Esoteric Buddhism: To live as king in America

"My lord, what should we do next?"

"Ayn asked, staring with her big, round eyes."

Mian was speechless. The price of fighting the evil forces to the end was that, at this moment, Mian truly felt that his plan, which he had been brewing for a day and a half, was about to go bankrupt.

Forget it, let's cut our losses. Starting a business involves both winning and losing; if we stubbornly persist because of sunk costs, we'll just waste all our time.

Mian couldn't help but feel frustrated.

Since buying and selling goods isn't an option, where are we going to earn money for the next four and a half days to raise over 30,000 Eagle Dollars? How about... we try robbing a bank or kidnapping a rich person?

Mian had a dark thought, but then shook his head.

Robbing a bank requires more preparation; four and a half days might not be enough. Regardless, let's contact Shirley and the others first.

Mian pulled out his phone—but not the one he had seized from the sniper, but a smartphone he had bought from a secondhand store after receiving Wang Yuanli's reward.

Just as he was about to dial the phone, a familiar figure suddenly flashed before his eyes.

"Oh? It's you!"

A familiar voice entered his ears, and a beautiful young woman appeared before Mian, causing him to pause slightly. A name escaped his throat.

"Lisa?"

The newcomer was none other than Lisa Vachu, whom Mian had rescued from the harassment of three wealthy young men the day before yesterday.

At this moment, she had changed her clothes. No longer wearing the pink dress, she was now dressed in a long robe resembling that of a witch, complete with a pointed hat—a typical medieval fantasy outfit. She was also carrying a hard cardboard box filled with various items, making her appear considerably more mature than yesterday.

"It really is you, Mr. Wang!"

The young girl, carrying a cardboard box, ran towards him excitedly but with some difficulty. Mian was stunned for a moment before remembering the fake name he had given earlier.

Then Mian put on a gentle smile again.

"Miss Lisa. Although I heard you say you were planning to come to Luffy Park, I thought that after what happened, you would want to stay away from here."

Lisa lowered her head shyly, scratched her cheek, and explained:

"Actually, I didn't just come to Luffy Park to buy things. Because my dad is sick, I was planning to earn some quick money to cover his medical expenses. I finally managed to get a stall, and with such a large flow of people, I can't let this turn into a backseat..."

Lisa grew increasingly shy as she spoke, a blush creeping onto her cheeks. She bowed again to Mian and said:

"So I'm really sorry, even though Mr. Wang He went to great lengths to rescue me from those people, I still have to stay in this area... I'm truly sorry!"

Every family has its own difficulties.

Mian waved her hand, showing that she didn't care at all.

"Ultimately, you are the victim, and there's never any reason to blame the victim."

Lisa was only about 1.6 meters tall, while Mian, even in his frail body after transmigrating, was a tall and thin man of 1.8 meters. The height difference made him glance at the things in the cardboard box that Lisa was holding when he looked at her.

Beneath the not-so-thick cover, Mian could see that the cardboard box contained all sorts of odds and ends, like badges, brooches, and other small... handicrafts...

Mian raised an eyebrow slightly, her mind immediately becoming active.

"It's fate that we met, miss. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Oh! How can this be troublesome..."

Without giving the other party a chance to refuse, Mian had already reached out and taken the slightly heavy cardboard box from Lisa's hands.

"You're welcome. It must have been quite a hassle for you to carry it all."

Seeing that Mian was determined to help, Lisa, who was obviously shy, couldn't find a reason to refuse. She just twisted her fingers and asked:

"Are you sure it won't be too much trouble for you? Don't you seem to have other things to do?"

His unintentional remark struck a nerve with Mian, making him feel as if he wanted to vomit blood. However, he had to maintain a facade in front of the girl, no matter what.

"It's alright, there's nothing else to do, um... nothing else. Anyway, helping you move a box won't take much time. Please lead the way, Miss Lisa."

Lisa could only nod, and led Mian, along with Ain who was practically following her around, towards her stall. Under the pretext of carrying things, Mian finally had a chance to casually ask:

"Did Miss Lisa come all this way to the auction to sell these handicrafts?"

Lisa was taken aback by what she heard, her cheeks flushed again, and her fingers unconsciously tightened around the hem of her skirt.

"No, that's not it..."

Her voice was barely audible, as if mentioning the matter required immense courage.

"My family has made a living by fortune-telling for generations in the Old World... After we came to Oceania, most of my family members gave up this trade. Only I learned a little about astrology and tarot from my grandmother. Recently, my family has been having difficulties, so I thought of setting up a fortune-telling stall here to supplement our income."

As she spoke, the girl moved closer to Mian, lifted a corner of the cover on the box, and completely revealed several somewhat cheap-looking brass brooches, the butterfly wing and star and moon patterns shimmering with a plastic sheen in the sunlight.

"These are just small freebies from fortune telling; they're worthless."

The two stopped in front of an indigo tent at the edge of the park. Mian squinted—this was the stall he had glimpsed many times during his journey this morning and yesterday.

A faded star tapestry hung from the eaves of the tent, exuding an old-fashioned mystery that held no appeal for a materialist like Mian.

After confirming that Lisa's stall was indeed just a fortune-telling tent, Mian's newly emerging expectations were abruptly extinguished.

It didn't go as smoothly as expected...

He sighed inwardly, his gaze sweeping across the area in front of the tent. At this moment, the divination tent was not yet open, but because Lisa had put up her sign early on, there seemed to be a few young couples casting curious glances at the tent.

They were well-dressed, with watches on their wrists or necklaces around their necks, clearly wealthy and with plenty of leisure time. They were young and impetuous, at an age where vanity and the allure of mystical things like divination were readily apparent.

Mian originally wanted to profit from this group of people. Unfortunately, now he can only watch helplessly as these walking cash cows are made by others…

Are we truly powerless to help?

An idea flashed through my mind like lightning.

Mian's expression turned excited again. He turned sharply to Lisa and asked in a low voice:

"Miss Lisa, would you be interested in... making your fortune-telling business a bit more 'high-end'?"

The girl blinked her azure eyes in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

Mian pointed to the brooch in the box, a confident smile curving her lips.

"For example—as a gift to the 'destined person', a unique 'guardian sword' that corresponds to their fate."