Chapter 39 (1/2)

Chapter 39

After praying, Yun Jin stuck her joss stick in the urn. When she turned round, she was shocked to see Zheng Xiao Tong staring woodily at her.

“… Hi, here to offer incense too? … Are you by yourself?”

Xiao Tong nodded. Try as she might, she couldn’t think of anything to say.

Yun Jin smiled at her as she tried to end this chance encounter. She walked off to the side to donate to the oil fund started by the monks to keep the lamps alight continuously. Xiao Tong hesitated before following her. Although she didn’t yet know what to say, she felt compelled to force out something, anything.

Sensing that Zheng Xiao Tong was still behind her, Yun Jin looked at her confused. “Can I help you?” Zheng Xiao Tong and her were merely acquaintance at best. Without Cheng Zheng in the equation, they weren’t even close enough to nod at each other in pa.s.sing.

“You … have also lighted the Eternal Fire? Are you making a wish?” Zheng Xiao Tong asked earnestly.

Yun Jin smiled but made no reply.

“Who did you light it for?” This question was rather abrupt but Zheng Xiao Tong did not sense her impropriety. She merely wanted to know so she thought she would just make her query upfront.

“For a relative; one who’s pa.s.sed away.” Yun Jin turned around to face her; she wanted to hear what Xiao Tong had to say to her.

“Oh …” Xiao Tong hadn’t expected that answer and she looked apologetic. “Cheng Zheng also has one lighted. He says it’s a wish but I don’t know what it’s about. Do you happen to know?”

Yun Jin had to re-evaluate this mousy girl who perpetually wore a blank look; it turned out that she was in the know after all.

“I’m sorry I don’t … If there’s nothing else, I best be off.” She had no intention of interacting with Zheng Xiao Tong any further.

“Wait!” Zheng Xiao Tong grabbed her sleeves frantically. “Could you tell me … Where Cheng Zheng is right now?”

She asked her for Cheng Zheng’s location? Yun Jin was mystified. “You’re his girlfriend. Why do you ask me for his whereabouts?”

“I thought you would know.”

“I’m sorry I don’t.”

This was a strange conversation.

When Yun Jin made a move to leave once again, Zheng Xiao Tong tossed out “I was the one who accompanied him through his darkest period.”

But Yun Jin understood her immediately. She turned back to look Zheng Xiao Tong straight in the eyes – her angelic and innocent eyes. So angels also had desires and people they couldn’t let go off.

“When you were with him … were you happy?” Yun Jin asked.

“Yes.” She nodded sincerely.

“You were with him when he was at his lowest but in the process, you were happy. Isn’t that a fair exchange?”

Zheng Xiao Tong didn’t understand though she continued to maintain eye contact “But you were the one who made him sad.”

Yun Jin pursed  her lips tightly before replying “I think there’s something you have to get right. You and I have nothing in common apart from Cheng Zheng. We are practically strangers. What is between the two of you is your business. Similarly, my past with Cheng Zheng is none of your concern … Goodbye.” She removed the hand that Zheng Xiao Tong used to clutch at her clothes before walking away hurriedly. She didn’t need to see another of her troubled looks.

“… Cheng Zheng also has one lighted. He says it’s a wish but I don’t know what it’s about. Do you happen to know?”

She truly didn’t.

Yun Jin was halfway home when she abruptly made a u-turn and sped back to the temple.

By the time she reached the temple once again, Zheng Xiao Tong was no longer there. But it didn’t matter anyhow because Yun Jin’s purpose was not about finding her. She half-ran to the G.o.ddess of Mercy altar. People who came to pray were still numerous but as she stood there, she could almost relive the summer eight years ago. Back then in the empty temple, she, Cheng Zheng and Shen Ju An had been in the same spot, kneeling before the deity to make their wishes.