Upon arriving at the address, Ralph blew out a surprised breath.
It appeared to be a small temple, the building had an unmistakable Chinese style, in addition to being almost completely white. In Ralph's mind, it didn't seem real.
The door was open, but there was someone in the front, it looked like a guard but he had a little ... strange clothes? It appeared to be one of those ancient Chinese garments, in addition to being completely black.
The guard looked at Ralph and asked:
"Do you need something?"
Ralph thought for a moment and said:
"Yes ... I wonder what that place is."
The guard blinked a few times and looked Ralph up and down.
"It is the temple of Master Jin, who masters the art of thinking." The guard answered.
"Art of thinking?" Ralph was slightly confused.
"... Why did you come here? Or did you just stop out of curiosity?" The guard asked.
"..." Ralph smiled bitterly and didn't know how to respond.
"Listen, it's not personal, but I need you to get out of the temple if you don't have business here." The guard spoke.
Ralph was surprised for a moment and pondered before speaking:
"In fact, I was recommended by someone to visit this temple. The person told me that the owner of this place could help me."
The guard was slightly surprised and said:
"Why didn't you speak before? You can come in, someone will answer you."
Ralph hesitated for a moment and entered the temple.
Unlike the outside, the interior of the temple was empty and there was nothing extraordinary about it. Apart from the floor, ceiling and walls, there was nothing.
Since there were no chairs, Ralph stood, not knowing what to do.
After a few minutes, when Ralph was about to leave the temple, a girl entered the hall through another door and looked at Ralph in surprise.
Ralph looked at the girl a little curious. She had clearly Asian facial features, appeared to be 12 years old, and wore the same clothes as the guard.
"Who knew... Need something?" The girl asked with a smile.
Ralph said the same thing he said to the guard before.
"I see ... So you need Master Jin's teachings." The girl smiled and looked at Ralph from head to toe.
Ralph was a little uncomfortable but kept his composure.
"You are lucky, Master Jin has just arrived and is free to attend to you." The girl clapped her hands.
"Follow me." The girl started to make her way back.
Ralph followed her as he looked around. The temple was basically empty. There was nothing inside.
They arrived on a porch and there was a man familiar to Ralph sitting on the floor.
Ralph contorted the corners of his mouth. He was the beggar from before! But now he was clean and in gray robes.
"Hahah, I see you heard my advice." The old man laughed when he saw Ralph.
Ralph was speechless, had he been cheated?
"Why-" Ralph was going to ask something but was interrupted.
"I lied! Are you satisfied?" The old man nodded and said with a smile.
Ralph was speechless again.
The girl seemed to have evaporated, as Ralph didn't see her anywhere.
"Why-" Ralph was about to speak but was interrupted again.
"I tricked you because I wanted you to come here." The old man seemed to read Ralph's mind and spoke.
Silence fell over the place, Ralph felt a little irritated and without knowing what to do, the old man seemed at ease.
When Ralph was about to open his mouth, he stopped when he realized that the old man was also going to speak, probably prepared to interrupt him.
Ralph looked the old man in the eye directly, and the old man returned his gaze with a smile.
Ralph cursed the old man mentally, it looked like he could read his mind, but in reality it was just that Ralph's questions were very predictable.
Ralph sharpened his gaze and remained silent as he stood up and prepared to leave.
The old man continued to smile, as if he didn't care and said:
"Don't you want to solve your problem? I can help you do that."
Ralph stopped and looked back at the old man and said:
"If you can't hear, then you can't help me."
"heheh, watch out for the words son." The old man got up and leaned against the porch fence casually.
Ralph looked coldly at the old man and said:
"Watch who you joke with ..."
A strange glow crossed the old man's eyes, who said:
"Be careful to who you direct this negative feeling to, especially if you don't know if you can handle the consequences."
The rage that was dormant inside Ralph started to rise from the moment Ralph saw the old man, and now it was finally aroused.
Ralph took a deep breath and controlled his fury, in recent times he had accumulated an incredible amount of negative energy, and he didn't want to unload everything on an old man.
"It looks like you at least have some sense ..." The old man noticed a change in Ralph and smiled before continuing:
"If you're here so far, it's because you really want to deal with your problem, why don't you calm down a little? I promise I won't do anything to provoke you."
-I do not believe!
Ralph sneered internally but did not leave immediately.
"I think it's best if we start over. My name is Jin Silver, the owner of this ... establishment. What's your name? Young boy." The old man spoke as he watched Ralph's expression.
Ralph ground his teeth and said:
"My name is Ralph." Ralph spoke slowly.
"Hehe, I think now we're going to get along, we already know each other's names, it should be enough, don't you think?" The old man laughed, making Ralph sigh.
"Ralph, why did you come here?" The old man suddenly asked.
Ralph frowned and said:
"You should know...?"
"Should I? Why?" The old man narrowed his eyes.
Now that Ralph thinks about it, he never talked about his problem.
"I know you are confused and anxious, I can see it in you, but I am far from being able to guess your problem." The old man spoke.
Ralph thought for a moment and asked:
"Why do you want to help me?"
The old man did not seem surprised by the question and said:
"Money!"
"..." Ralph was speechless.
"Everything I do, I do for wealth. In this world, wealth decides everything." The old man laughed.
"And how do you know if I can pay you? Besides, I don't even know how much you want to" help me "." Ralph frowned.
The old man seemed to ponder and said after a brief moment:
"I know when I see a rich person, and you smell like money."
Ralph scoffed, not believing the old man.
The old man realized that he had not convinced Ralph and said:
"Anyway, do you want to solve your problem or not?"
Ralph hesitated and looked at the old man from the bottom up. He had a long beard and white hair, he looked like a 60 year old man or more. His clothes were the same as those of the guard and the girl, but they were gray.
The old man's gaze gave a strange sensation, it was as if the old man was melancholy about something all the time.
"If you don't trust me, we can sign a contract, what do you think?" The old man proposed when he realized Ralph's indecision.
"It must be certified by a trusted notary." Ralph spoke firmly.
"... Whatever, you decide the notary. How about if we decide the terms of the contract?" The old man took a paper out of his pocket and a pen, as if waiting for it.
Ralph twisted the corners of his mouth for a moment and said:
"Isn't it better to go somewhere with a table?"
The old man smiled and said as he placed the paper on the floor:
"No need, you can write on the floor."
Ralph was speechless, could the old man really help him?
"First of all, you need to tell me your problem ..."
The two began to discuss the terms of the contract sitting on the floor.
The sun was rising more and more and the heat was rising, it was almost noon when the two ended.
"... and to think that something like this could be possible." The old man sighed.
When Ralph told him about the problem and the root of it, the old man looked very surprised. The reason for Ralph's imbalance seemed to be connected to the points applied in his stat.
"Do you really think you can help me?" Ralph asked.
Old Jin looked at Ralph seriously and said:
"Even an ordinary psychologist can help you, but I will go further! Of course ... Only after getting paid."
The old man smiled from ear to ear as he remembered the "generous" payment Ralph agreed to give him. 1/4 of the total would be paid first, and the rest would be paid after Ralph's problem was resolved.
"It's all noted down, you just need to take it to a notary with our signatures later." Jin spoke as he handed the paper to Ralph and continued:
"I don't know how to work with computers, so you'll be the one to pass everything to one and format the text and make the impression."
Ralph blew out a breath but nodded.
"Well, it's noon already, shouldn't you eat something?" The old man spoke suddenly and Ralph realized the time.
After saying goodbye to the old man, Ralph went to a nearby diner to eat. Then, he went to a Lan house to print the contract, now he just needed the old man to sign it with a notary.
Since the old man didn't have a phone, Ralph had to go back to the temple. The old man was still on the porch, but there were some boxes of food in one corner.
Ralph looked apathetically at the old man, who was sleeping on the floor with scraps of food on his side.
-What am I doing?
Ralph wondered.
The old man seems to have finally noticed Ralph's presence and stood up.
"It finally came, I was already starting to think that you had given up." The old man laughed.
Ralph ignored the old man and said:
"I'm going to call an Taxi, read the contract and see for yourself."
The old man took the contract but did not seem concerned to read it, as if he was sure Ralph would not deceive him.
After I arrived at a registry office that Ralph deemed "trustworthy", the two waited in a row until their turn came.
After signing and certifying the contract officially, Ralph sighed and made a bank transfer by cell phone.
The old man didn't seem to care about technology, but he had his bank account number decorated.
"When do we start?" Ralph asked.
"What do you expect?" The old man looked at Ralph and asked back.
Ralph frowned.
"Sigh ... Come on, let's go to my temple." The old man said with a solemn expression.
After arriving at the temple, the old man said:
"You want to solve your mental problem, but you don't even know how, just thought that I would know how to help you, correct?"
Ralph nodded.
"And what is that due to?" The old man asked.
"It is due to the fact that you hint at it in words, in addition to the fact that you are willing to sign a contract." Ralph replied.
"... I already lied to you once, why do you trust me?" The old man asked again.
"I don't trust you, but either way I don't lose anything if you fool me, since you ..." Ralph spoke at the same time as a strange gleam passed in his eyes.
"..." The old man suddenly laughed and was silent for a moment.
"I already warned you before, and this will be the last time. Watch your words." The old man returned Ralph's cold gaze.
Ralph sneered internally and said:
"Anyway, we won't win anything if we continue this game. How about we start for real?"
"..." The old man looked at Ralph and seemed to ponder.
"Do you know why this temple has nothing inside?" The old man suddenly asked.
Ralph shook his head, how would he know?
"I am a master of the art of thinking, you must have heard it from the guard, but do you know what the art of thinking is?"
Ralph shook his head again.
"To think, but not only that. To act, but not only that. The art of thinking is impossible to describe, it must be felt!" Jin sat on the floor and started to explain.
"The reason that there is nothing inside the temple is to reduce distractions, but also to remind us of an indisputable truth! The void does not exist, because we think! This temple is not empty, because we are inside it, we think inside it."
Ralph looked at the old man without understanding, he thought the old man was speaking nonsense.
"What do you think is valid? Thinking to be able to live, or living to be able to think?" The old man asked Ralph.
"Is not the same thing?" Ralph spoke.
"We live because we think we live, we only think because we are alive. Confused?" The old man spoke and laughed.
"That sounds pure nonsense." Ralph nodded.
"It is and it is not!" The old man laughed and continued:
"The art of thinking is not unique, it does not follow patterns, what I said is just the result of my meditations. Anyone can understand what I say with a little effort, but only those who discover it on their own truly understand."
"The art of thinking was created so that we have the chance to integrate with the universe, everything around us. When we think, in fact the universe thinks through us. When I speak to you, the universe speaks for itself . "
"But what is the use of all this 'philosophy'?" Ralph asked, he wanted to find a way to resolve his mental imbalance, not achieve nirvana.
"When we integrate with the universe, when we think about our origins, reasons, past, our mind goes through a process that I call sublimation." The old man spoke again.
"Sublimation is a phenomenon that occurs every time an individual goes through some type of illumination, even without realizing it. Sublimation helps our mind to integrate not only around us, but also our physical bodies." The old man spoke and watched Ralph's expression.
"It still feels like nonsense." Ralph spoke with a frown.
The old man looked annoyed and said:
"Don't think that you will find a magic formula! You have to work hard! The art of thinking is not something that will solve all your problems, it will only serve as a tool that will help you do it on your own!"
Ralph twitched the corners of his mouth when he heard that, it looked like he had been tricked again !?