Did Miss become a nun today?

Life at Qingyun Nunnery passed by faster than I had imagined.

At first, she was counting down the days, worried that someone might come and take her back.

But as I kept counting, the tension slowly eased, and I eventually lost track of how long I had lived there.

Every day after morning lessons with Huiniang, I sweep the yard, weed the land behind the mountain, pound rice, and then sew clothes. The rest of the time is free to be allocated as I please.

Xie Yunchu usually copied scriptures. When he had nothing to do, he would walk around the temple and stand on the mountain looking down. He truly understood the meaning of "climbing high and looking far" as described in the books.

She simply found a rock to sit quietly, twirling her prayer beads and muttering incantations until sunset before returning home.

Hui Niang went to bed early after dinner. She poured herself a cup of tea and sat in the courtyard to admire the moon.

In the stillness of the world, where nothing else exists, she blends into this天地 (heaven and earth) like the gentle breeze, free and at ease, without noise or worries.

The mountains were so quiet that only the chirping of insects and the sound of a distant stream could be heard. The sounds came from afar, faint and gentle, which only made the courtyard seem even quieter.

Xie Yun Chu slowly took a sip of tea. The tea had lost its heat and only had a slightly bitter taste.

She put down her cup and looked up at the sky.

The moon here is bigger than the one in the city, and the halo around it looks a bit unreal after a while.

Her shadow fell on the blue bricks, and when the wind blew, the leaves swayed, and her shadow swayed along with them.

She suddenly chuckled. Life here was indeed as she had imagined: busy, but fulfilling.

She sat for a long time, until the tea stains at the bottom of her cup had dried, before getting up and going back inside.

Hui Niang was fast asleep, wrapped in her blanket, with half her arm dangling off the edge of the bed. She mumbled incoherently, "You're still not asleep?"

"I'm going to sleep now," she said softly.

Hui Niang groaned and fell into a deep sleep again.

Xie Yun Chu turned off the light, lay down on the bed, and let her eyes adjust to the darkness for a while before slowly closing them.

The pillow had a faint scent of soapberry, and the bedding had been sun-dried that day, carrying the warmth of the sun and the fragrance of herbs and trees.

I closed my eyes, my mind was blank, and I had no thoughts at all.

She turned over, buried her face in the pillow, and smelled the scent of soap. Before long, her breathing became even.

The next day, before dawn, the morning bell rang.

Xie Yun Chu sat up, but Hui Niang remained in bed, whimpering and turning over a few times before finally getting up.

The two sat side by side by the well to wash their faces. They splashed cold water on their faces, and the cool morning mountain breeze washed away their sleepiness.

She wiped her face, tied her hair up with a wooden hairpin, and went to her morning class.

The two walked up the stone steps toward the main hall. The morning light gradually brightened behind her, turning her plain robes into a warm, pale gold.

Several senior sisters had already arrived in the main hall. Xie Yun Chu found a seat in the last row, sat down cross-legged, and put her hands together in prayer position.

Thin wisps of smoke rose from the incense burner in front of her, their aroma both bitter and calming. She took a deep breath, and her mind and body felt cleansed.

The wooden fish struck the first note.

She closed her eyes and softly began to recite along with the nun's chanting, her voice low and blending into the chanting of the other nuns.

When the morning lessons ended, she walked out of the main hall, and the sun was already high in the east.

After having her meal, she went to work as usual, sweeping the yard, fetching water, and taking back the clothes she had washed the day before to fold them neatly. They weren't folded very well, but they were much better than on her first day at the nunnery.

Making progress little by little, living a simple life here, is all she wants.

Pei Changfeng and Wei Lin stood in the trees outside the dormitory, sheltered in the shade.

The person in the yard was thin and frail, carrying a large bucket of water and dragging it to pour the water into a basin.

Afterwards, I wiped the sweat from my forehead, my face was flushed.

Wei Lin gritted his teeth, slamming his fist against the tree trunk. "Are we just going to stand by and watch?"

"Why would a perfectly good young lady like you choose to become a nun?"

As she spoke, she looked at Pei Changfeng, who was squatting beside her, and kicked him. "It's all your fault. If it weren't for you, would she have fallen in love with chanting Buddhist scriptures?"

"Why go to Yong'an Temple when everything's fine?"

Pei Changfeng stared at the figure. Not long ago, she had been calling him "cousin" and following him around, not wanting to leave his side for even a moment.

But now, she has truly become a nun.

Ignore worldly affairs, disdain the mortal world, and want no one.

Wei Zhao couldn't stand it any longer, so he flicked his sleeves, jumped down from the tree, and left.

"What are you going to do?"

"What else can we do? Of course, we'll go to the Prince Su's residence to find someone and bring Xie Yun Chu back!"

Having been pampered in the Marquis's mansion since childhood, how could she endure such a miserable life?

Even if she could stand it, he couldn't.

The Prince Su's mansion is now under Shen Heng's control. The Marquis's mansion has been sealed off, and Cen Jingyan has been living in the Prince's mansion ever since.

The two seemed to have returned to their old ways. Shen Heng sat in a chair drinking tea, while Cen Jingyan sat by the lake fishing, chatting casually and enjoying themselves immensely.

Shen Heng suddenly stopped what she was doing and asked, "Jingyan, tell me, am I a very bad person?"

If someone can abandon even their own daughter, isn't that just a selfish and callous person?

Cen Jingyan shook her head. "If you were a bad person, why did you help me gather supplies when I was leading troops into battle? And why did you stand in front of me when I was injured?"

"Your silver saved the lives of all the soldiers on the border back then."

"So you're not a bad person."

Shen Heng stared at the sky and chuckled softly, "But I gave the child to you to raise; I'm not a good mother."

Cen Jingyan shook her head. "I should thank you. I don't have a daughter, and it was just right that you sent her here, so I was able to have a daughter for a while."

"I gave birth to her, but I didn't raise her. I'm sorry to her."

But I don't know how to make amends.

That child wants nothing now, chanting Buddhist scriptures and reciting mantras every day, without any desires or wants.

But she actually felt that this was quite good.

Shen Heng felt that she was naturally cold-hearted. She didn't have much affection for her biological parents, nor was she particularly close to her siblings. No matter when or where, she always thought of herself first.

Her relatives said she was cold-hearted and callous, and she thought so too.

A person like her should be alone for life and should not have any ties.

Unfortunately, everything changed because of Zhao Zhang.

Cen Jingyan put down her fishing rod and tapped her on the forehead. "Why are you starting to get so stubborn?"

"Where would the child come from without you? Didn't you say that? You are you, what does that have to do with the child?"

"Before Yun Chu, you were Shen Heng. After Yun Chu, you are still Shen Heng. I don't want you to suffer because of the child."

The Shen family is known for having many rules. Back then, the old master of the Shen family divorced his wife because he felt ashamed of her practicing medicine and claimed that she had contracted a serious illness and died.

Even after Shen Heng kowtowed until her head bled, she still couldn't persuade Old Master Shen to retract his decision.

She resolutely accompanied her grandmother to Jiangnan. The two relied on each other for only three years before Old Madam Shen passed away.

When she passed away, only her granddaughter was by her side; her sons didn't even come to see her.

Any daughter in the family who disobeys and causes the Shen family to lose face will not have a good ending.

Her grandmother was like that, her mother was like that, and so was she.

Her personality wasn't innate; it was formed in that family.