"Fortune lies in Heaven's hands. Life and death follow Fate's decree." The man who raised Shi Xiaoshi often si…
"Fortune lies in Heaven's hands. Life and death follow Fate's decree." The man who raised Shi Xiaoshi often sighed these words.
"But I believe in neither Heaven nor Fate," the young Shi Xiaoshi would silently retort.
He couldn't afford to believe, not when fate had dealt him the worst hand. To accept it would be to drown in the mire forever.
Then came the merchant caravan's man, offering a different kind of destiny.
"Opportunity is the bane of heaven and fate," the man told him. "And stone gambling is your opportunity." Thus, Shi Xiaoshi began traveling with the man. As wealth poured in, he realized their true "opportunity" lay in human hearts.
The slightest desires buried in men's hearts, when gently guided, would spiral out of control.
This brought Xiaoshi endless possibilities and intoxicating power.
Nobles born to privilege could never understand the suffering of commoners. He delighted in watching them fall from grace, struggling in the mud of their own making.
As for the lowly peasants... he also liked to give them a push, to see them rise to glory, to defy their fate.
Mostly, he reveled in watching people wallow in the quagmire of desire, savoring the thrill of controlling their destinies.
"Fortune lies in Heaven's hands. Life and death follow Fate's decree." But now, he was the heaven, rewriting their fates.
True, he operated on Xue Chou's turf and promised not to overstep bounds.
But human hearts have a will of their own. He was merely guiding them, really. How could anyone blame him?