BXBX NOVEL Chapter 426: 426. Cheng Yun’s Master
Chapter 426: 426. Cheng Yun’s Master
Dinner that night at the Yuanming Pavilion was served to Gu Xiaonuan by Ren Dong, who also accompanied her while eating.
After dinner, Su Liang continued her research on how to restore Lian Shan’s memory. As she had the drug that caused Lian Shan’s memory loss, it was easier to counteract its effect with a more targeted approach.
When Ren Dong came upstairs, she could hear the rambunctious sound of the three children playing, along with Qiao Cong’s hearty laughter. She gently knocked on Su Liang’s room door, entered after hearing Su Liang’s voice.
“Master.” Ren Dong only spoke after approaching Su Liang.” Yan asked why the taste of the medicine changed and why she feels lethargic after taking it. I told her that we forgot to inform her about the change in the medicine and that the fatigue is temporary, which will aid in speeding her recovery.”
“Mm.” Su Liang didn’t look up, “If she isn’t sleeping when you return, tell her that I will take the children to the Huguo Temple tomorrow for an outing and ask if she wants to join us.”
Ren Dong nodded, “Yes.” After saying this, she left. After a while, she returned and told Su Liang that Yan Shiba wanted to take a walk and agreed to accompany them to Huguo Temple the next day.
Another fruitless night. Before bed, Su Liang was wondering where Gu Ling was. By her calculations, he should have arrived on Xingluo Island a few days ago. If he were successful in saving someone, he should be on his way back.
Looking at her daughter’s face, which closely resembled Gu Ling, Su Liang’s longing for Gu Ling surged like a tide every time it was late and quiet at night. This feeling persisted for a long time.
Early the next morning, Su Liang only informed the children that they would be visiting the Huguo Temple that day.
Zhengzheng and Ji Xiaoshu cheered. They loved to go out to play, but as Gu Ling was not at home, Su Liang rarely took them out.
After breakfast, the carriage was ready, and everyone from the mansion was going along.
Zhengzheng and Ji Xiaoshu insisted on riding their horses. Both of them had a horse each, given by Duanmu Chen. Zhengzheng named his horse Zhuifeng, and Ji Xiaoshu named his Shandian. Su Liang taught both of them horsemanship.
To protect the two little ones, Qiao Cong also rode a horse and stayed close to them.
Su Liang and Yan Shiba shared a carriage, and Gu Xiaonuan was in the carriage with Nangong Qian.
Yan Shiba’s complexion seemed worse than yesterday. She leaned on the cart wall and looked at Su Liang, “The new medicine makes me very uncomfortable, can we use the old medicine? Or even not take the medicine at all? I think I will get better slowly.”
Su Liang frowned slightly, pulled Yan Shiba’s hand over to take her pulse, “The discomfort you are feeling is temporary. It will take some time to adapt to the new medicine, and the adverse reactions will disappear after a few days. The old medicine is not of much use to your body anymore. Your impression of getting better is only superficial. Your internal injuries are severe, and it has not yet recovered to the point of healing without medicine. Trust me, I’m a doctor.”
With a helpless expression, Yan Shiba said, “Okay, then I’ll listen to you, sister Liang.”
Su Liang paused. This was the first time Yan Shiba called her “sister Liang” since they met.
However, Yan Shiba closed her eyes and began resting. Su Liang could not see her expression now, and the tone of her voice did not resemble the past.
Yan Shiba used to like calling Su Liang’s name, sometimes so endlessly that it was like beckoning a soul, which annoyed Su Liang. Every time Yan Shiba called Su Liang’s name, she would deliberately raise her voice, with a tone filled with joy, mockery and carelessness. Outsiders may think that it sounded intimate and affectionate, but Su Liang knew that more than half of the times Yan Shiba called her “sister Liang,” there was no sincerity. She just wanted to tease her, observe her reactions, sometimes just to annoy her on purpose.
Su Liang hadn’t mentioned their original terms of address to the current Yan Shiba, so hearing those three words again made Su Liang doubt if she was being overly suspicious. Maybe Yan Shiba was only unwell due to her severe injuries and mental exhaustion, causing her personality to differ from her usual arrogant and unrestrained self.
The children’s voices outside the window interrupted Su Liang’s thoughts. She lifted the curtain and heard Ji Xiaoshu sweetly call her “Master” and pass her a Candied Hawthorn that he had just bought from the street.
Su Liang smiled and said, “Your master loves to eat this, but I don’t like it much, so you eat it.”
“Our Master is only four years old this year, right!” Ji Xiaoshu jokingly teased Gu Ling, took a bite of the Candied Hawthorn, and then held it up to feed Qiao Cong.
Qiao Cong laughed heartily, “I don’t love that; it’s too sour.”
“Mother, can little sister eat it?” Ji Xiaoshu asked.
Su Liang shook her head, “Don’t give it to her. You guys eat.”
Yet, Ji Xiaoshu surreptitiously snuck into the carriage, feeding Gu Xiaonuan half a piece of candied hawthorn. She kindly removed the hard candy shell on the outside, leaving just the hawthorn for the little one to eat. Yet the sourness of the fruit caused Gu Xiaonuan to spit it out immediately, with it conveniently landing on Ji Xiaoshu’s face.
Nangong Qian couldn’t help from crying and laughing at the same time as she wiped Ji Xiaoshu’s face, while Ji Xiaoshu sighed. “If only Master was here, I would give it to him when I don’t want to eat.”
Gu Xiaonuan seemed to understand what Ji Xiaoshu was saying, and lightly tapped her.
Ji Xiaoshu coughed lightly. “Little sister, I didn’t feed you because I didn’t want to eat it, I thought you would like it. I sincerely wanted you to try it, please don’t misunderstand.”
The carriage stopped at the foot of the mountain. Su Liang heard Zhengzheng calling out for Uncle Nian; when she lifted the curtain of the carriage, she saw Nian Jincheng holding Yang Yu and approaching.
“Had I known you guys were coming today, we would have gone to your place and set off together.” Yang Yu exclaimed happily when she saw Su Liang. She was pregnant and Nian Jincheng was extremely cautious around her. Today Yang Yu made a spontaneous decision to step outside and walk about.
Su Liang assisted Yan Shiba out of the carriage and asked if she could walk by herself.
Yan Shiba winced her gaze off Nian Jincheng and glanced at the zigzag staircase heading uphill. “I’ll try, I’ll tell you if I run out of energy.”
“If Miss Yan can’t walk, I’ll carry you.” Ren Dong volunteered.
“Ok.” Su Liang handed Yan Shiba over to Ren Dong before turning around to assist Yang Yu.
Yang Yu laughed and held Su Liang’s hand, “No need to help, I feel perfectly fine. Let’s go.”
Zhengzheng and Ji Xiaoshu launched into another one of their childish contests, vying to see who could reach Huguo Temple first. The loser would have to do frog jumps down the mountain.
Nian Jincheng let Gu Xiaonuan sit on his shoulders, following behind Su Liang and Yang Yu. Qiao Cong was accompanying Nangong Qian in the back.
By the time Su Liang reached the entrance of Huguo Temple, she saw Zhengzheng and Ji Xiaoshu burst out from behind a big tree, each grabbing one of her hands.
“Mother, guess who won!” Ji Xiaoshu plastered a jovial smile on his face. Meanwhile, Zhengzheng merely sighed and dropped his head low.
“I guess…” Su Liang chuckled, “It’s a tie?”
Zhengzheng immediately lighted up with happiness, while Ji Xiaoshu gave a thumbs up, “Mother is brilliant! How did you guess it!” To avoid losing the race and performing frog jumps down the mountain, both of them were very committed, ensuring neither emerged victorious.
“Go find your Uncle Cheng Yun.” As soon as Su Liang finished speaking, Zhengzheng and Ji Xiaoshu rushed into Huguo Temple.
Ren Dong had to carry Yan Shiba for the latter half of the climb uphill, and they were the last to arrive.
Su Liang waited for Yan Shiba, only entering the temple once they arrived. Yang Yu said she wanted to light the incense and pray. Su Liang, supporting Yan Shiba, said they would join her.
“You’ve recently gone through a catastrophe. Now that we are here, why not light some incense as well?” Su Liang suggested to Yan Shiba.
Yan Shiba gave a slight nod in agreement,”Okay.”
After Su Liang assisted Yan Shiba in lighting the incense with Yang Yu, performed their prayers and exited the shrine, they saw Ren Dong rushing over with several wooden tags attached with red strings, “Master, we’ve come here so many times, yet we’ve never hung a wish tag on the wishing tree. Let’s hang one this time.”
Every temple Su Liang visited in her previous life had a wishing tree full of red tags and ribbons. Huguo Temple was no exception. The tree was well past the front hall. During her previous visits, Su Liang would always walk under the tree, watching people sincerely writing down their wishes, requesting the monks in the temple to hang it on the tree for them. However, she and Gu Ling had never participated in this before.
Su Liang accepted the three tags Ren Dong passed to her, then gave one to Yang Yu and another to Yan Shiba, keeping one to herself. “Let’s go, we’ll make a wish too.”
Next to the wishing tree was a row of tables set up, equipped with a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone for devotees to write down their wishes on the wooden tags. Those that couldn’t write could request the monks to write for them.
Su Liang approached the tables, took a seat alongside Yan Shiba, and carefully wrote down the words “safety” on her wooden tag. After she finished, she gently blew on the ink to dry it. Seeing Yan Shiba unmoved, she passed the brush to her.
Yan Shiba shook her head slightly. “I don’t know what to write. I’ve got nothing to write about.”
Su Liang smiled, “Your health isn’t good right now. You could write ‘health’, or even ‘longevity’.”
Over there, Yang Yu had also finished writing her wishing card. Nian Jincheng got on tiptoes and hung it on the branch she indicated. By this point, Gu Xiaonuan was with Qiao Cong, going to the back mountain to watch clouds.
“Write it for me, I don’t have much strength in my hand.” Yan Shiba returned the pen.
Su Liang shook her head, “The wishing card must be written by your own hand for it to be efficacious. Write it slowly, don’t hurry, sincerity is the most important.”
Saying this, Su Liang passed her card to Nian Jincheng and asked him to help hang it on the tree.
Nian Jincheng saw the word “Peace”, nodded and said, “Aling will definitely return safely.”
Su Liang looked at Yan Shiba again only to see her looking exhausted as she put down the wooden card, “To be honest, I don’t believe in this, don’t really have anything I want to write. Let’s go.”
“Since we are here, let me write one for you.” Su Liang reached for Yan Shiba’s wooden card and carefully wrote the word “Health” on it. She then asked Nian Jincheng to hang it on the tree before helping Yan Shiba towards the back mountain.
Everything looked very natural, with nothing out of the ordinary.
But actually, the visit to Huguo Temple and Ren Dong giving them the wishing cards to write on, all was planned by Su Liang the previous night for one reason – she wanted to see Yan Shiba’s handwriting.
Memory was gone, but muscle memory would not disappear easily. In fact, Su Liang had previously prepared books and stationery for Yan Shiba, thinking that it could aid in memory recovery when she had nothing else to do. However, the writing paper in Yan Shiba’s room was always blank.
Then, Su Liang thought of the Wishing Tree at Hugou Temple, leading to the events of today.
Su Liang was clear about Yan Shiba’s physical condition, how much strength she had, and whether she could write.
When Yan Shiba refused to write on the wishing card time and time again, Su Liang really began to suspect that this person might not be Yan Shiba… because if she were truly Yan Shiba and truly lost her memory, there would be no reason for refusing to write two characters.
The real Yan Shiba undoubtedly wouldn’t believe in wishes granted by a tree, but given her personality, she would have torn the wishing card into pieces for fun when Su Liang handed it to her, rather than holding it so long before stating her disbelief. Moreover, since she didn’t believe it, why didn’t she refuse when Su Liang asked her to offer incense earlier?
Su Liang was thinking, maybe she should have a good think about whether the face of the person beside her was real or not. No disguise didn’t mean the face looking exactly like Yan Shiba’s would necessarily be hers. In her previous life, plastic surgery could completely change a person’s appearance. Su Liang thought it would not be possible in this world, but what if someone really found a person who looked exactly like Yan Shiba? What if, what she believed to be impossible was actually feasible for someone else? After all, there are other transmigrators, and even before coming here, Yan Shiba was already in the hands of those people.
Or perhaps, Yan Shiba was hypnotized and brainwashed after she lost her memory… Su Liang came up with another possibility.
In any case, Su Liang planned to have a good think when she returned home on how to further confirm what’s going on with this “Yan Shiba”.
By the time they arrived at the back mountain, they saw the children were all there, and Cheng Yun had also been brought over, as well as his master Pu Cheng.
“Benefactor Su, this is…” Cheng Yun began to introduce.
Pu Cheng pushed Cheng Yun away and greeted Su Liang with a laugh, “You must be the famous Dr. Su, right? Nice to meet you.”
Su Liang had heard about him from Cheng Yun, this master was not an ordinary monk. No ordinary monk would travel around the world for many years.
Despite his shaved head, Pu Cheng had outstanding features and a unique demeanor, tall and lean with an elegant and floating aura whilst in his monk robes. Su Liang was curious about his identity before he became a monk when she thought of what Cheng Yun said about Pu Cheng being a layman before.
“Master Pu Cheng, we finally meet. Cheng Yun often mentions you.” Su Liang smiled.
Pu Cheng was a very charming man, Zhengzheng and Ji Xiaoshu both liked him, and Gu Xiaonuan was also willing to let him hold her. Gu Xiaonuan clutched the Buddha beads on Pu Cheng’s chest and wouldn’t let go, so Pu Cheng took it off and hung it around Gu Xiaonuan’s neck.
Su Liang tried to give it back to Pu Cheng, but he waved her off saying, “These Buddha beads have been with me for many years, and I’ve taken them through many places. Since they seem to have a connection with the young benefactor Gu, let her have them. These three children, all have a deep connection to Buddhism! I wish to take your love as my disciple, what does Benefactor Su think?”
Su Liang was speechless, before she could speak, Cheng Yun protested, “Master, young benefactor Gu is a girl, it’s not appropriate.”
“What’s wrong with a girl? I said I want to take a disciple, not have her join Buddhism. Believe it or not, my martial arts skills are pretty good, and I’ve gained some other skills from my years traveling. This is the first child I’ve come across who I think I have a connection with, what does it matter if it’s a boy or a girl?” said Pu Cheng, looking serious.
Su Liang had thought of the possibility that someone prestigious might want to take her daughter as a disciple, but she never imagined that the first person wanting to take Gu Xiaonuan as a pupil would be a monk.
Cheng Yun furrowed his brow, “If that’s the case, why not allow this little monk to take Miss Gu as a disciple? We seem to share a strong bond, this way, we will not confuse the orders of seniority. Later, if Master Uncle wants to teach her anything, he certainly can.”
Su Liang coughed lightly, “I appreciate both of your good intentions, I don’t have any objections, but I don’t have the final say in this matter. Her father is not at home, he might have some objections, so whether it can be done or not, we have to wait until his return for confirmation. If he then agrees, we will bring our daughter to find…”
Pu Cheng pulled Cheng Yun behind him, his smile deepening, “Of course, it would be to find me as her master. Xiao Yun, you will be Little Nuannuan’s older martial brother then.”
Cheng Yun: …he didn’t want it, if he knew earlier, he would have been the first to propose to take Gu Xiaonuan as his disciple.
Su Liang indicated there was no problem, but her words didn’t matter, everything could be discussed when Gu Ling returned.
After having vegetarian dishes at Huguo Temple, the group descended the mountain and went home.
On the carriage ride home, Yan Shiba fell asleep. Su Liang watched her quietly, planning to change her medicine again to allow her to recover as quickly as possible, to see what she would do next. Meanwhile, Su Liang would poison her with a toxin that could be triggered at any time, without any warning signs before its onset, just in case.
Yan Shiba noticed that the taste of the medicine had changed again. Ren Dong explained according to what Su Liang had said, stating that it was because she felt uncomfortable after drinking the previous medicine. So, Su Liang thought of an improved new prescription today, the medicinal effect would be the same, but it wouldn’t cause discomfort to the body.Huguo Temple.
At dusk, Cheng Yun came to find Pu Cheng. He had just finished playing chess with Master Pu Hui and returned.
“Let’s go to the Su mansion to see Little Nuannuan tomorrow.” Pu Cheng said with a smile.
Cheng Yun couldn’t help but ask the question that had been in his heart for a long time, “Master Uncle, why did you choose to become a monk?”
Pu Cheng chuckled, “Who decided that a monk must be like you?”
Cheng Yun shook his head, “I didn’t mean that. I just feel that Master Uncle, as a person who likes freedom and spontaneity, there is no need to become a monk.”
Pu Cheng’s expression was somewhat lost, “I once had a family, which I no longer have. Only I am left, whether I leave the house or not, I am always away from home.”
Cheng Yun frowned, not continuing the topic.
Pu Cheng said seriously, “Xiao Yun, I took you to Ping’an Temple. Aren’t you curious about your own background? You’re still young, if you want to leave the monkhood…”
Cheng Yun shook his head, “No, I’ve never thought about leaving the monkhood.”
Pu Cheng stretched out his hand to rub Cheng Yun’s bare head, “As long as you’re happy.”
Only then did Cheng Yun remember why he had come to find Pu Cheng, “Master Uncle, we have already paid a visit to Senior Pu Hui, when are we going back to Ping’an Temple?”
Pu Cheng shook his head, “What’s the hurry? There is nothing to do when we go back, I seldom come to the capital city, let’s stay for a while longer. At least wait until Little Nuannuan’s father comes back, so she can acknowledge me as her master.”
Cheng Yun shook his head slightly, “Master Uncle, I think Master Gu might not agree. If Miss Gu wants to learn martial arts, Master Gu can teach her. Master Gu’s martial arts are very strong.”
Pu Cheng laughed, “You’re not Gu Ling, how would you know?”
Cheng Yun silently left.
In the middle of the night, Pu Cheng had just blown out the candle when the window opened without any wind and quickly closed again, leaving a shadow in the room.
Pu Cheng’s eyes slightly condensed, and he heard the person call out, “Father.” The voice was low, but very young.
Pu Cheng was stunned, and after a long silence, he finally spoke softly, “Ayue, why are you here?”