Soon Ah Hung materialized by the door, holding a tray. Carefully he laid down the two steaming bowls in front of us. Before he left, he leaned to whisper into my ear, “Miss Lin, very nutritious black chicken soup with very precious wild ginseng.”

Now that his disciple was in the room, the master was making an effort to lower his voice. “Ah Hung, do your job without boasting, especially not to our noble guests. Also, don’t whisper to any guest when there is nothing to hide in this land of purity. Go eat your own soup in the other room.”

“Yes, Master,” Ah Hung said, then winked at me as he dragged his small posterior out the door.

The master yelled to his back, “Ah Hung, how many times I’ve told you not to wink to our honorable guests, except small children?”

“Of course, Master!”

Was this decrepit old man really blind? Just then, as if to clear my doubt, Soaring Crane took off his glasses and cleaned them with a handkerchief.

“The steam of the soup mists my glasses,” he said, then looked up to stare at me with his sightless pupils—two cloudy white marbles like the eyes of a fish left under the sun for days.

I stared at him, trying to suppress an “Oh, my God!” and then quickly averted my glance. What if he could tell by his sixth, seventh, even eighth sense that I was staring at him? Although the soup was steaming hot, my body felt chilled.

“Please, Miss Lin,” he said, putting his glasses back on.

We began to eat the delicious and qi-filled soup. Soaring Crane made loud, slurping sounds, just what I had been severely criticized for as a child.

He spoke between sips. “Feel free to slurp and enjoy. This soup is cooked with many yang ingredients to generate a warming effect.”

I looked up from my bowl. “What yang ingredients?”

“Black chicken, wild ginger, dried dragon-eye pulp, and red berries cooked by fire from the raw wood dried in our courtyard for months under the sun. Ah Hung deliberately chose these ingredients to complement your yin nature.”

Could he tell that I had yin eyes?

After I drained the last drop, I said, “Master Soaring Crane, the soup is excellent and so is your consultation. I am very grateful that you generously gave me so much of your precious time. Now I think it’s time to stop bothering you and Ah Hung. I’ll… pay him on my way out.” Although Ah Hung had told me his master had stopped charging, I still thought I should offer to pay.

When I stood up and was turning to leave, Master Soaring Crane waved me to sit back down. “Wait a minute, Miss Lin. Please sit for a while.”

I sat down. Suddenly I was afraid he would ask for more money than I could comfortably afford.

But his question surprised me. “Are you wearing something around your neck?”

My hand involuntarily reached to touch Lop Nor’s pendant. “Yes, but how can you tell?” I immediately regretted my question, since he might take it as a remark of his blindness.

“Because I’ve been analyzing your qi since you’ve been in this room and realize that the strongest part of it comes from around your neck. You’re wearing white jade, right?”

“Yes, but how do you know it’s jade, and white?” Maybe he was only faking blindness after all! A charlatan! Then how to explain his cloudy, dead-fish eyes? Some kind of theatrical makeup?

“Miss Lin, jades can be hundreds or thousands of years old. So only jade can send out vibrations like this, not silver or gold, which is newly made by gold- and silversmiths. Since old jades have been absorbing all kinds of qi from the universe and from their different owners, they release very strong, complex vibrations.”

I touched Lop Nor’s pendant. “Master, what kind of vibrations has this pendant been sending out?”

“Please take it off and let me touch it.”

I slipped off the jade and handed it to the fortune-teller.

He caressed, rubbed, weighed, and bounced it in his pink, fleshy palm. Then he shook his head. “Miss Lin, better not wear this anymore.”

I protested. “But, Master, this is a very precious gift from a very dear friend!” I thought of the one-thousand-renminbi ivory bracelet thrown away like garbage by Keku. So, no, I was definitely not going to do the same with my dear departed friend’s precious family heirloom.

“Then more reason not to wear it. Because this person’s spirit is still very much attached to the necklace, so it will throw you off balance, especially during inauspicious moments like sickness, getting lost, being frightened.”

“But it’s just a necklace.” My Western mind still believed that my earlier sickness was caused by the polluted air in the bazaar, not something so ridiculous as a ghost dwelling inside my ivory bracelet.

“Stones, especially jade, are very powerful,” Soaring Crane murmured, then licked his wrinkled lips. “Let me be straight with you, Miss Lin. I’m afraid that this jade has locked in too many tears. If you wear it, you’ll be the one who will shed those tears.” He paused, then added, “The one who wore it before—a life so tragic as his will take many years of tears to repay.”

“How do you know the owner was a man?”

“The qi, it’s very yang.”

I nodded.

He went on. “This man is… in love with you. Deeply.”

I sighed. “My friend was drowned in a lake.”

Now I could see the master’s dead-fish eyes darted in their small confines behind his glasses. “No, in tears.”

Before I could respond, he continued, “That was just the physical manifestation of this accident. The ultimate truth is that he was drowned in tears triggered by his beloved woman. Or women. Please tell me his story.”

I did. This time no lies, since Lop Nor had nothing to do with Mindy Madison.

After I finished, Soaring Crane let out a long exhalation. “Hai… You know, Miss Lin, according to the Subtle Purple Calculus, all of us are granted by heaven one hundred and twenty years to live. But because this dusty world is filled with all kinds of dangers and dooms waiting to grab you, only those who escape them survive. We are all born with twelve stars governing our lives. The Life Star decides our character, and the Transmigration Star our actions. If we can balance the two, we can all live to a hundred and twenty.”

Was the master already close to his hundred and twenty years?

He sighed. “No one escapes the entanglements of this world, do they?”

Suddenly I imagined there might be a poignant love story hidden behind those dark glasses and sightless eyes. I hesitated a moment before I threw out the forbidden question. “And you, Master?”

His answer surprised me. “Of course not.”

“Do you mean…” I was about to ask if his heart had also been broken by a woman—or several women.

But the master said, “Although I’m a lay person, not a monk, I was never married. Ah Hung and this temple are my lifelong entanglements.”

I smiled. “Ah Hung is a very sweet person.”

“Sweet? More like sweet and sour. If only you had a chance to live with him!”

We both laughed.

Moments passed. He “looked” at the pendant again, his expression turning serious. “If you wear this around your neck as you do, the bad vibrations will enter your life.”

“But Lop Nor is not going to hurt me, not even as a ghost!”

“Not intentionally, but accidentally. If this necklace means a lot to you, when you go home, wrap it in a clean cloth, preferably silk, and put it away in a dry, cool place. This way it’ll be left in peace while still feeling close to you. Just don’t wear it, especially not touching your bare flesh.”

He handed the pendant back to me. “For now, you can put it back on. Otherwise it might be stolen or lost on your long trip back. But don’t forget to take it off when you’re home.”

“Thank you so much for your advice, Master,” I said, putting the necklace back around my neck. Now it suddenly seemed weighted with a ton of sloshing tears.

“Miss Lin, yours is a peach blossom life. Maybe it’s flattering and pleasurable to have all these men chasing you. But ultimately you better stay with one. Passion and lust will vanish like smoke and dust. Only true love lasts.”

He paused for a few seconds, seemingly deep in thought, then added, “Most of your lovers are mutually destructive with the element of water. It’s their fate.”

Before I could ask how, he waved a dismissive hand. “I’ve revealed to you enough of heaven’s secrets. Now you can take leave. I need my afternoon nap.” Then he craned his neck toward the door. “Ah Hung, come and show Miss Lin the way out!”

I opened my bag and pulled out my purse. “Master Soaring Crane, you still haven’t told me how much…”

He cut me off sharply. “Miss Lin, please don’t embarrass me and yourself. Anyway, your consultation has already been paid.”

“But by who?”

“Your so-called aunt. Ten-odd years ago, when she came here for consultation, she left a large amount of money to the temple. That was how I could maintain the temple and bring up the orphans. So now both you and her debt are paid.” He went on. “Your so-called aunt is not a bad person, she just has bad judgment, which led to a bad life. By donating she’s neutralized some of her bad karma.”

“Master, may I ask why you referred to her as my so-called aunt?”

“Heaven’s secret will reveal itself when the right time comes. Just follow the Way. Always wait till the right, propitious moment to act. In this dusty world, timing is everything, so is patience. Also, don’t forget to exploit the use of your yin energy. It’s very charming. I’ve been feeling it all along.”