Pledging Their Love

Ding Ling did not take Duàn Yì's mysterious promise seriously. The so-called profits and losses were merely jokes, nothing to be taken as truth.

If she had truly worked for Duàn Yì just for a little benefit, she would have been ruined long ago.

After dealing with the loose ends of the incident, Qin Xin traveled with Ding Ran and the others back to the county town to wait.

Meanwhile, Duàn Yì and Ding Ling went beyond the county town to hold a secret discussion in a secluded little temple.

Within the quiet meditation chamber, sandalwood incense curled upward, and blue smoke drifted through the antique surroundings.

On the northern wall was a huge character for Buddha, its strokes flying like dragons and snakes, brimming with Zen intent. Looking upon it calmed the mind, as though one stood before the Buddha himself.

Before the wall lay a bright yellow prayer cushion and a wooden fish, along with twenty-four volumes of the Great Buddhist Sutras, meant for lay devotees who came to the temple for brief periods of cultivation.

The entire room was clean and orderly. Apart from a bed and a simple table and chairs, there was nothing else.

After Ding Ling sat down, Duàn Yì tightly shut the meditation chamber's doors. It truly looked as if they were up to something shameful.

In truth, ordinary Buddhist temples would never allow a lone man and woman, both worshippers, to remain alone in one room, lest they cross the line and defile this place of Buddhist purity.

However, this little temple stood outside the county town, and its abbot had only two or three people under him. A donation of ten taels of incense money was enough for him to turn a blind eye.

There was no helping it. The Buddha's