Chapter 169

Gusu, Xuanmu Mountain, Panxiang Temple.

A guarding nun took a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl to the guest room in the inner courtyard.

An old nun with a kind face was already sitting in the guest room.

The girl had a slender figure, tender and beautiful, skin like jade, and a bright red mole between her eyebrows.

The old nun smiled: "This girl is truly good-looking. I heard you want to make a donation to the temple."

The girl smiled: "My mother made a grand wish in the temple a few years ago. I didn't expect it to come true. She is very grateful for the protection of the Buddha in your temple, so she asked me to make a donation to the temple to repay the Buddha's grace.

My family brought more than 20 gifts to give to all the monks and nuns in the temple. My mother specifically explained that in order to show piety, I must personally give the gifts to every nun, and I ask the abbess to fulfill it."

Although the old nun was old, she was energetic, and her eyes were wise and deep, gathering spirit and light, as if she could see through people's hearts.

"I see that the girl has the aura of separation, but now her eyebrows have the joy of reconciliation. Did you ever get lost when you were young, and because of the help of a noble person, you have eliminated this disaster?"

In a fit of anger, he immediately wanted to take Zhen Ying Lian away. Zhen Ying Lian naturally wanted to follow him, but she couldn't bear to leave her mother.

She was a widow, lonely and helpless. If she wanted to find a good place for her daughter in the future, she was afraid it would be extremely difficult.

In the incense room of the Panxiang Temple, Zhen Ying Lian looked at the old nun and said curiously: "How did the nun see it? I got lost since I was a child and only recently found my mother."

This girl was naturally Zhen Ying Lian. The day Jia Cong arrived in Gusu, he first went to the Feng family to see Zhen Ying Lian.

The Young Master said that male guests are not allowed to enter the inner hall of the nunnery, so he taught me these words to help him find someone. But he didn't say that this abbess was so powerful, not only could she read faces, but she could also read them so accurately?

Although he knew early on that this Feng Su was not a good person, he had precautions in his heart, otherwise he would not have gone to see Zhen Ying Lian the first time he arrived in Gusu.

Jia Cong heard that conversation at the door and was already full of anger. Feng Su was so inferior, how could he be at ease leaving Zhen Ying Lian in the Feng family?

Feng Su naturally tried his best to stop him. His newly acquired granddaughter was so beautiful, whether she was a wife or a concubine to others, she was worth a large amount of bride price. How could he be willing to let her go?

This Young Master Jia was so protective of Zhen Ying Lian, and he was the one who saved Zhen Ying Lian in Jin Ling.

But he kicked open the courtyard door as soon as he arrived at the door and heard that conversation between Madam Feng and Feng Su.

And Zhen Ying Lian had been thinking about that Young Master Jia day and night. Although the girl was still young, it might not be the meaning of men and women.

He only told Madam Feng that he wanted to take Zhen Ying Lian to help him find someone, and after he finished his business and left Gusu, he would definitely send Zhen Ying Lian back to meet her, and then make plans.

Feng Su only dared to scold and stop Jia Cong in words. He didn't have the ability to use force against Jia Cong.

It's just that I didn't expect Feng Su to be so inferior. He had just found his lost granddaughter, and only a few days later, he disliked her for wasting rice and wanted to sell her to someone as a concubine for 500 taels.

She had suffered half a lifetime of bitterness and had long seen through many things. Wealth and riches are not long-term, only mutual understanding is long-term happiness. This Young Master Jia might be her daughter's fate.

But Madam Feng did not stop him. Her father was greedy and unrighteous, with only silver and money in his eyes, and no family affection at all. If her daughter stayed here, it would be difficult to have a good end.

But Madam Feng was also a person who had come over, knowing that her daughter was willing to follow him.

The guarding nun beside her smiled: "Our abbess is proficient in innate divine numbers and can see people's life, death, fortune, and misfortune. Everyone in Gusu city knows it."

The girl was stunned when she heard this, and her face showed a naive and confused expression.

Madam Feng was a widow, living in her mother's house. Although she loved her daughter, she was afraid that she would not be able to beat her father in the end. If Zhen Ying Lian stayed for one more day, there would be one more accident.

The old nun seemed to have a good impression of Zhen Ying Lian and chatted for a few more words, then asked all the nuns in the temple to come to the guest room to receive the donation.

The guarding nun saw this girl running to the door of the inner hall, waving at the outside, and a youth who had been waiting outside the door came in carrying the donation gifts.

But he was stopped by the guarding nun because male guests are not allowed to enter the inner hall of the nunnery.

This is also the reason why Jia Cong brought Zhen Ying Lian here. When he was looking for someone in 11 nunneries in Jin Ling, he also brought Wuer with him, which is the reason.

When he was in Jin Ling, he got the official document for visiting issued by Jia Yucun, but Gusu was a place where he was not familiar with the place, and he couldn't do this.

So he came up with the method of letting Zhen Ying Lian pretend to be a pious Buddhist girl, and by borrowing the donation to the temple, he went to the Panxiang Temple to investigate Zhi Shao.

Although he was anxious, this kind of ancient temple nunnery had strict rules, and he was not good at breaking in, so he just waited for Zhen Ying Lian to see the person he wanted to find, and then make plans.

In the guest room of the inner courtyard, the nuns in the temple came in one by one to receive the donation, but after more than a dozen nuns came in, Zhen Ying Lian did not see the person in Jia Cong's description.

She asked: "Abbess, I heard that there are two nuns with hair in the temple, both of whom are excellent. Why don't I see them coming out?"

The guest room of the inner courtyard of the Panxiang Temple was very close to the second door of the inner courtyard. The small corridor was leisurely, and there was nothing to block it. Zhen Ying Lian's crisp voice came out and was clearly heard by Jia Cong who was guarding outside the second door.

His heartbeat also accelerated involuntarily.

He heard the old nun say: "My two disciples with hair, although they practice in the temple, they have not received the precepts, so they cannot receive the donation."

Zhen Ying Lian was surprised when she heard this. The Young Master was really smart. He was able to predict things before they happened. This matter was guessed by him, and he even taught me how to answer and speak in advance.

"Abbess, I heard from my family long ago that these two sisters with hair are not ordinary. Their gifts are not donations, but ordinary and intimate gifts.

My family said that the Buddha respects those who have fate, and no one in the temple can be neglected. Can you please ask the two sisters to come out and see me, so that my family can fulfill their wish."

The guarding nun beside her didn't care. This female guest came to the temple to make a grand donation, and it was just an ordinary matter to want to see the two disciples with hair.

But the old nun was wise and deep, extraordinary. She saw that Zhen Ying Lian had a strange appearance when she saw her, and now she couldn't hear that she was particularly concerned about her two disciples with hair.

However, she calculated that it was not a bad thing, so she asked the guarding nun to call someone.

After a while, Zhen Ying Lian saw two nuns with hair enter the guest room.

The first nun to enter was beautiful and elegant, with a cold complexion and a scholarly air.

The nun behind her had less coldness, with willow eyebrows and bright eyes, a graceful posture, and as beautiful as a peony. Although she was wearing Buddhist clothes, she could not hide her beauty.

Before coming, Zhen Ying Lian had seen the portrait drawn by Jia Cong, and it was this nun who entered later.

Zhen Ying Lian felt a burst of joy in her heart, feeling that she had finally helped the Young Master accomplish a thing, and felt a burst of pride in her heart.

The Young Master said that the person in the painting was a maid who served him since childhood and had been lost for several years, but why did she become a nun?

Zhen Ying Lian took out the two gifts Jia Cong had prepared early.

This time, the donations given to other nuns were all the same robes, hats, shoes, and socks.

And these two gifts were also very different.

One of them was a set of excellent four treasures of the study, but the other one was a bit strange, a pair of silver flower twisted silk bracelets.

Jia Cong had instructed Zhen Ying Lian that if she saw the person in the painting, she would give the bracelets, and if it was not the person in the painting, another set of gifts had been prepared.

Zhen Ying Lian held the bracelets with both hands and handed them to the nun with hair who entered later, asking: "May I ask what this sister is called?"

The nun looked at the bracelets, her expression somewhat confused, looked at the old nun beside her, and after seeing the old nun nod, she said: "Dharma name Jinghui, thank you for the donation."

Her voice was clear and very pretty, quite different from the solemnity of the ancient Buddha nunnery.

Jia Cong, who was standing at the second door of the inner hall, was listening intently.

As soon as he arrived in Gusu, he asked the locals, only to know that there were no other temples on Xuanmu Mountain in Gusu except for the Panxiang Temple, so the locals called the Panxiang Temple the Xuanmu Temple.

And according to what he knew, the official of the Monk Recording Department was from Gusu, so when registering the roster, he casually recorded the Panxiang Temple as the Xuanmu Temple.

Even so, he could not be completely sure that he could find Zhi Shao here, but Sister Miao Yu's practice here was undoubted.

So the gift he prepared was the four treasures of the study.

And the two silver flower twisted silk bracelets he gave to Zhi Shao that year had always been with him.

Because male guests could not enter the inner hall of the nunnery, he had drawn Zhi Shao's portrait in advance and let Zhen Ying Lian look at it until she was familiar with it.

At this time, hearing Zhen Ying Lian ask the other party's name, he pricked up his ears and listened.

That sentence: "Dharma name Jinghui, thank you for the donation."

The voice was spiritual and soft, but it sounded like a bell in Jia Cong's ears. How could he not hear that it was Zhi Shao's voice?

Trembling with excitement, he rushed into the inner hall of the nunnery regardless of anything.

(End of chapter)