Part 2
He still found it a bit hard to adapt to the Little Master being so good at using tech tools. He scratched his head. “Why is there a stick in the temple?”
Chen Qingqiu replied breezily, “There are wolves on the mountain.”
Berlin: “……”
What kind of thrilling life was the Little Master living up here? In any case, it seemed quite different from the leisurely life of meditation and chanting he had imagined.
He shook his head to clear those thoughts and gathered his enthusiasm again. “Surprise! Little Master, I’m here to deliver a package. These snacks should be enough to last you half a year.”
The bags at the door were piled high, like a small mountain. Chen Qingqiu looked down at them in silence. The colorful packaging mostly featured cartoon characters, with bold, rounded lettering. With just a glance, he saw several items Berlin had chattered about last time.
Roast meat-flavored chicken nuggets, the green-packaged original Xiao Xiao Su (rice crackers), and spicy gluten strips (Latiao).
Aside from those, there were many things not mentionedāvarious lollipops and fruit puddings, their colors as festive as the New Year.
Chen Qingqiu pursed his lips in silence for a long while, unsure of what to say. It took him a long time to hesitantly squeeze out a sentence: “Thank you. It’s too much. Let me transfer the money to you. Eight…”
Before he could finish saying “Ba Xiaolin” (Berlin’s alias), Berlin thought for a moment and said, “Eight hundred isn’t enough. I know you have money from being an Uploader, Little Master, but I plan to come for vegetarian meals in the future, so just treat this as pre-payment for the food.”
The Little Master insisted on paying. “Then tell me how much, and I’ll transfer it to you.”
“Alright.” Berlin couldn’t out-stubborn him and dutifully took out his phone. “I’ll scan you.”
After the Little Master and Berlin added each other on WeChat, both fell into deep thought as they looked at the “Friend Added Successfully” notification.
Little Master: This Benefactor Ba seems to be a fan of mine. Did he buy snacks just to get my WeChat? No, I shouldn’t speculate on a benefactor’s goodwill like that. Sinful, sinful.
Berlin: Does the Little Master insisting on paying mean he actually wanted to exchange WeChats? Thatās not right either; from his perspective, I’m a fan of his channel, so I should be the one wanting the contact info.
Both felt a little embarrassed, their eyes darting away for a second.
Little Master: “How much?”
Berlin: “Just transfer one thousand.”
Actually, a thousand was far from enough, but the Little Master didn’t transfer what Berlin asked either; he transferred double that amount.
After the transfer, both paused again, realizing belatedly that WeChat transfers didn’t require adding friends; scanning the payment code would have sufficed.
But since they had already added each other, it wouldn’t be appropriate to delete the contact now.
Berlin was glad he hadn’t used his real name for WeChat. many people in the industry used their real names to save the trouble of setting remarks, making them easy to find.
Berlin didn’t post on his “Moments” often, so his real identity wasn’t obvious.
Little Master: “It’s late, the road down the mountain will be difficult. There are empty guest rooms in the temple; you can stay the night and go down in daylight.”
Berlin waved his hand. “No need, I came with the friend from last time. It’s fine with him here!”
The Little Master was slightly stunned. He adjusted his glasses and looked into the distance, habitually squinting his myopic eyes, only then vaguely making out a figure waiting not far away.
Seeing the Little Master frown, thinking it was too dangerous, Berlin comforted him. “Really, it’s fine. He’s a pro.”
Chen Qingqiu guessed along normal lines of logic: “A professional mountaineer? Is he a backpacker?”
Berlin: “…”
He weighed his words. “Uh, you could say that. My friend has extremely strong outdoor survival skills.”
Berlin felt distressed internally. The first meeting was an accident, but to avoid exposing superpowers and troubling the Little Master, one lie required countless others to cover it up.
Berlin didn’t like lying.
He changed the subject. “I didn’t expect you to be awake this late. You pull all-nighters in the mountains too, Little Master?”
Seeing his persistence, Chen Qingqiu didn’t press the suggestion further; they weren’t that close, after all. “Yes, working overtime. After all, Buddha doesn’t edit videos for me.”
Berlin: “…”
It was getting late, and the delivery was successful. Berlin said goodbye to Chen Qingqiu. “Little Master, these snacks should last you a long time. I’ll be quite busy coming up, so I might not be able to visit for a while. When this busy spell is over, I’ll come find you to practice Baduanjin and watch the sunrise together. The snack selection is pretty complete, so note down the flavors you like and the ones you don’t, and you can tell me next time.”
The cold night air chilled his temples. Even insulated from the temperature, Berlin could see the white puffs of breath Chen Qingqiu exhaled as he spoke. He quickly waved, gesturing for him to go inside. “I’m leaving now! I’ll come find you for a meal next time.”
Chen Qingqiu, draped in his clothes, rubbed the phone in his pocket hesitantly for a few moments, but ultimately didn’t say anything more.
He nodded. “Be careful going down.”
Since fate had brought them together, they would surely meet again.
It was already past 1:30 AM when Berlin returned to the hotel. After washing up, he fell onto the bed and went straight to sleep.
Not long after falling into a deep sleep, Berlin’s consciousness returned to the courtyard where he had stayed the previous night.
Sure enough, he was dreaming again.
He had gone to sleep at night, but time flowed in the dream too; it was daytime here.
Sunlight poured down brilliantly from the dome. Berlin looked around and saw a corner of a white robe behind the relief sculpture by the pool.
He walked around and found Cecil lying by the pool in the courtyard, two leaves covering his face, seemingly asleep again.
Berlin hesitated about waking him. While he was debating, Cecil lifted his hand, removed the leaves from his face, and sat up. “You’re here.”
Berlin smiled, sat down beside him, and tried to ripple the water’s surface with his hand. “Yeah, I slept a bit later today.”
He closed his eyes to enjoy the sunshine, taking a deep, comfortable breath, feeling warm all over.
Cecil watched him. Seeing Berlin stretch his limbs in relaxation, he felt that Berlin looked like a small animal, sleepy and content after eating and drinking its fill.
“Do you like sunbathing?”
“Yeah.” Berlin nodded. “Blankets and clothes need to be hung on the balcony often to kill bacteria. People are the same; there are always times when you feel tired. Sunbathing is like recharging.”
Cecil’s comprehension skills were quite good. There were parts he didn’t understand, but he could more or less grasp the meaning.
Berlin half-closed his eyes, soaking in the sunlight without a care for his image.
The priests always sat upright, rigidly constraining every word and action within strict rules. Berlin, however, was casual, and this casualness was completely unrestrainedāhe did whatever he wanted.
One of his arms dropped into the pool, paddling lazily, though it made no sound as he couldn’t physically touch the water.
He didn’t mind that he couldn’t touch the real water; instead, he let out a comfortable sigh.
Cecil was reminded of the cats he had seen in the temple, darting through with fish in their mouths.
Those creatures, who spent most of their day enjoying the sun, lacked reverence for the temple. Sometimes Cecil couldn’t tell if they were ignorant or fearless.
He hesitated for a moment, then mimicked Berlin, extending his hand into the pool water.
Cool, yet warmed by the sunāa peculiar contradiction.
“For the past two years, I’ve been worried about getting tanned and looking bad on camera. I use a parasol every time I’m outdoors. It’s been a long time since I’ve wholeheartedly felt the sunlight like this.”
Berlin was the most unpredictable person Cecil had ever met. He seemed to confirm that the water in the pool was crystal clear, and the next second, he confidently tried to dunk his head in.
Cecil: “……”
He watched silently as Berlin first tried to blow air underwater to see if there were bubbles, then, finding it novel, pinched his nose and released it under the water.
Since Berlin couldn’t scoop the water up, he simply brought his head to it.
After happily researching this for quite a while, Berlin reluctantly emerged from the water, pondering with great interest, “I can’t make contact with the water here, so I can breathe underwater, but no bubbles appear.”
“So magical.”
At this stage, Cecil was better at listening.
And Berlin rarely had the chance to say whatever he wanted like this.
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