Chapter 6 Breakfast and Sutras
I had chaotic dreams all night.
One moment it was the rain at Jinshan Temple eight hundred years ago.
The next it was the beeping of the GPS tracker.
Finally it was him pressing down on me with those burning eyes that had shattered every monastic rule.
When I woke the sky was already growing light.
The arm around my waist had vanished.
I snapped my eyes open. The space beside me was empty except for the rumpled sheets that proved another person had been there last night.
The air still carried the scent of sandalwood and him.
I propped up my aching body and sat up only to find a thin blanket covering me.
Fa Hai had covered me with a blanket? Had the sun risen in the west?
The door creaked open.
I looked over warily at once.
He had changed into a fresh bright yellow kasaya washed pale but perfectly neat.
His head was shaved clean showing bluish scalp. His face stayed stern and his eyes calm. He held a bowl of clear porridge exactly like last night.
It felt as if the man who had tormented me to the edge last night and then held me tight while I slept was someone else entirely.
"Eat," he said as he set the porridge on the table. His tone stayed flat.
I stared at him trying to find any crack beneath that expressionless face.
"What are you looking at?" he asked lifting his eyes.
"Checking if you have turned human yet." My mouth moved faster than my brain.
His eyes darkened.
I lowered my head fast and slid off the bed to drink the porridge.
It was still the thin kind that could reflect a face paired with a bun hard enough to kill a dog.
I nibbled in small bites. He stood beside me like a door guardian.
"What is the plan today?" I asked to fill the silence. "Continue exorcising me?"
He glanced at me. "Reciting sutras."
"For me?"
"Otherwise?"
"......" I could barely swallow the porridge. "Master let us make a deal. Can we change it? Like watching television? If the phone has signal we could even play games online......"
"You demon," he cut in coldly. "Stop the nonsense."
Communication had failed.
After breakfast he dragged me to a cushion in the courtyard and sat me down. He sat opposite me took out the wooden fish and scriptures.
The faint morning light fell on his smooth shaved head and lowered brows giving a false air of solemn dignity.
If one ignored the two obvious scratch marks on his neck.
Thump...
The wooden fish sounded softly.
He closed his eyes and began to chant.
Low indistinct Sanskrit flowed out carrying a strange rhythm.
I sat bored and restless all over.
The sunlight made me lazy and my thighs still ached. The humming sutras felt like a lullaby.
I yawned. My eyelids grew heavy.
My head nodded.
Just as I nearly toppled the wooden fish stopped sharply.
I jolted awake and met his open eyes. They were black and bottomless.
"Focus," he said.
"I cannot focus..." I threw caution aside. "Your chanting gives me a headache. And Master you have chanted for eight hundred years without exorcising me. Maybe it is time to try a different way? Something scientific like materialism......"
Thump! The wooden fish struck hard.
He stared at me with a frightening look.
I shut my mouth.
The recitation continued.
This time I stayed awake but my eyes wandered until they landed on his hands.
The hands striking the wooden fish had clear knuckles and were slender and strong. Those were the same hands from yesterday...
His Adam's apple rolled as he chanted...
And those always tightly pursed lips that looked merciless and harsh...
My face warmed. I shifted uncomfortably.
The Sanskrit continued but I felt the tune had faltered a little.
His rhythm on the fish slowed by one beat too.
I peeked at him secretly.
His eyes remained closed but his brows furrowed almost imperceptibly. Behind his ear a faint red seemed to rise.
My heart jumped. Mischief stirred.
I leaned forward a little getting closer.
I breathed out softly and deliberately gentle toward the hand gripping the mallet.
A tiny puff of air.
His chanting cut off.
The hand on the fish clenched tight knuckles turning white.
He snapped his eyes open. His gaze shot at me like lightning.
Darkness surged inside them nearly swallowing me.
"Qing She." He ground out my name through gritted teeth.
"What?" I blinked innocently. "There is a mosquito Master."
His chest heaved hard. He stared as if he wanted to pin me down and exorcise me again.
But finally he squeezed his eyes shut tight. When they opened the storm had calmed leaving only cold warning.
"Sit properly."
I pouted and sat up slowly.
He picked up the mallet again but paused before striking. His tense profile looked like he was holding something back.
Hmph.
Playing proper.
My mood lifted strangely. The corners of my mouth even curved.
The morning lesson ended in that weird tense atmosphere.
He set his things down stood up and did not look at me. "Stay here. Do not wander."
"Where are you going?"
"To fetch some things." His voice stayed gruff. "Since you insist on staying here I cannot just..."
He stopped unfinished and turned to leave. His steps hurried.
I watched his nearly fleeing back and paused. Realization hit.
Had he gotten embarrassed just now?
Because of that ragged blanket? Or the bowl of porridge this morning?
Or because of my breath earlier?
The discovery felt like new land fresh and with an odd itch I could not name.
That dead monk was not entirely unyielding after all.
I paced the courtyard. The place was tiny nothing but the meditation room and a small Buddha hall clean but almost bare.
Bored to death.
I pulled out my phone. Luckily it had not dropped when he caught me yesterday. The signal was weak.
After struggling I got a local news notification.
[Abnormal traces discovered near Leifeng Pagoda ruins at West Lake scenic spot suspected large wild animal activity. Tourists please stay safe......]
The photo showed messy scratches on the ground and torn fabric pieces.
My eyelids jumped.
Large wild animal...
Fa Hai you bastard.
That news stuck like a bone in my throat.
Large wild animal? I stared at the blurry yet familiar fabric on the screen. It was from my work dress yesterday no mistake. Paired with abnormal traces and stay safe a burst of anger mixed with absurdity surged.
Fa Hai was a walking disaster site. He failed to exorcise me and now destroyed public property and disturbed order?
Furious I circled the yard. The stony ground nearly smoothed under my feet. The phone signal bar flickered mockingly.
Fetch things? Fetch my ass. He should buy himself a cage.