KN | Chapter 18

Tianhou Temple

The cruise ship followed the new route for two days and one night. On the return leg, it docked at Bei Island.

Blessed with exceptional geographic advantages and backed by government policy, Bei Island had spent the past few years continuously reclaiming land from the sea and expanding its area, becoming a new shopping paradise.

Chen Wan had always had very little desire for material things. He was never particularly fussy about what he ate, wore, or used, and he normally did not have any major expenses. He only picked out a jade watch and a set of gold jewelry for Song Qingmiao at the duty-free shop.

When he saw the large sums that had been charged to the supplementary card over the past few days, Chen Wan knew Song Qingmiao had gone to the casino again, and sighed inwardly.

He took back the card after the sales associate finished running it, and suddenly noticed a pair of cufflinks sitting in the display case right in the middle of Shiludeng. They were not one of the season’s featured styles, but the workmanship was exceptionally meticulous, and they had a satisfying weight to them.

Chen Wan asked the sales associate to take them out so he could have a look. After one glance, he decided. “Please wrap these up for me, thank you.”

The sales associate’s prepared introduction was left hanging on her lips, with nowhere to go. In truth, she had wanted to say that this pair of cufflinks did not really suit Chen Wan. She had wanted to recommend cufflinks in enamel or pearl for this handsome customer instead.

But Chen Wan’s attitude was decisive, so she only smiled and said, “Of course, please wait a moment.”

Qin Zhaoting noticed and came over to ask, “You like heavy, elaborate work?”

The Changsheng Wuji design from the Wadang series. Wasn’t that a little too imposing and severe?

Chen Wan was young, with a tender-looking face and a gentle temperament. He might not quite be able to carry it off.

“No.” Chen Wan took the receipt slip from the sales associate and signed it. “It’s for a friend.”

Qin Zhaoting knew Chen Wan was very good at treating people well, as though he had been born knowing how to love others, but he was still a little surprised. Even on a duty-free island, a purchase like that was not exactly cheap. Smiling with envy, he said, “Then being your friend must be far too lucky. I wonder who that fortunate person is.”

Chen Wan smiled, but did not answer.

What friends did he have? His only friend was Zhuo Zhixuan, and Zhuo Zhixuan had never lacked such things.

Probably even the sales associate could tell this pair of cufflinks did not suit him, because Chen Wan had bought them for Zhao Shengge.

Maybe when you liked someone, then as long as you saw anything suitable, you wanted to buy it for him.

At home, Chen Wan had a separate cabinet devoted entirely to storing things he happened to come across in daily life that he thought would suit Zhao Shengge.

A purely handmade tie bought during a business trip to Northern Europe, a silk pocket square bought while browsing a market during a forum on the mainland… ties, watches, lighters, he had already dressed Zhao Shengge in his imagination thousands upon thousands of times.

The gifts had accumulated more and more, like display ornaments. But Chen Wan had never planned to give them away. They would never have a day when they saw the light.

Their only purpose was to let Chen Wan imagine what they would look like worn on Zhao Shengge’s body. They were Chen Wan’s private stamp-collecting journal, the secret material for some night dream of his…

Chen Wan rather happily accepted the gift box the sales associate had wrapped. When he lifted his eyes, he met the gaze of the true owner of those cufflinks in every meaningful sense, though one who could never be spoken of.

Zhao Shengge was nearby. Having overheard their conversation, he was not especially surprised. Chen Wan looked like the sort of person who had many friends and was on good terms with everyone. He was thoughtful and meticulous even toward people he did not know well, so toward friends, he would naturally be even more attentive, granting whatever was asked of him.

That pair of cufflinks, that kind of style, that kind of aesthetic. It was not hard to guess what sort of person they were meant for.

So he actually had that kind of friend. Zhao Shengge thought this darkly, both hands in his pockets, the lighting at the counter making him look expensive and coldly severe.

Chen Wan noticed the other man’s gaze resting on the cufflinks in his hand, and felt a bit guilty. The hand holding the gift bag unconsciously drew it closer to his chest. What he probably did not realize was that this made it look as though he was afraid Zhao Shengge had taken a liking to the same pair of cufflinks too.

“…”

Zhao Shengge simply looked at him like that. Chen Wan gave him a polite nod of acknowledgment and smiled, then lifted his feet and walked toward another counter.

Whalecraft No. 17 docked at Xiaotianxing Pier. On a day he had set aside for it, Chen Wan called Song Qingmiao out and gave her the jade and gold he had bought at the duty-free port. Unless absolutely necessary, he would not take the initiative to go to the Chen residence.

The two of them had not seen each other since the last Ghost Festival, when Chen Wan had returned to the Chen family’s old residence. Chen Wan was busy, and Song Qingmiao was even busier, shopping, playing cards, buying bags, drinking tea, every day of hers was full of excitement.

Chen Wan called her regularly to check on her. During one of those calls, Song Qingmiao said she had not been feeling well lately. The family doctor said it was liver damage caused by pent-up emotions, along with too much internal dampness. So after he came ashore this time, she wanted him to accompany her to Tianhou Temple to offer incense and pay greetings to Mazu.

Chen Wan said yes. He also did not ask about the several large sums she had charged to the supplementary card again in the past two days.

As much as he could, Chen Wan tried to satisfy Song Qingmiao’s need for money and affection alike.

Tianhou Temple was thick with incense smoke and crowded with worshippers. People of Haishi did not believe in Guanyin, nor in the Buddha. They believed in Mazu. Whether they were men or women, old or young, whether they were ill, sitting exams, or doing business, they all had to greet Mazu first.

Song Qingmiao, with her long black hair cascading like a waterfall and her plain, elegant qipao, had an ageless face and a delicate, ingenuous air like a girl in the first bloom of youth. Standing beside Chen Wan, the two looked like siblings. Saying they were a couple would not seem strange either.

Song Qingmiao said she wanted to go into the inner courtyard to worship the Heavenly Consort and Dragon Maiden. Today was an auspicious day someone had calculated for her, the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month’s end, when the divine maiden conveyed prayers to Heaven, suitable for supplication and making wishes.

Chen Wan turned his head to look toward the temple entrance, paused very lightly, and said softly, “I’ll wait for you outside?”

“No.”

Song Qingmiao insisted on going together. Since they had come, if he did not worship, the Heavenly Empress would blame him.

Chen Wan recalled the Maybach he had seen when parking and coaxed her with practiced tact. “I heard people say the Heavenly Consort should be visited at most once every three months. If it’s more than that, Mazu will think people are greedy.”

There were five statues of Mazu. Chen Wan only recognized Great Mazu, Lin Moniang, and Third Mazu, Zhuang Jingyun. Those were also the two Song Qingmiao worshipped most often, one governing auspiciousness and safety, the other wisdom and virtuous goodness.

“You only worshipped Lin Moniang last month. This time, you can have a proper talk with Jingyun Mazu instead.”

The statue of Jingyun Mazu was enshrined in the western hall, so they should not run into him there.

Song Qingmiao felt that what Chen Wan said made some sense, but she was still not very pleased, as though if she could not see Lin Moniang Mazu today, then her luck for some time to come would turn bad.

Chen Wan had no choice but to coax her again, saying that he would also invite a statue of the divine maiden into their home for her, one carved from mutton-fat jade.

In the inner courtyard, the abbot called for a young monk to refill Zhao Shengge’s tea. The man before him was a God of Wealth even more real than the gold-plated ones in their halls.

There was no shortage of wealthy men in Haishi, but not all of them were so generous. With such a large sum of incense money every year, if even the Buddha did not favor him, then whom would he favor?

Zhao Shengge had come today to calculate an auspicious date for the groundbreaking of the new pier project and to light incense for it. He did not believe in ghosts or gods. He only believed in himself.

But Zhao Maozheng had insisted that he make this trip.

It was not because the old man was hidebound or stubborn. He merely wanted to temper the disposition of his heir. Zhao Shengge looked calm, decisive, and unreadable, but in his bones he was still too arrogant, too sharp-edged, too lacking in empathy, too lacking in ordinary human warmth. He would not be able to accomplish even greater things that way.

By today, Zhao Maozheng had finally been forced to admit that the way he had trained his eldest grandson in the past had gone a little too far in correcting the problem. For a small child, it really had been too harsh and too severe.

Zhao Shengge had no feelings like an ordinary person. Even toward him, he probably did not have much familial affection.

When Zhao Shengge was very young, Zhao Maozheng had burned many of his models. The methods had been crude and brutal. There was also that incident when he had someone shoot dead the stray dog Zhao Shengge had picked up, he did not know whether Zhao Shengge still remembered that.

The young Zhao Shengge had simply watched with his own eyes the whole time, without shedding a single tear.

In any case, there had been too many incidents of that sort to count. In any case, all the anxiety, urgency, and fury he felt over his eldest son’s failure to amount to anything had been vented in one rush onto his eldest grandson.

It was only after Zhao Shengge had more or less grown into shape that Zhao Maozheng belatedly realized that perhaps he had raised him successfully, and perhaps he had raised him into ruin.

But now he could no longer control Zhao Shengge. So he could only say, “The pier and the new route both need the Buddha’s blessing.”

Without any emotion at all, Zhao Shengge replied in a businesslike tone, “From four-thirty to five, I can only spare half an hour to come take a look.”

He was very busy. It was not that he was going to see the Bodhisattva. It was that the Bodhisattva had to wait for him to finish his meeting.

“…”

Less than five minutes after stepping into the temple, Zhao Shengge was already regretting it. With that amount of time, the blueprints for his new project could already have gone through review.

The abbot spoke like he was chanting sutras. Zhao Shengge had not listened seriously to a single sentence, but for the sake of the new project, the two sides could still maintain a few minutes of friendly conversation.

Even standing before the statue of the deity, Zhao Shengge was still the same, cool and composed, perfectly polite on the surface. Gods and Buddhas alike would have no idea what he was thinking.

From time to time, he nodded in acknowledgment at the abbot’s output, but his thoughts had already drifted through the hollow lattice window to the person in the outer courtyard.

The hands on his wristwatch were already pointing past five-thirty. He did not believe that person, with eyes in all directions and ears open on every side, had failed to notice his car.

Today, the other man wore a very soft-textured cotton-linen shirt, which made him look especially gentle.

This place had originally been a temple built by Nanyang immigrants. Later, the locals had converted it into a Mazu temple. Some places still preserved the gilded statues and carved eaves. As Chen Wan passed by, he was like the purple water lily in the courtyard water vat.

And because of the gilding and glazed tile architecture around him, a trace of something impossible to describe had been added to his purity.

He carried the handbag for the woman beside him, his expression very patient.

Zhao Shengge lifted his brows with a hint of mockery. Chen Wan looked pure-hearted and restrained, yet he was flirting in a sacred place before the Buddha. Such a taste was truly hard to admire.

Seeing that Zhao Shengge’s expression had turned somewhat cool, the abbot did not dare ramble on too much. He only asked him to pass on his regards to Old Master Zhao and wished him good health.

Zhao Shengge tipped his chin toward the western hall and asked, “What are they worshipping over there?”

Seeing that he had finally shown some interest, the abbot explained in detail, “The western hall is for Jingyun Mazu, the left attendant of the Heavenly Palace, who is specifically in charge of wisdom.”

“Oh.”

So Chen Wan was asking for wisdom too? Was there anyone with more schemes than him?

In the tone of someone conducting a meeting, Zhao Shengge asked, “When was that goddess statue repaired?”

The abbot’s eyes shifted slightly. He knew very well how to seize an opportunity. “It has been several decades already. The golden body and gilded coloring have both faded and flaked somewhat. We are currently still preparing funds for restoration. If Benefactor Zhao is interested, you may come with this old monk and offer a stick of incense. It would count as seeking a good omen too.”

Zhao Shengge, who had declared he would leave after half an hour, turned his wristwatch and said, “That works.”