After Madam Chu San and Chu Lingxuan left, Fuyuan returned to peace.
Every day at si, Chu Hanyan and Chu Lingzhi would come to Fuyuan, and Chen Afu would be the teacher for the three children. At noon, the old marquis would also come here to eat. After dinner, the old marquis would go back to Tangyuan to rest alone, come back in the evening, have dinner together, and then go back to Tangyuan with the old man and two children.
Chu Lingxuan came back every few days, and he always came and went in a hurry. He would rush back when it was dark, find an excuse to talk to Chen Afu in Laifu Garden, bring some gifts to the children, and leave in a hurry before dawn the next day.
They were apart more often than together, and seeing Chu Lingxuan coming and going in a hurry and very tired, Chen Afu was more concerned and distressed about him. He would stay up late every night to make some food for him and bring it to the government office or the military camp. Even if they were together for only half a minute, with a big lantern to light up, they both cherished it very much. Even a few words of greeting and concern, or a smile at each other, felt sweet.
April 29th and May 10th should have been Chu Lingxuan's days off, but he didn't come back for some reason. Not only was Chu Hanyan disappointed, but even Chen Afu felt a little disappointed. Only Chen Dabao smiled secretly with his hands covering his mouth.
On May 12, the long-awaited Mr. Liao finally arrived from the capital.
Mr. Liao was in his fifties, thin, and his deep eyes gave people the impression that he was very knowledgeable. Chen Dabao, Chu Lingzhi, and Chen Afu formally became his disciples.
The study was located in the outer courtyard of Tang Garden. From then on, every morning at 3:30, Dabao and Alu would leave home and go to Tang Garden for classes, and take a break every ten minutes. However, at noon and in the evening, they and Old Marquis Chu would still come to Fu Garden for dinner. Chen Afu also invited Mr. Liao, but if Mr. Liao didn't come, Chen Afu would occasionally have someone send him some food.
With only Miss Chu as his student, and the help of the experienced teachers Xia Yue and Qiu Yue, Chen Ahfu felt more relaxed. When he had nothing to do, he would worry about the family's fields and shop, or do some needlework.
On the 16th, Chen Afu decided to go to Lingyin Temple the next day. She had something to ask the old monk Wuzhi.
The winter wheat on her 400 mu of land in Wangshan Village, Shili Town, had been harvested, and she wanted to plant corn on the land. She also wanted to put the corn seeds into the space, hoping to cultivate the sweet corn or sticky corn from her previous life. Moreover, Manager Luo had clearly hinted that Tangyuan also wanted to plant more fruit cucumbers, and if watermelons were good, she would also like to plant watermelons.
She wanted to take the watermelon seeds, cucumber seeds, and rice seeds she had already used, as well as the wheat seeds and corn seeds she was going to use in the future, to the space for a few days to cultivate good seeds. Not only would they be delicious, but she also hoped that they would be more productive and less susceptible to diseases. Not only would she be able to make a fortune, but she would also benefit the people of this world. But she couldn't say that she bought all these seeds from the foreigners, right? The more lies she had to tell, the harder it would be to cover up. She had to find a great person to help her take on the responsibility.
She thought about it for a long time and decided that this great man could only be the foolish old monk.
The old monk was a great monk who often traveled around the world, even to foreign countries. If he could identify these seeds and say that he got them from foreign people or deep in the mountains, others would believe him, but even if they didn't believe him, they wouldn't dare to ask.
But when she thought of the greedy old monk, she felt guilty, afraid that he would ask for the things in the space again. Jin Yanzi hated him so much that she would never give him anything.
After thinking for a long time, I decided to send him some more fruits and cucumbers. I thought it would be bad to only give some to the old monk and not to Abbot Chen, so I had to send some to her as well.
While having dinner, she discussed with the old marquis that she had a dream about her uncle and wanted to find Master Wuzhi to help interpret it. It would be a good opportunity for her to take Miss Chu to Yingxue Temple to visit Abbot Lechen.
The old marquis was very happy that his future daughter-in-law was valued by Wuzhi Dawushi, so he said that he would also go to see Abbot Chen and they would go together tomorrow.
The next morning, Chen Ahfu went to the backyard to pick cucumbers. She picked even the ones as thick as her fingers, but there weren't many. Last time, she had brought all the bigger cucumbers to Chen Shiying's house. Some more had grown in the past few days, but they were not fully grown. She had no choice but to go to Luyuan again and pick the small cucumbers.
At the end of the Chen hour, the old marquis, Chen Afu, and Chu Hanyan got on a carriage and headed for Honglin Mountain. Jin Yanzi knew that Chen Afu was going to see the old monk again, so she stayed in the space very deliberately and warned Chen Afu not to give the old bald monk any more treasures in the space.
When they arrived at Lingyin Temple, Chen Afu got off the car, and the old marquis took the little girl and continued to go to Yingxue Temple.
As Chen Ahfu led Qiuyue, who was carrying a food box, and two guards into the gate of Lingyin Temple, they saw the young monk Guiyi waiting there. Seeing them coming, he stepped forward and clasped his hands and said, "The female donor is here, and this poor monk is waiting for her."
Chen Afu smiled and gave him a bag of homemade rose candy, and Guiyi happily took it.
After crossing the small stone bridge, Qiuyue and the guard were invited to the pavilion again, and Chen Afu followed Guiyi to the old monk's meditation room. As soon as Chen Afu entered, the old monk's eyes were fixed on her food box.
Chen Afu placed two food boxes on his kang table. He opened the food box impatiently, took out a cucumber and started eating.
"Mm, crisp, sweet, delicious, and indeed much better than ordinary cucumbers." The old monk said, and then asked, "The female donor would not come to the temple for no reason. Would she only give this rare cucumber to me?"
Chen Ahfu smiled and said, "Well, I have something to trouble you, Master. There are some high-quality seeds that I have processed, and I hope you can recognize them and let me tell others that you planted them for me."
The old monk blinked his eyes, clasped his hands together and said, "Amitabha, monks do not tell lies. How could the female donor let me lie?"
Chen Ahfu was a little angry when he saw his eyes were shining, but he was pretending to be serious. But thinking that he was asking for help, he could only smile and said, "Master, if I cultivate a good variety, not only will the people of Dashun Dynasty benefit, but you will also be able to taste different grains, fruits, and vegetables, right?"
The old monk said, "I just won't help. The female donor has cultivated a good variety, and I can also taste it." Seeing that Chen Lao Afu was a little anxious, he quickly said, "What I mean is that if I want you to work hard, you have to give me some ideas. You can't just work in vain, right?"
Chen Ahfu was shocked and said, "Master, you are a great monk, how can you say such low-level words?"
The old monk chuckled and said, "You don't understand, lady donor. A high monk is not someone who looks like one on the surface. It is a kind of cultivation from the inside out, and it is revealed unconsciously. Most of those who look like high monks are pretending."
This explanation really left Chen Ahfu speechless. She added, "What I asked the master to do is to do good things for the common people. Monks are compassionate, and no matter if they are high monks or not, they should be willing to do these good deeds. Especially for a high monk like the master who can't help but show his cultivation, he should do more good deeds."
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