Chapter 59 Indeed, spring is coming.
Jiang Ling'er, holding a bamboo flute, rushed across the street to the dilapidated stall, ready to confront the scoundrel Taoist priest, when an unexpected turn of events occurred.
The donkey, which had been shiny and seemed perfectly normal just moments before, suddenly lurched forward, its front legs buckling, swaying unsteadily, emitting a muffled whinny, and then collapsed to the ground as if a mountain had crumbled.
Jiang Ling'er paused, stunned: "It..."
"Give me a hand."
The person who had just been smiling and provoking her now had cold eyes. The only thing visible was her smooth jawline, which was taut and sharp. Her voice was even colder than a knife. Even the ridiculous bandages that covered almost her entire head couldn't hide the indifference that seemed to seep out from her very bones.
It's like he's become a completely different person.
Jiang Ling'er was stunned, completely dumbfounded. But then her brows furrowed, her anger intensified, and her almond-shaped eyes burned with fury.
She hadn't forgotten why she was there!
The young Taoist priest knelt on one knee, gently cradling the donkey's head in his hands and placing it on his lap. He skillfully stroked the donkey's fur with one hand to soothe it, while examining its body with the other, as practiced as a doctor. A bandage covering half of his handsome face concealed his expression, but Jiang Ling'er could clearly see...
His hands were shaking.
And the shaking got worse and worse, until almost the whole person was trembling.
Jiang Ling'er was somewhat surprised: "Hey, you..."
"what to do……"
A voice, like a dream, rang out.
The young Taoist priest slowly raised his head and looked at her. His phoenix eyes, hidden beneath bandages, were blank, lonely, empty, and helpless.
"Chunhua is leaving me... Chunhua... is leaving me..."
Jiang Ling'er was stunned for a moment before she realized that "Chunhua" was the name of this donkey.
A long, slender hand with distinct knuckles paused in mid-air, then slowly landed on the donkey's gradually closing eyelashes. The donkey seemed utterly lost and dazed, murmuring:
"In the end... it's too late..."
The voice was deep and soft, and the cold wind carrying frost quickly dispersed it into the air, making it inaudible.
wack.
wack.
What a strange person.
Jiang Ling'er said this to herself.
The first time they met, this guy grabbed her hand, even though his head had been smashed, blood was flowing like a river, and his life was hanging by a thread, he refused to let go for the sake of an answer.
This time, not to mention close relatives, I've seen people die without shedding a single tear, and I've seen people weep for their precious horses and swords, but this is the first time I've seen someone... cherish a donkey so much.
Seeing the person looking so dejected and heartbroken, as if they had lost their soul, Jiang Ling'er stood there blankly, holding her bamboo flute, her anger... but she couldn't vent it.
She scratched her cheek, hesitated for a moment, and finally couldn't resist moving closer. She squatted down next to the donkey, her brows furrowed slightly, and examined the stiff, motionless donkey.
Suddenly, a small head came closer, and the snow-covered ends of hair brushed against his bare neck. The cool breeze seemed to pull the young man back from some kind of dazed state of mind.
His eyes, which had been as still and empty as a stagnant pool, began to ripple.
As Jiang Ling'er approached, the young Taoist priest could only see the small whorl on the top of her head and her delicate, straight nose. He saw her hands roughly kneading something on the donkey's body, and even reaching out to pry open the donkey's eyelids...
His long eyebrows, hidden beneath the bandages, furrowed slightly as he subtly brushed Jiang Ling'er's hand away.
"what you do?"
Jiang Ling'er used the young man's force to push him away with her own hand, extremely impatient:
"Get out of the way!"
Pei Xuan: "..."
The young Taoist priest paused, his thin lips pursed slightly, and he slowly turned to give his seat to Jiang Ling'er.
The donkey's enormous head was moved to Jiang Ling'er's lap in the blink of an eye.
Seeing her hands caressing and fiddling with something on Chunhua's body, knowing that she intended to heal Chunhua, the young Taoist priest, who had been silent for a long time, let go of his hostility and said softly:
"it's useless."
Life and death are preordained, wealth and honor are determined by fate... It's useless.
Jiang Ling'er ignored him, her brows furrowing into a small mound as she rubbed something against the donkey.
The moment she touched the donkey's fur, she knew its owner had taken excellent care of it; the fur was glossy and smooth. Her fingers slid down the donkey's back without any obstruction, not even a single knot.
While she continued working with her hands, the young Taoist priest began chanting scriptures incessantly in her ear.
"Human life...is in the hands of Heaven. The way of life and death is fate. Human life hangs in the balance of Heaven, and good or bad fortune depends on time. If one's life is short, but one does good deeds, Heaven cannot extend it. If one's life is long, but one does evil deeds, Heaven cannot take it away."
Jiang Ling'er's forehead bulged with a vein, but she ignored him.
With a soft sigh, the white steam dissipated in the air, blurring the young man's dark and cold phoenix eyes. He stared blankly at the donkey's tightly closed eyes for a long time. Perhaps remembering Jiang Ling'er's words that had once criticized him, he finally spoke, his voice hoarse, "What is destined to come will come, and what is not destined to be cannot be forced. I... I have already divined for Chunhua, and she will not live past this winter. Don't bother."
Seeing that Jiang Ling'er's hand seemed to have finally found the place she was looking for and stopped, he knew all too well that the place where her hand stopped was Chunhua's heart.
Unwilling to let Chunhua suffer any longer, he swiftly seized her wrist the moment Jiang Ling'er's fingers tightened around Chunhua's heart, and said sternly:
"Don't you understand?! That which is done without being done is Heaven; that which arrives without being brought about is... fate. Your destiny is set; your efforts are futile and useless!"
"This constant 'fate, fate, fate' nagging is so annoying!"
Suddenly caught off guard by a grab on the wrist, Jiang Ling'er quickly recovered after her initial shock, shoving the young man away. Seeing that he was about to say something hesitantly, she immediately glared at him:
"Shut up! Stay put!"
He turned around and struck the donkey in the heart with a thunderous palm strike!
Before the young man could react, or rather, the young Taoist priest never expected Jiang Ling'er to kill a donkey!
But it was too late.
The young Taoist priest's pupils constricted, and he lunged forward, about to strike Jiang Ling'er on the back, when he suddenly stopped, his long eyelashes trembled, and he froze on the spot.
The donkey's tightly closed eyes twitched, and it opened them.
Dark, deep eyes reflected the astonished phoenix eyes of the young man, as if recognizing him, and a muffled murmur escaped from her throat.
Jiang Ling'er quickly said, "Don't move for a while, I'm not fully recovered yet!"
Only after she finished speaking did she realize that she was actually talking to the donkey just like the strange Taoist priest.
Her palm strike appeared powerful, but in reality, it was a gentle and subtle movement. Her inner strength flowed into her palm like a trickle and then transmitted to the donkey's heart. The moment her palm touched the donkey's fur, she had a flash of inspiration and used the method taught to her by Uncle Shui to mobilize her inner strength and slowly envelop the donkey like water. Then—she struck hard!
The stopped heart finally started beating again.
Seeing that the donkey had regained its vitality, Jiang Ling'er couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and her tense shoulders relaxed.
She had traveled all over the country with her brothers in the镖局 (bodyguard agency) since she was a child, and had little contact with animals as docile as donkeys, which were almost without temper, but she knew the habits of horses very well.
She had seen horses before, just like this donkey, lying stiffly on the ground, and thought that since there were mounts on either side, it was pretty much the same thing.
Just as she expected.
Jiang Ling'er breathed a sigh of relief, her inner strength returning to her palm and then withdrawing from her dantian, before letting go.
The donkey then began to hop and leap about, nuzzling its head affectionately toward the young man.
“Spring…” Jiang Ling’er paused, frowned slightly, and coughed softly, “Although donkeys have a lot of hair and thick skin, they are afraid of the cold, and the winter in the north is not suitable for them.”
The young Taoist priest seemed not to have reacted yet, staring blankly at the lively donkey in front of him, watching his own reflection in the donkey's dark eyes, before finally seeming to wake from a dream:
"I clearly divined her fate using divination..."
"Won't survive this winter?"
Jiang Ling'er scoffed and took over the conversation, thinking to herself, "You're clearly a charlatan, even though you're supposed to be doing divination and fortune telling!"
However, she didn't say those words out loud, only saying, "Spring will be here soon."
The young Taoist's long eyelashes trembled, and snowflakes melted from between his brows and fell down.
Although the cold wind was still biting, it carried a faint fragrance of flowers.
Indeed, spring is coming.
The young Taoist priest relaxed, as if waking from a dream, and hugged the donkey's neck tightly.
This is a grown man, yet he's clinging to a donkey like a child. Is he... crying?
Thinking of this, Jiang Ling'er shuddered with disgust. She hadn't forgotten why she had come here, but looking at the lovey-dovey scene between the man and the donkey... she decided to come back later.
It was getting late, and Jiang Ling'er turned to leave, but was suddenly stopped by someone behind her:
"sit."
Jiang Ling'er paused, turned around, and asked with a displeased expression, "...What?"
"You've done me a huge favor, I won't take your money." The young Taoist priest, while tidying up his shabby stall, finally came to his senses and looked at Jiang Ling'er with a blank expression. "Didn't you... come to me for a divination?"
The white silk ribbon tied to the shed, bearing the four characters "One Divination a Day," was still fluttering in the wind.
Jiang Ling'er: "..."
Jiang Ling'er originally came to teach this lecherous man a lesson, to make him use his eyes for the right thing. But the donkey incident distracted her, and her anger had already subsided by more than half. She also noticed that although this scoundrel Taoist priest was strange, his phoenix eyes looking at her were sincere. A person who could shed tears for a donkey didn't seem like the kind of person who would do such a lewd thing as peeping at others...
More importantly—
Your life is over; you shouldn't have lived any longer in this world... Are you a human or a ghost?
His words from that day still ring in my ears; he was the only person besides the little poisoner to point out that her "fate was sealed."
But just now he was spouting nonsense and asserting that the donkey wouldn't survive the winter, acting like a charlatan and clearly not accurate... Jiang Ling'er really wanted to know if this person was just pretending to be a charlatan.
He simply sat down, and without any hesitation, slammed his bamboo flute down on the table with a "smack."
"Okay, I'll have my fortune told."
Those beautiful phoenix eyes, surrounded by ridiculous bandages, curved into a smile, but were immediately drawn to the bamboo flute in her hand:
"What an exquisite bamboo flute..."
Jiang Ling'er quickly tucked the bamboo flute back into her waistband, not letting him see even a corner of it, and impatiently tapped the table with her fingertip:
"This has nothing to do with you, let's get started."
His gaze was immediately drawn to her fingertips, and his phoenix eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly.
"Why has the injury on your hand healed? You clearly..."
This time, the young Taoist priest wasn't as flustered as before. He finally understood that one shouldn't mess with a tiger's backside, and he had figured it out last time. He pointed his left fingertip at his right hand, but his gaze was fixed on Jiang Ling'er, carefully counting the small wounds on her hand:
"Old wounds, scratches, frostbite... all gone." As he spoke, his fingertips touched the web of his hand, his eyes lifting to stare intently at her. "But even with miraculous cures... are those old calluses so easy to remove?"
Jiang Ling'er was stunned: "..."
"Isn't that strange?"
The two were separated only by a small, simple table. Although the young Taoist was smiling, his tone was aggressive, and he gradually moved closer to her, his much wider figure soon enveloping her.
"Why is that? In just a few days, what kind of 'luck' have you encountered?"
Jiang Ling'er: "..."
Jiang Ling'er: "…………"
Jiang Ling'er gasped, instinctively wanting to stay away from this strange man!
She suddenly stood up, bracing herself on the desk: "Enough..."
He had barely uttered a single word when the young man before him raised his eyes, his expression instantly changing. His phoenix eyes curved into crescents, and his face was filled with apology. He raised his hands, as if in surrender:
"If you don't want to talk about it, then don't. I was being presumptuous."
Jiang Ling'er: "..."
Jiang Ling'er watched helplessly as he retreated to his seat. She squinted at him for a long time before finally sitting down slowly again.
Once the man had created some distance, the cold wind swept away the lingering fragrance, and she belatedly realized that she smelled that floral scent again. Where had she smelled this scent before?
Good x is familiar.
Jiang Ling'er pondered for a while and then stopped thinking about it. Her gaze was drawn to the young Taoist priest facing her as she watched him shake his divination sticks, one after another... She actually felt a little nervous.
Jiang Ling'er's thoughts were practically written all over her face. The young man looked at her with his beautiful phoenix eyes for a while, then suddenly said:
"That's so easy to understand."
Jiang Ling'er paused for a moment: "...What?"
The young Taoist priest simply smiled and shook his head, spreading his hands out. The divination stick container remained untouched on the table, his face completely at ease.
"I can't figure it out."
Jiang Ling'er: "..."
Jiang Ling'er: "…………"
Jiang Ling'er suddenly stood up, turned and left, but then she heard that scoundrel's voice behind her again:
"I can tell your fortune. Would you like to?"
Jiang Ling'er paused, ground her back teeth, then sat back down and glared at him:
"……look!"
——
“My surname is Pei, and my given name is Xuan. Xuan means profound mystery, the gate to all wonders.” The young Taoist priest looked up at her intently. “Before the fortune telling… could you tell me your name?”
Jiang Ling'er paused for a moment, then quickly said, "Anu. My name is 'Anu'."
Pei Xuan paused upon hearing this, chuckled softly, and said nothing.
Then his long, slender fingers with distinct knuckles reached towards her face.
Jiang Ling'er paused, then leaned back warily:
"...What are you doing!"
The young Taoist priest's fingers froze in mid-air, his face blank with innocence: "Didn't you want your fortune told?"
Jiang Ling'er: "..."
Jiang Ling'er gritted her teeth and had no choice but to close her eyes, enduring the slightly cool, barely soft fingertips tracing something along her brow bone and nose bridge on her face.
As his fingertips brushed against a row of long, densely packed eyelashes resembling seaweed, the person in front of him suddenly said:
"You've gotten much fairer."
"……What?"
Jiang Ling'er wondered if she had misheard, but the person in front of her stopped talking.
After enduring a while longer, the cool fingertips finally left her face. Jiang Ling'er subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, and then heard him say:
Can I take another look at your hands?
Jiang Ling'er: "..."
With things having come to this, Jiang Ling'er gritted her teeth, opened her eyes, and extended her left hand to the man.
His slender fingertips traced the lines on her palm... It was a little itchy.
Jiang Ling'er frowned, resisting the urge to pull her hand back. Even though it was the second time, she still felt uncomfortable.
After holding back for so long, she finally couldn't take it anymore and asked impatiently, "What exactly did you see??"
"You are beautiful."
Jiang Ling'er was taken aback upon hearing this, then her voice changed and became warning: "What?!"
Pei Xuan held her hand, his face serious, but his hands kept kneading it.
"Such tender hands, these don't look like the hands of someone who practices martial arts."
Jiang Ling'er: "..."
Jiang Ling'er: "…………"
Jiang Ling'er's forehead twitched, and she slapped him across the chest!
The young Taoist priest was sent flying by another palm strike! He crashed heavily onto the snow!
"I must be crazy to believe you!"
Jiang Ling'er scratched her hair in frustration, muttering curses as she returned to the small massage parlor across the street with a gloomy face.
The Taoist priest, who had been sent flying by a palm strike, finally remembered to protect his head this time.
"I can't figure it out... I can't figure it out at all..."
"What is it that cannot be calculated...?"
The cold snow couldn't calm his chaotic thoughts. The man, buried in the snow, murmured to himself, then turned over, resting his head on his arm. Snowflakes swirled in the sky, the sun not yet fully set. He squinted at the blazing red sun, talking to himself, asking and answering his own questions:
"...A variable?"
-----------------------
The author notes: ① From Xunzi. ② From "Lunheng: Bian Chong". ③ From "Mencius: Wan Zhang I".
Something unexpected has happened for Xiao Pei. Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2024-01-31 20:11:32 and 2024-02-06 20:30:40!
Thank you to the little angel who watered the nutrient solution: 5 bottles of "Go Die, you dog men";
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com