Chapter 376

Mount Xuanmu, Panxiang Temple, back hall.

In Abbess Xiushan's room, Zhi Shao was chatting with her master, talking about her days in the Love Shenjing over the past two years.

Sister Miao Yu saw that after her master saw Zhi Shao, her smile softened and even her spirit was much better, so she was very happy in her heart and quietly left the room.

She entered her room, took out the collected tea tray, tea set, and utensils, and washed them with clear water.

She opened the ghost-faced blue and white jar on the bottom shelf of the bookshelf, took out the collected snow water from it, and boiled the water on the wind stove, brewing a pot of tea.

……

In the guest room, between Xing Xiuyan and Jia Cong, just a few words were enough to have a tacit understanding, removing that layer of vague estrangement.

Xing Xiuyan had a simple and indifferent temperament, was still young, had not lost her innocence, and chatted very harmoniously with Jia Cong.

After a while, Jingxuan brought out an extremely exquisite tea tray from the inner hall. The tea tray was carved with gold-filled begonia flowers, and there were complex cloud-dragon birthday patterns, simple and delicate, elegant and noble.

Zhi Shao was personally helping him make the bed and fold the quilt in the room.

This made Zhi Shao, who had forgotten the past, quite moved, but it hadn't reached the point of following him to death.

Snow from plum blossoms was used as water, and ancient jade antiques were used as utensils. Even the tea tray for the cups was a rare treasure. Even with the luxury of the Ning and Rong mansions, Jia Cong had never seen such precious tea sets.

Jingxuan said: "Junior sister said that the young lady used this point-rhino cup in the past, so she still let the young lady use it."

That she could make tea drinking so extreme could only be due to the influence of her original family.

She also took Jia Cong's clothes to be washed, went to the courtyard to wash them, and hummed a little tune in her mouth, showing that she was in a very happy mood.

Not only did he find opportunities to talk to her and relieve her boredom every day, but in Gusu city, dresses, hairpins, sweets, and snacks were all bought by Jia Cong.

This green jade cup was Sister Miao Yu's own tea cup, which had never been used by outsiders. Even when she drank tea with her usually, she only used the point-rhino cup in her hand.

Only later did she become a nun, which eliminated her illness and worldly sins.

She had always known that Sister Miao Yu was noble and eccentric, and was not used to being close to others.

Jia Cong came from a wealthy family and had seen many precious utensils in the mansion, but this was the first time he had seen such an exquisite tea tray.

What kind of family could raise someone like Sister Miao Yu, that priceless tea sets were just ordinary personal items...?

……

Abbess Xiushan was a high-virtue nun, her spirit was outside the five elements, her meaning was that everything was empty, and her heart was not lazy about things.

Jingxuan lifted the square iron pot from the tea tray and poured tea into two exquisite tea cups.

Jia Cong naturally knew the fame of these two tea cups, and the green jade cup in his hand, which was warm and smooth to the touch, was Sister Miao Yu's own treasure, which was extraordinary.

This courtyard had a deep influence on Zhi Shao. Back then, Jia Cong lived on Mount Xuanmu for a long time, trying every way to make her happy every day.

This courtyard had extraordinary significance for them, full of ups and downs and warm memories.

Xing Xiuyan looked at the green jade cup in Jia Cong's hand, and surprise appeared in her eyes.

……

Zhi Shao helped Jia Cong tidy up the bed, filled the teapot with hot water, and placed it in a ventilated place to cool, so that Jia Cong could take it if he was thirsty at night.

It is rumored that Sister Miao Yu came from an official family. Because she was weak and sick when she was young, she found many substitutes to enter the Buddhist gate, but none of them could resolve it.

The tea tray held a plum blossom auspicious snow welcoming pine square iron pot and two tea cups of different styles and exquisite and simple shapes.

She was willing to let her cousin use her green jade cup. Although it was a bit strange, it seemed that because her cousin had sent Jinghui back, Sister Miao Yu was grateful to him, so she treated him with such courtesy.

Jingxuan laughed: "Just now I went into the inner hall to prepare tea, but Junior Sister Sister Miao Yu had already brewed tea herself, and used the snow collected from the plum blossoms in the back mountain four years ago as a sign of respect for guests."

That night, Jia Cong lived in the courtyard he had lived in two years ago, which had been cleaned like new by Sister Miao Yu and Xing Xiuyan in advance.

Before the age of twelve, every festival, relatives would come to visit and bring many precious daily items.

Xing Xiuyan heard this and laughed: "That's rare. There was heavy snow on Mount Xuanmu four years ago, and the plum blossoms bloomed exceptionally well that year."

She also took the other square green jade cup from the tea tray and offered it to Jia Cong to taste.

Jingxuan took one of the cups and handed it to Xing Xiuyan. The cup was small in shape, bowl-like in appearance, soft yellow and elegant in color, and the cup wall was engraved with three seal characters: Point Rhino Cup.

The tea in the cup entered the mouth. Although the tea taste was light, the water quality was soft and light, and the tea fragrance was mixed with the plum fragrance like silk, which was refreshing and broadened the mind.

In her spare time over the past two years, Zhi Shao often mentioned Sister Miao Yu to Jia Cong.

A cup of clear tea could actually taste such a wonderful flavor.

She couldn't teach Sister Miao Yu such a clear and particular tea ceremony, which was inconsistent with the Buddhist purpose of emptiness and inaction.

I remember Sister Sister Miao Yu collected a jar of plum blossom snow and buried it underground for several years. She couldn't bear to eat it. This time, hearing that Sister Jinghui was coming back, she took it out from underground.

Therefore, Jia Cong knew many details that he couldn't have known before, such as Sister Miao Yu becoming a nun with Abbess Xiushan at the age of five.

It was also on that early morning that Zhi Shao was held hostage by an assassin hired by Cui Bowang, and Jia Cong saved her regardless of his life, which made Zhi Shao wholeheartedly devoted to him from then on.

Jia Cong had long known that Sister Miao Yu was proficient in tea ceremony, but only through personal experience could he realize to what extent she was proficient.

After the age of twelve, perhaps because her family members passed away one after another, or for some other reason, no relatives came to visit again.

Although Sister Miao Yu was just a nun who practiced while keeping her hair, she lived no differently from ordinary wealthy official young ladies.

She also picked many wild flowers from behind the mountain, tied them into a bundle with a hair tie, and inserted them into a porcelain altar at the window, giving the whole room a bright and vibrant vitality.

I didn't expect her to take it to treat my cousin first. I'm also lucky to follow my cousin and get some light."

Jia Cong saw her busy in the room and laughed: "Look at how happy you are. What good thing happened again? Tell me about it."

Zhi Shao looked at him and smiled, saying: "Third Master, could it be that you are also proficient in innate divine calculations like my master, to be able to say it so accurately?"

"I talked to my master and senior sister this morning. My master said she had a wish to go to the Muni Academy in the Love Shenjing to study ancient palm-leaf scriptures. She also said that when you return from Jin Ling, she will take my senior sister and us to go together."

"You say how good this is. No wonder my master said your fate is precious. If I follow you, I can turn from bad to good and everything will be satisfactory. It is really not wrong."

In Zhi Shao's view, it was an unexpected joy, but for Jia Cong, it was just the original context of things.

And he also knew that after Abbess Xiushan arrived in the Love Shenjing, she eventually passed away at the Muni Academy.

Before she passed away, she left a last word, saying that Sister Miao Yu had a great disaster in her fate and needed to stay in the Love Shenjing to resolve it, and could not return to Panxiang Temple.

After that, Sister Miao Yu lived in the Love Shenjing for a long time, which led to the later invitation from Lady Wang, and the matter of moving into the Longcui Nunnery in the Grand View Garden.

Further on, as the Rongguo Jia family gradually declined, Sister Miao Yu's ending was also confusing, with different opinions, and there was no definite number.

But now with the appearance of Jia Cong, he believes that the original trend of the situation will inevitably change.

Of course, these are all later stories for Jia Cong.

Both he and Zhi Shao were revisiting old places, returning to this familiar courtyard, and both felt a lot of emotion in their hearts, each happy in their hearts.

They sat together, whispering for a long time, and then Zhi Shao returned to the inner hall of Panxiang Temple.

Now that she was back in the temple, naturally she couldn't keep watch and accompany him to bed like in the mansion.

After Jia Cong lived on Mount Xuanmu for one night, he said goodbye to Zhi Shao, Abbess Xiushan, Sister Miao Yu, Xing Xiuyan, and others early the next morning.

He returned to Tieling Pass Ferry alone, hired a boat, and rushed to Jin Ling.

……

Jin Ling, Hongwen Street, Sihai Bank.

Hongwen Street is located in the core area of Jin Ling city, with a large flow of people, and various luxuriously decorated restaurants, tile markets, teahouses, and spring buildings are densely packed.

Sihai Bank is located in the center-left position of Hongwen Street. It is not the most expensive location for rent, but it is the shop with the largest facade.

Sihai Bank is a large bank that counts in Jin Ling. It has been open for fifteen years, has a large storage of treasury silver, and has a good reputation for deposit and exchange.

In recent years, the maritime trade business in Jin Ling city has been prosperous, which has not only spawned many local maritime trade wealthy merchants.

Moreover, foreign merchants from various coastal prefectures of the Great Zhou and various Eastern and Western barbarian countries have all gathered in this large city of Jin Ling, and the daily trade silver flow is countless.

No wealthy merchant would carry half a cart of silver to do business, so in recent years, the business of well-known banks in Jin Ling city has been very hot.

This Sihai Bank opened on Hongwen Street not only has a long history of opening shops, but the background of the owner is also very solid.

The major shareholder is the famous Jin Ling Zhen family, and the other small shareholders are also people with faces in Jin Ling city.

So many passing maritime merchants like to come here to deposit and exchange silver.

……

This day was also like the past, and the shop of Sihai Bank was crowded with people, and the business was prosperous.

Not only were there many merchants coming to deposit and exchange silver, but there were also many guests coming to the bank to deposit items.

Because, besides the main business of depositing and exchanging silver, Sihai Bank also provided the service of depositing items, which was popular in Jiangnan.

Many families, either to prevent theft or because it was inconvenient to collect precious items at home, chose to deposit them in the storage files of well-known large banks, which was a safe and hidden choice.

Among the flow of people entering and leaving the front hall of the bank, a fifty-year-old old man with gray hair walked out of the shop with a disappointed expression.

He crossed the street and walked for dozens of steps, stopping at a nearby street corner. A carriage had already stopped there.

He got on the carriage. Sitting in the carriage was a handsome young man with bright eyes that could not be looked at directly, and his temperament was slightly delicate.

The young man saw the old man return empty-handed and asked: "Wei Bo, didn't you get the things back?"

This young man was Zou Min'er, who had changed her clothes. The fifty-year-old old man was her old servant, Wei Bo.

Last month, Wei Bo, a confidant of the Zou mansion, was chased by the Pushiyuan and fled all the way to the Love Shenjing to find Zou Min'er.

And he handed the secret box that her father had asked him to keep to Zou Min'er. Inside the secret box was a storage file of Sihai Bank.

Zou Min'er went down to Jin Ling for official business, so she brought this loyal old servant with her.

The Zhongche Office is an internal agency authorized by imperial power. She went down to Jin Ling to handle business, holding the Zhongche Office inspection token, and all official offices and officials along the way had to avoid her, so naturally, she was not afraid of anyone making things difficult for Wei Bo.

Moreover, this old servant of hers was a fierce soldier in the army when he was young, and he was used to the outside world, very good at restraining his tracks, and didn't cause any trouble along the way.

Wei Bo said: "Miss, I took the storage file ticket to the counter to get things, but the clerk looked at the ticket, checked the bottom account book, and said that this storage file signature had a contract."

"It requires the person who deposited the item to be present to confirm that it is the person before they can extract the deposited item. Moreover, the person who deposited the item back then was not the master, but a middle-aged woman. I went, so naturally, I couldn't get the things."

Zou Min'er's eyes turned, and she asked: "If we find a middle-aged woman to impersonate the person concerned to take the item, wouldn't we be able to get the things?"

Zou Min'er was a daughter of an official family before and had never been to a bank, so she knew very little about the rules and ways of the bank.

Wei Bo smiled bitterly: "It's not that easy. I've already inquired clearly. The storage contract not only requires the person who deposited the item to be present to extract it, but also requires checking the signature and flower seal, which is extremely difficult to impersonate."

"Because it is a contract storage, in order to ensure the safety of the extraction of the deposited item, the bank will describe the appearance of the person who deposited the item in detail in writing beforehand, and it is very easy to be seen through if someone is found to impersonate."

When Zou Min'er heard this, she felt a bit difficult. She didn't expect that her father's storage file ticket had so many requirements, and it was not easy to take things out.

Wei Bo said again: "Later, I told the bank clerk that there were many women in my family and I didn't know which one came to deposit the things."

"I also gave him five taels of silver as a benefit, and he told me that the woman who deposited the things was named Gu Yanzhen, and she paid the storage fee for five years at once, and now there are three years left."

"Miss, I have never heard of this person named Gu Yanzhen. How could the master entrust such important things to her to deposit? Could it be... could it be that she is the master's concubine?"

……

When Zou Min'er heard this, she glared at Wei Bo: "What concubine? Don't talk nonsense. The one who deposited the things is my mother, and that is her maiden name."

Wei Bo was stunned when he heard this and said: "Miss, I know the lady's name, but it's not this name?"

Zou Min'er sighed: "I probably know a little bit now. It must be that my father asked my mother to deposit things under this name to cover people's eyes and ears!"

Seeing Wei Bo's confused expression, she continued: "My mother was given this name by my maternal grandfather when she was born, but my mother was weak since she was a child and was often sick and hard to heal."

"Later, a lame Daoist priest with a way came to Jin Ling and said that my mother's name was not good, it conflicted with her eight characters, and had the curse of suppression."

"He only needed to prescribe a few doses of soup medicine and let the family change the name, and the illness would be cured."

"My maternal grandfather had always believed in these divine sayings, so he changed my mother's name, and after eating the soup medicine prescribed by the lame Daoist priest, my mother's illness was indeed cured, and her body became healthy from then on."

"So my mother was called Gu Yanzhen before she was five years old, and after she was five, she changed her name and never used this name again."

"Because of the long time, except for my maternal grandfather and grandmother, no one knew that my mother had used this name."

"And because that lame Daoist priest was very magical, my maternal grandfather was in awe in his heart and never mentioned my mother's original name to others, for fear of bringing illness to my mother."

"Now, my maternal grandparents have passed away for many years. Even if someone heard about this, they wouldn't know my mother's old name. However, once in my spare time, my mother and I mentioned this old matter to my father."

"So only my father and I knew my mother's old name!"

Wei Bo was a bit enlightened and said again: "But the lady has passed away, wouldn't the things the master deposited never be taken out?"

Zou Min'er said: "My mother was a daughter of an embroidery building before she married, and a lady who didn't step out of the inner house after she married. Except for relatives, few people recognize her appearance."

"My father asked my mother to deposit things in the bank and used a little-known old name. Others would never think that the storage would be related to the Zou family."

"My father also paid the storage fee for five years, and there are three years left, so there is no need to be too anxious. That thing can't run away. It is safer to put it in Sihai Bank, without anyone knowing."

She asked again: "Wei Bo, you are often by my father's side. What do you think my father deposited?"

Wei Bo replied: "Although I am the master's follower, the master didn't let me intervene in official matters, so I don't know very well."

Speaking of this, Wei Bo's tone was a bit hesitant: "Miss, there is something I don't know whether I should say or not..."

Zou Min'er looked at him and said: "There are only two of us left in the Zou family. What else is there that shouldn't be said? Wei Bo, please just say it."

Wei Bo said: "After the master passed away, people outside were all saying that the Water Supervision Office under the master's command colluded with Japanese ronin and plundered twenty or thirty large ocean ships on the outer sea."

"The gold, silver, and foreign goods plundered were like mountains, but until now, the government cannot find this batch of wealth. When the Zou family was raided at that time, although there was a lot of family wealth, it was far less."

"So, will he deposit a part of the wealth in the bank to prepare a way out for himself as a need for an emergency?"

When Zou Min'er heard this, her face turned pale and she said: "If my father only deposited some gold and silver wealth, then what use is it to me? It's completely meaningless!"

Now, even with more gold and silver wealth, it cannot wash away the shame of her lowly status in the Music Bureau.

Moreover, Zou Min'er had read the documents of the Zhongche Office. Each of the ocean ships ordered to be robbed by her father had dozens of crew members, and the accumulation was nearly a thousand lives. She didn't dare to think about it anymore...

However, Zou Min'er also thought that although her father had committed many blood debts, he was not a mediocre person, but a person with schemes and means, not a simple miser.

He solemnly handed the storage file ticket to his confidant to keep just in case. Did he only leave a pile of dead gold and silver objects!

(End of chapter)