Chapter Thirteen: Bitter Intention

  Shi Wei turned around and saw Han Jing's face filled with a mixture of shyness and helplessness.

  He smiled, it seemed that his last sentence just now had indeed frightened this cold mirror.

  All Buddhist teachings and precepts are but fleeting clouds in the face of death.

  The nun turned the rosary in her hand, biting her lips lightly: "I will tell you all about my illness, but I only ask that you promise not to reveal it to outsiders."

  Shi Wei stepped back, put down the medicine box, "We doctors only manage to treat patients' illnesses, as for revealing patients' private matters, it's against medical ethics, naturally we won't do such a shameful thing, please rest assured, Master."

  Having obtained Shi Wei's promise, Han Jing's uneasy expression finally eased a lot.

  "This is a matter of great difficulty for Bhikkhuni to speak out."

  Han Jing didn't dare to look at Shi Wei directly, and instead hung her head in silence, saying: "Since a few days ago, I, a poor nun, have been having dreams every night after falling asleep. In the dream, I am with a handsome young man wearing white clothes... doing that kind of... that kind of ugly thing. When I wake up, I feel extremely tired and it's almost like this every night. As a nun who has renounced worldly life, I should have cut off all desires and emotions, but instead, I dream of such filthy things, which is truly a great sin."

  As expected, Hanjing's answer was similar to Shiwen's conjecture.

  If it were an ordinary maiden, who had never been exposed to the Buddhist teachings, the influence of Buddhism would naturally easily suppress human nature.

  However, the cold mirror nun had been a married woman in her early years. It was only because her husband died young that she shaved her head and became a nun under the grief of all thoughts turning to dust. The pleasure at that time may be suppressed by reason, but her body cannot forget the instinctual memory.

  At this time she is in her prime, and the instincts that arise from it are even more vigorous. In a state of hunger and thirst that cannot be alleviated, dreaming of men in sleep is also normal.

  Hanjing's illness wasn't some kind of obscure and complicated disease, Shi Wei thought that the previous few doctors must have been constrained by her being a nun, not daring to ask too deeply, so they couldn't treat her.

  At that time, Shi Wai comforted her: "I've said it before, this is human nature. Although the Master has already left home, she hasn't become a Buddha yet, and having such dreams is normal. The Master doesn't need to blame herself."

  The cold mirror originally feared that Shi Wei would laugh at him, but unexpectedly this young and handsome man was so open-minded. His tense and uneasy mood gradually subsided, and a few grateful colors appeared on his originally cold face.

  She let out a gentle sigh of relief, "I have told the truth about my illness, I don't know if Master Shi can understand what strange disease I have contracted?"

  "Your pulse is fine and weak, and judging from your symptoms and complexion, I deduce that you are suffering from a deficiency of qi and blood, a case of virtual exhaustion. As the saying goes, when qi is insufficient, the spirit is unstable, and when blood is insufficient, the mind has no place to rest."

  The doctor straightforwardly stated the diagnosis that had been brewing in his mind for a long time.

  Although she didn't understand the medical terms, Hanjing heard these words and knew that Shi Wei had already diagnosed her illness. Her face, which was originally filled with doubt, suddenly lit up with joy, and she hastily asked: "Since the master has already diagnosed the nun's illness, I suppose there must be a radical cure?"

  "Fangzi did have one, but I still have one thing that's unclear. Shifeng said you always dream of a white-clad young man, so does Shifeng know this white-clad young man?"

  Upon hearing the two words, Hanjing's face flushed with a flying red glow, and she shook her head, saying: "This humble nun certainly doesn't recognize them."

  Shi Wei paused for a moment, then asked: "Among the recent Buddhist pilgrims, is there any man wearing white clothes?"

  "Recently, Pinni has been alone in the Buddhist hall, devoting herself to chanting scriptures, rarely meeting incense guests, and even less seeing any white-clad men."

  Shi Wei paced back and forth in the Buddhist hall, tapping his forehead with his fingertips, deep in thought about the white-clothed young man.

  He was deep in thought and couldn't figure it out when suddenly a strong wind blew outside, the originally gloomy sky seemed to be on the verge of a heavy rain.

  Outside the hall, the sound of a dog barking continued to come, it seemed that the white dog under the tree was blown awake by the strong wind and was barking to ask its master to let it into the Buddhist hall to avoid the rain.

  Shi Wei's thoughts suddenly became clear and bright.

  "What white dog?" Han Jing's face was bewildered.

  Shi Wei didn't explain further and immediately wrote down a prescription, which included stonecrop, Szechuan lovage, golden thread, tuckahoe, cinnabar, arborvitae leaf, and gentian, among other ingredients that calm the mind.

  Then he opened the door of the Buddhist hall, pointing at the white dog outside that was barking non-stop: "Master, you can have someone kill this white dog, take its blood and bile, mix it with the herbs on my prescription, grind them into powder, make them into pills and take them. After ten days, I guarantee that your dreamwalking disease will be cured."

  "Why kill the white dog!"

  Han Jing was originally delighted that Shi Wei had a prescription to cure her illness, but when she heard that the prescription required her to kill the white dog she had raised for many years, she was shocked.

  Shi Wei smiled and explained, "The master has been with this white dog for many years, so it became a bewitching object. The white-clothed young man in the master's dream was transformed from this white dog. If the master wants to cure this disease, she must naturally eliminate this bewitching object."

  One word awakened the dreamer, and only then did he realize why he had a very familiar feeling about the white-clothed boy in his dreams, but couldn't remember who it was when he woke up.

  At this time, Hanjing was in a dilemma again. "As a nun who has renounced the world, how can I do such a thing that kills life? Moreover, the medicine contains blood, and we would first break the precept of killing and then break the precept of being vegetarian, isn't it an unforgivable sin?"

  This nun speaks nicely, saying things like "killing is forbidden, meat eating is forbidden, sin cannot be forgiven", but Shi Wei knows that she's just paying lip service, if she really took the Buddhist precepts as unbreakable iron laws, perhaps she wouldn't have revealed her illness to him earlier.

  Shi Wei shrugged, "Anyway, I've already told Shifu the method of treating the illness. As for whether Shifu wants to live or die clinging to the rules, that's up to Shifu herself to decide."

  Several claps of thunder rumbled, lightning tore through the dark sky, and a torrential downpour arrived in an instant.

  The cold mirror's rosary in his hand spun faster and faster, hesitating for a long time before finally letting out a long sigh.

  "The owner of the Shi family's residence, Shi Shizhu, was kind and generous, saving the poor nun's life. The poor nun was grateful and promised to repay him heavily, but she had one more thing to ask, so she begged Shi Shizhu to agree." Hanjing gazed at her with pleading eyes, shining with a beseeching light.

  Shi Wei had long guessed what she was after, and he treated the nun's illness, earning a reward while also indirectly establishing a relationship with the county magistrate's relatives, a win-win situation, as for other things, why bother to meddle.

  Shi Wei burst out laughing: "Master, rest assured, this prescription is known to you and me alone. I'm not one to gossip idly, and won't reveal the prescription to a third person."

  Han Jing also put her hands together in a Buddhist greeting at this time, and instead made a deep bow.

  "Master is too polite." Shi Wei bowed his hands in return, paused for a moment, and then said: "However, I must remind Master that this prescription can only cure the disease of Master's dream. But at Master's age, it is still a period of prosperity, and although this disease will be eliminated, I'm afraid another disease will arise. Therefore, this prescription only treats the symptoms but not the root cause."

  Han Jing's eyebrows furrowed slightly, "But I wonder if Master Shi has a way to treat the root of the problem?"

  Shi Wei coughed and stroked his chin, smiling: "To cure the root is simple, just don't suppress it intentionally, follow your nature, and there will be no problem."

  Hearing this, and seeing his meaningful smile, Hanjing's face suddenly flushed with shame, and for a moment she was at a loss for how to respond.

  Under the awkward circumstances, she didn't dare to look at Shi Wei directly and shifted her gaze outside the Buddhist hall, looking at the heavy rain in the sky. She said hastily: "The weather is getting late, this heavy rain will probably not stop for a while, it's quite inconvenient to return to the city on this road. If Stone doesn't mind the humble simplicity of my hut, he can stay overnight."

  Shi Wei took a glance outside the hall, where heavy rain was pouring down and thunderbolts were flashing. At this moment, it was indeed difficult to return to the city.

  He also wanted the teacher's wife to know that he had gone to drink with Ba Jitian, and it was not too late for a night without returning, so he said "disturbance" and stayed overnight in this hut.

  Since the construction of Nian Ci An, few pilgrims have stayed overnight, so no wing rooms were built in the temple. After dinner, Han Jing ordered the nuns to set up a bed for him in this small Buddhist hall in the backyard.

  The darkness of night had just fallen when the heavy rain finally stopped.

  Although the temperature had dropped a lot after the rain, it was still the hottest time in midsummer. Shi Wei lay on the rattan bed for half a day, feeling suffocated all over her body, sweating profusely on her back, and couldn't fall asleep at all.

  Under the insomnia, Shi Wei got up and went to the well in the yard to fetch a bucket of water, wanting to take a cool shower before going back to sleep.

  Now that the night was deep, Shi Wei felt that the nuns in the hut were all asleep. At this late hour, there shouldn't be anyone coming to the backyard, so he simply stripped himself naked and poured bucket after bucket of well water over his body.

  A bucket of water poured from head to toe, the whole body's sultry heat was replaced by a refreshing coolness that penetrated to the bone, Shi Wei couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

  At this time, the dark clouds dispersed, and the bright moon shyly revealed half of its face. The moonlight was like milk, sprinkling the entire courtyard.

  Under the silver moonlight, Shi Wei's robust and fair body reflected a faint glow.

  Another bucket of water was poured over him, and Shi Wei felt refreshed enough to wipe his body clean. He was just about to put on his shirt and head back to the Buddhist hall when he turned around, and his gaze inadvertently swept past the large cypress tree.

  His heart as fine as cotton, he suddenly realized that in the shadow of the tree, there seemed to be a pair of eyes secretly peeking at him.

  Thanks for the reward from Meng V You and Chui Xiong, wishing everyone a happy Dragon Boat Festival.