I sell handmade fortune cookies in the park. Each one costs $10,000, yet every day, people fight to buy them.

That’s because what I sell are fertility fortune cookies. Eat one, and you can get pregnant instantly.

You can even choose what kind of child you want. Slip in a double-yolk charm, and you’ll have twins. Seal in a perfect test paper, and your child will be a genius.

A spayed female dog ate one and ended up pregnant with six puppies. Someone buried a fortune cookie beneath a withered tree, and by the next day, it had burst into full bloom.

I sell fortune cookies to both women and men—anyone who wants to get pregnant. I turn no one away. Even animals, if they so much as make a sound, I’ll feed them.

Until one day, a young woman, Mara Kessler, who had been standing in line from dawn until dusk, finally stepped forward and timidly said she wanted to buy a fortune cookie.

I only took one look at her, then staggered back in terror.

"I can’t sell to you. Leave. Now."

In an instant, everything went silent.

Mara Kessler’s eyes turned red as she clutched the frayed edge of her patched sleeve, her lips trembling. "W-why? I have money!"

I snapped at her, my voice sharp and unforgiving. "I don’t care how much money you have. I’m not selling to you. Leave. Now. Don’t block the next customer."

The surrounding crowd was stunned.

After all, in all my years selling fortune cookies, I had never turned anyone away. I had always been polite, no matter who it was.

"Rainie’s usually so easygoing. Why is she being so harsh today?"

"She’s never refused a customer before. Could she have some kind of grudge against that girl?"

My expression hardened. "There’s no point explaining it to you. Just get out of here. Don’t hold up my business, or I’ll make you."

Mara lowered her head and shuffled to the side. A few loose strands of hair fell across her forehead, making her look fragile enough to break. She seemed pitiful in a way that tugged at people’s hearts.

Someone in the crowd couldn’t take it anymore.

"She just wants to buy a fortune cookie. Do you really have to be this rude? Or is it because she’s dressed so poorly, and you think she can’t afford it, so you won’t sell to her?"

Dex Halbrook, the burrito stall owner next to me, who had never liked me, immediately chimed in with a sneer, "Oh, so when some billionaire’s wife shows up, you throw in a freebie. But when a poor girl comes along, you won’t even serve her? Sounds like you’re just a snob to me. Come on, miss, forget her. I’ll treat you to some burritos!"

The woman shook her head, thanking him softly, then turned back to me and pleaded in a small, humble voice, "Rainie, I brought $10,000. If it’s not enough, I can pay more."

I was about to refuse again when a young woman further back in line suddenly spoke up, "Wait. One fortune cookie costs $10,000? I must’ve missed a zero… I only brought $1,000…"

Without hesitation, I took her money, made and wrapped up a fortune cookie, and handed it to her. "It’s fine. I’ll cover the rest. Next."

The crowd froze.

"If it’s not about the money, then why won’t you sell to her?"

I replied coldly, "I have my reasons. All you need to know is that if she eats my fortune cookie, it’ll ruin my reputation. And I don’t do business that ruins my name."

The people around us looked confused.

"Aren’t you the one who claims anyone who eats your fortune cookie can get pregnant? She looks young and healthy. Why wouldn’t she be able to?"

I let out a cold laugh and said nothing.

The crowd erupted into chatter, voices overlapping as they criticized me from all sides. I simply ignored every word.

I kept selling until the very last fortune cookie was gone, then began packing up my stall.

Behind me, Mara’s voice came again, thick with tears. "Rainie, I’ll come back tomorrow!"

I didn’t take her words seriously.

However, the next day, she was already there, waiting at my stall before I even arrived. This time, she carried a bag in her arms, with a small crowd trailing behind her to watch.

"Rainie, this is everything I own. There’s the deed to my house, and all the money I’ve saved over the years. I just want a child. As long as you can make me pregnant, all of this is yours…"

Several people spoke up for her.

"Rainie, just let it go already. She’s offering you her house. Just make her a fortune cookie!"

Mara looked at me with desperate hope as she tried to press the bag into my arms.

My expression changed instantly. I recoiled, stepping back sharply.

"Enough. I said I’m not selling to you." My voice turned ice-cold. "Because you don’t deserve to have a child."

The moment those words left my mouth, Mara’s hands jerked violently.

With a loud thud, the bag slipped from her grasp and hit the ground. A memorial portrait tumbled out. The frame shattered on impact, glass splintering into pieces that sliced across the man’s face in the photograph, breaking apart his features.

Mara let out a scream. She dropped to her knees, trembling as she gathered the broken portrait, tears streaming down her face.

"Zane, I’m sorry. I couldn’t protect you…"

Someone in the crowd immediately recognized the man in the photo.

"Isn’t that Officer Zane Holloway? The one who died in the line of duty and was trending just two days ago?"

"Then are you his widow? Mara Kessler?"

Voices quickly filled in the rest of her story.

They said Mara had lost her mother at a young age. Her father had been abusive and even tried to sell her off for money.

She had fled her village and worked relentlessly ever since. No matter how poor she was, she still donated to children in remote mountain regions, helping them stay in school so they wouldn’t suffer the same hardships she had endured.

After Zane died in the line of duty, she swore she would never marry again. Zane’s final wish had been to have a child who would inherit his badge. That was why she wanted a child so desperately.

The crowd sighed, moved by her loyalty and devotion, then turned on me with fury.

"Do you have any humanity at all? How dare you say a hero’s wife doesn’t deserve to have a child? If someone like her isn’t worthy, then who is?"

Who was?

I handed the freshly made and wrapped fortune cookie to a young man waiting in line behind her.

He grinned and said, "Nice. After I eat this, I can finally have a baby with my husband. Let’s see what excuses his family comes up with now to look down on me as the son-in-law."

He scanned to pay, quick and smooth, then walked off, practically glowing with excitement.

The crowd exploded.

"Hey, Rainie, don’t push your luck! You’ll sell to a gay man, but you won’t sell to Mara? What gives you the right to make things difficult for her?"

I shook my head.

"I’m not making things difficult for her. She simply doesn’t deserve to get pregnant, and she doesn’t deserve my fortune cookies."

"Then give us a reason!"

I shook my head again. "If she eats my fortune cookie, something catastrophic will happen. The kind of disaster that’ll bring ruin to everyone involved. I’m refusing her for everyone’s sake. Got it?"

A wave of scoffs rose from the crowd. No one believed me.

"I’m serious. The consequences are bigger than anything you can handle."

Mara looked at me, wronged and pleading. "Rainie, I’ve never done anything bad. I’ve been donating to children in the mountains for over seven years. Even if you won’t sell to me, you can’t smear me like this…"

I held her gaze, my voice turning cold. "You’re willing to give me everything you own just to have a child. If you want one that badly, why not adopt from a foster home?"

The crowd turned to her, doubt flickering in their eyes.

"Yeah, Mara, don’t lower yourself to begging this shady seller. Take your money back. You could easily adopt a child, and you wouldn’t even have to go through childbirth."

Mara’s expression shifted. She bit down on her lip, then, with trembling hands, held out a cloth bundle.

"No, only Rainie’s fortune cookies can help me. I heard whatever you use for it determines what kind of child you’ll have. This… this is my late husband’s hair. I just want to give birth to Zane’s child."

Her tears shimmered in her eyes. "He was a hero. I can’t let him leave this world with regrets."

The crowd instantly softened, understanding flooding their faces.

"Rainie, did you hear that? Hurry up and make it for her!"

"Someone like Mara is so loyal, so devoted. You should be making her a fortune cookie for free!"

Even the people in line began stepping aside.

"Ma’am, sell to Mara first. We can wait."

I slammed the lid over the fortune cookie dough with a sharp crack. "Don’t try to guilt-trip me. I decide who I sell to. And today, I’m not selling to her. Not happening."

With that, I coldly packed up my stall and walked away.

Behind me, Mara’s voice rose again, thick with tears. "Rainie, I’ll come back tomorrow. Please, you have to sell me one."

To avoid running into her, the next day I walked over ten kilometers and set up my stall somewhere else.

I didn’t expect Mara to show up again with a whole crowd in tow.

This time, several influencers had come too, cameras rolling as they livestreamed, ready to capture the moment she ate the fortune cookie and got pregnant on the spot.

Mara dropped to her knees in front of me, clutching her late husband’s memorial portrait.

"Rainie, if this still isn’t enough, I can take out a loan! Whatever you want, just give me a fortune cookie. I’ll do anything for you, I swear!"

Someone in the crowd shouted that I was just trying to go viral, chasing attention and traffic.

I shot back immediately, "Even if I don’t make a single cent, I still won’t sell to her. If you feel so sorry for her, go have a kid with her yourself. And let me give you some advice: don’t get tangled up in someone else’s karma, or you’ll end up in serious trouble."

At this point, people weren’t even focused on Mara buying a fortune cookie anymore. They were fixated on one thing—why I refused to sell to her.

Someone speculated that I had been arrested before, and that I was deliberately refusing to sell to a police officer’s widow.

They looked into my record. It came up completely clean. No criminal history at all.

Still unwilling to accept it, people started making things up.

They said I was a fraud and that the fortune cookie was fake, that all the pregnancies were staged, and that I was too scared of being arrested to sell to Mara.

An elderly woman suddenly snatched a piece of fortune cookie straight out of my hand.

"I think this is all a scam! Something that costs a few dollars to make is being sold for a ridiculous price. This whole pregnancy thing is obviously fake!"

I didn’t even have time to stop her before she stuffed the entire fortune cookie into her mouth.

"It’s just a regular cookie. How could it possibly make someone preg—ugh!" She suddenly clamped a hand over her mouth and gagged violently.

A medic pushed through the crowd and quickly examined her. "She’s pregnant. That nausea you just had… That’s morning sickness."

The elderly woman’s face turned deathly pale. "That’s impossible… I’m 70 years old. How could I be pregnant? Ugh—"

Her eyes rolled back, and she fainted on the spot. Others quickly carried her away.

The crowd grew even more confused.

"If your fortune cookies really work, and you’re not some snob, and you don’t have a criminal record, then why won’t you sell to Mara?"

Seeing how stubborn I was, some people began to sense something was off and turned to look at Mara.

"Mara, did you do something to Rainie before? We all know Rainie. She’s not someone who would make things difficult for no reason."

"Rainie keeps saying you’re not worthy. Did you do something bad? Something that would bring punishment down on you?"

"I…"

Under everyone’s gaze, Mara’s face went pale, her expression filled with sorrow.

At that moment, someone from the livestream audience suddenly spoke up, righteous and loud, "Mara, you don’t have to beg like this. You helped her before. Honestly, she should be making you 100 fortune cookies, and it still wouldn’t be enough!"

"What?"

"Back then, you used your own money to sponsor several students from the mountains. One of them was her—Rainie Larkin. She used to go by a different name."

The commenter pulled up a sponsorship list, pointing to my name and photo.

Mara’s eyes lit up. "It really is you…?"

I fell silent for a moment. "I was one of those kids from the mountains. Eight years ago, someone anonymously funded my education. They helped me get out."

The commenter sneered. "That someone was Mara! Without her, you would’ve been sold off to some old bachelor by now. And this is how you repay her? You won’t even give her a single fortune cookie? That’s beyond heartless!"

The entire situation flipped in an instant. Now, everyone pitied Mara even more. The way they looked at me was practically venomous.

Nevertheless, I still didn’t waver.

"She cannot eat my fortune cookie. Not only will she fail to get pregnant, but something terrible will happen. I’m refusing her for everyone’s sake."

As for what that terrible thing was, I refused to say.

Mara suddenly dropped to her knees again, trembling with emotion. "Rainie, please. I don’t know why you hate me so much, but your fortune cookie is the only thing in this world that can help me get pregnant. I’m begging you. Please, will that be enough?"

She knelt before me, slapping herself menially.

I didn’t react.

I just stood there, letting her keep going until she finally collapsed and lost consciousness.