Pray for blessings
Because the thief's head was hung on the north gate, many people in the city went to watch. When the Lu family's carriage drove through the main street and out of the west gate, the road was sparsely populated and unobstructed.
The third wife withdrew her gaze from outside the carriage, sighed softly, and lowered the corner of the carriage curtain.
Upon hearing the news of the city's reopening yesterday evening, the Third Madam soon arrived at Ningxiang Residence. Learning that Mu Qing had retired early, she thought it was good and instructed Ning Gu to prepare for today's trip to Xuanyin Temple to pray for blessings.
Before dawn, Mu Qing was pulled out of bed in her drowsy state, dressed up, her hair styled in a bun, and put on a light yellow embroidered dress before being put into a carriage.
Seeing that she was still sleepy, leaning against the swaying carriage wall, her head tilted to one side in a daze, the Third Madam couldn't help but chuckle. She pulled her into her arms to help her sleep more peacefully.
The carriage rumbled along. When Mu Qing woke up from his nap, he found himself resting his head on the Third Madam's lap. Feeling offended, he immediately sat up.
The third wife adjusted her hairpins and straightened her clothes. "Didn't you go to bed quite early last night? Why do you look like you haven't slept enough? Your eyes are still a little swollen."
Mu Qing cried for half the night, and guiltily hummed in agreement, "I might be feeling sleepy in the spring, which made Mother worry."
The third wife smiled at her, "It's alright, you can sleep a little longer."
The warmth in the scene made Mu Qing relax a little without realizing it. She smiled and realized that her face was exposed. She raised her hand to cover her face and touched the uneven rashes. She remembered being called an ugly monster by the constable when she sneaked out to the street. She lowered her head.
Seeing her ashamed to face anyone, the Third Madam sighed inwardly and her smile faded slightly.
When the young prince first proposed marriage, he wanted to keep his daughter at home for a while longer since she had only recently been found, so he postponed the wedding until this year. Had he known this sudden illness would occur, he would have preferred to have her marry into the royal household sooner; perhaps things wouldn't have turned out this way if she had been there.
A soft rustling sound came from the corner of the carriage. Mu Qing looked up and saw a bamboo cage there, with a gray-brown long-haired rabbit thrashing around inside.
The Third Madam said, "I don't know where this wild rabbit came from. Someone caught it and was selling it by the roadside. I felt sorry for it, so I bought it. When we get to Xuanyin Temple, we can release it."
The road to Xuanyin Temple is mostly mountainous, where some unscrupulous people pretend to be hunters and sell live animals by the roadside, arousing the pity of pilgrims and offering prices much higher than those in the market.
Mu Qing had done this kind of thing when she was young. She leaned over and teased the rabbit in the cage, a smile on her face. "Mother is so kind-hearted."
As they spoke, they reached a wide, flat area halfway up the mountain. Ahead stood a white stone gate amidst the dense forest, with hundreds of stone steps leading up behind it.
Xuanyin Temple is built on a mountaintop and is a renowned place of spiritual practice, where wandering monks often stay.
On this day, a high-ranking monk visited the temple and held a Dharma assembly. The temple was closed to the public and incense burning was prohibited. However, since the temple was built in the past, the Lu family clan donated money for incense oil. Therefore, the Third Madam and Mu Qing were not prevented from entering the temple because of their status as female members of the Lu family.
There were no other worshippers in the temple; it was spacious and quiet. The main hall was filled with the sound of chanting, accompanied by birdsong and the sound of pines in the mountains, creating a peaceful atmosphere.
Mu Qing followed the Third Madam to offer incense in the back hall. He did not dare to look at the Buddha statue on the lotus seat for long. When he bowed his head to worship, he had more distracting thoughts than usual. He hoped that there was really reincarnation and wished that the monkey would be reborn into a good family in the next life.
After she finished her sincere prayers, as she stood up, she saw the Third Madam walk to the wall, face a row of ever-burning lamps, put her hands together and close her eyes.
Mu Qing rarely came to Xuan Yin Temple to burn incense with the Third Madam and had never seen this scene before. She stepped forward and saw that most of the ever-burning lamps had paper slips attached to them, indicating their ownership in small characters. However, there were two ever-burning lamps in front of the Third Madam that were not marked.
Just as Mu Qing was wondering what was going on, the Third Madam turned around and called her to come out of the hall together.
After passing through the corridor, we arrived at the Buddhist hall behind the side hall, where worshippers copied scriptures. Before we even entered, the Third Madam instructed her maid to hand over the bamboo cage containing the rabbit to Ning Gu.
"Qingxue, I'll just copy the scriptures here. You and the little monk can go to the back mountain and release the rabbits."
Mu Qing glanced at the little monk beside her who looked distressed, and agreed with amusement.
The young monk, who called himself Liaokong, was just nine years old. Normally, a young monk of his age would not need to come out to greet guests, but today there was a Dharma assembly in the temple, and the senior monks who were supposed to be greeting guests were busy, so they coaxed him to come.
His senior brother told him that sending them to the Buddhist hall was enough, but now he still had to go to the back mountain to chant sutras for the release of animals, which made him somewhat unwilling.
Mu Qing was also in a bad mood and had no intention of being considerate of others.
Walking along the corridor outside the Buddhist hall, she asked Kong, "What is the eternal lamp in the hall for?"
Liao Kong clasped his hands together and said, "The eternal lamps illuminate ignorance and enlighten wisdom for blessings." Thinking of the Third Madam standing in front of those two eternal lamps earlier, he added, "But the eternal lamps lit for the deceased are a little different."
Mu Qing asked, "What's the difference?"
Liao Kongdao said: "The purpose of lighting lamps for the deceased is mostly to eliminate karmic obstacles in this life and to seek blessings in the next life."
"Then do you know my mother..."
Mu Qing was about to ask another question when she heard Ning Gu cough lightly beside her. Realizing she had said too much, she quickly stopped talking.
Seeing that she stopped mid-sentence, Liao Kong looked back and thought that this Miss Lu, who was still wearing a veil after entering the temple, was strange, but he didn't say anything and just led the way.
On the back mountain of Xuanyin Temple, the pines and cypresses are green, and the white mist floats like gauze, with a chill in the air. If you listen carefully, you can hear the mountain wind howling in the distance and the faint cry of owls.
Releasing the rabbits here is like giving them back their freedom, while it provides another delicious meal for the birds and beasts of the mountains. Either way, there are beneficiaries, and it's a good deed.
With this in mind, Mu Qing asked Kong to chant sutras and pray for blessings.
Liao Kong stood with his palms in front of him, chanting scriptures, reciting words in a rather proper manner.
As Mu Qing listened, he couldn't help but drift off. Hearing faint voices coming from the mountain path, he turned around and saw an elderly monk leading a group of people.
The leader of the group was Prince Xiao Yu, dressed in a light blue robe, which was simpler and more elegant than usual. He was carrying a bamboo cage that seemed out of place for his status.
Upon recognizing him from afar, Mu Qing bowed respectfully.
As they approached, Xiao Yu glanced at the bamboo cage in her hand and laughed, "I've come here to release animals, and it seems you have too."
Mu Qing nodded and replied, "My mother sent me."
With a little attention, one can see that the young prince's bamboo cage also contains gray-brown long-haired rabbits, which must have been bought down the mountain and are sold specifically to pilgrims for release.
She picked up the cage and showed it to him, saying, "This rabbit and the prince's rabbit look like they're related."
Xiao Yu smiled, showing no surprise. "That's perfect for letting them out of their cages and reunite."
Mu Qing raised her eyebrows and thought to herself, such a coincidence means that she and the young prince are truly destined for each other.
"Why has Your Highness come here today?"
"I came with my mother. She is probably copying scriptures with the Third Madam right now."
Xiao Yu was often sick in his childhood. When Princess Duanjing was worried, she took refuge in Buddhism and prayed. She was a devout Buddhist layperson.
Upon seeing the young prince, Mu Qing guessed that Princess Duanjing had also come to Xuanyin Temple, and couldn't help but feel fortunate that the Third Madam had sent her to release the animals. If she had encountered Princess Duanjing unprepared, she would probably have been nervous.
After finishing his recitation, Liao Kong looked at the two people who were talking with a strange gaze. When he saw Miss Lu looking back at him with bright eyes, he quickly lowered his head and continued to recite the sutra that he had already recited once with his senior brother.
When the prayers and requests for permission were completed and the rabbit could be released, Mu Qing took the rabbit out of the bamboo cage, touched it a few times, and confirmed that it was a fat rabbit.
"You can't bear to part with it?" Xiao Yu teased, seeing her touching it again and again. "It's common for girls to like rabbits, but Qingxue, do you like them too?"
Mu Qing swallowed lightly. "Of course."
Xiao Yu then asked, "How many rabbits have you eaten before?"
"..."
Mu Qing glared at him, and inexplicably felt the rabbit in her hand struggle even more fiercely.
She picked up the rabbit ears, bent down and put it on the ground. In the blink of an eye, the rabbit darted far away.
Xiao Yu suppressed a laugh and released the other one.
The two long-haired rabbits raced each other, leaping quickly away and disappearing into the jungle.
Mu Qing was very embarrassed. She remembered that the young prince had visited her treehouse on Tianci Mountain and had probably found her rabbit fur blanket, which was made of more than a dozen rabbit skins.
Looking at her releasing the rabbits now, isn't that hypocritical?
If it weren't for the veil covering her face, her complexion would definitely be unbearable to look at.
After thanking the two monks who had offered their blessings and asking them to leave, Xiao Yu picked up a tuft of grayish-brown rabbit fur from the bamboo basket.
He examined it closely and said meaningfully, "That rabbit's fur is unusually long."
The wild rabbits on Tianci Mountain are long-haired rabbits, a rarity elsewhere.
Mu Qingfu suddenly realized that he was doing it on purpose. "Your Highness, you don't know that my mother bought rabbits to release, so you bought rabbits specifically to make a fool of me, do you?"
Xiao Yu blew away the rabbit fur from his fingertips, clapped his hands, and turned to look at her.
Do you have any jokes to watch?
His expression was calm, seemingly curious, but a playful smile lingered in the corners of his eyes and brows.
Mu Qing was furious but dared not retaliate, and said stiffly, "No. Times change, and people's thoughts change. I hope the rabbit I just released is alive and well, with many children and grandchildren, and dies a natural death."
Xiao Yu turned his head to the side, a muffled laugh escaping his throat. "That rabbit is lucky, it's something to be envied."
Mu Qing didn't know what was so funny. She knew how to hunt, but when she entered the Lu family, the Third Madam and the Third Master felt that killing living beings, skinning and bleeding them was somewhat cruel and terrible for a young lady, so they told her not to tell anyone else, and that she lived by drinking spring water, eating honey, and picking fungi and fruits in the mountains.
Now that the matter of killing and skinning the rabbit has been exposed to the young prince, there's no point in pretending to be a kind and virtuous lady anymore.
Mu Qing looked up at the sky and said coolly, "It's truly rare to make the prince so happy."
Hearing her insolent tone, as if she were reaching out her claws to scratch someone, yet the scratching was just right, making one's heart itch. Xiao Yu smiled and narrowed his eyes.
On the day of the temple fair, she was unusually quiet, which aroused his suspicion. He even thought that she and Imperial Censor Zhong knew each other in the past.
He had finally breathed a sigh of relief, waiting for her to enter the manor, but then she developed hives. He almost thought she would become reserved from then on, as if locked in a cage, which was not what he wanted to see.
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