Even though Yu Tang had countless speculations, now was not the time to think carefully about these matters. They soon arrived at the courtyard where Gu Xi was staying. Only then did Yu Tang discover that the door to the main room was half-open, with maids carrying dusters and water going in and out—clearly Mrs. Shen had indeed already left.

Everyone suddenly fell silent.

Hexiang, who came to greet them, also showed momentary embarrassment on her face. She quickly explained in a low voice, “Our miss originally wanted to leave the mountain together with Mrs. Shen, but firstly, she suddenly fell ill, and secondly, Mr. Shen came personally to fetch Mrs. Shen. Our miss was afraid Mr. Shen would be embarrassed, so it wouldn’t be appropriate to approach him. She could only have me go see Mrs. Shen off.” After speaking, she sighed deeply and continued with a worried expression, “I don’t know what to do in the future. Should we keep in close contact with Mrs. Shen as before? Or should we keep our distance from now on? Our miss doesn’t feel disdain—she’s just afraid Mrs. Shen would feel uncomfortable seeing our miss.”

If this wasn’t disdain, what was it?

If she truly didn’t feel disdain, why say all this? Even if she were lying in bed unable to move, she could have maids and servants carry her to see Mrs. Shen off—even if Mrs. Shen felt uncomfortable, wasn’t Mr. Shen there? A companion doesn’t abandon their companion. Since Mrs. Shen had accompanied Gu Xi to Lin’an, even if Mrs. Shen had done something inappropriate, both emotionally and logically Gu Xi should have seen Mrs. Shen off.

In her previous life, Yu Tang had always admired Gu Xi for being reasonable and magnanimous. Now it seemed this wasn’t entirely true.

Perhaps it was because in her previous life she mostly looked up to her, mostly felt guilty toward her. By the time Yu Tang felt she could regard Gu Xi as an equal, she had already left the Li family and stood in opposition to Gu Xi.

Yu Tang curled her lip slightly in distaste.

Third Miss lowered her eyelids without making a sound. Second Miss and Fourth Miss smiled warmly and chatted with Hexiang: “This couldn’t be helped. No one expected that Mrs. Shen, who is usually so careful with her words and actions, would lose control momentarily. Sister Gu has also suffered from association.” They asked her, “Is Sister Gu alright? Has she taken medicine?”

Hexiang responded respectfully.

Fifth Miss, however, looked left and right, wanting to speak but hesitating.

Yu Tang stepped forward and took her hand, asking quietly, “What’s wrong?”

Fifth Miss hesitated for a moment. Seeing that her older sisters had all walked ahead of her, she whispered, “Sister Yu, I heard Sister Gu was frightened… but I think she still should have left together with Mrs. Shen… If it were me, I definitely would be too embarrassed to continue staying at someone else’s home like this…” As she spoke, her face flushed red. Realizing she had misspoken, she said urgently, “I don’t mean I don’t want her staying at our house. I just feel that since she came with Mrs. Shen, Mrs. Shen must be very sad right now, and she should go comfort Mrs. Shen…”

Listening to this, Yu Tang wanted nothing more than to pick up this little girl and kiss her. Though this young lady couldn’t yet articulate grand principles, her pure-hearted nature instinctively knew what should and shouldn’t be done.

“I understand,” Yu Tang also spoke quietly with her. “Everyone has a different temperament and handles matters differently. We should first manage ourselves properly.”

Fifth Miss nodded with a smile in her eyes and brows, her mood brightening as she caught up with Fourth Miss and entered Gu Xi’s room arm in arm.

Gu Xi must have already received word. She wore a half-worn spring green jacket with an overlapping peony pattern, her jet-black hair casually tied in a bun. She wore no jewelry, only a white headband around her forehead. Her face looked haggard, her smile bitter. She came out from the inner chamber to greet them: “You’re here? Why didn’t you send a maid or servant ahead to let me know so I could prepare tea and refreshments? Hexiang, go brew a pot of the Xinyang Maojian tea I brought from home and let Miss Yu and my younger sisters taste whether it’s good or not.”

Hexiang smiled and went to comply.

Second Miss took two steps forward to support Gu Xi, complaining, “Sister, since you’re unwell, don’t get out of bed to receive us. My sisters, Sister Yu, and I came because we thought you’d be all alone and worried you’d be lonely while ill and would overthink things. We wanted to keep you company and chat to relieve your boredom. We didn’t expect we’d tire you out by making you entertain us. Had we known, we should have gone directly to Sister Yu’s place and let you rest properly.”

Hearing this, Gu Xi smiled and glanced at Yu Tang, saying, “I’m not tired. Even if you hadn’t come, I’d just be lying here. As you said, I’d be overthinking. With you all here making it lively, knowing that my younger sisters don’t disdain me makes me feel much better.”

“How could we disdain you, Sister!” Fourth Miss immediately said cleverly. “We feel sorry for you—there’s not enough time for that! Mrs. Shen is Mrs. Shen, Sister Gu is Sister Gu. We’re not people who can’t distinguish right from wrong. Sister Gu, you can rest assured. Taking good care of your health is most important.”

Gu Xi nodded repeatedly, looking very moved.

Yu Tang turned her face away, not wanting to watch Gu Xi putting on an act.

Gu Xi had a strong personality. If she truly felt apologetic, she wouldn’t verbally apologize but would privately find ways to help you. If she felt she was in the right, she could offer as many apologies and courtesies as you wanted to hear, as if they cost nothing.

The current Gu Xi clearly didn’t think she had done anything wrong.

Hexiang brought in tea and refreshments.

Everyone drank tea and ate a piece or two of refreshments before beginning to chatter away.

Only then did Gu Xi learn that they had come at this time because Yu Tang had also fallen ill.

Second Miss said quite bluntly, “If not for Sister Yu’s reminder, I almost prepared to linger here all day.”

“Is that so?” Gu Xi said, glancing at Yu Tang with an ambiguous smile, speaking with hidden meaning. “I didn’t expect that after I fell ill, Miss Yu also fell ill.”

Yu Tang wanted to let her punch hit cotton. She pretended not to hear the implication and not only didn’t get angry but smiled at Gu Xi, saying, “Yes! I didn’t expect it either.”

Hearing this, Gu Xi thought Yu Tang was mocking her for feigning illness. Unable to maintain her composure, her expression darkened abruptly.

Both Fifth Miss and Fourth Miss were very surprised, staring blankly at Gu Xi, at a loss.

Second Miss frowned and was about to speak when the usually silent Third Miss spoke first: “At the time, beads of sweat the size of beans rolled down Sister Yu’s forehead. We were all terrified. Great-aunt ordered a doctor for Sister Yu and personally reviewed the prescription before letting the doctor prepare the medicine. I wonder if Sister Yu is better now?”

She sighed as if very worried.

Both Gu Xi and Yu Tang were secretly surprised. The composed Third Miss rarely spoke ordinarily, but when she did, there were needles hidden in cotton. They didn’t know if it was intentional or unintentional. But whether intentional or not, Gu Xi couldn’t continue this line of conversation. Fortunately, there was still Yu Tang. She smiled and said, “I only felt uncomfortable for that moment. Once it passed, I was fine. Didn’t the doctor also say there was nothing wrong?”

Third Miss smiled and said nothing more.

But the atmosphere in the room became somewhat stagnant.

Yu Tang looked toward Second Miss.

Since she was the one who wanted to come, if she had nothing more to attend to, Yu Tang was prepared to take her leave.

She didn’t want to watch Gu Xi feign illness here.

Second Miss probably also felt a bit embarrassed. After saying a few words of concern to Gu Xi, she stood up to take her leave.

Yu Tang was only too glad. No matter how Gu Xi tried to persuade them to stay, Yu Tang didn’t linger.

The Pei family’s young ladies took lunch at Yu Tang’s place. Second Miss—perhaps because she never had much to say to Yu Tang, or perhaps because what happened at Gu Xi’s place made her uncomfortable—quickly made an excuse about needing an afternoon nap and left. In the afternoon, only Third Miss, Fourth Miss, and Fifth Miss remained to make silk flowers with her.

Yu Tang asked the three Pei misses, “Why does Old Madam want to go to Ku’an Temple? There’s nothing at Ku’an Temple. What would Old Madam do there?”

Fourth Miss exclaimed upon hearing this, “Sister Yu, ordinary families don’t even know about Ku’an Temple. How do you know about it? You even know there’s nothing fun at Ku’an Temple? Have you been to Ku’an Temple?”

Was Ku’an Temple off-limits?

Yu Tang had no such impression.

But this was also her impression from several years later.

Could it be that Ku’an Temple at this time didn’t yet accept incense offerings from others?

Yu Tang wasn’t quite sure. She could only say, “I’ve only heard of it but never been there. But I think if Ku’an Temple were so efficacious, how could it have no reputation in Lin’an City? Clearly this temple isn’t anything special. It would be better to go to Zhaoming Temple. At least at Zhaoming Temple we could climb the mountain!”

Third Miss smiled beside her and explained gently, “Of course Ku’an Temple has no reputation! It’s our family’s ancestral temple and doesn’t accept incense offerings from outsiders. Great-aunt and Grandmother are going there because New Year is approaching, and Great-aunt and my grandmother need to go donate incense money to Ku’an Temple.”

Ah!

Yu Tang’s eyes widened.

That wasn’t right. If it was the Pei family’s ancestral temple, how could her elder uncle’s wife’s cousin be at Ku’an Temple? And there were so many homeless people in the temple? Some women had lived in the temple for over ten years. When Ku’an Temple took her in, wasn’t it precisely because her elder uncle’s wife’s cousin was ordained there? That’s right—Ku’an Temple didn’t easily accept outsiders. Those who could enter were all introduced through people in the temple. She had been introduced by her elder uncle’s wife’s cousin!

Her mind was in chaos, as if something had happened but she couldn’t grasp it. After a long while, she finally sorted out a thread and asked Third Miss, “Someone I know—her husband died and she had no children. Her natal family forced her to remarry, so she fled to the temple to hide…”

“Are you saying everyone in the temple are bad people?” Third Miss said unhappily. “Rumors stop with the wise. This means we should read more books, think more, so when we hear what others say we can tell what’s true and what’s false. Ku’an Temple has indeed taken in many homeless female lay practitioners, but they’re all pitiful people, good people. We’re educated people. We can’t look down on others just because they’ve had unfortunate experiences and fallen on hard times!”

Yu Tang smiled bitterly.

She hadn’t expected that one day she’d be lectured by a young girl much younger than herself.

She quickly said, “I didn’t mean to look down on them. I was wondering—since Ku’an Temple is your family’s ancestral temple, how could it also take in people like my elder uncle’s wife’s cousin? What if they don’t want to take Buddhist vows? Not everyone can decide to follow the Three Refuges and Five Precepts.”

Her elder uncle’s wife’s cousin had lived at Ku’an Temple for nearly ten years before deciding to take Buddhist vows.

Third Miss tilted her head and looked at Yu Tang, saying, “If they don’t want to take Buddhist vows, then they don’t! After all, there are many things Buddhist lay practitioners can do. Our family takes in those women simply to do some good deeds and help women who need help!”