The parable reveals the Buddha's wise words and the hidden heart of a bodhisattva.
"It's my honor. I'm all ears!"
Qian Jianjun's polite answer could no longer penetrate the barrier in Xue Jiuyue's mind. She began to tell her story slowly, her eyes, as melted as spring water, now reflecting no one.
"One day, Zen Master Linji went to where Monk Minghua was.
Minghua asked: "You, coming and going, what are you busy with?"
Linji said: "It's just to wear out my straw sandals!"
Minghua asked again: "What is the purpose of this?"
Linji said: "This old fellow won't even listen to what I say!"
Despite constantly raising his expectations, Qian Jianjun still didn't expect the incredibly beautiful Xue Jiuyue to tell a story about Zen Buddhism, one so profound and thought-provoking. He didn't know how to respond, and what he didn't know was that he didn't need to respond.
At this moment, the two points in the depths of the cold pool in Xue Jiuyue's eyes showed a different scene. The smoke was curling around, like vines, entwined and reliable, like a beloved lover, she was sitting in the clouds, telling stories to the opposite side. Even the close distance could not be seen clearly behind the clouds, but the familiar feeling of mutual understanding made Xue Jiuyue know that he was there. Before waiting for a response, the night rushed out and washed away everything, and the moonlight cast a tall figure. The clear voice, with the ups and downs of the melodious piano music, fell gracefully, holding Xue Jiuyue's hand and repeating its content involuntarily. Like singing along, like chanting:
"The Buddha told a parable:
A man was walking through the wilderness when he suddenly encountered a ferocious tiger. Terrified, he turned and fled, the tiger hot on his heels. He reached the edge of a cliff and clung to a drooping, withered vine in his hands, dangling in mid-air. He looked up, and the tiger on the cliff roared at him. Then, looking down, alas! There was another tiger below, its maw wide open, waiting for him.
To make matters worse, he discovered two mice, one black and one white, desperately gnawing at the withered vine he was clinging to. At this critical moment, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a delicious strawberry growing on the edge of the cliff.
So, he climbed the vine with one hand and picked the strawberry with the other, put it in his mouth, tasted it, and couldn't help but exclaimed: "It tastes so delicious!"
"What do you mean?" After a brief pause, the person who asked the question was not Qian Jianjun, but Xue Jiuyue himself.
Then she faced Qian Jianjun, more like facing herself, and gave the answer: "How delicious it tastes! This is the most vivid feeling of our lives! Even if life hangs on a thread, with only a thread of breath left, that vivid feeling is the proof of life! Why bother to think, to dwell on, to worry about yesterday and tomorrow? In the present moment, we are alive, how delicious it tastes! I think, therefore Descartes is not here; I feel, therefore I am!"
"Beautiful! Wonderful!" Qian Jianjun couldn't help but cheer softly. "Listening to your words is worth ten years of reading. It's like a revelation, like a wake-up call!"
Qian Jianjun wasn't the only one awakened by the "drink." As his deep, magnetic voice mingled with her, Xue Jiuyue slowly awoke. She quickly replayed the previous conversation. While the answer wasn't directly related to the question, it wasn't completely off-topic either. Instead, it had a distinctly Zen quality. Taking a deep sip of her coffee, she felt lazy and didn't want to elaborate further. She simply quoted the words of Zen Master Shanneng as a conclusion: "So, one cannot allow a moment's love and moon to obscure the eternal sky; nor can one allow the eternal sky to obscure a moment's love and moon!"
"Life doesn't have to have so many so-called meanings? And we can't lose the feeling of the present because of so-called meanings! And time is our accomplice in losing the present! So, to feel the present, let go of chasing time first, right?"
Qian Jianjun actually managed to find the answer among the stories that Xue Jiuyue had accidentally pieced together, and it was so close to the truth. This made Xue Jiuyue smile brightly, "Even if I chased after him, could I catch up? Instead, I would miss him in the pursuit!"
Even though Qian Jianjun, who thought he had great self-control, had tried his best to adapt to the other person's extraordinary appearance during the conversation, he was still dazzled by the unexpected splendor.
"Yes, that makes sense!" He stumbled, trying to cover up the past with a new topic. "Sorry, I have another question. If you have time, could you please enlighten me?"
"You're welcome. As long as we're here, we're not bound by time. Just tell us what you want, and we'll discuss it together."
"Oh, yes, yes! I want to ask, why are there so many clocks of varying speeds in this store? If the purpose is simply to free customers from time, depositing various times at the door should be sufficient. Why do we have to trap customers back in the vortex of time?"
"Whether we see time or not, when are we not regulated by time? As for your experience in the store, although it is full of clocks, when you know that they are not accurate, do you still care? Isn't turning a blind eye and being blind under the lamp referring to this situation?" Xue Jiuyue answered a question first.
Qian Jianjun thought about it and realized that, just as the other party had said, although he had been in a lot of "time" these past two days, those clocks really had become just decorations. "Now that you put it that way, I realize it's really interesting!"
Xue Jiuyue continued to explain, "The design was inspired by an investment guru. His idea was that if you refer to many clocks with different times, then none of them are useful. If you only have one clock, then this one is very useful."
"I admire you! A classic example of applying theory to reality!"
Ignoring Qian Jianjun's compliment, Xue Jiuyue spoke again, "Each clock represents each individual's own time. It varies due to different individuals, different emotions, and so on!"
Faced with such a novel viewpoint, Qian Jianjun felt a little uncomfortable for a moment, muttering quietly, "Shouldn't the time be the same?"
"Gravity can change time!..." Xue Jiuyue blurted out, then barely stopped the second half, and then was stunned and dazed.
"Yes, indeed!" Qian Jianjun nodded in agreement. He didn't notice the change in Xue Jiuyue's tone, because he had a new question: "What does that stopped watch on the oval bar in the middle of the room mean?"
Xue Jiuyue shook off her chaotic thoughts, "Well, maybe it's a reminder that it's better not to do something wrong."
"It's better not to do it than to do it wrong! Very insightful! But why is it possible?"
"Because I've forgotten my original intention!" Xue Jiuyue herself couldn't remember the origins of this watch. She had taken it out to look at it once before. It was ordinary, with a cracked dial and the two words of Zen Master Shanneng engraved on the back.
"Forgot?" Qian Jianjun looked at Xue Jiuyue in confusion. Her face was beautiful, her expression natural, without a trace of affectation. Recalling Xue Jiuyue's earlier, Zen-like conversation, Qian Jianjun quickly offered his own answer: "That's right. Just enjoy the freshness of the present moment. There's no need for so many original intentions and meanings!"
Xue Jiuyue was also suddenly amused by Qian Jianjun's performance, "The wind suddenly rises, rippling the spring water in the pond"...
The conversation was in full swing, while the waiting here was unbearable. Although Ke Yike's eyes were glued to Xue Jiuyue like pine resin, he still had no answer. The only thing he could tell from the rising angle was that Xue Jiuyue's coffee was almost empty. Before Ke Yike could make a move, Zhou Ying had already prepared two glasses of lemonade and placed them in front of him.
"Ahem..." After two quiet coughs, Ke Yike said nothing more. He slowly cleared the table and set the glasses aside, taking the opportunity to steal a glance at Xue Jiuyue. Xue Jiuyue's gaze became increasingly evasive, becoming increasingly uncertain. Finally, it was inevitable, it darted into Ke Yike's path, instantly scattering his attention. Even the lemonade, which should have been placed nearby, was nowhere to be found. Qian Jianjun paid no attention to these details, which seemed more like hallucinations than anything else, and dismissed the flustered Ke Yike with a polite "thank you."
The early morning rush had turned a simple lunch into afternoon tea. After a quick burger, Mei Rugu leaned back on the sofa and picked up her phone again. Still no news.
"Mr. Mei, I will go to the company early tomorrow morning to finish the remaining business. Why don't you stay overnight and go home tomorrow? It will be so tiring to catch the evening flight!" Xiao Jian came over and asked with concern.
"I'm used to my bed and I sleep well at home. I didn't sleep well last night."
Xiao Jian's brief appearance cut short her previous irritation. Mei Rugu leaned back on the sofa, completely relaxed for a moment, then picked up her phone again and posted a message on WeChat Moments, announcing her flight back to Xialin, with the caption, "Tirelessly strong, for the sake of..."
Perhaps thirsty, or perhaps embarrassed, Xue Jiuyue reached out to take the glass of water perched near the edge of the table, but the gentlemanly Qian Jianjun beat her to the punch, offering it. The speed of the latecomer, the first to arrive, was poorly controlled. The unexpected touch left a piercing tenderness that etched itself into Qian Jianjun's heart; yet it also triggered a pain seared into his soul, forcing Xue Jiuyue to place her right hand over the quickly withdrawn left hand, clasping it against her chest. Her face, like wounded pain, furrowed in a frown, embodied a thousand-year-old charm—like Xi Shi, charmingly graceful.
Qian Jianjun's eyes widened.
Why the surprise?
So stunning!
"I'm sorry!" The overlapping harmony allowed the two of them to resolve their embarrassment with smiles.
Perhaps feeling it wasn't enough to cover up, Qian Jianjun opened up another topic, "This is an era saturated with cheap entertainment. People are too easily seduced by the whimsy brought by electronic products. So, are there many people who know how to appreciate this?"
"Confidants are never the majority, but love is deep love!" Xue Jiuyue answered proudly, and looked over the regular customers who were already sitting in the store, until a corner of her face turned cold and gloomy.
Qian Jianjun also noticed Xue Jiuyue's change. Turning to look, he saw a young couple kissing passionately. A "sorry" rang out from behind his ear, and Xue Jiuyue's silhouette appeared before him. Qian Jianjun was bewildered. The noble reserve of the East had long since been washed away by the overwhelming media coverage, lingering only in the veins of those deemed "old-fashioned" and "hypocritical." Could Xue Jiuyue be one of those few? Although he didn't understand the situation, he followed them, keeping a close eye, perhaps out of fear.
"I'm sorry, please leave!"
The cold voice was low, but it was enough to stop the nagging. The irritated boy turned his handsome face, but his hooked nose added a touch of sinisterness. He asked sinisterly, "Who are you? What's wrong with you?"
"I'm the boss here, you're not welcome here!"
"You're open for business, I pay for my consumption! Why are you asking me to leave?"
"Why? Two months ago, you walked out of here holding hands with a girl..." At this point, the image of a girl as pure as a blank sheet of paper emerged in Xue Jiuyue's mind, making her even more angry and accusing: "Three days ago, you were hugging another girl in the mall! Now, you have a new love! Just for these reasons, you are not welcome here! Please leave!"
Xue Jiuyue then glanced to the side. She saw a girl wearing a white T-shirt with a large cartoon pattern. She lowered her head, her shoulders trembling slightly. Ten nail polish-dipped fingers moved, overlapping, gracefully entwining and intertwining. Her twin ponytails cascaded down her face, her expression invisible.
"Sister, don't you realize you're paying attention to me? Are you jealous? How about we try it in a few days?"
Xue Jiuyue's lips trembled at the smug attitude of the "Hooknose" man. Qian Jianjun, who was standing behind her, stepped forward and said, "Please leave now, or we'll call the police and charge you with disturbing public order!"
The deep and magnetic voice with clear pronunciation put a lot of pressure on the hooked nose both in terms of momentum and reasoning.
Ke Yike also noticed the abnormality here and walked over to stand behind Xue Jiuyue.
"Go away, it's impossible for us!"
The girl didn't look up, her eyes still entangled between her fingers, but her voice completely deflated the hooked nose.
"Okay, very good, you all wait!" The hook-nosed man uttered a harsh remark before leaving, creating a vortex in the peaceful time, attracting the attention of the people around him, and causing Xue Jiuyue to apologize repeatedly.
Finally, time returned to peace. Xue Jiuyue first thanked Qian Jianjun, and then softly asked the girl in front of her, "Hello, can I sit here for a while?"
She was worried that the sudden change would make the girl unable to accept it for a while, especially her thin and trembling shoulders, which looked so helpless, which made her feel distressed.
"Hehe, okay, sister, I haven't thanked you yet! Can you take a seat too, uncle?"
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