The rain became more and more unbridled and fierce. Looking from under the eaves, it formed a grand rain curtain. The flowers and plants in front of me were like the sky, looking particularly gray.
Ruan Yuyi stood on the porch, stretched out her hand to touch the raindrops, and the rain fell on her warm palms.
She turned back to Mu Xiang in the wing and said, "Are there no extra umbrellas?"
Seeing that it was starting to rain, the group of them hurried to the courtyard arranged for them by the temple. They didn't bother to grab more umbrellas, only the ones provided in the wing were at hand.
It was raining like this, so it was definitely unrealistic to go to the temple to get it, but she couldn't borrow it from other people's rooms, otherwise if the other party interrogated her, she would find out something.
Mu Xiang walked out of the house and shook her head helplessly, "I really can't find more."
Ruan Yuyi held the umbrella handle tightly, wondering if the prince would still be in his courtyard in such weather.
"Do you have the paper with the scriptures on it?" she asked.
Mu Xiang pulled out a corner from her sleeve and said, "It's always been here." Ruan Yuyi took it and hid it in her arms.
So they opened the umbrella, stood next to each other, and trotted into the rain.
When they arrived at the temple, their shoes, socks, and clothes were inevitably wet. Ruan Yuyi was shivering from the cold, and her little face had lost some color.
After Mu Xiang settled her properly, she held up an umbrella and went to the dining room in the temple, saying that she would make her a bowl of ginger soup.
Ruan Yuyi nodded, took out the dry scripture copy from her arms, and held it tightly in her hand.
The rain slanted in and soaked half of the corridor. She originally wanted to take a fire excerpt and burn the scripture in the courtyard, which could be regarded as an expression of remembrance for this unknown heroic spirit.
However, the heavy rain blew everything into a mess. Don't talk about it outside, you might not even be able to light a fire outside.
When the prince was nowhere to be seen, she thought for a moment and went to the small temple. After all, she saw that His Highness also offered incense here.
She found a copper basin, placed the scriptures in it, and lit it by the door.
The fire started up instantly, happily consuming her energy bit by bit throughout the morning.
The burned paper ashes were blown all over the sky by the wind, and some of them were blown into the temple and fell on her skirt.
Because her brother was in the army, she knew that the barbarians had been rampant in recent years, oppressing and plundering countless border people, making them uneasy. Even after that battle, they only lived in peace for a few years, and there was a vague intention to seize territory.
These women and children did not have the ability to carry guns, so they relied on the soldiers who had not returned home for many years and their sacrifices one after another to achieve peace in their home and country.
She stared at the changing firelight, and a thin sadness wrapped around her heart like a vine.
Suddenly, a sharp shout came from above, "What are you doing here?"
A pair of black forged boots stood in her peripheral vision.
Jiang Huaiyang frowned. Didn't she know that paper was not allowed to be burned in the temple?
Ruan Yuyi trembled at the sudden sound. She kept her crouching position and raised her eyes to look at him. The person in front of her looked like she was about to be stormed.
Although the prince usually had a cold face, he had never been so cold before. She didn't know what bottom line he had touched. She was a little shocked for a moment and looked back at him timidly.
Jiang Huaiyang saw her head tilted up, her eyes seeming to be a bit more hydrated than the rain-stained flowers outside, and she suddenly felt more dry.
As soon as he came across the matter about the lieutenant, his thoughts were confused. At this moment, he felt that the blood all over his body was screaming.
So he pulled her up from the ground.
His hand had been holding the sword for a long time, and when he grabbed the woman's delicate forearm, he didn't know the weight. Ruan Yuyi was pulled by him and staggered, almost falling into his arms.
She stumbled and managed to hold herself together, and the beads on her hair were shaking violently as if in fear.
When Mu Xiang came back with a bowl of ginger soup, she happened to encounter this scene.
She whispered, "Miss!" As she moved around, the light yellow juice sloshed and splashed a little, and the warm soup soaked into her fingers.
The firelight under my feet was still beating, as if I couldn't wait to break away from the shackles of this copper basin.
Jiang Huaiyang noticed the porcelain bowl in her hand and didn't take a closer look at what kind of soup it was. He grabbed it and poured it all into the copper basin. The fire was immediately extinguished.
"You..." Ruan Yuyi had good intentions, but she was scolded in return. In addition, she couldn't bear the smell of wood and the rain, so the ginger soup she brought was wasted, and she felt ashamed and angry.
She struggled hard for a few times, but Jiang Huaiyang's hand still held her forearm like an iron vice.
He sneered, and there was an undercurrent in his eyes, "Burning paper in front of the Buddha is disrespectful. I don't believe you don't know."
This is a Buddhist temple, who gave her the courage to burn paper for people here, not to mention... The temple is holding a twenty-one-day sutra chanting for the deputy general here, which will end in the first few days.
How could he tolerate her acting like this at this point?
Seeing their posture, Mu Xiang was startled for a moment, and wanted to step forward to save the young lady, but someone behind her held her shoulder, and she looked back.
He is a man with slender eyes and a feminine face.
Wen Zhi stepped forward with a calm expression and cupped his hands, "Master, what happened?" Hearing the noise, he thought of coming over to take a look, but unexpectedly he saw this scene.
The girl seemed a little surprised to see him here again. Wen Zhi looked away.
"Take care of this place quickly." When Jiang Huaiyang heard Wen Zhi's inquiry, his rationality returned a little, and he was finally willing to loosen his grip on her.
Ruan Yuyi lowered her eyes and saw that there were some mixed red and white fingerprints on her forearm. She silently rubbed the sore area, leaned forward and said, "Your Highness, please forgive me."
Maybe she shouldn't have spent the whole morning copying scriptures out of wishful thinking, until her wrists were sore from copying, and people still didn't appreciate her at all.
Also, this soldier sacrificed his life in a national disaster and became famous after his death, so his son came to pay his respects. After all, it was her who was troubled.
"Muxiang, let's go." Her voice was as light as a cloud that could be blown away easily, but Muxiang could hear the helplessness inside.
She shouldn't have allowed the young lady to seduce the prince.
A small bell rang on Ruan Yuyi's ankle, and she raised her foot to leave.
Jiang Huaiyang didn't stop him, he just stood still, but his chest felt a little stagnant due to the ringing sound that seemed to be broken.
Wen Zhi stopped her.
"Girl, why are there words on the paper you burned?"
He fiddled with the unburned pages in the copper basin. Because they were wetted, the writing on them was smeared, and he could only vaguely make out the words arranged neatly.
Ruan Yuyi suppressed all the emotions in her eyes, took a deep breath and adjusted her breathing. She felt that her mood was calmer, and then she opened her lips and said, "It's just some scriptures."
"Is this the Ksitigarbha Sutra?" Wen Zhi turned to the corner that was still intact at the bottom, picked it out, and then asked after carefully identifying it.
Ruan Yuyi was silent. So what if it was true, so what if it wasn't. The prince's words were enough to contradict her thousands of times.
When Jiang Huaiyang heard this, he was startled. The concubine liked to pay homage to Buddha, so he had heard about the usefulness of this scripture, but why did she copy it and make so many copies?
He turned his head to look at the remaining incense still burning on the altar table, and a thought suddenly came to his mind -
She was praying for the lieutenant general who died far away, as an ordinary citizen who was protected by them.
Wen Zhi crushed his fingertips and the shredded paper fell back into the copper basin. He stood up and said, "Master, can I ask... why are there ginger slices on this?"
Girl, I can only help you so far, he thought to himself.
Hearing this, Jiang Huaiyang took a look at the mess and then noticed that the scattered ginger slices in the copper basin were whitish and yellow. They had fallen inside and were stained with a lot of paper dust, which seemed a bit inconsistent.
Looking at Ruan Yuyi again, half of her dress is slightly wet, her hands are tangled together, stroking her from time to time, her face is as pale as paper, and she looks fragile and pitiful.
He knew that he had missed her.
The autumn rain brought with it a chill, and the weather was getting colder day by day. She was obviously so delicate, but she was still wearing thin clothes. Do you really think he liked to see her.
His expression was complicated, but his attitude softened and he said in a deep voice, "Wen Zhi, go get a new bowl of ginger soup. You can take your lady to the next room to rest." He said to Mu Xiang again.
If you don’t take care of your body, then who will take care of it?