Chapter 982: Distance, so far that it makes people despair
It was a small temple located halfway up the mountain, with yellow walls and black tiles, looking peaceful and solemn.
The mountain gate was half open, and green smoke could be vaguely seen rising from inside.
An inexplicable impulse instantly seized me.
"Stop the car!" I almost blurted out.
Xiao Shiqiu stopped by the roadside as he was told and looked sideways at me. "Would you like to go in and burn some incense?"
I looked at the ancient temple and said, "I want to go and perform a ritual for Xiaoxuan, hoping that he will be reborn into a good family and have peace and happiness in his next life."
Xiao Shiqiu followed my gaze towards the temple and nodded without hesitation: "Okay."
The temple is not big, but it is very clean and quiet, with a faint scent of sandalwood in the air.
An ancient ginkgo tree in the courtyard is lush with branches and leaves, casting mottled light and shadows.
An old monk wearing a gray robe and with a kind face was sweeping fallen leaves in the yard.
We explained our purpose, and the old monk clasped his hands together and chanted the Buddha's name: "Amitabha, it is fate that you, the young donor, have escaped suffering and found happiness at such a young age. Please follow me."
He led us to the main hall, where there were solemn Buddha statues, incense and candles were always burning, and the atmosphere was solemn and peaceful.
The rituals in the temple are divided into several levels, and they are all clearly marked with prices. I chose the most expensive one, which involved 36 monks performing rituals for seven consecutive days, and the total cost was 36,000 yuan.
In addition to paying for the ritual, Xiao Shiqiu also donated a sum of money for incense.
After a while, monks came in one after another. They wore bright yellow cassocks and looked solemn.
The ritual began with the sound of a clear bell, followed by the low chanting of scriptures and the beating of a wooden fish.
The monks' voices rose and fell as they chanted scriptures that I could not understand, but with a power that penetrated people's hearts.
This kind of sound can really make people feel peaceful and calm, and the heart-wrenching pain from before gradually disappeared.
I knelt on the cushion, clasped my hands together, closed my eyes, and prayed devoutly to the Buddha.
If there is reincarnation, I wish you peace, happiness and lasting blessings in your next life.
Sister will remember you, forever.
The chanting continued, and the sound of the wooden fish struck my heart.
Xiao Shiqiu knelt quietly on the mat beside me. His profile looked unusually calm in the candlelight. His presence itself had a powerful calming effect on me.
The ritual lasted for nearly an hour. At the end, the old monk personally brought a bowl of water, dipped a willow branch in it, and gently sprinkled it on the lotus seat enshrined in front of the Buddha, which had Xia Yixuan's name on it, while chanting blessings.
Finally, he turned to Xiao Shiqiu and me, clasped his hands together and said, "Today's ritual is over. For the next six days, donors can watch the rituals every day through the surveillance cameras in the hall.
The two donors, please accept my condolences and keep good thoughts in your heart, and you will be rewarded."
Live streaming of rituals is still very humane.
Xiao Shiqiu and I bowed deeply in return.
Coming out of the temple, the momentary tranquility brought by the chanting was mostly blown away by the mountain breeze, and a faint sadness slowly spread in my heart.
Since it was a weekday, the parking lot in front of the temple was almost empty. There were only two cars when we arrived, but now there is one more.
This is not a tourist attraction. Most of the people who come here are devout believers. There are very few people like me who come here on a whim.
The car wound its way down the winding mountain road. Outside the window was a lush green forest, but I had no intention of appreciating it.
Xiao Shiqiu didn't say anything to comfort me, he just drove quietly and occasionally held my hand.
His face, with its perfectly sculpted bone structure, looks a bit cold and hard when viewed from the side, but I feel at ease when I look at it.
All the way down the mountain, I looked at him again and again, and I began to understand the meaning of the phrase "a beauty is a feast to the eyes."
It is said that beauty can make people forget their sorrows, and the same is true for male beauty.
The mountain road was winding and he drove very steadily, and I soon felt drowsy.
Suddenly, he didn't slow down when we turned downhill ahead, and we narrowly avoided the railing. Even though I trusted his skills, I was still startled and suddenly woke up.
I pouted and complained, "You're drifting! That's scary!"
"I've stepped on the brakes," he growled, his voice filled with disbelief and anger, "and there's no response at all! The brakes are not working!"
There are continuous downhill curves ahead. There are much fewer vehicles on this road than in the city, so the speed of 50 or 60 kilometers per hour does not seem fast at first, but now it makes me feel scared.
Especially since there were cars whizzing past on the right from time to time, he stared at the front with a tense expression. I was so scared that I didn't dare to breathe, for fear that the sound would distract him.
In just over ten seconds, we passed another bend and the car finally began to slow down. I breathed a sigh of relief. I should be able to stop slowly after passing another bend.
At this moment, I suddenly found that Xiao Shiqiu turned the steering wheel hard, but the steering wheel did not move, and the car rushed straight towards the metal guardrail at the bend ahead.
Beyond the guardrail is a steep cliff!
I looked at him in horror, only to see that he had unbuckled his seat belt at some point. His right hand reached out at an incredibly fast speed, and with a 'click' sound, he unbuckled the seat belt buckle on my side!
I exclaimed, "What are you doing?" A strong sense of fear came over me.
Xiao Shiqiu's face turned pale. He stretched out his long arm and suddenly pushed open the car door on my side!
"Jump!" He almost roared, his voice filled with unquestionable determination.
Immediately afterwards, an irresistible force hit my right shoulder and back!
It was Xiao Shiqiu who pushed with all his strength!
I was like a stone thrown by a catapult, rolling out of the open car door uncontrollably!
The world is spinning!
Years of dance training have enabled my body to instinctively protect itself when I land, dissipating most of the force by rolling.
But even so, he still hit the hard and rough road surface hard, and his body seemed to be falling apart.
Before I could recover, I heard a loud thud of something heavy falling to the ground.
The loud noise made my heart sink to the bottom in an instant. I didn't care about the burning pain all over my body. I climbed up using my hands and feet and rushed towards the direction of the loud noise like a madman.
The fragile guardrail not far ahead had already been torn like a piece of paper!
Even though I hadn't seen what just happened, I knew what had happened.
Several cars passing by stopped by the roadside one after another, and people got out and asked me loudly what happened.
But I didn't care about all that and continued to limp towards the gap in the guardrail.
When I finally reached the edge of the cliff, gravel rolled down under my feet.
I lay on the curb where tire marks remained, leaning out desperately to look down.
There is only a dizzying dark green!
On the steep cliff, there were several broken branches and some scattered metal fragments.
On a protrusion about ten meters below, you can see a bunch of twisted and deformed metal wreckage, with the front of the car facing down, stuck straight into the pile of rocks at the bottom of the valley!
That distance is so far that it makes people despair.
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