Winter gave way to spring. The ice and snow melted, and all things stirred back to life. It was the perfect season to pray for a destined match.
Men and women streamed endlessly past the entrance of the Guanyin Temple.
Gu She and Tao Mo made their way through the crowd and were soon swallowed up among the throngs of people.
“Xianzhi?” Tao Mo was not very tall, and the moment he stopped paying attention, the crowd pushed him ahead. With stone steps beneath his feet, he had to watch where he was going while also searching for Gu She, leaving him stumbling awkwardly along. By the time he finally reached a more open spot and turned to look back at the stream of people climbing the steps, all he could see were heads bobbing through the crowd. There was no sign of Gu She anywhere.
He began to grow anxious and could not help rising onto his toes to look.
“Lord Tao?”
A familiar voice came from behind him.
Tao Mo reluctantly turned around and forced a smile in greeting. “Young Master Lu.”
Lu Zhenxue was far too perceptive not to see at a glance that Tao Mo had no desire to speak with him. His previously good mood inexplicably soured, and he gave a smile that did not reach his eyes. “Lord Tao has been in Tanyang County for only a few months, yet two beauties have already favored you with their attention one after another. Do you still need to come to the Guanyin Temple to pray for a marriage?”
“I came to get rid of bad luck,” Tao Mo said.
“Get rid of bad luck?” Lu Zhenxue assumed he was referring to Miss Xu and frowned slightly. “Isn’t that rather harsh, Lord Tao?”
Tao Mo scratched his head. “I thought so too. But Hao Guozi said we’ve had one run of bad luck after another lately, so it would be better to come and get rid of some of it.”
Lu Zhenxue suddenly understood. “Ah. So that is the bad luck you meant.”
Tao Mo asked, “Did Young Master Lu come to pray for a marriage?”
Lu Zhenxue’s expression stiffened before he said evenly, “I came with a friend.”
“Oh.” Tao Mo answered absently, his eyes already searching the surroundings again.
“Did Lord Tao become separated from one of your servants?” Lu Zhenxue began helping him look. He had met both Hao Guozi and Old Tao before and still remembered what they looked like.
Tao Mo shook his head. “Not a servant.”
Lu Zhenxue looked surprised. “Could it be… Miss Xu?”
“Ah, of course not,” Tao Mo said.
Seeing that Tao Mo denied it without offering an answer, Lu Zhenxue assumed he did not wish to say and did not press him further. “This is when the greatest number of people are going up the mountain. Why not come into the temple with me and sit for a while, Lord Tao? If the person you are waiting for cannot find you, he may go inside to look.”
Tao Mo hesitated, then shook his head. “I’ll wait for him here.”
Lu Zhenxue laughed. “Is he a child? Why is Lord Tao so worried about him?” There was a hint of probing in his words. Tao Mo had not been in Tanyang County for long, and there were only a handful of people he had grown close to. Lu Zhenxue truly could not think of anyone Tao Mo would care about enough to wait so anxiously.
Tao Mo said, “I’d be waiting either way, whether inside or outside. If I wait here, I can see him more easily.”
A name suddenly flashed through Lu Zhenxue’s mind. “Could it be Brother Gu?”
Tao Mo nodded. “It’s Xianzhi.”
“Xianzhi?” Lu Zhenxue first froze, then abruptly looked startled. He pressed, “Which characters are used for ‘Xianzhi’?”
Tao Mo looked at him awkwardly.
Only then did Lu Zhenxue remember that Tao Mo could not read. He gave a dry laugh. “I merely thought of someone and lost my composure for a moment.”
Tao Mo suddenly fixed his gaze in one direction, his eyes almost shining.
“And who could Brother Lu have thought of to lose his composure so badly?” Gu She’s leisurely voice drifted from that direction.
Lu Zhenxue turned and saw Gu She walking gracefully through the crowd with a skewer of candied hawthorn in his hand. Strangely enough, everywhere else was packed shoulder to shoulder, yet wherever Gu She passed, people instinctively made room around him, as though afraid they might accidentally brush against him.
Gu She walked up to Tao Mo and held out the candied hawthorn.
Tao Mo’s eyes widened in surprise. “For me?”
“Hold it.”
So he only wanted Tao Mo to carry it for him. Tao Mo obediently took it.
“Eat.”
Tao Mo pointed the skewer at his own nose.
Gu She nodded.
Tao Mo broke into a broad grin and happily took a bite.
Standing beside them, Lu Zhenxue suddenly felt entirely unnecessary, like an intruder who had wandered into a room that did not belong to him.
“Did Brother Lu come to pray for a marriage?” Gu She asked.
Lu Zhenxue snapped out of his daze. “Ah. It was my mother’s idea.”
Tao Mo stared at him in astonishment. “Didn’t you say you came with a friend?”
Lu Zhenxue was, after all, Lin Zhengyong’s prized disciple. His thoughts turned swiftly, and he immediately found an explanation. “My mother instructed me to accompany a friend.”
“In that case, Brother Lu should go about your business.” As Gu She spoke, he reached out, took Tao Mo by the hand, and led him toward the temple.
With Gu She holding his hand, Tao Mo’s entire body went so stiff that even his knees seemed unable to bend. When they reached the threshold, he had to lift his foot twice before he finally managed to step over it.
Inside the main hall, every prayer cushion was occupied by someone kneeling.
The rattling of fortune-stick cylinders rose and fell all around them.
Gu She released Tao Mo’s hand. “Didn’t you say you came to get rid of bad luck?”
Tao Mo blinked. “How am I supposed to do that?”
“Make a wish to the Bodhisattva.” Gu She casually took the candied hawthorn from his hand.
Tao Mo obediently went over and knelt on the prayer cushion in the farthest corner of the last row.
Watching Tao Mo bow with the utmost solemnity, Gu She said without turning his head, “Does Brother Lu have anything else to say?”
Lu Zhenxue approached with a smile. “I never realized Brother Gu and Lord Tao were so close.”
“There are always a few things in this world that one does not expect,” Gu She replied.
Lu Zhenxue said, “In that case, when Brother Gu previously wanted to hire a litigation master to fight a case in the neighboring county, that must have been for Lord Tao’s sake as well?”
“Has Brother Lu become interested?”
“No. I was merely asking.”
“Didn’t Brother Lu come with a friend?”
“Is Brother Gu trying to drive me away?”
Gu She turned and looked at him with a faint, ambiguous smile. “Who says I’m not?”
Lu Zhenxue said, “There is something I am not sure whether I should ask.”
Gu She did not answer. He simply turned back to watch Tao Mo’s figure.
“I heard Lord Tao call Brother Gu… Xianzhi,” Lu Zhenxue said. “Is Xianzhi your courtesy name?”
Gu She casually answered, “Mm.”
“Gu Xianzhi?” Lu Zhenxue pronounced each syllable with deliberate emphasis, as though confirming something.
Gu She simply walked toward Tao Mo.
Just then, Tao Mo rose to his feet. Gu She asked, “What did you pray for?”
“Peace and safety,” Tao Mo replied. “I prayed that you, Old Tao, Hao Guozi, Gu Xiaojia, and everyone in Tanyang County would all remain safe and well.”
“What about you?”
Tao Mo froze.
Gu She laughed.
Tao Mo hurriedly dropped back to his knees and added the one person he had forgotten to include.
It was quite a while before he finally stood again.
Gu She said, “You took longer to pray for yourself than you did for all of us combined.”
“I prayed for everyone all over again,” Tao Mo said. “I thought that if I said it enough times, the Bodhisattva might remember it more clearly.”
“In that case, I’ll go find the abbot.” Gu She handed the candied hawthorn back to him.
“Huh? Why?” Tao Mo followed behind him.
“He is here every day. He can repeat it for you every day.”
Tao Mo noticed that Lu Zhenxue had followed them as well and asked in confusion, “Isn’t Brother Lu going to look for his friend?”
“I became separated from them. They have probably already gone back.” Lu Zhenxue paused and looked meaningfully at Gu She and Tao Mo. “Not every friend will remain in the same place and wait for the other person to return.”
Tao Mo bit into another piece of candied hawthorn and felt warm all over inside, as though a hot spring had begun bubbling gently in his heart.
The Guanyin Temple was not large. Behind the main hall was a courtyard with several fortune-telling stalls, and quite a few shy-looking young men stood gathered before them.
Lu Zhenxue said, “Brother Gu, Lord Tao, why not have your fortunes told as well?”
Tao Mo was somewhat tempted. Unfortunately, what he wished to ask about was something he could not possibly reveal openly beneath the light of day.
“If a man cannot even decide his own fate in love, what can he decide?” Gu She said.
Lu Zhenxue’s expression tightened. In truth, his earlier claim that he had merely accompanied a friend had been an excuse. He really had come to pray for a marriage, though not of his own accord. His mother had repeatedly ordered him to come until he had finally been driven here.
“Brother Gu is certainly broad-minded. Have your parents truly never interfered?” Lu Zhenxue asked tentatively.
Gu She countered, “Have yours?”
Lu Zhenxue pressed his lips into a smile. “Marriage is a lifelong matter, and traditionally follows the wishes of one’s parents. It is only natural for them to show concern.”
As the three spoke, they reached a side hall. A young novice monk happened to be standing there holding a donation box and looking around. The moment he spotted Gu She and the others, his eyes brightened. He recited a Buddhist greeting, walked over, and asked, “Have the benefactors come to pray for a marriage?”
“No. For peace and safety,” Gu She said. “Is your temple’s abbot here?”
“The abbot is currently discussing scripture with a wandering monk.”
“In that case, I will entrust the matter to you.”
“Please tell me what you require, benefactor.”
“I would like you to recite sutras every day to pray for one person’s safety.” Gu She took out a silver note and placed it into the donation box.
Both Tao Mo and Lu Zhenxue froze.
The instant the silver note fell into the box, the novice monk caught sight of the amount and was startled. He immediately straightened and said, “Please tell me the person’s name, benefactor.”
“His name is Tao Mo.”
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