Since Qiguan Yuan needed to continue northwest, Meng Xu decided not to waste any more time in the same place and arranged for the guests to gather the following evening.
As for the time allotted earlier, it's for the guests and staff to have some free time to buy local specialties or something.
When the guests gathered in the parking lot, the sun had already begun to set in the west, and it wasn't too hot anymore.
Meng Xu stood at the car door, holding up the large megaphone, the sound carrying throughout the entire parking lot.
"Today's task is to trek across the desert, with our destination being an ancient temple called Fallen Fate Chan Monastery."
"The whole trip takes about an hour, and the scenery along the way is the most pristine desert landscape of Dunhuang. A photographer will be following along, so just walk normally and don't need to specifically look for the camera."
"If you feel unwell, please let us know. The production team has arranged for a car to follow you."
The group started from the parking lot and walked northwest along the low-lying area of the sand dunes.
The sand underfoot was soft, and my shoes sank in halfway down, making it much more difficult to walk on than on flat ground.
The leader at the front was a local who knew this desert like the back of his hand. He stepped on the hardest part of the sand ridge with every step, walking lightly and quickly.
The guests followed behind, imitating his steps, stumbling and slipping. Cheng Yanqiu slipped several times, only to be pulled back by Shen Yuzhou's arm to avoid falling into the sandpit.
Qiguan Yuan and Pei Yubai, however, seemed completely unaffected, leisurely following behind the group and enjoying the scenery.
Sand dunes spread out before my eyes, one after another, stretching to the horizon.
In the distance, there is the ruins of a beacon tower. The earthen-yellow walls are eroded by the wind into honeycomb-like holes, and half of the top has collapsed, leaving the other half standing stubbornly in the setting sun.
The tour leader said it was a beacon tower from the Han Dynasty, more than two thousand years old.
When Qiguan Yuan heard the leader talk about beacon towers and the Silk Road, his gaze fell on the distant ruins of the beacon towers, and he did not respond.
He vaguely remembered some of these things.
He personally arranged the marriages of some of the people who walked this road back then.
The red thread tied by the merchants and their wives under the moon before their departure, the soldiers praying for peace before the Buddha before going to war, and the promises of return made amidst the sound of camel bells—these are indeed deeply memorable.
However, many of those red lines broke halfway through.
When a person dies, the thread breaks.
These tragedies all stemmed from war.
After walking for about forty minutes, the dunes changed direction.
Scattered patches of green began to appear on the sandy ground ahead, first clumps of camel thorn, then a few jujube trees.
As you continue walking, the terrain suddenly slopes down, and an oasis appears before you.
The oasis is small, just a tiny patch hidden among the sand dunes.
In the middle of the oasis stands an ancient temple.
With its red walls, gray tiles, and upturned eaves, the outline of the Tang-style architecture stands out clearly against the yellow sand and greenery.
The roof of the main hall is covered with gray cylindrical tiles, and the ridge beasts cast long shadows in the setting sun.
The bell tower and drum tower stand on either side, with the wooden windows on the upper floors half-open, creaking when the wind blows through.
In the center of the Zen temple is a courtyard with several old trees, under which stone tables and benches are placed.
Outside the red walls was a vast expanse of sand, the yellow sand stretching all the way to the base of the temple walls, colliding with the red walls as if two completely incompatible worlds had been forcibly pieced together.
The plaque bears four characters: Fallen Fate Chan Monastery.
Qiguan Yuan stood at the door for a while.
An ancient temple, built deep in the desert, with no villages for miles around.
The tour leader explained that the temple was built during the Tang Dynasty. In the heyday of the Silk Road, merchants and travelers would stop by to pay their respects.
What they seek is peace.
Once outside the pass, life or death is uncertain; returning alive is the greatest wish.
Therefore, the temple enshrines only Buddhas.
Later, the Silk Road declined, and the temple fell into disrepair. It was only in recent years that it was renovated and reopened, attracting many visitors who come to pray for peace and safety.
Qiguan Yuan followed the guests into the temple.
The main hall houses the Three Buddhas, whose statues are golden and whose faces are compassionate.
Offerings of fruit and an incense burner were placed on the altar, and the incense ash inside the burner was thick and layered.
The walls on both sides are covered with murals, the paint is faded and peeling, but you can still tell that they depict stories from Buddhist scriptures.
A tour guide was explaining the stories depicted in the murals to several tourists, his voice echoing in the main hall.
Qiguan Yuan came out of the main hall and walked around the corridor.
The walls of the corridor are also painted with murals, depicting everything from Buddhist stories to Silk Road merchants.
One of the paintings depicts a camel caravan leaving the pass, with camels carrying silk and tea, and merchants dressed in foreign attire looking back towards the interior of the pass.
Qiguan Yuan paused in front of the mural for a moment, then continued walking forward after looking at it.
After walking around the bell tower, drum tower, and Zen courtyard, Qiguan Yuan didn't see anything related to marriage.
There's no Temple of the Yue Lao, no Marriage Stone, no Wishing Well; apart from a Tree of Fate that was most likely planted in recent years, there's nothing there.
It was planted in the most secluded corner of the Zen temple.
Despite being called Tree of Fate," it's actually just an ordinary locust tree with a thin trunk and a rather lush canopy, nowhere near as magnificent as the towering Tree of Fate in Cloud-Hidden Town.
Moreover, given its environment, the tree is actually not very attractive.
Some red threads hung sparsely on the branches, some of which had already faded.
There was no incense burner, no offering table, and not even a sign explaining the situation under the tree.
It was probably just blindly following the trend.
After all, many temples follow the trend and plant a "Tree of Fate" as a formality.
However, the Yue Lao is not a Buddhist, so how could the Tree of Fate they worship receive Yue Lao blessing?
The majority of people here are Buddhists, which is why Lu Zhao said that the Power of Marriage in this area is weak.
Qiguan Yuan walked to the tree and touched the trunk.
The moment his palm touched the tree bark, his brow furrowed even more deeply.
This tree has almost no Power of Marriage.
It's like a dry well; it looks like a well, but there's no water at the bottom.
The red threads hanging there were no different from ordinary cotton threads, and had no Spiritual Power attached to them.
He withdrew his hand, for without the offerings and prayers of believers, the Power of Marriage could not naturally arise.
The guests had been walking for an hour and were all a bit tired.
Meng Xu told everyone to rest on the shady ground outside the temple, where they could drink water and eat to replenish their energy.
The photographer turned off his camera, slung it over his shoulder, and took out a compressed biscuit from his backpack to eat.
Shen Yuzhou sat on a stone bench rubbing his calves, while Cheng Yanqiu leaned against the trunk of a locust tree and closed his eyes to rest.
Lin Yanru and Su He'an are sharing a bag of potato chips.
Jiang Wantang and Ji Shiyu went to the temple to fetch water.
Qiguan Yuan and Pei Yubai sat on a rock at the edge of the shady area, a little distance away from the others.
Qiguan Yuan held a bottle of water in his hand, but didn't drink much of it; his gaze remained fixed on the Tree of Fate in the corner of the temple wall.
Pei Yubai asked him, "What's wrong, Yuanyuan?"
Qiguan Yuan withdrew his gaze and said, "Nothing, I was just thinking about some things."
Pei Yubai did not press the matter.
Pei Yubai has always been very good at striking a balance.
At that moment, a person walked out from the side gate of the temple.
A middle-aged man, dressed in a gray monk's robe, with a string of wooden beads around his neck and a folding fan in his hand.
He has a dark, thin face, high cheekbones, and small but shrewd eyes. When he looks at someone, his gaze moves quickly, sweeping from your face to your clothes and then to what you're holding. In a second, he can roughly estimate a person's financial situation.
He waved his fan and circled around the temple entrance, his gaze sweeping over the resting guests before finally settling on Qiguan Yuan and Pei Yubai.
He couldn't recognize the brand of Qiguan Yuan's clothes, but he recognized Pei Yubai's pants and shoes at a glance—they were things he couldn't afford even with half a year's worth of incense money.
This wandering monk has been hanging around Fallen Fate Chan Monastery for several years.
He figured out the pattern here: the vast majority of tourists who come to this temple are seeking peace and safety, and almost no one is seeking marriage.
But the more this happened, the more he felt he had an opportunity to take advantage of it.
It's not easy to fool people about peace and safety; you can't tell if it's effective or not in a short time.
Marriage is a different story. They say you have romantic luck, and you do; they say you're incompatible, and you are. They can say anything and apply it to you.
So he created a persona for himself:
A fortune teller in an ancient desert temple who understands the secrets of heaven and can sever ties for the moon goddess.
The more mysterious the title, the better; the less the visitors understand it, the better, because if they don't understand it, they won't dare to question it.
He walked over to where the guests were resting, fanning himself and greeting them with a smile.
He claims to have the Buddhist name Huiyuan and said that he has been practicing at Fallen Fate Chan Monastery for many years and has received the true teachings of the Moon Immortal Technique. He is able to accurately predict one's destined partner, resolve emotional tribulations, and repair predestined relationships.
This ancient desert temple may look like a Buddhist temple, but for hundreds of years it has been secretly worshipping the moon goddess, a fact unknown to outsiders.
I am the person in charge of matchmaking at this temple. I don't usually make a move, but I will come out to meet you if you are destined to meet me.
The guests were drawn over.
Having stayed at the Yue Lao Temple in Cloud-Hidden Town, they were interested in matters of marriage.
Shen Yuzhou asked, "Really?"
The wandering monk said, "Of course it's true. You can try it if you don't believe me. I won't charge you; consider it a small act of kindness from this humble monk."
Shen Yuzhou, who couldn't wait, tried it first.
The wandering monk asked him to extend his hand, pretended to examine his palm lines, then pinched his fingers while muttering incantations.
Then he said that his true love had arrived and was right beside him, but there was a small obstacle in their love life that needed to be overcome.
Shen Yuzhou asked what kind of calamity it was, and the wandering monk said that it needed further calculation, costing two hundred each time.
The others were interested, but they weren't fools.
Once these two hundred figures are released, everyone probably knows what's going on.
Cheng Yanqiu listened from the side, and the more she listened, the more uneasy she felt. She tugged at Shen Yuzhou's sleeve and whispered that this person was unreliable.
Shen Yuzhou also found it amusing; it was only two hundred, and he didn't care much about it.
After winning over Shen Yuzhou, the wandering monk's confidence soared, and he strolled over to Qiguan Yuan and Pei Yubai.
He looked the two of them up and down, his gaze lingering on Pei Yubai's shoes for several seconds before pausing for a moment on Qiguan Yuan's face.
Then he put away his fan, put his hands together, and his expression became extremely solemn, like a highly accomplished monk about to reveal heavenly secrets.
"Esteemed benefactors, this humble monk observes your extraordinary bearing and suggests you are destined for each other. Would you please allow me to divine your marriage prospects?"
Pei Yubai frowned.
He was about to say no, Qiguan Yuan spoke first.
Qiguan Yuan looked at him with a smile, his voice calm and unhurried. "What did you see?"
That's exactly what the wandering monk was waiting for.
He closed his eyes, made a series of incomprehensible gestures with his fingers, his brows furrowed more and more, and he made "tsk tsk tsk" sounds.
Then he opened his eyes, sighed deeply, and shook his head heavily. "My benefactor, forgive my bluntness, but I fear your marriage will face a calamity."
Qiguan Yuan raised an eyebrow, a barely perceptible smile flashing in his peach blossom eyes, "Oh? Which tribulation?"
The wandering monk closed his fan and clapped it in his palm. "What calamity do you need this humble monk to calculate? But calculating calamities requires some money in exchange. Peeping into the secrets of heaven is no small matter; the loss of one's own cultivation is secondary. The main thing is that incense money is needed to report to the gods. Two hundred coins each time."
It's well-written.
After listening, Qiguan Yuan reached into Pei Yubai's pocket and took out his phone.
Pei Yubai glanced at him but didn't stop him.
Qiguan Yuan opened the scan function, scanned the QR code hanging around the monk's neck, entered two hundred, and paid.
"Then let's hear what calamities await us."
The wandering monk's eyes lit up when he saw the money arrive in his account.
He quickly labeled Qiguan Yuan in his mind: a sucker.
She's naive, rich, good-looking, but easily fooled.
These are the kinds of people wandering monks like best: they pay quickly, don't haggle, and seem very interested, with an exceptionally high level of cooperation.
He cleared his throat and began to ramble.
It is said that Pei Yubai's destiny belongs to the metal element, Qiguan Yuan belongs to the wood element. Metal overcomes wood, a natural incompatibility.
It was also said that the timing of their meeting was wrong; they should have waited three years to become a couple. Being together now was going against the will of Heaven, and they would surely face a calamity in their relationship in the future.
They even said that Qiguan Yuan owed a debt of love in his past life, and that he would suffer in his marriage in this life. If he could not resolve it, he would either have relationship problems or even suffer bloodshed.
It was all just formulaic clichés from beginning to end.
Jin Keming, the timing is wrong, lingering on past life karmic debts—he's used these three tricks hundreds of times, just changing a few words each time. They work on people of all ages and genders, and those who fall into the trap always feel that "it seems to make some sense."
After saying that, he pinched his fingers and shook his head, indicating that a ritual needed to resolve this calamity.
The ritual fee is 800, plus incense money and a donation fee, the total is 1200.
As he spoke, he observed Qiguan Yuan's expression, mentally prepared to add fuel to the fire if the other party hesitated.
Qiguan Yuan listened attentively to the whole thing.
He didn't interrupt a single word from beginning to end.
After the traveling monk finished speaking, Qiguan Yuan smiled.
That smile was gentle, without any aggression, and her eyes shone with a spring-like light.
He looked at the wandering monk and said slowly, "Jin Keming's claim is indeed true."
"But whether metal can overcome wood depends on the type of metal and the type of wood. If thin metal is used to cut down a giant tree, the metal will break first, and the wood will be damaged later."
"You just said that my wood is overcome by metal, but you didn't say what kind of wood I have. If we're talking about ordinary wood, then it's true that metal overcomes wood. But what if it's divine wood?"
The wandering monk was taken aback.
He didn't understand, but he vaguely sensed something was wrong.
Qiguan Yuan didn't give him time to react and continued, "Let's talk about the timing of a proper match. When heaven and earth are in harmony, all things flourish; the way of marriage emphasizes the natural order of fate."
When two people meet and when feelings develop between them is determined by fate; there's never any saying that things should be 'three years later'.
"True love doesn't come early or late; when the time is right, it will happen."
"When you were examining that girl just now, you said she had many suitors but her true love was hard to find, and you also said she had a 'metallic evil' in her destiny."
"Peach blossom luck and true love are two ends of the same line; when peach blossom luck is strong, true love is near. This is the most basic logic of fate."
"You've separated romance and true love into one thing, which is contradictory. If she were truly burdened by bad luck, no potential suitors could get close to her, so how could she have such good luck in love?"
The wandering monk stopped waving his fan.
He was completely bewildered.
He looked at Qiguan Yuan, his lips moved as if he wanted to say something to smooth things over, but he couldn't respond to any of Qiguan Yuan's words.
The things he made up were just random ramblings based on a book he found; they had no structure whatsoever.
Qiguan Yuan's statement, however, is based on a complete set of logic.
How could a wandering monk possibly understand?
Qiguan Yuan, observing the changes in the monk's expression, calmly added a few more words.
"You say the way to resolve your romantic troubles is through rituals. Rituals are Daoist rites, and marriage is the domain of the Old Man Under the Yue Lao. You claim to have received the true teachings of the Immortal Under the Moon, yet you use Daoist rituals to solve your marriage problems."
"What is the Moon Goddess? I'm quite ignorant about that."
Qiguan Yuan, but the smile in his peach blossom eyes did not diminish in the slightest; in fact, it grew even brighter.
He took off the Dust-Settling Red Cord from his wrist and wrapped it around his fingers.
The red rope glowed with a faint red light in the setting sun, and the red seemed to come alive.
He looked up at the wandering monk, his voice gentle. "Coincidentally, I also have quite a bit of knowledge about marriage."
The idea that "debts from a past life lead to suffering in this life" isn't written in the Marriage Record. Either someone created a separate standard outside of the Marriage Record, or you made it up yourself. Which do you think it is?