Just as people in their teens and twenties could not imagine growing old and always thought their youth would last forever, Chen Shi'an had believed he could handle loneliness perfectly well while his master was alive.
Only after his master truly passed away did he realize that, deep down, he still wanted someone to talk to along the way.
Curious about his identity as a Taoist priest, the chatty girl asked all sorts of strange questions. Though none of them had anything to do with his actual expertise, Chen Shi'an did not mind chatting with her.
At some point, the black cat in his backpack woke up and poked its big head through the gap in the zipper, quietly listening to the two bored fellow travelers ramble on.
Its fur was black as ink, almost blending into the black backpack. Though it was right there beside her, the girl somehow failed to notice it.
Only when her gaze happened to sweep over the backpack in the priest's arms did she notice a fuzzy black ball where the zipper was open.
"What's that...?"
She leaned a little closer and narrowed her eyes, trying to get a better look.
The cat raised its amber eyes and met her gaze head-on.
"...Ah!"
The girl jumped! Once she realized what that moving black ball of fur was, her lingering alarm instantly turned to delight.
"A kitty?!"
"You brought a cat, too?"
"It's so black! If its eyes hadn't moved just now, I wouldn't even have seen it!"
"It's so fat..."
Shi Mo: "?"
Clearly, the girl loved cats. Once she discovered this one, it captured her entire attention.
Though this black cat was not as striking as a ragdoll, its inky coat had a uniquely mysterious air. Its amber eyes held disdain and aloofness, yet were so expressive that it almost seemed to understand human speech.
The more Wen Zhixia looked, the more she longed to pet it. Still, she was polite enough not to reach out without permission and merely asked:
"Can I pet it? I really love kitties!"
"Better not. It doesn't like strangers. It'll scratch you."
"Okay..."
Wen Zhixia looked disappointed.
The cat, however, chose to be mischievous. Seeing how badly she wanted to pet it but could not, it began posing and preening instead, leaving Wen Zhixia practically drooling with longing and helpless to do anything about it.
Hmph. That's what you get for calling me fat. Suffer!
As they passed the halfway point of their journey, the temperature kept rising.
Complaints gradually began to sound inside the slow-moving bus.
"Driver, is the air-conditioning on? Why's it so hot back here? The heat even woke me up!"
"Yeah, there's no air coming out of this vent at all..."
"In weather this hot, you can't just run the air-conditioning up front..."
The driver was helpless in the face of the complaints from the middle and rear rows.
"The air-conditioning in the back is broken. You'll have to bear with it. There's nothing I can do."
"It's the middle of summer! We'll roast without air-conditioning!"
Only then did Wen Zhixia notice that the air-conditioning in the middle and rear of the bus was not working. She turned to look at the other passengers, who all seemed somewhat hot and uncomfortable, yet she herself felt no oppressive heat.
"Is the air-conditioning over here not blowing either?" she asked the young priest sitting by the window.
"Mm. It's probably broken, too." Chen Shi'an nodded.
"Then aren't you hot? Your Taoist robes don't look very cool, and you're sitting in the corner..."
"No. A calm mind keeps you cool. Are you hot?"
"Nope. I'm usually terrible with heat, but I don't feel hot right now."
Although her name meant "knowing summer," the girl normally dreaded the heat more than anything. Everyone around her was sweltering, yet she, who hated heat most of all, felt perfectly fine. She found that rather amazing.
Could a calm mind really keep you cool?
Wen Zhixia knew she was not the sort who could sit quietly. Perhaps it was the warm, easygoing, peaceful atmosphere of talking with the young priest beside her that made her feel comfortable.
Unable to bear the stuffy heat, quite a few passengers in the rear left their seats and moved toward the front. Even standing there was more comfortable than sitting.
An older woman stood beside Chen Shi'an and Wen Zhixia's seats, fanning herself with her hand as she struck up a conversation with the young priest.
"Young master, are you a Taoist priest?"
"Yes, I am."
"May I ask you a few questions?"
"Please go ahead."
"It's my husband. Lately, his throat always feels tight at night, and every morning his breath is terrible. He went up into the mountains with a few people from his hometown the other day. Do you think he might have...?"
Seeing how serious the woman looked, Wen Zhixia pricked up her ears as well, instantly imagining some ghost choking him.
But Chen Shi'an merely nodded and said, "It's probably excess liver heat. Have him drink more water. If possible, brew him some cooling herbal tea."
"So nothing's gotten to him...?"
"No."
"And my son went with them that day, too. Lately, he's been listless, sluggish, and sleepy all day long. His legs even go weak when he walks. He's so young, but his back and waist already ache. The other day, while he was gaming, I heard him saying something about a succubus..."
"That sounds like excessive sexual indulgence."
"Huh? But he doesn't even have a girlfriend!"
The woman clearly had not caught on yet, but Wen Zhixia, a girl of the modern age, understood at once. Her cheeks turned pink as she covered her mouth and giggled.
Young as Chen Shi'an was, he felt no embarrassment whatsoever discussing such subjects.
He had long since grown used to questions like hers. Many people misunderstood Taoist priests, and most of their questions had nothing to do with the actual Tao. Headaches, hot feet, insomnia, vivid dreams-anything conventional medicine could not resolve, they hoped mysticism would.
It was like studying programming only for everyone to keep asking you to fix their computers. As a Taoist priest, Chen Shi'an felt he could practically hang out a sign and work as half a doctor.
"Have your son get checked for kidney yang deficiency or kidney yin deficiency. For yang deficiency, there's the Cynomorium and Cuscuta Pill or the Cinnamon and Aconite Rehmannia Pill. For yin deficiency, there's the Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pill or the Anemarrhena and Phellodendron Rehmannia Pill. If his kidney essence is depleted, he could try the Five-Seed Progeny Pill. Besides taking medicine, he should exercise more self-control in everyday life."
"Uh... oh, okay. Thank you, young master."
Whether the woman believed Chen Shi'an or remained convinced her son had encountered something unclean, the girl beside him was already utterly impressed.
"You know so much! Do Taoist priests study this, too?"
"I just picked it up over time."
Wen Zhixia grew interested and turned to face him. "Then, um, could you take a look at me, too?"
"..."
Chen Shi'an studied the youthful girl before him.
He had to admit she was quite pretty. Paired with her blue-and-white school uniform, her looks gave her an air of unbeatable youthful charm. Her forehead was full and smooth, like a flower bud just opening in spring-a sign of abundant blessings. Her brows were soft and relaxed, their tails slightly raised. Her eyes had a clear contrast between black and white, with large, lively pupils that suggested exceptional intelligence and a cheerful disposition.
As Chen Shi'an read her face, she watched him as well.
The girl had once paid twenty yuan for a fortune-telling session on the street. Those fortune-tellers had all been scruffy old men or middle-aged women. In terms of appearance, they naturally could not compare with Chen Shi'an.
Perhaps because they were around the same age and he was good-looking, Wen Zhixia began to feel shy after he stared at her for a while. She hurriedly spoke up to interrupt that peculiar feeling.
"Well? Well? What did you see?"
"You..."
"Just a warning, I don't have a boyfriend yet, so don't say anything weird!" Remembering what Chen Shi'an had just told the older woman, she hurried to add that qualification.
"You have an excellent face. You'll find support wherever you go, things will go smoothly, and blessings will stay with you. You do seem to have a little excess internal heat lately, though. Stay up less, get more rest, and drink more water."
Though she did not take the young priest's words too seriously, everyone liked hearing good things. Her expression visibly brightened. "Really?"
"I always say what I see."
"Hehe, thank you~~"
The once-dull journey had become much more interesting with someone to talk to.
Before they knew it, the bus reached its final stop. The passengers disembarked one after another, and Chen Shi'an and Wen Zhixia shouldered their bags and rose from their seats.
Despite chatting the whole way, they had never exchanged names or contact information, nor did either know where the other was headed next.
For one thing, the girl felt that her life as a student and his as a Taoist priest belonged to two different worlds.
For another, Chen Shi'an never tried to force a connection. They had been strangers who happened to travel together for a stretch, and at the fork in the road, each would go their own way. Relationships between people might seem complicated, but in the end, they amounted to little more than that.
"I'm off! See you again if we get the chance. Bye-bye, kitty!"
The girl Chen Shi'an had judged to be richly blessed waved goodbye to him and the cat in his backpack, then smoothly boarded another bus that had just happened to arrive.
Watching his travel companion leave, Chen Shi'an took out his glucose water and had a sip, then opened his phone to check the route to Yunqi No. 1 High School.
It was not far.
Only a fifty-minute walk.
I'll walk there.
(Thanks to Yuncheng Xiatian and RUY16109 for their Alliance Leader support! Both are longtime readers and longtime Alliance Leaders! Thank you so much for your continued support~!)
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