After that, Zhou Shaojin remained in good spirits. She copied the scriptures with particular fluency, and in just one hour, she finished all the sutras she had planned to copy. Still feeling unsatisfied, she copied several more pages. Seeing that it was getting late, she finally set down her brush and went to take her leave of Old Madam Guo.
The upper courtyard was utterly silent, without a sound. The serving maids and servants all stood respectfully under the eaves with lowered brows and eyes.
Zhou Shaojin saw the young Daoist acolyte Qingfeng, along with Biyu and Feicui, standing by the bamboo curtain of the hall.
It appeared Uncle Chi was in Old Madam Guo’s room.
No wonder he had suddenly appeared in the Buddhist hall earlier.
He must have been passing by the Buddhist hall, saw her copying scriptures inside, and curiously went in for a look.
Zhou Shaojin pondered this, hesitating whether to inform the upper room’s maids and servants that she would return to Jiashu Hall first, or wait until Cheng Chi left before taking her leave of Old Madam Guo. Then she saw Biyu smile at her, turn around, lift the curtain, and enter the upper room.
She must have gone to inform Old Madam Guo.
What would Old Madam Guo say?
Zhou Shaojin inexplicably felt a wave of nervousness.
Then she saw Biyu walking over quickly.
“Second Miss!” She smiled and greeted Zhou Shaojin softly. “The Grand Madam asks you to come in.”
Zhou Shaojin responded “Mm,” straightened her collar, and followed Biyu into the upper room.
In the rest room, on the arhat couch with cloud-pattern marble backrest, Old Madam Guo and Cheng Chi sat on the left and right respectively. On the central tea table carved with black mother-of-pearl inlay stood a rosewood chess board with white jade and black jade pieces crisscrossing it—the game had reached its endgame.
Old Madam Guo held the black pieces, Cheng Chi held the white pieces.
Zhou Shaojin almost exclaimed in surprise.
The elder or the superior player held white pieces, while the other held black pieces.
Cheng Chi was Old Madam Guo’s son—could his chess skills be extraordinarily superior? But between mother and son, how could such things matter? Even if Cheng Chi’s chess skills were superior, there was no need to have Old Madam Guo hold the black pieces!
Zhou Shaojin felt somewhat uncomfortable about this.
Her expression slightly dazed, she stepped forward to pay respects to both of them.
Cheng Chi smiled and nodded at her.
Old Madam Guo smiled and asked her, “Finished copying today’s sutras? Return early. I’ll invite you to stay for dinner another day!”
Whether polite words or sincere, they gave Zhou Shaojin full face.
Zhou Shaojin respectfully thanked her and, accompanied by Biyu, left the rest room. She couldn’t help but look back at the silent rest room.
Through the fine Xiangfei curtain, Cheng Chi, like that day at Sanzhi Pavilion, leaned lazily against the large welcome pillow behind him. The white jade chess piece moved nimbly and flexibly between his fair, slender fingers with casual indifference. Old Madam Guo, however, frowned as she gazed down at the chess board with a serious expression.
Zhou Shaojin couldn’t help but quietly ask Biyu, “Is Uncle Chi’s chess skill very good?”
Biyu smiled with pursed lips and said, “Very good—he gives Young Master a ten-piece handicap, First Master a four-piece handicap, and the Grand Madam a three-piece handicap.”
That impressive!
Zhou Shaojin had no talent for chess or mathematics. Though Zhou Chujin had spent considerable effort teaching her chess, her skill level remained stuck at five-in-a-row, and she couldn’t even beat Shi Xiang at that.
She couldn’t help but feel admiration and asked Biyu, “From what you say, the Grand Madam is also very skilled at chess!”
“Of course.” Biyu rarely showed such proud honor. “I heard from Nanny Shi that back then, even the Old Master was no match for the Grand Madam…” Before she could finish speaking, a thunderous crash suddenly came from the rest room, followed by the crisp “clatter clatter” sound of jade falling on stone.
Biyu’s expression changed drastically.
Faint sounds of weeping were already coming from the rest room.
Biyu could no longer worry about anything else. Hastily saying “I won’t see Second Miss out then,” she ran into the rest room in three steps instead of two.
Zhou Shaojin knew that at this moment, both emotionally and rationally, she should avoid the situation. But she was truly curious. After thinking it over and seeing that no one was coming in to investigate, she still couldn’t control herself and walked forward a few steps.
Biyu stood beside Old Madam Guo, softly persuading her. Old Madam Guo held a handkerchief, wiping the corners of her eyes. Cheng Chi remained his usual indifferent self, leaning diagonally against the large welcome pillow. The chess board had fallen to the floor, pieces scattered everywhere.
What was this situation?
This was the first time Zhou Shaojin had seen Old Madam Guo cry!
Even if she lost at chess, with her own son, and in private, Old Madam Guo couldn’t possibly overturn the chess board and weep over it!
She was somewhat dumbfounded.
Then she felt a chill on her head and saw Cheng Chi’s gaze sweep over indifferently.
Caught red-handed…
Zhou Shaojin quickly lowered her head and turned to leave.
Both Feicui and Qingfeng’s expressions showed some anxiety, but they remained at the hall entrance and didn’t ask Zhou Shaojin anything.
Zhou Shaojin returned to Jiashu Hall full of doubts. For a reason she herself couldn’t explain, she didn’t mention a word of what she had seen in Hanbei Mountain Manor’s upper room to Grandmother, eldest aunt, or Sister.
The next day, she heard the news.
The only grandson of the First Branch’s Second Old Master, born in the same year as Cheng Xu and only five days younger, Cheng Xun, had died of illness.
When she heard this news in her previous life, she had felt nothing, and even after rebirth, she didn’t remember when Cheng Xun had died. But now, perhaps because she too had experienced the pain of losing a child, upon hearing of Cheng Xun’s death, her tears fell uncontrollably.
The Cheng family had always had few descendants. With Cheng Xun’s death, Second Old Master’s line had no heir. Would they adopt someone from the main Cheng family? Who would they adopt?
Old Madam Guo must be thinking about this even more than she was.
Unfortunately, she didn’t know the outcome and had no words of comfort for Old Madam Guo.
Old Madam Guan, seeing Zhou Shaojin’s reddened eyes, embraced her and sighed with melancholy, saying to Madam Mian, “The hardest thing to endure in this world is when the white-haired send off the black-haired. The First Branch’s Second Old Master, strictly speaking, was first enlightened by Old Madam Guo. Now that such a thing has happened to Second Old Master, who knows how heartbroken Old Madam Guo must be? I think you should discuss with First Master whether to send a steward to the capital for the funeral, or have Gao or Yi represent the Fourth Branch in going to the capital?”
Madam Mian wiped tears from her eyes and softly agreed, then went to the outer courtyard.
Zhou Shaojin was somewhat confused.
She remembered that in her previous life when Cheng Xun died, Cheng Gao and Cheng Yi continued attending school and practicing calligraphy as usual. Why had things changed in this life?
Zhou Shaojin asked Old Madam Guan, “Should I still go to Hanbei Mountain Manor to copy sutras today?”
“Go ahead!” Old Madam Guan sighed. “After such an incident, I’m afraid Old Madam Guo’s heart for copying sutras will be even more sincere.”
Zhou Shaojin nodded and went with Old Madam Guan to Hanbei Mountain Manor.
Being of the grandson generation with elders still present at Jiuru Lane, they couldn’t wear mourning clothes. The maids and servants serving at Hanbei Mountain Manor only removed their gold and silver jewelry and changed out of their red and green garments.
For a time, Hanbei Mountain Manor was filled with an air of coldness everywhere.
Old Madam Guo showed some weariness between her brows. She thanked Old Madam Guan for her condolences and said, “The weather is getting hotter day by day, and the children are only sixteen or seventeen years old. Let’s not trouble them, lest complications arise. I appreciate your thoughtfulness. Just send a steward to offer incense. The child wasn’t yet an adult—let’s not disturb his reincarnation.”
These words moved both Old Madam Guan and Zhou Shaojin to tears.
Zhou Shaojin volunteered, “I don’t know when the stewards will depart? I’d like to copy several chapters of the ‘Rebirth Mantra’ to burn for cousin Xun.”
“Good child, how thoughtful of you.” Old Madam Guo’s eyes moistened as she spoke. “Steward Qin has already departed. The Second, Third, and Fifth Branches also said they would send people to the capital to pay respects. I told them to leave tomorrow—the time is too tight, I’m afraid they won’t make it. But tomorrow I’ll go to Ganquan Temple to perform rites for young Xun. Come with me? Offer him incense before the Bodhisattva, and you’ll have done your part.”
Zhou Shaojin nodded repeatedly, but still stayed up all night copying three chapters of the “Rebirth Mantra” and asked the Fourth Branch’s head steward to take them to the capital.
When Old Madam Guo learned of this, she patted her head and had Biyu attend Zhou Shaojin in the carriage for a nap, saying, “When we get to the temple, there will still be rituals. Don’t wear yourself out.”
Zhou Shaojin hadn’t stayed up like this in a long time. She was also somewhat afraid she couldn’t hold up at the temple, so she didn’t stand on ceremony and slept in the carriage.
Upon arriving at Ganquan Temple and getting out of the carriage, she discovered that Cheng Chi had also accompanied Old Madam Guo to the temple.
However, she didn’t see Cheng Xu.
Zhou Shaojin breathed a great sigh of relief.
But Cheng Chi still had his usual languid appearance, as if not too saddened by Cheng Xun’s death. However, perhaps men and women were different—women liked to show everything on their faces, while men hid things in their hearts. Like eldest uncle Mian, when he heard the news of Cheng Xun’s death, he was also very upset, but in the blink of an eye he recovered as usual and solemnly instructed the steward to prepare for the trip to the capital to pay respects to Cheng Xun.
Those who came with Old Madam Guo today, besides Zhou Shaojin, included Cheng Chi, Madam Yuan, and Cheng Xu; from the Second Branch, Madam Yi and Cheng Shi; from the Third Branch, Madam Jiang, Cheng Xian, Cheng Zheng, Cheng Jia, Pan Zhuo, and Pan Qing; from the Fourth Branch, Madam Mian, Cheng Gao, Cheng Yi, and Zhou Chujin; from the Fifth Branch, Madam Wen and Cheng Nuo, Madam Yu and Cheng Ju, Madam Dong and Cheng Lu.
Cheng Xu and his male cousins were in the front hall, while Old Madam Guo, Zhou Shaojin, and the other female relatives were in a side hall in the rear courtyard.
Zhou Shaojin knelt on a prayer cushion, devoutly and earnestly reciting sutras.
Just like many nights in her previous life when she knelt in the small Buddhist hall at Daxing Manor, chanting sutras for her child who never had the chance to be born.
When Cheng Chi walked in, he saw Cheng Jia swaying somewhat unsteadily before the incense table, Pan Qing kneeling on her calves, and Zhou Shaojin standing straight as a birch tree on a desolate plain.
She slowly fingered the dark red rosewood prayer beads in her hands. Her fair skin seemed to glow like jade in the dim hall. Her curled, slender lashes cast a faint shadow beneath her gently closed eyelids, like a lotus before the Bodhisattva’s seat—solemn and dignified.
He was somewhat dazed.
She was only a twelve-year-old girl—how could she be so calm, composed, steady, and self-possessed?
Cheng Chi looked up.
He saw Guanyin Bodhisattva’s compassionate face.
Perhaps some people were born with Buddha nature?
Cheng Chi turned around and said to Biyu, who was attending outside the hall, “Go inform Madam that lunch time is approaching. Don’t let Old Madam overtire herself.”
Biyu respectfully agreed and entered the hall to pass on the message.
Cheng Chi quickly left the rear courtyard.