MNL Chapter 26
by VolareThose strings of scriptures entered Xu Jing’s left ear like English words and exited through his right, leaving behind a strong hypnotic effect. Xu Jing thought that since he had nothing to do back in his room anyway, and because he had been feeling restless since coming to Qiyuan Mountain, perhaps listening to the monks chant scriptures would calm his mind.
After a dozen minutes, he listened attentively and actually understood some meaning from the repetitive scriptures. It was probably a blessing for the deceased, hoping they would have a smooth and peaceful next life.
Therefore, the person kneeling on the ground must be praying for Liu Chenye.
The deceased is gone, and it is rare for the living to care for so many years, especially since they have no blood relation. The outside world is noisy but also prosperous, yet Liu Xibai is willing to stay here at this age, spending his days with ancient lamps and Buddhas.
Silently, Liu Xibai stood up, still with that indifferent expression, an attitude of detachment, but after extinguishing the candles in front of the Buddha statue, he walked towards Xu Jing.
The two looked at each other for a long time before his pale lips slightly parted, “What is your relationship?”
A strange question.
Xu Jing felt goosebumps all over his body from his empty and indifferent eyes, so he could only take a slight step back and simply replied, “Friends.”
“Is that so?” Liu Xibai seemed to hear something interesting, and a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. His voice was as light as a gossamer, like a gentle breeze brushing past the ear, “You hesitated.”
Xu Jing frowned, “What do you want to say?”
After a moment of eye contact, Liu Xibai didn’t speak. He flicked off the incense ash on his sleeves, as if he had already confirmed it, not needing to hear any answer from the other party. So he slowly walked away from Xu Jing’s sight, reciting, “Pouring a trickle of wine, entrusting this life deeply.”
The wind outside the house passed through the door, and two more candle flames were extinguished in the temple. Xu Jing’s vision darkened, but the Buddha statue was dignified and kind, and its aura was solemn. Even in this environment, it did not diminish its majesty. The person below raised his head and looked at it, and in an instant, thousands of thoughts ran through his mind.
·
Originally wanting to calm his mind, but unexpectedly Liu Xibai’s few words kept Xu Jing awake in the meditation room until dawn without any sleepiness.
When Xu Jing was at home, he often had to sleep with the lights on, but the chandelier here could not adjust the brightness. Although the light was dim, it was dazzling at night, as if lying on a sticky board, the person on the bed tossed and turned, unable to find a comfortable position.
The signal was better at this time than during the day. Unable to sleep, Xu Jing took out his phone and found that he had more messages than if he hadn’t replied in several lifetimes. He only had one class group in his contact list, which was also set to Do Not Disturb. Other than that, they were all from people he didn’t recognize at all.
A small part of them were junior high school students who somehow found his contact information, and most of them were added after entering high school. Before, someone posted a six-second video on the confession wall, which only showed the boy’s back view. A shallow halo inlaid the teenager’s slender figure. The school uniform was loose, but it still couldn’t hide his thin shoulders. He walked next to the sycamore tree, only placing the black backpack on his left shoulder, revealing half of his slender white wrist. But when the video was halfway through, a furry orange cat suddenly appeared in the picture. The school pet wagged its tail and ran forward affectionately, rubbing and biting the boy’s trouser legs.
The title of that post was: Does anyone know this handsome guy? I will not rest in peace if I can’t get his contact information. Then the comments below were neatly adding one.
Later, someone leaked it. Xu Jing’s phone crashed several times due to the constant notifications that day. After he could use it normally, he set up friend request questions as soon as possible.
As for those who had already added him, he was too lazy to delete them one by one and rarely replied. But even so, people kept sending him messages.
Xu Jing found the dialogue box at the bottom, thinking that Yan Zhe must not be sleeping now.
[Male]: .
Two seconds later.
[God Zhe]: .
[God Zhe]: Brother Jing, are you still awake? Want to play a game? We’re missing one for ranked.
Xu Jing was too lazy to type, so he directly called.
Yan Zhe answered as quickly as ever, but he expressed surprise when he spoke, “Is this really you?”
Xu Jing asked back, “What do you think?”
“Hey, I was wondering why you called me at this time.” Yan Zhe paused the hand that was pressing confirm, and asked vigilantly, “You’re not borrowing money, are you?”
Xu Jing laughed, still with that lazy smile. Yan Zhe felt uneasy, just as he was about to ask what he was laughing at, he heard the other party say something that made him want to flip the table and fight.
He said, “My dad’s company won’t go bankrupt even if you wait until your next life.”
Yan Zhe: “…”
He forgot, this was a real young master.
Looking for a friend late at night, it’s either money or emotions. Yan Zhe wasn’t good at anything else, but his reaction in this area was faster than anyone else.
“So, you… are experiencing the stirrings of love?”
The other side coldly said, “Get lost.”
But there was a three-second silence.
“However, I do have a question I want to ask.”
“…” Yan Zhe’s tone was weak, “Tell me.”
Xu Jing thought for a long time, not knowing how to say it, in fact, he didn’t even understand what he wanted to know. In the end, he could only say, “Never mind.”
Yan Zhe on the other end of the phone had just started a game, hearing this made him even more curious. Xu Jing never had the habit of saying half a sentence, hesitation was definitely not his style.
“Brother Jing, I recently found another girlfriend.”
Thinking that Xu Jing might be experiencing first love and was a little embarrassed, Yan Zhe planned to use himself as a starting point. But after saying this, he got the reply, “Male or female?”
“?”
Yan Zhe’s hand trembled, and he accidentally unleashed his ultimate move into thin air, exclaiming in shock, “Brother Jing, what are you saying?”
Xu Jing also felt that he was being ridiculous, and said a little irritably, “Pretend I didn’t say anything.”
“It’s the girl who went to listen to horror stories with me before, you’ve seen her before.”
Xu Jing’s memory was the kind that was selectively bad. All the people and things he had seen or heard would be divided into two parts at the first moment. Important things, he would never forget, unimportant things, he would forget on the spot. Obviously, the person in the words belonged to the latter. But hearing the voice, he could imagine how happy Yan Zhe was at the moment. Xu Jing leaned on the head of the bed and suddenly asked, “Why did you choose to date her?”
Yan Zhe replied quickly, “Ah? What reason could there be? I just like her.”
Xu Jing frowned, “Then why do you like her?”
“This… how should I say it.” Yan Zhe thought and patiently organized his words, “I can’t really explain it clearly. At first, I just thought she was good-looking, with long legs and a good figure. Later, I found that her personality was even more attractive to me.”
Good figure, good looks.
Xu Jing was carefully thinking about these two points, but suddenly Shen Yan’s smiling face appeared in his mind, with eyelashes like butterfly wings and eyes hiding peach blossoms, followed by the beautiful muscles on his forearms and abdomen, and those straight and slender legs.
“…”
Xu Jing shivered all over. What a mess!
Yan Zhe clicked his tongue twice and gossiped, “Brother Jing, be honest, are you hiding a secret crush from me?”
Xu Jing was about to deny it when he heard the other party say almost certainly, “I know.”
His heart skipped a beat, even the sleepiness he had managed to accumulate was reduced by two points, “What?”
“Is it the girl who sat in front of you in junior high school? I knew it, she was the only one who could say a few more words to you at the time.”
Xu Jing really had a little impression of the person Yan Zhe was talking about, mainly because Qin Xin knew her mother, and because they happened to be in the same class, so she told him to take care of her. As for whether they had ever spoken, he really couldn’t remember.
“No, hanging up.”
The four unadorned words once again became the ending of the two’s phone call, and Yan Zhe immediately sent a few more messages.
–Brother Jing, if you have any emotional problems, don’t be shy or avoid them, remember to ask me!
–I’m very reliable in this area!!
Xu Jing subconsciously wanted to reply that he didn’t need it, but—he had to admit that practice makes perfect. Yan Zhe has dated so many times that he can’t count them with one hand, maybe, he was saying maybe that one day he really got sick and had thoughts in that direction.
Wait.
But no matter what, even if he was sick, the other party shouldn’t be Shen Yan, who had just flashed through his mind.
The more Xu Jing thought about it, the more his head hurt, so he simply threw down his phone and stopped thinking, burying himself in the pillow.
This night was long and silent.
The next day.
Someone was still pathetically woken up by hunger.
It was still the taste of yesterday’s udon noodles, drifting from not far away, filling the entire room. Xu Jing found disposable toiletries in the cabinet in a daze, and after a simple wash, he sat on the chair like a master.
Shen Yan pushed the door open with his elbow. The person in front of the table was looking down at his phone, waiting for food as a matter of course.
He walked over, put down the two bowls of noodles, and said, “You got up early today.”
Xu Jing bluntly said, “Woke up hungry.”
“Looks like you really like eating the noodles I make.”
Xu Jing remained noncommittal, suddenly thinking of something, and asked, “Have you made it for anyone else?”
Shen Yan said, “No, except for my mom.”
The temperature of the porcelain bowl was scalding hot, Xu Jing’s fingertip was touching it, and he forgot to take it away for a moment. When he came back to his senses, that small area was already a little numb.
“Then will you make it for that boy in the future?”
Hearing this question, Shen Yan looked at Xu Jing with an expression that said I don’t really understand what you mean. He felt that since coming to Qiyuan Mountain, Xu Jing not only said things he couldn’t understand, but also asked strange questions.
Shen Yan did not answer the question, but looked at the person in front of him from top to bottom, and asked very seriously, “Xu Jing, are you possessed by a ghost?”
Hearing this, Xu Jing replied unhappily, “You’re the one who’s possessed by a ghost.”
“Then why have you been asking me these inexplicable questions since we came here?”
Xu Jing raised his eyes and said, “I’m mentally ill, okay?”
Shen Yan: “…”
He was speechless.