The first time they met was at Wuyin Temple.
A light rain was falling. Song Ling lowered her head and tucked in her sleeves as she wrote their names on a red prayer ribbon.
The man beside her stood tall and graceful, refined and gentle. Quietly, he tilted his umbrella toward her.
Song Ling pretended not to notice, but felt secretly pleased.
To marry Wei Ji, heir to the Duke, was a match she had gone to great lengths to secure.
Amid the swirling incense smoke, Xu Fan sat cross-legged before the Buddha.
He was a compassionate, immaculate Buddhist devotee, and few ever spoke of his life before entering the temple.
His surname was Wei. He was Wei Ji's twin brother.
Xu Fan's serene face was half-hidden in the blue-gray smoke as he watched the woman feign surprise and look up. She moved close to the man whose face was exactly like his own, and slowly wiped away the faint damp mark the rain had left on his shoulder.
Through the haze and curtain of rain, he lowered his eyes and slowly turned his prayer beads.
*
Later, the monk's robe fell to the ground, and he donned a blue robe.
In the glow of red silk lanterns, Xu Fan held Song Ling, who knew nothing of the truth, and in his younger brother's place, listened as she called him "husband."
*
It was a long time before Song Ling understood that the holy monk Xu Fan, worshipped by all and enthroned upon the Dharma seat, was no Buddha. He was a nightmare.
*Airheaded beauty and fox spirit x fake aloof flower, truly a madman
*An older brother steals his younger brother's wife, taking her by force. The older brother is utterly mad, and so is the younger one.
Theme: Salvation.
