Duan Qizhao discovered that Jiang Xun, who had always been an atheist, had recently started acting strangely superstitious.
He had gotten a palm-sized statue of Guanyin from somewhere and placed it by his bed, along with a small celadon incense burner. Every morning and evening, he lit three sticks of incense.
Smoke curled through the bedroom all day, making it look like a little temple.
"Wait, since when did you start believing in this?" Duan Qizhao sat cross-legged on the carpet, looking up at the kindly bodhisattva on the bedside table.
"Mind your own business."
"What are you praying to Guanyin for? Money? Good grades? For your Brother Jing to stay safe?"
The incense stick in Jiang Xun's hand nearly went in crooked.
Duan Qizhao noticed, but for once, he did not tease him. After half a minute of silence, he took the jade Guanyin pendant from around his neck, laid it in his palm, and silently closed his hands around it and shut his eyes.
"Then I'll say a prayer too," he said softly. "Protect Shen Wangjing, and protect my buddy too. If anyone has to suffer bad luck, let it be those bastards who hurt people!"
Jiang Xun turned to look at him.
Duan Qizhao hung the jade Guanyin back around his neck. "I need to visit the temple in a few days. My grandma got this jade Guanyin for me there. It really works. How about I give them Brother Jing's name too? I heard the divination sticks for safety at Daxiangguo Temple work best."
Jiang Xun thought for a moment, then said, "I'll go too."
"Sure. I'll pick you up first thing Saturday morning!"
Before Saturday came, Jiang Changping returned.
He had spent nearly a month in Australia on the pretext of clearing his head and