He’s Making a Fortune: The Tale of a Teller
Fortune teller Mr. Li at work
Li Jiu Ming is a 58-year-old fortune teller who runs his business from his small home in a traditional Beijing hútòng 胡同 near the Yong He Lama Temple, a well-known Buddhist monastery. Mr. Li is an expert in Zhou Yi divination 周易, a traditional Chinese method for predicting future events using ancient texts. He agreed to read my fortune and provide an interview regarding his profession.
Prior to reading my fortune, Mr. Li asked me to shake three divination coins in my fist while thinking about what I wished to ask him. I made six throws in this fashion, with Mr. Li methodically noting the arrangement of the coins each time.
“That’s a good one”, he remarked, upon noticing the coin combination from my final throw. That combination represented the metamorphosis from a fish into a dragon. He explained that the dragon will then move into its rightful position, resulting in my every wish coming true. He looked into my past and saw an unsuccessful career. Starting from next year, he claimed, my luck will improve, and I will have a brilliant career in politics or finance. He correctly stated that I have never been married. Had I married early, he said, it would have ended in divorce. He predicted that I will marry in 2013, though my first marriage will end in divorce. This will be followed by a second, successful, marriage.