Xianyi Temple

“How did that girl Lu Qiao manage to get such a scar on her face? How will she ever marry now?”

“Yes, yes! When we ask her, she just says she was careless. Tell me, could it be that her troublesome mistress beat her?”

“Tsk, I think it’s possible. That fake Taoist nun is capable of anything!”

Lu Qiao stood under the corridor, listening to the old women in the temple gossiping, knowing that no matter what she said if she went over, it would be useless. People always liked to hear what they wanted to hear, and if they couldn’t hear it, they would find various reasons for the other party, twisting it into the result they desired. So even if she explained, they wouldn’t believe her. In this situation, it was better for her to avoid them.

She held tea water in one hand and couldn’t help touching the red mark at the corner of her right eye with the other. She didn’t know what she had been thinking at the time—seeing that little kingfisher in the forest, she was immediately captivated by those brilliant, dazzling kingfisher feathers. After discovering the black snake beside it, without time to think carefully, she picked up a wooden stick and swung it over. It was quite normal for the little kingfisher to be startled and fight back—she had been inconsiderate and unprepared. After the initial surprise and anger, she could only accept the facts.

Although she had applied medicine promptly, after the scab fell off, it still left a scar. To say she didn’t care would be lying—every woman cared greatly about her appearance. But as a maid, if her looks were more beautiful than her mistress’s, that would be a disaster. Sure enough, after her face was disfigured, life became much better. Her young lady was also much more tolerant of her than before, no longer finding various excuses to torment her out of suspicion that she had improper relations with her lover. Actually, she still quite sympathized with her young lady.

Her young lady was surnamed Yu, given name Youwei. At a young age, she was already a talented woman famous throughout Chang’an. Later she married the top scholar Li Yi as a concubine. It should have been a life everyone envied, but because that top scholar had a wife from the prestigious Pei family, she was divorced and sent away after only three months. She took refuge in this Taoist temple near Qujiang, becoming a Taoist nun and changing her religious name to Yu Xuanji.

Although Li Yi had donated a large sum of incense money to Xianyi Temple, almost renovating the entire temple and arranging for his young lady’s later life, it couldn’t erase the fact that she had been abandoned. Initially, her young lady missed Li Yi infinitely, composing many tender and passionate poems, but unable to deliver them to him, she could only casually throw the poem slips into the stream, entrusting her feelings to the flowing water. The stream flowed murmuring past Xianyi Temple and joined Qujiang River, and the poem slips floated downstream with it, attracting many literati to come seeking her fame. Ever since being cruelly heartbroken by Li Yi, her young lady seemed to have become a different person, becoming dissolute and unrestrained, mingling among many men, actually becoming quite notorious.

Lu Qiao quietly waited for those old women to pass before carrying the tea water out from under the corridor, crossing the temple courtyard to reach Yu Xuanji’s residence, Xuanji Studio. As soon as she pushed open the door, a teacup came flying at her face.

“Why were you gone so long? Were you off seducing men again? Still not behaving even with a ruined face?” Yu Xuanji interrogated harshly. She wore a dark-colored Taoist robe, her long hair meticulously bound behind her head with only a wooden hairpin, making her unpowdered face appear coldly beautiful and inviolable, involuntarily making people want to prostrate themselves at her feet.

Lu Qiao didn’t argue because she knew her young lady just wanted to vent her anger. At this time, no matter what she said, she couldn’t avoid a scolding and beating. Previously, her young lady still cared about her reputation and wasn’t too excessive when taking out her anger. But ever since arriving at Xianyi Temple, her young lady seemed like a different person, and Lu Qiao’s body was often covered in injuries under her clothes.

“Why aren’t you speaking? Speak! Did you deliberately ruin your face? Young Master Wei specifically asked me if I was the one who beat you! You restless little vixen! I should never have taken pity on you and bought you back then!” As Yu Xuanji spoke, she picked up the whisk beside her and lashed out. Lu Qiao lowered her eyes, her body shrinking from the pain, but inwardly she was grateful that her young lady wasn’t too angry today, or she would have brought out the whip. Perhaps Lu Qiao’s silent passive resistance gave Yu Xuanji no sense of achievement, so she stopped after a few lashes and irritably pushed the box on the table, taking out the key she kept close to her body: “Go put away these pearls.”

Lu Qiao took it in her hands, knowing this must be a gift from some admirer to her young lady. From her young lady’s expression, she judged the size and quantity of the pearls in the box, thinking they probably didn’t much please her young lady’s heart. She stood up, bowed, then crossed the hall to the most hidden storeroom door in Xuanji Studio, using the key she had just received to open the storeroom door.

Inside were stored all kinds of treasures—mostly gorgeous robes and decorative accessories. Some were her young lady’s dowry, some were gifts from Li Yi, some were from the many admirers who came after arriving at Xianyi Temple. But her young lady never wore them, usually just wearing Taoist robes and a wooden hairpin. Others might think her young lady was dutifully serving as a Taoist nun, but she knew that although these treasures were long unused, they weren’t dusty at all. Her young lady often cleaned them personally and rarely allowed her to touch or arrange them.

After properly placing the box on the cabinet, Lu Qiao quickly came out to lock the door, returned to the hall without delay, and handed the key back to Yu Xuanji. Yu Xuanji stroked the copper key in her hand, slightly curving her red lips in a mocking sneer: “This whole room of things still doesn’t compare to that woman’s set of kingfisher feather jewelry.”

Lu Qiao listened silently, knowing her young lady’s heart knot was still Li Yi’s wife from the Pei family. If Li Yi’s wife hadn’t been surnamed Pei, hadn’t been from the Pei family of the Four Great Clans of Guanzhong, her young lady wouldn’t have fallen to being a Taoist nun in a temple with “letters vast and boundless, where to send them.”

But kingfisher feather work… was a luxury only nobles could use, not something money alone could buy… Lu Qiao thought of that little kingfisher dazzling under the sunlight and deeply lowered her head. She wondered why kingfishers that only existed in the Nanyue region would appear in the nearby forest. If not for the scar on her face, she might have thought it was all her imagination.

“Since you like something, you must firmly grasp it in your hands,” Yu Xuanji swore hatefully. The first man she ever liked in her life actually belonged to someone else’s family. She gritted her teeth and entered the door as a concubine, but what she wanted still didn’t belong to her. When she was about to be divorced, she asked for a set of kingfisher feather jewelry of her own, but was coldly refused, told she wasn’t qualified to wear it!

Ridiculous! She, Yu Xuanji, would definitely make a set of kingfisher feather jewelry of her own!

Lu Qiao shrank her head, lowering her presence.

This day passed slowly as usual. In the evening, after Lu Qiao arranged for servants to send hot water to her young lady, she returned to her side room. The thin walls couldn’t block the sounds of laughter from the man and woman next door. Lu Qiao’s expressionless face finally showed a trace of helplessness. After lighting the oil lamp, she quietly began arranging her bedding to sleep.

Just as she was about to blow out the oil lamp, she suddenly felt something and looked toward the window that wasn’t tightly closed, catching a glimpse of deep blue in the moonlight.

A little kingfisher stood motionless on a branch outside the window, tilting its head and staring at her.

The little kingfisher thought the servant it had recently acquired was really quite good, preparing food for it every day, along with clean water. Those small fish were all cleaned properly, with innards and scales removed, cut to a size it could swallow in one bite—the taste was wonderful. When the weather turned cold on chilly nights, it could also nest in the room with a warming stove, not even needing to build its own nest! The little kingfisher was very satisfied, but also somewhat uneasy in its heart. It had originally flown over to check on this human’s condition out of guilt over the black snake’s corpse, but ended up being served so comfortably instead.

Indeed, was she captivated by this kingfisher’s grace? The little kingfisher stood before the bronze mirror, intoxicated by the increasingly beautiful feathers on its body.

Perhaps because its recent diet was good and it didn’t have to sleep outdoors or go hungry, its feathers had already become much more brilliant than its mother’s. After all, mother not only had to feed herself but also care for several chicks—how could she compare to its current comfort?

“Qing Yu? Qing Yu?”

A gentle voice called softly. The little kingfisher knew this was the name its servant had given it. Cui, meaning blue-feathered bird. Although it didn’t know what it meant exactly, after being called this for so long, it knew these sounds were calling for it. Looking at the hand reaching toward it, it thought for a moment, tilted its head and nuzzled the warm palm, eliciting pleased laughter.

Well then, it would be called Qing Yu—it sounded like a nice pronunciation.

It quite liked its servant’s smile. It also grew fonder of the red mark at the corner of her eye—this was the mark it had left on its servant, so it wouldn’t mistake her for someone else! After all, humans looked so strange, it couldn’t tell them apart! And those brown-black pupils—when she focused all her attention on it, it could see two tiny versions of itself in those clear eyes. Very magical, very delightful. Yes! It had to become even more beautiful so its servant wouldn’t look at other birds!

“Cui fei—cui fei—” Qing Yu called out joyfully. This was how the kingfisher clan called—this was also one of the reasons they were called “feicui” (kingfisher).

“Shh—” The palm stroking it became tense.

Qing Yu reluctantly lowered its voice, not understanding why its servant didn’t want it to make sounds in the room. Flapping its wings a few times, Qing Yu rushed out through the window crack specially left for it. It only stayed here to sleep at night—it still had to go play in the forest every day.

Besides, it had its own little schemes. It had never experienced winter here, nor had its mother, but based on the temperature changes, it instinctively felt this place would be much harder to endure than the warm south mother spoke of. If it could find its mother and siblings, perhaps it could have its servant settle their whole family. After all, its servant’s room was so big—just leaving them a spot on the roof beams would be enough! The more Qing Yu thought about it, the happier it became, singing freely in the forest, calling for its family members with familiar tones. There had been no news for days—it would fly farther today.

After many consecutive days of overcast skies and heavy fog, the sun rarely showed its face today. Qing Yu spread its wings, flitting through the gaps between leaves like a sprite. Because the weather was clear with unobstructed vision, the more it flew, the more it felt something was wrong in the forest. There were many trampled and broken plants, some places full of footprints, indicating more than one or two humans had walked through the forest, even in its depths. Although the sunlight on its body was very warm, unease rose in Qing Yu’s heart.

The silent forest seemed to hide a monster, making it shudder.

Finally, it stopped on a tree branch and didn’t move for quite a while. Because not far away, there were several clusters of turquoise blue feathers scattered messily in the grass, with some dried brown bloodstains among them.

After a very, very long time, a piercing cry echoed through the forest.