[The Search for Xu Gui...]
Suddenly, the search for Xu Gui unfolded online with great fanfare. By the time the production team found out, the topic had already climbed to the top of the trending searches.
Director: What the heck?
After the staff carefully explained what was going on, the director's lips twitched involuntarily. He couldn't help but think: As expected of Xu Gui, she always manages to bring a little "surprise" to herself and the netizens.
However, this was also a good thing for the production team, as it would bring them a lot of buzz.
He just wondered where this person was hiding, setting up a fortune-telling stall.
Meanwhile, in Xu Gui's numerous fan groups, countless netizens were also discussing this matter, all very curious about where Xu Gui was hiding.
[I bet it's a shady place, maybe some shopping mall. Little Turtle is afraid of the cold; with the sun so bright outside, she definitely wouldn't be setting up a stall outdoors!] [
"Then I bet it must be a place with lots of delicious food. Little Turtle has a sweet tooth and loves good food, so she'd definitely like a place with lots of delicious food."]
["According to your guess, then the only place Little Turtle would appear is a 'food court'?"]
["No way, Little Turtle likes quiet. Food courts are too lively, she definitely won't go!"]
["Ahhh, City A is so big, I really can't imagine where she would go."]
…
And at this moment, where is Xu Gui?
The answer is, in a secluded and quiet old neighborhood in City A. The advantage of this old neighborhood is that it's cool. The landscaping is well done, with trees everywhere. And now, Xu Gui is setting up her stall under the huge canopy of a tree in the neighborhood.
In front of her is a familiar table (it's been with her since she started fortune-telling), and on the table are cups of iced milk tea with condensation droplets rolling on the sides.
Xu Gui, biting the straw, took a big sip, sucking the soft, chewy taro balls into her mouth. She swallowed the iced milk tea, chewing the taro balls, radiating pure bliss.
Yuan Lu and Yang Haolin sat next to Xu Gui, each holding a cup of milk tea, gulping it down. Yang Haolin had hidden his camera in the bushes behind Xu Gui, the lens pointed at the light spots on the ground.
The viewers in the live stream, looking at the light spots cast on the ground, thought: "[...So, we came here to see how beautiful these light spots are?]
Why hasn't anyone found Xu Gui yet?"
"Hey, you guys are... fortune telling?"
Just then, a surprised exclamation rang out. An elderly woman, with her hands behind her back and carrying a supermarket bag, strolled over, craning her neck to look at the banner next to Xu Gui and the others. Then, looking at Xu Gui and the others, she asked,
"You guys can tell fortunes? How much is a session?"
Xu Gui took a big gulp of her milk tea, and after swallowing, she said unhurriedly, "It's free."
The words "free" seemed to trigger some key phrase instantly. Xu Gui and the others felt a gust of wind flash by, and then the old woman was sitting down in front of them.
"It's free, so please tell my fortune." The old woman said.
Xu Gui: "...What do you want to know?" She put down her milk tea.
The old lady's eyes darted around, and she leaned closer to Xu Gui, whispering, "Then please tell me about my marriage prospects!"
"..."
In the silence, Yang Haolin looked at the old lady in surprise and said, "Grandma, you're so old, and you still want to know about marriage prospects?"
Hearing this, the old lady gave Yang Haolin a displeased look and said, "So what if I'm old? Does being old mean I don't have the right to pursue happiness? My husband has been dead for twenty or thirty years, can't I find someone else?"
Yang Haolin chuckled dryly, "That's not what I meant..."
"Hmph!" The old lady snorted, haughtily saying, "And what's with calling me Grandma? Call me Auntie... I'm only sixty-eight this year. Based on the average lifespan of ninety, I should live at least another twenty years!"
The old lady spoke with an air of youthful innocence, stating, "Since that's the case, of course I should find a companion while I'm still young, lest I have no one to dance with in the square."
Xu Gui nodded in agreement, "What you said makes sense."
Hearing Xu Gui's words, the old lady looked at her with satisfaction, saying, "You're such a good talker, unlike some people who are so young yet so rigid in their thinking, even more old-fashioned than us."
Rigid Thinking - Yang Haolin: "...You even know what rigid thinking means, old lady."
The old lady glanced at him sideways, saying, "Of course! Don't let my appearance fool you, I go online every day, I'm very fashionable!"
Everyone: We can see it now, you really are fashionable! You even know the word 'fashion'.
...
The old lady's desire to calculate her marriage prospects wasn't without reason.
According to the old woman, she had a hard life. She lost her husband in middle age and raised three children alone, supporting their education, marriage, and children of their own. She had toiled her whole life, and now she lives with her eldest son, helping him take care of his grandchildren.
Her fiancé… that's what the old woman called him—she met him while square dancing. He was a retired teacher whose wife had also died years ago. They chatted for a while and found they got along very well, so they decided to live together.
The old woman sighed and said, "I thought that if we lived together, we could help each other out, have company wherever we went, and the children wouldn't need to be looked after so much. But my son and his family just won't agree to it."
The old woman became somewhat sad as she spoke.
"They say I'm this old, still doing these things, aren't I ashamed!" The old woman sniffed and said, "Why should I be ashamed? I don't steal or rob, I'm just dating, and it's all aboveboard. What's there to be ashamed of?"
"I've worked hard for them most of my life. After their father died, I was afraid that if I remarried, the next man wouldn't treat them well. So even though life was hard, I gritted my teeth and persevered. I never thought about living with anyone."
"But now, my three children, those who were supposed to get married have gotten married, those who were supposed to have children have had children. I've been faithful for so many years, and I just want to remarry. Have I broken some kind of law? Why is everyone against it? They even say I'm improper, that it's shameful to talk about it."
"I'm just looking for a partner, what's wrong with that? What's shameful about it? Does it mean that it's improper for me to look for a partner when I'm old? How can such a thing exist in this world?"
The old lady was so angry, anxious, sad, and bitter that she started to cry, which made people feel a little sorry for her.
Seeing this, Yuan Lu quickly handed her a tissue and said softly, "Please wipe your tears. Maybe your children are worried that you will meet the wrong person..."
Hearing this, the old lady said, "They are not worried that I will meet the wrong person. They are obviously worried that if I get married, there will be no one to take care of their children! Ha, tell me, before they got married, I raised them, supported their education, helped them build a family business, and watched them get married and have children..."
"Finally, they've all gotten married and had children, and my life is finally over. But after they have their kids, I'll have to take care of my grandchildren!"
The old lady looked a little lost. "It seems like my whole life has revolved around them. After going around them, now I'm going to go around their children... If I have any objections, they have a lot of things to say to me, like how other grandmothers are like this or that, saying that they are my grandchildren too, how can I just ignore them?"
"But, but..."
The old lady felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. After all, all her old friends lived like this, thinking about their children when they were young, and thinking about their grandchildren when they were old, and their lives passed by peacefully and ordinarily.
"I just don't want it this way. I want a different life," the old woman said. "I just want to live a life of my own. That's all I ask. Why won't they agree? I didn't interfere much when they got married, so why are they so against it now that I want to get married?"
The old woman's words were somewhat incoherent and rambling. She probably didn't even realize how lost she looked.
It was as if she herself didn't know what she wanted; she was just instinctively trying to escape her current life.
Xu Gui realized that the old woman didn't really want him to tell her fortune. She just had no one to confide in and wanted someone to talk to.
Viewers in the live stream couldn't see the old woman's face, but they could hear her voice. After hearing her words, everyone couldn't help but feel moved:
"The old woman's words remind me of my mother. She's spent her whole life around the stove, and now that she's older, she's spending her time around her grandchildren, cooking for the family, taking them to and from school. It seems like she's never had a life of her own."
"Grandma's words are so pitiful. She's spent her whole life thinking about her children, and now that she's older and wants to have some life of her own, her children won't even allow it. So, what's the point of having children?" [
Although, if it were someone she met while square dancing, even if I were the old lady's children, I wouldn't agree. You don't know, the relationships between the old men and women who square dance are incredibly complicated. They're more promiscuous than you imagine. My neighbor's grandma, for example, was caught by her husband having affairs with other old men.]
[Actually, I sensed that more than the insistence on marriage, the old lady was heartbroken by her children's lack of understanding, saddened that everything she did was rejected, and her son's comment about being "shameful"—if I were in her shoes, I'd probably break down too.]
[I agree with the old lady. So what if she's old? Everyone has the right to pursue happiness, regardless of age. The old lady is an independent person with a sound personality, so no one, not even her children, has the right to stop her from doing what she wants.]
[That's true, but the old lady is so old; she needs to consider her future care. If she gets married like this, it means her children will have multiple stepfathers. No one wants that.]
[This is actually a very complex issue. Different perspectives lead to different opinions. It seems that both the old lady and her children have their reasons.]
[That's why I've always disliked these kinds of family squabbles. They're the hardest things to handle; a slight misstep can lead to a messy situation, pleasing neither side.]
...
After the old lady calmed down a bit, Xu Gui finally spoke.
"So, you want to have your marriage predicted with this old gentleman," she looked at the old lady, "but do you want to know if this marriage is good or bad? For example, whether you can get married smoothly, or whether you will be happy after marriage?"
Predicting marriage is a very broad term, encompassing many things. It depends on what the old lady specifically wants predicted.
Upon hearing this, the old lady asked, "Can't we count them all?"
Xu Gui replied, "...That's possible."
The old lady laughed and waved her hand, indicating, "Then let's count them all!"
She muttered, "My children always say that if I remarry, life will definitely be difficult. So, please help me calculate what will happen if I disregard my children's wishes and insist on marrying my current partner."
Xu Gui looked at her and spoke.