The rain grew heavier, pouring down like a bucket, drowning the crisscrossing streets and alleys. The night was very quiet, with only the sound of the raindrops.
The carriage entered the alley and another door opened quietly.
The monk who was kneeling and chanting in the main hall heard the sound of the door opening, put down the Buddhist scriptures in his hands, lit three incense sticks, and offered them to the golden statue of Sakyamuni Buddha in the hall. Then he stood up and asked the servants to prepare tea.
"You said it was the second watch, and you're quite punctual," the monk said calmly. "It's raining so hard outside, it looks like summer has arrived."
The lanterns on the eaves cast a warm yellow glow. A tall figure stepped out of the shadows, hands behind his back. Luo Shenyuan silently gazed at the chessboard set up on his small table. The shadow cast by the candlelight made his profile even more profound. He whispered, "Are we still solving the chess game today?"
The monk shook his head and said, "Master said before he left that your chess skills were too advanced for me to handle. This is the end of a game I played with a donor named Cheng. Please see how you can interpret his moves."
Luo Shenyuan sat down, took the black piece held by the monk, rubbed the piece with his fingertips and thought for a moment, then took a quick look at the overall situation and put the piece down.
The monk smiled after seeing his move, clasped his hands together and said "Amitabha": "This donor Cheng is indeed worthy of competing with you."
Luo Shenyuan said calmly, "Second Master Cheng passed the imperial examination when he was young, and he also has an extraordinary mind."
"If you hadn't been injured in an accident three years ago, you would have become as famous as him," said the monk.
Luo Shenyuan just smiled and said nothing.
The monk lowered his voice, his expression growing somewhat dejected. "Master left me a question, asking me to ask it every time I see you. But I don't think it's necessary anymore, as your answer won't change. In that case, you don't have to obey Master's wishes anymore, and you don't have to come anymore."
Luo Shenyuan was silent for a moment. He said, "Brother Daoyan, you don't have to blame yourself. I know my temper... and it can't be changed." His eyes were cold, and after a pause, he said, "I am indeed cold and violent. No matter how many Buddhist scriptures you teach me to recite, it will be useless."
The monk sighed, "Over the years, I've only seen you treat your legitimate sister differently. Even when she severely injured you, you didn't do anything."
When he heard the monk mention Yining, Luo Shenyuan thought of that small figure, lying on the long table and practicing calligraphy with a wronged look on his face.
When he left, he left her a copybook and asked her to practice calligraphy. I don't know how she is doing now.
He had been away for a few days, and he really missed the little girl. She often followed him, trying hard to follow with her short legs, carefully trying to please him, but she was also afraid that she would be too obvious and let him see it.
In fact, Luo Shenyuan knew about these little tricks from the beginning, but he never said anything.
"She's... still too young." Luo Shenyuan said, his tone becoming softer. "Although she's naughty, she's also cute."
Outside the corridor, the rain continued to pour. A curtain of rain under the eaves separated the dark night, making the house seem particularly quiet. A servant brought ginger soup. Daoyan took it and handed it to Luo Shenyuan, saying, "Drink it and leave. Don't come again. I won't be here anymore."
Luo Shenyuan took the ginger soup, looked at the pale yellow ginger shreds at the bottom of the bowl, and drank it all in one gulp.
"Daoyan, goodbye then." He put on his cloak, gave him one last look, and then walked into the rainy night without any regrets. The heavy rain quickly submerged his tall and blurry figure.
Daoyan closed his eyes and sighed, Master, I don’t know whether what you are doing is right or wrong.
The sound of wooden fish could still be heard in the room. One, then two.
At the Luo family's house, it was raining heavily outside. Aunt Qiao was leaning on the pillow with her clothes on, but she couldn't fall asleep.
But Xuan Ge'er was so scared that he cried all day and fell asleep early while being taken care of by the old woman.
Luo Chengzhang had just been here with her, accusing her of "You didn't raise your child well enough to teach such a young child to lie. I really misjudged you before! You almost made him wrongly accuse his elder sister, and today, Yi Ning has been wronged."
Concubine Qiao had rarely been accused so mercilessly. She trembled all over and said weakly, "Master, the child is still young. How can I control what he says? Besides, how can a little kid distinguish right from wrong? I have never taught him to lie!"
Luo Chengzhang felt a pang of pain when he thought of Yi Ning avoiding his embrace. He then added, "No matter what, Mother has already said that when Xuan-ge'er grows up, you can no longer raise him. She will naturally choose the right person to teach him in the future."
Aunt Qiao wiped her tears with a handkerchief and cried even more pitifully: "Master, don't you want Madam to raise Xuan'er? I was pregnant with Xuan'er for ten months and gave birth to him. He has never been separated from me! When he was two years old and had a high fever, I stayed with him all night, feeding him medicine spoonful by spoonful, and only then did I pull him back from the underworld. You took him away, how can I live! When I came back from Yangzhou with you, I only thought about giving birth to children for you and living with you. Now it's like this, what should I do..."
"Xuan'er is young, but Yilian is already grown up." Luo Chengzhang said in a deep voice, "That tourmaline necklace was my sister-in-law's dowry in her early years. It is very precious. Fortunately, my sister-in-law did not pursue it. But how could Yilian let Xuan'er play with it so easily?"
Aunt Qiao felt very aggrieved when she heard this and continued, "If the Fourth Miss or the Seventh Miss had seen it, they would have known it was a tourmaline. But Sister Lian had never seen such a fine thing before and simply treated it as an ordinary jade piece. I also know that Sister Lian is a concubine's daughter and does not deserve the treatment of a legitimate daughter. But as a daughter of the Luo family, Sister Lian's standards are lower than those of the other daughters. In the past, when the daughters of the mansion wanted something, they always looked after Sister Seven first, and Sister Lian never complained..."
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