Chapter 052
Chapter 52: Buddha’s Chosen Breaking the Precepts? One Question Stuns the Hall
Qiu Ru Ying’s eyes burned with hungry curiosity as she bowed again, her voice clear and devout as she said: “Buddha’s Chosen, your insight has opened my mind.”
She straightened a little, then asked with careful respect: “The scripture also says, ‘When the mind arises, all dharmas arise; when the mind ceases, all dharmas cease.’ What is the tie between ‘mind’ and ‘dharma’? Does the mind create all things, or do things exist outside the mind?”
The question was even more abstruse than the last. Several Misses, already nursing splitting headaches, gave up on thinking. They secretly traded looks and mouthed without sound: “My goodness, what is she even saying?”, “I don’t get it, but it sounds amazing”, and “I’m falling asleep, save me.”
Lin Qing Xuan’s gaze slid over Qiu Ru Ying’s eager, lovely face without praise or impatience, calm as a deep, icy pool. He answered in a voice cool and penetrating: “Outside the mind there is no dharma, and outside dharma no mind.”
He let the words settle, then went on with quiet force: “Everything is a reflection of the heart. For example, this room full of people is one scene in my heart, and a different scene in Miss Qiu’s.” As he spoke, the edge of his eyes brushed the corner where Xiao Man sat with her head down, lost in thought.
“The same event brings joy to some and sorrow to others, because each heart casts a different ‘dharma’,” he said, before adding with steady clarity, “Cultivation is polishing the mirror of the heart so it no longer gathers dust. Then it can reflect the true shape of all things instead of warped illusions.”
First Madam listened in a fog. She did not understand the mystery, but she caught the point: one asks and one answers, you come and I go, and what is that if not a perfect meeting of minds? She cleared her throat, pride and showmanship shining through as she said just loud enough for all to hear: “Miss Qiu is icy-bright and deeply gifted. With my son Qing Xuan, she can be called a Fellow Daoist.”
The two words “Fellow Daoist” were bitten off with heavy meaning and a queenly “I have decided.” It was not a compliment. It was a hint. In that instant, Qiu Ru Ying became in First Madam’s mind the settled choice for daughter-in-law.
Lin Yu Jiao flushed scarlet with excitement and nearly rushed forward to grab Qiu Ru Ying’s hand and shove it into Lin Qing Xuan’s. It’s done, she rejoiced in her heart, this is absolutely done. Qiu Ru Ying’s cheeks bloomed with a rosy glow as she lowered her lashes, which trembled like butterfly wings.
Just when the air was warm and sweet, not lovers meeting but high mountains and flowing water finding a true soulmate, only a step away from “ceremony complete,” a mischievous spark lit elsewhere. Tuan Tuan, as if choosing the perfect moment, whooshed into Zhao Lv Liu’s mind and issued a command: [Now. Stir them up. Tease that heavenly Buddha’s Chosen and make him slip.]
A crisp, daring voice cut in without warning as Zhao Lv Liu sprang to her feet, waving her kerchief and grinning with nosy delight: “Good Buddha’s Chosen!”
“I don’t understand those lofty words,” she called up to the dais with shameless curiosity, “so let me ask something real!”
First Madam’s brows snapped together as a chill thumped in her chest. How could this country-bred girl call him “Good Buddha’s Chosen” like that? Zhao Lv Liu, giddy on the voice in her head and the thrill of a scene, never noticed First Madam’s murderous stare.
Glittering eyes fixed on Lin Qing Xuan, she went for the kill: “Good Buddha’s Chosen, you are such an Immortal sort of person. If one day you return to the lay life, take a wife, and enter the bridal chamber, during that long night will you lead Madam in chanting sutras, or will you do the same thing ordinary people do?”
Boom. Her words cracked across Drifting Cloud Hall like a thunderbolt.
Silence fell. Minds went blank. Sun Qian Qian’s mouth formed a perfect O as melon seeds slipped from her fingers. Qian Shuang’s face went so red it could drip, and she wished she could sink through the floor. Lin Yu Jiao went pale and shook with anger as she pointed at Zhao Lv Liu and stammered, “You… what nonsense are you spouting!”
Qiu Ru Ying’s color changed again and again, from red to white to green. The fingers clutching her round fan went bone-white and trembled. Her cheeks burned like she had been slapped in front of everyone. It was a shame beyond bearing.
With a sharp clatter, Second Madam dropped her teacup and shattered it on the floor. First Madam’s face went dark as ink. She fixed Zhao Lv Liu in a deadly stare. So this is the gentle, proper young lady the Matchmaker praised? It seems the Matchmaker has never told a single truth.
In the corner, Xiao Man whistled in her heart: [Sister, you are my only sister. That question was a masterpiece. So bold. A direct hit on the soul!]
All eyes left the humiliated Qiu Ru Ying and stuck to Lin Qing Xuan on the high platform, greedy for his reaction. Would he be ashamed, awkward, or furious?
To everyone’s surprise, his unmatched face did not ripple. He did not even look at Zhao Lv Liu. Lowering his lashes, he said only four cool words: “Miss, you are clinging to appearances.”
The tone was snow-cold and judging from on high. The light rebuke cut deeper than any insult. You are trapped by the outer shell, he implied, while I do not share the realm of you common folk. The blow from above was the deadliest kind.
Zhao Lv Liu flushed the color of pig liver. Her giddy excitement went out like a doused flame. Choked and speechless, she stood there in a daze while Tuan Tuan in her head bolted and hid.
Lin Qing Xuan rose without sparing the room of mortals a glance. He nodded to the iron-faced First Madam and said evenly, “Mother, the lecture is complete. If there is nothing else, I will take my leave.” He turned and walked away, the moon-white hem of his monk’s robe drawing a cold, decisive curve through the air. His tall, solitary back said all his scorn for the farce and his desire to end it.
First Madam shook with rage. Her careful nails bit deep into her palm and sent sharp pains up her arm, but no words would come. She could only watch her beautifully laid plans dissolve to foam.
Just as Lin Qing Xuan reached the door of Drifting Cloud Hall, his steps paused. He turned his head slightly and spoke in a voice not loud, yet clear as a bell to the right ears: “Xiao Man, come with me.”
Xiao Man followed behind him, leaving a hall full of squawking panic and suspicious stares far behind.
Back in the study at Auspicious Cloud Residence, the air still held a faint scent of ink. Stopping by the desk, he turned to the girl standing with hands at her sides and said with steady calm: “If you do not want to go, then don’t. Ignore them.”
His tone was mild, but his certainty allowed no doubt. Xiao Man ranted in her heart: [Big Brother, easy for you to say!] [It’s not that simple!] [I signed a Deed of Sale and I am the lowest kind of servant. How can I defy the head Madam of the house?] [Say I won’t go? You think I’m you?]
She opened her mouth, ready to trot out the standard excuse about being low-born and unable to disobey Madam’s orders, but he cut her off. Staring straight at her, his ancient, still eyes showed a sharp emotion for the first time as he said, one firm word at a time: “You are not a slave. You are my person. If you don’t like it, say it boldly.”