good season

Qingjing Nunnery?
Bhikkhuni?
Madam Wei suddenly felt a little flustered.

"Bring people in."

The person who came was none other than Abbess Qingjing of Qingjing Nunnery. Upon seeing her arrive in person, Old Madam Wei's heart sank, and the inexplicable panic became even more real.

Master Qingjing hasn't come out for many years, so if she can personally come out to deliver a message, it must be something important.

Madam Wei waved her hand, and all the servants withdrew, leaving only Madam Wei and Abbess Qingjing in the large hall.

"Speak, what happened?" Old Madam Wei's voice remained calm, but at this moment, she could clearly hear her own heartbeat.

Abbess Qingjing knelt on the ground with a thud: "Madam, I have failed in my duty and have let you down."

Old Madam Wei glared at the nun Qingjing kneeling before her: "Stop talking nonsense, tell me, what happened?"

These words were practically spat out from between Old Madam Wei's teeth.

Abbess Qingjing's face turned deathly pale: "Qingye is gone! She's gone! I've searched the entire mountain, but I can't find her anywhere. I've even checked those two wells; she's not in them. She..."

With a snap, a cup landed on Master Qingjing's lap. Despite the pain, she continued, "As you know, there are no outsiders in the nunnery. I, a nun, am extremely vigilant. The farthest Qingye has ever been is the medicinal herb field behind the nunnery."

The last place she appeared was also that medicinal herb field. It was too hot, so she asked Qinghui to go back to the nunnery to get a bamboo hat. But when Qinghui returned with the hat, Qingye was nowhere to be seen.

After that, Madam Wei could not hear a word of what Abbess Qingjing said.

Her ears were ringing, her mind was a mess, and her vision was blurring. She struggled to keep herself from fainting.

The imperial physician said that she must not faint again, otherwise she might never wake up again.

She cannot fall down yet; the Baoqing Marquis's Mansion cannot be without her. She must live for at least another twenty years to watch her grandson grow up and take over the heavy responsibility of the Baoqing Marquis's Mansion.

Madam Wei tried hard to think of happy things, as if only in this way could she see hope and keep herself from collapsing.

Yu'er should think about the two children in the sisters' bellies; she can't collapse for their sake.

As Master Qingjing continued speaking, she noticed that Old Madam Wei did not respond. She neither threw the cup at her as before, nor did she utter any accusations. Master Qingjing became even more frightened.

She was originally from a poor family. At the age of seventeen, she was bullied by her stepbrother and gave birth to a child.

The child was thrown into the mountains by her stepfather, and she was also kicked out of the house.

With nowhere else to go, she became a nun. But she never expected that the nunnery she went to would be a place where sordid things were done, where young nuns were used for shameful acts.

She refused to serve customers and, during an argument with the abbess (who was actually a brothel madam), accidentally killed someone.

She was sent to prison to await execution in the autumn.

At this time, Old Madam Wei found her, paid for a "white goose" for her, and got her out of prison.

The so-called white goose is actually a substitute for someone who dies.

She was a mentally challenged woman who was sold by her parents as a "white goose" for one hundred taels of silver in order to help her brother find a wife. She escaped death.

Qingjing Nunnery was originally named Pudu Nunnery and was the family nunnery of the Wei family.

At that time, the retired emperor was on the throne. He promoted Taoism, and his example was followed by those in the court and the country.

The Wei family was no exception. They cut off the patronage of Pudu Nunnery. The nun of Pudu Nunnery pleaded with Old Madam Wei, who then allowed the nun to live out her days in peace. She also renamed Pudu Nunnery Qingjing Nunnery and changed the name of the poor girl she had saved to Qingjing, who replaced the nun as the abbess of Qingjing Nunnery.

From then on, Qingjing Nunnery had no connection with the Wei family or the Baoqing Marquis's Mansion; it belonged to Old Madam Wei herself.

Soon after, Qingjing learned why Old Madam Wei had spared her life.

She saw the baby in swaddling clothes. Old Madam Wei said to her, "Your child is dead. From now on, raise her as your own child. You can raise her and teach her, but you cannot pamper her, love her, or let her leave this place. She will stay in the nunnery in this life and the next. Do not have any pity, because you are not worthy. You lost your virginity first, then you killed someone, and innocent people died in your place. Your sins are heavy."

From then on, Abbess Qingjing stayed in Qingjing Nunnery, atoning for her sins before the Bodhisattva while taking care of the child. From a helpless infant to a middle-aged woman, she watched the child go through half a lifetime, while she herself had transformed from a young girl into an old nun with a face full of wrinkles.

She always kept in mind Madam Wei's words. She raised and taught that child, but she neither loved nor cared for him, nor did she let the child leave the nunnery.

But now, as her life comes to an end, the child she has cared for for half her life has suddenly disappeared!

Master Qingjing mustered up her courage and raised her head, only to meet Old Madam Wei's eyes.

She was taken aback. What kind of eyes were those? Shock, anger, as if they were about to tear everything apart at any moment!
"Madam."

Just as she was about to say something, she heard Old Madam Wei shout towards the door, "Someone come here!"

Tao Fen, who had recently taken over from Granny Niu, rushed in. Old Madam Wei pointed at Abbess Qingjing kneeling on the ground and said to Tao Fen, "This is a fake nun. Gag her, tie her up, and carry her to the back!"

Tao Fen called out to the outside, and several rough-looking old women came in, dragged Qingjing away, and left.

Master Qingjing did not struggle. She knew her time was up. Qingye was gone, and she was about to leave too. She could finally go. How wonderful!
An hour later, a body wrapped in a straw mat was carried out of the back gate of the Marquis's mansion and hastily buried in a mass grave.

Finally, Madam Wei could no longer hold on and collapsed onto the bed.

This time, however, she managed to stay upright and not faint. She was just sick, but she didn't faint.

But the more this is the case, the more painful it becomes.

She was too clear-headed; she was fully aware of what had happened, and she was fully aware that none of this was a coincidence.

There's a hand behind the scenes, manipulating events and trying to tear through the fog to expose all the ugly and dirty things from back then.

"No, this can't be! I won't allow it!"

On her sickbed, Old Madam Wei cried out hoarsely, "Hand over the token! I want to enter the palace!"

But as soon as she finished speaking, she froze.

The reason she wanted to enter the palace was because she believed that things had come to this point and were no longer just a matter between her and the Baoqing Marquis's family; the Dowager Consort Li could not remain idle.

The person who was kidnapped was not Zhang San, Li Si, Jia Yi, Bing Ding, or Ding, but the emperor's own uncle and the retired emperor's own daughter.

Isn't Consort Li afraid?

She would definitely be afraid, so she would secretly send someone to look for her. Therefore, in a moment of impulse, Madam Wei decided to submit her petition to the palace.

But then she thought about it again, and doubts arose in her mind.

Why are things suddenly changing after so many years of peace and tranquility?

The only people on my side who know about this, besides myself, are Lord Zhu.

No one knows a son better than his mother, and Madam Wei believed that Lord Zhu was not the one who did this.

He has neither the brains nor the guts.

Besides, neither Zhuangzi nor Qingjing Temple could easily take people away, and they did it flawlessly.

Who else could be involved in this matter and have the capability to do so?
The first thing that came to Madam Wei's mind was the mother and son in the palace.

Consort Li?
is her!

This old hag wanted to remove all obstacles and completely cover up the secret for her adopted son before she died.

And she, Madam Wei, and the Baoqing Marquis's mansion were the thorns in that old hag's side.

These two things are not about revealing the truth of what happened back then, but about dealing with her and the Baoqing Marquis's mansion.

How abominable!

First they seized Yu'er's position as heir, and then they turned their knives on her!

Old Madam Wei violently ripped off the small sandalwood bracelet from her wrist, scattering the beads all over the ground. Her eyes were bloodshot as she spoke blood-stained words into the empty air: "Witch, slut, you want me dead? Dream on!"

Meanwhile, in the two-courtyard house in Tong'an County, Zhao Shiqing, Ah Huang, and the bored Xiao Yao, along with their dog and cat, all six of them, were staring at Qing Ye in front of them.

"Where is this, young benefactor?" Qingye's gaze fell on Ah Huang, then turned to the little demon.

Ah Huang immediately perked up and started chatting with Qing Ye. Unfortunately, his hospitality was just a series of increasingly loud "Woof, woof, woof!" to Qing Ye.

"I see, you're a dog. Oh, so that's what dogs are like!"

Ah Huang, although I can't fully understand what you're saying, I can hear kindness in your tone. Fine, I forgive you.

Qingye looked at Xiaoyao again, and Xiaoyao rolled her eyes at her and meowed.

Qingye: "You're a cat. Your meow is so beautiful, a hundred times more beautiful than your meow in spring."

Little Demon: What are you talking about? What springtime calls? I'm still a baby, I don't understand!
Zhao Shiqing, who also didn't understand, asked curiously, "You haven't actually ever seen a dog or a cat before, have you?"

Qingye was a little embarrassed: "There are no dogs or cats in the nunnery, but I have heard their barking when I was working in the herb field. Qinghui told me that it was a dog barking and that was a cat meowing, but I have only heard it and never seen it with my own eyes. Perhaps they don't like the smell of the herb field, so they have never come over."

Zhao Shiqing hurriedly asked, "The herb field? You mean the herb field behind Qingjing Nunnery? Besides Qingjing Nunnery, is that the only place you go? What about other places? Like the mountains behind Qingjing Nunnery, the nearby villages and towns, haven't you been to any of them?"

Qingye shook her head: "I've never been there. I've been in the nunnery since I can remember. Apart from the herb field, I've never been anywhere else."

Zhao Shiqing looked at Qingye in front of her. She couldn't imagine how Qingye had spent those thirty-eight years in the nunnery.

Zhao Shiqing grew up in Baihe Mountain. One winter was particularly cold, and her master kept her indoors for more than twenty days without letting her out. She almost got sick from being cooped up. On the day she was released, she did more than twenty somersaults to express her joy.

She was only imprisoned for a little over twenty days, while Qingye was imprisoned for a full thirty-eight years!

Looking at that face that bore a resemblance to Princess Jiayi, Zhao Shiqing was filled with mixed emotions.

Both daughters of the retired emperor, they shared the same background and appearance, yet led completely different lives.

Zhao Shiqing suddenly didn't want to ask anything anymore. She stood up, walked into the house, and stood alone on the porch for a very long time.

She remembered the dream Xiao Zhen had, a dream filled with deceit, swords, and mountains of corpses, but without her, the vanished Shi family, or Qingye.

She originally thought that dream was tragic enough, but she didn't expect that it was only what Xiao Zhen saw and heard. In places where he couldn't see or hear, there were even more unimaginable tragedies.

The Shi family was wiped out, and the royal princess was imprisoned until her death. All of this stemmed from those two women who were blinded by power thirty-eight years ago.

One wanted to use her son to seize power and profit, while the other wanted to use this incident to maximize her own interests. So they hit it off and, at the cost of more than twenty lives, plotted a shocking conspiracy!
In that conspiracy, everyone except them, the person on the dragon throne, and Qingye who was imprisoned in a nunnery deep in the mountains, all died.

The result of this conspiracy was that a treacherous and ruthless person ascended the throne, a position he reached by stepping on the blood of countless people.

This includes the blood of family members.

If it weren't for the conspiracy back then, that person would never have appeared in the palace, and he would never have been able to covet that position. So, would the Shi family have survived?

Her parents and her grandmother will live well and watch her grow up.

Zhao Shiqing's vision gradually blurred. She was never a girl who cried easily, and she couldn't even remember the last time she shed tears.

She just stood there, silently shedding tears.

In the corner, Zhen Wuduo watched his granddaughter's retreating figure and sighed.

At this moment, the old man suddenly became afraid. If he died one day, his granddaughter would have no relatives in this world. Although she had her older brothers and sisters from the Liang Prince's Mansion, they all had their own lives and could not appear at any time, let alone accompany her and comfort her. And although the world was vast, there was no one connected to her by blood.

The old man was dejected. Was he really going to have to watch helplessly as his beautiful little cabbage was eaten by a pig and then given birth to several baby cabbages?

Thinking of the little cabbage, the old man suddenly felt a little excited. He could be a grandfather now, so he thought it would be good to be a great-grandfather too.

Unfortunately, his granddaughter is still too young. Sigh, the old man sighed again. It will be at least several more years before his little cabbage chases after him calling him great-grandfather.

The old man's thoughts drifted further and further away, and he completely forgot about his beloved granddaughter who was still there, tears streaming down her face.

Zhao Shiqing had already wiped away her tears.

Time's up, the sky has cleared!
Zhao Shiqing summoned Mudskipper: "Go back to the capital and have Young Master Zhen come to Tong'an!"

Zhao Shiqing hadn't forgotten that she wasn't fighting alone; she had partners, and Xiao Zhen was one of them! (End of Chapter)