Jinyi Spring

Chapter 109 Pure Heart Dharma Nun
The Hu family is coming to visit today, and the family started getting busy after breakfast.

The Hu family arrived at the end of the Si hour (9-11 AM) and stayed until the end of the Shen hour (3-5 PM) before leaving.

At the end of the Chen hour on the fifth day, Feng Chuchen and her siblings, along with Shaoyao, Banxia, ​​and Xiaomozi, went to Zixia Temple to offer incense in a carriage driven by Uncle Wu, and returned directly to their residence in the capital in the afternoon.

The weather is much warmer, and the trees are sprouting pale yellow buds, bringing the breath of spring.

The road from Baima Village to Zixia Temple is at the foot of Miaoqing Mountain. The narrow and winding path is very difficult to walk on and is extremely bumpy.

It was still Chinese New Year, so there weren't many worshippers at Zixia Temple.

As soon as they got out of the car, they heard a familiar voice, "Miss Feng, Brother Feng, what a coincidence."

They turned around and saw Ming Shanyue with Guo Hei and Song Xian. It was Song Xian who greeted them.

All three were dressed casually.

The midday sun cast a faint blush on Ming Shanyue's jade-like face, making Guo Hei's dark face appear even darker.

Peony rolled her eyes at that dark face.

Ming Shanyue was surprised to encounter the siblings here. A hint of surprise flashed in her eyes, followed by a knowing smile.

"What a coincidence."

This was the second time he had seen Feng Chuchen dressed so brightly. She wore a long, narrow-sleeved jacket with a cross-collar in willow bud yellow and a cotton skirt in sandalwood color, which wrapped around her slender and tall figure. Combined with her delicate eyebrows and eyes, she looked as fresh and tender as new grass breaking through the frozen soil in early spring, making her particularly eye-catching.

Two jade hairpins and two small yellow silk flowers were inserted into her single bun, and her cinnabar birthmark was dazzlingly red...

Feng Buji stepped forward, bowed, and said with a smile, "Lord Ming, you've come to burn incense too?"

Ming Shanyue nodded to him, then turned her eyes to Feng Chuchen. "My mother said that Miss Feng... hasn't been to the doctor for a few days and is feeling unwell again."

His ears turned red, and he almost blurted it out.

His mother kept telling him today, "Miss Feng hasn't come for a few days, I miss her terribly. Don't let her aloof demeanor fool you, her words are very heartwarming..."

Having said all that, Feng Chuchen said, "Shall I go visit Madam Ming tomorrow?"

Ming Shanyue smiled and said, "That's not necessary. You can come on the seventh day." She added, "I'm sorry that something almost happened at my house on the day of my grandmother's birthday banquet."

Feng Chuchen didn't know how to answer, so she shook her head and remained silent.

Guo Hei's voice suddenly rang out.

"Lord Xiao."

The group looked over and saw a man in his forties get off the carriage.

The man wore a blue cloak and a turban. He was tall and thin with delicate and refined features. A two-finger-wide scar was prominently displayed on his left eyebrow.

She looked somewhat familiar, especially the scar on her brow bone; Feng Chuchen had even applied medicine to it there. If it had been stitched, the scar wouldn't be so large, but Shangguan Ruyu had blocked it, saying that exposed areas shouldn't be stitched.

Feng Chuchen knew who he was, nodded to Ming Shanyue, and led Feng Buji into the flow of people entering the nunnery.

Just before Peony left, the big black guy looked at her. She rolled her eyes and quickly ran after her master.

Finally, she avenged herself, and before that guy could even turn over her, Peony burst out laughing.

Even if Guo Hei was angry, he wasn't so childish as to roll his eyes back.

He muttered under his breath, "Silly girl..."

Song Xian chuckled.

Guo Hei glared and hissed, "What are you laughing at? Want to fight?"

Song Xian shook his head. "I don't want to."

Xiao Henian also saw Ming Shanyue and smiled as he clasped his hands in greeting.

"Lord Ming, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Ming Shanyue also clasped his hands in greeting, "Lord Xiao, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Their voices were cold and distant, and only they could sense the deep meaning that flashed in each other's eyes.

Xiao Henian did not go to the main hall to worship the Bodhisattva, but instead, accompanied by two attendants, hurriedly walked along the covered walkway towards the back of the temple.

He and his family only have one opportunity a year to see Master Qingxin, which is on the fifth day of the first lunar month.

He had important business to attend to today, so he came alone.

Passing through several halls shrouded in incense smoke, and through rustling bamboo groves and delicate pink plum blossoms, we arrived at a secluded Zen temple.

The courtyard gate opened, and a young nun put her hands together and said, "Benefactor Xiao has arrived. Abbess Qingxin is waiting."

Xiao Henian took the package from his attendants, and the two attendants went to a pavilion not far from the Zen temple to wait for their master.

The young nun was quite surprised to see that only Benefactor Xiao was there, as in previous years Benefactor Xiao and his wife would come with their son and daughter-in-law.

Upon entering the meditation room, a nun with sunken eyes and cheeks, so thin she was almost unrecognizable, sat upright on the Luohan bed. She held a string of sandalwood prayer beads in her hand, her eyes filled with longing, showing none of the detachment from desires expected of a nun.

Xiao Henian felt a pang of sorrow. Such a beautiful and vibrant woman, and in just fifteen years, she had become like this.

Seeing his elder brother enter, he looked behind him and asked, "Why is it just you, elder brother?"

Xiao Henian sat down, carefully examined his younger sister for a moment, and said with a smile, "Song Shi and Jiao Jiao have caught a cold, and Zi Ming and Zi You are tied up with something."

A middle-aged nun entered carrying tea and said with a smile, "Please have some tea, Benefactor Xiao. This water was collected from the snow accumulated on plum blossom petals, and the nun specially ordered it to be reserved for you."

The moment she entered, Qingxin's eyes completely disappeared.

The tea was clear and refreshing, with a subtle fragrance of plum blossoms.

Xiao Henian bowed respectfully, "Thank you for your trouble, Master Jingci."

Jingci put down the teapot, put her hands together and said, "Benefactor Xiao, you flatter me. It is my duty."

After saying that, he stood behind Qingxin.

Qingxin ignored Jingci and asked again, "What happened to the scar on your face?"

Not wanting his sister to worry, Xiao Henian casually said, "Oh, I was drunk that day and accidentally fell on the steps."

Qingxin gave him a disapproving look. "This humble nun has some scar-removing medicine here. Although it can't completely remove them, it will at least make them look better."

Xiao Henian chuckled a few times and opened the package.

She took them out one by one and said, "This is the monk's hat that Song made for my junior sister by hand, this is the shoes and plain clothes made by Ziming's wife, and this is the lotus flower cup that my junior sister likes to eat."

"These two jars of pear soup... were a gift from the First Prince. Don't worry, Junior Sister, the First Prince gave them to me only after the Empress Dowager gave them her approval." After saying that, Jingci took the items and gently placed them on the small table next to Qingxin.

Qingxin touched each of the gifts, and when she touched the small jar of pear soup, tears welled up in her eyes, and she couldn't bear to let go of it.

She looked up and asked, "Heng'er... is he alright?"

Xiao Henian's smile deepened as he spoke gently, "The First Prince has already chosen one principal wife and two concubines. He will be enfeoffed as a prince and married on April 26th this year. When the First Prince summoned me before the New Year, he mentioned that after he leaves the palace..."
"Then I will ask the Emperor and the Empress Dowager for permission to visit you in the nunnery... The eldest prince grew another half an inch last year, and is about the same height as me. His shoulders have also grown longer and wider."

"He truly possessed dragon-like eyebrows and phoenix-like eyes, with a refined and handsome appearance. Moreover, he was learned and talented; even the Emperor and the Empress Dowager praised him for his composure and steadiness..."

Tears welled up in Qingxin's eyes, and her hands, which were holding prayer beads, trembled as she clasped them together in prayer.

"Amitabha Buddha, will this humble nun ever see him again in this lifetime?"

Xiao Henian comforted her, "Junior sister, please take care of yourself and wait patiently for the Crown Prince to come see you. Also, don't worry too much, and eat more. You're so thin, not only will the Crown Prince be heartbroken to see you like this, but the Empress Dowager will also be heartbroken to know."

Qingxin wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes with her sleeve, glanced at Jingci who was still standing to the side, and directly shooed her away.

"You may leave now. This humble nun wishes to have a chat with Benefactor Xiao."

A hint of reluctance flashed in Jingci's eyes, but she had no choice but to bow and retreat.

Xiao Henian got up and opened the small window a crack, seeing a middle-aged nun standing by a plum tree collecting snow from the petals. Seeing him look over, she gave him a barely perceptible nod.

Xiao Henian stood beside Qingxin and asked quietly, "Junior sister, think carefully again. Who was the person who delivered your baby here more than ten years ago?"

Qingxin's almond-shaped eyes widened, filled with urgency. "But it's been verified that I didn't give birth to a monster?"

Her voice trembled uncontrollably, and she even forgot to say "this humble nun".

Xiao Henian shook his head, his gaze fixed intently on his sister's eyes.

"Not yet. I've always suspected that the 'Red Hare' story is false; I'm just asking. Think carefully again, was there anything unusual that day?"

A wave of overwhelming disappointment washed over Qingxin. She sighed softly, her left hand unconsciously resting on her lower abdomen, her gaze becoming vacant.

She had said these words countless times, thought about them countless times...

She repeated softly, "The day before, she was perfectly fine when she went from the palace to the Zixia Nunnery. Both Imperial Physician Lin and Physician Cai examined her and said the pregnancy was stable and she would definitely give birth at full term. But on the afternoon of the fifteenth of July..."
"I was taking a walk in the garden to digest my food when suddenly a wild cat jumped down from a tree and landed right in front of me. Startled, I was immediately struck by a sharp, unbearable stomach cramp."

"It was too late to return to the palace to give birth, so the nunnery had to temporarily set aside a quiet room as a delivery room. I remember it very clearly: Female Doctor Cai was in charge of the delivery, with Female Doctors Zhao and Li assisting from the side."

"When Granny Xiao saw that I had difficulty standing, she said that since this was my second pregnancy, sitting would save me some energy. But Doctor Cai insisted on standing. I'm certain that Doctor Cai killed my child!"

A flash of hatred suddenly appeared in Qingxin's eyes. "At the time, there were also Granny Xiao, Xiaozhu, Fang Qiong, and Ye Zhen in the room. These people were all former servants of Kunning Palace. But apart from Granny Xiao, I don't know which of the others had been bribed..."

"I was in excruciating pain. The jade bracelet on my wrist snapped in the struggle, and I still remember the crisp sound it made as it hit the ground. I fainted from the pain, and when I woke up, they said I had given birth to a monster..."

She gripped Xiao Henian's hand tightly, her nails almost digging into his flesh.

“Brother, believe me, there’s no way I could have given birth to a monster. The night before I gave birth, I dreamt that I had a daughter, who was snow-white and adorable, just like me, with a little cinnabar birthmark between her eyebrows, it really was…”

Tears streamed down her face silently. "In my dream, I was wearing strange clothes, holding my little girl who looked like a pink dumpling. Her birthmark was brighter than rouge, so striking. She wore a small lotus leaf hat, smiled at me, and blew bubbles at me..."

"But my daughter is gone, replaced by a skinless monster. They must have killed her. My poor daughter, I, the Empress, failed to protect you. I am useless, I have killed you..."

She pressed a handkerchief tightly to her mouth, choking back her piercing cries, her shoulders heaving violently.

For more than a decade, she lived in regret day and night.

Xiao He patted her back gently, suppressing his sobs, "I believe you, I believe you will give birth to a little princess. It was my elder brother's incompetence; he was standing outside the door and didn't realize the evil deeds being committed inside."

He couldn't hide his grief; his sister's dream had come true—she had indeed given birth to a little princess. Before she could see the light of day, she was brutally murdered, thrown into the Bai Cang River, and her body was never found.

You damned beast!
But I can't tell my sister about this now, for fear that she'll give something away and be discovered by spies.

Xiao Henian took a deep breath and asked, "Have you picked up all the broken jade beads?"

His sister had told him these things many times before, and that day he told Ming Shanyue everything.

This was a detail that Ming Shanyue had specifically reminded him to ask about, yet he had overlooked it.

Qingxin wiped away her tears with a handkerchief and thought for a while before saying, "I was in so much pain and grief that I couldn't care less about a string of beads. First I was carried back to the palace, and then I came here to become a nun, so I stopped caring about worldly things."

Xiao Henian's expression grew increasingly solemn. "Thinking back carefully, every detail of that day was very important."

Qingxin nodded wearily. "I can only ask Jing'an. Of the servants who came to Zixia Nunnery with me that year, all of them except her are dead. If she hadn't been sick that day, she probably would be gone too. It must have been Xue Shi who did it. That vicious woman, she dared to harm even the Emperor's own flesh and blood."

Xiao Henian sighed deeply, “They will do anything to seize the throne. Remember, Jingci must never hear these words.”

"I know, and I'm on guard against her."

Xiao Henian walked to the window again and nodded to the nun outside.

Jing'an dried his hands with a handkerchief, broke off a few branches of red plum blossoms, and went into the meditation room, going straight to Qingxin's side.

Xiao Henian didn't move and continued looking out the window.

Qingxin asked in a low voice, "Do you still remember the jade bracelet that broke off my wrist when I gave birth here?"

Jing'an stared and pondered for a moment, then said slowly, "I remember now. When that terrible thing happened, the sky seemed to fall. Fa Gu was unconscious, and I was serving her at her bedside. I was so terrified and overwhelmed with grief that I didn't even notice the beads that Fa Gu always wore on her wrist."

"Before returning to the palace, Abbess Liaobei gave me a handful of beads, saying that the Empress had found them in that clean room after giving birth. I counted them; there were twelve in total."

"There were originally thirteen, but I thought maybe they forgot them, or maybe someone picked them up. At that time, I was busy and didn't care about such mundane things."

Xiao Henian suddenly turned around, "Is the bead still there?"

Jing'an said, "When Qingxin was ordained at the nunnery, she left many of her belongings with the eldest prince and only brought some personal items with her. I need to check the storeroom to see if she brought the bead."

Qingxin nodded.

Jing'an inserted the red plum blossoms into the flowerpot, bowed, and withdrew.

As I opened the door, I saw a small black bird fly over, trying to squeeze into the doorway.

He kept muttering, "Little aunt, even the lotus cannot compare to a beauty's makeup, Amitabha..."

Jing'an reacted quickly, grabbing it and closing the door.

Ah Xuan couldn't break free, cursing, "You idiot, you idiot..."

Qingxin usually liked Ah Xuan very much, but she didn't protect it at this moment. The little thing was good in every way, except that it liked to mimic others.

As the shouts and curses faded into the distance, Xiao Henian thought for a moment and then said in a low voice, "I heard that 'Qiao'er' was Ming Changqing's pet in Xiqing Prefecture, and it only returned to the capital with Ming Shanyue last year..."

(End of this chapter)