Chapter 173 – Nunnery
Even though Yu Tang had her speculations, this was not the time to ponder over these things in detail. They quickly arrived at the courtyard where Gu Xi lived, and only then did Yu Tang realise that the door on the side of the main room was half-open, and maids were coming in and out with rag-cloths and carrying water, so it was obvious that Mrs. Shen was gone.
Several people suddenly fell silent.
Hexiang who came over to greet the guests also had a momentary look of embarrassment, and quickly explained in a low voice, “My mistress originally also wanted to go down the mountain with Mrs. Shen, but she suddenly got sick, and secondly, it was Mr. Shen himself who came to pick up Mrs. Shen, and my mistress was afraid that Mr. Shen’s face would be disgraced and it was not proper for her to go together, so she could only see Mrs. Shen off first.” After saying this, she sighed heavily, face full of worry and added, “I wonder what would happen in future. Should we treat Mrs Shen as per usual? Or should we maintain our distance from now on? My mistress doesn’t feel slighted in the least, but she’s afraid that Mrs. Shen might not feel comfortable seeing her.”
Was this not a clear show of dislike for Mrs. Shen’s company?
If it’s really not disdain, then what’s the point of saying all this? Even if she’s sick, resting on the bed and cannot move, she could have her maids, serving aunties accompany Mrs. Shen down. Even if Mrs. Shen is not comfortable with it, there was Mr. Shen. Companions do not abandon each other. Mrs. Shen accompanied Gu Xi to Lin’an, even if there should be something wrong with Mrs. Shen, as a matter of principle, Gu Xi should leave with Mrs. Shen.
In her previous life, Yu Tang had always admired Gu Xi for being sensible and magnanimous, but now, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Maybe it is because in her previous life, she looked up to her a lot more and felt guilty towards her as well, and now she could view Gu Xi as her equal, as Yu Tang had already left the Li family and stood on the opposite side of Gu Xi.
Yu Tang curled her lip slightly in distaste.
Third Miss kept her head lowered and remained silent. Second Miss and Fourth Miss, meanwhile, were happily chatting with He Xiang, “That’s something unavoidable. No one could have imagined that the usually circumspect Mrs. Shen would lose her cool, and Sister Gu was implicated as well.” She then asked, “Is Sister Gu okay? Has she taken her medicine?”
Hexiang respectfully answered.
Fifth Miss, however, glanced around, hesitating to speak.
Yu Tang went forward and took her hand, whispering, “What’s the matter?”
Fifth Miss hesitated for a moment. Upon seeing that several of her sisters were walking in front of her, she quietly whispered, “Sister Yu, I heard that Sister Gu suffered a fright…… despite that I think that she should have gone with Mrs. Shen. …… If it were me, I would definitely be too ashamed to continue staying in someone else’s home given the situation…” Speaking of this, her face reddened and feeling that she had mis-spoke, she hurriedly added, “It’s not that I don’t welcome her company, but she was here accompanying Mrs. Shen. Mrs Shen must be feeling terrible, therefore she should be taking this time to console Mrs Shen instead…”
As Yu Tang listened, she had the urge to hug this little girl and give her a kiss. Although this adorable young lady didn’t know the principles behind what she said, but because of her pure heart, she instinctively knew what was right and what wasn’t.
“I understand.” Yu Tang replied quietly, “However, everyone’s temperament is different, and their ways of dealing with things are also different. It’s better for us to mind our own business.”
Fifth Miss nodded with a smile and cheerfully caught up with Fourth Miss, holding her hand as she entered Gu Xi’s room together.
Gu Xi likely knew that they were coming over, as she wore a green peony patterned cloth robe, with her long black hair casually pulled back into a bun. She had no jewellery on, only a white cloth tied around her forehead, and her face looked haggard. She smiled bitterly as she greeted them from the inner room, “You’re all here? Why didn’t you send a maid to inform me, so that I could prepare some tea and snacks ahead of time? Hexiang, go and make a pot of Xinyang Mao Jian Tea that I brought from home, so that Miss Yu and my dear sisters can have a taste.”
Hexiang answered with a smile and went off.
Second Young Miss stepped forward to support Gu Xi, lightly chiding, ”Since you’re not feeling well, don’t get out of bed to entertain us. Sister Yu, my sisters and I came here because we thought that you were all alone, and got worried that you would be lonely, so we decided to accompany you for a small chat and relieve your boredom. I didn’t realise that you would be burdened by spending your energy in entertaining us. If we had known this, we would have gone directly to Sister Yu’s place and let you rest.”
As Gu Xi listened, she smiled and looked at Yu Tang, saying “I’m not tired. Even if you all weren’t here, I’ll still be lying in bed. As you have said, my mind would be filled with wild thoughts. With all of you here, in the stuffy heat of my room, yet not disliking my company, I feel much better inside.”
“How could we ever dislike sister!” Fourth young miss immediately spoke up with wit and tact, “We’re all so worried about sister! Mrs. Shen is Mrs. Shen, Sister Gu is Sister Gu, none of us are the type of people who doesn’t know how to distinguish right from wrong, Sister Gu, you can rest assured. Recuperating properly should be the most important thing.”
Gu Xi nodded repeatedly, seemingly very touched.
Yu Tang turned her face away, not wanting to see Gu Xi faking her gratitude.
Gu Xi had a strong personality, if she really felt apologetic, instead of verbally apologising, she would only secretly think of ways to assist you. If she thinks she’s doing the right thing, her apologies would overflow like water and she would make as much financial reparations as you would like.
Therefore, despite her apologies, Gu Xi did not feel that what she did was wrong at all.
Hexiang brought in the refreshments.
Everyone had tea, ate a few pieces of snacks, and started to chit-chat.
Gu Xi then learned that the reason why they came at this time was because Yu Tang was also unwell.
Second young miss even said bluntly, “If it weren’t for Sister Yu’s reminder, I would be spending the whole day holed up at your place.”
“Really?” Gu Xi said. She glanced at Yu Tang with a smirk, and added with some mocking, “I didn’t expect that after I got sick, Lady Yu also got sick.”
Yu Tang wanted her insult to feel like punching on cotton, so she just pretended that she didn’t hear it. Not only did she not get angry, but she even smiled at Gu Xi, saying, “Yes! I didn’t expect it either.”
As Gu Xi listened, she thought that Yu Tang was ridiculing her for pretending to be sick, and for a moment, she couldn’t hold it together, and her face sank immediately.
Fifth Miss and Fourth Miss were both very surprised and stared frozenly at Gu Xi, at a loss for words.
Second young miss, on the other hand, frowned and was about to speak, but third young miss who had been silent this whole time beat her to it, “At that time, bean-sized beads of sweat rolled down sister Yu’s forehead, which scared us all. Head Grand Aunt immediately called for a physician to check on sister Yu, and also personally looked through the prescription before letting the physician prepare the medicine. I wonder if sister Yu is feeling better now? “
She sighed and seemed as though she was very worried.
Both Gu Xi and Yu Tang were secretly surprised, the calm and composed Third Miss doesn’t talk much on such things, but when she did, her words carried a hidden bite. However, was this intentional or unintentional? But regardless of whether it was deliberate or not, Gu Xi couldn’t continue with her words. Fortunately, there was still Yu Tang, she smiled and said, “At that time, it was just a short moment of discomfort, and it was fine after it passed. Didn’t the physician say everything was alright?”
Third young lady only smiled and didn’t say anything else.
However the atmosphere in the room became somewhat frosty.
Yu Tang looked towards Second Miss.
She was the one who wanted to come over, so if she didn’t have anything else to say, Yu Tang was ready to take her leave.
She didn’t want to carry on watching Gu Xi pretend to be sick.
Second young lady was probably a little embarrassed as well, and after saying a few words of concern to Gu Xi, she got up to take her leave.
Yu Tang couldn’t wait to leave, so no matter how much Gu Xi tried to keep her, Yu Tang didn’t stay much longer.
The Pei family’s young ladies had lunch at Yu Tang’s place. Perhaps, second young lady always didn’t have much to chat with Yu Tang about, or perhaps what happened at Gu Xi’s place made her a little upset as she quickly excused herself saying she wanted to have a nap and left. In the afternoon, it was just third, fourth and fifth young ladies who stayed and made silk flowers.
Yu Tang then asked the Pei family’s three young ladies: ”Why did Grand Madam decide to go to Bitter Nunnery? There is nothing much in Bitter Nunnery so what does she intend to do there?”
Fourth young lady exclaimed, “Sister Yu, people don’t even know about the existence of the Bitter Nunnery, how do you know about it? You even know that there’s nothing much to do there! Have you been to Bitter Nunnery?”
Could it be normal people couldn’t visit Bitter Nunnery?
Yu Tang had no such impression.
But her knowledge was limited to the impression she had a few years after this time.
Could it be that Bitter Nunnery at this time was not accepting offering of incense from others?
Yu Tang was a little uncertain. She thus could only say, ”I have only heard of it and have not been there. But I thought, if this Bitter Nunnery is so good, why is it not well-known at all in Lin’an City? Clearly, it’s not that impressive of a nunnery. It is better to go to Zhaoming Temple. At least Zhaoming Temple we can climb the mountain.”
Third young lady giggled beside her and explained to Yu Tang softly, “Of course the Bitter nunnery isn’t famous! That’s my family’s ancestral temple, it doesn’t accept incense from outsiders. Head Grand Aunt and Grandmother are going over as it’s almost New Year’s Eve, and they will be donating some funds for the offering of incense.”
Ah!
Yu Tang’s eyes widened.
No, since it was the Pei family’s temple, how could her Eldest aunt’s female cousin be staying in Bitter Nunnery? And there were so many homeless people there too. Some of the women had been living in the temple for more than ten years. Wasn’t it because her Eldest aunt’s female cousin had become a monk there that the Bitter Nunnery had taken her in? Since Bitter Nunnery doesn’t accept outsiders easily, so those who can get in has to be introduced by people in the temple. She was introduced by her Eldest aunt’s female cousin too!
Her heart was in turmoil, as if she found something that she couldn’t quite catch. It took her a moment before she gathered her thoughts and asked third young miss: “The person I knew, her husband died and she had no children, and she was forced by her mother’s family to re-marry, so she ran to the nunnery to hide …… “
“Are you saying that the nunnery is filled with indecent people?” The third young lady retorted unhappily, “Rumours end with wisdom. This is why we need to read more, use our heads more, and hear what others say in order to know what’s true and what’s false. The Bitter Nunnery do take in many homeless female dwellers, although they have sad backstories, but they are all good people. We are people who have studied, we can’t belittle others just because they’ve had a bad encounter and fallen on hard times!”
Yu Tang smiled bitterly.
Unexpectedly, she would one day be lectured by a little girl much younger than herself.
She hurriedly replied, “I’m not looking down on them. I was just thinking that since the Bitter Nunnery is your family’s temple, how could they have taken in people like my eldest aunt’s female cousin? What if they don’t want to convert to Buddhism? Not everyone can resolve in their hearts to follow the Threefold Refuge And Five Precepts.”
Her eldest aunt’s female cousin had decided to convert to Buddhism only after living in Bitter Nunnery for almost ten years.
Third Miss cocked her head slightly at Yu Tang’s words and said, “If they don’t want to convert to Buddhism, then they don’t have to! There’s plenty for our Buddhist monks and nuns to do anyway, and my family only took in those women just because we wanted to do something good and help women in times of need!”
xkurohana 