Yue Zhishi was a man of action. The next morning, he took the money he needed and ran out, using the excuse that he was going to study with classmates at KFC. Guiyuan Temple was far from his home. He took the subway, transferred to a bus, and even rode a shared bike for a long time before finally reaching his destination.

With the exams approaching, the temple was packed with people. Yue Zhishi, a lone kid, went inside and found there were no guides, so he could only follow the other worshippers. Guiyuan Temple was even larger than he had imagined, and most of the buildings looked similar. He wandered around in a daze, making many circles and asking for directions the whole way. There were many bodhisattvas and Buddha statues here too. Just the five hundred arhats alone made Yue Zhishi dizzy. He spent the whole morning bustling about before he finally got what he wanted.

When it was time to burn incense, he carefully observed the others. When it was his turn to go up, he bowed and prayed with particular earnestness.

'Please, please, you must bless my brother and ensure everything goes smoothly.' He faced the bodhisattva and silently prayed with sincerity.

Before leaving, Yue Zhishi drew a fortune stick. Another worshipper beside him teased, "Coming to burn incense at such a young age, can you even understand it?"

The stick had sentences written on it that were like ancient poems. Yue Zhishi honestly said he couldn't understand it and asked for his help in explaining.

"Did you draw this for yourself? What are you asking for?"

"No, I'm asking for my brother." Afraid he would forget the explanation of the fortune, Yue Zhishi took out his phone and said he needed to record it.

The other person pushed up his glasses. "I see." After he finished explaining, he handed the fortune stick back to him. "Aren't you going to ask for a fortune for yourself too? It wasn't easy to come all this way."

That made sense, so Yue Zhishi drew another fortune stick, asked this expert to help interpret it, and took both home with him.

Sitting on the bus, Yue Zhishi was so tired he fell asleep. As a result, he accidentally missed his stop, got off at an unfamiliar station, had to take a bus back in the opposite direction, and squeezed onto the subway with an empty stomach. He was mentally and physically exhausted, as if he had just completed the Journey to the West.

On the subway, he took out the two fortune slips and looked at their corresponding interpretations. The one he had initially drawn for Song Yu was for Venerable Guan Shen, number 169 of the five hundred arhats. The one he later drew for himself was for Venerable Buddhamitra, number 015. Comparatively, he felt the fortune he had drawn for himself had a better meaning.

In the evening, Song Yu returned from school. It was the last day before the exams, so school ended much earlier.

After the training camp ended and the final sprint period began, Song Yu no longer went to and from school with Yue Zhishi. Even when he was home, Song Yu would stay in his room to study and wouldn't come out.

Yue Zhishi was also in a critical period of exam preparation. And because some inexplicable feelings had started to sprout, he hadn't been actively seeking out Song Yu recently either.

They were clearly under the same roof, yet the two of them were subtly missing each other.

It started to rain again. Here, it almost always rained during the college entrance exams every year, and Yue Zhishi couldn't help but worry about it. He always felt that rain wasn't a good thing. Hearing a noise downstairs, he opened his door. Confirming that it was Song Yu who had returned, he stood and waited at the door of his bedroom.

Song Yu reached the top step of the stairs and glanced to the side. His eyes brightened slightly, but then his lowered lashes suppressed that light.

"Do you need something?" he asked as he walked over.

Yue Zhishi kept both hands behind his back. The soft light of the hallway made his eyes look innocent, reminding Song Yu of the text message he had once sent. It seemed he had indeed misunderstood; Yue Zhishi wouldn't get angry over words like that.

"Brother, I have something I want to give you," Yue Zhishi said, moving a little closer.

But Song Yu didn't seem to have any intention of opening his door. He just stood where he was. "What is it?"

Yue Zhishi didn't want Lin Rong to know. He felt a bit embarrassed about running off to a temple, so he tried again tentatively. "Can I come in? I'll only take a moment of your time."

"Let's just do it here." Song Yu stood still and directly voiced his guess. "If it's some handicraft or something else you made, you can just give it to me directly."

Downstairs, Lin Rong happened to look up. "What are you two doing standing in the hallway? Lele, do you want some juice?"

Yue Zhishi quickly shook his head. "No, thanks." He turned his face back to Song Yu, putting on a pitiful expression, but he had no intention of giving up. Only this time, he didn't reach out to grab his wrist. His large, clear, light-colored pupils were full of innocence, conveying a need for pity.

Song Yu sometimes suspected that Yue Zhishi actually knew he couldn't refuse him, because he always judged the limits perfectly. He would just raise his foot, and it would be just a tiny bit higher than the threshold Song Yu had set.

He turned, opened his bedroom door as if in tacit agreement, and walked in first. He turned on the light, and then silently overturned the conspiratorial guess he had just made.

Actually, that wasn't right.

In reality, he had no threshold for Yue Zhishi at all.

It was already summer. The white wool rug in the bedroom had been removed, and it had reverted to that cold, impersonal space. Yue Zhishi closed the door and got straight to the point, handing the protective talisman in his hand to Song Yu.

"This is a talisman I got from Guiyuan Temple. They say it's very effective." Afraid he wouldn't accept it, Yue Zhishi spoke quickly like an insurance salesman, "Did you know? So many people go there to burn incense, and many of them are asking for this talisman. It's said to have been consecrated. The place is huge and chaotic, it took me a whole morning of wandering to find it. And when other people burned incense, they all bowed three times and kowtowed three times. I did one more than everyone else each time. The bodhisattva definitely saw my sincerity."

Song Yu looked down at the so-called consecrated talisman in his hand. Listening to him ramble on without taking a breath, he could already picture the silly boy running all over the temple.

When he said he bowed one extra time, it was definitely more than just once.

"Thank you." Song Yu placed the talisman on the table, with nothing more to say.

The unspoken understanding between them told Yue Zhishi that his brother meant he could leave now. He clearly started to get sad, feeling that his brother, just as Auntie Rong had said, really didn't believe in this sort of thing.

"You're welcome." Yue Zhishi sniffled, and his next sentence jumped subjects. "The rain tonight is going to last until tomorrow morning."

Song Yu watched him standing there, unwilling to leave, and felt a little swayed. They faced each other in silence for about five seconds. Just as Yue Zhishi chose to give up first and was about to turn and leave, Song Yu finally spoke.

"Which bodhisattva did you pray to?" he asked, picking up the protective talisman from the table.

Clearly, Yue Zhishi was stumped. He looked up at Song Yu blankly, his mind searching for an answer.

After entering Guiyuan Temple, his only thought had been to find the talisman. He had wandered around for a long time before finally finding one. There were a lot of people, so he just got in line behind them to wait and pray. As for which specific bodhisattva...

He couldn't quite remember. Yue Zhishi frowned and blamed him with a serious air, "Bodhisattvas are all deities. How can you be picky about which one?"

Song Yu sighed silently.

He now suspected that Yue Zhishi was actually Lin Rong's biological son, and he was the one who had been adopted.

Before long, Yue Zhishi spoke again. "Oh, I remember now. I prayed to the Double-faced Guanyin." His eyes lit up after he said it, his expression as if to say, 'Isn't that impressive? Guanyin, and a double-faced one at that.'

Song Yu nodded and, in front of him, put the talisman into the exam pouch he would be taking with him tomorrow, along with his stationery and ID.

While his brother was looking down and zipping up the pouch, Yue Zhishi quickly took out the two fortune slips he had gotten before leaving the temple. He handed the one for Venerable Buddhamitra to Song Yu and told him very solemnly that this one was for him.

"Mine?" Song Yu looked down at the words on the fortune slip.

[In the West is this happy Buddha, bringing laughter to the world. A healthy and bright future is yours for the taking, all things can be achieved, free of troubles.]

No matter how he looked at it, it didn't seem like it was for him.

Yue Zhishi nodded. "Yes. When I was drawing the lots, there was an expert next to me who knows a lot about this. He told me this is a top-tier fortune, extremely auspicious. He also said that the meaning of the fortune is that the person who draws it is compassionate and kind, will always be carefree, have a bright future, and everything will go smoothly. No matter what you wish for, it will come true."

Wishes come true.

With that explanation, it seemed even less like it was for him.

Song Yu glanced over and saw that he was still holding another one in his hand. Before he could say anything, Yue Zhishi immediately clutched it sensitively and explained, "This one is mine."

Song Yu held out his hand. "Let me see it."

Taking the other fortune slip from his hand, it was actually a bit better than Song Yu had imagined. It was for the Venerable Guan Shen. He had thought it would be some terrible, lowest-tier fortune.

[To perceive the fish in the abyss is inauspicious; to cleverly discern what is hidden will surely bring disaster. Let go of worries, for the world is vast; follow the course of nature for a long and lasting path.]

"This one isn't a top-tier fortune, but it's not that bad either." Yue Zhishi wanted to take it back, but Song Yu had no intention of giving it to him and demanded an explanation. Yue Zhishi could only say simply, "It just means to let nature take its course."

To prove that these things were really effective, he added, "It's so accurate. I seem to have hit a bottleneck in my studies recently and I'm very nervous. It seems this bodhisattva is telling me not to worry about it, and to leave it to fate."

After his explanation, Song Yu actually curled the corner of his mouth, as if smiling. He returned the fortune slip in his hand to Yue Zhishi and, taking the cue, told him to go to sleep and leave things to fate.

This time, Yue Zhishi didn't forcefully stay. He knew he couldn't disturb him any longer and was also afraid of exposing himself, so he left quickly.

The door closed. Song Yu sat back down at his desk alone. He glanced at the red protective talisman in the transparent exam pouch, then stared at the fortune slip in his hand. The words on it were like some kind of hint, knocking at him and foreshadowing something.

Being able to see the fish in the abyss was an inauspicious thing. Prying into others' secrets would bring disaster. The smarter one was, the easier it was to sink deep into the mire. Only by letting himself go for the time being, letting go of these self-inflicted troubles, and letting nature take its course could things last for a long time.

Song Yu suddenly realized that the one who went to the ancient temple was Yue Zhishi, but the one who believed in these abstruse teachings was himself. The one who drew the lots was Yue Zhishi, but the one who cared about the interpretation of the fortune's verses was still himself.

Because Yue Zhishi wasn't lost or troubled. He wasn't one of those believers trapped in a sea of suffering, urgently waiting to be enlightened. He only cared about whether he could draw a top-tier fortune to give to Song Yu.

Even if there was only one, Yue Zhishi would happily give the best one to him.

Realizing this, Song Yu felt he was even more beyond saving.