Chapter 148: Third Master: Wanwan
In the monastery halfway up the mountain…
A few minutes later, the originally spa.r.s.e snow seemed to sweep up the world. The silvery snow filled the sky, and a layer of white instantly covered the green tiles.
As the sky gradually darkened, the distant mountains were like huge beasts hibernating. The falling snow acc.u.mulated on them, and black and white colors overlapped each other.
Occasionally, a mountain sparrow fluttered past, leaving behind lonely footprints.
Song Fengwan stood at the door and looked at the heavy snow. She bit her lip and looked at Fu Chen. “Third Master, when will the snow stop? We really can’t go back?”
The last time I was alone with Fu Chen at the ski resort, something happened. This time…
“Even if it stops, we can’t go down the mountain. The road will be full of snow. If the snow isn’t cleared away, it will be dangerous to drive on the spiraling mountain road at night.” Fu Chen took a sip of hot tea. “Don’t stand there. Come in and sit for a while.”
“We really can’t go back?” She still refused to give up.
“This snow will probably last until midnight. I can’t joke about our safety,” Fu Chen said matter-of-factly.
“But…”
“Third Master.” A five-year-old novice monk walked in. “Master asked me to tell you two that the snow is very heavy, so you shouldn’t leave tonight.”
He was born with red lips and white teeth and had a scar on his head. He was young, but his behavior was like that of an adult.
“Okay.” Fu Chen squatted down, bringing his eyes level with the novice monk’s, and reached out his hand to wipe away the melted snow on his little head.
Song Fengwan tilted her head to look at him. I didn’t expect him to be so friendly to kids.
He must like children. If he has children in the future… Song Fengwan coughed twice. What am I thinking?
“But Master said that the guest rooms in the monastery don’t have heating stoves, so he asked you two to sleep with me tonight. My room is very big,” he said extremely seriously.
Monasteries were not like cities, so the monastery didn’t have full heating, and they burned coal for warmth.
“Okay. Help me thank your master.” Fu Chen smiled.
“Then I’ll call you two for dinner later.” The young novice monk bowed politely to Song Fengwan before leaving.
…
The food in the monastery was all vegetarian. Perhaps because they knew that it was Fu Chen’s birthday today, they had prepared a bowl of longevity noodles for him.
After dinner, the two of them chatted with a few masters. They had evening cla.s.ses, so they asked the young novice monk to send them back to the room.
There was nothing here for entertainment. At around six o’clock, the people here were already returning to their rooms to sleep.
Song Fengwan had never felt that night was so long.
“We’re here. Come in.” The young novice monk pushed open the door. It was cold and desolate in the mountains, so the door and windows were all wrapped in plastic. It was airtight. As soon as he pushed open the door, they smelled the pungent smell of burning coal. There was a hole on one side for ventilation.
It was just that…
In the room of more than 10 square meters, apart from a table, there was only a heatable brick bed against the wall.
This meant that there was only one bed.
“We’re sleeping here?” It was not that Song Fengwen looked down on the environment here, but were all three of them going to squeeze together here? “How are we going to sleep here?”
“Just lie down and sleep,” the young novice monk said seriously.
He climbed onto the heatable brick bed and moved his blanket to the side, his actions very swift.
Song Fengwan was rendered speechless for a long time by his words. Fu Chen, on the other hand, stood at the side with a smile on his face.
“I’ll go to my senior brother’s room and bring you two blankets.” The young novice monk was very quick and had already walked out.
“I’ll go with you.” Fu Chen couldn’t possibly let a child carry the blankets alone.
Song Fengwan looked at the heatable brick bed and paced back and forth in the room. She was nervous and uneasy and unable to sit still.
…
Fu Chen had just followed the young novice monk out of the room when the child immediately held his hand.
“Third Uncle, didn’t I perform very well just now?” He was still acting like an adult just a moment ago, but now, he looked innocent and pure.
“Yes, very good.” Fu Chen held his hand.
“Are you chasing her? Do you like her? Do you want to marry her to be your wife?”
Fu Chen chuckled softly. “Wife? Where did you learn this word?”
“The senior brothers said it. Some of them are going to return to secular life some time later to go home and get married.”
“Huai Sheng.” Fu Chen looked down at him. “Do you want to go down the mountain and go to school?”
Huai Sheng thought for a moment and then shook his head. “Master is getting old, so I have to take care of him. Plus, my dream is to be the abbot.”
Fu Chen sneered. He’s young but has quite some thoughts.
Fu Chen came here many times every year to offer incense and pray for blessings. When he met Huai Sheng, Huai Sheng was only a bit more than two months old.
He was an abandoned baby and thrown in the mountains. Some pilgrims had picked him up and called the police. At the time, the nearest place to where he was abandoned was this monastery. The pilgrims sent him here, but they were afraid of getting into trouble, so they left before the police came.
There were no surveillance cameras in the mountains or monastery, so there was no way to find the people who had abandoned him or the ones who had left him at the monastery.
The police had brought the child back for more than half a month, but they failed to find his biological parents and planned to send him to an orphanage. Thinking that the monastery had taken him in for a few days, they informed a master in the monastery.
After all, he was fated with the monastery, so the master brought him back and raised him. On his residence booklet[1], his master was stated as his biological father.
“Third Uncle, if you get married, will there be sweets to eat? When those senior brothers came back after getting married, they all brought me sweets to eat.” The mountains had few resources, and Fu Chen used to bring him some food. He once brought him a few packets of sweets, and he ate them for more than half a year.
“I told you before. If you want to eat something, call me.”
“Master says you’re busy.” Huai Sheng knew from a young age that he was an abandoned baby, so he felt inferior in his heart and was never willing to trouble others.
“I’m not busy.” Fu Chen led him to the meditation room on the other side.
“Third Uncle…”
“Yeah?”
“Your wife is so pretty.” Huai Sheng’s face was red from the cold, and he grinned at Fu Chen.
Fu Chen was at a loss for words. This child will anger me to death sooner or later. Where did he learn this crooked word?
…
Fu Chen carried two blankets back to the room.
Song Fengwan was in a daze, worried to death about how she was going to sleep tonight.
“Third Master, let me do it.” Song Fengwan reached out her hand to take the blankets and arranged them on the heatable brick bed.
Huai Sheng was very tactful and s.h.i.+fted his blanket to the side.
“You should sleep in the middle.” Song Fengwan looked at him sincerely.
“My sleeping posture isn’t good. That’s why my senior brothers don’t want to sleep in the same room as me. I’m afraid I’ll kick you, so I’ll sleep on the side.” Huai Sheng was very considerate and even patted the spot beside him. “Third Master, you can just sleep in the middle.”
Fu Chen nodded, his face expressionless.
“Then you rest first. I’ll go to the evening cla.s.s.” Huai Sheng jumped off the bed and ran out, and he even considerately closed the door for them.
Song Fengwan was sitting by the bed, not daring to get on it at all.
Fu Chen was tidying up the bed. Only when his phone rang did he turn his head to glance at it. It was his house’s landline number.
“h.e.l.lo.” Fu Chen sat by the bed calmly.
“Third Master, when are you and Wanwan coming back?” Uncle Nian looked at Gao Xue. This teacher had been sitting here for almost two hours, and she hadn’t mentioned leaving. It wasn’t good for him to chase her away either.
“We’re not going back tonight.”
Uncle Nian was stunned. “Then…”
“It’s snowing in the mountains, and we can’t go back. We’re staying in the monastery. Help me tell her cousin.”
Uncle Nian walked to the side with the phone and whispered softly, “Wanwan’s teacher is here, and she’s been sitting here for a long time.”
“Which teacher?”
“She said she’s from her tutoring center. Her last name is Gao.”
Fu Chen furrowed his brows. “Invite her out!”
Uncle Nian’s expression slightly froze. Hearing that Fu Chen’s tone was off, he didn’t probe further.
…
Inside Yunjin Prime Manor…
Uncle Nian hung up the phone and was about to ask her to leave when Duan Linbai came down the stairs, yawning. When he saw a guest, his pupils shrank slightly…
“My G.o.d! What the f*ck!” He turned around and immediately ran upstairs.
He was still wearing his pajamas, and it would harm his image!
Gao Xue noticed that someone was coming down the stairs, but she never expected it to be Duan Linbai. Her brain immediately buzzed.
After a few minutes, she heard the sound of footsteps. She immediately stood up and subconsciously tidied her clothes. This time, it wasn’t Duan Linbai but the cold-faced disaster she had met that day in the tutoring center.
Qiao Xiyan was wearing a s.h.i.+rt with his sleeves rolled up, and he had a knife in his hand. His hair was messy, wild, and unruly.
“Young Master Qiao, you finally came down. I was still wondering if I should call you down for dinner.” Uncle Nian smiled. Qiao Xiyan had said that he wanted to polish the jade stone and asked that no one disturb him. Uncle Nian was naturally tactful.
“I’m almost about done.” Qiao Xiyan’s gaze fell on Gao Xue, and she was so frightened that her heart trembled.
“h.e.l.lo, I am Song Fengwan’s teacher,” Gao Xue hurriedly greeted me.
“Oh, what’s the matter?” Qiao Xiyan’s expression was cold.
“I came here specially to apologize and make up for what happened last time.” Her boss had threatened her that if she didn’t settle this matter properly, she wouldn’t be able to work there anymore.This job earned too much money, so she couldn’t lose it.
“We didn’t handle it well last time, so she got bullied.
“Our tutoring center is holding a three-day crash course, and we’ve compiled the common exam questions for many years. We would like her to go to the course…” Gao Xue felt guilty under his gaze.
“It’s all free. We definitely won’t take any money.”
Qiao Xiyan spun the carving knife in his hand, and the exquisite knife flew on his fingertips. His movements were casual, but his gaze was exceptionally sharp.
“Didn’t handle it well? It was clearly a dereliction of duty. Yet you want to brush this matter off with just a few words. You know very well whether it was intentional or a misunderstanding.”
Qiao Xiyan wasn’t someone easily fooled, and he read through her thoughts clearly.
“I’ve already given you guys enough face by not finding trouble with you. Don’t you ever come hara.s.s Wanwan again.
“Crash course?” Qiao Xiyan sneered. “Our family doesn’t lack this bit of money.
“So please get out of my sight this instant!”
Gao Xue didn’t expect Qiao Xiyan to speak so bluntly and directly.
“You’re still not leaving? If I get someone to invite you out, I’m afraid you’ll be very ashamed.”
His words meant that he was already very polite and that she shouldn’t be shameless.
Although Uncle Nian didn’t know what had happened, he was clear that Qiao Xiyan wouldn’t act up for no reason, so he just stood by the side and watched.
Gao Xue was embarra.s.sed and fl.u.s.tered. She took out the contact information of the tutoring center from her bag and placed it on the coffee table. “… Erm, please contact us if you need anything. I…”
“Take it with you.” Qiao Xiyan felt disgusted seeing it.
Gao Xue’s face was swollen. He didn’t even want to keep the business card, and his expression of disgust was evident.
She picked up the business card and ran out.
When Duan Linbai changed and went downstairs, Gao Xue was already gone.
“Where is she? Why did she leave just like that? Did you scare her away?” Duan Linbai looked at Qiao Xiyan. Tsk—
He only knows how to act cool and put on airs.
Qiao Xiyan glanced at him and didn’t say anything.
“Why are you looking at me? Can’t I ask you something?” Duan Linbai snorted coldly.
Uncle Nian saw that they were at swords’ points and hurriedly said, “Oh right, Third Master and Wanwan encountered heavy snow, so they’re trapped in the monastery in the mountains. I’m afraid they won’t be able to come back tonight.”
It was only then that Qiao Xiyan noticed it was already snowing heavily outside.
“The monastery?” Qiao Xiyan frowned.
“They probably went to pray for blessings. It’s too dangerous to be on the road at night in a snowstorm.” Uncle Nian smiled.
Qiao Xiyan nodded. Buddhist monasteries are places of purity. Nothing should go wrong. “Uncle Nian, do you have a whetstone here?”
“No.” Uncle Nian shook his head.
Duan Linbai was laughing in his heart. Fu Chen is really quick. He’s already brought the little girl out to spend the night together alone.
Continue being unreasonable with me. One day, you will be crying.
His thoughts were running unrestrainedly for a few seconds when he heard that Qiao Xiyan was looking for a whetstone, and his face turned pale.
The sky’s already dark. Why is this fellow sharpening his knife?
His neck instantly chilled. In his entire life, he had never been so desperately thinking of home.
I’ve always thought that I’m not Dad’s biological son, but he definitely would never want to kill me.
…
At this moment, in the monastery on the mountain…
The blankets had already been laid out. Song Fengwan was sitting at the side of the head of the heatable brick bed and fiddling around with her phone with her head lowered. The signal here wasn’t good, so it took a long time to load web pages. From the corner of her eye, she saw Fu Chen take off his jacket and then prepare to take off his sweater.
“Third Master…” She was fl.u.s.tered. “What are you doing?”
“Taking off my clothes,” Fu Chen said matter-of-factly. Isn’t it obvious?
“It’s only six.” Going to bed so early, how long will it take to fall asleep lying on the bed?
“Yeah, I’m sleepy.”
“Aren’t you sleeping too early?”
“What else can I do except sleep?” Fu Chen looked at her. There was only a charcoal stove and a table here, and there wasn’t even a book.
Then he took off his sweater and lay down with only his s.h.i.+rt on.
Song Fengwan bit her lip and was even more unable to sit still. I’m going to go crazy. While she was fretting, she heard a sentence coming from behind her…
“Wanwan, get on the bed and sleep.”
[1] Form of identification for citizens of China.