Chapter 23 The Temple: 'You don't belong to me, what can I be sure of...'
Lin Yu's offer to accompany Cong Yi around was not just a casual remark; after they made the arrangement that day, the two added each other on WeChat.
Yesterday, Yi asked her on WeChat if she wanted to visit Hongfa Temple. She heard that the top of the temple mountain offers a view of the entire Tongcheng, making it a great place for taking photos.
Tongcheng is not a tourist city, and it has very few landmark buildings, of which Hongfa Temple is one.
Although Lin Yu is a native of Tongcheng, this was her first time visiting Hongfa Temple.
There are two reasons: first, because Hongfa Temple is most effective at helping people find love; and second, because she is not a believer in gods or Buddhas.
The incense in temples is more of a spiritual sustenance, and prayer is simply the lowest-cost way to have wishes fulfilled.
Hongfa Temple is far from the city center, and the only way to get there is by taking a special bus. The bus runs every half hour and has fewer stops than regular buses, with Hongfa Temple as its final destination.
Lin Yu, Jia Yi, and Cong Yi agreed to meet at the station and then take the bus together to Hongfa Temple.
The temple is built on the mountainside, and there is a botanical park at the foot of the mountain. There are sightseeing buses at the entrance of the park that take tourists to the temple. Along the way, you can not only avoid the fatigue of climbing the mountain, but also enjoy the scenery.
When they arrived at the sightseeing bus stop, the passengers got off one after another. Jiayi, wearing a baseball cap and with a camera hanging around her neck, took pictures as she walked.
The temple has twenty-five halls. Facing you is the Mahavira Hall. Walking behind it, you will find a spacious courtyard. On both sides of the courtyard stand a row of cute little monk sculptures. They look very adorable, and many tourists take photos with them.
Upon seeing this, Jiayi's eyes lit up instantly, and she quickly pulled the two of them over, saying excitedly, "I want to take pictures too!"
"Give me the camera, I'll take your picture." Cong Yi reached out his hand to her.
After Jiayi struck a pose, Congyi raised the camera, found the right angle, and pressed the shutter.
After taking the photos, Jiayi walked over, picked up the camera, and looked at the pictures Congyi had just taken. She was immediately furious: "Congyi! Do you even know how to take pictures? Is my skin that dark? And are my legs that short? You've made me look like a 155cm tall female miner who just finished mining coal in Africa."
Cong Yi scratched his head: "Is it really that ugly?"
Jiayi rolled her eyes at him, then handed the phone's camera to Lin Yu: "Never mind, let Lin Yu take the picture."
Lin Yu had joined a photography club during her freshman year and learned some photography skills. After Jia Yi posed, she looked at the person in the camera lens, then took two steps to the left to confirm the position. She then squatted down on one knee, found the right angle, and pressed the shutter. Upon hearing the shutter sound, Jia Yi immediately changed her pose. The two of them took dozens of photos together.
After taking the picture, Lin Yu turned to look at Cong Yi, who was standing to the side, and asked, "Do you want to take a picture?"
Cong Yi's eyes lit up: "Is that okay?"
Lin Yu nodded: "Go stand there."
Upon hearing this, Cong Yi found a statue he liked, stood there, and had Lin Yu take many pictures of him.
After taking the photos, the group continued walking forward. Jiayi, carrying a camera, walked at the front, while Cong Yi walked beside Lin Yu. The two chatted casually.
Cong Yi turned to look at her: "You studied photography? You seem quite professional."
"I wouldn't call myself a professional." After all, she had only been in the club for a year, and Lin Yu said, "I only know the basics."
Cong Yi smiled and said, "Have you always been this modest?"
Lin Yu: "Excessive self-praise will only bring unnecessary trouble to oneself."
Just like in group projects, capable people always take on the majority of the work, and at company dinners, talented people are often encouraged to perform on stage. She doesn't like trouble, so she's used to keeping a low profile.
Cong Yi suddenly realized, then laughed and joked, "Now that you mention it, I suddenly feel like you're a reclusive master from a fantasy novel, someone who doesn't show off usually, but is actually a hidden master."
Ahead lies the Guanyin Hall, where a five-meter-tall giant Guanyin statue stands in the center. She holds a treasure vase, her eyes lowered, looking at the people who come to her seeking scriptures and guidance.
Lin Yu stopped and glanced at the Guanyin Temple in the distance. After calming her breathing, she turned to Cong Yi and said, "I wouldn't call myself an expert. At most, I have a pair of hands that can take care of myself."
Upon hearing this, Cong Yi was taken aback for a moment, but then burst out laughing after he realized what was happening.
On one side of the Guanyin Hall, there is a long pavilion where people can cool off. It was the height of summer, and the sun was shining brightly. The treetops behind the pavilion rustled in the wind, and sunlight filtered through the gaps between the leaves, casting dappled shadows on the ground tiles. Several flocks of sparrows flew down and landed on the tall ginkgo branches, chirping incessantly.
Inside the pavilion sat a middle-aged master dressed in a gray robe. In front of his table were four large characters written on a wooden board: fortune telling and interpretation.
At this moment, a circle of tourists surrounded his table, all waiting for him to interpret the fortune sticks and answer their questions.
Jiayi glanced at it and asked in a low voice, "Should we go and draw a fortune stick?"
Cong Yi was a natural-born optimist with no worries in her mind, so she naturally didn't need to consult divination or ask for directions. Lin Yu glanced at the crowd surrounding the master and figured that it would be their turn soon, so she said, "Let's forget it."
Seeing that neither of them seemed interested, Jiayi gave up on the idea of fortune-telling. "Let's walk around some more. This temple is huge, and there are so many places we haven't explored yet."
“That works too.” Cong Yi pointed to the pavilion at the top of the mountain and said, “I want to go to the top and see it. I heard you can overlook the whole city from there.”
The path from the mountainside to the summit is entirely made of stone steps, with a total of 328 steps. Just thinking about climbing the mountain in this weather made Jiayi's legs start to tremble. "I won't go. I'll just take some pictures around here."
Lin Yu also said that she just wanted to wander around. Since they had different purposes, they didn't force each other. The group split into three groups, each going their own way, going wherever they wanted, and meeting up again later.
After passing the Guanyin Hall, they arrived at a field. As soon as they entered, they heard a clanging sound. Lin Yu looked up and saw a Chongyang tree covered with red silk and wooden plaques.
The tall and lush Double Ninth Tree, with its branches providing ample shade, is comparable to a natural pavilion. Its roots, as thick as a bowl, are deeply embedded in the soil. Behind the tree is a long brown walnut table, in front of which sits a staff member wearing a red vest.
Seeing her approach, the woman looked up at Lin Yu and asked, "Are you here to hang a marriage plaque?"
Lin Yu lowered her eyes, looking at the flax-colored wooden plaques stacked on her table and the red silk cloth about half a meter long beside them, and asked in confusion, "A marriage plaque?"
Sensing the confusion in Lin Yu's tone, the temple staff kindly explained, "As the name suggests, a marriage plaque is something you write down with your partner's name and then hang on this tree. When the Old Man Under the Moon sees it, he will tie a marriage thread between the two of you based on the names on it. Would you like to hang one?"
Having received the answer, Lin Yu turned around and looked at the tree full of marriage plaques, densely covered with different names, which looked quite impressive.
Love is the hardest thing to find in this world; it's just unknown how many people the Old Man Under the Moon has granted their wish.
It's probably still a matter of probability, but no matter how slim the odds are, there are still quite a few people willing to take the gamble, hoping they'll be the lucky one.
Lin Yu smiled, looked at the woman behind her who was still waiting for her to speak, and said, "Get one for me, thank you."
"Okay." The woman took a piece and handed it to her, pointing to the calligraphy brush and bright yellow paint placed to the side, saying, "You can use this to write."
"Okay." Lin Yu picked up the brush, dipped it in the paint in the porcelain dish, stared at the wooden plaque in her hand for a long time, and finally wrote down her and her brother's names with one stroke.
After writing the plaque, you wait to hang it up. The Chongyang tree is tall, and there is a special ladder in the temple to help tourists hang the wooden plaque on the tree.
Before hanging it, the woman asked Lin Yu for her opinion, "Where do you want it hung? Higher up, or anywhere is fine?"
Lin Yu looked at the tree covered with wooden signs, pondered for a moment, and asked softly, "Could you hang them at the highest point for me?"
"Can."
Lin Yu reached out and handed the wooden plaque to the other person, saying, "Thank you."
The red ribbon passes through the top of the wooden sign, around the thick tree branch, and is then tied with a knot to secure it. That's it.
It was 11 a.m., the exact hour. Not far away, a monk was striking a bell. The bell's sound was deep and resonant. A breeze blew by, causing the branches of the Double Ninth Tree to sway and the wooden plaques to collide with each other, making a dull, clanging sound.
Xu Feng brushed a strand of her hair aside. Lin Yu looked up at the top of the tree, where wooden plaques were piled up one after another, making it impossible to tell which one bore her and her brother's names.
The red ribbon swayed lightly in the air, the branches and leaves rustling. She stood there, praying silently: If the Old Man of the Moon can really see, please grant her wish.
...
As noon approached, the group decided to have a vegetarian meal at the temple before heading down. The path down the mountain was all downhill, so there was no need to take the sightseeing bus. The three of them walked down together, enjoying the scenery of the park along the way. However, the park had a lot of greenery and mosquitoes. Lin Yu's calves and arms were covered in mosquito bites, and several red spots appeared on her fair and delicate skin.
As evening approached, Jiayi found a quiet Dai restaurant nearby.
The restaurant is decorated in a Southeast Asian style, with blue, green and yellow as the main colors. Two tall Monstera deliciosa plants are placed at the entrance. When you push open the door, warm lights pour into every corner, giving people a pleasant and comfortable feeling.
Lin Yu found a seat by the window, and the restaurant happened to be playing Xue Kaiqi's "Suzhou River".
The lyrics, sung in a low, gentle voice, go:
'You don't belong to me, so what can I be sure of?'
Love is just love; even the greatest love is ultimately just love.
Jiayi picked up the menu placed to the side and started ordering, while the waiter came over to pour water for everyone.
Just then, Lin Yu's phone, which was on the table, suddenly rang. She glanced at the screen and saw it was a WeChat notification. She clicked on it and saw that it was a message from her brother asking when she was coming home.
Lin Yu glanced at the time; it was 7:05 PM. The sky outside had already turned into an endless crimson blue. Only then did she realize that she had forgotten to tell her brother that she wouldn't be home for dinner tonight after coming down from Hongfa Temple.
She held her phone, her fingertips tapping incessantly: "Brother, I'm having dinner with friends, I might be home a little late today."
Upon receiving the message, Zhou Ke looked at the chicken soup he had specially made for his sister in the electric pressure cooker, and his mood plummeted as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head.
Zhou Ke remained silent for a moment, then replied to his sister in a calm tone: Okay.
After sending it, he added: Don't stay up too late.
After ordering, Jiayi picked up her cup and took a sip of warm water. Suddenly remembering something, she grabbed her phone and frantically tapped on it. Then she looked up at the two of them and said, "By the way, as a bridge between you, I've prepared some materials for you and sent them to your phones. I put them together overnight, so remember to read them carefully when you get home tonight."
Upon hearing this, Lin Yu and Cong Yi simultaneously opened their phones. However, when Cong Yi clicked on the screen and saw the contents, his eyes widened, and his face flushed red: "You actually wrote down the exact dates of your period. Is it really necessary to be so detailed?"
"Don't make a fuss." Jiayi said dismissively, "Get this straight, from now on you're a couple. It's perfectly natural for a boyfriend to know his girlfriend's period. Not to mention her period, even..." She stopped abruptly, looking at him with a "do as I say" expression: "Just do as I say. It's never wrong to know more."
Lin Yu looked at the contents, which included Cong Yi's birth date, home address, and even the schools he attended from elementary school to high school. It also mentioned that when he was in the third grade of elementary school, he helped a first-grade student who was being robbed by a sixth-grade student, and was awarded a banner by the school for his heroic act.
And when he was in the first year of junior high school, he was hit on the head by an opponent while playing basketball, and the hospital examination results showed that he had a concussion.
He mustered up the courage to confess his feelings to the girl he liked in high school, only to be met with her subtle indication that she might not like boys, among many other bizarre incidents.
"..." Lin Yu propped her head up and suddenly understood why Cong Yi had agreed to act with her. Judging from his upbringing, this was probably nothing.
"Finished reading." Cong Yi closed his phone, gave a drawn-out "hmm," and turned to Lin Yu, asking, "Since we're going to pretend to be a couple, then... what... should I call you?"
Before she could finish the word "normal," Jiayi decisively interrupted her: "Of course, you should call me baby or darling."
Upon hearing this, both of them got goosebumps.
Lin Yu repeatedly refused: "No need, just shout normally."
Cong Yi also looked troubled: "How about we call her Xiao Yu?"
Seeing that the two were somewhat resistant, Jiayi became unhappy. She put on a stern face and said in an unyielding tone, "Even if you haven't been in a relationship, you've seen people in relationships, right? These days, who doesn't call their partner 'baby' all the time? As a partner, you definitely need to have a special nickname for me. Besides, the more intimate and mushy the better, it might even have a better effect."
This wasn't without reason. After a moment of silence, the two finally agreed to this form of address.
“Okay, it’s settled then.” Jiayi narrowed her eyes. “The most important thing now is to let your brother know about Cong Yi’s existence, and then we can formulate our next plan.”
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Author's Note: Oh no, I set the wrong publication time! [Facepalm and crying emojis] Sorry for keeping everyone waiting.
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