Cinderella Innocent and Boss Charming - Chapter 145

Chapter 145 Drawing Divination Sticks
Du Xiaoxian felt that she had just fallen asleep for a while when she was woken up by Gu Nianbin. His voice was energetic and it seemed he did not feel like sleepy at all, “Get up quickly, let’s go watch the sunrise.”

Du Xiaoxian rubbed her eyes and sat up from the warm quilt. Gu Nianbin stood by the bed, put clothes on her one by one, then squatted down to put on the socks for her. Only then did Du Xiaoxian sober up a bit. She hurriedly shrank her feet. No matter how much he doted on her, she couldn’t afford to lose the sense of propriety. Gu Nianbin was not someone who should put on socks for others!

Gu Nianbin saw her shrink her feet and smiled. He gave the socks to her and walked into the bathroom. Du Xiaoxian quickly put on her socks and followed up. She found that Gu Nianbin had already prepared mouthwash and the water for washing face for her. She was moved and walked over to hug him. However, Gu Nianbin patted her back and said gently, “Hurry up, or else we won’t be able to get a good spot to see the sunrise.”

He rarely urged her like this. Thus Du Xiaoxian thought that their time was really tight. She hurriedly picked up the cup of water and brushed her teeth. After she was done with everything and came out, Gu Nianbin put on the military coat for her and wrapped the scarf around her neck like last night. He carefully sized her up before taking her out.

It was pitch black outside, even darker than last night. There was no moon in the sky, and the stars seemed to be dim. Gu Nianbin used his phone to illuminate. Du Xiaoxian followed closely behind him.

At this time, the wind became even colder. The wind blew on her face like a sharp knife, and her eyes narrowed. The wind penetrated into her clothes through every possible crack. Du Xiaoxian’s ears went numb from the wind. The wind blew into her neck through the small gap behind her ears. It felt like a needle had pierced her. She couldn’t help but shiver. Gu Nianbin tightened his grip on her and asked softly, “Are you cold?”

“It’s fine,” Du Xiaoxian opened her mouth and sprayed all the hot breath into the scarf, causing it to feel a little wet next to her chin.

Gu Nianbin pulled the scarf cover her ears. However, it was blown away by the wind and even got more of her skin exposed. Gu Nianbin could only stop and let Du Xiaoxian hold the phone. He freed his both hands to wrap the scarf up for her again. He said with some annoyance, “I should prepare two scarfs for you, one around the neck and the other around the head. That way, it won’t get blown away by the wind.”

Actually, Du Xiaoxian was not a spoiled young miss from the rich family. From childhood until now, it was common for her to starve and suffer coldness. Even though the wind was cold, she could endure it. However, Gu Nianbin treasured her so much, so she could only remain silent and obediently let Gu Nianbin do those for her.

After another few minutes of delay, they finally reached the South Heaven Gate on the summit. It was already filled with people, and there was a large temple here. There was also a huge bronze tripod outside the temple, in which were burning some incenses and paper money. The incenses were thick and purple red.

With the flames from the bronze tripod, Gu Nianbin led Du Xiaoxian through the crowd. Finally, he found a place where the wind couldn’t reach. Gu Nianbin held Du Xiaoxian in his arms. The two of them were both wearing military overcoats, which looked bloated, but they still hugged each other like that. So the scene looked truly ridiculous. However, no one paid attention to them. Everyone was crowded together in threes and fours to keep warm. Most of them were wearing military overcoats. Du Xiaoxian heard someone asking where to rent the overcoats, but another one immediately replied that the overcoats had been rented out and there was not a single one left. That person cried out in frustration and ran into the temple. Those without military overcoats were hiding in the temple. Occasionally, one or two of them would come out to see what was happening outside, and then shrank back into the temple due to coldness.

The sky was still dark and there was no sign of sunrise. Gu Nianbin was afraid that Du Xiaoxian would be cold, so he simply buried her head in his embrace and whispered, “Avoid the wind in my arms first. I will tell you when the sun shows up.”

Du Xiaoxian hugged him like a gecko. “Enh,” she nodded obediently and didn’t say anything else. The surrounding people were chaotic. Some people began to sing songs again, and it gradually became a chorus. People who didn’t know each other were singing together. The scene aroused waves of emotions, and it felt like it wasn’t that cold anymore. Du Xiaoxian couldn’t help but turn her head to look over. Then she asked Gu Nianbin in whisper, “Why aren’t you singing?”

Gu Nianbin lowered his head and whispered in her ears, “I will only sing for you.”

Du Xiaoxian giggled and rubbed her head against his face. Her mouth was wrapped in the scarf, so she could only use this method to express intimacy.

Suddenly, someone shouted, “The sun!”

Then countless voices followed, “Where? Where? Where?”

Du Xiaoxian stretched her neck and looked over into the sky. She felt that the sky had suddenly turned white. However, she did not see the sun. She was also a little anxious and asked, “Where is it? Where is the sun?”

Gu Nianbin pointed to show to her and said, “There, do you see it?”

Du Xiaoxian followed the direction he was pointing at. Sure enough, she saw the bright red sun, like an oily salted egg yolk, rising from the mountain peak. It carried light and heat, dispelling the darkness all around. Those bright lights forcefully pierced through the darkness and brought light to the earth.

Everyone cried out in exclamation. Du Xiaoxian even heard someone choking with sobs. That was because the person was too touched, by the life and vitality brought about by the sunrise. Du Xiaoxian was also very touched. On this day on the mountain, she was always touched. She was touched by the picturesque mountains and rivers, by Gu Nianbin’s considerate care, by those people she had never met before who helped each other, by the sunset and sunrise, and by the heavens and the earth. She was touched by everything.

It turned out that the world was so beautiful and touching. Her mother said that she needed to be grateful. Although she listened to her words, she was ignorant and only felt that life was hard. But now she understood. Because with gratitude, she can find the beauty of life, and there will be so much touching things. She had always worked hard to be a good person, believed that good people would get good rewards, so god let her meet Gu Nianbin.

The red sun had already risen into the sky, shining on the earth. Amidst the cheers of everyone, Gu Nianbin suddenly pulled her and began to run towards the temple. Du Xiaoxian did not know what had happened, but she didn’t ask. She just obediently followed him.

The temple was empty. Everyone was watching the sunrise outside. A monk walked over and put his hands together to welcome them. “Benefactor Gu, the incenses are ready. Please follow me.”

Gu Nianbin brought Du Xiaoxian and followed the monk through the temple hall to head towards the back. There were also temples in the back. They walked to the big temple in the middle. A huge golden sage-king Bodhisattva sat upright within the temple, which had a kind expression and a dignified appearance. Du Xiaoxian did not recognize the Bodhisattva and did not dare to ask.

When Gu Nianbin arrived at this quiet place, his cold temperament seemed to have diminished a lot. He whispered, “Let’s make a wish together later.”

Du Xiaoxian said, “I hope…”

Gu Nianbin quickly covered her mouth and said, “I’m not a Bodhisattva. Speak to the Bodhisattva and he will realize your wish.”

Du Xiaoxian stuck out her tongue and smiled embarrassedly. After the monk lit the incenses for them, Gu Nianbin and Du Xiaoxian knelt on the prayer mat and silently made a wish to the golden Bodhisattva. Then, they kowtowed three times before getting up and inserting the incenses into the incense burner beside.

After they made the wishes and burned the incenses, the monk sent Gu Nianbin and Du Xiaoxian out. Then Du Xiaoxian saw the bamboo sticks by the wall. She was curious and asked, “Shall we pray and draw a divination stick?”

“Alright, you go get one,” Gu Nianbin said.

Du Xiaoxian walked up to the bamboo stick box and was a little nervous. She turned around and looked at Gu Nianbin. The man smiled and said, “It’s okay, just take one.”

Du Xiaoxian closed her eyes and casually pulled one stick out of the box. She lowered her head and looked carefully at it. It was written that “although you are kind, you don’t have many real friends, and the one by your side may not be able to stay with you forever; perhaps you’ll only be happy for the time being and that calamity will arrive in the middle of good days.”

Du Xiaoxian didn’t quite understand, but she felt that the omen wasn’t very good. She showed it to Gu Nianbin. He didn’t say anything. He casually handed it to the monk on one side and pulled her out. The monk took them to the big temple at the front and then left. The temple was very lively, and many people were praying to the gods and Buddha, while some others were drawing divination sticks.

Du Xiaoxian’s heart was slightly uneasy because the bamboo stick she had just drawn was not good. She told Gu Nianbin that she wanted to draw a stick again. Gu Nianbin was quite casual. He nodded and let her draw it again.

There were a lot of people who were drawing divination sticks here, but it wasn’t crowded. At the Buddhist holy land, the ordinary mortals didn’t dare to make too many noises. Therefore, everyone consciously lined up in an orderly manner.

When it was Du Xiaoxian’s turn, she opened her eyes wide and stared at those bamboo sticks. After hesitating for a while, she carefully stretched out her hand to draw out one. She ran somewhere with the light and saw it, then her heart couldn’t help but thump in panic. This bamboo stick was exactly the same as the previous one. She raised her head to look at Gu Nianbin. He was standing by the door, his back facing her. Du Xiaoxian hurriedly threw the bamboo stick into the box and walked over as if nothing had happened.

Gu Nianbin asked her, “What did you draw?”

Du Xiaoxian said, “It’s not good, it’s not bad either. This is not interesting at all.”

Gu Nianbin smiled and said, “I told you that if you believe in such things, you’ll find it efficacious. If you don’t believe it, then it doesn’t work. You are very superstitious at such a young age!”

“I don’t believe in it. It’s just fun,” Du Xiaoxian said.

When they walked out of the temple gate, the sun had already risen high, and the golden light shone on the earth. Everywhere was bright, so Du Xiaoxian’s mood inexplicably improved.

At this time, the temperature had already risen. It was not very cold. Du Xiaoxian took off her coat and stood on the platform to look into the distance. This was the tallest South Heaven Gate of Tong mountain. From here, one could see the high and low mountains and the sharp peaks. There was indeed an artistic conception of viewing the other mountains. Standing here could also overlook the entire Tongshan County, seeing the scattered low-rise houses, large patches of yellow-brown rice fields, and farmhouses that were emitting smoke from the kitchen chimneys…

Seeing the smoke curling up, Du Xiaoxian felt a little hungry. Just as she was about to speak, Gu Nianbin seemed to have already known what she was thinking. He took the military coat from her hand and said, “Let’s go down to breakfast, and then we’ll go down the mountain.”

They went back to the temple room for breakfast. There were stuffed buns with vegetables and a bowl of soybean milk. The taste was light and the share wasn’t much. Du Xiaoxian quickly finished them. While Gu Nianbin was standing outside smoking, she packed up all the things they should take.

They went down the mountain by cable car and changed to a bus halfway through. Before they got off, they saw the car parked at the roadside. The driver stood respectfully by the side and waited. Seeing them coming, he greeted and quickly opened the door. Gu Nianbin let Du Xiaoxian sit in first and then followed in himself. He held the little girl in his arms and said warmly, “You haven’t slept enough this morning. Now you can catch up on sleep.”

Du Xiaoxian really closed her eyes and began to sleep, but the corners of her mouth curved into a smile. Gu Nianbin asked, “Why are you smiling?”

Du Xiaoxian did not say anything, but the smile on her face deepened.

Gu Nianbin asked curiously, “Why are you smiling?”

Du Xiaoxian whispered, “Nothing. I’m just happy.”

“What a silly girl.” Gu Nianbin looked at the pretty little girl in his arms and kissed her affectionately.