Chapter 39 Chapter 39 Among the crowd, the two looked at each other. ...
At that glance, Nan Qiong Shuang felt that there seemed to be something wrong with Gu Zhi today.
His brows were furrowed with fatigue, and his forehead and nose were covered in a thick layer of sweat. Although he maintained a calm demeanor, he seemed to be forcing himself to hold on. His elegant and handsome face had turned so pale that it seemed as if he would collapse and shatter in an instant.
What's wrong with him?
Behind the beaded curtain, Huide raised his eyelids and took a sip of tea. "Have you been punished?"
Punishment?
Gu Zhi bowed respectfully, "Yes."
Huide nodded.
"Nothing. Your junior brother ate the fish from Hualong Pond. This isn't the first or second time, so the punishment is heavier this time."
Gu Zhi: "Then why is Senior Sister so angry?"
Looking at Song Yaojie, Song Yaojie sneered and turned her head away.
Looking at Li Xuanbai again, Li Xuanbai was as bad and unruly as ever, with the small teardrop-shaped earrings under his ears still dangling. He just sneered and ignored him.
As if unintentionally, he glanced at the person behind Li Xuanbai.
Their eyes met for a moment, and then they immediately looked away as if hurt.
Nan Qiong Shuang felt a strange feeling in her heart.
Holding Li Xuanbai's hand, she instinctively wanted to let go, but stopped.
He...cares about her?
But he looked as if nothing had happened.
For someone like Gu Zhi, if she doesn't push him, even if he has some unusual feelings for her, she won't tell her.
So, I held on even tighter.
Li Xuanbai felt her five fingers and thought she was uneasy, so he turned around and held her arm.
Behind the beaded curtain, Huide knocked his knuckles on the table twice and sighed, "Xuanbai, apologize to your senior sister."
Apologize? Nan Qiongshuang was surprised. This guy was so arrogant that he wanted to change the rules of the mountain, but Huide didn't punish him and just asked him to apologize?
Who would have thought that Li Xuanbai would give a cold laugh and say, "I've never apologized to anyone in my life."
Nan Qiong Shuang: ...
Song Yaojie immediately jumped up from the stool and stomped out from behind the beaded curtain, "You brat! You're so rude and disrespectful to your elders!"
Gu Zhi immediately took two steps forward and stood between the two of them, "Senior sister, please think twice. Junior brother has always been..."
He wanted to dissuade her, but when he turned around, he saw that Li Xuanbai and her hands were almost holding each other. His voice was blocked in his throat for a moment, his face turned frighteningly pale, he closed his eyes, and turned back.
She was hanging out with him again. Even though she almost died in that underground palace because of him just a few days ago.
Does she like Li Xuanbai so much?
Huide leaned against the Arhat bed behind the bead curtains, finally fingering his rosary beads and speaking:
"——Yao Jie."
Song Yaojie froze in her tracks. For a long time, she didn't dare to take another step.
But through Gu Zhi, he glared at Li Xuanbai with resentment and unwillingness.
Li Xuanbai's vocabulary had never contained the phrase "quit while you're ahead." He simply smiled and said, "Alright, Senior Sister, if you want to punish people according to the mountain rules, then everyone in this room will be punished in order. First, Senior Sister Song, who protected the servant, then me, who knowingly committed the offense, and finally, Chu Jiaojiao, who witnessed it and was implicated."
Gu Zhi closed his eyes and frowned, as if suppressing great pain, but still spoke with difficulty, "What do you mean by seeing it and getting it?"
Li Xuanbai: "Master said that I was fishing in Hualong Pond and she was watching from the side. He wanted her to be imprisoned in the Three-Day Water Prison with me."
"Uncle Master..." Gu Zhi immediately understood the twists and turns and said bluntly, "Miss Chu has nothing to do with all this. On the day the underground palace was opened, I personally went down to check it out. That...things that should be placed there are kept there properly, and no one has touched them."
Nan Qiong Shuang deliberately omitted the things in the underground palace, thinking that Gu Zhi was probably still wary of her.
Huide was behind the bead curtain, not even raising his eyebrows, with his eyes lowered, turning a page of the scripture.
"With her timid nature, she wouldn't dare go in even if you gave her a tinderbox," Li Xuanbai added, "not to mention the underground palace is full of those things."
Huide sighed, raised his eyes, raised his palm to signal everyone to be silent, and looked directly at Nan Qiongshuang and said, "Did Miss Chu faint in the underground palace?"
Nan Qiong Shuang lowered her head: "Yes."
"But you fainted as soon as you entered the underground palace?"
"yes."
"So," Huide's small, cunning pupils were like two cold guns. When he looked over, one could almost hear the sound of them piercing the air. "Did he faint at the entrance to the underground palace?"
The word "yes" was almost on the tip of his lips, but the moment he met those vicious eyes, he suddenly retracted it.
Those eyes were small and sinister, like the poisonous and dangerous sting at the tip of a scorpion's tail.
How can a monk have such eyes?
She understood almost instantly and broke out in a cold sweat.
He lowered his head and said, "It seems to be next to that...mountain of gold and jade."
When Huide heard this, his wrinkled and layered eyelids drooped, and he was silent for a long time without saying a word.
The other three people in the hall were all silent, only Huide slowly turned another page of the scripture.
A gust of wind came from behind the curtain, causing the Willow Guanyin painting on the wall to float a little, and the scroll hit the wall, making a series of clacking sounds.
...She almost fell into the trap of this old monk.
Nan Qiongshuang was still frightened.
"During the seven years since Huai Jin became the Young Master of the mountain, he has always prioritized the greater good and refrained from favoritism. Li Xuanbai is my favorite disciple among all my beloved disciples," Hui De finally spoke, slowly adding, "Since both the Young Master and Li Xuanbai say so, then let's not send him to the Waterfall Prison."
"Thank you, Uncle Master." Gu Zhi bowed. "However, I came to Bodhi Pavilion today because I have something to discuss with you."
"You say." Huide spread out a piece of rice paper and picked up the pen to copy the scriptures.
"Some of the mechanisms on the mountain have long been in disrepair, and disciples often mistakenly enter and harm innocent people. I have requested that the abandoned mechanisms at the Star Pavilion be closed. For those that are still in use, we will add steles next to them as a warning."
Huide shook his head and sighed, "It's not like the mountain hasn't considered these things. However, the mechanisms are built into the mountain, and some are over a century old. If they were to be closed hastily, they might alter the mountain's appearance and cause disaster. As for adding steles... you don't understand the rules of the mountain."
Gu Zhi bowed his head respectfully. "I understand, but countless people have died in the traps over the past century. When Grandmaster Song Yue established the Mountain Code, it was three hundred years ago, and the traps were only recently built. By now, many of them have decayed, so perhaps it's time to adjust a few things."
Huide: "I am old now, and I no longer have the energy to deal with these matters. Since you have such an intention, why not discuss this with the elders while they are still on the mountain these few days? If necessary, we can hold another meeting on the mountain."
Gu Zhi: "Thank you, uncle, for your permission."
"However, I still have two things that I need to tell you about."
"First, Li Xuanbai, despite repeated warnings, refuses to change his ways. He's repeatedly set his sights on the mountain's spiritual creatures. This is truly unacceptable. If I don't punish him, everyone will inevitably suspect me of favoritism and partiality." He placed his index and middle fingers together, pointed at Li Xuanbai, and said, "So, you, boy, go back and meditate for three days under the Dingxin Waterfall."
It was said to be three days, but in fact it was just a matter of going to the bottom of the waterfall to report in with Mr. Ge Duan. Li Xuanbai had received this kind of punishment many times and did not take it seriously at all, so he nodded slightly.
"There is one more thing, for our young master."
Gu Zhi bowed his head respectfully and obeyed.
"Huai Jin, you're almost coming of age. However, as the young head of the mountain, you're confined to the mountain every day with no time to rest. If this continues, I'm afraid it will delay your important life events."
"Before your father went into seclusion, he asked me to take care of you and make decisions for you if anything happens. Now that I see you wasting days in the mountains, I'm afraid that when your father comes out and sees that you're still unmarried, he'll blame me."
Huide lowered his eyes and said nonchalantly, "After a few days, let's go down the mountain to meet some girls."
"...Uncle Master." Gu Zhi suddenly raised his eyes, but before he could finish his words, Song Yaojie exclaimed in surprise, "Master!"
Huide still kept his eyelids drooping as he calmly turned a page of the scripture.
Li Xuanbai couldn't help laughing out loud: "Young Master is going to get married?" He turned around and glanced at Nan Qiongshuang, raising his eyebrows in a gloating manner.
Nan Qiong Shuang couldn't laugh.
Get married?
She originally had only a little over a month left in the mountains, and during these days, she kept guessing about his feelings, but still couldn't be sure of his feelings.
He didn't even know how to stay in the mountains, but overnight, he had to go down the mountain to get married.
She sneered in her heart.
It has been more than a month. After playing with people's hearts for so many years, no one has ever resisted under her skirt.
It was bad luck for Nan Qiongshuang to meet such a restrained and undemanding man.
However, there was one thing that made her feel a little strange.
Even someone like Huide, who had only been in the mountains for a month, could see what Song Yaojie was thinking. It was impossible for a shrewd person like Huide not to guess it.
She has such a high status in the mountains, and is Huide's disciple. There is no reason why she shouldn't get the upper hand. Why doesn't Huide assign Song Yaojie to Gu Zhi?
She pondered in her heart, quietly raised her eyes and looked inside the bead curtain.
But it ran straight into a pair of eyes as clear as springs.
Gu Zhi.
That glance was as quick and pale as a snowflake. It met her gaze for a moment and then moved away.
Her heart suddenly skipped a beat.
Behind the beaded curtain, Huide continued leisurely, "At Huaijin's age, he should have come down the mountain to visit me long ago. But the burden on my shoulders is too heavy. If I delay here in the mountains, I'll waste several years. Right now, I can't delay any longer."
Gu Zhi lowered his head and said, "Uncle Master, I have been concentrating on my training these days. In addition, I have been busy with many things on the mountain and cannot get away from here. It is better to put these things on hold and wait for my father to come out of seclusion before making a decision."
"Wait for the Master to come out of seclusion? The Master has been in seclusion for several years. Can you wait a few more years?" Huide waved his hand, and his crimson sleeves brushed across the slightly yellowed rice paper.
"I knew you wouldn't like to hear about this. To be honest, if I hadn't wanted you to come down the mountain to see me, I wouldn't have agreed to open the Dragon Pond that day."
Nan Qiong Shuang raised her face in surprise when she heard this.
How can you say that... It's as if in order to save her, Gu Zhi did not hesitate to disobey Hui De, and did it even though he knew it was impossible.
Every time I asked him how he rescued her, didn't he just gloss over the matter?
Inside the Bodhi Pavilion, Gu Zhi stood outside the bead curtain, blocking Li Xuanbai and her, without saying a word, and remained silent for at least a quarter of an hour.
A quarter of an hour later, the burning incense dropped a piece of gray embers, and the figure, as silent and cold as snow, slowly nodded.
He said, "It was my fault for forcing the Dragon Pond to open. I know I was wrong."
"In that case, I'll choose a day to go down the mountain."
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