The shadow of the sun slanted slightly, and Xu Chunjun packed up his things and prepared to leave Pudu Nunnery.
She said goodbye to Master Jingfan, clasped her hands together and thanked her again: "I am able to meet Mrs. Hou this time thanks to Master Jingfan's help. Chunjun is very grateful. This little incense gift is really not enough to repay me in case of an emergency, but it can be regarded as my little bit."
Thank you very much, please accept it."
Zi Ling next to her was holding a silk bag with twenty taels of silver wrapped in it.
"Miss Xu, you don't have to be like this," Jingfan refused to accept: "The reason why I help you is not for this, it is just to settle a mortal relationship."
After hearing this, Xu Chunjun couldn't help but ask: "Chunjun doesn't understand what Master Tai said, please clarify."
Jingfan smiled slightly, his clear face carrying the unique indifference of a Buddhist: "It's okay to tell you. My family name is Niu, and my father was once the magistrate of Mingzhou. I was punished for dereliction of duty back then, and just in time for the implementation of the New Deal, many people advocated severe punishment.
, and even wanted to send all our female relatives into the army. Only Xu Shangshu said that dereliction of duty should be severely punished, but the harm would not affect his wife and daughter. Therefore, only my father was punished, and the rest were demoted to civilians. This way we escaped.
I remember this kindness, so I let you stay here, waiting for the arrival of my wife. If it were a poor man boasting, if it were someone else, I would be promised gold and silver, and I wouldn't even bother to take it. So you don't need to be grateful, I just want to pay you back.
It’s just a favor from the Xu family.”
This was beyond Xu Chunjun's expectation. He said after a while: "That's it! The kindness returned by Master Tai has really helped my family a lot. Although it was a good cause planted by my grandfather, it can only be achieved with your compassion."
Produce good results."
No matter what, she will always be grateful to Master Jingfan.
"Miss Xu, you have to leave the city, so I won't leave you alone," Jing Fan said with an indifferent expression, "It will take a few twists and turns to make things happen. I hope you can take care of yourself."
"Master, please take care of yourself. I will definitely come to see you again after I finish my work." Xu Chunjun bowed deeply, and the servants behind her also bowed before leaving Pudu Nunnery and riding a carriage out of the city.
go.
They had to rush to the Jialan Mountain, forty miles outside the city, before dark to complete the first task assigned by the Marquis and his wife.
Xu Chunjun's two personal maids, Lushuan and Ziling, came to Beijing with her this time, along with Mother Cheng.
Mother Cheng is from the house of Xu Chunjun's third aunt, Xu Lang, and is originally from the capital. Although she has been away from the capital for ten years, she is always more familiar with the capital than others, and she is steady and worthy of trust.
Lvyan's mind was simple and she just asked curiously: "Girl, I didn't ask too many questions in the nunnery just now. So what kind of Bodhi seed did Mrs. Marquis want you to go to? Is this thing really effective?"
"It's Mo Yunding," Zi Ling corrected her softly: "We will stay at Jialan Mountain tonight, and we have to go up the mountain early tomorrow morning. Whether that thing works or not is not our responsibility. In short, she asked the girl to ask for it, so we have to do it.
.”
Ever since she learned that Mrs. Hou asked Xu Chunjun to go to Moyunding to pray for the Bodhi Seed, Cheng's mother had a sad look on her face.
"Mother Cheng, what are you worried about?" Xu Chunjun asked her.
"Girl, do you know what it means to go to Moyunding to pray for the Bodhi Seed?" Cheng's mother couldn't help but sigh.
"I don't believe in Buddhism, so I really don't know." Xu Chunjun smiled.
"There used to be two ways to go to Moyunding Zhengguo Hall. One is the three thousand steps that go straight up and down. You can walk or take a sedan chair with sliding poles." Cheng's mother said: "There is also an ascetic road, which is a winding mountain with steps embedded in it.
They are all vertical cobblestones, with a total of nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine steps."
"In that case, let's just pick up what we have and go," said Green Ulva, "go early and ask for Bodhi seeds so that we can go down the mountain."
"Silly girl, if only it was so easy," Cheng's mother sighed and shook her head. "If you want to seek Bodhisattva, you can only walk on the path of asceticism, and you must go barefoot. This is the old rule, and no one can change it."
"Then..." Zi Ling became anxious upon hearing this: "How can that happen?! Our girl..."
She wanted to say how could Xu Chunjun endure such hardship, but she swallowed it back halfway. Because Xu Chunjun came out this time to save the second master Xu Daoan, and this was a matter of life and death.
What's more, Cheng's mother is from the third aunt's grandmother's room, so she has to avoid any suspicion.
"This is easy to handle! I'll go on behalf of the girl." Lvchun said: "Anyway, just ask her for the Bodhi seed."
"I have agreed to do this, so naturally I have to go." Xu Chunjun was not in a hurry or annoyed. Although she was young, she was very clear-headed: "Although I didn't know in advance that the road to Moyunding was so difficult, I thought
I also know that this is definitely not an easy thing to do.”
"Girl, you are too honest. Even if I pretend to be you, who would know?" Lvchun said.
"You must not have such thoughts. Don't say that this matter is related to the safety of your second brother. You can't be careless. Just say that I agreed to the Marquis's wife, and I should fulfill my promise." Xu Chunjun also knew the way up the mountain.
It must be extremely painful, but the opportunity to ask for it from Mrs. Marquis is even more rare.
She must not come up with other ways to deal with it just because she is afraid of hardship and pain. The only things she can rely on now are the integrity of the person asking for help and the mercy of Madam Marquis.
"Then Madam Marquis will most likely send people to keep an eye on us secretly. Do you think she won't be on guard against us?" Zi Ling said.
"No wonder our aunt sent the fifth girl out," Cheng's mother said with great admiration: "This knowledge and responsibility alone are unmatched by others."
"Is this Mrs. Marquis the son of the King of Hell's grandma? She is too cruel." Lvyan couldn't help but cry: "She was afraid of pain and refused to go, so she asked us girls to go."
Zi Ling held Xu Chunjun's hand and didn't say a word, just bowed her head and shed tears.
"Fifth girl, I really tolerated you." Cheng's mother also felt very sorry. Even though the Xu family was no longer the high-ranking Xu family back then, Xu Chunjun was still the mistress.
People who go to Mo Yunding to pray for Bodhi seeds have to peel off their skin. This kind of pain cannot be compared with a beating or being punished by kneeling for several hours.
"She said she wanted our lady to complete three things, but now the first one is so torturous, and I don't know what the remaining two are!" Zi Ling was worried. She has a delicate mind and is always better than Lvchun when things happen.
Think more.
Mrs. Hou Ye said that if she was asked to save Xu Daoan, Xu Chunjun had to complete three things, but she only told the first one today and did not say the rest.
In her words, if you can't even do the first thing, there is no need to know what the second and third things are.
There are people who come to worship Buddha all year round at the foot of Jialan Mountain, so there are many inns, there are always twenty or thirty inns, large and small, on both sides of the street.
Xu Chunjun and the others chose a relatively clean place to stay. This place only sells vegetarian dishes and rice, so everyone had steamed buns and vegetarian gluten dishes with side dishes and porridge for dinner.
Since I had to get up in the middle of the night, I went to bed early.
