"It's not that it can't be calculated."
Lu Zhaoling's words caused Sun Yingying's eyes to widen.
"If you know the person's Eight Characters of Birth Time, and if you have an object they once wore close to their body, or a portrait one that is an exact likeness, of course I can divine that person's fate. Tracing their life backward is effectively the same as calculating how they died."
Lu Zhaoling spoke with complete seriousness.
Qingyin and Qingbao both looked at her in surprise. Even though they had followed their mistress for some time now, it seemed their understanding of her abilities was still far too shallow!
Could something like that really be divined?!
Lin Yiru and Gu Qing were equally shocked. Their first instinct was disbelief; in fact, they found Lu Zhaoling a bit difficult to describe. How could a girl only in her teens be involved in such deceptive tricks? Or was this just another form of boasting?
Gu Qing's lips parted. She wanted to ask Lu Zhaoling if she was short on money or if her life was so difficult that she felt forced to use such tricks to earn some silver. She wanted to say that if that were the case, she could simply lend her some money first.
Sun Yingying, however, felt as if a ray of light had appeared in the darkness, and she was desperate to seize it.
"I know my cousin's Eight Characters of Birth Time. And I have a lock of her hair would that work?"
She had been young and mischievous back then and had made a mistake that almost resulted in her cousin's hair catching fire. In her haste, her cousin had used scissors to snip off the burning strands before they were all gone. Overwhelmed with guilt, Yingying had kept the extra hair she had trimmed off, tying it with a red string and hiding it away.
At the time, Yingying intended to use that lock of hair as a reminder to herself never to be so reckless again. After her cousin's death, that hair became a testament to her cousin's existence in this world.
Lu Zhaoling was quite surprised. She hadn't expected someone to have preserved a lock of hair from a person who had been dead for years.
"Having the person's own hair is indeed the best-case scenario. However, if I am to use it for the divination, I will have to burn it. Can you accept that?"
Sun Yingying hesitated for a moment. "Can you truly divine it?"
If she were being deceived, then the last thing she had left of her cousin would be gone...
"Yes, I truly can," Lu Zhaoling replied with absolute certainty, her voice calm.
Lin Yiru and Gu Qing exchanged a look, neither knowing how to advise Sun Yingying. However, they assumed she wouldn't have her cousin's hair on her person. They figured they could wait until Lu Zhaoling left and then try to talk Sun Yingying out of it before they scheduled a time.
After all, Lu Zhaoling was now the fiancé of Prince Jin. If she were lying, they wouldn't even know how to hold her accountable. If Sun Yingying lost her cousin's memento for nothing, she would be devastated.
To their complete surprise, however, Sun Yingying immediately pulled a sachet from her robes and placed it on the table. She gritted her teeth, having made her decision.
"My cousin's hair is in here. Her Eight Characters of Birth Time are..."
"Qingyin, get paper and ink," Lu Zhaoling interrupted. "I will write them down."
As soon as Qingyin set the paper down, the girls' eyes widened once more. It was yellow paper! She even brought out cinnabar! Is the Second Miss Lu really a practitioner of these arts?
Instead of being put off, Sun Yingying felt a surge of anticipation. Could this really work?
Lu Zhaoling wrote down the cousin's Eight Characters of Birth Time on the yellow paper and asked for her name.
"My cousin's name was Mo Qingqing."
Lu Zhaoling added the name Mo Qingqing to the paper.
"Qingbao, go borrow a bowl."
"Yes, Mistress."
Qingbao ran out and quickly returned with a white porcelain bowl.
Gu Qing and the others couldn't remain seated. They stood up instinctively, standing in a row and holding their breath as they watched Lu Zhaoling.
Lu Zhaoling glanced at Sun Yingying. "Miss Sun, you and Mo Qingqing were blood relatives, weren't you?" Even though they were cousins, she needed to be sure there wasn't an adoption or a very distant relationship involved.
"Yes, she was my biological cousin!" Yingying confirmed.
"Then please, Miss Sun, let a drop of your blood fall onto this yellow paper. A bloodline connection will make the divination more accurate."
Mo Qingqing had been dead for many years, and the lock of hair was even older; the spiritual bond might have weakened. Lu Zhaoling's spiritual energy was currently low, so she had to be meticulous. Adding extra elements would allow her to consume less of her own energy.
Sun Yingying gritted her teeth, pulled out a hairpin, pricked her finger, and squeezed out a drop of blood.
"Yingying!" Lin Yiru gasped in shock, quickly taking a handkerchief to press against her friend's finger. Why was she trusting the words of this Second Miss Lu so implicitly?
Lin Yiru's feelings toward Lu Zhaoling were complicated. Zhu Minghao was her fiancé, and now she was hearing that he had once tried to kidnap this girl to be his concubine and nearly beat her to death. Her upbringing wouldn't allow her to hate Lu Zhaoling, but the situation was awkward.
"Is that enough?" Sun Yingying asked, looking at Lu Zhaoling.
"It is."
Lu Zhaoling took the small lock of hair out of the sachet and placed it in the bowl. She flipped the yellow paper over and began drawing a talisman on the back. As she made the final stroke, a flash of golden light flickered a moment that Yingying and the others all witnessed.
Gu Qing's mouth hung open, and she forgot to close it. Sun Yingying's eyes were wide, not even daring to blink. Were their eyes playing tricks on them?
Holding the talisman between her fingers, Lu Zhaoling gave it a gentle shake, and it burst into flames.
"Ah!"
Lin Yiru cried out in surprise before immediately covering her mouth. How did that fire start?
Qingyin and Qingbao felt a sense of pride. Regardless of how much the others doubted before, once they saw their mistress perform this move, they had no choice but to be stunned!
Lu Zhaoling dropped the burning talisman into the bowl, and the lock of hair caught fire as well. She closed her eyes, entering a mysterious realm.
Sun Yingying and her friends didn't dare to breathe, standing together like three little birds perched on a branch.
"Your cousin lost her father when she was three. Her mother took her and remarried. When she was thirteen, her mother and stepfather died in an accident. She was left alone and helpless, but fortunately, she was taken in by relatives so she wouldn't end up displaced."
Sun Yingying's eyes went even wider. "Yes! That's all correct! That was when she came to live in my home."
Lin Yiru wanted to suggest that such information could be found out if one asked around, but she kept quiet.
Lu Zhaoling's fingers shifted as she calculated. She continued, "She observed mourning for three years and only married in the fourth year. Her husband's family was wealthy, which was considered a good marriage for an orphaned girl. However, they were childless after three years of marriage. Three years later..."
Hearing this, Sun Yingying's hands clenched into fists, her heart leaping into her throat. Even Gu Qing and Lin Yiru held their breath.
"Three years later, she died an unnatural death," Lu Zhaoling said clearly.
"An unnatural death! Does that... does that mean she died of illness?" Sun Yingying's voice trembled. Everything the Second Miss Lu had said so far was correct!
Lu Zhaoling shook her head.
"Dying of illness is dying of illness. An unnatural death is a violent one."
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