Chapter 86 The Immortal in the Hermitage (Twenty-Nine) Actually, I had never met Miaohua. ...

Speaking of this, Jiuli recalled Huixin's character. She had once spoken with her quietly and found her to be more composed than Liaoyi and stronger than Cilian. She was also very prestigious among the nuns. Even Jingyue, who was defiant that day, seemed to respect her greatly. No wonder Jingzhen chose her as the head disciple.

Given this kind of person's behavior, it's not surprising that even if they caught Miaohua and that man having an affair, they wouldn't get angry or make a fuss.

Moreover—the horse's hooves moved slowly, gradually bringing together Jiu Li's two crescent-shaped eyebrows. "Brother Zhang, your words are not very precise. There are currently no clues indicating that Hui Xin has any private relationship with the murderer, not even a close one. We only gleaned from the clues in the Yi Ci Lian cases that they had a close relationship with the murderer, and then naturally assumed that Hui Xin also had an affair with the murderer. But that's not necessarily true. Perhaps we've all been wrong? That's why we're stuck in this mystery."

These words were like a wake-up call, and the group suddenly realized that because the murderer was the same person, they had treated all three cases as equal and overlooked the details of Huixin's case.

Thinking of this, Yu Qi decided to start investigating Huixin's case from the beginning. Upon arriving at Qinglian Temple, he instructed everyone: "Zhong'er, you and Constable Zhang go and search through all the smuggling in Qinglian Temple over the past few days. See if there is anything useful, especially the filth in the rooms of Liaoyi, Cilian, Huixin, Miaohua, and others. Check them carefully. Yu'er, go and ask the nuns about the relationship between these four people. Lord Qi, you and I will search their rooms again."

Upon hearing that he was to be asked to rummage through the filth, Du Zhong immediately frowned and asked, "Master, what is there to investigate about those things?"

"Since we can't find any clues about the murderer elsewhere, we have to start with the victim. If we want to know more details, even a person's personal belongings might provide clues."

Everyone agreed, finding it reasonable, and had no choice but to comply. Only Du Zhong remained indignant, tethering his horse and muttering to himself, "Why didn't you let Xiao Yu'er do it? Humph, just because she's a girl doesn't mean she can't touch these filthy things! Isn't that favoritism?"

Yu Qishun heard this, turned around and glanced at him. He met his gaze, then quickly pursed his lips and patted the horse's back.

Jiuli smiled smugly and stretched out his arm toward Yu Qi from his horse. Yu Qi seemed to sense something was amiss and pointed to the stirrups, saying, "You stepped off here yourself. Didn't you want to learn to ride a horse? You can't even mount or dismount properly, so what are you learning?"

What's so difficult about that? Does she need to learn it? She just wanted him to carry her down. Seeing that he was worried about others being around, she chuckled inwardly. He was her uncle, and it was her first time riding a horse. What was wrong with lending a hand? Only he was feeling guilty!

She refused to dismount on her own, letting her arms hang down and sitting on the horse with her head bowed. She looked like she was being stubborn again. Seeing that Xu Bai seemed to be reaching out to her, Yu Qi had no choice but to reach out and wrap his arms around her waist, lifting her off the horse in one swift motion.

As soon as Jiuli landed, she looked up at him with a smug smile. He could only coldly say to her, "Go back to your room and wash your face first." After saying that, he turned and went to tie up his horse.

Xu Bai immediately took out a handkerchief and handed it to her, "How come you sweat more when riding a horse than when we walk?"

It was Jiuli's first time riding a horse, and she was always afraid of falling off, so she was quite nervous along the way and naturally sweated a lot. But what she was most afraid of was being looked down upon, so she wiped her sweat and stuck out her tongue, "It's even more scorching hot when you're riding a horse."

As they were talking, Yu Qi walked over and glanced at the handkerchief in her hand. He didn't say anything. After entering the temple gate, Jiu Li watched his back and wondered why his attitude towards Xu Bai had changed. Was it because he had her under his thumb? Or was it because he regretted his mistake after the last time and could tolerate even Xu Bai?

His heart was in turmoil anyway, so she deliberately folded the silk handkerchief carefully and put it in her bosom. Tong Xubai tilted his head and smiled, "I'll return it to you after I wash it clean."

"It's just a piece of silk." Xu Bai smiled, his tone light, but there was a sense of heaviness in his heart.

He walked alongside her into the temple gate. Every now and then, he would glance at Jiu Li. Ahead of them was Yu Qi's upright figure, striding along without looking back. A patch of lake-green robes swayed behind him, gently drawing Jiu Li's gaze.

Perhaps things have always been this way; he simply hadn't considered it before and thus overlooked it. Today, he suddenly realized that although Jiu Li may seem unruly and somewhat wild, no matter how rebellious she is, she can never stray from the core of "Yu Qi." Yu Qi has long been an integral part of her being.

Xu Bai was resentful, feeling that Yu Qi had merely seized the initiative. That's the downside of men; they love to compete and fight. At this moment, he suddenly realized he deeply loved Jiu Li. His attitude towards Yu Qi changed, suddenly becoming hostile, and he paid extra attention to his actions.

Yu Qi had no time to pay attention to him, his mind was focused on the clues. After searching Yi and Cilian's room, he went to Huixin's room.

Those two rooms had already been searched once, and there were no changes or new discoveries. He was entering Huixin's monk's room for the first time; it was bright and clean, and everything was neatly arranged. He asked the nun who opened the door, "Has anything in this room been moved?"

The nun said, "Sister Huixin locked the door before she left the temple. After she died, no one has entered this room. I got this key from the treasurer."

Xu Bai was looking through the Buddhist scriptures piled on the long table under the main wall. Each one had annotations or commentaries in red ink, clearly indicating that she had read them carefully. "Your Sister Huixin has a deep understanding of Buddhism?"

“Sister Huixin is the most accomplished in Buddhism in the temple, so for occasions like the Wuzhe Assembly at Dajue Temple, Master, oh no, Jingzhen and the others always send her.”

Xu Bai then walked into the screen on the left. Inside, besides a couch, there was a multi-treasure cabinet against the wall, which was filled with various scriptures and manuscripts. After a quick glance, it turned out to be the Buddhist study answers of the various nuns. This proved to be true; Hui Xin was indeed diligently cultivating herself at Qinglian Temple and was even considered a supervising teacher.

Behind the screen on the right was a bedroom. Yu Qi went in and asked, "Are these monks' rooms cleaned regularly by designated people, or do they clean their own rooms?"

“Apart from the cleaning of the rooms for Jingzhen and her seniors, which we take turns cleaning, everyone else cleans their own rooms.”

Yu Qi nodded and opened a chest in the corner. Inside, besides two sets of monk's robes and shoes, there was a box with a small Sanskrit copper lock hanging on it, but it wasn't locked. He opened the lid and found the box empty.

Logically, this locked box should contain something important, but what could be important to a nun? If it were silver, Huixin would have only taken some travel money with her when she went to Dajue Temple; there should still be some left in the box. So I called the nun forward and asked her in detail, but she said she didn't know either.

Yu Qi had no choice but to walk to the bedside again, put his hands behind his back, stare at the bedding and pillows for a while, and suddenly his mind was swaying with the gray curtains on both sides.

The sandalwood scent was stronger today, just like the day I first arrived, as Jiuli noticed as soon as she entered the temple. With few worshippers visiting in recent days, the incense offerings had dwindled considerably, but today the incense in several halls was burning brightly. The nuns in the temple lit it themselves, perhaps inspired by Jingzhen and others, wanting to offer incense to cleanse the temple of its evil influences and sins.

When people encounter inescapable suffering, they can only place their hopes on gods and Buddhas. Jiuli changed her clothes and got out of bed, hanging up the bed curtains at one end while laughing with Jingyue at the other, "Do you really think there are any true Buddhas in this world? You burn incense and worship them every day, yet they can't even protect you. What's the point of believing in them?"

Jingyue sat at the table and scoffed, "What do you know? Do you think that worshipping Buddha is just about having something in your heart? Only you worldly people think like that. Our cultivation is about cultivating ourselves, cultivating for the next life, and cultivating to transcend reincarnation. That's what Sister Huixin said."

Jiuli walked out with a smile, "From what you're saying, now that Jingzhen and the others are imprisoned, no one can restrain you anymore, so you're not going home either?"

“What’s the point of going home? I’m here to cultivate for that young lady. My parents took money from her family. Even if I can’t make it at Qinglian Temple, they’ll send me to another temple.” Jingyue scratched at the table, feeling that talking about this would make her a laughingstock, so she stood up and rolled her eyes at her. “What did you call me here to ask? If you have nothing else to ask, you’re leaving. There’s a lot of work to do in the kitchen!”

"Don't rush!" Jiuli hurriedly pressed her down to sit, then sat down herself. "Let me ask you, how many years has Miaohua been at the temple?"

"She was a year younger than Cilian, so it was six years in total. I heard that she was from the countryside in Nanjing. Her mother died when she was born, and she was raised by her father. Six years ago, her father fell into the river while fishing and drowned. An uncle wanted to sell her to an opera troupe. Later, Jingzhen heard about it and probably bought her to a temple because of her beautiful appearance. Not two years later, her uncle also died of illness, and her aunt remarried and went to another place. She had no relatives in Nanjing."

"Then what do you think would be the reason if she killed Huixin?"

“I really can’t figure out why.” Jingyue slowly shook her head. “Don’t let Miaohua’s upbringing in the countryside fool you. She’s very clean and takes a bath every few days. Her room is too small to fit everything, so she often borrows Huixin’s room to bathe. Huixin is also a very clean person and doesn’t mind that Miaohua makes the room wet. Whenever Miaohua takes a bath, Huixin brings hot water to refill her tub. Although Huixin looks a bit cold on the surface, she always takes good care of everyone in the temple. She rarely punishes the junior sisters when they make mistakes. Jueming and the others have bad tempers and often beat and scold people, but she often pleads for us. So all the senior sisters are very close to her.”

Seeing a hint of attachment in her sorrowful expression, Jiu Li smiled and said, "You trust her a lot, don't you?"

"That's for sure. Sister Huixin is the head abbot. She oversees all matters in the temple with both authority and fairness, never showing favoritism. She's also very eloquent when it comes to comforting people. Who wouldn't trust her? Even Liaoyi, with his fiery temper, greatly admires her. Cilian often says that when she came to Qinglian Temple from Suzhou with Jingzhen and Huixin, she fell ill due to financial difficulties at home. It was thanks to Huixin's constant comfort and meticulous care that she survived."

"I heard that Liaoyi's face was ruined back then, and she fell seriously ill. It was Huixin who personally prepared the soup and medicine and comforted her at her bedside." Jingyue clicked her tongue and shook her head. "Now that I think about it, Senior Sister Liaoyi probably deliberately ruined her face to avoid those filthy and disorderly affairs. When a woman is forced to this point, I'm afraid her heart is already half dead."

It seems that Huixin not only persevered through hardship herself, but also guided others to live on with unwavering determination. Indeed, she has gained some insight from the high monk.

As they were talking, they heard Du Zhong and Zhang Da return. Jiu Li went to the door and saw the two of them carrying two baskets of things into the yard. Immediately, a stench hit her nose. She quickly raised her hand to fan her nose. "Don't bring this kind of stuff into the house. Just put it in an open space in the yard. It smells terrible. How can anyone sleep if we bring it into the house?"

Du Zhong was sweating profusely from the heat and secretly complained that Yu Qi was unfair, assigning all the dirty and tiring work to him and Zhang Da, while Jiu Li just sat in the room talking to people, not even getting a bit of sun!

"You think it stinks already? Didn't you see how bad it was when we first dug these things out!" He grumbled, pushing past her to wash his face, and yelled, "Isn't the water in this basin clean?!"

Jiuli glanced back and said, "I just washed my face! If you think it's not clean enough, go get some water yourself!"

He scooped up water and wiped himself haphazardly.

All the members of Qinglian Temple were buried in the back mountain, and they were all mixed together, so it was impossible to tell who was who. They dug out the pit, sifted through it, and picked out some miscellaneous items that looked like they came from various rooms. Zhang Da emptied the baskets in the courtyard, waiting for a detailed inspection.

Jingyue followed, somewhat confused, "What's there to investigate about these thin things?"

Jiuli immediately put what she had learned into practice: "The finer the filtrate, the more you can see the deceased's daily life, such as what they liked to eat and what they did. For example, if someone is sick, there will be medicine residue in the filtrate. By looking through the medicine residue, you can even find out what disease they had."

"No wonder he runs a pharmacy; he can't stop talking about his profession." Jingyue pouted and squatted down, watching Zhang Da rummage through the shop with a stick. The contents were mostly broken cups, plates, bowls, leftover snacks and fruit peels, unwanted shoes and socks, old handkerchiefs, and scraps of cloth.

"What's this?" Jiuli saw a small, tightly bound bundle. She took out a silk handkerchief as a pad, twisted the bundle, and shook it. It jingled and clanged; it contained shards of porcelain. Opening it, it didn't look like a large item, but it was shattered extremely badly. Each shard was less than an inch long. It didn't seem like it was dropped, but rather smashed by something. She didn't know what it was, and it was even wrapped in a piece of cloth.

Jingyue looked at the bundle and said, "This piece of cloth looks familiar. It looks like a piece cut from the curtains that Huixin used to hang."

"So, this is the Laxi from Huixin's house?"

Jingyue nodded and stood up. "I can't stay here rummaging through the dirty stuff with you. I have to go prepare dinner. Is there anything you'd like to eat tonight?"

Jiuli stared at the pile of tiny porcelain shards and shook her head, unable to discern what it was originally. The shards were plain white porcelain, devoid of any patterns, yet they didn't resemble a Bodhisattva statue. Puzzled, she twisted the bundle into her room.

It was almost dinnertime when Yu Qi returned. He entered and saw her seemingly oblivious, intently fiddling with something at the table. She had changed her clothes; she wore a blush-colored, front-opening crepe-like short-sleeved blouse, concealing a patch of begonia-red bodice, and a matching begonia-red gauze skirt underneath. It was rare for her to be dressed so brightly from head to toe; she must have been wearing plain clothes for two days and was feeling stifled—too much of a good thing can be bad.

He also stared at her unusually, as if he could touch her flesh, and a tickle ran through him. After a while, he coughed to clear his throat, composed himself, and asked, "What are you fiddling with?"

Jiuli was so engrossed in examining the pile of broken porcelain shards that she was suddenly startled. Her hand trembled, and a shard cut the tip of her index finger.

He sighed with utter exasperation, "So careless again. Where's Zhong'er?"

"He said he was sleepy and was sleeping in the next room." She squeezed her fingertip to draw out the blood. Since she didn't have a clean handkerchief, she turned around and held her finger out in front of him, feigning a pitiful expression.

Yu Qi glanced at him coldly, walked straight to the chair at the head of the table and sat down. "I don't care. Who told you to be so reckless at your age?"

She suddenly felt wronged, got up and walked to him, still extending her hand, "Why are you being so cold and distant today? Is it because you've changed your mind again?"

Yu Qi didn't say anything, but looked up at her, took her hand and examined it carefully. He smiled and said, "This small cut would probably have healed by now if we waited any longer. Is it really worth making a fuss about?" But then he added, "Don't get it wet."

She wasn't making a mountain out of a molehill; she just wanted him to take it seriously. Hearing that made her feel better, so she smiled again and pointed to the table. "Look at that thing. It's not a statue of a Bodhisattva, nor does it look like a cup or bowl. It's something from Huixin's room. It seems like she threw it out the day she left the temple."

When Huixin was mentioned, Yu Qi's expression became somewhat solemn. "I wasn't at the temple the day we performed the autopsy on Huixin. You said that everyone recognized her because of a flower-shaped tattoo on her back? Could it be that the face of the body was no longer recognizable?"

“Yes.” Jiuli nodded, pulled the stool to sit down in front of him, “The skin is so wrinkled that the coroner could peel it off with just a gentle rub.”

"And what about his figure?"

“Her body is swollen, so you can’t tell, but you can tell by her height. Huixin is much taller than the nuns in the temple, half a head taller than me.” As she spoke, she raised her hand to show her height, then suddenly frowned. “Why did you suddenly ask about this?”

Yu Qi looked at her and smiled, "You also feel that something's not right?"

She frowned and remained silent for a long while before murmuring, "To be honest, we've never met Miaohua before, so we don't know what she looks like or what her build is like."

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Author's note: Thank you for reading.