Chapter 026
Chapter 26: Reciting the Heart Sutra before Buddha’s Chosen is unnecessary
The Expound the Dharma at Fahua Temple had just ended. Lin Qing Xuan turned down the Abbot’s invitation to stay for a vegetarian meal, then hurried into the carriage with Shi Tou to go home.
The wheels rolled over the bluestone road and rattled loudly.
This sound usually calmed him, but today it felt noisy. He rolled his prayer beads, trying to press down the strange feeling in his chest. It seemed to come from the direction of Auspicious Cloud Residence and made him annoyed and a little angry.
The carriage stopped at the gate of Heir Apparent Manor.
Lin Qing Xuan stepped down at once, walking faster than usual. He went straight through the courtyard, and his eyes, almost without thinking, slid toward Xiao Man’s east-side room.
The door was shut.
He walked up to it and raised his hand. His fingertips nearly touched the wood, then he paused.
Knock?
Say what?
Ask if she had been disturbed?
In what role?
The hesitation lasted only a heartbeat and left no mark on his cool face.
Just then, the door creaked open from inside. Xiao Man, about to step out for some air, lifted her head and found Lin Qing Xuan standing there. One of his hands hung in midair, as if he had been about to knock.
She froze and said: “Eldest Grandson Young Master? You’re back?”
His gaze moved quickly over her face. Everything looked normal: no tear tracks, no clear sign of grievance or anger, only surprise at seeing him suddenly.
At once, the strange ripple in his heart went still.
He lowered his hand and answered lightly: “Mm.” His eyes lingered on her for a brief moment, then he turned and walked toward his meditation room. His steps were steady again.
Xiao Man thought: [Huh?]
[So weird!]
[Why does he appear and vanish like a ghost? Did he come here just to lift his hand and look at me? What is wrong with him!]
Soon, Shi Tou came running with a tray piled high with freshly washed offering fruit. He said, grinning: “Sister Xiao Man! Try these! Fahua Temple just gave them, they’re super fresh!”
Xiao Man thanked him and picked up an apple, biting absentmindedly.
Shi Tou watched her, then leaned in with a sneaky smile and lowered his voice, both teasing and trying to take credit: “So… Sister Xiao Man, the Young Master went to bathe, right? Every time he returns from expounding the Dharma, the first thing he does is bathe. He says he needs to wash off the dust of the mortal world.”
Xiao Man nodded. That did not surprise her.
Shi Tou’s eyes rolled as his grin turned even slyer: “Heh, I just remembered, the Young Master seems to have forgotten his bath towel! It’s hanging on the rack in his room!”
He blurted it out and, before Xiao Man could react, shoved the fruit tray into her hands: “Do me a favor? I… my stomach suddenly hurts! I have to run to the latrine!”
He shot off like a gust of wind, leaving Xiao Man standing there in shock. She clutched the tray so hard the apple almost fell.
[The bath towel?!]
[Do I even have to serve him in the bath and hand him a towel now?!]
[Isn’t this job getting way too big way too fast?!]
[Shi Tou! You drama-loving troublemaker! Just you wait!]
Shi Tou did not go to the latrine. He bolted straight into his parents’ side room and called excitedly: “Dad! Mom!”
His face was red with pride as he declared: “I did something huge! I sent Sister Xiao Man to deliver a bath towel to the Young Master!”
Granny Chen’s eyes lit up at once. She slapped her thigh and shot her son a look that said he had done great: “Good job!”
Old Chen gaped so wide you could fit a duck egg in his mouth. After a long moment he finally found his voice and scolded: “You… you brat! Your guts are too big! If… if this goes wrong…”
He did not dare finish. What if the Young Master got angry, or Xiao Man made a scene…
Shi Tou waved it off and said: “Aw, Dad, don’t worry! The Young Master treats Sister Xiao Man differently, right? Didn’t you see how he went to her door just now? Delivering a bath towel is nothing! Maybe… heh heh…”
Granny Chen jumped in to help her son: “Exactly! What do you know, old man! Shi Tou is giving the Young Master a chance! A man and a woman alone, a steamy bathhouse… the easiest place to, well?”
She gave Old Chen a look that clearly meant “you know.”
Old Chen looked from the excited mother and son to his boy’s “I made great merit” face and felt dizzy. Right then, this family was tied into one rope with one goal—create chances and conditions every day for the Eldest Grandson Young Master and Xiao Man. Whether those chances were proper or risky did not cross their minds.
On Xiao Man’s side, her heart fought itself eight hundred rounds.
Don’t go? What if Buddha’s Chosen really forgot a towel and came out dripping, then blamed her for poor service, or punished Shi Tou?
Go? But that was the bathhouse. He was still bathing!
In the end, the humble office-worker survival instinct beat her shame. She set down the tray and walked toward Lin Qing Xuan’s meditation room.
Sure enough, a clean, soft, plain white cotton bath towel lay over the rack. She picked it up like it was a hot potato and edged toward the bathhouse, step by heavy step.
The door was closed. Water sounds came from inside.
Xiao Man took a deep breath and knocked: “Tok, tok, tok.”
She lifted her voice and said: “Eldest Grandson Young Master, I brought your bath towel.”
The water kept running. No answer.
She knocked again, louder, and called: “Eldest Grandson Young Master?”
Still nothing.
Maybe the water was too loud?
Taking a risk, she pushed the door open. Warm, damp air with a light soap scent rushed out to meet her.
The bathhouse was big, with an outer room and an inner room. The outer room was simple, with a table, chairs, and a rack for clean clothes. The inner room was screened off by a huge gauze panel embroidered with “Lotus Pond in Moonlight.” Lotuses stood tall, fish swam lively; in the mist they seemed to move.
Behind the screen, a figure leaned against the rim of a bath barrel.
Standing outside the screen, Xiao Man’s heart hammered and her voice tightened as she asked: “Eldest Grandson Young Master, the bath towel is here. Should I put it on the rack in the outer room?”
The figure behind the screen stirred. A low voice, damp with steam and a little lazy, came clear through the mist and said: “Come in.”
Xiao Man thought: [What!!!]
[Come in? Into where!]
Her scalp prickled. But the arrow was on the string; she had to shoot. She braced herself and walked around the screen.
The scene hit her eyes all at once. A huge wooden bath barrel brimmed with warm water. Lin Qing Xuan leaned against the barrel wall with his eyes closed. The steam softened his usual cool face. Drops slid from his dark hair down his graceful neck, then to… broad, firm shoulders and a solid chest.
The waterline stopped just below his chest, letting the mind fill in the rest. Above the water, his skin was pale like cold jade. His muscles were smooth and strong, nothing like a weak scholar.
She only glanced once and felt heat shoot to her head. She ducked her gaze at once, but the little person in her mind went wild: [Wow! That body! It looks even clearer than in my dream!]
[Those chest muscles… those lines… even a random score would be 9 out of 10!]
[And his skin is so fair! Unfair!]
Just then, he opened his eyes. Through the steam, his deep-pond gaze found her lowered, flustered face with perfect aim. He parted his thin lips, and his voice, a bit rough from the moist heat, drawled: “Where did the last point go?”
Xiao Man thought: [I’m done for! I forgot he can use Mind Reading when we’re close! Stupid thoughts!]
Shame drowned her in a second. She wished she could vanish. She thrust the towel toward him and stammered: “B-bath towel for you! I will leave now!”
She spun to run, but his quiet voice left no room to refuse as he said: “Wait.” Then he added, firm and calm: “Wipe my back.”
Xiao Man thought: [I’m going to split apart!]
[Wipe his back?! That is way too personal!]
She froze, fighting inside like a tiny boat in a storm. Refuse? She did not dare. Agree? The scene was too much.
In the end, she shuffled to the barrel, picked up a clean cloth from the rim, and stared hard at her toes as if a rare flower had bloomed there. She reached out and wiped his graceful back in a hurry, messy and without any skill, while her mind chanted the Heart Sutra on loop: [Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness are also like this…]
Feeling the clumsy, even rough strokes on his back and hearing the Heart Sutra repeating in her mind, Lin Qing Xuan’s lips curved by the tiniest bit. Reciting the Heart Sutra before Buddha’s Chosen? That was unnecessary.
He suddenly wanted to turn and see her embarrassed face. The moment he moved, Xiao Man jumped like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. She pressed his shoulder down and squeaked: “Young Master, please stay still! You do as you wish, but don’t move! I… I have done what I should! Men and women should not touch! I will leave!”
She practically dropped the cloth and flew out of the bathhouse without looking back, still clutching the towel in her hand as she ran.
Lin Qing Xuan paused under her hand. Listening to her panicked steps and that line “men and women should not touch,” he rolled one bead under the water with his fingers. Leaning back against the barrel wall, he closed his eyes, and in the steam that faint curve at his lips deepened a shade.