing—"
"You've got sugar on you."
Before Fu Xuan could finish her praise, Lucian suddenly leaned in, brushing his thumb across her lips—causing her to jump back at once, retreating five full steps.
"T-Teacher, y-you were way out of line..." Fu Xuan scolded stutteringly, her face flushed red.
Seeing her embarrassed reaction, Lucian also realized his action had been too forward just now.
He honestly couldn't help it.
Having been with his wives for so long, acting intimately with them almost every day to the point it became a habit, he had acted subconsciously—but with a young girl he had only known for a few days, he had to admit, it did come off as inappropriate.
Right now, Fu Xuan was, after all, still a girl in her early teens, with a strict sense of boundaries between men and women.
Nevertheless, to complete the script, he couldn't afford to leave a bad impression, so it seemed like he could only rely on his acting skills to fix his mistake.
"Forgive me... You just reminded me of my late disciple..."
Lucian apologized with a bitter smile.
"When she was about your age, she also loved sweets. Whenever she ate them, her mouth was always sticky with sugar, and I'd wipe it away for her."
"But later, because she was struck by mara, she took her own life before she got fully corrupted... I still keep certain habits to this day, and wiping your mouth is... just something I do unconsciously... I'm sorry..."
As Lucian explained why he had done that 'inappropriate' act, he wore a look of sorrow, as if such a disciple had truly existed.
Fu Xuan, who listened to his story seriously, instantly felt guilty, sorrow swelling in her chest.
"I'm sorry, Teacher... I... I didn't know..." Fu Xuan apologized softly, biting her lower lip. "If... if doing this can make you feel a little better, then... I don't mind..."
Right after saying this, she leaned her face closer of her own accord, but it seemed to be the first time someone outside her parents had gotten so close, so her cheeks glowed fiery crimson.
Lucian, seeing this, suddenly felt that tricking such a young girl was rather immoral and wrong.
Still, what else could he do?
He had no other alternative to get closer to her this quickly.
In the end, Lucian reached out and gently continued wiping the corner of Fu Xuan's mouth, feeling her incredibly soft, moist, and tender lips—they were so soft and tender that he feared pressing any harder might bruise them.
Lucian, looking as though he had finally fulfilled a long-standing wish, slowly withdrew his hand with a calm, serene expression, but just as he stood up to leave, Fu Xuan suddenly reached out and tugged on his sleeve.
"Teacher, that day, you said you had some kind of fate with the Fu family, right?" Fu Xuan asked softly, her voice as light as a feather. "What kind of fate is it? Can I know?"
Lucian glanced at the jade hairpin trembling gently in her hair, then looked into her clear eyes with a smile that held deep meaning.
"Little Xuan, listen well—heaven's secrets cannot be revealed." Lucian replied calmly, gently releasing her grip on his clothes. "I'm sorry. I can't tell you."
Just like that, he turned, then walked away without hesitation.
Fu Xuan watched his departing back, raising a hand to touch the corner of her lips, feeling as if the lingering warmth of her teacher's slender finger remained.
'No… what am I even thinking…'
Fu Xuan quickly shook her head, then patted her warm cheeks.
'Father said that Teacher Lucian is at least a thousand years old. He must only see me as his late disciple.'
'If only I didn't have to become the Master Diviner's disciple, I'd really want him as my master...'
===
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