Chapter 286 Marriage Sign and Legalization
“咚咚-“

“咚咚-“

High in the sky, a white tower stands tall, its golden tip reflecting the sun.

It’s noon now.

A small boat floated slowly on the lake of molten gold.

Circles of ripples spread out along with the sound of an ancient and quiet bronze bell.

“Here we are.”

Cheng Kaiyan turned around to look at the girl beside her who had a quiet expression and was dressed appropriately, and reminded her softly.

“Ah.”

Liu Xiaoli nodded slightly and responded quietly, with waves of emotion appearing in the depths of her dark eyes.
She looked toward the island in the distance.

At the junction of the island and the lake, the water was shallow and clear, with small boats neatly lined up on the water.

There is a small house on the far left. This is the cruise ship pier of Qionghua Island. Extending out from the pier towards the lake is a pier made of brown wooden boards painted with tung oil.

When the wind blows, the waves sway and soak the pier, making it dark.

Up.

The island is covered with lush and dense green vegetation. The bright yellow wall paint and vermilion roof tiles are faintly visible among the tender green branches and leaves and the noisy cicadas, together creating a quiet and simple Buddhist atmosphere of the royal temple.

“Yong’an Temple? I heard this place is quite spiritual…”

Liu Xiaoli was thinking about something in her heart, and then her eyes fell on the young man next to her.

His eyes were calm, looking into the distance.

However, his clothes were a little messy, and the collar of his shirt had been folded inside the neckline at some point.

Looking up, two red, swollen and broken lips were reflected in the girl’s dark almond eyes. Liu Xiaoli pursed her lips and said helplessly, “Really? You didn’t even notice that your collar was turned upside down.”

She raised her hand and moved closer to Cheng Kaiyan, grabbed the collar with her slender fingers and pulled it out, then carefully smoothed the collar around her neck with both hands until the collar was flat and neat.

That was not all, she tidied it from top to bottom again before she stopped.

“Okay! Now it looks much better.”

Liu Xiaoli clapped her hands and spoke gently.

“Thank you.”

Cheng Kaiyan thanked him quietly, and he subconsciously thought of the scene after marriage when his husband went out to work and his wife helped him organize clothes.

“Let’s go, the boat has docked.”

Liu Xiaoli reminded with a faint smile, then turned calmly and walked towards the bow.

Cheng Kaiyan followed closely behind.

Sure enough, the two soon heard a plop.

It was the sound of ships colliding.

Finally the boat stopped.

The two returned to the shore, tied the rope, left the dock, and walked towards the island along the blue stone steps under the shade of trees in the distance.

……

Cheng Kaiyan and Liu Xiaoli walked briskly and leisurely on the steps between the woods and the mountains.

The stone steps under my feet were slender and rough, with some rough patterns carved on the surface to prevent slipping. The gaps between the upper and lower steps were covered with wisps of fine moss, which was sparkling with water, as if it was the moisture from last night.

At this time, around 12:30, many pedestrians and pilgrims stopped to admire.

The main entrance of Yong’an Temple is not far ahead.

“Comrade, may I ask where the vegetarian food is?”

Cheng Kaiyan casually asked a middle-aged couple with a friendly look on the road.

“We’re going too, so you guys can come with us.”

The middle-aged man with a square face, thick eyebrows and big eyes said with a smile.

With the help of a guide, Cheng Kaiyan and Liu Xiaoli slowed down their pace.

While listening to the square-faced man’s explanation of the temple’s architecture and history, I looked at the quiet and peaceful scenery in front of me.

The four of them walked into the main gate of the temple, and more people were walking around them.

There were also many monks wearing gray clothes, with bald heads and rosaries in their hands.

“We need to light some incense first and then draw a fortune. Comrade Xiao Liu, do you two want to go? The Yong’an Temple is quite spiritual, and people often come here to make wishes and fulfill them.” asked the round-faced woman.

Cheng Kaiyan didn’t care much about this. He was the kind of person who didn’t care whether he believed it or not.

“Do you want to go? You’re already here.”

Instead, Liu Xiaoli looked at him with some interest.

The girl has always felt that the encounter between her and Cheng Kaiyan was an innate and destined fate.

“Although your original intention was to come here for a vegetarian meal, meeting my husband and I on the way was a kind of fate arranged by God, so maybe it prompted you to go and take a look?”

The round-faced woman thought for a moment and explained.

“Then let’s go together. You sound quite Zen when you talk, elder sister.”

Cheng Kaiyan did not refuse and joked.

“Really? Thank you, Comrade Xiao Cheng, for the compliment.”

The round-faced woman was smiling.

Then everyone walked quickly towards the hall and entered.

Suddenly my vision dimmed, and a strong smell of incense filled my nose.

Cheng Kaiyan and Liu Xiaoli frowned subconsciously and looked around the hall.

The dome of the main hall rises more than ten meters high and adopts a five-purlin raised beam structure, which is complex and beautiful.

There is also a golden dragon coiled in the middle of the top, with the six-syllable mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum” wrapped around the dragon’s body.

Standing in the hall and looking up, I was extremely shocked, and even felt a kind of fascinating divinity.

The murals around are in thangka style, painted with mineral pigments, and the colors are still bright.

In addition to the golden Buddha statue enshrined in the main hall, there is also a huge wooden octagonal scripture cabinet, which is densely engraved with Tibetan scriptures and mantras, which is actually the Chakravartin.

When the two of them were visiting.

The middle-aged couple came over with incense and handed it to them. The four of them lit a stick of incense together.

Then he took them to the entrance of the main hall, where there was a small table for drawing lots.

Sitting behind the table was an old monk with kind eyes and white eyebrows and beard.

“Master Jing’an.”

I saw a round-faced woman walk up to me leisurely and make an Amitabha gesture.

“The donor is here again.”

Master Jing’an returned the greeting with a rather helpless tone, and glanced at Cheng Kaiyan and the other man who were standing not far away and watching, “Are you still praying for a child?”

“Yes.”

“come on.”

Master Jing’an shook his head, picked up the fortune stick box on the table, and led everyone back to the hall.

When passing Cheng Kaiyan and the other person on the road, he looked at them twice more out of curiosity.

Let the round-faced woman kneel on the cushion and shake the stick tube.

“Clap!”

The bamboo sticks shaking in the stick tube made crisp sounds, and soon a bamboo stick fell onto the shiny floor tiles.

The woman quickly picked it up and handed it to Master Jing’an, looking at him expectantly.

The latter frowned as he looked at the fortune. “It’s a good fortune! It’s much better than the previous results. What these words mean is to be proactive in preparation and patiently wait for the right time.”

“real?!”

The couple were immediately surprised and started talking to Master Jing’an.

Cheng Kaiyan, who was standing by, shook her head secretly when she heard this. Isn’t this just coaxing people?
Liu Xiaoli was originally looking forward to it, but after hearing this, she felt that it was not very reliable. She looked at Cheng Kaiyan and said, “Let’s go back after dinner. You must be tired after walking around for a whole morning. After all, your injury has just healed.”

“Well, go back and take a shower and rest.”

Cheng Kaiyan took out a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped the sweat from the girl’s fair forehead.

Just as the two were quietly making arrangements, the round-faced woman cast her eyes over and asked with concern, “Xiao Cheng, why don’t you two try asking for a fortune? It works very well.”

“Then give it a try.”

Liu Xiaoli didn’t worry about whether it was true or not, she just wanted to experience it.

“This is a lottery box. Just shake it gently and think about what you want to ask. Everything should be natural and don’t be too deliberate.”

Master Jingan cast a kind gaze upon the two of them and explained with a smile.

Liu Xiaoli nodded, took the lottery stick tube, then walked to the cushion wrapped in bright yellow cloth and knelt down.

His expression was calm and elegant, his head was slightly lowered and his eyes were lightly closed.

Holding the round and smooth wooden stick tube in both hands, he shook it gently.

“Clang, clang~” As the hands shook, the wooden sticks collided with the stick tube, making a crisp sound.

Liu Xiaoli looked solemn, her rosy lips moved slightly, as if she was reciting something silently.

But Cheng Kaiyan couldn’t hear a word.

Two minutes later.

“Clap!”

A wooden stick popped out of the stick tube and fell to the floor.

Liu Xiaoli heard the noise, opened her eyes, bent down to pick it up, and stood up while looking at it.

Cheng Kaiyan pulled her and then asked, “How is it?”

“The fire of catastrophe burned the old jade tablet, and the red rope pattern appeared faintly in the ashes.

The will of heaven is always difficult to question, but the embers still warm the words of the phoenix and the dragon.”

Liu Xiaoli held the slender wooden stick in her hand and read aloud.

Then he asked, “Master Jing’an, what does this sign mean?”

Master Jing’an reached out and took the wooden stick, looked down at it for a while, then looked at the young man and woman in front of him with a smile, his eyes meaningful and even a little mysterious.

“A very good fortune!”

Master Jingan affirmed.

“A very good fortune? Haha.”

Cheng Kaiyan and Liu Xiaoli smiled at each other, but neither of them knew why the other was smiling.

Everyone was stunned.

Especially the couple who had just drawn the best lot, they looked at Cheng Kaiyan and the others with surprise.

Is it really fate?
But after seeing Cheng Kaiyan’s indifferent look, the round-faced woman couldn’t help but ask, “Comrade Cheng, do you think it’s fake?”

“No, I just feel lucky.”

Cheng Kaiyan shook his head.

“In fact, in a stick holder, there are nearly a hundred sticks, but only a few are top-notch.”

The round-faced woman explained.

“I see.”

Liu Xiaoli was very happy because it was related to what she had just prayed silently in her heart.

“Please follow me, my two donors. I will interpret the divination for you two.”

Master Jing’an bowed slightly, then led Cheng Kaiyan and Liu Xiaoli out.

The middle-aged couple stopped talking and stayed in the hall.

……

Outside the hall, people were coming and going.

Under a huge ginkgo tree, the leaves are falling and turning yellow.

Master Jing’an handed over the newly written fortune sticks and explained, “Two donors, you just prayed for marriage, right? The best fortune sticks for marriage are basically destined by heaven.”

“Marriage?”

Cheng Kaiyan looked at his partner with surprise. He didn’t expect that it was Sister Xiaoli who was praying for a marriage, and it was a good one at that.

“Yes, I’m seeking for a marriage.”

The girl looked at him, nodded gently and calmly, and added:
“and yours.”

The girl’s gentle voice penetrated into Cheng Kaiyan’s heart, and he felt as if his heart was burned by fire.

Scalding hot and throbbing.

“hehe.”

Master Jingan interrupted the two with a smile and explained, “You two might as well appeal to your feelings later.”

“The burning jade butterfly actually means that the marriage book has been burned, which means that the marriage between the two of you was destined by heaven, but there is a destiny but no fate, and it is destined that there is no possibility of you being together in this life.

Unexpectedly, the burn marks showed the mark of Yue Lao’s red rope, which means that new life is born from destruction. The relationship that was not continued in the previous life was continued in this life, so the two of them have the relationship they have now. “

“We are destined to be together but not to be together? Will we continue our destiny?”

Liu Xiaoli bit her lip and her heart trembled.

Doesn’t this sentence mean that Cheng Kaiyan and I were destined to be together, and that we had signed a marriage certificate and arranged an engagement under the witness of our parents?

But the road was full of twists and turns. He went to Jiangcheng to study and joined the army…

The two had never met before Liu Xiaoli broke off the engagement.

This fate should have gradually dissipated in the wind as time went by.

After returning to the city, Cheng Kaiyan will quietly recuperate, find a job, and finally get married and have children.

Perhaps it is only when you get married that you will remember that you had such a child marriage.

And I might also settle down in Jiangcheng and live there forever…

But due to a sudden change, they reunited.

The unexpected event here was probably a sudden impulse on my part last October, when I asked my aunt to come to my house with a letter she had written to cancel the engagement.

October.

Liu Xiaoli silently estimated in her heart, that time couldn’t be… couldn’t that be the time when Comrade Xiao Cheng was seriously injured and hospitalized on the front line.

If not for this, I’m afraid he and I would have been separated in the crowd.

“Whoosh…”

The girl’s breathing became heavier, her nose felt a little sore, her hands were twisted together, and her slender fingers turned white.

Cheng Kaiyan, who was standing by, had a calm expression. Noticing the abnormality of his partner, he hugged her shoulders tightly and comforted her, “It’s okay, I’m here, and this is a good fortune.”

“I know, I’m just… just scared, scared…”

The girl pursed her lips, leaned her little head in Cheng Kaiyan’s arms, and explained in a muffled voice.

“You two are lovers, so naturally it will last forever.”

Master Jing’an saw that Liu Xiaoli was in a state of great emotional fluctuation and comforted her with a few words.

But there was something she didn’t say in her heart. Although this young male donor was deeply in love, he was also a frequent romantic figure.

This is the reason why they say deep love will hurt.

But Master Jing’an would never say that.

……

After saying goodbye to Master Jing’an, the two of them had a vegetarian meal.

Then he turned back.

Cross the water from Yong’an Bridge and exit Beihai Park.

Overall, this trip was a lot of fun, and Liu Xiaoli laughed much more often today than before.

Cheng Kaiyan also fulfilled her wish and her plan of having an intimate moment with Sister Xiaoli on the boat on Beihai Lake.

In the end, the marriage proposal she sought in Yong’an Temple had a good result.

Although it may not be true, it is always good to have this goal waiting for them ahead.

On the bus, in the window row.

Cheng Kaiyan quietly watched the gray old buildings flashing by outside the car window.

I pondered for a long time.

In the end, only one conclusion was reached:
Fate is a very unreasonable thing.

Thinking of this, he chuckled and hugged Liu Xiaoli, who was sleeping on his shoulder. Her soft and boneless body slept quietly in his arms with a warm fragrance.

This girl’s training is very intense every day, and these two days should have been her time to rest at home.

After the holiday, it was great to be able to accompany him out for half a day of intensive play.

How can I repay the beauty’s kindness?
I do not know how long it has been.

The bus with big braids and black smoke coming out of its rear stopped near Wangfujing.

Cheng Kaiyan got out of the car holding the sleeping girl and walked home.

When I walked to the tree in Xiaowei Hutong, a moan was heard in my arms.

Then, a pair of sparkling dark eyes looked at him with joy, “Comrade Xiao Cheng, I like you so much! Shall we… officially be together today?”

The girl’s voice was crisp and contained a hint of the naivety of someone who had just woken up.

But so serious.

Cheng Kaiyan opened his eyes wide and looked at the girl in his arms with surprise.

Many years later, he wrote in his memoirs:
April 1980, 10.

I was converted to a regular employee and became Comrade Liu Xiaoli’s official partner.

(End of this chapter)