The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir

Chapter 197: Faithfulness to Buddha and faithfulness to you

Feeling a jolt of surprise, Ji Man turned her head and saw that Luo Qianqian was talking to a monk. Those two people weren't standing far from her. It was only that the peach blossoms were partially obstructing their view.

Luo Qianqian placed her palms together and asked out of curiosity, "What will happen if that tree dies?"

The monk answered with a smile, "All of the peach trees here are well looked after. Although their flowers blossom later because of the colder weather on the mountain, they'll still blossom. The peach trees that hold each of the donor's heartfelt intentions are even less likely to die."

These trees were the same as those frequently seen altar lamps that burned day and night in modern-day temples. They were both used to swindle people out of their money. Once Ji Man heard the monk's reply to Luo Qianqian's question of how much each tree cost, she immediately understood why there was still five trees without any carvings.

Although there were plenty of fools, there were very few fools that had that much money.

Ji Man lowered her head in the peach tree grove as she shuffled around. Should she come out and greet Luo Qianqian, or should she secretly leave first?

As she passed by a peach tree, she noticed that there was something carved on the tree trunk. Ji Man swept her gaze over it. Anyways, the carvings on these trees were just other people's names.

But, when she looked at it, she saw that it was Nie Sangyu's.

Dumbstruck, Ji Man crouched down by the tree for a while before snorting and walking away.

The carving looked like it had been carved a long time ago. Someone had probably carved that name out of impulsive after climbing up the mountain to pray at the temple for blessings. Perhaps, Wen Wan, Liu Hanyun, and Qi Siling's names had also been carved on nearby trees.

After walking a few steps, Ji Man turned around and narrowed her eyes as she checked the trees nearby the one with Nie Sangyu's name.

She didn't see any familiar names.

Ji Man pursed her lips. Really, it was a bit laughable. If Ning Yuxuan had been the one that carved that name, then it must have happened when he had brought the rest of the household here with him to pray for blessings. What was the point that he was trying to make by leaving her behind in the capital to face Nie Clan's sudden and unexpected calamity by herself while he came here to lovingly carve a name?

She really couldn't understand the feelings of ancient people. If someone told her that Ning Yuxuan sincerely loved her, Ji Man wouldn't believe that person. While it was possible that Ning Yuxuan might like her, if her importance to him was compared to how much he valued his great endeavors, she would definitely be flung three Pacific Oceans away.

She didn't want to have any emotional involvement here, much less have it with Ning Yuxuan. If she fell in love with a man like Marquis Moyu, she would definitely be the one that was hurt.

Shaking her head, Ji Man left the peach tree grove through another exit. Behind her, Luo Qianqian was earnestly carving Zhao Kaifeng's name onto a tree.

---

That evening, the group gathered together to sit around the temple's most respected and virtuous elder monk and wrote poems of meditation. The space was brightly lit with candles. For the members of Tonghua Poetry Association, they excelled at this type of thing. However, Zhu Yurun was obviously very bad at this. She was so nervous that her hands were very clammy, and she kept looking at Qian Yingchen.

Qian Yingchen didn't look at her and was focused on writing a poem on a small, thin piece of wood.

Ji Man was sitting on the other side of Zhu Yurun. After she casually wrote out a poem, she looked at the blank piece of wood that Zhu Yurun was holding. She took the piece of wood from her, wrote out a poem, and calmly stuffed it back into Zhu Yurun's hand.