The other day after discussing with Lu Chongshan, Yan Ruyi set aside some time to go to the temple early one morning.
The temple was known for being auspicious and it was filled with people early in the morning.
Yan Ruyi lit up a joss stick then waited in the hall. Very soon, a monk came over with both palms pressed together to say, "Amitabha" and he greeted her, "Donor Yan, you're here!"
Yan Ruyi returned the courtesy then nervously said, "Little Master, I was wondering what Master Xuan Jing had to say."
"The abbot has been waiting inside the hall. Donor Yan, please follow me." the little monk replied.
"Ah, so Master Xuan Jing agreed! Great! Thank you, thank you!" Yan Ruyi held a stack of socialites' birth dates and followed the monk happily towards the meditation abode in the backyard.
Inside the yard were grass and pebble paths, and at one end were red maple trees. Standing in the lotus pond in front of the place were several herons ruffling their feathers. When she looked at the peaceful and quiet little yard, she calmed down much more.
When they reached the entrance of Xuan Jing's meditation abode, the little monk stood still and announced solemnly, "Abbott, Donor Yan is here."
After a moment, an old monk clad in a gray robe walked out with the help of a staff. His charisma and aura were extraordinary as if he was not from this world.
"Donor Yan, this old monk is lacking in being welcoming!"
"Master, you are being too kind. We've really troubled you this time to use your time with Buddha for such a petty thing!" As she watched the old monk and felt his strong aura, Yan Ruyi instantly trusted him, thinking about how lucky she was to find Master Xuan Jing.
She had met Long Fanyin once and thought that he was efficient the other time. Now that she had met Master Xuan Jing, she realized that Long Fanyi was too impetuous and hasty.
"Donor Yan, you speak too highly of me. This old monk is only giving due assistance. You and Donor Lu donate to the auspicious incense every year to repair the Buddha's gold body and aid the poor. That is true charity!"
"Master, you compliment me too much. These are things we should do!"
...
After some more small talk, they started to get down to business.
Yan Ruyi took out the stack of birth dates from her bag and put it on the short table. Then, she took out a single sheet of paper with Lu Tingxiao's date of birth and said, "Master, it's all here. I have to trouble you to skim through them!"
Xuan Jing nodded and picked up the birth dates to start going through them.
Yan Ruyi dared not interrupt, so she quietly stood aside and waited.
Xuan Jing looked at every one of them and made notations behind them. A moment later, he finally finished looking through all the birth dates.
When she saw that Xuan Jing's expression had not changed much from start until the end, Yan Ruyi was a little anxious. She questioned, "Master, among these girls, were there any birth dates that were especially good, or especially compatible with our Tingxiao?"
Master Xuan Jing shook his head confidently and declared, "There are none."
That meant that all these girls were all ordinary. Even though none of them particularly clashed in terms of compatibility, was there not even one compatible one?
When Yan Ruyi heard this, she could not help but be a little disappointed. She unwillingly looked at the master's written remarks and realized that not only all of them were ordinary, there was indeed no one who was more outstanding than the rest.
Yan Ruyi kept turning every piece of paper to look at the remarks many times, then finally accepted her son's fate and put the birth dates away. She absentmindedly nodded, "I've troubled you, Master!"
"Donor Yan, not to worry."
"Then, Master, I won't disturb you further. I shall make a move now!"
Yan Ruyi was prepared to leave when her footsteps came to a halt. She suddenly thought about how there was still one more person's date of birth in her bag...
It belonged to that girl named Ning Xi...
She did not know what she was thinking, but before she left, she had actually grabbed the girl's date of birth too.
Now, should she just casually let the Master have a look at it?