Xin Hexue and Zhou Shanheng took their leave from Mother Zhou and went up the mountain.
When he heard Xin Hexue cough softly, Zhou Shanheng’s face tensed up. “Are you alright? Did you catch a chill a few days ago?”
He had already seen him coughing that night when his mother fainted and was taken to the medicine shop.
Xin Hexue waved his hand and tucked away the handkerchief he had just used to cover his mouth. “I’m fine.”
Now was not the time to let Zhou Shanheng know.
Mother Zhou’s health had indeed collapsed. If he hadn’t arrived in time that night, she might not have lasted until today.
However, the spiritual energy and blessings he had just infused into her were enough to prolong her life and allow her to live out her later years peacefully.
But interfering in a mortal’s fate, especially their lifespan, always came at a cost.
Xin Hexue swallowed the faint taste of blood in his mouth.
Zhou Shanheng heard him say he was fine, but when he looked again at Xin Hexue’s slightly pale, sickly complexion, Zhou Shanheng, though unaware of the truth, still felt his heart tighten.
[Zhou Shanheng’s love value +5]
He always felt that Xin Hexue was hiding something important from him.
He wanted to know, but Xin Hexue avoided the question and was obviously unwilling to talk about it.
……
After Zhou Shanheng finished offering incense.
They went to Jialan Hall to draw a fortune stick.
Inside the temple, the sound of Buddhist chants lingered, and the incense smoke curled softly in the air, calming the heart almost involuntarily.
Zhou Shanheng looked at the lot he had drawn, it was an extremely auspicious one.
He has been very lucky recently, and even the lot he drew was the best of the best.
—Lot Forty-Five, Supreme Auspice, Xu.
“Gentleness has always triumphed over rigidity, accumulating kindness at one’s door brings great fortune and prosperity; if a noble person draws this lot, it’s like finding fine nectar when parched.”
Zhou Shanheng silently recited it, and couldn’t help but ask the novice monk beside him who interpreted the lots, “Master, what does this lot mean?”
The novice monk fiddled with the agarwood prayer beads, “The interpretation of this lot is: Heaven and earth are aware, blessings are extraordinary, Guanyin protects, and one must never forget this for life. This lot means everything relies on the help and harmony of noble people.”
Zhou Shanheng fell into thought. He was the one who drew this lot, but he didn’t know who he had recently shown kindness to or benefited from. But if one were to speak of a noble person who had been kind to him…then that person was far away yet right before his eyes.
Xin Hexue frowned slightly. Zhou Shanheng couldn’t help but step forward, only to see that the one in Xin Hexue’s hand was a most ominous lot.
Lot Twenty-Eight, Most Inauspicious, Wu Palace.
The moon rises in the east, round and bright, yet soon it’s veiled by clouds and hidden from sight; though there may be fullness, there will still be emptiness, not everything that seems whole is truly complete.
The meaning of this lot…
The novice monk slowly explained, “Floating clouds block the moon, there’s confusion and doubt. Wait until the clouds clear, then the bright moon will appear. This lot means all things are unclear and undecided.”
The future was uncertain and the situation was also uncertain.
Before Xin Hexue could even say anything, Zhou Shanheng’s face turned solemn. He switched the auspicious lot in his hand with the inauspicious one in Xin Hexue’s, as if doing so could exchange their fates. Worried the other party might feel discouraged because of the lot, he awkwardly tried to comfort Xin Hexue, “Drawing a lot is just for peace of mind, it doesn’t really count. Everything depends on people.”
Xin Hexue never believed in fate anyway, so he didn’t take the lot to heart. He followed Zhou Shanheng’s words and said, “Mm, Ziyue is right. Everything important depends on human effort.”
The two of them returned the lots and left Jialan Hall together.
Something fell with a clatter. The novice monk stepped forward to pick up the fallen lot cylinder, and noticed there was one stick still on the ground…
“Facing the wind and rain, going and returning, tirelessly toiling like a swallow; carrying mud to build a nest, but in the end, the nest collapses and turns back into mud.”
It was a most inauspicious lot.
The novice monk raised his head and looked toward the two who had already walked out of the hall. His gaze shifted back and forth before finally locking onto Zhou Shanheng’s back.
This lot symbolized a swallow carrying mud. All efforts would be painstaking and exhausting, but ultimately fruitless.
What would be fruitless?
The novice monk picked up the lot and returned it to the cylinder. The bamboo sticks clinked against each other with a crisp sound.
………
Huifu Temple was sparsely populated that day.
Perhaps most had gone to the county office to watch Master Duozhi perform his wind-summoning and rain-bringing rituals.
Outside the Jialan Hall stood a centuries-old banyan tree. Because people sought love-related lots from Yue Lao on the other side, it naturally became the Yue Lao Tree.
**Yue Lao/ the Old Man Under the Moon, is a deity in Chinese mythology and folklore. He is the god of love and marriage, responsible for binding couples together with red strings of fate.
Its branches were thick and the leaves were lush, but on those antler-like, interwoven limbs, countless red strings of fate were tied, each one binding a pair of lovers.
When the wind blew, the red ribbons fluttered like threads.
Zhou Shanheng saw the red strings covering the branches and turned his gaze away as if he’d been burned.
He lowered his head and came to a stop.
Xin Hexue had been walking ahead. When he noticed no one was following, he turned back and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Zhou Shanheng took out the red cloth he had tucked inside his clothes. It was a very small red bundle.
He held it up with one hand and used the other to unfold it. Inside lay a jade bracelet, perfectly preserved and without flaw.
It was a family heirloom of the Zhou family. Back then, his father had presented it to his mother as a betrothal gift.
After his father passed away, his mother was ill for a long time, and believing that she didn’t have much time left, she gave him the jade bracelet and told him to treat the person well if he met someone who wanted to give the bracelet to him in the future.
Zhou Shanheng wasn’t good with words, so he chose to express his feelings indirectly with the bracelet. “I still don’t know how to repay the kindness you showed me that day…”
He wanted to give this jade bracelet to Xin Hexue.
It was the only thing he had right now that he could offer. Though humble, he still wished to hand over both the bracelet and his heart to the person before him.
But Xin Hexue waved his hand. “Didn’t I already say it that day? Wait until you’ve taken first place in the imperial exams first. It won’t be too late to repay me then.”
Zhou Shanheng was stunned for a moment. Thinking Xin Hexue was politely rejecting him, he withdrew his hand in despair.
Xin Hexue: “Do you like me?”
Zhou Shanheng looked up and nodded without hesitation.
Xin Hexue: “Since both hearts are connected, why care about material things?”
He reached out his hand. His fair fingers were like snow-drenched plum branches. When his slightly curled palm opened, two red strings fell from his hand like hanging plum blossoms.
Zhou Shanheng was surprised, followed by a wave of overwhelming joy in his chest.
‘Hearts connected…’
Zhou Shanheng took the red strings. “When did you get these?”
Xin Hexue replied, “While you were drawing your lot, I met a head monk outside and got them from him.”
Zhou Shanheng couldn’t help but raise his lips in joy, “Shall we tie it up?”
They chose a high branch.
Xin Hexue raised his hand, wound the red string around it, and tied a beautiful knot. The remaining length of string hung down, fluttering freely in the wind.
Zhou Shanheng’s was the same and it was tied right next to Xin Hexue’s.
Zhou Shanheng didn’t notice that when the red string was hung on the treetop, a hidden thread quietly burrowed into his meridians.
At the same time, another red thread slipped into the inside of Xin Hexue’s wrist.
On the surface, there was no sign of anything unusual.
Xin Hexue lowered his eyes, gently stroked the big banyan tree, and whispered, “Thank you.”
He had asked this Yue Lao Tree for help.
Since the red thread now connected them, unless someone capable of seeing through the spell deliberately removed it, even if he lost his memory in the future, he would still be able to sense and find Zhou Shanheng along the thread.
The seven days were nearly up.
Zhou Shanheng heard Xin Hexue say something, but his voice was too soft and low to catch. He subconsciously asked, “What?”
Xin Hexue turned his head and, with a calm and gentle expression, said, “I just said, the Yue Lao Tree must have sensed our feelings and surely won’t let our longing go unanswered.”
Seeing him smile, Zhou Shanheng couldn’t help but smile along.
[Zhou Shanheng love value +3]
The wind stirred the red string again and blew the hair beside Xin Hexue’s ear.
Without thinking, Zhou Shanheng raised his hand and tucked the messy strands of hair behind Xin Hexue’s ear.
The banyan tree stood quietly, and the prayer flags fluttered in the wind.
Zhou Shanheng slowly leaned in and lowered his head.
Warm lips touched Xin Hexue’s cool ones.
It was just a simple meeting of lips, but Zhou Shanheng’s heart was instantly overwhelmed. The red string brushed against Xin Hexue’s jet-black hair, beautiful like a dream on an immortal mountain.
Fragrant and misty, spring haze lightly surrounded them…
After a long drought, the rain finally began to fall.
Ding ding, dong dong.
The continuous rain poured down, gathering at the eaves then trickling along the lotus-shaped rain chains at the edge and falling with a crisp clatter.
Du Zhi had just stepped onto the grounds of Huifu Temple.
His steps made no sound at all, and the pointed monk’s hat shielded him from the rain.
Du Zhi’s hearing had always been very good. When he deliberately listened, not a single sound within several li could escape him.
He heard an extremely soft and tender sound.
A suppressed hum.
At first, Du Zhi thought it was a cat meowing, but then he sensed something unusual in the air of the Buddhist temple.
He took a step and, through the misty curtain of rain, saw the two figures leaning against each other in the pavilion next to the banyan tree.
The tall man had his back to him, holding a slender young man in his arms, their lips pressed together, inseparable.
Du Zhi looked again.
The young man seemed to have noticed someone and slightly turned his head.
His jade-like face was tinged with a light flush, like the juice seeping from crushed peach blossoms.
Why would that kind of sound come out?
Why were they embracing?
Why were their lips touching?
Du Zhi couldn’t understand.
But before he could be discovered, he subconsciously stepped into the temple hall.
………
The heavy rain poured down.
It had been dry for more than two months, and now the world turned white with rain.
The great river surged forward and white waves rolled.
Once the rain stopped, Zhou Shanheng finally released the white koi carp into the river.
The white koi carp circled the spot twice, as if expressing gratitude.
Soon, the fish was carried away by the rushing current of the river.
The butterfly koi’s tail, like a white wave, disappeared into the distance.
The rebirth cycle of seven days required a long time to be completed at the riverbed.
When the butterfly koi surfaced again, it was already noon of the second day.
The sunlight was warm.
The butterfly koi swam leisurely and blew two bubbles.
Soon, the fish floated on the surface of the water, then paused for a moment.
Where is this O.o?
Who am I O.o?
What am I supposed to do O.o?
