茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

During the dinner, Xiang Kun still relied on the two stones with established super sensory contact to suppress his urge to vomit. However, compared to dining with just two or three people, it was quite easy for him to eat less or not at all under the watchful eyes of many during a group dinner, now that he had the ability to build cognitive models of multiple people based on his new cognitive pattern.

For example, he chewed more even when there was nothing in his mouth; occasionally, he pretended to drink soup from his bowl, while actually not having sipped at all; and when others turned their attentions to him, he became more talkative, so as to distract them from noticing his idleness. Otherwise, people would naturally urge him to eat and even serve him food with public chopsticks.

If Xiang Kun was a person who could easily be overlooked, he wouldn’t need to go through all this. Much to his dismay, however, he was currently the most focused person at the table, particularly to the four including Zhang Qian.

So, at the table, Xiang Kun took the initiative to inform others about the cooperation between his and Zhang Qian’s company. He not only helped Zhang Qian to explain her previous attitude and his reasons for not answering the phone all this time—but of course, he didn’t mention anything about his privacy or company secrets.

On the other hand, he was also guiding the conversation in the direction of company management, industry status, enterprise management, market development, and entrepreneurial opportunities. He dragged Zi Cheng, Chang Bin, and Chang Bin’s friends into the conversation with Zhang Qian while gradually distancing himself from it, focusing their attention on each other.

Xiang Kun also knew that some questions would inevitably be raised during the dinner with Zhang Qian and others.

Sure enough, when Chang Bin mentioned the “fortune-telling talent” Zhang Qian had previously mentioned in a tailor shop, Zhang Qian immediately started recounting the encounter between her, Yang Jie, Xiang Kun, and Liu Chuang at the bar for the first time. Of course, she conveniently left out the initial flirtatious approach.

After hearing Zhang Qian describe Xiang Kun’s A4 paper magic, both Chang Bin and his friends, hearing about it for the first time, looked at Xiang Kun in amazement.

“You can do magic?” Chang Bin couldn’t help asking. He still remembered how surprised he was when he discovered that Xiang Kun could cook so well; he even felt like a fake friend. Now he realized that Xiang Kun could also perform magic, a seemingly awesome magic trick at that. Xiang Kun, his roommate for four years during university, constantly kept surprising him.

“It was just a small trick, nothing more.” laughed Xiang Kun, “Zi Cheng has also seen it.”

“That was no minor trick,” Zi Cheng immediately remarked, “Truth be told, I was also flabbergasted back then. It was indeed superb!”

Sitting next to Zhang Qian, Yang Jie laughed, “Master Xiang, my little brother idolizes you. Ever since he heard me talking about your ‘magic’ trick, he’s been keen to see it himself. Since everyone is showing interest, could you give us a demonstration?”

Yang Zhuo, sitting next to Xiang Kun, eagerly nodded in response to his sister’s words, confirming that he was indeed a “fan”.

After Zi Cheng agreed to have dinner together at Zhang Qian’s invitation, Xiang Kun had already prepared multiple response plans for the possible issues.

He knew Zhang Qian or Yang Jie would inevitably bring up that A4 paper “magic” trick and ask him to perform it again.

Of course, there were many ways for him to refuse naturally without causing any discomfort. However, he knew that once they brought up the A4 paper trick, it was bound to arouse others’ curiosity and attention. Even if he came up with convincing excuses, their excitement wouldn’t be completely extinguished; they would constantly remember this incident and very likely bring it up the next time they met.

So Xiang Kun decided to choose an approach that would directly provide the answers they were seeking.

Xiang Kun laughed and said, “As I said before at the bar when Chang Bin and I ran into you, there were no fortune-telling skills involved. It was just observation, reasoning, and a bit of luck.”

Shaking her head, Yang Jie responded, “The difficulty of discerning the relationship between my brother and me and guessing what I wrote on the A4 paper are not at the same level.”

“Although the difficulty may differ, the principles are the same.”

“Which principles? When Xiao Jie was writing, she specifically ran to the entrance of the bar. You couldn’t have seen. If you couldn’t see, how did you reason? And how could you guess she wasn’t writing Arabic numerals, but Chinese characters?” asked Zhang Qian, frowning.

Zhang Qian and Yang Jie had discussed, guessed, and analyzed Xiang Kun’s A4 paper “magic” trick countless times in private, but they had never been able to give a completely rational explanation. This was why they couldn’t resist bringing up the “magic” trick every time they saw Xiang Kun—they were just too curious and puzzled! The trick was unscientific!

Realizing that everyone’s attention was on him, Xiang Kun took a paper towel and wiped his mouth, intentionally giving the impression he had just finished his food.

“Do you remember your expression and reaction when I asked you to write any number on a piece of A4 paper?” Xiang Kun asked.

Yang Jie paused, furrowed her brows in thought, and said, puzzled, “What was my expression and reaction?”

Xiang Kun adjusted his glasses, made an exaggerated winking face with raised eyebrows, causing everyone to burst into laughter.

Yang Jie also laughed, saying, “I couldn’t have looked like that.”

“It wasn’t that explicit, but you indeed had a very conspicuous reaction. Especially after you had a whispering discussion with Director Zhang and looked back at Liu Chuang and me. The smugness on your face was as if you were certain we couldn’t guess.” Xiang Kun spoke slowly, “But why did you feel certain we couldn’t guess?”

Seeing that both Zhang Qian and Yang Jie were reflecting on the events at that time, Xiang Kun continued, “After you went to the entrance corridor to write, and then brought back the folded paper, do you remember the game of guessing which hand the paper was in that I played with you? Actually, the real aim of that game was not to guess which hand held the paper, but to probe your character and analyse your habits.”

“Do you remember what you said? You said: ‘Guess the number. Can you guess what number I wrote?’ You emphasized the word ‘number’ with a touch of ridicule. And on the word ‘what,’ your intonation was on the rise, implying a smug, delightfully sneaky feeling.

“If you had written a normal integer within ten, no matter what, I would have had a fair chance of guessing correctly even by blindly guessing. You wouldn’t have been so confident. So, I surmised that you didn’t write in Arabic numerals, but in Chinese numerals.”

Yang Jie widened her eyes at Zhang Qian, “Ridicule, smugness, and delight? Are my expressions that varied?”

Truth be told, three months had passed since that incident. How could they remember so many details, down to their expressions and gaze at that time? But when Xiang Kun repeated her words, Yang Jie could recall saying them. If Xiang Kun could remember those words so clearly, were their expressions really as explicit as he said?

Zhang Qian frowned and asked, “Even if you guessed that she wrote a number in Chinese, how could you guess it was the number six?”

Xiang Kun said, “Based on my judgement of her character when I was guessing which hand she hid the paper in, since she chose a Chinese numeral, she wouldn’t choose ‘one, two, three’; these numbers are too simple in both strokes and structure. But the wall of the corridor there is not smooth, and a piece of A4 paper wouldn’t be easy to write on. So, ‘four, five, seven, nine,’ which have long strokes, are likewise inappropriate. Hence, the most reasonable choice left is ‘six.’ Of course, there’s also a large element of luck involved, but it seems I was lucky.”

After Xiang Kun finished speaking, everyone in the cabin looked stunned and glanced at each other. Zhang Qian, who was more evidently disbelieving, said, “Your explanation is too unconvincing. Are you messing around? Are we three-year-old kids?”

Not only her, but Chang Bin and Zi Cheng, although they didn’t speak, also clearly held the same attitude. They didn’t quite believe his slightly far-fetched explanation.

Xiang Kun still responded calmly, “Indeed, it is hard to understand just by listening to me say it. How about this, instead of me merely explaining, let’s try it out on the spot. Director Zhang, or Student Yang, it doesn’t matter who, you can whisper a number to the person next to you, anywhere from one to nine, and then I’ll guess it.”

So Zhang Qian leaned over to Yang Jie’s ear, cupped her hands to protect the sides of her ears, and quietly said a number.

With the volume of her voice, even Yang Zhuo, sitting on the other side of Yang Jie, wouldn’t be able to hear, let alone anyone else in the cabin.

Of course, this does not include Xiang Kun.

With his hearing, he could still receive the vibration of sound waves through Zhang Qian’s hands. He could even hear Zhang Qian’s vocal cords vibrating and knew clearly that she said “nine.”

“Take a guess.” After Zhang Qian whispered into Yang Jie’s ear, she sat back, relaxed, and looked at Xiang Kun across the table.

“Considering your character, you wouldn’t choose ‘six’ like Student Yang did. You are not the kind of person to ‘follow the crowd.’” Xiang Kun didn’t immediately give the correct answer but calmly proceeded with his “analysis,” “Compared to Student Yang, your personality is a bit more dominating. In your interactions with her, you act like an elder sister. Hence, the number you chose should be higher than the one Yang Jie chose. Among the numbers seven, eight, and nine, I believe you chose one. Judging by your phone number, if you chose it yourself, you seem to favor the number ‘nine.’ So I guess it’s nine.”

Zhang Qian and Yang Jie looked at each other. The shock in their eyes already gave away the answer to the others in the room.

“Did he really guess correctly?” Chang Bin also asked Yang Jie in disbelief.

As Yang Jie nodded, Zhang Qian had already said, “Let’s do it again.” Saying this, she pulled Yang Jie up, and they both went to the corner of the room farthest from Xiang Kun to talk.

The private room was over thirty square meters, so the space was naturally quite ample.

It took only a few seconds for Zhang Qian and Yang Jie to return to the table and sit down: “Okay, your turn to guess again. If you guess right, I’ll believe your explanation!”

Xiang Kun naturally heard her saying the number “one” to Yang Jie, but he still pretended to analyze it: “As I said before, Director Zhang, you have a strong personality, so you would pay great attention to what I just said. You also care a lot about your relationship with Mrs. Yang, so you certainly wouldn’t choose a number above ‘six’ again. Instead, you’d likely choose a number under ‘six’. Given your ‘do the opposite’ strategy, it completely aligns with your personality to go to the extreme and choose the simplest and most unlikely number ‘one’. I wonder if I’ve guessed correctly this time?”

Zhang Qian had a complex expression, her eyes flickering, as if she was truly recalling the mental process she went through when she chose the number, pondering over whether it was indeed as Xiang Kun had guessed.

Yang Jie adjusted her glasses in surprise, commented: “Why do I feel like I’m playing a game with a cheater? You’re like a mind reader!”

When Zhang Qian was whispering the number to her in the corner, she had been keeping an eye on and observing Xiang Kun. She couldn’t detect anything unusual about him; it seemed he had truly analyzed the correct answer using the information provided.

“You guessed correctly again? Not bad, Ah Tu! You’re really starting to feel like a fortune teller!” Zi Cheng also said excitedly. He had previously witnessed Xiang Kun performing “A4 magic” at the bar and had always assumed there was some trick involved with the A4 paper or he had used other magical means to find out the numbers Yang Jie had written on the paper. But today, to see Xiang Kun guess Zhang Qian’s number correctly twice “on the spot”, and even explain his analytical process, felt like watching a movie.

Zhang Qian frowned for a moment and said, “I want to try again, one last time.”

As Yang Jie was about to get up and go to the corner to hear her friend’s number, Zhang Qian directly called over a waiter and requested a pen and paper.

Zhang Qian then went outside the box alone, wrote a number on the paper, folded it intosmall square, and then returned to the room.

“What number did I write on the paper?” asked Zhang Qian, deliberately keeping a straight face to control her expression as she returned to her seat.

The environment in the restaurant wasn’t much quieter than the bar they were in before. Especially when Zhang Qian was writing, she was outside the box with the door closed. Amid various noises around her, without the “super sensory contact” established with the paper acting as a sound wave anchor, Xiang Kun could only hear blurred details and couldn’t determine what number she had written. However, he could hear that after she initially wrote a number, she tore up the paper, crumpled it, and threw it away, then wrote another number.

Obviously, this decisive woman was also starting to be a bit hesitant.

Even without the ability to “see through”, Xiang Kun was still calm. He had numerous methods and pieces of information at his disposal to make a judgment, especially after the previous two guessing games, which allowed him to further perfect his cognitive model of Zhang Qian. Of course, if judging Zhang Qian’s choices in other matters, the precision may not be high. However, for this “number guessing” game, with the real-time senses information to infer, Xiang Kun was quite confident.

“You chose an integer within ten, right?” Xiang Kun said.

“Yes.” Zhang Qian nodded without changing her expression.

“Is it in Arabic numerals or in Chinese?”

“You guess.” Zhang Qian kept a poker face.

Though her expression didn’t change much, her heart rate, breathing, and pupil dilation were not without feedback. Through this information, Xiang Kun had made a judgement: she had written the number in Chinese.

“Could it be the same as Mrs. Yang, written ‘six’?” Said Xiang Kun.

“Who knows?” Zhang Qian remained expressionless.

From her bodily feedback, Xiang Kun could judge her emotions, which were like a mix of slight tension and a bit of relief. This suggested that the number she initially wrote and then tore up outside was most likely the same Chinese number “six” as Yang Jie had chosen earlier.

Under the gaze of the other seven people in the room, Xiang Kun continued to “seriously” “analyse” the number Zhang Qian could have chosen: “Considering Director Zhang’s character, even if she wanted to be unpredictable, she probably wouldn’t pick six. So, between one to five, seven to nine, which one could it be? Would she intentionally repeat and select the previously chosen one or nine? Or would it be two, three, four, or five?”

When he said these numbers, his speaking speed was very slow, and he used this opportunity to analyze Zhang Qian’s information feedback using cognitive models.

“Director Zhang, do you have any opinions on the number seven?”

Zhang Qian was getting somewhat impatient: “Why are you so long-winded, just tell me the number I wrote.”

“I’m not using any special abilities or mind reading, isn’t there supposed to be an analysis process?” Xiang Kun said with a smile, “Since Director Zhang’s reactions to numbers one to seven and nine are all regular and straightforward, it seems that the selected number should be eight.”

Zhang Qian asked him, “Are you sure? It’s ‘eight’?”

Xiang Kun nodded, “Yes, it’s ‘eight’, and it’s the Chinese number eight.” In fact, it was Zhang Qian’s last question that allowed him to make an entirely definite judgment.

“You got me!” Zhang Qian forcefully threw the paper in her hand onto the dining table. She couldn’t hide her surprise, disappointment, and helplessness from her facial expression and said to Xiang Kun, “How did you figure it out?”

“It’s not something mystical, it’s just a bit of psychological knowledge and luck. I’ve been talking to Director Zhang this whole time, just observing and probing. Although Director Zhang was deliberately keeping her cool, she exposed herself in the end. Of course, there’s also some element of guessing on my part, I’m not 100% certain. As for how the analysis was done, I won’t bother explaining. Otherwise, you’ll think I’m showing off pseudoscience to fool people,” Xiang Kun said with a smile.

“Xiang Kun, when did you become an expert in psychology?” Chang Bin asked in confusion.

“I’m not any expert. I’ve just read a few books, and a friend gave me a few pointers. If you are talking about someone who is amazing, that would be my friend. He got consecutive masters degrees in psychiatric and mental health, applied psychology, and he is a super scholar with an IQ of over 140. Now, that’s a professional. I’m still far from that, just bluffing and chancing my luck,” Xiang Kun explained.

Sure enough, once he said this, everyone’s attention was naturally drawn to the “real professional” he mentioned. Before long, they built an image in their minds of a genius in psychiatry and psychology due to his incessant description.

By the time everyone left the Hunan cuisine restaurant and transferred to a coffee shop to meet with Wang Han and the others, they had primarily accepted his explanation for the “A4 Paper Magic”, even the previously fixated Zhang Qian and Yang Jie were no exceptions.

Actually, he had used this routine several times before, like in the bar when he explained to Yang Jie and her brother how he deduced their sibling relationship, or the second time he met Zhang Qian when he explained how he figured out her and Yang Jie’s zodiac sign the first time they met at the bar.

This time, he just added a few steps, firstly throwing out an explanation, a theory, no matter how incredible it may seem. Then proving this explanation, this theory in other ways. After convincing everyone, further throwing out a person stronger than him to attract attention and explain the reason for the proving process.

Anyway, in the private room tonight, apart from him, no one knew Old Xia. Even at most, Chang Bin may have heard about Old Xia’s things before, only saw Old Xia’s video on Christmas Eve, and did not have any other understanding.

As for a bit later, when everyone went to meet at the coffee shop, if someone brought up what happened in the compartment, Nana, Yang Zhen’er and the others who didn’t see his process of guessing numbers in the compartment wouldn’t think what he said was too exaggerated – because what he said was primarily actual facts after all. Old Xia indeed has those two degrees and is indeed a genius with an IQ of over 140, and he did frequently ask Old Xia for knowledge relating to psychology and mental illnesses before.

And tonight’s performance can also allow Xiang Kun to re-establish Chang Bin and Zi Cheng’s cognition and judgement of him, so that in future interactions with them, he can further demonstrate this “talent”.

About half an hour later, Xiang Kun and his group of eight met with Wang Han’s bridesmaid group and Yang Zhen’er at the coffee shop.

When the thirteen people got together, they naturally introduced each other all over again.

The biggest question that had been on their minds was already answered by Xiang Kun at the restaurant, so Zhang Qian and Yang Jie’s attention wasn’t on him anymore, they were having an engaging conversation with Wang Han and Tang Baoting instead.

In contrast, Yang Zhuo, who hadn’t said much in the compartment before, moved closer to Xiang Kun and whispered, “Kun… I mean, Brother Xiang, can I add you on Wechat?”

I recommend the new work “Han Que” (“Chinese Scripture”) from the master historian July. It’s super good! If it’s not, come chop me~!