The crowd of madams and masters standing behind Madam Liu were first stunned by Madam Liu’s inexplicable words. Second Miss Jiang was after all a young miss who had committed the offense of poisoning her legitimate mother. Though she looked very pitiful, openly assisting her would mean standing in opposition to Ji Shuran. Vice Censor-in-Chief Ji’s family was currently a favorite before Emperor Hongxiao, and the Chief Minister’s household affairs weren’t something everyone could meddle in, so everyone planned to stand by and watch.
Who would have known that after Second Miss Jiang had merely exchanged a couple of greetings with Madam Liu, Madam Liu would immediately offer to take her back to Yanjing together, actually willing to offend the Ji family for a strange young miss she had only met a few times.
Even more unexpected was that this Second Miss Jiang actually refused.
Everyone was extremely surprised by Jiang Li’s answer, and Tong’er was secretly anxious as well. Madam Liu looked at her inquiringly and asked: “Second Miss Jiang, why is this?”
Jiang Li smiled and said: “Father sent me to the family temple precisely to let me cultivate my character and temperament. Although it’s difficult, it can bring peace and health to the entire family. If I give up halfway, it would be disrespectful to the Bodhisattva. Moreover, Father hasn’t yet sent someone to fetch me back. How can I act on my own?”
In her words, she didn’t mention at all being punished for committing the offense of poisoning her legitimate mother. She only said she had been sent here to cultivate her character and seek blessings for the family. To others’ ears, they only felt Second Miss Jiang was avoiding important matters and dwelling on trivial ones. But to Madam Liu’s ears, there was another deeper meaning.
Madam Liu had been good friends with Ye Zhenzhen for many years and knew Ye Zhenzhen to be honest and purely kind-hearted. Naturally she didn’t believe Ye Zhenzhen’s daughter was such a vicious person. However, when Jiang Li had her incident back then, Madam Liu and the Jiang family had already had no contact for many years, and Jiang Li had pushed down Ji Shuran in front of numerous madams, causing her miscarriage—the evidence was irrefutable. Though Madam Liu didn’t believe it, she was helpless.
Now seeing the daughter of her old friend being bullied here, and growing up so gentle and purely kind, Madam Liu’s heart was immediately filled with suspicion. Perhaps Jiang Li’s not mentioning the offense meant there was no offense to begin with. Poisoning her legitimate mother was just a pretext, merely an excuse for someone with ulterior motives who wanted to send her away to be tormented at will.
Listen, Jiang Li’s last words said everything should follow Jiang Yuanbai’s instructions, but Jiang Yuanbai had probably never thought of this daughter!
Madam Liu’s heart burned with anger. She only saw Jiang Li raise her head to look at her, somewhat puzzled: “Speaking of which, I still don’t know why Madam appeared here? And all these…” She looked at the crowd behind Madam Liu and asked: “Could it be you’ve also come to burn incense? Usually not many people come here to burn incense—they go to the nearby Helin Temple instead. Moreover, it’s so late now. Various madams and masters, you didn’t come to burn incense, did you?”
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present showed varying expressions. However, Madam Liu suddenly thought of something. After pondering for a while, she suddenly said to Jiang Li: “This family temple is not a good family temple. Since your father sent you here, he should have found a proper family temple. Very well, since you’re unwilling to leave with me, I’ll set off back to Yanjing tomorrow. However, I think your father should fetch you back very soon.”
The implied meaning in her words was quite obvious.
Jiang Li looked as if she understood, yet also as if she hadn’t, only smiling and saying: “Then I thank Madam very much.”
Madam Liu continued: “But you need not be so devout, kneeling in the Buddha hall in the middle of the night. Justice lies in people’s hearts. With a sincere heart, the Buddha will naturally see it. Yuxiang,” she said to the maid beside her, “these next few days you’ll remain here to take good care of Second Miss Jiang. Second Miss Jiang has only one maid by her side, which I fear may not provide adequate care.” She looked at Jiang Li and continued: “Second Miss Jiang need not decline. I was old friends with your mother. This girl Yuxiang is my personal maid and has some martial arts skills. With her by your side, I’ll be more at ease. After you return to Yanjing, you can send Yuxiang back to my side.”
She had even given Jiang Li her personal maid, showing how much Madam Liu valued Jiang Li. It also indicated that perhaps before too long, Jiang Li would be able to return to the Yanjing Jiang family to be the Jiang family’s young miss.
Jiang Li thanked Madam Liu. Madam Liu, along with the crowd of madams and young misses, all rested at the nunnery. Yuxiang indeed followed Jiang Li, and Jiang Li and Tong’er also switched to a comfortable room that other nuns usually lived in. As for those nuns, not one was seen.
Taking advantage of the moment when Yuxiang went out to pour water, Tong’er quietly asked Jiang Li: “Miss, what’s going on? Why have all those nuns disappeared? How did so many people appear here?”
Tong’er could roughly guess this matter was related to Jiang Li, but didn’t know exactly what Jiang Li had done. These past days, Jiang Li had only had her go feed monkeys, but feeding monkeys couldn’t possibly create so many events!
“Didn’t I have you go feed the monkeys?” Jiang Li said calmly. “The abbot of Helin Temple, Master Tongming, has a senior disciple named Liaowu who has an illicit affair with Master Jing’an from our nunnery. They have secret trysts on the nineteenth of each month in the forest behind Helin Temple. The monkeys on this mountain have been fed by you with pastries for most of half a month and wait there every evening. Tonight was the nineteenth. The monkeys went as usual to wait for you to feed them. Seeing Jing’an and Liaowu, they took these two as the people who would feed them and came forward to beg for food. Since the two were already guilty of wrongdoing, they probably made a commotion in their alarm, startling the various madams. The madams and young misses here are all either wealthy or noble. How could they tolerate such filthy affairs in the pure Buddhist land? They naturally had to come demand an explanation and arrest all the nuns in the nunnery.”
Tong’er listened in shock, murmuring: “How could this be…” She became tense again. “Such a secret matter—how did Miss know about it?”
“I heard it,” Jiang Li said, picking up the tea on the table and taking a sip. “Two young nuns were gossiping, and I overheard them.”
Tong’er was still incredulous: “This is too frightening.”
Jiang Li smiled. She naturally knew. When she was still Xue Fangfei, Princess Yongning had people use medicinal decoctions daily, trying to make her burn out like oil in a lamp. She was confined in her room and couldn’t go out. Those servant women spoke without avoiding her, treating her as if she were already dead. That’s how she learned that the place where Princess Yongning and Shen Yurong had their secret trysts was actually a temple not far from Yanjing.
Those servant women also discussed another secret matter—that Liaowu of Helin Temple was actually a debauched monk. Many women had been ruined by him, and he didn’t even spare the nuns from the neighboring nunnery. Princess Yongning had gotten the idea from Liaowu, which was why she had secret trysts with Shen Yurong at the temple.
When she woke up and became Second Miss Jiang, knowing that Helin Temple was nearby, the first thing she thought of was this secret matter. The moment she saw Master Jing’an, Jiang Li knew that Master Jing’an must have a lover. A Buddhist practitioner, young and beautiful—if she had no lover, why would she use hair pomade and powder? Why would she dress herself up so fragrantly?
After all, one dresses to please those who appreciate them.
A complete plan then formed in Jiang Li’s mind. Of course, this plan wasn’t certain to succeed. Perhaps what those servant women said wasn’t true. Perhaps Jing’an’s lover wasn’t Liaowu. Or perhaps when they had their tryst, they didn’t cry out in alarm. If any of these things happened, everything would be for naught and couldn’t come true.
At that time, Jiang Li would have had to find other methods.
However, her luck wouldn’t always be so bad. It just so happened that, just so coincidentally, it succeeded.
Tong’er pressed her palms together: “Thank goodness Miss overheard their gossip. Thank goodness Miss thought of this method. Speaking of which, otherwise how could Miss have encountered that Madam Liu? Maybe all this is because of that flower demon… no, flower immortal we saw tonight showing his spiritual power, making those evil people receive their evil retribution!”
Flower immortal? Before Jiang Li’s eyes, the face of the young man on the rooftop immediately appeared.
“He’s not a flower immortal,” Jiang Li smiled.
“He’s the Duke of Su.”
Hey hey, Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! May you dream of your male god every day~\（≧▽≦）/~