Chapter 1677: It Really Hurts to Pull One’s Hair!

Si Yiyan gazed afar into the desert at the sand dunes.

The voice of Wen Xinya singing the Guanyin Heart Sutra emitting from his mobile phone sounded especially wondrous.

Her chanting was clear, elegant and full of poignancy, resonating far and wide!

Her recitation penetrated one’s soul like a flash of lightning! It went beyond all mystical boundaries and sounded like the very embodiment of Miao Shan herself!

It was a recording he had made previously.

There were over a dozen missed calls and SMS alerts on his mobile phone. From the very first day she failed to reach him, she had called once every single day, even though she knew his phone was turned off. This was her way of communicating her longing for him, as well as reminding him that she was still waiting for his return.

He could nearly imagine her crestfallen little face every time she heard that cold, mechanical voice informing her that his mobile phone had been switched off.

She had also messaged him.

“My embroidery teacher is such a bitch! She said my hand is too weak and my bones too stiff. She also said my fingers are not nimble enough and I have no talent for embroidery!!! She insulted my embroidery, saying that the curves are very ugly and my dragons look like earthworms! They are not earthworms! They are dragons! They are dragons! They are dragons!”

Important things must be said thrice!

“There is a charity dinner tomorrow night, what should I wear? Should I wear that backless black gown that Teacher Ji gave me? Hmph! You still lied to me that you threw it away. If you don’t come back earlier, I will wear that out to go seduce other men!”

The moment she said she would only wear that dress for a certain someone to see, the gown miraculously made its own way back to her cupboard.

“I played chess with Grampy today. I used those moves you taught me, but I still lost to Grampy. He even said that my moves were like an attempt to draw a tiger only to end up with the likeness of a common dog. He’s so hateful. Why can’t he go easy on me for once? You must help me find a way to beat him when you return.”

Wouldn’t it be so embarrassing for Grampy to lose to his own student!

“When I was drawing my eyebrows this morning, I just couldn’t get them right. Both sides just refused to match and Zhou Tianyu even mocked me about it. Hurry back and help me draw them.”

Si Yiyan never got tired of the pleasure of drawing her eyebrows.

“Hahahaha… why is embroidery so difficult. When are you coming back? If you don’t come back soon, I will end up plucking out every single strand of my own hair! It really hurts to pull one’s hair!”

Si Yiyan burst into laughter.

He could nearly imagine her vexed little pout as she rubbed her painful scalp after tugging at her hair.

The sound of footsteps approaching.

Those heavy steps crunching along the sand—it was undoubtedly Xu Zhenyu.

“Hah! You actually believe in Buddhism?” Xu Zhenyu snorted rudely.

After all this time together, he was well aware of just what kind of person Ninth Si was.

Black-hearted and merciless, cold and impassioned—Ninth Si was the most remote and aloof person he knew. How could such a person possess any bit of kindness? He only adhered to his own set of principles and had no qualms breaking the law or commonly-upheld morals.

“I no longer believe in it!”

Si Yiyan’s gaze penetrated the scorching sun to land on the pagoda mirage half-hidden by the windblown sands. Wen Xinya’s chanting echoed by his ears.

“If you no longer believe in Buddhism, why are you listening to the Guanyin Heart Sutra? Are you that bored?”

Xu Zhenyu heard a saying that the more vicious and wicked a person was, the more he would adhere to the ways of Buddhism. This was because they believed Buddhism would cleanse them of all sins and allow them to escape the 18 levels of hell. He would then be able to attain enlightenment.

Some wealthy folks were willing to spend lavishly to cover Buddha statues in gold, or to buy prayer beads that used to belong to a highly-respected reverend. They sometimes even bankrupted themselves trying to attain sacred scrolls but were unwilling to donate any money to charities or those in need.

In Xu Zhenyu’s opinion, such people had done so much evil that they had no choice but to believe in Buddhism in order to get peace of mind.

“I don’t believe in Buddhism, but I believe in the person who is chanting.”

That was because Buddha was unable to bring him to Nirvana, but she could help him transcend worldliness!

As a result, he turned away from his faith, which he had adhered to for his first 29 years, to resolutely follow that young girl who made that promise to him.

“I really hate people like you. You are obviously a vicious and wicked person, but love to carry out all these religious antics. If you truly worship Buddha, why don’t you go become a monk? Why are you still here snatching my girl away from me?” Xu Zhenyu ranted impatiently before suddenly perking up. “What did you say earlier?”

He didn’t believe in Buddhism but believed in the person who was chanting?

Stunned, Xu Zhenyu listened more carefully to the lilting voice. “Damn, isn’t that Wen Xinya’s voice?”

Realization finally dawned upon Xu Zhenyu.

But no one could blame him for not identifying her earlier. For Wen Xinya to chant this sutra in this manner, she had to make her voice sound more ethereal and airy than she usually sounded. There was no way he could have identified it as her voice without listening closely.

Si Yiyan slowly turned off the recording and kept his phone. “I am no Sakyamuni, who transcended all worldly desires, ditched his royal status, abandoned his wife and children—all so he could become a monk and detach himself from the bitterness of birth, old age, illness, and death.”

Xu Zhenyu snorted in laughter. “You have managed to denounce Sakyamuni in such a roundabout manner. What has he ever done to offend you?”

Sakyamuni had transcended worldly desires, but from the way Ninth Si described, it sounded as if Sakyamuni was just a heartless scoundrel who abandoned his wife and children.

“I just cannot understand how can anyone be willing to abandon his beautiful family to enter monkhood. This behavior is just plain foolish!”

The reverend who read his fortunes previously said that Si Siyan had Buddhism in his blood and was an incarnation of Buddha himself. He was destined to be all alone in life but would find comfort in his affinity for Buddhism.

However, there would be one major and painful challenge in his life due to his actions in the previous life. If he could overcome his bad karma and adhere to the ways of Buddhism, he could fix his karma and attain enlightenment.

If he failed to overcome his bad karma, he would go the way of Asura and suffer the 18 levels of hell after his death, never to be reborn!

And his challenge was Wen Xinya!

Due to some karma accumulated in some earlier unknown life, he had a chance at a connection with Wen Xinya in his previous life.

But because of destiny, they missed out on each other.

The karma from the previous life flowed into this life, and two lives’ worth of karma had accumulated to their current love affair!

There was no way he could put down his butcher’s knife and abandon Wen Xinya for the sake of Buddhism.

Xu Zhenyu suddenly felt very agitated. “Sakyamuni is a holy saint where lotuses blossom under his feet! Whereas you are just a common man!” With that, he chomped down viciously on his cigarette. “Damn! I must be crazy to start talking about Buddhism with a murderous freak like you. This is a meaningless conversation.”

He didn’t believe in Buddhism!

But he believed in Wen Xinya!

He held a butcher’s knife stained with fresh blood.

But his mouth was full of Buddhist teachings.

Xu Zhenyu suddenly felt like he knew why Wen Xinya liked Ninth Si.

He could never be like Ninth Si, as he had already given his heart and faith to the country and the people!

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