"'To the south of Tianshui, atop Maiji Mountain, where the lotus blooms, the petal lies dormant...'" Li Ya muttered to herself as she pulled out her notebook from her bag. She began to sketch out a mind map, trying to organize her thoughts and figure out where the broken petal might be hidden.
Before long, the bus arrived at the Maiji Mountain stop. Li Ya recalled a conversation she had had with Ke Xin just two hours earlier. "Maiji Mountain Grottoes is a treasure trove of Buddhist art," he had said. "The lotus is a symbol of Buddhism. This petal might be hidden at the base of one of the Buddha statues." She murmured to herself, "The base of a Buddha statue... There are so many statues in the Maiji Mountain Grottoes. Looking for it this way would be like searching for a needle in a haystack..."
Suddenly, she had a flash of inspiration. She vaguely remembered seeing the Eternal Flower glowing with a pure white light when she first visited the mysterious valley near the Baitula Mosque. If that was the case, then all she needed to do was find a base that emitted a white glow. "That shouldn't be too hard," she thought to herself.
The parking lot at the foot of Maiji Mountain was already full of cars. Thanks to the recent popularity of malatang, the license plates were from all over the country—Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Guangdong, Fujian, and more.
As Li Ya walked past the rows of cars, she overheard a conversation between a mother and her son. "You need to work harder on your exams, Xiaolang," the mother said. "Look at your classmates. None of them have ever scored below 100 on their Chinese tests. If you had just tried a little harder, your teacher wouldn't have had to assign this kind of extra-curricular project. This is just busywork."
The boy, perhaps feeling guilty, didn't say a word.
Li Ya glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He was tall, over 180 centimeters, with short hair and glasses. He was wearing a light blue school uniform that looked a bit too big for his thin frame. He looked tired, as if he had been studying too hard.
When Li Ya reached the base of the mountain, she looked up and saw rows of Buddha statues lying peacefully amidst the lush greenery. The densely packed caves were like honeycomb, embedded in the steep mountain face, each level distinct from the next. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the clouds, casting a golden glow over the thousand-year-old stone carvings, enveloping every corner in a mysterious and solemn light.
As Li Ya climbed the stairs, she admired these treasures of history that spanned more than a thousand years, from the Northern Wei Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. At the same time, she focused intently on each Buddha statue's base, looking for any sign of a white glow.
After a while, she arrived at the heart of the Maiji Mountain Grottoes. The 78th cave appeared before her, housing a statue of Shakyamuni Buddha. The Buddha's face was serene and kind, with half-closed eyes and a slight smile. He wore a flowing robe, and his left hand was extended downward, touching the ground.
Li Ya followed the line of the Buddha's left hand down to the base. Suddenly, she noticed something flickering beneath it, as if there was something hidden there. She pushed her way through the crowd and got as close as she could to the base, trying to get a better look.
Just then, a young man, who looked like a student, stepped forward and reached out to pick up the glowing object. "What is this thing? It looks like a petal. Could it be a gift from heaven to help me pass the college entrance exams? Haha, I'm so lucky!"
"Xiaolang, it's time to go," a woman's voice called out from not too far away.
Li Ya immediately realized what was happening. That was the broken petal! But by the time she had gathered her wits, the boy and his mother had already moved on towards the 79th cave.
By the time Li Ya managed to make her way to the 79th cave, the two of them were nowhere to be found.
Li Ya felt a sinking feeling in her chest.