Ran was also a bit moved by what was said, her face slightly flushed, and she whispered, "Then I want a fortune told too. Where did that deduction maniac Shinichi run off to? When will he be able to come back..."
Conan, listening nearby, couldn't help but twitch his mouth, frantically complaining internally. 'Please! Sonoko, that idiot, is one thing, but Ran, how can you believe this too?!'
So-called fortune-telling, isn't it just using the Barnum effect in psychology to fool people with ambiguous, universally applicable statements? How could it possibly be accurate?!
But on the surface, he still pretended to be innocent. "Ran-neechan, fortune-telling is all a lie!"
"Oh, Conan, children shouldn't talk nonsense!" Sonoko immediately retorted.
"That master is very famous! Let's go try it, it's on the way up the mountain anyway!"
Unable to resist Sonoko's enthusiasm, the three continued up the mountain.
Sure enough, halfway up the mountain, in a relatively flat area with an open view, there was a newly built Taoist temple.
On the plaque above the temple gate, three gilded Chinese characters were carved: Yinkui Summit.
At the foot of the steps outside the temple gate, a simple stall was set up, covered with a cloth printed with Bagua patterns. Next to it stood a banner that read "Sui Bian Wen Ji Ting (Whatever Asking Pavilion)".
Behind the stall sat a fortune teller.
This fortune teller appeared short, wearing a yellow and black Taoist robe, a small round hat with a tiger pattern on his head, and round sunglasses on his nose.
The most striking thing was the two thick, black, but somewhat crooked false whiskers pasted above his upper lip.
Seeing someone coming, the master quickly shoved a black dog under the table and began to chant in a theatrical manner, "I am Ju Fufu, the senior sister of Yinkui Summit. Are the three guests here to seek divination? Come, come, come, ask whatever you want, three readings a day, completely free."
Conan followed behind Sonoko, observing the master, and his eyes turned into dots. This styling is too perfunctory, isn't it? Those whiskers are almost falling off... Will anyone really believe it?
"Wow, the master is so cute! This must be the very effective divination stall everyone talks about!" Sonoko didn't care about any of that, muttering softly.
As if she had discovered a treasure, her eyes lit up, and she immediately pulled Ran and hurried over.
She excitedly came to the stall, placing her hands on the table, "Master! Master! Please tell my fortune for my love life!"
Ju Fufu, who was called the master, looked very pleased. She glanced at Sonoko through her sunglasses, then pretended to be profound, stroked her two false whiskers, and said, "Miss, do not be impatient. Sincerity makes it effective. For love life, please shake a trigram first." She pointed to the turtle-shaped divination tube on the table.
Unlike ordinary divination tubes, this one was more like a dice cup, and instead of bamboo sticks, it contained three dice with different patterns on their faces.
Sonoko quickly picked up the dice cup, shaking it devoutly, muttering to herself, "Please bless me and Makoto, may everything go smoothly..."
Soon, the result came out.The patterns rolled by the three dice were two lightning bolts and one moon.
Ju Fufu looked at them in a theatrical manner, stomped on the tail of the black dog, Ashuo, under the table, exchanged glances with it for a moment, then made a few calculations with her fingers, and mused, "Hmm... This trigram... is a sign of moderate fortune. Miss, your path of love may have some slight difficulties, not a smooth journey."
Upon hearing this, Sonoko's face immediately tensed, "Ah? Difficulties? Master, what should I do?"
Ju Fufu continued to stroke her whiskers, slowly saying, "Don't worry, don't worry. Although there are difficulties, it is not without a solution. The trigram shows that you need to go through some trials before you can see the light after the clouds, and meet your destined partner."
Listening to these vague, all-purpose words, Conan, standing nearby, secretly curled his lip, thinking, I could do that too.
However, Ju Fufu's next sentence stunned everyone.
She paused, then added, "And... according to the trigram, your destined partner seems to have... rather dark skin."
"Dark skin?!" Sonoko and Ran exclaimed simultaneously.
Sonoko's face instantly turned bright red, not from shyness, but from extreme excitement, "Oh my god! Master! You've guessed it so accurately! Kyogoku Makoto... he really does have dark skin! It's from practicing karate in the sun! You can even figure that out?! That's amazing!"
Ran also covered her mouth in surprise, "It's truly incredible... she even knows that..."
Conan was also bewildered.
Anyone could say things like 'a difficult love life,' but to directly point out specific characteristics like 'dark skin'... this was no longer in the realm of ambiguity.
Could it be a coincidence? Did this master make a lucky guess?
Or had the other party seen Sonoko and Kyogoku Makoto before and was now setting them up?
No matter what Conan thought, Sonoko was now utterly impressed by this Master Ju.
She quickly nudged Ran beside her, "Ran! You should get your fortune told too! Ask where that scoundrel Kudo Shinichi has gone to die!"
Ran's strong anticipation was also piqued. She nodded, looking somewhat nervously at Ju Fufu.
"Master, can you help me find out where someone very important to me is right now? His name is Kudo Shinichi."
Ju Fufu once again used her old trick, asking Ran to shake a trigram as well.
Ran was incredibly lucky, directly shaking out three sun patterns, indicating great fortune.
Ju Fufu looked at the trigram and calculated for a long time, her brows furrowing tighter and tighter, as if encountering some difficulty.
After a while, she slowly spoke, her tone filled with surprise, "Hiss... Miss, your trigram is very peculiar."
"What's wrong, Master?" Ran's heart tightened.
"The trigram shows," Ju Fufu drew out her words, seemingly organizing her thoughts, "the person you are looking for... he is both far away and close at hand!"
"Far away... close at hand?" Ran murmured, repeating the phrase, her eyes filled with confusion, "Master, what do you mean by that? Does that mean... Kudo Shinichi... never left at all? He's been near me all this time?"
This interpretation startled Ran herself. She quickly looked around, but unfortunately, she didn't find Kudo Shinichi's figure.
Sonoko, with her wild imagination, suddenly clapped her hands and exclaimed, "Wow! Ran! Could it be that Kudo is actually a super perverted stalker?! He's been hiding in the shadows, secretly watching you?! That's why the master said he's close at hand! Eeeek~~~ It sounds so scary and exciting!"
Conan, listening nearby, broke out in a cold sweat.
Hey, hey! Sonoko, you gossip, don't misinterpret things! Who's a perverted stalker?!
But what kind of person is this fortune teller anyway?!
Is 'close at hand' implying something?
Did she figure out my identity?!
Impossible! Absolutely impossible!