Chapter 8

After Liu Guohua finished reporting the progress of his investigation and proving that they had been very diligent toward their client and this case, he left.

Shen Juan did not linger. She started the car directly.

Gu Shuge dawdled in the back seat for a moment, then carefully moved back to the passenger seat. This had originally been her seat. In the past, whenever Shen Juan drove, she always sat here.

Even if—even if she had misunderstood back then, and Shen Juan did not have those kinds of feelings for her, at least they were still family. There was nothing wrong with her sitting in the passenger seat.

She did her best to ignore the true intention in her heart, the desire to be a little closer to Shen Juan, and convinced herself this way.

Shen Juan drove very steadily, calm and composed amid the city traffic, neither hurried nor slow. Her eyes watched the road ahead, glancing at the rearview mirror from time to time. There was not the slightest sign of distraction. Even when waiting for the traffic light to turn green, she remained focused on the road conditions.

Gu Shuge did not know where she was going. Gradually, her mind wandered, and she began thinking about the question Liu Guohua had raised earlier.

Who had known ahead of time that she was returning to the country?

She thought it over carefully and discovered that there really was someone who knew.

It was one of her classmates.

That day in class, she had been using her phone to book her plane ticket. That classmate had glanced at her screen and said, “You’re going home?”

Because after saying this, she did not wait for Gu Shuge’s answer before lowering her head to take notes, bringing her attention back to the lecture. It was a very brief little fragment in her memory, only about ten seconds long, so Gu Shuge had never recalled it before.

Now that she remembered it, she still found it unbelievable.

That classmate was a girl she got along with fairly well at school. Because her surname was Li, everyone called her Muzi. She was also Chinese, and her personality was very soft. When she smiled, two dimples appeared at the corners of her mouth, carrying an innocent little-girl sort of feeling.

Her father was a doctor, and her mother was a middle school teacher. It was a very ordinary family. They were not wealthy, but she had never lacked food or clothing growing up. Muzi had told her all this less than three days after they met.

She was someone with no schemes at all. It could not be her.

But it was very possible that she had mentioned this matter to someone else. Then there might be many people who knew. But that would also be easy to handle. As long as Shen Juan found Muzi and asked her in person, she could get an accurate list.

Gu Shuge thought for a long time and finally sorted out some clues. Then she ran into the same old problem that had always existed. She still had not figured read the original at bailiantales.comout a way to tell Shen Juan the clues she knew.

Gu Shuge’s head hurt. She turned her gaze toward the window and realized that they had already left the city.

She glanced at the time. Unexpectedly, they had already been driving for two hours. Where were they going? Gu Shuge was utterly confused. She looked toward Shen Juan, but could not see any clue from Shen Juan’s expression.

So she could only sit properly.

After another two hours, they arrived at the foot of a mountain where few people seemed to go.

Shen Juan got out of the car. As she walked, she looked around, found a small path hidden behind green trees and wild grass, and headed up it.

Gu Shuge hurriedly followed.

It was a path paved with bluestone slabs. Withered yellow moss grew across the stones, showing that it had existed for who knew how many years. On both sides, the mountain forest was dense. One could imagine what a deep, lush landscape this place would become in spring and summer.

The path was very narrow, basically only wide enough for two people to walk side by side. Shen Juan walked in front, and Gu Shuge followed behind her. She looked around curiously, unable to figure out what Shen Juan had come to this deep mountain forest for. She also could not imagine that in this day and age, only a two-hour drive from a bustling city, there could still be such a primitive mountain.

They walked for half an hour and reached the mountainside. Ahead, a courtyard finally appeared. From bailiantales.coma distance, there were red courtyard walls and a large gate in the center. The gate was open, and she could not see clearly what was inside.

Only when they drew closer and she could see properly did Gu Shuge realize that this was a temple.

After traveling so far, what had Shen Juan come to a temple in the depths of the mountains for? Gu Shuge was full of confusion, but she quickly thought of what had happened last night, then of what Liu Guohua had said at the end, and she came to a sudden understanding.

Every profession had its own expertise. For supernatural matters, seeking guidance from Buddhism or Daoism was the best method.

Shen Juan wanted to know whether she really was there. Or rather, she wanted to find her.

With a complicated expression, Gu Shuge followed behind Shen Juan. All of a sudden, her hands and feet became very obedient. She merely looked quietly at Shen Juan’s slightly thin back.

The temple gate was wide open. Above it hung a plaque, and on the plaque, the three characters Guangping Temple were written in seal script. Through the temple gate, one could see a courtyard, where faint wisps of incense smoke curled in the air.

Shen Juan stepped over the threshold.

Gu Shuge followed her and was about to cross the threshold too, but just as she lifted one leg, she discovered an invisible wall blocking her way.

She was greatly shocked. She reached out to touch it, and sure enough, she felt a wall in [read the original at bailiantales.com]the air. She could not see it, but it truly existed.

Shen Juan was walking farther inside. Her figure grew more and more distant. Panic surged up in Gu Shuge all at once, as if some connection between her and Shen Juan had been snapped. Gu Shuge grew anxious. No longer caring about her image, she rammed her body into that invisible wall.

The temple was not large. It had two courtyards. The front hall enshrined a Buddha statue for worshippers to pay respects to, while the rear courtyard was where the monks lived, ate, and performed morning prayers.

Shen Juan entered the temple. The scent of sandalwood incense lingered around her, and a quiet, distant atmosphere filled the entire monastery.

First, she went to the front hall and offered a stick of incense.

Shen Juan did not have any religious beliefs, but whether she went to a Buddhist temple or a Daoist temple, she would offer a stick of incense. It was not to pray for blessings, but to follow local customs and express respect to the master of the place.

But this time, as she knelt before the Buddha, she was devout in a way she had never been before.

A monk came out from the side hall, wearing kasaya robes, with ordination scars on his head. He waited until Shen Juan finished offering incense before asking, “Benefactor, have you come to our humble temple to hold rites, or to draw a fortune stick and ask about good and ill fortune?”

Guangping Temple was remote and not famous. Worshippers who traveled all this way here had usually been referred by someone and came with a request.

Shen Juan nodded slightly to him. The monk pressed his palms together and returned the greeting.

“I’ve come to find someone,” Shen Juan said. “Would it be convenient for your temple’s Master Jingyun to come out and meet me?”

“Senior Brother Jingyun?” The monk was stunned, then smiled. “Unfortunately, the timing is poor. Senior Brother left the temple to wander a year ago, and his return date is uncertain.”

In this modern society of steel and concrete, the words “wander” sounded extremely out of place. Yet when this old monk said them, they sounded very natural, as if beyond the mountain temple, the outside world was still an ancient landscape of green mountains and clear waters, a paradise on earth.

Shen Juan asked, “Can he be contacted?”

The monk shook his head. “Senior Brother Jingyun has no attachments. He left no contact information.”

“Do you know the route of his travels?”

The monk still shook his head. “I do not.”

It seemed she would not be able to meet him, nor would she find him within three or five days.

Shen Juan took a check from her bag, handed it to the monk, and said, “There is something I would like to ask you, Master.”

The monk glanced at the amount on the check, accepted it, pressed his palms together, chanted a Buddhist invocation, and said, “Benefactor, please follow me to the rear courtyard so we may speak in detail.”

The rear courtyard was even more simple and ancient, built in a medieval style. The eaves were low, and a wooden floor was laid beneath them. On the floor sat a low table, with an incense burner placed on it. On either side of the table was a round meditation cushion.

The two sat on opposite sides. The monk poured two cups of clear tea, and Shen Juan took out the amulet pouch, beginning from the start.

“Two years ago, by a twist of fate, Master Jingyun gave me this amulet pouch and said it could ward off one fatal calamity. I gave it to someone else.” Shen Juan lowered her eyes and looked at the cup of clear tea on the table. “Yesterday, she died in a car accident. Her remains are still in the hospital.”

The monk’s expression gradually grew solemn. He accepted the amulet pouch and held it up before his eyes, examining it for a long time. Confusion appeared on his face. “Strange. This amulet pouch has already been used once.”

Shen Juan had already guessed as much. “I have seen Master Jingyun’s abilities, so it cannot be that the amulet pouch was useless. There must have already been a fatal calamity before this.”

The monk nodded repeatedly. In modern society, people believed in science, and things like gods and ghosts were categorized as feudal dregs and trickery. But since they had been passed down for thousands of years and survived through generations without disappearing, these tales of gods and ghosts naturally had their reason. Even in the present age, there were truly capable people.

Most capable people had a bit of pride and were unwilling to suffer the cold eyes and prejudice of the world. So they would find a stretch of mountains and forest and live there in seclusion.

Monk Jingyun was one of them. He truly had ability.

The monk often received worshippers and was still quite versed in worldly affairs. He looked at Shen Juan’s expression and offered a word of comfort. “Life and death, fortune and disaster, all have their own destiny. Benefactor, you need not blame yourself. How can anyone protect another person for an entire lifetime?”

This amulet pouch was difficult to obtain even for a thousand in gold. There was only one like it in the world. For Senior Brother Jingyun to be willing to give her this amulet pouch, she must have done him a great favor. Yet such a precious, life-saving thing—she had directly given it to someone else.

That someone else was probably even more important to her than herself.

A person’s life was fated. Since her intentions had been fulfilled, there was truly no need to blame herself too much.

The bell rang. Monks who were doing morning prayers came out of the rooms, while several young novice monks chased and played in the courtyard.

Whether Shen Juan heard his words or not was unknown. She looked into the courtyard for a while, then explained the purpose of her visit. “Last night, I sensed her. I felt that she was right behind me, watching me.”

The monk understood. So it was a departed soul causing trouble. It was not that such things had never happened before, only that others usually came to ask him to drive away evil ghosts. But for this benefactor, she probably wanted him to soothe the soul, so the departed spirit could rest in peace and enter reincarnation as soon as possible.

He was just about to speak and accept this ritual.

But Shen Juan continued, “I want to see her.”

The monk was surprised, but quickly thought it through. Most likely, there was some entanglement of love and resentment involved. Buddhism emphasized purity of heart, few desires, and freedom from attachment and stubborn obsession. He advised, “When people go through a fatal calamity, they all carry resentment. Only those with heavy resentment turn into ghosts and remain in the human world. So ghosts are all formed from evil thoughts and can no longer clearly remember the people and events of their lives. Even if you see her, she will no longer be the person you wish to find. She may even cause trouble, and you might be dragged into it as well.”

“I want to see her.” Shen Juan’s tone was very calm. Her elegant, gentle features rarely showed such single-minded obsession as she said, “Even if she has become an evil ghost, even if I have to risk myself, I must see her at least once.”