The mayor's house wasn't big, so in the end, his wife and children squeezed in two rooms. Liuli and Ahua shared one room, and Li Molin shared the other. Yu Ke, Ji Jue, and Lang Yuan had to stay at someone else's house.
After calming down for most of the day, Liuli finally quieted down and obediently went to sleep while holding Ahua. However, she was a little too obedient, which made Li Molin uneasy.
Late at night, worried about Liuli, Li Molin couldn't sleep soundly even when he was asleep, and kept listening to the sounds outside.
At the hour of Chou (1-3 AM), the sound of a door creaking open reached Li Molin's ears, instantly waking him. He sat up abruptly and listened carefully, only to hear very light footsteps fading into the distance. He nimbly got out of bed and waited by the door for a moment until he could no longer hear the footsteps before opening the door and going out.
The mayor's house was a small wooden building. Li Molin and Liuli lived in the side rooms on the second floor. Li Molin left his east side room and tiptoed towards the west side room. He listened outside the west side room for a moment, then gently pushed the door open a crack and peeked inside. By the moonlight streaming through the window, he saw Ahua curled up asleep on the bed at the far end of the room, but Liuli was nowhere to be seen. Li Molin frowned.
He pondered for a moment, then gently closed the door, turned around, and transformed into a streak of black light, flying straight into the distance.
It was the dead of night, and the Holy Monk Temple was unusually quiet. Suddenly, a white light gently fell in front of the main hall, revealing the figure of a white fox. The white fox was about two feet long, with three fluffy tails trailing behind it, and its pair of bright black eyes shone exceptionally brightly in the moonlight.
She hesitated for a moment in front of the hall, then stepped gently into the main hall.
The hall was dark, with no lights on. When Liuli first entered, she was completely surrounded by darkness. After a while, her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and she gradually saw the scene before her.
A ray of moonlight shone in from the window, landing directly on the stone statue's face and illuminating his gentle and warm smile.
Tears welled in Liuli's eyes, threatening to spill again, but she tilted her head back and held them back. Qingling ran two steps forward, leaped onto the platform, and walked to the monk's statue's lap. She looked up at the monk's face for a long time, two hot tears silently sliding down her cheeks. Her voice choked with emotion, she whispered, "Great monk, it's been so long..."
"Great monk, I haven't been able to tell you in person yet... Thank you, thank you so much."
"Great monk, I don't know your name yet. Could you tell me your name?"
The night was silent. The monk sat cross-legged, his appearance solemn and dignified. His smile remained unchanged, and he showed no sign of speaking.
After a long while, Liuli sighed softly, curled up on the monk's lap, and silently closed her eyes.
Suddenly, footsteps sounded. Liuli trembled and looked up warily, only to see a dark figure slowly walking in.
"Li Molin?" Liuli called out in confusion.
Li Molin walked to the prayer mat placed in front of the offering table and sat down. He looked up at the face of the monk statue under the moonlight and asked softly, "Liuli, what is your relationship with this monk?"
Liuli buried her face again and said in a muffled voice, "I won't tell you."
Li Molin said quietly, "You know, Liuli, I don't easily tell people about my mother, but since you asked me, I'll tell you..."
Liuli looked up and could vaguely see a sorrowful expression on Li Molin's face. After a pause, she rested her head on her two front legs and sighed, "Fine, then I'll tell you."
"Okay." Li Molin smiled silently, revealing two rows of white teeth.
Liuli remained silent for a while before speaking softly, "I was only a little over ten years old that year. I heard the adult white foxes say that you could go to the human world by crossing the forest outside the Fox Plains."
“I was young then, and my grandmother would tell me stories every night before bed. After hearing so many stories about the human world, I wanted to go and see for myself what it was like.”
"So that day, I ran into the forest. It was the first time I had ever been into a forest. I didn't know the way and I got lost."
"I kept running and running, and I saw many wild animals chasing me, trying to eat me, but they couldn't catch me. I saw larks singing on tree trunks, wildflowers in the forest, and butterflies flying around on the flowers."
"But then I fell into a hunter's trap. I heard them say they were going to sell my fur for money, which really terrified me."
"Later, I met this monk." Liuli looked up at the face of the monk's statue, a smile playing on her lips, and said, "He saved me. He exchanged his alms bowl for me and then let me go."
"I still remember what he looked like that day, and that scene often appears in my dreams."
“I grew up with memories of him. At first, I was just grateful to him. But later, as I dreamed of him more often, I started to want to see him again and say thank you to him in person.”
“I started thinking about what he said to me that day over and over again, and I can still recite it by heart. He said he wanted me to be good, so I would never harm any living creature. When I was a child, I saw a hunter being chased by a wild beast. I didn’t want to get involved, but I remembered this monk. I thought he would definitely want me to save that person, so I saved that person.”
“I don’t know when it started, but he became my faith, and his words are like proverbs to me.”
"Li Molin, I know the great monk is a cultivator, four hundred years old. Do you think he's still alive?"
Hearing Liuli's words, Li Molin's gaze towards the monk's statue softened slightly. He said softly, "Who knows? But if his cultivation has reached a certain level, he has probably already ascended to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. If his cultivation has not reached a certain level, he is probably already dead..."
Liuli had already anticipated Li Molin's words, but hearing him say them still made her heart tremble. She closed her eyes and said softly, "Such a kind person as the Great Monk must have already ascended to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss."
"Perhaps." Li Molin said as he got up, "Let's go back, Liuli."
Liuli pouted and said, "I don't want to go back. I want to sleep here."
Li Molin paused for a moment, then sat back down and said helplessly, "Alright."
The moonlight, as clear as water, moved silently, and soon a ray of moonlight touched the lips of the monk statue, illuminating the gentle smile on his lips.
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