The voice was not loud, but Penetration filled the entire rest area on the first floor. The voice was sharp and thin, and the cry was wrapped in a shout. The shout was mixed with the strength that had been accumulated for an unknown period of time. At the end of the shout, all the tail notes were broken, leaving only a heart-wrenching cry.
Many people in the rest area looked over. A few monks sitting against the wall raised their heads. The clerk at the door turned around and froze on the spot. Even the clerk who was watching the excitement stopped what he was doing.
Qin Tiexin stood there, looking at the little figure running towards him, his mind went blank.
While he was in a daze, the little novice monk had already rushed to his legs.
Two small hands tightly grasped the hem of his monk's robe, and her whole body was pressed against his legs. Her face was buried in the fabric above his knees, and her shoulders shook violently.
"Brother... wuwuwuwu... I found you... wuwuwuwu..."
The rest of the words were swallowed up by the crying, and they were vague. Only the word "senior brother" could be distinguished. He jumped out again and again, as if he had caught something that had been lost for a long time, and he was afraid that it would be gone as soon as he let go.
Qin Tiexin looked down at him.
The little novice's hand gripped his monk's robe very hard, and his whole body was shaking. His tears soaked a large area of his monk's robe, and he could feel the warmth through the fabric. He cried without any control, and a very thin sob came out of his throat. The air in his chest was sucked in and out, and the rhythm of his breathing was completely messed up.
Qin Tiexin was silent for two breaths, and the iron rod in his left hand slowly leaned against the wall next to him. He bent down, squatted down on one knee, and looked level with the eyes soaked in tears.
The hands of the little novice monk still trembled while holding his monk's robe, and the tears washed out two white marks on the dust on his face. Qin Tiexin looked at those black eyes soaked in tears, and something suddenly clicked in his mind.
When Chen Xi gave him the relics of Mingjue and the information of Zhaoming Temple, he had scanned a name in Jade Slip.
Ming'an.
Huiming The child that abbot picked up at the gate of the temple a few years ago is too young and has not yet been officially ordained, nor has it been recorded in the temple.
Call yourself senior brother and get to know yourself.
Qin Tiexin tried to speak, but his voice was very low. "Ming'an?"
The sobs of the little novice monk suddenly stopped. He raised his head suddenly, stared at Qin Tiexin's face with blurred eyes for several breaths, and then his head dropped heavily, like a little puppet with a switch pressed. With this nod, the crying that had stopped just now started again, more fierce than before, wailing loudly, and his whole little body was shaking.
"Senior brother--Senior brother, Zhaoming Temple is gone... Master and the others... Master and the others are gone..."
The voice was muffled, mixed with tears and runny nose, but the word "gone" was bitten extra hard.
Qin Tiexin's heart sank.
There were already people looking around. Several monks near the door turned their heads. The clerk who had been thrown away just now frowned and took two steps this way. Qin Tiexin did not hesitate, put his left hand under the novice's arm, and picked him up.
The young novice monk was so light that he could feel the shape of his ribs through his monk's robe. Qin Tiexin blocked the sight of others with his generous body, turned around and walked out of the Star Selection Bureau's door quickly.
The little novice monk in his arms was still crying, but his cries were muffled by Qin Tiexin's shoulders and turned into muffled sobs. His two little hands changed from holding the hem of his monk's robe to hugging his neck, hugging him tightly, as if they were afraid of losing him again if he let go.
Qin Tiexin walked quickly through the street. The little thing in his arms was so light that he felt uneasy. A five or six-year-old child came to Ten Thousand Stars City from the southwest border. Apart from being a little dirty, he didn't have a single wound on his body. He didn't have time to think about the weirdness of it, so he first found a secluded tea stall and put Ming'an on the stool in the back.
"Drink water first."
Ming'an was holding the tea bowl, his fingers were still shaking, and the rim of the bowl made a small crackling sound against his teeth. He took two sips, and choked on the water and coughed again. Qin Tiexin patted his back, and the tentacles were all bones.
"Drink slowly. Eat something more."
Qin Tiexin took out a plate of spiritual cakes that Mrs. Lin had given him before from his storage bag and pushed it in front of him. Ming'an looked at the plate of spiritual cakes, then looked up at Qin Tiexin. His Adam's apple rolled, he reached out and grabbed a piece and stuffed it into his mouth. His cheeks bulged so high that he chewed it twice and grabbed another piece.
While he was eating, Qin Tiexin took a closer look at the little novice monk.
The monk's robe was torn in several places, the hem was frayed, and the patchwork stitching on the cuffs was crooked. There were streaks of black and white on his face, and there were crumbs of spiritual cakes on the corners of his mouth. But his eyes, washed away by tears, were astonishingly bright, like two obsidian stones that had been soaked by the rain.
"Senior brother, don't you want to eat?" Ming'an asked vaguely with the spirit cake stuffed in his mouth, then he tremblingly raised a piece of spirit cake he broke off in front of Qin Tiexin and looked at him.
Qin Tiexin took the half piece of spiritual cake and stuffed it into his mouth.
"Eat. After you finish eating, tell your senior brother what happened."
The sense of identity "Mingjue" weighed on his shoulders, causing him to lower his voice very deeply and slowly, "Don't worry, just say the same thing."
Ming'an swallowed the spiritual cake in his mouth, took another sip of water, and wiped the corner of his mouth with his sleeve. The sleeve was already dirty, but this rubbing only made the cake crumbs around his mouth even more sticky. He lowered his head, holding the tea bowl in both hands, and the water in the tea bowl was swaying slightly. After a while, he spoke.
"Yes... it happened last month."
His voice was still hoarse, but it was more stable than when he was at the door of the Star Selection Bureau just now.
"That night, I couldn't sleep. I was scolded by the master during the day because I broke the wooden fish in the morning class." Ming'an sniffed, "The more I thought about it in bed, the more unhappy I became, so I wanted to sneak to the back mountain to catch fireflies."
"There are a lot of fireflies in the back mountain. At night, the whole mountain is green, like stars falling." His description contained a metaphor that only children would use, "I chased a firefly for a long time, and I caught it halfway up the mountain. When I was about to go back, I heard a sound from down the mountain."
Ming'an's fingers dug twice at the edge of the tea bowl.
"Yes... someone was shouting. After shouting for a while, he disappeared."
His voice became lower and lower.
"I was too scared to go down the mountain. So I squatted on the mountain and watched."
"Then the fire started."
Ming'an's nails scraped a thin sound on the edge of the tea bowl. He dug the wood grain of the table with the tip of his other finger and dug twice before continuing.
"The whole temple was burned, all at once. The main hall, the Sutra Pavilion, the meditation room, and the kitchen were all burning. The fire was red, the roof of the temple was black, and the black tiles were exploded by the fire, crumbled to the sky, and then fell down again." His voice began to tremble, and the fear was resurfaced after a month. "I saw several senior brothers, and the meditation room where they were sleeping was also on fire... Master didn't come out either."