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Chapter 175 – Entering the Temple
Both Grand Madams weren’t surprised, and Grand Madam Pei even laughed, “Your third uncle is now managing the household, so of course he knows the family’s affairs!”
Third, Fourth, and Fifth Miss all widened their eyes and turned to stare at Pei Yan.
This also included Yu Tang.
Pei Yan noticed Yu Tang right away.
Speaking of which, he hasn’t seen Yu Tang for a while.
She was wearing a pale green woven phoenix-tailed group floral robe with the white mink cloak that he had given her. The fur collar framed her pale snowy face perfectly, and her eyes, distinctly black and white, were clear and open, like a mirror reflecting him, which made them look even brighter.
Seems like the saying is really true that a woman’s appearance changes greatly with each passing day.
Lady Yu’s eyebrows have slowly grown and gotten even prettier.
He took a few steps forward, preparing to greet Yu Tang, but in the blink of an eye, he saw Gu Xi walking to Grand Madam Pei’s side as if she was going to assist her, his brows subtly furrowed a fraction of an inch. He suddenly decided against greeting Yu Tang first, and instead, he bowed towards Grand Madam Pei, “All the travelling today, is Mother feeling alright?” He also bowed towards Grand Madam Yi, calling “Aunt!”
The two Grand Madams nodded in unison.
Grand Madam Pei smiled, “What could possibly happen to me? Rather, it’s you. I’ve heard that you lost your temper again yesterday? Take things slowly, it’s useless to get upset, it will only worsen your mood and damage the body. Your father and your brother have passed away, you …… If something were to happen to you and your second brother, how can you expect an old granny like me to live?” After speaking, Grand Madam Pei lost her smile and the corners of her eyes misted with tears.
“I know, mother.” Pei Yan said lowly as he stepped forward to assist Grand Madam Pei, saying, “Although I’ve been mischievous since I was a little child, I’m always serious when it comes to important matters, mother, you can just trust me. Both my second brother and I will be fine.”
“Hopefully.” Grand Madam Pei replied, but her face showed signs of weariness.
Gu Xi somehow inserted herself in the middle of Grand Madam Pei and Grand Madam Yi, falsely supporting Grand Madam Pei, and Pei Yan was next to her, making them seem like a pair of lovers.
Grand Madam Yi looked intently at Gu Xi, but Gu Xi didn’t notice, as her entire focus was on Pei Yan.
When Mrs. Shen was sent down the mountain, she asked someone to inquire about it, and found out that Mrs. Shen was sent back to her maiden home by Mr. Shen overnight.
There was not the slightest bit of consideration for the couple’s relationship.
Allegedly, Mrs. Shen would be sent back to her Wang family’s family temple to do some self-meditation and reflection.
How was this different from a separation?
Gu Xi didn’t know if the Pei family knew about it, but since Shen Shan Yan was punishing Mrs. Shen in this way, he was most likely giving the Pei family an explanation, and the news should reach the Pei residence soon.
At that time, she, the person who came to Pei family with Mrs. Shen as a companion had no way to stay in Pei family anymore.
She doesn’t have much time left.
Whether or not she would be able to leave a deep impression on Pei Yan depended on this trip.
Unfortunately, her understanding of Pei Yan was too shallow, and her efforts in inquiring more about Pei Yan has not yielded any results. She has no idea what kind of character Pei Yan had, so she didn’t know what he thought of people, and whether or not it would be better to greet Pei Yan boldly or pretend to play the victim and shed a few aggrieved tears in front of Pei Yan.
Gu Xi lowered her eyes and was hesitating when several of Pei family’s young ladies came up to greet Pei Yan.
Although they were nieces and nephews and were separated by one generation, they still had to follow general decorum.
Pei Yan nodded slightly, his expression appeared a little cold as he said, “The two Grand Madams are getting on in age, so when you’re following along in this temple visit, don’t carelessly run around, lest you cause the two Grand Madams to worry.”
Yu Tang curtsied along with the Pei family’s young ladies and obediently acquiesced.
Pei Yan glanced at Yu Tang, and saw that she had a serene smile and a carefree expression, which somehow released the tension that he inexplicably had in his heart, and he secretly breathed out a sigh of relief.
The crowd exchanged a few pleasantries with the temple’s presiding master, and the two Grand Madams were accompanied by the presiding master to the main hall dedicated to Guanyin Bodhisattva.
On the way, Pei Yan surreptitiously left Grand Madam Pei’s side and walked behind the two Grand Madams, gradually falling in step with Yu Tang, Third, Fourth and Fifth Miss, who were walking behind.
Second young miss who was supporting Grand Madam Yi could not help but look back at Pei Yan with a puzzled expression.
Pei Yan subtly slowed his footsteps, and got in between third and fourth Miss.
Fourth young lady perhaps was afraid of getting separated from third young lady, or was afraid of walking along with Pei Yan, she quietly glanced at Pei Yan, and saw that Pei Yan seemed to be surveying the barren pomegranate trees along the pathway, so she quickly got ahead of Pei Yan and walked to the side of third young lady, and also held her hand.
Third Miss gave her a strange look.
She only blinked innocently towards Third Miss.
Third Miss darted another glance at Pei Yan and seeing that Pei Yan wasn’t paying any notice to them, she quickly pulled Fourth Miss and briskly walked forward, following closely behind Grand Madam Pei and Grand Madam Yi, distancing themselves from Pei Yan.
Pei Yan watched on in amusement, but out of the corner of his eye, he couldn’t help but look at Yu Tang and Fifth Miss.
Both Yu Tang and Fifth Miss didn’t notice him, instead they were preoccupied with their conversation.
The corners of his mouth quirked up slightly as he gazed out at the distant mountains for a moment, not noticing Yu Tang raising her eyes to give him a quick glance.
“He certainly would not!” Yu Tang sighed inwardly. She sneaked a glance at Pei Yan again and exasperatedly explained, “Your third uncle is an outwardly cold but warm-hearted person. You are his niece, and you too have said that you had never seen your third uncle before the age of five, so how could you determine that your third uncle is a very harsh man? Furthermore, even if he should be strict, if you haven’t done anything wrong, why would he punish you? You shouldn’t listen to rumours. Your third uncle would be sadden if he knew.”
Fifth Miss squirmed and boldly glanced at Pei Yan before speaking softly, “But what if he ……”
Yu Tang felt that naysayers had worsened Pei Yan’s reputation.
He was clearly a very good person.
However, because of his serious demeanour, he was unjustly made out to be a bad person.
She felt very uncomfortable in her heart.
She quickly and firmly rebuffed fifth young lady, saying “Definitely not! Do you trust me or do you instead trust those flagrant slanderers before you?”
Fifth young miss immediately nodded her head like a woodpecker and said, “Of course I believe sister Yu.”
“That’s good!” Yu Tang didn’t give her a chance to speak further and immediately added, “The road of life is long, and people’s true colours will be revealed over time. Just follow my words for now. Take the initiative to speak with your third uncle, actively greet him, and if someone were to slander him, you must immediately step forward to defend him. Watch and see if he’s the kind of person you’ve heard!”
“Uh-huh, uh-huh!” Fifth Miss continued to nod her head like a woodpecker.
Yu Tang didn’t notice that her voice got louder and louder as she spoke, and naturally, she didn’t see the smile that Pei Yan couldn’t hide at the corners of his mouth.
Soon, everyone arrived at the main hall.
The presiding master personally led the two grand Madams and the rest to offer incense.
The two Grand Madams respectively threw fifty silver taels worth of incense money, and Yu Tang along with several juniors each threw three taels worth of silver ingots, including Gu Xi.
Behind Bitter nunnery there were ten plots of vegetable gardens, and also acres of bamboo forests. Every year, they collected some bamboo shoots during spring and winter. Although there weren’t much temple donations from visitors, but with this one hundred or so taels of silver contribution, it is enough to cover the temple’s food and drink expenses for the year. In addition, the two grand Madams also brought some rice and oil over.
The two presiding masters were happy to provide the Pei family’s servants with a few monks to move the things, while the main presiding master invited them to the private wing to have tea.
Yu Tang tiptoed around and looked carefully, but she didn’t see her eldest aunt’s cousin.
Was she resting or busy working elsewhere?
Yu Tang pondered as she took the Samanera’s (TL: novice male monastic) tea tray and helped him serve the tea.
The main presiding master was speaking with the two Grand Madams about the temple’s affairs: “A few days ago, Grand Madam Yong from the fifth branch visited, and also offered fifty taels of silver as temple donation. Together with the mistresses and madams of the various other branches, the temple has received about 180 silver taels worth of donations. Last year, we had seven distinguished guests who stayed in our temple for a long period of time. We had a trip up the mountain to dig up some winter bamboo shoots, putting aside those we gave to the residents, and those which we kept for the temple, we sold the rest for thirty taels of silver. ……”
He was reporting to the two Grand Madams about the temple’s activities.
Yu Tang wasn’t paying attention.
The main presiding master was still the same, her pettiness would not change, and the temple’s hardship couldn’t be changed either.
Despite those shortcomings, Bitter nunnery was a safe sanctuary for many women with nowhere else to go, a place of respite, and she should be grateful to this head presiding master who served for so many years.
Her head though, was full of thoughts on why Pei Yan got angry. So much so that Grand Madam Pei felt that he would damage his body from his fury.
Did something happen that she didn’t know about?
Yu Tang searched for Pei Yan’s figure.
Perhaps because the chambers were filled with women, and although Pei Yan was just here a moment ago, she had no idea when he left.
She asked Fifth Miss in a hushed tone, “Have you seen your third uncle?”
“I didn’t pay much attention,” Fifth young miss was listening intently to the head presiding master and off-handedly replied to Yu Tang, “Perhaps he’s outside in the courtyard? Or he went to those rooms and hid inside? The weather is so cold, who would be stupid enough to be standing in the courtyard? Just have someone look for him!”
Yu Tang couldn’t decide to cry or laugh.
Looking again at the several Misses, they were also listening with their ears strained.
Yu Tang didn’t understand.
In her opinion, Pei Yan was much more important than this settling of accounts.
She asked fifth young miss in curiosity, “Why are you listening to this for? Have you started learning how to manage the household affairs?”
“Not yet.” Fifth Miss quietly replied, “It’s what my mother instructed me to do, saying that being knowledgeable about external affairs is an asset. Before arriving here, I was encouraged to listen carefully to the expenses incurred at the temple, so that in the future, even if we have to make donations to the family temple, we can’t let our goodwill be wasted frivolously. We must be mindful of how the funds are utilised.”
Yu Tang glanced at Second Madam in admiration, but her mind was still thinking about Pei Yan, and that she had to find an opportunity to ask him if he had encountered anything unpleasant that caused his mood to sour.
Soon, she had an opportunity.
After lunch, both Grand Madams decided to take a nap, and in the late afternoon, they would meet again with the monks who practiced in the temple to see if there was anything they could do to help.
The temple arranged a room for each of them to rest for the afternoon.
Yu Tang asked Shuang Tao to find Ah Ming and ask him to send a message.
xkurohana 