tallest building

Chapter 99 Offering Sacrifices to the Dead

The day after Song died, Wen Mingqian left home early in the morning.

She arrived at Wuqiu Nunnery, which remained exceptionally quiet.

The former abbot passed away two months ago. The current abbot, whose Dharma name is Huikong, is around forty years old and is the former abbot's disciple. Wen Mingqian has known her for many years.

“Master Huikong, I have a few memorial tablets for my deceased friends that I would like to place here. Is that alright?” Wen Mingqian asked.

"May I ask who you are to this benefactor?" Huikong asked.

“They are maids who have been by my side since childhood,” Wen Mingqian said. “Over the years, I have not been able to find a proper place for their memorial tablets, and I feel quite uneasy about it.”

“Since you are so kind, our temple is naturally willing to help you,” Huikong said. “There is a Buddhist hall here specifically for enshrining memorial tablets, which is cleaned and incense is burned and offered to by monks and nuns every day. You can rest assured.”

“Thank you very much. I will offer incense money every month. Please ask the abbot to arrange for some monks to perform a few days of rites to help the deceased, which will fulfill one of my wishes,” Wen Mingqian said.

"Of course, of course," Huikong said. "Where is the memorial tablet? Please come into the Buddhist hall first!"

They then sent a young nun to take Wen Mingqian over.

Various temples in the capital can be used to store memorial tablets. Wen Mingqian chose Wuqiu Nunnery not because he was greedy for the cheap incense, but because he felt that it was a quiet place with little worldly taint.

Wen Mingqian personally placed the memorial tablets of Ashou and Ahui on the incense table. Sang Er took the incense and said to the little nun, "Please go and attend to other matters first, little nun! My lady wishes to offer some prayers."

The young nun turned and left, and Sanger followed, stepping out and closing the door to the meditation room before walking down the steps to wait.

Wen Mingqian lit incense, knelt on the prayer mat, opened his mouth but couldn't utter a single word. Tears streamed down his face like broken beads, falling onto his clothes and the prayer mat, shattering and glistening.

The poise, composure, calmness, and restraint she displayed in public were all hidden at this moment.

The joy of finally being exonerated after seven years of enduring humiliation was minimal; instead, there was a profound sense of bitterness and sorrow.

The stigma can be cleared, and the bad guys get their comeuppance.

But what about those who died? They can never come back.

For so many years, she had nowhere to confide her grievances and pain, and had long since become accustomed to keeping everything hidden in her heart. Now, even though she has finally gotten her revenge, she still can't find the right words to express her feelings.

Only tears seem to flow endlessly.

It was probably because she hadn't cried since she held Gong Chang'an in her arms. She had accumulated too many tears over the past seven years, and now she had a legitimate reason to cry.

Wen Mingqian let his tears flow freely, but he didn't make a sound.

She knelt there, her body stiff, tears streaming down her face, soaking her clothes.

After a long while, she finally stood up, slowly took out a handkerchief, and wiped away the tears on her face.

Finally, he reached out and placed a handful of osmanthus sugar on the offering table.

When Sang Er heard the door to the meditation room open, she hurriedly got up to greet it.

“Mother,” she said, seeing Wen Mingqian’s appearance, she knew he must have cried a lot, and she couldn’t help but hand him her handkerchief with heartache, “It’s good to cry, it will make you feel better.”

"I'll talk to the people at the temple and find a room so I can change my clothes," Wen Mingqian said. "I can't go out and see anyone like this."

"Mother, please sit here first, I'll go ask right away." Sang Er hurriedly left. After Wen Mingqian changed his clothes, he washed his face and put on makeup again.

"Mother is so beautiful," Sang Er said, looking at Wen Mingqian with eyes that seemed to be filled with stars. "How could that old scoundrel Gong Xu be worthy of you?!"

Sang Er always pretended to be well-behaved and innocent in front of Gong Xu, and she also intentionally showed Gong Xu great respect.

In her heart, she regarded Gong Xu as nothing more than dog shit; this man, worse than a pig or a dog, should be drowned.

"You can only say this to me," Wen Mingqian reminded her. "You must be very careful with your words and actions in the Gong family."

“I know, Mother. I’m just really angry. Although Song Xiulian is despicable, Gong Xu’s crimes are actually equal to hers. It’s just a pity that he was born as a man. This world is too lenient on men.” Sang Er felt indignant for Wen Mingqian from the bottom of her heart.

“There are too many injustices in this world,” Wen Mingqian said, his eyes lowered. “If you can get it back yourself, then it’s not all bad.”

Just then, the little nun from before led another person over.

It was none other than Liu Cuiyi.

“Sister, you really are here,” Liu Cuiyi said with delight. “I originally went to your residence, but I heard that you had gone out.”

I figured I'd come here for a stroll, and I never expected to see you here too.

"So it's fate that we met today." Wen Mingqian was also very happy to see her. "It's been a while since I've seen you."

“I went back to my parents’ home for a few days because my aunt and uncle came to Beijing. It was quite a lively family gathering. You know, my mother is getting old. Although she has my sister-in-law, she is often too busy to take care of everything because she has so many children, so she asked me to help look after them.” Liu Cuiyi said, sitting down next to Wen Mingqian.

“If you’re not busy today, let’s stay here and have a vegetarian meal!” Wen Mingqian suggested. “I remember their vegetarian dishes are very elaborate; I haven’t had them for many years.”

“That’s wonderful,” Liu Cuiyi said with a smile, “just what I wanted.”

"Sang Er, you and this young monk go to the front and tell the abbot to give him these thirty taels of silver as incense money and money for the temple ceremony this month."

"Sister, I heard yesterday when the lanterns were lit that Aunt Song has passed away." After Sang Er left, Liu Cuiyi asked in a slightly tense voice, "This news is so sudden."

“You haven’t been to our residence these days, so you don’t know. She miscarried last month and hadn’t recovered well. That night, she suddenly started bleeding heavily and couldn’t stop, and she died,” Wen Mingqian said. “We only found out the next morning; it was truly sudden.”

“Then she…she just died like that,” Liu Cuiyi said with regret, “Wouldn’t it mean that my sister’s grievances could never be cleared up?”

"Don't worry, the matter from back then has been investigated and cleared up." Wen Mingqian smiled. "Now the Gong family all know that I am innocent."

"Really?!" Liu Cuiyi was overjoyed and grabbed Wen Mingqian's hand. "Thank God! Thank goodness! May the Buddha protect us!"

"Look how happy you are, you don't even know who to thank." Wen Mingqian couldn't help but laugh.

"Of course, I'm genuinely happy for you, sister." Liu Cuiyi's cheeks flushed with excitement. "You've had such a tough time all these years. By the way, who killed that child?"

“It was the Song family themselves,” Wen Mingqian said.

"What?! How...how could this be? That's her own child!" Liu Cuiyi stared wide-eyed in astonishment. "How could she do this?"

"According to her, she also had her reasons," Wen Mingqian sighed. "She was already pregnant with this child before she was with our master, but she managed to cover it up. As the child grew older, the signs became more and more obvious. After thinking it over, she decided that she couldn't let the child grow up no matter what, so she decided to use this incident to get rid of me, this thorn in her side."

(End of this chapter)