Underage
"If the stone materials are polished, go and repair the Dharma body in turn."
The old monk's voice suddenly rang out from behind.
Yingshi was already used to his elusive ways. Hearing the voice, she didn't even blink, standing up quite naturally and walking out of the west courtyard—still all by herself.
Only after the previous person completed their individual daily repair work could the next person go out.
Every step gave people ample freedom, providing room for sabotage.
However, it is easier to go down a mountain than to climb up. If sabotage was that easy, it meant it was "going down the mountain."
Yingshi didn't know if the others had thought of this.
Anyway, what she held in her hand was still genuine unblemished stone.
She had thought it through clearly. Setting aside the deeply rooted core value that "evil cannot prevail over good," the content of the evil spirit's letter also contained hidden mysteries.
Was helping the evil spirit break the cauldron truly a good thing?
After it came out, would it really grant amnesty to the wandering souls who offered it tribute?
If the evil spirit defeated the Buddha, did it truly mean the wandering souls had defeated the craftsmen and won the second round of the test?
It felt like it would absolutely not be that simple.
The concept of an evil spirit made Yingshi think of demonic cultivators.
Demonic cultivators had no sense of unity; they would slaughter and devour each other. It wasn't guaranteed that this evil spirit wouldn't just swallow all of them wandering souls to replenish its strength as soon as it appeared!
Anyway, if half of them really were wandering souls, who knew if someone among them would make a different choice. At the very least, before figuring out the complete rules, Yingshi herself just wanted to be a "good person."
She didn't expect to see Xinmei when she walked beneath the giant Buddha.
Although the stonemasons had to work in turn internally, and the painters were the same, these two groups could be present at the same time because they used different materials.
Xinmei, acting as a painter, was currently daubing at the Buddha's feet. Seeing her arrive, she panicked so much she almost dropped the ink in her hands.
"Yingshi... so it's you!" She let out a heavy breath, her ugly expression improving slightly. While hiding the inkstone behind her back, she quickly changed the subject, "I really didn't have a chance to talk to you earlier. Did you notice? Wei Kai is missing!"
Oh my, how could Xinmei be so bad at acting?
She practically wore her sneakiness on her face. Yingshi instantly recognized this fellow wandering soul accomplice.
She couldn't easily expose her, and under physiological constraints, she couldn't speak words to mutually confirm their identities either. She could only give Xinmei an out, following her words, "Senior Brother Wei Kai is indeed no longer here. Perhaps he violated some rules last night and was accidentally eliminated."
"Yes, this second round is too mysterious. So far, we still haven't figured out what exactly is the right thing to do..." Xinmei sighed.
Holding a tool that looked exactly like a hammer, Yingshi slowly knocked the unblemished stone into a missing chunk of the Buddha statue's foot, trying hard to hint, "We can slack off a bit first. When you don't know what to do, doing nothing is the best action!"
"Slack off? What does that mean?" Xinmei was puzzled. "Could there be a fish pond in this temple?"
"No, no, no, I mean being lazy."
"...I see, what a novel expression. We indeed should slack off, you are right."
Xinmei stared at Yingshi with flickering eyes, relaxing quite a bit, her shoulders no longer so tense.
She obviously recognized Yingshi's hint and brought the inkstone hidden at her side back to the front, casually tracing the gold edges.
After the pressure was relieved, she suddenly grew a bit gossipy and actually asked, "By the way, Yingshi, does Junior Brother Han truly admire you?"
"Ad... admire?!" Yingshi was stunned, her blood unconsciously rushing to her face. She hurriedly said, "Xinmei, do you believe those rumors too? What happened that day was a misunderstanding. Shuangjian coughing up blood was just a physical issue, it wasn't some anger and heartbreak from unrequited love for me. Weren't you there at the time? How could you have such a misunderstanding..."
"I'm not talking about that incident, but the overall feeling." Xinmei rubbed her chin and said, "Junior Brother Han looks so cold, keeping strangers at a distance, yet he is inseparable only from you."
That was true, because the two of them were the only transmigrator companions in this strange world, so of course they had to stick together for warmth.
"We just hit it off well," Yingshi answered vaguely.
"Hit it off to the point of sleeping in the same room with you? Only Dao companions would do that, right?"
"There's actually a hidden reason for the wall collapsing, it's just hard for me to say in front of others. Anyway, things aren't what you think..." Yingshi mumbled.
"Alright, I thought Junior Brother Han had become that clingy." Xinmei said, "You don't know, but the painters initially appeared in the back mountain. When everyone was still confused about the situation, Junior Brother Han had already walked into the temple regardless of everything, just to find you. It was as if he didn't even care whether he could advance, he only cared about you."
"...Shuangjian is indeed quite opinionated."
"Is being opinionated like this? Only someone with a sweetheart would act like this," Xinmei muttered.
"..."
Seeing Yingshi seemingly speechless, Xinmei became even more interested and pressed on, "Could it be that you've never realized Junior Brother Han's feelings for you? Only when you like someone would you want to see her all the time, care about her, miss her, and value her safety more than your own! Yingshi, don't tell me you don't know what it means to like someone?"
"...Ah?"
Xinmei's words formed a multi-part chorus in Yingshi's ears, having the electronic Buddhist sound effect of the Buddha capturing Sun Wukong, leaving her staring wide-eyed, directly suppressed under the Five Finger Mountain.
Liking someone... means wanting to see him all the time?
Caring about him and missing him?
Valuing his safety... uh, that part is actually okay.
But a two-thirds match rate still made Yingshi's heart tremble: Oh my god, could she have fallen in love with Shuangjian?
She did have a very good impression of Shuangjian, but that should just be pure appreciation for someone smart, gentle, and good-looking, reliance on a fellow townsman, deep camaraderie growing day by day, and the physiological yearning surging due to the blood pact!
Could it be that kind of romantic liking between a man and a woman?
Yingshi had no dating experience, but she had "liked" many people. She liked her mom the most, then her dad, grandparents, maternal grandparents, big fat dog Maomao, and friends all tied for second... She would stick to everyone she liked, so she naturally included Shuangjian among them.
But if this liking directed at him was on a completely separate track... then something was wrong!
Shuangjian was younger than her, and she had never favored older woman-younger man romances. However, that was because younger men in reality were too immature and dull. Shuangjian obviously lacked those traits; he was as perfect as a 2D anime character.
But the key was, viewed from a modern perspective, Shuangjian was basically still in high school, a seventeen-year-old minor!
Having "that kind" of thought about an underage younger brother, wouldn't that make her terrible?
Yingshi's heart silently sank. She warned herself that she must correct her attitude, never confuse her own feelings, and act with a sense of boundaries in the future to absolutely prevent any misunderstandings from arising!
Speaking of which, when was Shuangjian's birthday? Was it possible he was nearing adulthood... Ahhh, Xu Yingshi, what are you doing harboring such thoughts! Stop being curious!
"Xinmei, anyway, it's not what you think. Stop talking nonsense, it won't be good if the person involved hears it," she said, forcing a smile.
She picked up the small hammer and, pretending to be busy, aimed the lustrous unblemished stone at the gap in the Buddha statue's sole and hammered it in.
However, the edge of her palm touching the stone base of the Buddha met with a warm sensation, almost like a living creature, completely different from the coldness of stone.
Yingshi stopped her movements in surprise and doubt. The sudden sense of loss stemming from the realization that "Shuangjian is a minor" was washed away. She reached out her fingers again to touch the giant Buddha's foot—
In an instant, something bizarre happened. The fake ink Xinmei had just painted on actually began to flow, turning into streaks of scarlet, foul blood that dripped down with a pattering sound.
The giant Buddha's entire body began to bleed. The filthy liquid flowed down Yingshi's fingers, even staining the unblemished stone in her palm red!
Yingshi felt her blood run cold and abruptly stood up to retreat. But Xinmei remained completely oblivious. She used up the last bit of fake ink and even turned her head to ask, "What's wrong, Yingshi? Are your legs numb?"
Yingshi opened her mouth to reply, but in the blink of an eye, the giant Buddha returned to normal. There was absolutely no blood-like ink flowing down.
What did this hallucination mean?
...Did she make the wrong choice? Or did Xinmei make the wrong choice, and in fact, they shouldn't be causing destruction?
Yingshi's stunned expression made Xinmei seem to realize something too. She hurriedly withdrew her hand and stepped back in a panic. After retreating two steps, she suddenly let out a cry of alarm and turned around, only to see the old monk standing behind her at some unknown point. She had even stepped on the tip of the old monk's foot just now!
Yingshi also swallowed the gasp that almost escaped her throat, and together they stared intently at the old monk's face, which showed neither joy nor sorrow.
"...Little benefactor, since the work is finished, do not linger here," he said to Xinmei.
"Ah? Oh, oh!"
Xinmei hurriedly exchanged a glance with Yingshi, bit her lip, and walked away carrying the inkstone.
Yingshi calmly returned to the giant Buddha's foot and continued patching the stones. The old monk seemed to still be standing behind her; she could feel the discomfort of a gaze fixed on her back.
Until the next painter appeared, that prickly feeling of being watched from behind still hadn't disappeared.
"...Miss Xu."
The newly arrived painter called out to her as soon as he approached.
Yingshi turned her head and saw that the newcomer was actually Duan Qinghe.
He smiled and nodded at her before walking forward holding an inkstone. His posture was calm and composed, completely different from Xinmei's evasive and guilty demeanor just now.
Perhaps he was a proper, genuine craftsman?
"Brother... Duan."
Yingshi thought over a range of forms of address and still stole the solution used by Xinmei and Wei Kai.
At any rate, she had fought side by side with Duan Qinghe at the end of the Tianshan snowfield, so they were somewhat acquainted.
After stepping forward, Duan Qinghe did not immediately begin tracing. Instead, he carefully examined the unblemished stone Yingshi had newly patched onto the Buddha's sole. His gaze was focused, as if appreciating a work of art.
After a long while, he finally spoke: "Miss Xu, I am very curious about the sound of breaking walls this morning. The boundary between day and night here is not very clear. If that sound had rung out in the middle of the night, I'm afraid it would have violated the rules. How did you grasp the appropriate timing... Uh, Miss Xu, what are you looking at?"
Yingshi turned her head back, her furrowed brows tightening further. Within Duan Qinghe's short sentence, she had turned her head three times.
Because she continuously felt a gaze watching her. The intense feeling of being monitored even made her think of a commonly used modern meme: I will always watch you from the dark, always!
If it was the old monk monitoring her, he wouldn't likely hide in the dark; it was more likely he would step out openly to give someone a fright.
Could it be an evil ghost monitoring her, this incompetent wandering soul?
Then this level of almost tangible staring could already be considered summoning her, right?
Thinking of the ominous hallucination just now, Yingshi's expression grew increasingly solemn. She patched the last unblemished stone into the giant Buddha's ankle, threw down the sentence, "Sorry, Brother Duan, I'm in a rush to use the restroom," and ran outward.
But strangely, after she left that place, the feeling of being monitored that shrouded her faded away again.
Could it be that the gaze in the dark was actually staring at Duan Qinghe, and she had misunderstood?
Yingshi rarely had such moments of keenness, yet in the end, this keenness was still an illusion.
She stopped behind an archway and quietly pondered, reviewing the scene of seeing the giant Buddha bleeding earlier. She didn't expect someone to come over.
When she heard the sound, she was extremely vigilant. Upon looking up and meeting the newcomer's eyes, she couldn't help but sigh in relief, but immediately, she became even more nervous.
So nervous she was about to trip over her own feet!
Because the person walking toward her...
Was the seventeen-year-old Han Shuangjian.
There is an extra chapter update at 21:00.
