The maid glanced around the abbess’s room.
“You lived here for more than ten years? That must be quite a hard life,” she said.
The abbess walked in from outside, holding a piece of meat in her hand.
“It is a hard life, but with the entanglements of the mundane world, there is a certain joy in it,” she said.
The maid suppressed her feeling of disgust and forced a slight smile.
“This is a gift from kind people. Take it and share it with your mistress,” the abbess said.
“What gift? That cutting style is clearly a habit from our own kitchen. This woman must have taken our things for herself,” thought the girl as she reached out and took it without hesitation.
“I’ll have to trouble you to take care of us,” she said, forcing a bitter smile.
“Though I live a hard life as a nun, it’s still better than your hardships,” the abbess said with a touch of sympathy.
The maid no longer wanted to see her pretense. Coming here was her way of showing that she trusted this woman.
“Oh, it’s getting late. I need to go accompany my mistress for a walk, or she’ll get upset,” she said, hastily turning around and forgetting to bow.
“Such a pity, a good person who has to be at the mercy of a fool,” the abbess said behind her, as if talking to herself but intentionally letting the girl hear. Then she raised her voice, “Ban Qin, if you need anything, just come to me.”
The maid waved her hand, gave a slight bow at the door, and walked away.
“Miss, are you tired? Would you like to rest for a bit? I brought some sugared tangerine balls. Would you like one?”
On the mountain path, the maid said, reaching out to gently support Cheng Jiao-niang.
Cheng Jiao-niang stopped and took the frosted ball the maid took from her sachet and put it in her mouth. From here, they could see the base of the mountain. It was just past dawn, and there were still few people on the mountain path.
“By noon, there will be more people, including vendors selling mountain goods and fruits. The tangerines you’re eating were bought from there. They are quite cheap,” the maid said.
Cheng Jiao-niang nodded.
“Miss, if the abbess invites me to talk again, should I go?” the maid asked. “I really don’t feel comfortable with her smile.”
“Go,” Cheng Jiao-niang said, “but don’t stay long, and don’t eat anything she gives you.”
The maid responded affirmatively.
The sound of women laughing came from ahead. The two of them looked and saw three Taoist nuns coming down the mountain path, carrying baskets, chatting, and laughing. Upon seeing someone ahead, they quickly stifled their laughter and gave a slight bow.
“They’re from the Great Xuan-miao Temple at the foot of the mountain,” the maid whispered to Cheng Jiao-niang.
Cheng Jiao-niang didn’t know about the matters of the Great and Small Xuan-miao Temples, so she was somewhat curious.
The maid whispered to her about the situation, and Cheng Jiao-niang seemed thoughtful.
“Is the Great Xuan-miao Temple at the foot of the mountain?” she asked, while peering down.
The maid supported her and walked a few steps forward, pointing down to show her.
Amidst the shade of greenery, they faintly saw a corner of the temple.
“It doesn’t seem to be that big,” she said.
“It’s bigger than our temple,” the maid said. “Originally, they even wanted to serve our temple together, but this woman got ahead of them.”
Cheng Jiao-niang nodded.
“It’s a pity,” she said.
“Yeah, it’s a shame. It used to be a peaceful place, but now it’s been ruined by that woman,” the maid said, both angry and regretful.
While they were talking, they heard someone shouting.
“Master, what’s wrong?”
“Somebody help! Help!”
Help? The maid was startled. In broad daylight, could there really be bandits causing trouble?
“Let’s go take a look,” Cheng Jiao-niang said. She took the lead, walking forward, unlike before when she had to rely entirely on the maid.
This feeling was wonderful.
The maid hurried to follow. As they walked along the mountain path and turned a corner, the noise grew louder.
The three Taoist nuns from the Great Xuan-miao Temple had already gathered around. An old man with a pale face was lying by the rocks, and an elderly servant beside him was so anxious that he was in tears.
“What happened?”
“Is he sick?”
“Was he bitten by a snake?”
The nuns asked nervously.
The servant was struggling to lift the old man onto his back.
“Where’s the nearest doctor?” he asked.
“Oh dear, that’s far away. You have to go into the city,” the nuns said frantically, helping to support the old man.
“Wait!”
A lady’s voice came from above, and everyone stopped to look.
They saw a girl in a blue cloth dress, holding a sachet and hurrying over.
“Taking him to the doctor would only delay things,” she said.
Everyone was about to respond but didn’t know what to say.
“Do you know medicine?” the servant asked tremblingly.
“Have him slowly eat this,” the girl said directly without answering, “Make him lie on his side, soothe his chest and back, and pinch his ears hard until they bleed. He’ll be fine soon.”
The servant and the three nuns stared at her in astonishment.
Just like that?
“Yes, just like that. He’ll wake up soon. Once he’s awake, don’t rush to leave. Sit for a while, and it’s best if he eats something before leaving,” the girl said.
After she finished speaking, she handed the sachet to the servant, turned around, and left. Before anyone could react, she had already disappeared around the bend in the mountain path.
“Hey? Young lady,” the servant called out.
“We just saw her, there were two of them, perhaps she’s the mistress of some family out for a walk,” one of the nuns said.
Everyone looked at the sachet in their hands.
Should they feed it to the old man?
The servant looked at the increasingly pale face of the old man, who was about to fall unconscious. Gritting his teeth, he poured out the contents of the sachet.
Walnut-sized balls covered in sugar frosting rolled out.
“My master has done no wrong in this world; no one would harm him,” the servant said, reaching out to open the old man’s mouth and feeding him the balls.
The maid and Cheng Jiao-niang had already reached the entrance of their temple.
“Miss, can those sugared tangerine balls really save a life?” She couldn’t hold back and asked.
“It wasn’t a life-threatening matter, so how could it save a life?” Cheng Jiao-niang said. “It was just a minor ailment.”
“Then, are sugared tangerine balls medicine?” the maid asked, still puzzled.
“Is a steamed bun medicine?” Cheng Jiao-niang asked her in return.
“Of course not,” the maid shook her head.
“When you’re starving, it can be life-saving medicine,” Cheng Jiao-niang said.
“Miss, you’re just teasing me now,” the maid laughed, supporting Cheng Jiao-niang as they entered the door. “You could have just told me that the old man wasn’t sick, he was just hungry.”
“Not quite,” Cheng Jiao-niang said. “Being hungry is also an illness.”
The maid chuckled, dropping the topic, and noticed the pile of firewood behind the door.
“We’ve run out of firewood. I’ll just move some over,” she said, bending down to pick up the firewood.
“Are you going to move firewood? How could I let you do such labor? Let me help.”
A man’s voice, with a dry chuckle, came from inside the courtyard.
The maid was startled and looked over, and Cheng Jiao-niang also turned to look.
Her hanging veil was lifted, revealing her face.
What a beautiful face!
With a clang, the pole the man was carrying fell to the ground as he stared blankly at Cheng Jiao-niang.
The girl recognized him as the man she had encountered in the abbess’s courtyard that day. Though young, she was familiar with the affairs of the household and knew that this man was involved with the abbess in some way. Such a person was undoubtedly morally corrupt; he had behaved shamelessly towards her that day, and now he was gazing at Cheng Jiao-niang.
The maid turned and hurried over, pulling down Cheng Jiao-niang’s veil. Without even touching the firewood, she escorted Cheng Jiao-niang into her own courtyard from the other side and closed the door behind them.
