That night, the three women listened in a daze.
They didn't even know when they had returned to their rooms.
They slept fitfully until well past midmorning the next day, then suddenly jolted awake.
Xue Yu called out, but no one answered. When she opened her eyes, Chu Tiange was nowhere to be seen... Thinking it over, she guessed he hadn't wanted to wake her and had gone to the temple alone to worship Buddha.
The three women had missed the morning meal. After washing up, they went to wait outside the dining hall for lunch.
But even after Chu Tiange returned from worshipping Buddha and came to the dining hall, they still didn't see yesterday's burly man.
Xue Yu grew anxious. She followed the slowly approaching old monk and asked, "Old monk, where are the man and the coffin that were in your courtyard yesterday?"
The old man stared at the three women in surprise, then turned to look toward the back mountain and sighed.
"They were cremated in the pagoda forest on the back mountain early this morning. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. What, were we supposed to enshrine them in the Buddha hall?"
At that, the three women all turned their spiritual sense toward the pagoda forest on the back mountain...
Before a white pagoda, a wisp of smoke had yet to disperse, drifting away on the wind.
In a daze, Long Qingmei seemed to see the two young men lying in the coffin. She hadn't expected the burly man to really bring his friend to Longmen Temple for burial.
She couldn't help sighing softly. "Life is just too fragile."
The old man shook his head. "I'm only an old monk who sweeps the floor. I don't understand much about life and death. What do the