Chapter 695: Chapter 553: Let Me Tell You a Story

When he had some free time, he could sit to one side and read through the scriptures.

"Monk, we meet again."

Xiao Mo had just sat down when a soft, sweet female voice suddenly sounded in his ear.

Xiao Mo looked up and saw Tushan Jing Ci standing gracefully beside him, a smile on her face.

"Is your foot feeling better, Miss?" Xiao Mo asked.

"It hasn’t fully healed yet, but your medicine was very helpful. I can walk on my own now, though it’s still a bit painful."

Tushan Jing Ci blinked as she looked at Xiao Mo, her voice holding a delicate charm.

"Besides, I felt I had to come and thank you for saving me yesterday, Monk."

She paused, gently offering him a box of pastries she was carrying. "These are just a small token of my appreciation. Please accept them, Monk."

"You’re too kind, Miss. Saving you was simply my duty as a disciple of the Buddhist School." Xiao Mo gently shook his head, politely refusing.

"I can’t accept that." Tushan Jing Ci’s tone grew serious, tinged with a hint of stubbornness. "Repaying kindness is only natural. It’s your business if you don’t seek a reward, Monk, but it’s my business to repay you."

The moment she finished speaking, Tushan Jing Ci placed the box of pastries directly on the table in front of Xiao Mo.

"No refusing!"

Her voice was playfully demanding.

"Well... alright... I’ll accept them, then." Seeing that he couldn’t refuse any longer, Xiao Mo could only nod with a sense of resignation.

"That’s more like it," Tushan Jing Ci said happily. "By the way, Monk, what is it you do here?"

"I help people draw and interpret fortune sticks," Xiao Mo answered truthfully.

"Is that similar to how a Daoist tells fortunes?" she asked, blinking.

"You could put it that way," Xiao Mo nodded.

"Can I have my fortune told, then?" Tushan Jing Ci’s eyes instantly lit up, and she looked eager to try.

"Of course," Xiao Mo said. "What would you like to ask about, Miss?"

"Love."

Tushan Jing Ci answered without hesitation, gazing deeply at him.

Xiao Mo was taken aback for a moment but didn’t say anything more. He simply nodded lightly, placed the bamboo tube in front of Tushan Jing Ci, and said in a gentle voice, "Miss, please write down your date and time of birth, then shake the tube. The stick that falls out is your fortune."

"Alright."

After writing down her birth characters, Tushan Jing Ci took the bamboo tube, held it with both hands, and began to shake it continuously. The bamboo sticks RATTLED noisily inside.

Finally, one bamboo stick slid from the mouth of the tube and landed softly on the table.

Xiao Mo reached out, picked up the stick, and carefully read the verse written on it.

Tushan Jing Ci’s eyes sparkled with anticipation. She couldn’t help but press, "Master, what does this fortune mean?"

"’What is fated to be will be; what is not cannot be forced.’ Miss, you have a rather persistent nature, but sometimes, letting things unfold naturally may be the better choice," Xiao Mo said frankly.

Tushan Jing Ci listened quietly, a faint smile spreading across her lips.

She looked up, her beautiful, fox-like eyes fixed on Xiao Mo, and said slowly, word by word:

"But, Master..."

"But what if I like someone, and I’m determined to force it anyway?"

Xiao Mo was at a loss for words and fell silent.

"Hee hee hee..."

Seeing Xiao Mo’s troubled expression and how he was at a loss for a reply, Tushan Jing Ci covered her mouth, her eyes crinkling into crescents as she smiled.

"Alright, alright, I’ll stop teasing you, Master. I have some things to attend to, so I’ll be leaving now. I’ll come visit you again later in the evening."

Xiao Mo pressed his palms together and inclined his head slightly. "Take care, Miss."

"Goodbye, Master." Tushan Jing Ci gave Xiao Mo a long, deep look, finally pulling her gaze away after a good while. Then, she turned and left Sikong Temple.

Only after her figure had vanished beyond the temple gates did Xiao Mo retract his gaze, letting it fall upon the single bamboo stick lying quietly on the table.

After staring blankly at the fortune stick for an unknown amount of time, Xiao Mo finally reached out, picked it up, and returned it to the bamboo tube.

...

「Another day passed.」

After finishing their evening service, the monks of Sikong Temple left the main hall to have their evening meal.

However, during the service that day, Xiao Mo’s mind had wandered again while he was chanting the sutras.

According to the temple’s rules, if a monk’s mind wandered twice in a row during chanting, he had to remain alone in the main hall and chant the sutras for an additional hour.

The Abbot, Master Si Kong, had gently told Xiao Mo, "It’s nothing serious. The temple’s rules are quite lenient, for the most part. You needn’t be so hard on yourself."

But Xiao Mo felt that wasn’t right. ’If I’ve done something wrong, I should accept the punishment.’

So that night, after everyone else had left, he knelt properly before the Buddha statue in the main hall, closed his eyes, and began to chant the sutras once more.

"When Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva was practicing the profound Prajna Paramita, he illuminated the five skandhas and saw that they were all empty, and he crossed beyond all suffering and difficulty."

"Sariputra, form does not differ from emptiness; emptiness does not differ from form. Form itself is emptiness; emptiness itself is form. So too are feeling, perception, impulse, and consciousness."

"Sariputra, all dharmas are empty of characteristics..."

The clear, steady sound of his chanting issued slowly from his lips.

Xiao Mo’s chanting was resonant and sustained, drifting past every plant, every brick and tile in the front courtyard, and echoing long into the silent night.

Just then, the main gate of Sikong Temple, which was never locked, was pushed open without a sound.

A young woman tiptoed in, her steps as light as a thief’s. Her skirt brushed against the steps as she cautiously crossed the courtyard, making her way toward the main hall.

Reaching the entrance to the main hall, she placed a small hand on the doorframe and quietly peeked her head in. Gazing at the man inside, who was chanting with his eyes closed, she called out softly, "Hey, Monk. Monk... Monk..."

Xiao Mo slowly opened his eyes and turned around to see Miss Jing Ci standing in the doorway, waving at him with a beaming smile.

"Miss Jing Ci?" Xiao Mo was slightly taken aback, a note of surprise in his voice. "It’s so late. Why have you come?"

"Your temple gate wasn’t locked. It opened with a push, so of course I came in." Tushan Jing Ci skipped cheerfully to Xiao Mo’s side and sat down primly beside him. Tilting her head, she asked, "Why are you still chanting? Don’t you have to eat?"

Xiao Mo smiled and shook his head, explaining, "My mind wandered a little during evening service today. According to the temple’s rules, I have to chant for an extra hour."

"Oh, I see..." Tushan Jing Ci tilted her head, her beautiful, fox-like eyes gazing at Xiao Mo in confusion. "Then why did your mind wander, Monk?"

"Because..." Xiao Mo began, but as he looked into her pure and curious eyes, his heart seemed to stutter. He swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue and simply shook his head. "It’s nothing..."

"Hmph. You’re no fun, Monk. Fine, don’t tell me then." Tushan Jing Ci pouted and turned her head away, seeming just a little bit cross.

A moment later, however, she turned her head back to him and said with great enthusiasm, "Hey, you seem pretty bored here. How about I tell you a story?"

"I’m not bored. I’m chanting sutras," Xiao Mo said.

"But *I’m* bored... Please, let me tell you a story..." Tushan Jing Ci cajoled.

Xiao Mo smiled faintly and asked in a gentle tone, "And what story would that be, Miss?"

"Well..." Tushan Jing Ci tilted her head in thought for a moment, then a spark suddenly lit up her eyes.

"Ah! I’ve got it! How about I tell you a story about a fox and a Scholar’s Attendant?"

"A fox and a Scholar’s Attendant?" Xiao Mo repeated, slightly taken aback.

"Mhm..."

Tushan Jing Ci cleared her throat, and her voice, as clear and pleasant as a silver bell, began to drift through the main hall.

"Once upon a time, there was a little fox. She was a young lady from a great family, but she usually had no one to play with."

"But one day, this young lady met a little boy who was about her age."

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