Conseillère militaire et princesse

Chapitre 20

6.

Fate really gave Yang Xin a lot of face. On his very first day in office, he encountered a suicide attempt. It's hard to say whether it was lucky or unlucky.

After watching the girl hang up the phone, Yang Xin glanced at the monk beside him and said, "You regret it? That's good, that's good! Don't do anything foolish again!"

An Jia rolled her eyes at the clueless young policeman: "What do you know? Whether I live or die is none of your business! Just focus on catching your thief!" With that, she shoved the phone into her back pocket and turned to leave.

Yang Xin followed behind An Jia and explained, "Actually... I'm not a policeman who catches thieves... I'm specifically responsible for..."

"Aren't you annoying?!" An Jia turned her head and glared at him, then looked at the monk behind him: "Do police officers nowadays bring monks to divine good and bad fortune when handling cases?"

Hearing An Jia mention him, the monk seemed to finally have a chance to speak. He hurriedly stepped forward and said, "My Dharma name is Yingjie, and I am currently practicing in the world. I just happened to be passing by and saw that you deliberately ran into the road, so I saved the child. However... that child was destined to die. By saving him, you will likely suffer misfortune yourself... because life and death are predetermined by fate. If someone who is destined to die doesn't, someone else will have to die in their place..."

"I've seen plenty of fake monks like you! But as for me, just give up on that idea! My affairs are none of your business!"

“Excellent…excellent…” The Venerable Master Yingjie clasped his hands together and bowed slightly: “This humble monk only wishes to tell you, benefactor, that life and death are preordained, please cherish what you have. Those who obstruct and disrupt the natural laws of life and death will fall into the Avici Hell, never to be reborn, suffering endless torment. There are eight sufferings in life: the suffering of birth, old age, sickness, and death; the suffering of separation from loved ones; the suffering of being with those one hates; the suffering of not getting what one desires; and the suffering of the five aggregates. Everything in this life and the next is the result of cause and effect…”

"Alright, alright! Stop talking!" An Jia hailed a taxi and got in. "Whether I live or die, whether I suffer or not, is my business! You guys are just being nosy!"

The monk darted forward and grabbed the car window: "If you are in any danger, please feel free to call or come to me. I will definitely be able to help. Your life is in danger recently!"

An Jia ignored him and told the driver to hurry up and leave.

The monk turned around, looked at Yang Xin, and handed him a business card: "This benefactor, we will meet again soon."

"How did you know?" Yang Xin took the business card, surprised that monks these days were so modern.

"This humble monk is the reincarnation of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. Through countless eons, I have vowed to liberate all sentient beings. I will not attain enlightenment until all sentient beings are liberated, and I will not become a Buddha until hell is emptied."

After the monk finished speaking, he turned and drifted away.

Yang Xin scratched his head, feeling even more confused.

7.

An Jia returned to her rented room, threw herself onto the bed, closed her eyes, and carefully savored the taste of life. Living was nothing more than this—no joy, no pain. Or perhaps, she had already reached the point where she could no longer feel pain?

She glanced up at the small table, on which lay a photograph of a man. One look was enough to fill her with disgust and hatred. She kicked the photograph to the ground, turned her head, thought for a moment, and then expertly dialed a number.

The phone rang once and then the call ended: "The user you dialed is busy, please try again later."

An Jia dialed again after only a second, but Lang Fei's phone was already off—Lang Fei was the man in the photo.

An Jia sighed. Even if he had answered the phone, she wouldn't have known what to say to him. They had long since run out of things to say to each other.

An Jia gave a bitter smile, feeling that her life was actually a joke.

Lang Fei used to be her boss. They were very ordinary people; they fell in love, and the process of their relationship was also very ordinary.

A cliché office romance, all done secretly;

A vulgar extramarital affair, terrifying;

The reason is cliché: Lang Fei's wife betrayed him first, they are currently separated, and will soon get a divorce.

Sympathy, loneliness, and admiration for her boss's abilities were mixed together like a cocktail to form An Jia's love.

This was An Jia's first love. Although she was already 23 years old, she had always been a conservative girl. Strictly speaking, she wasn't intentionally conservative. With her average looks and introverted personality, she had never received any advances from the opposite sex.

Lang Fei let her experience what it felt like to be pursued; for the first time, she felt like a princess. Or at least a Cinderella who had suddenly become a princess.

She fell in love with him unconditionally, with her whole world, even her entire life.

Their relationship naturally met with opposition from the whole world, from their parents, siblings, and friends.

The parents said, "This man is obviously unreliable! He hasn't even bought a house..."

The older brother said, "This kid has almond-shaped eyes."

My friends said, "Leave him before you get hurt."

However, people in love are all blind, deaf, and foolish. An Jia was fixated on Lang Fei alone, believing that she and Lang Fei were like the Cowherd and the Seventh Fairy, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, Romeo and Juliet, Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian, or even Wang Baochuan and Xue Rengui.

She was willing to sever ties with the Heavenly Court, which symbolized kinship and comfort, just like the Seven Fairy Maidens; she was willing to defy worldly opposition and even give up her life for love, just like Zhu Yingtai and Juliet; she was willing to be the woman behind her husband, just like Bai Suzhen; and she was even willing to endure poverty, like Wang Baochuan, not buying designer brands or clothes, and struggle alongside him.

She would never forget that night: her furious father, yelling at her brother, and her weeping mother. Because that night, she wrote a letter severing ties with her father and firmly pressed her fingerprint on it.

She is free.

8.

She eloped. Because their affair had already caused quite a stir at their former workplace, they had no choice but to resign together. She and Lang Fei rented a dilapidated little house in a corner of the same city, relying on her limited savings to find work and barely make ends meet.

During that time, they were happy. They could have sex whenever they wanted and sleep whenever they wanted. Their only "serious business" each day was looking for jobs in the job postings of various newspapers.

During that time, her only good friend, Lingdang, also left her because she was so stubborn.

However, none of that matters. What matters is that she is finally with the man she loves, spending every day together. Her world is complete with him.

An Jia has never been a bright child, and she faces numerous difficulties and setbacks in her job search. Lang Fei, although ambitious and talented, is precisely because of this that he has always been unable to find suitable employment.

In the end, An Jia had no choice but to become a nanny in the home of a university professor, taking care of his 10-year-old son for 500 yuan a month. If she wanted, she could also live there.

Of course she didn't want to. She just wanted to be with Lang Fei all the time, but she had to work at the professor's house for a period of time every day because that was their only source of income.

Originally, An Jia did not believe that Lang Fei had no savings.

Lang Fei hugged An Jia and said that he would divorce his wife immediately. Because he was the one who proposed the divorce, the house, savings, and all property had to be left to his wife. He had to leave with nothing before his wife would sign the agreement.

To love someone is to trust them.

An Jiaxin.

Finally, one day, Lang Fei got a job interview as a radio host. During that time, she happily accompanied him to practice his voice, saving her own daily expenses to buy him relevant materials.

She longed to become the wife of a radio anchor, even though it was just a radio station, the salary wasn't low.

However, she didn't expect that the day Lang Fei officially signed with the radio station would also be the beginning of her nightmare.

9.

He moved out, in his second week of work, to another female news anchor's house. When he left, he took her only savings with him.

She had sought him out, begged him, cried, and made a scene, but she realized she was truly a joke.

What right does she have to forbid him from living with another woman? She's just his secret lover, not even his girlfriend. Shouldn't his wife be the one crying and making a scene?

By the way, where is his wife?

An Jia gritted his teeth and dialed his wife's number. He had secretly kept her number all along, perhaps she had long anticipated that one day he would dial it.

Unexpectedly, Lang Fei's wife wasn't as terrible as he had described. Her voice was gentle, without much surprise, anger, or scolding.

She said, "Sigh... I've been used to it for a long time... I've known about your relationship for a long time... and I've been insisting on separating from him, waiting for him to sign the divorce papers..."

It turns out that the opposite is true; it was Lang Fei who insisted on not getting a divorce because he would lose everything if he did: the house and a secure life.

His wife owns her own company, she bought the house, she purchased everything in the house, and she even gives him a monthly allowance.

During their three years of marriage, Lang Fei frequently cheated on his wife, which finally drove her to the brink of divorce. She then initiated a separation from him.

Finally, his wife said gloatingly, "Didn't you get dumped?"

An Jia didn't say anything, hung up the phone, and then lay on the bed and burst into tears.

It turns out that what we perceive as the truth is often not the truth at all.

She remembered her father's anger, her mother's tears, and her brother's disappointment. She also remembered her friends' advice, but all those who had cared about her had been kicked out of her world by her.

She picked up her phone with trembling hands and dialed her home number.

"dad……"

"I don't have a shameless daughter like you!" Dad slammed down the phone.

Oh, Anjia thought, I'm shameless.

She did not complain that the whole world had abandoned her, because she was the one who abandoned the whole world first.

She abandoned her family, gave up the job her parents had gotten through connections, distanced herself from her friends, and poured her entire life into one man.

But this man abandoned her.

Her world abandoned her.

She felt a despair and loneliness she had never experienced before.

As some people say, never let your world consist of nothing but love. If you don't have love, at least you should have money; if you don't have money, at least you should have a job; if you don't have a job, at least you should have family; and if you don't even have family, at the very least you should have friends, right?

But Anjia had nothing; she only had ten thousand yuan, which she stole from the professor's house. She had even stolen people, so naturally she could steal money too.

She planned to use the ten thousand yuan to buy—a death that was foolproof.

So she dialed back the number that was full of asterisks, but the voice prompt said that the number she dialed did not exist.

10.

The monk returned to his lodgings, calmed his breathing slightly, and began to sit on a futon, softly reciting the "Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Sutra." Ever since he hit his head, he had firmly believed that he was the reincarnation of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, because he had received superpowers from Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva—the ability to predict the future several hours in advance.

Originally, he was the most discriminated-against monk in that small-town temple because he was considered slow-witted and lacked understanding—so much so that he couldn't even comprehend the original vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. But now things are different. He is highly respected, he saves all sentient beings, he is the reincarnation of Ksitigarbha, he is the only Buddha and the only savior in this turbid world.

He felt a power and happiness he had never experienced before, and he firmly believed that he could save all living beings struggling in the world. All of this was the will of Heaven.

He firmly believed this, which is why he chose to live in this apartment. He had a strong feeling that the apartment was unusual and full of evil.

After finishing chanting the sutra, it was already evening. He slightly raised his eyes, glanced at his watch, smiled, straightened his clothes, and went out again. He was going to save people and deliver all sentient beings.

An Jia is just one of these people.

After much deliberation, An Jia realized she simply couldn't go on living, not even for a week, not even for a second longer. She felt every second she lived was torture.

No, she didn't want to live another second!

She rummaged through drawers and found several long scarves, tied them into tight knots, and wandered around the rented room with the scarves, but couldn't find anywhere to hang the beams—modern houses don't have beams.

Finally, she opened the window, looked down, then looked back out the window. She decided to wait until the neighborhood was empty before hanging herself from the window.

It might not be easy for a person to live, but isn't it easy to die?

She cooked a packet of instant noodles, deciding to eat it all and then die; if she was going to die, she would die from being too full.

But just as she finished tying the rope and stood by the window, she saw a police car speeding towards her in the distance.

"Please don't find me..." she prayed silently as she put her neck into the noose, closed her eyes, and leaped out of the window. She lived on the third floor, and after putting the noose around her neck, her toes were dangling over the window of a second-floor apartment.

The old lady living on the second floor thought her sandals had fallen off the third-floor windowsill and were stuck on the windowsill. She banged on the glass and yelled, "You worthless shoe! It's going to fall!"

"A used shoe?" An Jia felt increasingly short of breath.