Yan Sanhe had been disturbed by Xie Zhifei’s antics that morning, and on the way to Water Moon Nunnery, she didn’t say a word the entire journey.

When they reached the nunnery gate, the young nun beside Jingchen was waiting eagerly. Upon seeing them arrive, the little nun pressed her palms together in greeting.

“The abbess is currently doing her devotions. She instructed me to wait here for the two honored guests. Please follow me.”

Yan Sanhe noticed that although her face looked mature beyond her years, her frame hadn’t fully grown yet, and her voice carried a childish quality. She asked, “What’s your name, and how old are you?”

The little nun replied, “My name is Lan Chuan, and I’m thirteen years old.”

Thirteen years old and already renouncing the mundane world?

Yan Sanhe asked, “What made you think of becoming a nun?”

Lan Chuan said, “My parents didn’t want me and left me at the nunnery gate. The abbess took pity on me and took me in, so I became a nun.”

Yan Sanhe asked, “How old were you then?”

Lan Chuan replied, “Just one or two days after I was born.”

Yan Sanhe looked at her. “Is Lan Chuan your dharma name?”

Lan Chuan shook her head. “This is my secular name. The abbess hasn’t given me a dharma name yet. She said to wait until I’m grown.”

Yan Sanhe carefully pondered the meaning behind these words. “So after you’re grown, are you planning to return to secular life?”

“I don’t know either.”

Lan Chuan’s eyes revealed confusion. “I’ll think about the future when it comes. Maybe I’ll just become a real nun.”

Yan Sanhe was about to ask more when she suddenly heard Li Buyan behind her say in a low voice, “Miss, look!”

Without specifying where to look, Yan Sanhe still spotted the person at first glance.

Gray-white hair coiled into a bun, wearing an oversized nun’s robe, fingers working a long string of prayer beads, her entire being aged and devoid of vitality.

It was none other than Fourth Madam of the Ji Manor, whom she’d met once before.

Fourth Madam bowed her head in greeting to the two of them. When she raised her head again, her eyes were already brimming with tears.

Yan Sanhe gave a slight nod and then withdrew her gaze. She only resolved the inner demons of the dead; the inner demons of the living had to be conquered by themselves.

After walking a bit further, Lan Chuan pointed with her small hand. “The abbess is inside. Please, honored guests.”

Yan Sanhe looked in the direction she pointed—a small courtyard with a pomegranate tree in front, already bearing small fruit.

Entering the room, the light suddenly dimmed.

In front of a massive Guanyin statue, Abbess Huiru sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, chanting continuously.

“Abbess, the honored guests have arrived.”

Huiru rose from the cushion. “Miss Yan, please come with me!”

Yan Sanhe glanced at Li Buyan, who said with a grin, “Abbess, I’ll walk around the front and back of the nunnery. You don’t mind, do you?”

Huiru responded, “Please feel free, benefactor.”

…

The Buddha hall was very quiet, the air filled with the scent of incense. Yan Sanhe’s agitated heart instantly settled.

Huiru finished preparing the tea. “Miss Yan, ask whatever you wish. I will hide nothing.”

Yan Sanhe didn’t stand on ceremony and got straight to the point. “How old is Jingchen this year?”

“Forty-five this year, the same age as me.”

The same age?

Yan Sanhe was surprised by two things.

The first was that Huiru’s actual age was only forty-five, yet she looked so aged. The second thing…

“Jingchen passed away at forty-five, so young?”

“When the King of Hell wants you at the third watch, he won’t wait until the fifth watch.”

Huiru sighed. “Miss Yan, this is all fate.”

Yan Sanhe asked, “What was the cause of her death?”

“No particular cause. She calculated for herself that her lifespan would end at forty-five.”

Yan Sanhe was shocked again. “She knew fortune-telling?”

“No!”

Huiru said, “Many people in this world fear death and desperately try to live a few more years, taking this medicine or that elixir. We who have left home fear neither life nor death—we all have a sense of our own lifespan in our hearts.”

Yan Sanhe asked, “When did she come to Water Moon Nunnery?”

Huiru replied, “Eighteen years ago.”

Yan Sanhe calculated in her mind. “She became a nun at twenty-seven?”

Huiru confirmed, “Yes!”

Yan Sanhe asked, “What was her reason for becoming a nun?”

Huiru worked the prayer beads a few times. “Miss Yan, how about I first describe the scene when I first met her?”

“Please do.”

“Eighteen years ago, our old abbess was still alive, and I had only been at the nunnery for three years. That year on the winter solstice, after everyone gathered to eat dumplings and prepare for evening devotions, suddenly the nunnery gate was knocked.”

“Was it her?”

“Yes!”

“Wearing a nun’s robe from who knows where, her hair already shaved, kneeling before the nunnery gate with a small bundle on her back, kowtowing repeatedly while begging the abbess to take her in.”

Yan Sanhe asked, “And then?”

Huiru said, “Then the abbess agreed.”

Yan Sanhe asked, “That simple?”

“Actually, whether a person truly wants to leave home can be seen from their face and eyes. Moreover, she had already shaved her hair—she hadn’t left herself any way back.”

Huiru’s expression gradually became lost in memory.

“Our old abbess spent decades at Water Moon Nunnery and had seen all kinds of people. Some people she wouldn’t admit even if they kowtowed to death; others she could lead inside with just a glance, without them needing to kneel.

This bit of skill I have in reading people—I only learned about thirty percent from our old abbess.”

Hearing this, Yan Sanhe realized that by bringing Fourth Madam to Water Moon Nunnery, she might have been forcing someone’s hand.

Wait!

Yan Sanhe suddenly frowned. “You said the old abbess would lead people in with just a glance—doesn’t that mean she wouldn’t ask about their past?”

“Miss, have you heard this saying: ‘Lay down the butcher’s knife and immediately become a Buddha.'”

“I have.”

“A nunnery gate separates the mundane world from the Buddhist realm.”

Huiru smiled slowly at Yan Sanhe.

“Once you cross that nunnery gate, whether you were a high and mighty prince or general in the mundane world, or an unforgivable thief or bandit, it has nothing to do with the Buddhist realm.

We don’t ask about the past, don’t investigate history. You are simply a disciple at the Buddha’s feet—no turning back, no way to turn back.”

Yan Sanhe said, “So no one knows about Jingchen’s past in the mundane world?”

Huiru replied, “As long as she didn’t speak of it, we didn’t ask.”

Yan Sanhe asked, “Did she say anything?”

Huiru shook her head. “I was her companion for eighteen years, even slept in the same room with her once. Until her death, she never mentioned a single word about her past.”

Yan Sanhe pressed, “You don’t even know what her surname was or what she was called?”

“I’m not ashamed to admit, Miss—yesterday after returning from the grave, I didn’t sleep all night, just thinking about Jingchen’s affairs.”

Huiru smiled bitterly. “After thinking for half the night, I only know that the year she came to our nunnery, she reported her age as twenty-seven. Our abbess asked what her name was, and she said she was a lonely wandering ghost in the human world.”

This was exactly what she feared.

The Resolve念 Ritual dissolved the past and resolved the past. If even Huiru didn’t know Jingchen’s past…

This would be very troublesome!

She had to first find out who this Jingchen was. What was she called before? What kind of family did she have? What kind of parents and childhood experiences?

Yan Sanhe quickly calmed down. “Huiru, when you saw her for the first time, what was your feeling?”

“The first time?”

“Yes, the first time.”

Huiru was silent for a moment, then said softly, “The first time, I felt she was a very quiet woman.”