Zhang Huolang stared at Jiang Li, somewhat dazed.

He recognized these two young girls—he’d known them for several years now. He’d heard they were young ladies from a prestigious family who had been sent to this nunnery for committing some offense. However, judging by their clothing and appearance, it was truly difficult to believe they came from a prominent household. The maid was somewhat livelier, but the young miss would lose her temper at the slightest provocation. Every time Zhang Huolang finished selling his goods, he would hurry off. This was the first time he’d seen Jiang Li speak to him with such a pleasant and gentle manner.

Speaking this way, with such a gentle and soft demeanor, she truly did seem like a refined young lady from a distinguished family. But to be a young miss from the Chief Minister’s household—that seemed far too exaggerated.

Though he had doubts, Zhang Huolang still needed to hurry to the other side. He had originally assumed Jiang Li was joking and wouldn’t really spend all her money buying pastries. After all, anyone with eyes could see that the master and servant’s life here was far from comfortable. For an ordinary wealthy household, spending forty strings of copper coins on pastries would naturally be fine, but for two children who couldn’t even dress warmly enough, it didn’t quite make sense.

“If you buy so many pastries, they’ll spoil before you can finish them,” Zhang Huolang couldn’t help but remind her.

“It’s fine,” Jiang Li said. “We’ll finish them.”

Having said this much, Zhang Huolang didn’t say anything more. The copper coins belonged to someone else, and Jiang Li had bought nearly half the pastries from his carrying pole. He could go down the mountain and return home early—he should be happy, not worried. What was there to worry about?

Tong’er, though confused by Jiang Li’s words, had apparently never disobeyed Jiang Li’s orders. She could only suppress the anxiety in her heart. When she returned carrying a large basket drawer full of pastries, the gray-robed nuns who passed by kept glancing at her. Fearing they would try to take them, Tong’er hugged the pastries even tighter.

When they returned to their damp room, Tong’er placed the basket of pastries on the table. After closing the door, she finally couldn’t help but ask: “Miss, why did you buy so many… these?”

Jiang Li didn’t look at her. She pushed open the window, which looked out onto the rolling hills of Mount Qingcheng. The beautiful peaks rose and fell, and the winter snow had long since melted. Peach blossoms covered the mountains and fields, draping the usually stark peaks in a layer of pink mist, like a tender and exquisitely beautiful woman.

“Look,” she said, pointing into the distance for Tong’er to see.

Tong’er walked closer and looked. On a peach tree in the distance, a palm-sized monkey with a curled tail was crouching, happily gnawing on a fruit.

“It’s a monkey,” Tong’er said, puzzled. “What’s there to see about a monkey?”

There were many monkeys on Mount Qingcheng, and they were quite mischievous in their daily lives. The monkeys here got along well with people, especially on the Helin Temple side. Because worshippers came and went constantly, when they saw these monkeys playing in the trees, they would sometimes toss them peanuts, candies, and the like. During winter when food was scarce, the monkeys begged for food from worshippers more frequently. In spring and summer when the monkeys had plenty of food, they didn’t bother the worshippers and played by themselves.

However, on the nunnery side, because it was already so desolate, monkeys rarely came here—places where they couldn’t get food had no attraction for them.

“Go get some pastries,” Jiang Li said.

Tong’er obediently fetched a few pieces of walnut cake.

Jiang Li broke the walnut cake into small pieces and waved them at the monkey in the tree from afar. Perhaps the pastries from Zhang Huolang’s shop were truly sweet and fragrant—the aroma of walnuts quickly attracted the little curly-tailed monkey. It scurried to the window in a few bounds, staring warily at the walnut cake in Jiang Li’s hand, eager but not daring to approach.

Jiang Li extended her hand a bit further. The monkey finally couldn’t resist the temptation of the walnut cake. It reached out its paw, grabbed a piece, then turned and ran, running behind a rock with its back to Jiang Li to finish eating the cake. Then it turned back to look at Jiang Li. Seeing that Jiang Li was still standing at the window smiling, holding more crumbled pastries in her hand, it grew bolder and came back to get more food from Jiang Li.

Back and forth it went. After the monkey had taken all the food from Jiang Li’s hand, she clapped at the bold curly-tailed monkey, indicating she had no more. The monkey looked reluctantly at Jiang Li’s palm for a while before finally leaving with its tail held high.

Tong’er, who had witnessed the entire process, asked: “Does Miss want to feed the monkeys? Why use pastries? Wouldn’t wild fruits picked from the mountains be better? These pastries are expensive—it’s not worth it.”

Not to mention being the personal maid of the Chief Minister’s young miss, even when Jiang Li was still Xue Fangfei, the personal maid at her side when she was a young lady in Tong County would never have begrudged a few pastries. If others saw this scene, who knows how much they would sigh. Jiang Li reached out and patted Tong’er’s head, smiling: “But compared to wild fruits, monkeys prefer delicious treats.”

Tong’er was about to say something more when she saw Jiang Li turn and walk to sit at the table. There was only one stool in the room, and it was one Tong’er had made herself from wood she’d found outside. The stool legs weren’t even stable. Jiang Li said: “Tong’er, starting tomorrow, you’ll take these pastries to feed the monkeys.”

Tong’er’s eyes widened: “Miss, why is this? This servant doesn’t understand.”

When people couldn’t even eat their fill, why should they worry about monkeys? What kind of logic was this?

“I need these monkeys to help me do something,” Jiang Li smiled. “Consider these pastries payment for passage.”

“But…”

“They’re just a few pastries,” Jiang Li interrupted her. “When we return, I’ll have the small kitchen make them for you every day. No need to worry about these few.”

Tong’er fell silent. Speaking of returning to the capital, Jiang Li was probably even more distressed than she was. Tong’er didn’t dare say anything that might upset Jiang Li.

“These pastries,” Jiang Li tapped the basket drawer, and the fragrant aroma of the pastries filled the entire room. Master and servant could only eat thin porridge and pickled vegetables each day, so the fragrance had long since made them ravenously hungry. Jiang Li suppressed her hunger and said: “Divide these pastries into fifteen portions. Feed the monkeys one portion each day, and keep feeding them until the nineteenth. On the nineteenth day, you don’t need to feed them anymore.”

Tong’er didn’t understand but still agreed: “This servant understands.”

“It’s half a shichen’s journey from here to Helin Temple,” Jiang Li said. “I’m not allowed to leave the nunnery gates each day, so it can only be you. You’ll leave at the hai hour each day. At the zi hour, take these pastries and feed the monkeys in the forest behind Helin Temple. Keep doing this until the nineteenth. On the evening of the nineteenth, you don’t need to go.”

Whether or not it was at someone else’s instruction, Master Jing’an had forbidden Jiang Li from leaving the nunnery. She could only stay within the nunnery each day, with her every move watched by others. Tong’er, on the other hand, could move about freely. Because she also had to go into the mountains to chop firewood during the day, after six years on the mountain, Tong’er knew the paths of Mount Qingcheng extremely well and wouldn’t get lost.

Since noble ladies and ladies from prominent households frequently came to Mount Qingcheng to burn incense, and to ensure safety, there were no bandits in the mountains—it was very safe. Otherwise, Jiang Li would have worried about Tong’er going out at night.

After listening to Jiang Li’s instructions, Tong’er suddenly asked: “Is Miss doing all this to plan for returning to the capital?”

Jiang Li looked at her and smiled: “Are you afraid?”

Upon hearing this, Tong’er showed no fear. Instead, she wore an eager expression. The little girl had quite a bit of courage and seemed willing to do this for some reason. She rubbed her hands together: “Not afraid! This servant has wanted to do this for a long time!”

“Very good.” Jiang Li nodded. “We’ll start tonight then.”

—

Does everyone think A-Li is a gentle young lady? ╭（╯^╰）╮