Chapter 130

Posted by Kuze, ? Views, Released on February 16, 2025

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Chapter 130: Reuniting with Old Friends

Du Zihan, who had just graduated from junior high, was walking with his parents. He was playing a game on his father’s iPhone 4S.

“Du Zihan, can’t you stop playing games while walking? Can’t you chat properly with your mom and dad?”

“I got it, I got it.”

“You’re going to take the high school entrance exam next year. Go pray to the Bodhisattva and ask for its blessing so you can get into the No. 1 High School. If you put in some effort, you could save your parents tens of thousands of yuan.”

“Mm-hm.”

Du Yingjun, Du Zihan’s father, became furious, “Hey you brat, do I need to repeat myself? Do you want me to smash your phone?”

“Go ahead, it’s yours anyway,” Du Zihan ignored him.

“You’re a rebellious child!”

Du Yingjun was about to hit Du Zihan when a voice came from behind,

“Hello Uncle Du!”

“…”

Du Yingjun looked at the handsome youth before him, “Are you… a classmate of Du Zihan’s?”

Du Zihan looked up, surprised, “Are you Mei Fan?”

“Haha, what Messi… I’m Mei Fang,” Mei Fang said with a smile.

“Oh no, I haven’t talked to you in a long time, my mouth slipped. Mei Fang, Mei Fang!” Du Zihan quickly corrected himself.

Mei Fang reminded Du Yingjun, “Du Zihan and I were classmates in kindergarten. When we were little, you even held me in your arms. Don’t you remember?”

Du Yingjun scratched his head for a moment, then finally remembered Mei Fang’s identity. He immediately smiled, trying to be friendly, “You’re the son of Chief Mei, right?”

“Chief Mei? Which Chief Mei…”

Du Yingjun whispered to his wife,

“Oh, that’s the Meilijun from our unit. He used to compete with me for the position of office director. Now he works in Baizhou City—”

Du Yingjun’s wife was also delighted upon hearing Mei Fang’s background, “I never expected that such a small kid back then has grown into a handsome young man now. Your parents are truly blessed.”

“Heh… Where, where.”

Mei Fang rubbed his head and smiled, “Uncle and Auntie, are you here to pay respects too?”

“Yes… Oh right, did you finish your high school entrance exams? How did they go? Your dad said your grades were pretty good, so you should have passed the cutoff for No. 1 High School…”

“Uh-huh… I think I passed? I’m not sure though.”

Mei Fang forgot the cutoff score for No. 1 High School this year.

“Hmm… But your family isn’t short on money, so getting into No. 1 High School shouldn’t be a problem. Unlike us, Du Zihan has to rely on his own efforts.”

“Du Zihan will take the high school entrance exam next year, right? You should work hard then.”

“Huh…”

Du Zihan touched his nose, stunned, then pointed at Mei Fang, “No, you didn’t actually take the exam for No. 1 High School. I saw your name on the Jinbang poster recently; you directly went to Jiangcheng No. 1 High School.”

“Jiangcheng No. 1 High School? That’s impressive…”

Du Yingjun and his wife exchanged glances, thinking, “Why bother praying to the Bodhisattva? We should just pray to this god in front of us!”

“Then, since you two are friends, why don’t you go together? Mei Fan, are you alone? Didn’t your parents come along?”

Mei Fang shook his head and pointed to a group of men and women waiting behind him, “I came with some friends.”

“Then, Du Zihan should join too! It’ll be more fun if you young people hang out together. Take your phone, you can call your parents later.”

“Why should I go? I don’t know them well.”

“Oh, you’re still shy at your age… Go, go! Talk to these seniors.”

“Sure, but we haven’t bought tickets yet, we’ll have to wait.”

Du Yingjun patted Mei Fan’s shoulder and laughed, “Since I’m here today, how could I let you pay? I’ll cover the ticket costs for you guys!”

“Great, thanks Uncle Du!”

Thus, Mei Fan brought the chubby Du Zihan over. Xia Yuan expressed her disdain; she had never liked Du Zihan because he often bullied girls when they were younger.

“Ah Fang, why do you always cause trouble…”

“We met Du Zihan here, isn’t that a kind of fate?”

Mei Fan gently nudged Du Zihan, “So, how long has it been since we last saw each other, Du Zihan?”

“Not long, I see your faces every day on the honor board…”

As Du Zihan spoke, his voice became as weak as a mosquito’s. He no longer seemed as bold as he was in elementary school, more like Run Tu meeting Xun Ge.

“What a boring thing.”

“Is he your friend?” Yue Xinyi asked curiously.

“Yeah, he’s my, Ah Fang’s, and You Xi’s kindergarten classmate, the most mischievous one,” Xia Yuan couldn’t help but complain.

“But he seems quite introverted now,” Yue Xinyi was curious and patted Du Zihan’s head, “How did he used to be mischievous?”

“Hey… Don’t treat me like this.”

Du Zihan earnestly said, “Although I’m a grade younger than you, I’ve repeated a grade, so we should be the same age.”

“Then you must be short. Look, the boys here should be as tall as them.”

Yue Xinyi pointed at Mei Fang and Zhang Ming. Zhang Ming was slightly shorter than Mei Fang, standing at 167 cm, but he looked much more mature than the less-than-160-cm Du Zihan.

“…I don’t know.”

Du Zihan dared not look up to speak anymore.

“Alright, alright, you guys shouldn’t keep bullying Du Zihan.”

Peng Xue clapped her hands and then patted Du Zihan’s shoulder, “Hey, do you recognize me? We met at the skating rink a couple of years ago.”

“…”

Du Zihan blushed when Peng Xue spoke to him and turned his head away, “Yes, yes.”

Peng Xue noticed his red ears and knew he was starting to develop feelings for her, so she teased him,

“So, what’s my name? If you can’t answer, you owe me a hundred yuan.”

“Peng… Peng Xue, my childhood desk mate.”

“Wow, you really remember!”

Peng Xue was delighted and pulled Mei Fan’s arm, “Look, Mei Fan, I told you I still have charm!”

“That has nothing to do with your charm… Let go, don’t cling to me.”

“Xiao Xue!” Xia Yuan stomped her feet angrily.

“Haha, okay, okay.” Peng Xue let go of Mei Fan’s arm.

At this moment, Guo Yun noticed that Lin You Xi was having trouble standing, so she chimed in,

“It’s not good to stand here all the time, let’s go in and pay our respects first?”

Thus, under Xia Yuan’s lead, they entered the temple gate and took turns holding tickets to enter.

Du Zihan was rather plump and struggled to squeeze through the turnstile, catching up with Mei Fan’s group.

With little common ground, Du Zihan kept his head down playing his phone, only occasionally responding when Peng Xue spoke to him.

When Peng Xue talked to him, Du Zihan didn’t dare to look up, but after she walked forward, he would slightly lift his head to watch her back.

The group passed through the Gate of Heaven, crossed the Flying Bridge, and sequentially paid their respects at the Heavenly Kings Hall, Great Hero Hall, Pavilion of Vairocana, and the True Body Hall.

“Afang, who is the Buddha statue in the True Body Hall? It looks a bit strange.”

“This one? It’s not a traditional Buddha statue. This is a sitting statue of the Fifth Patriarch Hongren, placed here for veneration.”

After Xia Yuan paid her respects, she looked at the sitting statue with concern, “I heard, wasn’t this statue made from his body?”

“Seems like it…”

“After a monk passes away, shouldn’t his body be burned into relics? Don’t lie to me, I’m not ignorant!”

Xia Yuan punched Mei Fan’s shoulder.

“Generally, yes. But Master Hongren is one of the few exceptions. His body remains intact for a thousand years, so it’s called a complete relic. The sitting statue might indeed contain Master Hongren’s body.”

“…”

Xia Yuan was startled and started sweating coldly, clasping her hands in prayer, “Master, please forgive me…”

Then she tugged at Mei Fan’s sleeve, urging him to hurry.

The legend of the true body of the Fifth Patriarch is true, but in reality, it was destroyed during the chaos of the 16th year of the Republic of China and turned into relics. This was something even Mei Fan didn’t know.

As the college entrance exam results hadn’t been released yet, many students and parents were paying respects to Manjushri Bodhisattva, the symbol of wisdom, with continuous incense smoke.

Du Zihan, reminded by Mei Fan, specifically paid respects to Manjushri Bodhisattva, hoping for a smooth high school entrance exam.

After exiting the four halls, they wandered around the seven side halls, paying respects to unfamiliar Buddhas, and briefly looking at the Yama kings in hell.

They arrived at the washing pool attraction, where many people were throwing coins into the central bowl to pray, and everyone joined in.

“Afang, you throw first!”

Mei Fan looked at Xia Yuan, “Do you want me to make a wish for you?”

Xia Yuan shook her head and grinned, “Just do it yourself.”

Mei Fan threw the coin and succeeded on the first try, causing everyone to clap excitedly.

“What did you wish for, Afang? It came true so quickly.”

“Um… I won’t say, it won’t come true if I do.”

“Um… Right.”

Xia Yuan held a coin, made a silent wish, and threw it, also succeeding on the first attempt.

“Afang, see? I’m great too!”

“Got it, got it…” Mei Fan patted Xia Yuan’s head to encourage her, then looked at Lin You Xi, “Youxi, do you want to try?”

Lin You Xi shook her head, “I don’t need to… I’m not feeling well today.”