Chapter 1: After crossing over, should I livestream fortune-telling?
"Jiang Tang, you may leave now."
"You say you'd stop being a decent astrologer to be a goddamn swindler instead. Who did you think about swindling? Our customers?"
"Those who are in this business, just pick up the nice words to make customers happy and earn money. But you, every customer you get, you start with, this isn't good, that isn't good."
"You must understand, we are astrologers, our job is to comfort, not to swindle!"
"Do you have any idea how many complaints against you we've received this month? If you want to be a swindler, go elsewhere."
"But let me remind you, being a swindler is too risky. Be careful or you'll end up in jail..."
Jiang Tang was standing at the entrance of the astrology chamber with her belongings, a bit bewildered.
She, an esteemed celestial master in the arcane world, was just fired by people!
If her old acquaintances found out about this, wouldn't they laugh their heads off?
Jiang Tang was quite helpless. She originally wasn't a person from this world. A month ago, she woke up to find herself in the body of another Jiang Tang who had the same name as her.
This body, devoid of parents, grew up in an orphanage and through her own efforts and interest, had become an astrologer.
When she took over, the original owner was in the process of casting a star chart for a client, looking into their future development.
She inherited the memories of the host, calmly drawing out the customer's astrology chart and seeing the customer off.
It took Jiang Tang half a day to finally accept the reality of her body swap.
She also decided to follow the original path of the previous self and make a good career as an astrologer in this world, while finding a way to return to her own world.
After all, being an astrologer and her old profession were pretty similar, both were about reading people's personalities and destinies.
However, things didn't go as planned. Even though she had the memories of her previous life, when it came to consulting her clients, she could see their problems with just a glance, without using an astrological chart, and voice them out.
She had no other hobbies, just loved reading fortunes, doing face-reading, roving around capturing some ghost, eliminating evil and so on.
So, when facing those clients, she didn't think too much and just blurted out.
Every client she dealt with got to know about their unfortunate experiences or encounters that were to come, all of them being female, she just wanted to give them a heads up.
Little did she think that after merely a few words, those clients wouldn't listen and begun complaining about her perpetuating superstitions, and accusing her of breaking up families and ruining happiness.
Yes, quite a few clients had major troubles at home which they were not aware of, she mentioned these but instead of being believed, she got berated.
She was criticized for not reading the astrological chart, or doing any kind of eight characters' fortune telling and simply prattling away without any basis.
Hence, within a month of her joining, the number of complaints rose beyond count.
The astrology house, due to so many complaints, decided to fire her...
For Jiang Tang, who was always the guest of honor wherever she went, this is the first time she encountered such a slippery Waterloo, truly life is full of uncertainties.
Heaven above, Earth below!
She just wanted to give those girls with an unfortunate future a chance to change their destiny, but never intended to ruin their family.
Maybe her problem was the timing and the way she says it?
After all, they came to inquire about their careers, yet without using any divination tools, I told them what they didn't want to hear.
"Sigh, how embarrassing..."
Jiang Tang, feeling her face flush, quickly grabbed her stuff and walked away.
Once she was back at her rented room which barely fit a bed and a desk, Jiang Tang put her things on the desk before collapsing onto her small bed.
"What should I do now?" Jiang Tang murmured, staring at the mottled ceiling.
"In this world, everything requires money—a concept well understood by Jiang Tang. She used to have savings of 20,000 yuan, plus this month's salary of 2,500 yuan. It's going to be difficult to make ends meet..."
Thinking about it made her blush. She had managed to lose the job of the original person, a job he had strived so hard to get. She had barely held it for a month before she was shown the door...
Within a month, Jiang Tang managed to fully understand the world. Not only could she operate a mobile phone, but she was also adept at using 5G, often watching short videos to learn about the world's oddities.
So, Jiang Tang knew surviving in a first-tier city wouldn't be easy.
The original person's skill was fortune telling, so if she wanted to find a new job, the only place she could find one would be the astrology houses.
But her own training was in the art of mystery, and she feared once she got the job, she would be reported yet again for speaking without using fortune-telling tools.
It wasn't that she refused to use the tools, but they didn't suit her, and she couldn't help it.
In this world, people do not believe in mysticism, only science.
Astrologers are essentially psychological counsellors and advisors.
If they say what people want to hear, there won't be any issues.
"If what you say is too ludicrous or not what they want to hear, they'll accuse you of being mired in feudal superstition and urge you to believe in science!
If she doesn't engage in this, she has no idea what else she should do.
From a young age, she enjoyed fortune-telling and divination the most. If she didn't do what she was good at, then what was the point of life?
It was through fortune-telling and exorcising ghosts that she accumulated merit for cultivation. If she wanted to return to her own world, then she had to cultivate diligently.
But this world didn't believe in all this–she was at a loss of what to do.
"Sigh..."
Jiang Tang sighed helplessly, took out her mobile phone.
She prepared to look in the '58 Job City' to see if there was any work that she could do.
Jiang Tang skillfully swiped up and down on her screen, her facial expressions changing as she read.
"Sales, base salary of ￥4000 plus commission; the harder you work, the more you earn?"
"A restaurant chef, ￥6000 a month with a break of four days each month, nope if I can't cook, I won't consider it."
"Receptionist? Just need to register and check-in customer information and get a wage of ￥3000? This... seems not suitable for me."
"Nurse, rotating shifts, salary negotiable?"
Jiang Tang kept on looking, but she couldn't find a job that suited her.
It wasn't that the jobs weren't suitable for her, but more so, if she set her heart to do a task, she certainly could do anything."
Her instincts led her to offer fortune telling services. However, she feared that if she went to crowded places, she might end up with complaints...
As she pondered, a message suddenly popped up on Jiang Tang's phone:
#Man impersonates a mystic on a live broadcast to give predictions. Many netizens were cheated out of their money and led astray. After being reported by someone, the man was arrested by the police according to the law#
Jiang Tang clicked in to read the message and immediately rose from her bed with an excited look on her face.
"I think I've found a solution!"
The man got reported and arrested because he didn't have real skills. If it was her doing the fortunetelling, she probably wouldn't get arrested, right?
As long as she could change the fate of a few people, word of mouth would spread. Then, wouldn't she have a steady stream of customers, and accumulate good karma?
She has to remember that live broadcasts on the internet in this world are very impactful, no matter the age or gender of the viewers.
Even through a screen, she could offer fortune telling and palmistry services. Wouldn't this be easier than her previous life of traveling and gaining experience?
Believe in science?
But isn't theology at the end of science?
Anyway, as a heavenly master, how could she move forward if she constantly looked back?
Doing what she loved and excelled at would bring meaning, wouldn't it?
The more Jiang Tang thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. So, she promptly sat down at her table.
After giving herself a new alias, Jiang Tang opened Douyin.
Is live streaming not better than working for someone else? The original body earned a monthly salary of five thousand, which seemed plenty, but Jiang Tang happened to check online the earnings of those who live streamed astrology readings.
The earnings from just a day or two might surpass the original body's monthly salary!
The original body had a fairly introverted personality, leading her to not dare to create her account and workspace, giving it to others to manage privately.
But she's different!
She deals with all sorts of people and supernatural beings daily, and the least of her fears is presenting upfront.
Calculating a bit, her first customer will arrive soon, so Jiang Tang, looking at the empty live-stream room, is not in a hurry.
She also cheerfully orders herself a serving of snail noodle soup and milk tea via her phone.
Live-streaming fortune-telling could work, money will quickly fly into her direction.
So, order whatever you feel like eating!
While Jiang Tang waits for her delivery and her client.
A girl named "Su Le," having nothing to do, is browsing on Douyin.
She's a somewhat famous web anchor on Douyin, not wanting to broadcast today due to a matter that's been troubling her for a long time.
She came here to find some interesting videos to divert her attention.
But no matter how hard she tries to distract herself, those cold eyes that have been following her just won't leave her alone.