Belief in Fortunetellers and Destiny

The Chinese culture is steeped in a belief in the supernatural and Lao spends a great deal of time talking about the importance of these things. For example, she says that a family's fortune will dissipate if the family's tame geese fly away and will increase if a wild goose flies in. Her own family's geese fly away and Lao uses this as an omen that her family's fortune, already small, would further dissipate. She might not have mentioned the goose at all if her family's fortune had not dissipated as the omen predicted. Lao also talks about the importance of destiny and fortunetellers. She visits several fortunetellers who say that Lao is destined to have many husbands and that they will each be sorrier than the one before. She never takes another husband or even a lover because of these words and ends...