Girl, There's Something Wrong With You - Chapter 48

The monk had a red lips and white teeth, with a delicate and ambiguous appearance, making it hard to tell if he was male or female. He looked at Xie Lingjiang with surprise and said:

“Fortune and misfortune, reincarnation and rebirth, why is it that you still cannot escape?”

In an instant, Xie Lingjiang’s hair stood on end, as if she had been startled like a frightened kitten.

“What’s wrong?” Noticing Xie Lingjiang’s sudden change in expression, Cheng Jinyang asked curiously.

“He…” Xie Lingjiang began to speak, but then noticed that there was no trace of the monk ahead. The place was empty, and no one had ever been there.

When they reached the Governor’s residence and saw Xie Youdu, Xie Lingjiang was still in a daze.

“Well then, I’ll take my leave.” Cheng Jinyang said with a smile, leaving the time for the siblings to be alone.

After Cheng Jinyang left, Xie Lingjiang, still in a trance, looked at her brother and suddenly blurted out:

“Youdu…”

At that moment, Xie Youdu also shuddered, as if he had heard his sister’s voice.

However, Xie Lingjiang finally came to her senses and smiled:

“Brother Youdu, can you tell me about…”

“…Sister Taoyuan?”

………………

Cheng Jinyang threw all the floating shopping bags onto the big bed in the bedroom. Let them sort it out themselves when they return.

Then, after having lunch and finishing the remaining work at the office, it was already 3 p.m.

After sending another text to Cui Xiaoniang, he learned that they were currently at the hot springs in Cangshan.

But Cangshan was a full 12 kilometers away from Jingkou; how did they end up so far…

Cheng Jinyang was too lazy to take the local transit train, so he took Xie Lingjiang (who was bored at home) with him (to find her sister Wanrou) and flew directly towards the east.

The Cangshan hot spring area, which had been developed into a well-known attraction in the past, had lost its popularity after the fall of Songjiang and the withdrawal of the Shenwu Army to Changzhou. With the local residents fleeing, only monks from the mountain temples remained.

The hot spring the girls were at was located within the Daboen Temple, one of the more popular places in the vicinity. After the development of Jingkou, many Buddhist refugees came here to offer incense and pray for blessings. It was said that most prayers were for “national fortune,” followed by “career” and “marriage.”

In troubled times, people became more patriotic.

Upon entering the Daboen Temple, Cheng Jinyang saw a few worshippers strolling in the courtyard. A young monk stood on the left, ringing a bell, chanting:

“Vajra Demon-Subduing Bell, guarding Jingkou. Ring it forty-nine times to keep demons beyond the Yangtze River!”

A sign stood nearby: “Five yuan per ring, bring your own change.”

“Master, ring the bell.” A middle-aged worshipper came forward, paid, and then picked up the mallet, hitting the bell with full force.

“Good!” The bell sounded loudly, and the surrounding worshippers cheered.

Cheng Jinyang watched for a while and then heard a voice from behind:

“Do you know why you need to bring your own change?”

Turning around, he saw Lu Qingyun.

“Why?” Cheng Jinyang asked curiously.

“If they provided change, most people would pay less,” Lu Qingyun said nonchalantly.

Cheng Jinyang laughed in spite of himself and asked:

“What are you doing here? I thought you were all at the hot springs.”

“Just finished,” Lu Qingyun pointed to her wet short hair. Cheng Jinyang then noticed that her hair was still damp.

“Aren’t you going to dry your hair? Too much moisture can easily lead to catching a cold,” Cheng Jinyang said.

“That demon said the same thing,” Lu Qingyun replied, “There must be a conspiracy.”

Cheng Jinyang:………………

This girl was simply hopeless.

“Do you want to ring that bell?” He sighed inwardly and joked, “Maybe it will subdue the demons inside you.”

Lu Qingyun seemed somewhat tempted: “You might be right. She said that those who ring the bell are all foolish; maybe she’s trying to mislead me.”

Once the worshipper finished ringing the bell forty-nine times, Lu Qingyun approached the young monk and asked, “Master, can this Vajra Demon-Subduing Bell subdue parasitic demons in humans?”

“No,” the young monk replied straightforwardly.

“Why not?” Lu Qingyun was quite surprised.

“Easier to defeat thieves in the mountains than to defeat the thieves in one’s heart,” the young monk gave a cryptic answer.

Lu Qingyun sighed; it was as she expected.

“However, there is the Dharma Purity Drum behind, specifically set up for those who need to cleanse their minds. Ring it eighty-one times, and it might be effective,” the young monk turned to Cheng Jinyang and said, “Each ring costs 10 yuan.”

Lu Qingyun: ???

Cheng Jinyang laughed softly and ignored the young monk, simply asking her, “Do you want to ring it?”

“No, I don’t,” Lu Qingyun shook her head.
Who would be foolish enough to pay for that?

“The incense offering in the back hall is free,” the young monk said, not surprisingly, and sighed with his hands in a prayer position, chanting Amitabha Buddha.

The two of them walked toward the back hall. Cheng Jinyang casually asked, “Where are they?”

“They are in the divination hall asking about marriage,” Lu Qingyun answered casually.

“Cough, what are they asking about marriage…” Cheng Jinyang was about to say “they might as well ask me,” but suddenly realized that Yunyun wasn’t familiar with him and quickly refrained from speaking.

“What are they asking about marriage? Don’t you know?” Lu Qingyun gave him a sidelong glance.

“How would I know?” Cheng Jinyang began to play dumb.

“Pfft, you scum,” Lu Qingyun said, “Originally, they explained it to me, and I didn’t understand. Now, I’ve gained some insight.”

“Adult matters, how can it be called scum…” Cheng Jinyang was just about to make an eloquent argument when he saw a monk emerge from behind a Buddha statue.

The monk had red lips and white teeth, with gentle, ambiguous features, making it hard to tell if he was male or female. He looked down and walked a few steps, then suddenly looked up at Cheng Jinyang and said:

“Benefactor, you seem to have a heart obstacle.”

“What heart obstacle?” Cheng Jinyang was puzzled.

“Only you know your own heart obstacle,” the monk said, lowering his head.

Cheng Jinyang: ?

For some reason, Su Lili’s face suddenly appeared in his mind.

Ye Ru said she was trying to intervene in the situation in Shendu to prevent the demons from moving south. He didn’t know how things were going now.

Sigh, if I hadn’t joined the Shendu Cheng family, with no ties or concerns, I could have gone to find her.

But now with the large family business, the revival of Jingkou, and numerous military affairs in the Northern Army, and with no way to contact Ye Ru, the lack of communication had indeed made him uneasy.

“It seems that you have already gained enlightenment,” the monk recited Amitabha Buddha again.

“Tell me, what have I gained enlightenment about?” Cheng Jinyang asked with a smile, “You’re not trying to trick me into ringing your 810-yuan drum, are you?”

“I have said that only you know your own heart obstacle. As for the drum, whether you ring it or not is up to you,” the monk said smoothly, “All conditioned phenomena are like dreams and illusions, like bubbles and shadows, like lightning and dew; you should view them as such.”

“What does that mean?” Cheng Jinyang frowned and asked.

“That is the text from the Diamond Sutra,” Lu Qingyun explained, “It means that all things arise and perish due to conditions. Don’t get caught up in their temporary forms.”

“Correct,” the monk said with a smile, “This young lady has quite a discerning mind.”

Cheng Jinyang was silent for a moment, thinking that the monk’s meaning was perhaps that “whether Xiao Li is human or demon, don’t be attached to these appearances.”

“Everything arises and perishes due to conditions,” the monk said finally, “Your connection with that person has arisen. Whether it continues or ends depends on your subsequent choices. But as this young lady has said, since connections arise and end, don’t be attached.”

Hearing the words “arise and end,” Cheng Jinyang suddenly shivered, and when he looked again, the monk’s figure had vanished.