CH 61

Chapter 61: The Bailong Temple

The Bailong Temple was located halfway between Baihe Town and Yunyang City. It couldn’t be considered the largest temple in Youzhou, but it was definitely considered one of the most exquisite temples in Youzhou.  The halls in the temple were splendid, the scenery was pleasant, and the vegetarian dishes were especially famous.

Because it was only an hour’s drive from Yunyang City, the capital city in Youzhou, there were many wealthy families visiting Bailong Temple on a regular basis.  On the big Buddhist days, there were especially countless visitors.

It was a good thing that today was not such a day as the Buddha’s Birthday, but even so, when the Ren Family’s carriage reached the mountain gate of the Bailong Temple, they saw many carriages.

Ren Yaoqi had been to the Bailong Temple once or twice, but that had been in a previous life.

When they got off the carriage, the Eldest Madam and her daughter-in-law Zhao walked in front of them, the two of them talking in low voices. The juniors followed behind them both.

Ren Yaoyu whispered to her brother and complained, “Didn’t we say before that there were only a few brothers and sisters? How come Eldest Aunt and Sister-in-law are here too?”

Ren Yijian was talking to Ren Yihong and ignored her, making her feel uncomfortable. But Ren Yaoyu didn’t dare to settle the score with her brother, she had been asking for his help a lot recently.

Not far from the gate to the Bailong Temple, a single-hole bridge[1] that connected north to south lay in the middle of the square on the Bailong’s entrance road. The whole bridge was about thirty or forty feet long, about ten feet wide, and about ten feet deep. However, there was no water under the bridge, only a golden water channel built with blue bricks. On the east and west sides of the single-hole bridge there was a round, square-hole money bell hanging on each side of the bridge[2].

Ren Yaoqi and his entourage were walking past the white stone railing on the right side of the bridge, less than two feet from the bridge, when Ren Yijian said to the maid following him, “Give this young master a few coins”, while showed off to Ren Yihong, “Every time this young master walks past here, he can hit until a hundred times. “

It turned out that the money-shaped bell in the bridge hole was used for the pilgrims to ring, standing outside the railing and throwing copper coins at the bell.

The children loved this game and often refused to leave until they heard the bell ring. Ren Yaoqi had played this game before, but had never won.

There were already some people around the railing, and every now and then they could hear the “ding” and the cheers.

The Eldest Madam turned to Ren Yijian, who was eager to try, and said, “Jian’er, let’s go in first and offer incense to the Buddha, and then you can play in the Bailong Temple.”

Ren Yijian looked at the benevolent-looking Eldest Madam and helplessly put the two coins back in his hand.

Eldest Madam turned back to talk to the Eldest Young Madam as she walked.

The Eldest Madam believed in Buddhism and was always devout in her affairs, so several of the younger members of the Ren Family followed behind her in a disciplined manner. Even Ren Yaoyu, whose mother was not here, was quite honest in front of the Eldest Madam.

After following the Eldest Madam to the temple to offer incense, the Eldest Madam said, “Your sister-in-law and I are going to ask for fortune sticks, so you can walk around the temple and come back when it’s time to eat. But you must not leave without anyone around you, especially the sisters.”

They all agreed, and Ren Yijian immediately took Ren Yihong with him, and asked Yun Wenfang and Qiu Yun, “Do you want to come with us, Cousin?”

Qiu Yun shook her head and laughed, “We’re not children, we don’t want to play with that.”

Ren Yijian rolled his eyes and ran away.

Ren Yijun looked at his mother and peeked over to Ren Yaoqi, when the Eldest Madam frowned and said, “Come here, Yijun, come with me and your sister-in-law to ask for fortune sticks.”

Ren Yijun was obedient to his mother, so although his face was full of reluctance, he finally stopped his steps.

Eldest Madam said to Ren Yaoyin, who was leaning lightly on her maid and looking a bit uncomfortable, “I have asked the guest monk to prepare a room for resting, so you can go with me to rest for a while.”

Ren Yaoyin could not bear the bumps and bruises of the carriage and was a little uncomfortable. She could not travel long distances in a carriage.

Ren Yaoqi was hesitant to follow Ren Yijun, and after some thought, she said to the Eldest Madam, “Eldest Aunt, I will also go with you to get fortune sticks.”

The Eldest Madam looked at her with some surprise, but said gently, “You are still young, you don’t need to go, you should go with your sisters. I remember that there is a forest of apricot blossoms at the back of this Bailong Temple, I wonder if they are in bloom now.”

Ren Yaoyu skimmed her lips and whispered, “In previous years when it wasn’t cold, the flowers didn’t bloom until March or April, this year is colder than previous years, how could they bloom so early?”

The Eldest Madam, however, had already walked away with the Eldest Young Madam and Ren Yaoyin, and Ren Yijun was following behind them with his hands behind his back, looking so listless that the Eldest Madam saw him and turned her head to give him a few words of advice.

Ren Yaoyu saw the Eldest Madam and the girls leave and immediately said to Qiu Yun, “Cousin, where are we going?”

Qiu Yun glanced at Yun Wenfang and then at the Ren sisters.

Ren Yaoyu looked at him with a smile on her face, while the two sisters, Ren Yaohua and Ren Yaoqi, were thinking about something and their attention was not with them.

“Let’s otherwise go to the almond blossom forest at the back of the mountain first. Even if the apricot blossoms are not in bloom, it is still good to see the mountain scenery at the back of the mountain. Originally we were planning to come for a trek, weren’t we?”

All of them had no opinion.

Qiu Yun was no stranger to the Bailong Temple, so she led the way to the back of the mountain without the monk leading the way. As he did so, he introduced them to the origins of the Bailong Temple and the history of some of its buildings.

If he wanted to be cordial and friendly, he was the sweetest and most knowledgeable friend you can have. But if he wanted to distance himself from you, then he was a difficult man to approach, yet impeccable in his interests.

Because of this, Ren Yaoqi hated him in her last life. In this life, she only wanted to keep a distance from him.

In the early spring of this year, the apricot blossoms behind the Bailong Temple hadn’t fully bloomed yet, but some sporadic small flower buds bloomed on the paper sticks of some apricot trees.

“Shall we go and sit in that pavilion?” Qiu Yun said as if he were a guide, pointing to an octagonal pavilion hidden in the apricot grove.

As they approached they found that there were already people sitting in the pavilion, two teenagers and two young girls, all aged 13 or 14 years old.

Qiu Yun paused, frowned slightly and whispered to Yun Wenfang: “Oh no, we know each other. Do you want to avoid them?”

Yun Wenfang raised his eyebrows slightly and glanced at the pavilion, pulling at the corners of his mouth, “No need. what am I, a criminal?”

A young man dressed in blue also looked over at the pavilion, and when he saw Qiu Yun and Yun Wenfang, he froze slightly, then got up and said, “Zishu, Jinyuan, what are you doing here?”

Qiu Yun smiled and walked forward, “Brother Su, I didn’t expect to meet you here.”

Ren Yaoqi also looked towards the man in the pavilion. The young man whom Qiu Yun and Yun Wenfang knew was clean looking, with a faintly scholarly air about him, and his hands and feet were very steady.

Qiu Yun called him “Brother Su”, so was he from the Su Family in Yunyang City?

Unfortunately, in her previous life in northern Yan, Ren Yaoqi had rarely been able to go out because she was not favoured by the Old Madam. There were many trips to Yunyang City, but Ren Yaoqi went there only rarely, and only to her grandfather’s home.

In her last life, she did not necessarily recognise people she had met, but in this life she was even less able to do so.

The other teenager in the pavilion were merely ordinary looking, but the clothes on her body were not bad. Of the two young girls, one could barely be called delicate, with a few freckles on her face. The other, a younger girl, was good looking, but unfortunately her eyes were too nimble and unpleasant to look at.

There, the young man surnamed Su was saying to Yun Wenfang in a very friendly manner, “I haven’t seen you for a long time, I heard from your brother that you have gone away?”

Yun Wenfang leaned against the pillars of the pavilion, looking sluggish, and only answered with an “hm” when he heard the words, as if he didn’t take seriously the friendly approach of the young man surnamed Su.

Qiu Yun came forward in time to interrupt, slapping his forehead and saying, “Oh, look at my impoliteness. Brother Su, these are my three cousins from the Ren Family. Third Cousin, Fifth Cousin, Eighth Cousin, this is Su Yunchen, the Second Young Master of the Su Family. The Second Aunt in the East Mansion is his own aunt, so to put it mildly, he is also considered your cousin.”

So it was really someone from the Su Family.

Ren Yaoqi and the others were busy saluting him.

Su Yunchen returned the greeting with a very polite bow, and introduced the other three people in the pavilion to Ren Yaoqi and his party.

“This is the young master of the Tang Family. Zishu, Jinyuan, you should have met him before, he joined our academy last year. These two girls are his cousins, Miss from the Liu Family of Guidong in Yunyang City.”

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[1] Single-hole bridge

[2] Throwing money to the bell hanging on the bridge