Chapter 7.2: Flower Demon

Tong’er asked: “Young miss wants to wear this?”

Jiang Lî nodded and said: “Let’s put this on right away.”

By the time she had changed dressing and put on the Buddhist cloth properly, the sun had already completely disappeared in the horizon. Nighttime at the top of Mount Qingcheng was imminent.

Tong’er asked: “Where are we going?”

“Naturally, to get something to eat.” Jiang Lî replied laughingly.

Tong’er was puzzled up until Jiang Lî led her to the front of the nunnery’s main hall. In the main hall, there were sacrificial offerings in front of Buddha. It was not very likely to see any worshippers coming here within 10 days to half a month. Most of the worshippers would go to the close-by He Lin Temple. Jiang Lî walked to the front of the ancient clay figure of the Buddha. There was a saucer filled with fruits on top of the incense table. Jiang Lî picked one up, handed it to Tong’er and said, “Eat it.”

Tong’er turned pale with fright. At that time, all the nuns in the nunnery were asleep and they would not come here. Tong’er said in a small voice: “Young miss, this is the fruit for Buddha to eat!”

“En,” Jiang shrugged her shoulders, “so?”

“Tomorrow, those Buddhist nuns would discover the missing offering early in the morning. Then what should we do?” Tong’er paced back and forth while waving her arms. “It is better if we go back, okay?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Jiang Lî comforted her, “Even if we are discovered, nothing will happen.”

“But this is Buddha’s,” Tong’er remained hesitant, “Us eating the sacrificial offering is too disrespectful.”

Hearing what she said, Jiang Lî laughed. She said indifferently, “This Buddha clay figurine has a hard time protecting itself, and you still hope that it could save and protect you? It’s just a mere clay figure with the image of a person. So what if we don’t respect it? We ourselves have to walk our own path. It is not good to lean on Buddha.”

Tong’er was dumbstruck while looking at Jiang Lî. The previous Jiang second young miss would not say this kind of shocking things.

Right then, a soft laughter suddenly sounded from overhead. The laughter was very soft, but at night, in the quiet and empty Buddhist main hall, it was especially clear.

Tong’er raised her head wanting to see, and she foolishly pointed her finger to a distant place at once, while stammering: “Flo-flower demon?”

Since who knows when, a person was sitting at the roof of the Buddhist main hall. This person wore dark clothing from head to toe but his cloak had a deep red embroidered peony. It appeared particularly gorgeous and flirtatious.

The pale moon and the scattered night mist illuminated the man’s countenance on the roof. His long flying eyebrows slanted up towards the temples, looking especially dashing, complimenting a pair of almond-shaped phoenix eyes with long, long eyelashes. His nose bridge was straight and tall, and his thin lips were slightly hooked up, giving an impression of a smile. Yet, people felt as if it contained some ridicule. At the corner of his eye, a dark-red mole the size of a rice grain could be spotted. With the moonlight casted on his face, it gave the impression of someone who was not from this world, producing a lingering emotion.

Fang Fei had exhausted her life on the fourth month when the peach blossoms at the top of Mount Qingcheng just started to bloom. They bloomed in the evening, and slowly, they bloomed layer by layer. In the middle of the fifth month, the beautiful and sentimental color of the peach blossoms also couldn’t shadow this man’s elegant and graceful bearing.

Jiang Lî was dressed in a gray Buddhist nun attire, her fine, black hair flowing down her shoulder like a waterfall. She looked like a virgin flower that was just about to convert to Buddhism. As she raised her head towards the roof to look, her serene gaze coincidently interlocked with the man’s gaze.

One was quiet and exquisite, yet indifferently standing aloof from worldly affairs. The other gorgeous and flirtatious, attracting people to lose their soul. The distance of three thousand worlds collided. Half bright and beautiful like the spring days, half dark like the abyss. The bright and beautiful was just a facade while in actuality, the abyss was more of a tempting gift.

The two people looked at each other from the distance, mutually making eye contact to assess each other.

Without warning, a wild thought crossed Jiang Lî’s mind and made her astounded.

How come it was him?