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She placed a video call to Wu Feifei.

"What's up?" Wu Feifei picked up quickly. It was midday in New York, and she was in the middle of eating at a restaurant.

"Look what I found." Mu Qi picked up the tarot deck and held it up close to the camera.

"No way, staying up this late just to give me a reading?" Wu Feifei slurped up a mouthful of noodles, utterly unconcerned with maintaining any kind of image in front of Mu Qi.

"Bingo. Come on, keep me company for a bit. You've got time right now anyway." Back in college, Mu Qi had dragged Wu Feifei into playing with tarot cards more times than she could count. The readings were never particularly accurate, but the two of them always had fun with it. Wu Feifei enjoyed it because the readings gave her a sense of anticipation about the future, while Mu Qi enjoyed it because it honed her gift of gab—or, to put it less kindly, it honed her ability to talk complete nonsense with a straight face.

"Oh please, back in junior year you told me I'd end up together with my first love, and look at me now, still single." Wu Feifei shook her head.

"Ugh, things are different now. Come on, hurry up and tell me what you want a reading on." In her mind, the system urged Mu Qi to get to the point quickly.

"Hmm..." Wu Feifei propped her chin on her hand. Even though she claimed not to believe in this whole fortune-telling thing, she was now thinking it over seriously.

"I want to know... my career luck for the rest of the year. Is my career going to develop well?"

"No surprise there, just as much of a workaholic as I am." Mu Qi began shuffling the cards.

"Oh, flattery, flattery. Not as extreme as you, though," Wu Feifei said, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

Mu Qi choked slightly, aware she didn't have much of a leg to stand on, and didn't argue back.

"Okay, okay, silently repeat in your mind what you want to ask about, then pick the card you feel most drawn to." Mu Qi casually drew three cards and laid them face-up on the table.

"Getting more and more casual about this, huh. Back in college there used to be some kind of ritual and everything, now you're just having me pick a card straight up," Wu Feifei grumbled.

It had been a long time since Mu Qi had played with tarot cards, and she'd gotten a bit fuzzy on what the images on the cards actually meant.

"The second one." Grumbling aside, Wu Feifei still picked a card.

"Okay." Mu Qi also silently repeated Wu Feifei's question about her career luck in her mind, then drew the second card.

Suddenly, it felt as though her mind had been struck by a wave of warm water—countless fragmented images came rushing in from somewhere far away, then quickly gathered into a mass and surged toward Mu Qi. Within those fragmented images, she saw Wu Feifei.

Wu Feifei, at different points in time.

The images flashed by extremely fast; one moment of inattention and she'd miss one entirely. It reminded Mu Qi of when she was little, drawing little stick figures in the corner of every page of her math textbook, which would form a quick flip-book animation when she flipped through the pages.

"So that's how it works," Mu Qi murmured.

So this was how the ability worked.

"Congratulations, host. The system will now unbind."

"Eh? Already?" Before Mu Qi could even collect herself, the images in her mind vanished.

Everything settled back into stillness. Just as Mu Qi was about to ask the system something, the cold, mechanical voice sounded once more in her mind.

"Unbinding successful."

"What's wrong? Your face just did something weird," Wu Feifei asked.

Mu Qi tapped the second card with an air of great importance, then drew four more cards from the stack beside it and flipped them over.

Excellent. She'd completely forgotten what any of these cards meant.

Wu Feifei chewed on her chopsticks, wearing a thoroughly unimpressed expression. She was curious to see just what kind of nonsense Mu Qi could conjure up this time.

"I won't bother explaining what the cards mean, but as for your career luck for the rest of the year, I've got a pretty clear picture of it."

"Alright then, go ahead. I'm all ears." Wu Feifei slurped up another mouthful of noodles.

"Did you buy a plane ticket back to China?"

Wu Feifei immediately spat out the noodles in her mouth. She glanced down at the suitcase by her feet, then looked back at the video screen, making sure the suitcase wasn't visible in frame.

"No, I didn't..."

"Don't lie to me. I'm quite accurate, you know." Mu Qi picked up a card with an exaggerated air of solemnity.

"According to this card, I'm reading that you've booked a ticket for tomorrow—oh, or from your time zone, that would be tonight."

"How did you know?! Did you spot something during one of our video calls before?"

Not even her parents knew about this. Wu Feifei hadn't told Mu Qi either, she'd been planning to surprise her on the day they finally met up in person.

"You should be heading to the airport right after you finish eating, right? Something felt off to me just now, since when do you chat with me for fun on a weekday." Mu Qi drew a second card and stared at it with exaggerated concentration for a full five seconds, though she was actually racking her brain, trying to recall the images that had flashed through her mind a moment ago.

Mu Qi had always had an excellent memory. Things other people needed to look over several times to remember, she could commit to memory after just one glance.

"Now, let's get to the main point." Mu Qi finished piecing her memories together.

Wu Feifei set her bowl aside and adjusted her earbud volume.

"Your career luck for the rest of the year... wait, you're planning to move to Beijing for work?" Mu Qi looked at Wu Feifei in feigned surprise.

Beijing was the city where Mu Qi lived.

Wu Feifei's expression had gone completely blank by now. "You're way too good at this, Mu Qi. You're starting to freak me out a little."

"Don't be scared, just listen carefully." Mu Qi soothed her.

"After nearly three years in New York, you started missing everything back home, so you wanted to return and build your career here. Not long ago, you sent your resume to a securities firm in Beijing, and after an online interview, you got the offer. In Beijing, you'll spend the first half of the year settling into the job, still getting familiar with the business side of things. In the second half, your skills will improve, your boss will value you highly, clients will trust you, and your career will develop smoothly. The one downside is that you'll be traveling for business frequently, but I don't think that'll be much of an issue for you."

The reading was finished.

Mu Qi gathered up the cards. "Wow, not bad at all, huh? You didn't tell me because you wanted to surprise me when you got back, didn't you?"

Wu Feifei couldn't even eat anymore. "Be honest with me, are you absolutely sure you didn't have someone investigating me?"

"You know exactly who I am, don't you? Do I look like I have that much free time on my hands? All I can say is, my reading skills have earned your seal of approval."

Wu Feifei was still reeling in shock. "This is terrifying. How did you even know I'd sent out my resume?"

"That's the magic of tarot for you." Mu Qi lied with a perfectly straight face. "Anyway, the reading came back good, so go ahead and settle your mind about moving back to build your career here. Once you're back in Beijing, you can finally get some authentic roast duck too, instead of running to Chinatown every other day."

Seeing that Wu Feifei still wanted to ask more, Mu Qi hurried to wrap up the conversation. If she didn't cut it off now, there'd be no ending this call. "Ugh, I'm not saying anything else. If you've got questions, come find me once you're back in the country."

"Hey, wait a—"

Mu Qi swiftly hung up the call.

Mu Qi's mood was quite elated at the moment, perhaps partly because she'd just gained the power of foresight and was riding the thrill of its novelty, and partly because Wu Feifei would soon be coming back and living in the same city as her. But before long, her mood settled back down, because this ability didn't seem particularly useful to her.

She didn't have much interest in other people's pasts or futures.

But the process of giving the reading had actually been quite fun, especially seeing Wu Feifei's stunned expression. The instant she'd seen that look of shock, a sudden sense of satisfaction had washed over her, leaving her feeling genuinely pleased. She'd once thought that only completing work could give her that sense of fulfillment, but it turned out these small moments could bring her that same feeling too.

She couldn't predict her own future, but she could certainly point others toward theirs. The system had said it too, just a moment ago—the future could be changed.

She lowered her head, looking at the tarot deck she'd neatly arranged on the table, and thought it over for a moment. A plan had already started taking shape in her mind.

Once her contract ended, she'd take over a small shop in a third-tier coastal city, run it as a café or a small bed-and-breakfast, and do a bit of tarot reading on the side—living a leisurely, unhurried life. Mu Qi did the math on her three years of savings, not bad at all. Add in her appearance fee from "Zero Distance With You", and taking over a small shop wouldn't be a problem.

But her current level of reading skill was far too sloppy. If she stayed this careless, customers certainly wouldn't come flocking to her business so easily. She couldn't just get by on the thin scraps of knowledge she'd picked up in college, she needed to actually dig in and learn something properly. At least enough to convincingly bluff her way through in front of others.

Mu Qi picked up her phone, and decided to act the moment the thought crossed her mind. She'd buy a few books on learning tarot and spend the next few months really digging into them.

.

The next morning, Mu Qi got a call from the show's producer.

"What's up, Sister Liu?" Mu Qi had just woken up, and her usual bad morning temper would've flared right away, but seeing who was calling, she managed to swallow it down.

"Mu Qi, I just got word. One of the guests has to join a film production next month, and the start date is too early, it clashes with our shooting schedule. So we've decided to move our filming up so the dates don't overlap."

What kind of A-lister was so important that the entire show had to rearrange itself around them?

Mu Qi felt a flicker of annoyance and rubbed her eyes. "Have all the other guests agreed?"

"Most of them have. There's just one guest who hasn't gotten back to me yet."

"Then I'm fine with it too. How many days earlier is the shoot?" Mu Qi asked.

Better to shoot early and get it over with early.

"Monday."

Mu Qi: "......" So the moment her break ended, she'd have to head straight into filming?

"Alright, that settles it then. Oh, and by the way, Mu Qi, have you looked over the show script yet? I'm planning to have you enter first, to help liven up the atmosphere for the other guests."

Mu Qi, confused: "Liven up the atmosphere? Are you making me the host or something?" She wasn't too thrilled about it. Ever since recovering the memories of her past life, she'd lost the motivation to throw herself into work so eagerly.

"No, no." Liu Mei laughed. "Some of the guests tend to warm up slowly, so we need someone to get the energy going, and you're just right for it. You know how it is, Mu Qi. If the mood goes cold, it's awkward for you all, and it's awkward for the audience watching too. And besides, you know what this means, right, I'm giving you camera time."

"Okay, got it."

This show itself had been an opportunity Liu Mei had fought to get for her in the first place, so turning her down now would seem rather ungrateful. Between the favor she owed and the appearance fee on the line, Mu Qi agreed.

It was really just ordinary small talk anyway. As long as she got the ball rolling whenever things went quiet, that was enough. If no one picked up the conversation after that, there was nothing more she could do about it, and she could just go back to her own business. Mu Qi figured the other guests would probably freeze her out somewhat, given how low-profile she was, but she didn't mind, once she finished this dating show, she was planning to leave the industry entirely anyway.

Before she'd recovered her memories, she'd been hoping to network with a few people through this. Now, all she wanted was to get through it smoothly without causing any trouble.

"Sister Liu, can you tell me who else is going to be on the show?" Mu Qi asked.

"No can do." Liu Mei's reply was firm and immediate. "We need it to feel authentic. If everyone already knows in advance, it loses its whole point. Just hang tight, you'll find out Monday."

"Fine." Mu Qi wasn't too disappointed by that.

She was mostly just curious to see which top-tier celebrities would deign to appear on some online dating variety show.

After hanging up with Liu Mei, Mu Qi made another call, this time to President Bai.

"Why did she notify you directly?"

"These people usually go through managers or agencies to contact their talent. Me? I've got nothing, so of course they just contact me directly," Mu Qi said, her tone none too pleasant.

Sensing something off in Mu Qi's tone, President Bai gave an awkward chuckle. "You'll have all that eventually, eventually..." Then he quickly changed the subject. "Oh right, Mu Qi, how come you haven't been updating your accounts?"

"President Bai, didn't you approve my time off?"

"Approving the time off is one thing, but the account still can't go without updates, otherwise you'll lose traffic," President Bai said.

Through the receiver, Mu Qi could hear the sound of waves in the background.

This exploitative bastard was probably lounging on a yacht out at sea right now, stretched out on a deck chair under the sun, sunglasses on, legs crossed, dictating instructions to her.

Mu Qi poured herself a glass of plain water and downed it in one gulp, trying to smooth over her rising irritation. "President Bai, I signed the show's confidentiality agreement, so I can't post updates during this period."

The confidentiality agreement was real, though it only applied for the one month while filming the show. None of the guests were allowed to post updates about themselves online.

"Alright, fine." President Bai let out a sigh.

Since he'd already landed a big fish, the smaller stuff could be overlooked—better to sacrifice the small for the big. Once the show aired, plenty of people would surely come to know about their Bailei Media.

"Oh, by the way, President Bai, there's something I've always wanted to ask you."

"Go ahead."

"Have you never once thought about changing the company name?"

"What's wrong with 'Bailei Media'? It's such a nice-sounding name." President Bai sounded genuinely puzzled.

Mu Qi was at a loss for words. It hadn't been so bad participating in shows domestically before, at least the hosts spoke standard Mandarin and could pronounce the name crisply and clearly. But when she went abroad for events, she hadn't been so lucky.

"Try saying it fast and see for yourself," Mu Qi said, none too pleased.

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