As she walked, Wen Xueyi sighed inwardly, realizing that compared to this grandniece, she, as an elder, was truly inferior to her child.
If she had been left to live alone in that nunnery back then, she doesn't know if she would have had the courage to continue.
Anyway, she didn't have the guts, and luckily her older brother made sure things were arranged properly.
During lunch, Jiang Qiao witnessed firsthand the hardships these nuns endured.
Just as Wen Xueyi said before, some people keep their hair, while others shave it all off.
Because of the heat and the absence of other people, Wen Xueyi told them to take off their hats and wash up properly. After all, working in the fields and mountains would make them sweat even without moving, let alone after a morning of work.
She didn't want anyone to suffer. Life here was already tough enough; it would be better to make herself more comfortable.
After seeing what these people were wearing and what they were eating, Jiang Qiao felt even more strongly how difficult their lives must have been.
Even though Wen Xueyi specifically asked for more good food, all she got was some stir-fried mushrooms. To be honest, she didn't really taste the oil in the dish; it was as if the cook had just dipped the tip of their chopsticks in it.
The rest of the meal consisted of boiled green vegetables with a little salt, and each person had a cornbread bun with some vegetable leaves added.
Wen Xueyi looked at Jiang Qiao apologetically, "Miss, this is all the food we have here, please don't mind—"
Jiang Qiao smiled and shook her head. "It's already good enough to have food. The past two years have been really tough. I just didn't expect that the masters here would be like this too."
The other nuns smiled and said, "This kind of life is already very good. At least we still have food and can live our lives in peace. Nothing else matters."
Although the cornbread contained vegetable leaves, it tasted pretty good.
After the meal, the nuns returned to their rooms to rest, while Jiang Qiao accompanied Wen Xueyi back to her main living room.
Once inside, Jiang Qiao finally spoke her mind, "Grandma, I really didn't expect your lives to be even harder than I imagined. How did you manage to get through those years?"
Wen Xueyi sighed, "How can we survive? We'll just muddle through. As long as we can survive, what we eat won't be a problem. As long as we work hard, we can at least make some profit here."
Compared to the people living down the mountain, we're doing better here. After all, there aren't many people in the temple, and everyone is hardworking. The harder we work, the better our lives will be.
Jiang Qiao remembered the gifts she had brought and quickly took out everything from the basket and bundle.
I brought rice, millet, nutritional supplements, seaweed, and dried kelp. "I don't know if these things count as meat, so these are the only things I can bring."
"Grandma, this is tea prepared for you and your masters. If you need anything later, I'll try to get it for you."
Wen Xueyi pulled Jiang Qiao to sit down. "Child, you don't need to buy anything. You've already brought quite a lot. It's really kind of you to bring so many things from so far away."
I really like tea. I haven't had tea in so long that I've almost forgotten what it tastes like.
Jiang Qiao truly couldn't imagine that the eldest daughter of the Wen family could endure such a harsh life back then. Speaking of which, Wen Xueyi was quite a ruthless person.
"Grandma, isn't there something down there? Why don't you use it? Isn't that thing meant to make things more comfortable for your descendants or for you? Why are you making things difficult for yourself?"
Wen Xueyi shook her head. "Child, you don't understand. It may be tough, but if it can make my husband and child live a better life over there, I'd rather live like this for the rest of my life."
What can Jiang Qiao say? This person claims to have come to terms with things, but in reality, he is a devoted person. If he weren't devoted, he wouldn't have come to this point.
With a somewhat moved expression, she leaned on Wen Xueyi's shoulder and said, "Grandma, seeing you like this makes my heart ache. Really, my grandfather has never seen the kind of life you have. If he had, he probably would have dragged you down the mountain."
Wen Xueyi stroked Jiang Qiao's hair, "I'm already doing very well. At least we have our own land. Some nunneries don't even have their own land, and their incense offerings aren't plentiful. They can only rely on begging for food."
Look at me, wouldn't you say I'm pretty happy? Even though our lives are a bit tough, we women aren't bitter at heart.
Those women, if they weren't forced into this situation, would they have chosen this path? Getting here is actually a kind of happiness, so don't overthink it.
You should go and rest. You must be tired from the journey. We can talk about it after you've had a good night's sleep.
Jiang Qiao nodded, took a set of bedding from the room and wiped the guest room. There wasn't much dust, so she guessed that her great-aunt often came over to clean it.
When she woke up, it was already afternoon. At that time, she dared not go to the basement to look, for fear that if a nun came, she would be exposed.
Just as I was about to get up, I heard a commotion outside, but I didn't know what was going on.
Jiang Qiao came out and saw that, good heavens, a lot of people had gathered at the entrance of the nunnery, but judging from their posture, it looked like they were about to fight.
Those nuns, holding brooms and shovels, were guarding the gate of the courtyard.
After locking the door, Jiang Qiao went over. Oh my, when this woman gets rowdy, she can really be a handful.
Two old women were sitting on the ground, crying and cursing. She didn't even need to ask; the fact that they were causing such a scene meant they were most likely connected to the nuns here.
Jiang Qiao looked up and saw Wen Xueyi standing at the door. It seemed she was trying to explain something to the other party, but it didn't seem to be working.
"Hey, what kind of show are they putting on?"
Jiang Qiao walked over slowly, but no one paid any attention to her. The men standing next to her began to get restless. How could those nuns possibly be a match for these people?
Seeing that the other party was planning to rush in, Jiang Qiao rushed over and kicked the person who had rushed in out with a few punches and kicks.
"How dare you! This is a sacred Buddhist sanctuary. How dare you make such a racket here? Behave yourselves, or you'll be thrown out more than just a punishment."
Can anyone tell me what's going on?
The men who were kicked out by Jiang Qiao were indignant. "Who are you? Where did you come from? Let me tell you, don't meddle in our family's affairs. You can't control them anyway. Go cool off somewhere else."
It was Wen Xueyi who spoke up and told Jiang Qiao the whole story.
“A woman came to our area before, covered in bruises. She said she had been beaten by her in-laws and that she had no way to survive and wanted to become a nun. We did take her in, but I didn’t agree to her becoming a nun. Once her injuries had healed a little, I had someone send her down the mountain. As for where this woman went, we don’t know.”
But these people won't listen to our explanations. They've come before, and we've said everything we needed to say.
Dear benefactors, we really don't have the person you are looking for here. Besides, we showed you the person last time, and you didn't come up with anything else.
"What's going on this time? You know this is a nunnery, and men aren't allowed in, yet you still insisted on forcing your way in. What's your intention?"
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