A Young Woman's Heart

Before long, they arrived at Upper India.

From the outside, it doesn't look like a grand temple; the yellow walls have a somewhat rustic appearance.

There's a ticket booth by the entrance. The ticket price is very cheap, only 2.5 yuan. If you want to buy meal tickets at the same time, it will cost 5 yuan in total.

The driver took care of buying the tickets.

Like a young lady from a wealthy family, Zuo Ziya seems to have no need to do many things herself.

There were vendors selling incense both inside and outside the gate. There were quite a few people inside, and the large incense burners were filled with smoke. People kept throwing yellow paper with unknown meanings into them. Next to the incense burners, someone lit a stick of incense that looked like a pillar, which made Mo Xueyao cover her nose and fan herself.

This doesn't look like a temple at all; it looks more like a waste paper incinerator...

"Aren't you afraid of it catching fire?" Mo Xueyao said weakly, leaning against the railing by the release pond. "The turtles in the pond will be smoked to a crisp, won't they?"

"Pfft, Xueyao is quite humorous." Zuo Ziya covered her mouth and chuckled. "However, lighting so much incense is indeed not good, but everyone thinks it means 'a prosperous incense business,' and the more smoke, the better the luck."

"What do these guys take the temple for?" Mo Xueyao said helplessly, "An NPC that increases luck stats?"

"Luck value?"

"Ah, that's a term from the game," Mo Xueyao said with an embarrassed smile, scratching her head. "But, is it okay for someone like me who doesn't believe in Buddhism to come in?"

"Of course, no problem. Whether you believe it or not, you're welcome to come in and take a look."

"Seeking divination and praying to Buddha are just ways to find solace," Li Wanyan said softly. "To realize your wishes, you still have to rely on yourself."

"That's right, is Wanyan a Buddhist?"

"I don't believe in any religion. If so-called gods and Buddhas really exist... ha." She gave a disdainful, cold laugh, as if recalling something unpleasant.

……

Chapter Eighty-Seven: Heavenly Cicada

The temple was bustling with worshippers, who flocked to the site.

Some people, dressed in designer clothes, headed straight for the donation area upon entering the temple, while others, wearing patched old clothes, held a bundle of incense and devoutly kowtowed before the Buddha.

Although Mo Xueyao does not believe in any religion, she still has basic respect for others and will not ridicule others because of their beliefs.

Because sometimes what she looks down upon as faith may actually be the spiritual pillar that many people strive to live on.

"Cough, cough." Mo Xueyao pushed away the thick smoke in front of her and moved to the side. There was a candlestick there, and the candle wax slowly flowed down, covering the entire candlestick with a layer of red solidified substance.

"Xueyao, would you like to offer a prayer?" Zuo Ziya turned her head slightly, swept her left bangs to the right, and handed her a stick of incense.

"Well... since we're here, let's offer a prayer." Remembering her mother's words, she didn't want to offend her, so she took the incense sticks, faced the smiling Maitreya Buddha, bowed a few times perfunctorily, and then placed them on the incense table.

Li Wanyan, who was standing to the side, was the same. She was usually serious about her work, but at this moment she was even more perfunctory than Mo Xueyao.

The girl with the gloomy face, as if the sunlight would never reach her, looked more devout.

She knelt on the prayer mat, holding three incense sticks in her hands, her eyes closed, her hands clasped together, and her lips moving slightly as if she were talking to herself.

After she inserted the incense sticks into the altar, she knelt down on the ground, almost pressing her forehead to the ground.

After repeating this three times, he slowly stood up.

Tian Tingchan's unfocused eyes now held a hint of longing and anticipation.

It's like a drowning person seeing a log floating in the distance.

Although it is unknown what wish she wanted to fulfill, making a wish to so-called gods and Buddhas will ultimately only be in vain.

Mo Xueyao looked at her with some pity, and even had the illusion that 'a dying person is grasping at a vain hope'.

Could it be that spending so much time with Li Wanyan has given him the same ability to see through people's hearts?

No, no, it's not about seeing through people's hearts, it's just that Tian Tingchan didn't hide anything at all.

Or rather, even Mo Xueyao could easily see through her so-called concealment.

There is more than one temple in Shangtianzhu.

The entrance is actually the Four Heavenly Kings, and further up there are Maitreya Buddha and various Arhats, as well as several Guanyin statues.

At the very top are three large Buddha statues, and the wall to the side is covered with transparent grids, like a shop window divided into hundreds of sections.

Each display window contains a small Buddha statue with the donor's name written below it.

It is said that only those who donate more than 100,000 yuan can leave their names here.

Therefore, most of the small Buddha statues are nameless, which means they have not yet been 'claimed'.

But there were quite a few with names written on them; Mo Xueyao counted them and there were more than forty!

Even if we take the minimum standard of 100,000 as the standard, it is equivalent to so many people donating more than four million.

No wonder most Buddhist temples are much more magnificent and beautiful than Taoist temples.

Mo Xueyao remembered visiting a Taoist temple near her hometown when she was in junior high school.

The place was so dilapidated that it resembled an ordinary courtyard. Only three Taoist priests and a few young Taoist disciples lived there. They mainly chopped wood, carried water, and farmed. Apart from the Taoist temple itself, it seemed that nothing else had anything to do with Taoism.

Unlike here, where a large number of monks gather together, chanting sutras while striking wooden fish, creating a strong Buddhist atmosphere.

Mo Xueyao thought with a hint of malice, but of course, she didn't show it outwardly.

Upper India is not very big, and we quickly circled around it, paying our respects to every statue.

"By the way, do we need to sign it? Although the New Year has been over for almost a month, we can still see how our fortune is this year." Zuo Ziya always seemed to like to comb her hair with her hands, as if the slightest movement would make her hair all messy.

Mo Xueyao didn't quite understand; she would only brush her hair aside when it was blocking her view.

"Whatever." Mo Xueyao didn't care. If she got a very good fortune, she would reluctantly believe it. If she got the worst fortune, she wouldn't believe it. For someone like her who wasn't a believer in any religion, it was just a little game to add some prize money.

Li Wanyan didn't participate in the fortune-telling; instead, she went to watch the monks chanting sutras, apparently because she saw a monk who was handsome even without hair...

Who would have thought that Li Wanyan could be so infatuated with a boy?

One should be devout when drawing lots, but Mo Xueyao clearly couldn't do that. She just shook the lot tube more vigorously until one lot fell down.

"Neutral." Mo Xueyao looked at the slip of paper. "Standard, nothing special."

“Yes, as long as it’s ‘auspicious,’ it’s good.” Zuo Ziya also drew one, and it was a very auspicious one.

Only Tian Tingchan had the worst luck, as she drew a very unlucky card.

Her face looked pale, and she bit her lip as she put the skewer back in.

"It's alright, it's alright. Actually, drawing the worst possible outcome is the best outcome. Drawing the worst possible outcome is actually the best outcome," Zuo Ziya comforted her. "It's called the reversal of extremes."

Tian Tingchan walked silently to the side, neither speaking nor nodding or shaking her head, but simply looking at the sky and taking a deep breath.

Although she didn't know what had happened to her, Mo Xueyao couldn't help but feel a little pity for her.

"Uh... she seems to be in bad shape," Mo Xueyao said in a low voice to Zuo Ziya beside her.

"Hmm..." Zuo Ziya hesitated for a moment, as if considering what to tell her, "It's because of some things in life."

"If I don't have money, I should be able to borrow some from you, right?"

"It's probably not that simple... Well, actually, I'm not that familiar with her, so I don't know how to help her. I can only invite her out for a walk to clear her head."

"I understand." Mo Xueyao then realized that the main character who came out on this trip was actually Tian Tingchan, who had been silent all along.

After drawing lots, the group went downstairs to call Li Wanyan, who had listened to the monks chanting sutras for a while, and went to the dining hall for a vegetarian meal.

The vegetarian meal is naturally entirely vegetarian.

However, perhaps to cater to most ordinary people, it is still a bit oily.

Although there were several bowls of vegetables, there was only one type.

I can't quite describe what kind of dish it is, because it just tastes like food cooked with a little water and oil.

It is made up of several vegetarian ingredients, including Chinese cabbage, roasted gluten, peanuts, tofu, wood ear fungus, shiitake mushrooms, and bok choy.

It didn't look very appealing, but the taste was surprisingly good.

Although my mother often cooks this kind of mixed stew at home, it never tastes this good.

It's mainly because of the addition of roasted gluten.

Mo Xueyao, who doesn't have a big appetite, ate three bowls.

"The vegetarian meal was pretty good, wasn't it?" Zuo Ziya asked with a smile.

"Hmm, it's still pretty good." Mo Xueyao rubbed her stomach, feeling like she could barely walk. "But I'd probably get tired of eating it every day."

"perhaps."

“We should eat meat at least once a week,” Mo Xueyao nudged Li Wanyan’s arm. “Right, Wanyan? Why have you been so quiet all day?”

"Hmm, I don't know what to say," Li Wanyan replied softly, but her eyes were inexplicably red.

Mo Xueyao wanted to ask what was wrong, but she was afraid that there were too many people around and she wouldn't want to talk about it, so she kept it to herself.

It doesn't take much time to get to Shangtianzhu; the majority of the time is spent on the journey.

Half an hour after lunch, Zuo Ziya had her driver take Mo Xueyao and the others back.

Throughout the entire day, she and the girl named Tian Tingchan didn't exchange a single word.

Even when she first greeted them, she received no response.

Her place wasn't too far from Mo Xueyao's house—for those who drive there.

"Phew, Tian Tingchan is such a strange girl." After returning home, Mo Xueyao muttered to herself, stroking her chin.

"What's wrong."

"She was sitting next to me in the car just now, and I saw that she had a lot of wounds on her hands, and some of them were still bleeding."

"Could it be domestic violence?" Li Wanyan's eyebrows furrowed; she was most sensitive to this kind of thing.

"No way, I saw her bite her finger until it bled."

"Biting your own finger until it bleeds..." Li Wanyan's tone softened, as if she could understand why the other person would do such a thing.

"Never mind, we're not that close anyway." Mo Xueyao nudged Li Wanyan's arm and said casually, "Hey, Wanyan, what happened earlier? You seemed a little sad during dinner?"