Chapter 402 - 205: Li Zhi, I...
Chapter 402: Chapter 205: Li Zhi, I...
Shen Yuan recoiled slightly. "...No, I was just... asking..."
"Asking what?! Are you going or not?!" Li Zhi’s eyes widened.
"...Yes, yes, I’m going!"
Shen Yuan resignedly hurried his steps to walk alongside Li Zhi, not daring to spare another glance at Faxi Temple behind them.
The two of them headed down the stone steps they had just climbed.
A mountain breeze blew, rustling the leaves of the forest. The distant tolling of bells seemed to grow faint.
When they reached a slightly wider landing halfway down the stone steps, Li Zhi suddenly stopped.
She didn’t look back or offer an explanation, just stood there stiffly, facing the verdant forest below.
Shen Yuan stopped behind her, his heart skipping a beat as he looked in confusion at her tense profile.
The mountain wind swept across the landing, carrying the crisp scent of the vegetation below and playfully tugging at a few loose strands of hair at her temples.
The girl seemed to be trying to calm some inner turmoil.
After a moment, Li Zhi’s shoulders seemed to relax ever so slightly.
Shen Yuan watched her sudden silence on the breezy landing and swallowed the question he was about to ask.
He suddenly realized that this momentary pause might be its own form of silent protest.
Just then, Li Zhi turned to look at Shen Yuan.
There was no trace of her earlier flustered anger or evasion in her clear eyes, only an unmistakable candor.
Li Zhi took half a step toward him, her voice low and perfectly calm.
"Shen Yuan. Answer me now. Why did you bring me here? Don’t lie."
Shen Yuan instinctively took half a step back, his heel catching the edge of a step and nearly making him lose his balance.
Shen Yuan swallowed dryly, feeling as though he were pinned by her gaze, with nowhere to hide.
"I..."
Shen Yuan tried to force a casual smile.
Just as his usual evasive words were about to leave his lips, Shen Yuan saw Li Zhi’s eyes.
They were eyes that held not a hint of evasion.
There was no bashful retreat, no awkward deflection, and certainly none of the disdain or mockery he usually saw.
Li Zhi’s gaze rested on his face, so open and unflinching it felt as if it could strip away all his pretenses.
She wasn’t waiting for an explanation. She was demanding the truest, most direct answer, and she was prepared to face it head-on.
Shen Yuan took a deep breath of the cool mountain air, finally forcing himself to lift his gaze and meet Li Zhi’s unflinchingly direct eyes.
In those crystal-clear depths, he could see his own reflection, and he understood the question she was demanding an answer to.
All explanations, all excuses, had become meaningless.
There was no room left for evasion.
Shen Yuan let out a long breath.
"Because..."
His lips were a little dry, and his voice came out slightly hoarse with tension.
"...The internet said... this place is supposed to be really effective..."
He paused, as if those few words carried an immense weight.
The air seemed to freeze.
At that moment, everything on the mountain faded into indistinct background noise.
Shen Yuan’s gaze was locked on Li Zhi, laying his selfish little hope bare before her, with the do-or-die courage of someone burning their bridges.
"I... I just wanted... to give us a try."
Li Zhi knew exactly what Shen Yuan wanted to "try."
She’d known ever since he’d looked up Faxi Temple back at the hotel entrance.
’Why didn’t I object then?’
’And why am I objecting now?’
Because a more resolute thought had fiercely taken hold the moment she stepped into the temple and saw all the men and women there.
’Why did we have to come here?’
When Li Zhi looked at the statue of the Buddha, what came to her mind wasn’t some so-called sacred place for praying for blessings.
But rather—
The dumbass who would rest his head on his desk while she explained physics problems to him.
The dunce who frantically scrambled to the door when she came to check up on him.
The fool who stood by her bed, staring at her with a goofy grin.
The one who had grown up with her, gone to and from school with her, ground through practice problems with her, laughed and been silly with her. The one who was standing in front of her right now, his breathing a little uneven, who had summoned all his courage just to say he wanted to "give us a try"... her childhood friend.
All the little moments from the countless days and nights they’d spent together, the all-too-familiar cycle of banter and arguments, the unspoken understanding and companionship beneath the nicknames "dumbass" and "Young Master Li."
These vivid, tangible scenes, so full of the warmth of everyday life, washed over her like a warm tide, instantly dispelling the unfamiliar solemnity and the vague sense of supplication brought on by the temple’s incense.
The halo bestowed upon this "efficacious holy site" crumbled and faded before her eyes.
’Did the two of them really need to come to a place like this to pray for something?’
No.
A sense of clarity settled in Li Zhi’s heart.
The answer they needed was never to be found before an incense-wreathed Bodhisattva or on some vague, cryptic fortune slip.
It was in the days and nights they had navigated together, in the joys and sorrows they had shared.
That, in itself, was a silent confirmation—a natural progression that needed no blessing from gods or deities.
’What would the future hold?’
’Where would this "giving it a try" ultimately lead?’
Li Zhi didn’t have a clear answer right now.
Nor did she feel the need to prostrate herself before a shrine to seek some kind of blessing.
The instinctive shyness of a young woman hadn’t completely vanished; it still lingered like a faint blush on her cheeks.
But that shyness was no longer a reason to resist or run away.
Li Zhi placed her faith in something far more tangible and reliable.
This conviction was like a bedrock, calming the turbulent waves of her bashfulness.
No prayers were needed.
No blessings were required.
The trajectory of their lives didn’t need guidance from the bells of some ancient temple deep in the mountains.
The corner of Li Zhi’s mouth lifted in an almost imperceptible arc. It wasn’t a smile, but a look of serene, resolute understanding.