There was only one road from Fated Marriage Village to Yue Lao Temple.
Bluestone steps stretched from the foot of the mountain all the way to the summit, with no end in sight.
The stone steps were narrow, just wide enough for two people to walk side by side. Moss and weeds grew in the gaps between the stones on either side, and the spots worn shiny by footsteps were slippery, making it easy to fall if you lost your footing.
It was nearly dark when the group reached the foot of the mountain. Meng Xu stood before the first step and glanced back at everyone. "Fifteen hundred steps. Take your time. There's no rush."
Shen Yuzhou looked up at the seemingly endless steps, his face falling. "Fifteen hundred? My legs are already weak."
Cheng Yanqiu patted his shoulder. "You can work off that bowl of wontons you just ate."
Shen Yuzhou sighed and resigned himself to the climb.
It was fine at first. Although the steps were steep, none were very high, so walking slowly wasn't too tiring.
After about two hundred steps, Shen Yuzhou started panting. Cheng Yanqiu stopped talking too, concentrating on the path beneath her feet. Ji Shiyu walked in the middle, breathing fairly steadily.
Lin Yanru climbed the most steadily, taking one step at a time, neither fast nor slow. Jiang Wantang walked at the very back, her footsteps light, as though she barely exerted herself.
Pei Yubai walked toward the back of the group. The frosty-white long robe he wore had a long hem that was easy to step on while climbing, so he lifted it and tucked it into his belt, revealing the black trousers underneath.
The movement was casual, but he didn't look disheveled.
The bullet comments were discussing it.
[Over fifteen hundred stone steps. I'm tired just looking at them.]
[Shen Yuzhou can't take it anymore hahahaha]
By the time they were halfway up, it was completely dark.
Darkness fell earlier in the mountains than outside. Once the sun set, the light faded quickly.
By the time they reached the mountainside, they could no longer make out anything around them. Only the treetops overhead and the steps beneath their feet were faintly visible, as though covered in black gauze.
The production crew had placed a small light beside the path every few dozen meters. They weren't bright, just enough to see where they were stepping.
The warm yellow lights looked like a string of glowing beads in the dark woods, winding their way up the mountain.
Cheng Yanqiu stopped to catch her breath and glanced down the mountain. She could see nothing but pitch darkness.
"Good thing there are so many of us," she said quietly.
Shen Yuzhou turned back from up ahead. "Are you afraid of the dark, Sister Cheng?"
Cheng Yanqiu ignored him.
The bullet comments began pouring in.
[So many people are online right now.]
[I just got off work and opened the livestream.]
[Concurrent viewers must have passed ten million, right?]
[I just checked the numbers. It's already twelve million.]
Meng Xu's voice came from ahead. "Almost there."
Shen Yuzhou looked up, but he still couldn't see the end. He didn't believe him. "Director Meng, you're lying."
Meng Xu ignored him.
They climbed for about another half hour. Shen Yuzhou was counting the steps with his head down when he suddenly heard Jiang Wantang call out behind him.
"Sky lanterns!"
Her voice wasn't loud, but it rang clearly through the quiet woods.
Everyone stopped and looked up.
A sky lantern was slowly rising from the direction of the summit.
Its orange-red glow stood out against the black night sky, like a star slowly floating upward.
A long strip of red silk hung beneath the lantern, swaying slightly in the wind.
Then a second rose. A third. A fourth...
More and more sky lanterns rose from the summit, one after another, as though someone had lit a fire at the top of the mountain and its flames had turned into individual lanterns, slowly drifting into the sky.
In less than a minute, sky lanterns filled the sky overhead.
Their orange-red light merged, tinting the black night sky with warmth.
A strip of red silk hung beneath every lantern. When the wind blew, the silk fluttered like countless red ribbons drifting across the sky.
The outline of Yue Lao Temple emerged in the lantern light.
Its gray-blue roof, upturned eaves, and red pillars looked like a painting beneath the glow.
Some twenty people stood in the clearing in front of the temple, their heads tilted back as they watched the lanterns in the sky.
The lantern light illuminated their faces. Each held a vermilion brush; some were writing something, while others had finished and were gazing up at the sky.
The bullet comments completely exploded.
[What kind of heavenly scene is this?]
[Sky lanterns!!! So many sky lanterns!!!]
[Yue Lao, bless me with a relationship. Yue Lao, bless me with a relationship.]
[Claiming good luck, claiming good luck, claiming good luck]
[I'm staring at my phone in awe.]
[This is way too beautiful.]
[Please tie a red thread for me, Yue Lao. Please!]
Shen Yuzhou stood on the stone steps with his head tipped back, his mouth hanging open, forgotten.
Cheng Yanqiu said nothing either. She simply stood there watching.
Ji Shiyu's eyelashes caught the light for a moment, eyes reflecting the sky full of orange-red.
Lin Yanru drew a deep breath, as though she wanted to remember this moment.
Jiang Wantang's eyes lit up, so bright it was as though the lanterns in the sky had fallen into them.
Pei Yubai stood at the very back, looking up at the sky full of lanterns. Their light fell on his face and tinted his white clothes a warm yellow. His expression barely changed, but it was a little softer than usual.
Shen Yuzhou was the first to react. "Come on, come on! Let's go up there and look!"
Forgetting his weak legs, he bounded up the steps. The others quickened their pace too.
They practically ran up the last hundred stone steps.
A large, level clearing lay before Yue Lao Temple, paved with bluestone slabs and swept very clean.
The temple doors were vermilion and very tall. A plaque hung above them, bearing three large characters: Yue Lao Temple.
The lettering was gold and seemed to glow in the lantern light.
The twenty or so people were still standing in the clearing before the temple.
There were old and young, men and women. Some wore local clothing, while others wore ordinary casual clothes.
All of them held marriage lots and vermilion brushes. Some were writing on their lots, while others had finished and were looking up at the lanterns in the sky.
An enormous tree stood in the very center of the clearing.
It was even bigger than the marriage tree they had seen in the wooden house yesterday.
Its trunk was so thick that even four or five people couldn't encircle it with their arms, and its spreading canopy covered almost half the clearing.
Red cords hung thickly from its branches, outnumbering even its leaves.
All sorts of things were tied to the cords: bamboo slips, copper coins, and little bells that jingled whenever the wind blew.
The sky lanterns overhead were rising from behind this very tree.
There was a clearing behind it where people were lighting lanterns, then slowly releasing them.
Shen Yuzhou ran beneath the tree and turned in a circle with his head tilted back, dizzy from the sight of all the red cords.
"This is way too big..."
Cheng Yanqiu stood beside him, silently looking up at the canopy.
Ji Shiyu quietly watched the red cords covering the tree, thoughts unknown.
Lin Yanru walked over to the tree and reached out to lightly touch a dangling red cord. A small wooden tag was tied to it, carved with two characters. It must have been too old; the two characters were already difficult to make out.
Jiang Wantang stood beneath the tree with her head tilted back. The wind lifted her hair and the hem of her clothes, and she seemed to glow.
The bullet comments kept scrolling.
[This tree is even bigger than yesterday's.]
[How many people must have prayed here?]
[A whole tree full of red cords. What a sight.]
[I want to hang one too.]
Pei Yubai walked beneath the tree and looked up. Red cords swayed above his head, some hanging so low they nearly touched his face. He reached out to brush one aside and took a few steps farther in.
Then he stopped.
He saw a monk.