Chapter 232: The Mysterious Masters
Translator: Noodletown Translated Editor: Noodletown Translated
When Xie Yujia handed the key to Han Ren, her fingertips touched his palm.
Her fingertips were a bit cold. Hao Ren looked up, but Xie Yujia had turned her head away, calling out in a joyous tone, “Ok! Everyone, put your bags in your rooms and come down to the hall in two minutes. We’ll go from here!”
“Ok!” They scattered.
“Cool! You have the room to yourself!” Carrying a backpack, Zhou Liren nudged Hao Ren with his shoulder.
“Not cool at all! I’ll be bored by myself!” Hao Ren rolled his eyes.
“Do you want me to keep you company tonight?” Zhou Liren gave him a meaningful look.
Hao Ren s.h.i.+vered in disgust and replied, “No, thanks. I’ll try to enjoy my boredom.”
His room faced the south with proper ventilation and suns.h.i.+ne. It was a s.p.a.cious double room, and Hao Ren suspected that Xie Yujia had given him a good room with her ‘power.’
He tried the TV and the shower and found no problem with them. Leaving his bag in the room, Hao Ren took the key and went down to the hall.
As the Cla.s.s President, Xie Yujia was already waiting in the hall. Besides her, Hao Ren was the first one to get down to the hall. The others were still in their rooms.
After all, this was their first cla.s.s trip, and they were all excited about the prospect of staying the night in a hotel. Moreover, some people had secretly traded rooms with others so that they could share a room with their boyfriends and girlfriends. They must be especially excited.
Hao Ren faked a cough and walked over. “Cla.s.s President, who’s your roommate?”
“I have the room to myself tonight as well. Ma Lina was supposed to share the room with me, but she now wants to stay over at her auntie’s since she lives in Xin’an City,” Xie Yujia said with a smile.
“Oh…” Hao Ren looked at her and didn’t know what to say next.
Xie Yujia gazed at him, and her long eyelashes fluttered at a loss of words as well.
“Hey! You two are quick!” Ma Lina ran out from the corridor joyously.
“You don’t plan to stay here, but you still went to the room!” Xie Yujia glanced at her, pouting.
“Well, I wanted to have a look at the room even though I won’t stay the night!” Ma Lina cast a sly glance at them. “Since you both are living alone tonight, why not…”
“Stop your nonsense!” Before she could finish, Xie Yujia reached out to pinch her nose.
Ma Lina laughed like crazy and ran to the other side of the hall. Xue Yujia pursed her lips and decided not to chase her.
After everyone had come down to the hall, Xie Yujia stood on her tiptoes and counted. Then, she said, “The Big Buddha Temple is not far from here; we can just walk there!”
Hao Ren found her quite cute when she was not bossy as the Cla.s.s President. Looking at the other guys’ expressions, he knew that they shared his feelings.
“Ren, if you like her, make your move!” Zhao Jiayi leaned over and whispered to him.
Others might not know what Hao Ren was thinking about, but Zhao Jiayi, who slept in the berth below him, knew what was up.
Since Hao Ren didn’t respond, Zhao Jiayi patted him on the shoulder and continued, “This is a good opportunity for you to get close to her now that we are out on a trip. With my experienced eyes, I think Xie Yujia likes you!”
“Ok. I got it.” Hao Ren smiled at him, touched by how much his buddy cared for him.
Zhao Jiayi, Yu Rong, and the other guys looked careless, but in moments of need, they would stick with each other.
They followed Xie Yujia to the Big Buddha Temple two blocks away like a group of elementary students who just got off from school.
Hao Ren looked up at the sky and found that it was clear without the Nine Dragon Palace blocking the suns.h.i.+ne. He looked toward the direction of East Ocean City and caught a glimpse of the Nine Dragon Palace which was still hovering in the air.
They pa.s.sed the main gate with tickets and entered the Big Buddha Temple which had green trees, stone steps, red walls, yellow tiles, and incense fragrance. Shortly after, they divided into several smaller groups.
While Xie Yujia walked in front of them, Zhao Jiayi pushed Hao Ren forward abruptly.
Unprepared, Hao Ren was pushed several steps forward to Xie Yujia’s side.
Not wanting to be the ‘third wheel,’ Ma Lina turned back and asked, “Yu Rong, do you have anything to eat? I’m a bit hungry…”
Ditched by Ma Lina and the guys, Xie Yujia and Hao Ren were left walking together in the front of the group.
Of course, they understood their friends’ match-making efforts, and they couldn’t blame them for their well-intentioned scheme.
“Oh, about the book you gave me; you got it from the old Grandma, right? Where did she get it?” After a dozen steps, Hao Ren finally found a topic and broke the silence.
“I don’t know. Last time when I visited her on my way back home, she just gave it to me,” Xie Yujia answered.
When they walked on the rough stone steps, sunlight penetrated the tree leaves and s.h.i.+ned on Xie Yujia. The moving spots of light on her gave her a mystic beauty.
“Don’t you feel that Xie Yujia and Hao Ren are quite a match!”
“Yeah. I used to think that Hao Ren is quite ordinary. But recently, I found him more and more handsome, and Xie Yujia looks more beautiful each day. They could be a perfect couple…”
“Xie Yujia once said that she wouldn’t get a boyfriend until the third year, but I think she likes Hao Ren!”
“Anyways, looking from behind, they match each other perfectly.”
The guys and girls walking behind them whispered to each other, afraid to spoil the chances of success of their match-making scheme.
Xie Yujia and Hao Ren walked at a leisure pace in the front, and the people following them found them walking together quite lovely.
It felt like it was a scene from a romantic movie.
In their minds, Xie Yujia and Hao Ren were already a couple.
Their auras were in harmony with each other, giving people a peaceful and wondrous feeling.
Zhao Jiayi had a strong feeling that, unlike the clinging lovers behind them, Hao Ren and Xie Yujia would stick with each other even after graduation. They would be an excellent couple who cherished each other.
“Next time you go and visit the old Grandma, I’ll go with you,” Hao Ren said to Xie Yujia, stepping on the fallen leaves on the stairs.
“Ok.” Xie Yujia nodded slightly.
The majestic grand hall entered their sight. They looked back and found that the others in their group had fallen behind.
“Come on! Catch up!” Xie Yujia waved her hand and called.
The others quickened their steps. Seeing the harmony between Hao Ren and Xie Yujia when they were walking shoulder to shoulder, other group members didn’t want to walk up and spoil the scene.
After entering the grand hall, they looked around. Xie Yujia walked to the big Buddha statue in the center of the grand hall and murmured prayers silently with her hands together before her chest.
Seeing her devoted expression, Hao Ren had a slight ache in his heart.
Xie Yujia slowly opened her eyes after about ten seconds. Seeing Hao Ren was watching her, she smiled embarra.s.sedly before walking over to him. “Let’s go to the back.”
“Patroness, would you like to draw a straw?”
A little monk walked over and asked Xie Yujia.
After a moment of hesitation, Xie Yujia took the draw box and shook out a wooden straw.
“Please go to the side hall on the right for the interpretation,” the little monk said.
Seeing that she had drawn a straw, everyone else wanted to hear the interpretation. They urged Xie Yujia to go and hear it.
Xie Yujia smiled and went to the Interpretation Room.
The interpreter was an old monk. When Xie Yujia told him the number of her straw, the old monk looked at her, and his eyes turned from tranquil to confused.
He turned to look at Hao Ren by Xie Yujia’s side, and his eyes squinted with even more bafflement.
“Here are the words on your draw. Relax, and everything will be fine; important people will help you reach highs and pa.s.s difficulties; restraint is crucial in strategy; think twice before acting; in the end, sickness gets cured, and water comes to the dried-up well.”
The old monk read out the interpretation and asked, “What do you want to interpret?”
Xie Yujia bit on her lip. “Love life.”
“Oh…” The guys standing behind her cheered.
The old monk coughed. They realized that they were in the quiet place of a temple and shut up immediately.
In the past, Xie Yujia would have blushed at their cheers. But today, she looked very serious.
“Patroness, you have a unique fate, and I’m uncertain about it. However, I’ll give you a piece of advice: your loved one is by your side, which is a blessing and torture. Stay or go, you must follow your heart,” the old monk said.
Xie Yujia furrowed her brows while she thought about the old monk’s words. She was surprised that she was trying to find an answer in the straw. After all, she had never believed in such things before.
“Cla.s.s President, is the reading good?” The guys asked her immediately.
Xie Yujia said with a bitter smile, “It’s ok.”
She turned back to the old monk. “Thank you, Master.”
“No problem; Take care.” The old monk nodded slightly at Xie Yujia and didn’t even ask for any payment for the interpretation.
“It’s all fake!” Ma Lina said loudly, pulling Xie Yujia out with her.
The others followed them out.
The old monk turned back to his meditation, but his gaze followed Hao Ren when he walked out.
“Strange. He is still young, but he has the presence of dragons and tigers. In the ancient times, he would have been a figure like an emperor!”
He wanted to give Hao Ren some advice, but he decided against it after some thinking. The pair of young people had masters supporting them and didn’t need his feeble help.
He looked toward the direction of East Ocean City and felt like there was something up there, but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was.
“Well, I’ll never reach Level 7 Qi Refinement Realm in my lifetime.” The old monk picked up his teacup and sipped the Longjing tea, not knowing that the young man he just saw had already broken through Kan-level, the equivalent of the Foundation Establishment Realm, and was close to Zhen-level, the equivalent of the Core Formation Realm!
In the world of cultivation, the old monk, who was only on Level 6 Qi Refinement Realm, should have called Hao Ren ‘Grandmaster’!