Chapter 69 The Immortal in the Hermitage (12) Cilian.
The young nun who was serving her put away the spittoon and moved a round stool to the bedside. Yu Qi sat down inside the screen and placed his hand on Ci Lian's wrist. Ci Lian's hand trembled slightly. Yu Qi looked up and saw a trace of panic flash across her face, which then turned into a sickly smile.
Jingyue stood guard beside him, her eyes constantly fixed on Yu Qi's face, afraid that he might show any bad expression. Fortunately, Yu Qi would withdraw his hand after a while and shake his head, "It's nothing serious, just an imbalance in his diet, and he's weak and frail. He'll be fine after some rest."
“But she just can’t eat! She vomits up most of what she tries to eat.” Jingyue grew anxious when she saw his indifference. “Is there really nothing else wrong? Should you take another look, sir?”
Yu Qi couldn't be wrong in his diagnosis, but judging from Ci Lian's complexion, she probably hadn't eaten properly for some time. Food is fundamental to life, and if this continued, even a healthy person would develop illness. He could only ask Ci Lian in detail, "Master, is it that you have no appetite and don't want to eat, or what?"
Cilian frowned and said softly, "It's not that I don't want to eat, it's just that I feel nauseous and want to vomit after eating for a while."
"Do you have stomach pain or vomiting blood?"
Cilian shook her head, "No, that's not true."
"How long have you been like this?"
"It's been about ten days." Cilian looked at Jingyue and the little nun and smiled to comfort them. "I think it's just because of the hot weather. It will naturally get better when the weather cools down. Don't worry about me. You spend all day chanting scriptures and studying Buddhism but still don't understand. When it's your turn to die, worrying will be useless."
This wasn't due to the weather; most people lose their appetite due to the heat, and besides, the weather hadn't been particularly hot these past two days because of the rain at night. Yu Qi looked around the room and found nothing that would upset his stomach; everything was spotless. The only strange thing was that there was an indigo curtain hanging on the small window by the bed, which explained why the bedroom felt somewhat dim.
He got up and walked to the window. "Why are you covering this window?"
The young nun said, "My senior sister said it was too bright; the sunlight was so bright that she couldn't sleep well."
He slowly walked back to the bedside. "Master, do you always have trouble sleeping?"
Before Cilian could speak, the little nun nodded, "Senior Sister has been sleeping poorly day and night, and often frowns in her sleep, so she often feels tired and sleepy. Master has even exempted her from morning and evening prayers these days."
Yu Qi glanced down at Ci Lian's face. She seemed uncomfortable under his gaze and immediately looked away. He then looked away and turned to instruct Jiu Li to go back to the guest room and fetch the acupuncture needles, as he wanted to give Ci Lian some acupuncture. Jiu Li agreed and went out. Jing Yue, fearing that she might linger in the room for tea and a rest, followed her out.
This was exactly what Jiu Li wanted to do. She had been wanting to test Jiu Li about her agreement to fight two months ago. Although the perpetrator was a man, there might have been a mastermind behind it. No suspicious detail could be overlooked.
So she and her group walked along, each offering a congratulatory greeting with a smile. Unexpectedly, Jingyue glanced at her and said, "Can't you speak properly? Someone died in our temple, and you're congratulating me!"
Jiuli quickly explained, "No, I'm congratulating you on becoming the head cook. You've only been at the temple for two months, and you've already taken on such an important job. It's clear that the abbot values you highly."
Jingyue pouted, "I'm just acting temporarily. When our Senior Sister Miaohua returns from her stay, she should take over as head cook."
"The abbot only put you on probation because he trusts you. You've only been here for two months and the abbot likes you so much. I'm afraid there are quite a few people in the temple who are jealous of you, right?"
Jingyue snorted, "What exactly do you want to ask? There's no need to beat around the bush. If it's about finding out who the murderer is and getting revenge for Yi, just ask directly, and I'll tell you everything I know."
Jiuli glanced at her and smiled, "Didn't Liaoyi hit you before? When you first came to the temple?"
"How do you know?" Jingyue sneered, glancing sideways. "Who's been gossiping about me behind my back again? This is so old, I haven't even thought about it myself, yet someone else is remembering it for me. Your yamen thinks I hold a grudge because of this little incident, so you deliberately sought revenge and killed Yi? Is that what you mean?! If that's the case, why are you asking me? I'm the murderer, how could I possibly tell the truth?!"
Jiuli also got angry, "If you weren't guilty, why didn't you mention it when I asked you last time?!"
"I'll say whatever I want, it's none of your business!"
The two women raised their voices, attracting the attention of some nuns. Jiuli glanced at them and chuckled softly, "Alright, you can say whatever you want, but if the murderer gets away with it because of your concealment, don't blame others. If you were the murderer, you would be happy, but we don't care."
As he spoke, he hurried into the guest courtyard, truly showing no sign of wanting to leave it alone. Although Jingyue was young, she often heard people complain about the inaction of the government. If they really did nothing, who would seek justice for Yi?
She moved her cheeks and muttered a couple of curses at Jiu Li under her breath, but had no choice but to follow her in. She said irritably, "I was also at fault back then. When I first arrived at the temple, I argued with them and cried a lot at night, which angered Liao Yi. She said I was wailing day and night, keeping everyone awake. I couldn't stand it and argued with her, and she hit me a couple of times. I was holding a grudge, but a few days later I fell ill, and she specially cooked good food to take care of me and apologized. The matter was over. Gradually, I realized she was actually a very good person; she just liked to scold people, but her heart was kind!"
Hearing her say this, Jiuli believed her. Judging from her straightforward temperament, even if she had any grudges, she wouldn't hide them and would settle them on the spot, without having to wait two months. She glanced at her, while searching for acupuncture needles in Yu Qi's room.
"Do you know if Liao Yi often associates with any men?"
The fact that Liaoyi was not a virgin, as confirmed that morning, was unknown to anyone except a few of them. Jingyue only knew that they had checked Liaoyi that morning to see if she had been raped by the murderer, and she took Jingyue's words to mean that Liaoyi had consented, so she became even more stern. "I advise you to watch your mouth! Liaoyi is a nun, how could she have any dealings with men? She rarely speaks to the male worshippers in the temple, she only does her work in the dining hall. Even if you really found out something about her, it wasn't her choice, it must have been coerced by the murderer! Besides, she doesn't have any relatives outside anymore, and no man would come looking for her."
Judging from her words, Liaoyi hadn't been having any secret affairs with any men while at the temple; at least, she hadn't seen her in the two months since she arrived. Jiuli nodded with a pout, "Why are you being so fierce? I'm just asking as usual."
After searching for a while, they finally found the sheepskin bag with the acupuncture needles. The two of them took it out and returned to Cilian's room. A little while later, a young nun came from the kitchen to call Jingyue. She was worried about this and couldn't leave her errand behind, so she went out complaining.
Jiuli was alone in the room assisting Yu Qi. She sat on the edge of the bed, handing him needles. Upon closer inspection, she saw Cilian lying flat on the bed. She was also a beauty, but her illness made her look pale and haggard. Her face lacked color, so her beauty was not as noticeable. Yu Qi inserted a few needles into her arm, then lifted the blanket. Cilian seemed startled and clutched the blanket tightly.
Yu Qi, holding the needle, said, "The needle must be inserted into the epigastric region of the abdomen. Master, there's no need to be afraid."
Cilian had no choice but to lift the blanket herself and slowly raise her monk's robe, her smile forced and awkward.
Jiuli thought to herself, this person seems to have some taboos, whether it's a fear of pain or something else. Could it be because of the difference between men and women? Nuns who have left home probably have even more taboos about this. She then smiled and advised, "Doctors don't have any taboos about men and women. If you're already sick, worrying about such things will only make it harder to get better. Is that why you didn't have acupuncture when you went to the city to see a doctor, Master?"
Cilian smiled as she looked at her face. "The doctor didn't mention acupuncture, probably because he's wary of me being a nun."
As they were talking, Yu Qi, who was bending over, suddenly dropped something onto the blanket. All three pairs of eyes turned to look; it was the Qilin sachet. Jiu Li picked it up for him, just in time to meet Ci Lian's gaze, who was also staring at the sachet with suspicion. "This thing—"
Seeing that her expression was not quite right, Jiuli handed it over and asked, "This is a sachet, does Master recognize it?"
To everyone's surprise, she blinked twice, then smiled awkwardly, "How could I recognize it? I just took a closer look because it was so well-made."
Yu Qi glanced at her and saw that she looked dazed, as if she was lost in thought. After finishing his needlework, he sat down on the stool, took the sachet from Jiu Li's hand, and handed it to Ci Lian. "Master, take a closer look. This was found by the ditch near you."
Cilian had been recuperating in her room and hadn't gone to see Liaoyi's body, but she knew all about it. Then she looked at the sachet and asked, "Sir, are you saying that this sachet was picked up next to Liaoyi's body?"
Yu Qi looked into her eyes and nodded. "That's right. I asked the people in the temple, and they all said they had never seen it before. If Master has seen this item, do you remember who wore it?"
Cilian, under his gaze, smiled and avoided his eyes, then shook her head, "I've never seen it either."
Yu Qi looked at her for a while, then put the sachet back into his pocket. He and Jiu Li sat for a while before getting up to put away the needles. “Master is feeling nauseous right now, so there’s no need for medicine. Just have some porridge for lunch. We’ll see if you feel any better at dinner. I’ll come back to give you another acupuncture treatment tomorrow morning.”
As the two were about to take their leave, Cilian struggled to get up to see them off, but Jiuli quickly pressed her back down to sleep. "Master, don't be so polite. We've been staying in the guest quarters for the past few days. If you have any other problems, just send the junior monks to tell us."
As they came out, they looked around and saw that it was almost noon, but there weren't many worshippers. This time of day was usually the busiest, with worshippers arriving before noon to have a vegetarian meal before heading home. It seemed that news of the murder at Qinglian Temple had spread, and worshippers from the surrounding area were now hesitant to come.
This made things much quieter. Jiuli, while keeping her head down tying the rope of the sheepskin bag, followed Yu Qi back to the guest courtyard. "What exactly is Cilian's illness? Is it really nothing serious as you said?"
The moment Yu Qi heard her voice, he couldn't help but hear her words about liking Xu Bai and daring to call herself Xu Bai's "fiancée"—it was utterly outrageous! He was furious and glanced at her with a cold smile, "What do you think it matters?"
Jiuli didn't give him a friendly look either, rolling her eyes as she shoved the sheepskin bag into his hand. "I just asked a question because her illness seemed a bit strange. It's not like I doubted your diagnosis."
Yu Qi remained silent for a long time, and she stopped pressing him for answers. When they reached the bottom of the cave entrance, he said calmly, "I think she's not sick physically, but sick in the heart."
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Author's note: Thank you for reading.
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