High-class Spring Joy

Qingyuan fumbled with the bandage on her wrist, her tone calm: "Right and wrong always reside in the hearts of men, just like flowers. Those who love them call them suitable for a home, while those who don't discard them and let them drift away. Whether the truth is important or not has always been in Chu Jingyu's own heart. If he doesn't want to blame Jiang Qingge, he can naturally find a hundred or a thousand reasons to explain it to her. If he really wants to avenge me, why would he need reasons or confirmation? He never wanted to lay a hand on her in the first place; he was only pushed to the limit today. The fire in Jiang Qingge's room gave him an excellent excuse. Don't think about it anymore, go to sleep early. We are maids; it is extremely difficult for servants to seek justice from their masters."

Hongdou pursed her lips: "But sister, I'm fine, I'm not hurt. I'm just worried about you. You already had scars on your wrist, and the burns from when the young master spilled the medicine had just healed. Now this has been burned all over, it's a bloody mess, charred black. I don't know when it will grow back."

As Hongdou spoke, tears streamed down her face, one after another, as if she could feel Qingyuan's pain.

Qingyuan patted her hand: "I'm fine. At least I'm still alive. As long as I'm alive, there's hope. Things change. Those who do many evil deeds will surely perish. I can't do anything to her now, but that doesn't mean I'll never catch her or the Minister of Justice of the Court of Judicial Review."

Life is long, and who knows what will happen? It's not entirely impossible that one day Jiang Qingge will be kneeling and begging her for mercy.

Who knows, maybe one day God will take pity on them and strike them dead with a bolt of lightning.

-

That night, only Qingyuan and Hongdou were too tired to fall asleep.

Baiyun Courtyard was brightly lit. Chu Jingyu looked at the unconscious Jiang Qingge and was caught in endless self-blame and inner turmoil.

He believed in Ge'er, but he believed in Qingyuan even more.

Qingyuan had been by his side for ten years. He had never doubted her, and he could never doubt that she would do anything to hurt Ge'er.

Will Ge'er do something to hurt A Yuan?

Chu Jingyu didn't know, but at least the Ge'er he knew before would never do that.

In another place, candlesticks were constantly burning.

Crimson Cloud Garden.

Looking at the brightly lit study, littered with finished Buddha paintings, Zheji wanted to advise, "Young Master, I know you want to help Miss Qingyuan, but you are already blind, and painting is already mentally and physically exhausting for you. It's really unnecessary to paint all night. Why not paint tomorrow?"

Chen Sha, standing beside him, nodded in agreement: "Young master, in my opinion, these Buddha statues you have painted are already very well. The spirit, the figure, the eyebrows and eyes are all lifelike. They are already very good."

"Time was tight, and embroidery is a tedious and tiring craft. Since she wanted to win, I helped her win beautifully."

As Chu Jingxian spoke, his pen continued to flow: "There is one more thing, Zheji, that you must handle."

Upon hearing this, Zheji immediately nodded: "Yes, young master. If His Highness the Crown Prince asks, how should we answer? Perhaps I should investigate first, and with solid evidence, we can explain to His Highness the Crown Prince."

"No need, just answer truthfully."

Chu Jingxian sneered, "There's nothing to investigate. I'm not that foolish Fifth Brother. Everything is what I deserve."

-

Just as Qingyuan had predicted, Chu Jingyu stayed at Baiyun Courtyard for the second and third days, guarding Jiang Qingge's side.

Regarding the fire incident, it was said that many people were ordered to investigate, but Qingyuan knew perfectly well that nothing was ever done.

She had no time to care about Chu Jingyu's behavior; she quickened her pace towards Chixia Garden, but along the way she overheard the maids and servants gossiping:

"Hey, didn't Baiyun Courtyard catch fire yesterday? Let me tell you, when I went out to buy groceries today, I heard that another house in the east of the city is on fire!"

"Yes, yes, I heard about it too, and it seems to be the residence of Minister Jiang of the Court of Judicial Review. Isn't it a coincidence? My daughter's Baiyun Courtyard caught fire, and then Minister Jiang's residence also caught fire? That fire was much worse than ours. They say it was almost uninhabitable. Fortunately, there weren't any casualties, but most of the house was burned down. Don't you think Jiang Qingge's family is just cursed and unlucky?"

"Tsk, that's more than that. I heard that it wasn't just a fire. They say last night, a bolt of lightning suddenly struck down and hit Lord Jiang's mansion, which is how the fire started. That's a real lightning strike! Maybe their family is just some kind of unclean, unlucky ghost. It's best to stay away from Baiyun Courtyard in the future, lest those two Jiang family young ladies bring bad luck upon us."

Qingyuan listened for a couple of minutes and got the gist of it. She felt a surge of joy and wanted to laugh out loud, pointing at Jiang Qingge and saying, "You've finally met your match!"

Sure enough, even God has eyes!

After the initial exhilaration subsided, Qingyuan quickly realized she had important business to attend to, so she took a side road to Chixia Garden.

Qingyuan was led by Chensha straight to the study, where she saw Chu Jingxian sitting in a wheelchair with several sheets of Xuan paper on the desk in front of him. From a distance, one could see that there were patterns on them.

Chu Jingxian continued painting, seemingly very focused, and didn't notice Qing Yuan's arrival due to her footsteps.

Qingyuan glanced at him and immediately noticed something was wrong. Chu Jingxian's skin was always pale and cold, that was true.

Qingyuan had already confirmed it that night; everywhere was a cold, pale white, except for one spot with bulging blue veins that looked ferocious. Whenever it touched her skin, it would flush an abnormal red.

But under normal circumstances, it is a cool white.

Now, his face is sickly pale, almost transparent.

She turned to look at Chen Sha, "Young Master, when did you get up to paint?"

As soon as she spoke, Chu Jingxian, who was in the study, noticed her. "Since you're here, come in."

Before Chen Sha could answer, Qing Yuan could only enter the study and bow, saying, "This servant greets the Third Young Master."

"I told you there's no need to bow in private. Come here and look at the Buddha statue."

As Chu Jingxian spoke, he finally made the last stroke of the Buddha statue.

Qingyuan went over and saw that there were two Buddha images, but they depicted different Buddhas.

As she looked at it, Chu Jingxian explained, "The one in the left hand is Amitabha Buddha, and the one in the right hand is Bhaisajyaguru Buddha. The most common depictions of these two are modified versions copied by people. I read about them in ancient Buddhist scriptures, but since I can't see them, I could only draw them according to my own imagination, so they may not be perfect."

"Young master, you flatter me! I have never seen such a lifelike Buddha statue in my life. It is just a piece of paper, but the painting you made seems to come alive from the paper. Your brushwork is truly exceptional."

Qingyuan wasn't flattering anyone; she was being sincere. While lifelike depictions might not be considered top-notch, the ability to capture the essence of Zen through painting was already an unimaginable feat.

Even though she was unfamiliar with Buddhist worship and the posture and state of the Buddha statue were unlike anything she had ever seen before, she was immediately struck by the devout and pure aura emanating from it.

Upon seeing this, Qingyuan understood his meaning. Since her embroidery of the Medicine Buddha could not overwhelm Jiang Qingge's Amitabha Buddha, she would embroider both.

Double-sided embroidery, that's what my sister is best at, how could Qingyuan not know it?

"If you like it, that's fine."

After she finished speaking, Chu Jingxian noticed the cheerfulness in her tone and asked, "Why are you so happy today?"