“Principal, I’d like to request a transfer from Lhasa back to Beijing.”
A startled voice came through the phone at once. “Back to Beijing? What about Dawa Gyatso? Don’t you like him? Today is his secularization ceremony. Once he’s left the monastery, you’ll have a chance to be together.”
A chance to be together…
Cheng Yunxi fell silent for a moment, not answering right away. Instead, she gazed into the distance.
At an altitude of more than 3,800 meters, incense burned thickly among red walls and white-tiled roofs, while the sound of chanting drifted through the air.
Before a solemn Buddha statue, Dawa Gyatso knelt on a prayer mat in his deep red monk’s robes, palms pressed together. His aloof, almost divine silhouette drew every eye.
In front of the crowd, he handed over his monastic papers and robes, changed into lay clothing, and announced that he would resume using his secular name.
Only after the secularization ceremony was over did Dawa Gyatso slowly approach a girl in a brightly colored Tibetan dress, her hair tied in twin braids. Tall and graceful, he carried an air of cool detachment that inspired awe, yet when he faced her, his cool voice held a trace of tenderness.
Good looking, not bad