"What time is it?"

"Eleven..." Jiang Ning took out her phone and lit up the screen. "No, it’s 12:31."

"Let’s wait for the sun to die down a bit before we head out, or it’ll be too hot."

"Is the sun still out?"

"Uh... it’s not?"

Chen Yuan froze. He looked at Jiang Ning’s confused expression, then suddenly got up from his seat and walked to the shop’s entrance.

He looked up at the sky.

Something shocking had happened.

Just before they’d reached Qilin Gate, the sun had been intense enough to melt a person. But now, after just half an hour of eating, vast swaths of clouds, driven from who-knows-where, had covered the sky, and their surroundings had suddenly grown dim.

A wind carrying the scent of earth kicked up. A plastic bag someone had tossed on the unswept ground by the restaurant entrance flew into the air, and an empty soda can CLATTERED as it rolled away.

It instantly became incredibly cool outside.

The dry heat vanished. Chen Yuan felt a gust of wind blow in through his cuffs, seeping into every layer of his clothes.

"It’s actually overcast," Chen Yuan said, scratching his head in disbelief.

Thankfully, none of them were dressed too lightly. Otherwise, with such a drastic temperature swing from sunny to overcast, they would have definitely caught a cold.

"The wind’s picked up." Jiang Ning came over to join him, looking out at the scene.

In a few quick strides, she hopped down the steps. Ignoring the strands of hair whipping across her face, she squinted at the mountain path they had just climbed. From under the memorial archway, she couldn’t see the bottom of the path, hidden by the lush mountain forest, but she could see into the distance.

The sky was vast, the mountains wide.

"Where are we right now?" she asked Chen Yuan softly.

"We’re at Qilin Gate, so we should be about halfway to the summit. The main thing is we wasted a lot of time playing in the water earlier. It’s fine, though. It’s not like we came here just to reach the top. If it’s too much, we can head back down now."

Chen Yuan suggested after a moment of thought.

He had noticed the exhaustion in Jiang Yao’s eyes. Yaoyao wasn’t a fan of exercise to begin with, so forcing her to climb all the way to the summit seemed a bit too harsh.

"We’ve already come this far. It would be a shame not to reach the top."

To his surprise, Jiang Ning suddenly said this.

As her older sister, she knew Yaoyao all too well. Chen Yuan might be soft-hearted at times, but she wouldn’t be.

Jiang Ning knew very well that Yaoyao wasn’t firm in her decisions about many things. She needed someone to push her; once pushed, she’d do it. Otherwise, her little brat of a sister would back out of everything.

"Well... I have no objections," Chen Yuan said, snapping back to reality. "Yaoyao, are you rested? Let’s keep climbing."

"Didn’t we just rest for five minutes?" Jiang Yao’s eyes widened on her cute face.

She couldn’t understand where the two of them got their energy. Wasn’t it much more comfortable to just laze around for a bit instead of lifting their legs to climb higher?

Outside the restaurant, Jiang Ning gave a cold laugh, took Chen Yuan’s hand, and pulled him straight ahead.

The two of them walked shoulder to shoulder along the narrow stone-paved path, enjoying the cool breeze.

"We’re leaving first. You can rest here by yourself. Bye-bye."

Her voice drifted back into the restaurant from a distance.

"Hey? Hey!"

When Jiang Yao really couldn’t see them anymore, she peeked her head out and looked around for a while. But no matter how much she called out, there was no response. She started to panic, grabbed her bag, and ran out after them.

She finally breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the figures of her sister and Chen Yuan.

In reality, the two hadn’t gone far at all. They had stopped by a vending machine, trying to decide what to drink.

"You two just abandoned me like that?" Jiang Yao’s voice was filled with grievance. Her brow furrowed, and she started stamping her foot before she even got close.

"Aren’t we waiting for you? Hurry up, what do you want to drink?"

"I’ll have whatever there is," she muttered, pouting as she awkwardly shuffled over to Chen Yuan’s side.

The next second.

Chen Yuan sucked in a sharp breath as a searing pain shot through his waist.

Jiang Yao completely ignored his cry of pain.

"I want a Scream. I haven’t had one in ages."

"I’ll grab one too, then."

...

「In the afternoon.」

Their energy replenished and the blazing sun no longer hanging overhead, the climb was much easier than it had been in the morning.

A gentle breeze rustled the sea of green on the mountain, its touch refreshing and invigorating.

It only took the three of them an hour to reach Yao Guang Temple, which was near the summit. They gazed at the ancient-looking green bricks and tiles. The marks of time were etched onto the mottled walls, and despite having been trodden on by countless tourists, the ground at the temple entrance remained solid.

It was hard to imagine how much effort it must have taken to build such a temple on a mountain. So many of the building materials would have needed to be hauled up from the base; only the wood and stone could have been sourced locally.

The moment they stepped inside, the three of them were struck by the solemn atmosphere in the courtyard. They didn’t dare to speak loudly, only looking around with curious eyes.

In the courtyard stood a large locust tree, already sprouting new buds. It was tied with countless red strings and hung with innumerable small wooden plaques—proof, no doubt, left by tourists who had come to visit.

The rest of the buildings were simple and archaic. In the distance stood a small, four-story black pagoda. Farther still, a massive bronze bell sat on a platform at the cliff’s edge, but a sign had been put up forbidding tourists from climbing to it.

Jiang Yao had wanted to go up for a look at first, but she had to give up the idea after seeing the sign.

The temple was so quiet it felt as if it had been slumbering for a thousand years. If not for the swept ground, which was clear of fallen leaves, Chen Yuan would have thought the place was deserted, inhabited only by its unmoving structures.

The most incredible thing was when the three of them wandered into a side courtyard and discovered a small pond walled with stones. It was overgrown with green algae, and in the middle was a stone inscribed with some characters.

They read "Clear Heart Spring."

The pond was teeming with countless carp, their mouths whiskered, their bodies gold or red. Every single one of them was plump.

"Is there no one here? Can we go inside and take a look?" Jiang Yao asked, unable to contain her curiosity.

"I don’t know..." Jiang Ning hesitated.

"What’s not to know? Tourist sites are for people to see, and besides, we bought tickets."

Chen Yuan directly pulled the two sisters toward a side hall. It was completely dark inside, with no sign of anyone. After they stepped in, the ground felt as if it were covered in a layer of dust, and the atmosphere grew even more solemn.

In the very center was a gilt Buddha, with statues of two child attendants at its base.

A stick of incense as thick as an arm burned slowly, the scent of its smoke filling the air.

Strangely, even though Chen Yuan and the others had explored nearly the entire temple, they hadn’t seen a single monk. The temple felt both alive and dead; there were traces of people everywhere, yet they were as elusive as smoke.

As they wandered, the sky grew even more overcast. Bored, the three of them could only head back out. After walking a short distance, they spotted someone around a corner.

It was a withered old woman, her back hunched, carrying something into a pitch-black room while muttering to herself.

"I know!" Chen Yuan suddenly exclaimed.

"What is it?"

"The guide I read said there’s an old woman on this mountain who’s incredibly accurate at reading fortunes. It said she never fails, and that lots of people come up the mountain specifically to have their fortune told by her. It must be her."

"For real?"

Jiang Yao was a little surprised.

She had always held a sense of reverence for things unseen and untouchable. Combined with the fact that they had just been through an empty temple, her mind was already racing with speculation.

"I don’t know if it’s true or not, but since we’re here, we have to give it a try."

"You go, then. I’m a little scared." Jiang Yao shrank back and refused to move from her spot.

Chen Yuan had been an atheist since childhood. Thanks to a good education, he believed only in science.

Full of enthusiasm, he pulled the two sisters along with him.

He climbed a few steps to get closer but couldn’t make out what the old woman was saying. It sounded like an incantation.

"Ma’am? I was wondering, why isn’t there anyone in that temple?"

"..."

After he spoke, a full half-minute passed.

Only then did the old woman raise her head to glance at him, her cloudy pupils fixing on Chen Yuan.

Up close, he could see that the skin on the old woman’s face was like wrinkled kraft paper, covered in dark spots.

"The monks have gone up the mountain... You all can come in," she said, her voice hoarse.

A chill ran down Chen Yuan’s spine.

He had come up by himself; the two sisters were waiting for him down below.

How could the old woman have used the word "you all"?

"Ma’am, you know I came for a fortune reading?"

"Young man, you’re not here for a fortune reading, you’re here for a marriage fortune," the old woman said, beckoning mysteriously. "A very lucky young man, indeed."