Chapter Fifteen Divination

  In a simple and quiet room of a temple in the suburbs of Beijing, an old monk with white eyebrows and beard frowned slightly as he stared at the scattered turtle shells in front of him, deep in thought. He muttered to himself, "How can I not figure it out?" A moment later, he picked up the turtle shells from the ground and threw them again, but the position and direction of the shells were still exactly the same as before. He couldn't help but shake his head again, pick up the shells from the ground, and try to throw them once more.

  "Master, if you can't calculate it, then don't. Master doesn't have to be so stubborn!" A young monk in a snow-white robe stood beside him, his holy and serene face as calm as still water, his eyes gazing quietly at the old monk with white eyebrows and white beard who was repeatedly using turtle shell divination.

  The old monk with white eyebrows and a white beard heard the voice of the young monk in the snow-white cassock next to him, without lifting his head, and muttered, "Master knows, you let Master try again. If this time is still the same as before, Master will not count it." After finishing, he gathered the turtle shells on the ground into his hand and threw them lightly, and the position and direction of the falling turtle shells were exactly the same as before.

  Looking at the scattered tortoise shells on the ground, the old monk with white eyebrows and a white beard let out a sigh of helplessness.

  Next to him, a young monk in a snow-white robe, holy and pure as a heavenly being, heard the old monk's sighs and looked at the old monk who opened his mouth calmly. "The Buddhist scriptures say: All phenomena are illusory. If you see all phenomena as non-phenomena, then you will see the Tathagata. The past mind cannot be obtained, the present mind cannot be obtained, the future mind cannot be obtained. If you seek me through color and sound, this is a person who practices the wrong path and cannot see the Tathagata. All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows, like dew and lightning, and should be viewed as such."

  The old monk with white eyebrows and a white beard heard the young monk's words, put down the tortoiseshell in his hand, turned around and spoke to this most favored disciple of his, "You're right, Master has been too attached. With your state of mind, what more is there for Master to worry about?"

  Upon hearing that the old monk with white eyebrows and a white beard was not attached, the young monk in a snow-white robe joined his hands together, "In that case, I will return to my chamber for quiet contemplation first, Master, it's also time for you to meditate."

  The old monk nodded slightly after hearing the young disciple's words in his snow-white cassock, "Master knows, so you can go back first!"

  The disciple in white monk robes gave a slight bow, and walked out of the old monk's room like a clear breeze on a bright moonlit night.

  The old monk gazed at the snow-white cassock of his disciple, and let out a faint sigh. He wasn't unable to calculate it, but he couldn't believe that this outstanding disciple was about to face...!

  Casually scattered the tortoiseshell that had just been picked up on several tables nearby, Phoenix's emotional crisis, and it happened recently. But where did this phoenix come from?

  Anji Marquis Mansion

  Qing Jin had been going to the Banruo Temple to pray for blessings since that day when she told her grandmother, Shen Shi, and got her consent. After getting Shen Shi's opinion, she had been keeping a regular schedule for these dozen or so days, getting up early every day to pay respects in Shen Shi's courtyard. After leaving Shen Shi's courtyard, she would go to her mother, Jun Shi's, courtyard. During this time, she couldn't help but exchange dozens of moves with Gu Ning Xuan, each winning and losing.

  As March is about to pass, the time for praying for blessings at Bao Ru Temple is getting closer. According to Shen's intention, Gu Qingjin was supposed to invite his aunt's sisters to go together. Gu Qingjin had sent out invitations, and the response from his aunt's two cousins was that they agreed to go. However, as the day of departure approached, today, Min, one of his aunt's cousins, sent a message saying that in two days, she and her sister would be accompanying their aunt to attend a banquet. It was an event that had been mentioned before Gu Qingjin sent out invitations, but since there was no news from that family afterwards, they thought it had been cancelled. Unexpectedly, the host of the banquet sent out invitations two days ago, and since they had promised to attend beforehand, now they can only apologize to Gu Qingjin's side and let the people from Anji Houfu go by themselves.

  After receiving the news from her aunt's house, Gu Qingjin fell into deep thought. In this generation of the Anji Marquis Manor, there were only two legitimate sons of the old madam, namely Qingjin's father and Third Uncle.

  Third Uncle, due to his long-term appointment as an official outside the capital, naturally had Third Aunt following him and taking care of him. Along with her were their biological son Gu Mingxuan, biological daughter Gu Qingyao, and even the illegitimate daughters who also stayed by Third Uncle's side. Third Uncle had once mentioned letting his own illegitimate daughters stay in the capital to serve around their grandmother.

  However, the Shen family refused, so now the Anji Houfu is inhabited by people from Gu Qingjin's main house. In this generation of the main house, their father, Gu Huaili, nominally has only one wife and two concubines.

  The legitimate wife is naturally the mother of Qingjin, Junshi. Junshi was born into a military family and her marriage to Gu Huaili's father was arranged by their great-grandfather. Although the couple did not have much affection for each other after marriage, they still got along harmoniously. Not long after marriage, they gave birth to Gu Qingjin, and later had another son, who is the eldest son of Anji Houfu, Gu Ningxuan.

  Two aunts, one Bai and one Liu. The Bai aunt had been following Father Gu Huaili since his early years and gave birth to a son and a daughter for him. The son is Gu Qingjin's older half-brother Gu Jingxuan, who is currently studying abroad. Qingjin has no impression of this older brother, and in her past life, she rarely interacted with him either. She only knew that Gu Jingxuan returned home not long after Third Uncle was transferred back to the capital. Later, after Qingjin married Long Han yuan as a concubine, she didn't have the qualification to visit her hometown, and even less often returned home, so she didn't know what happened to Gu Jingxuan afterwards either.

  Bai Niang's daughter was that Qing Jin who had met at her grandmother's house, and another one was Liu Shi who had no descendants.

  So Gu Qingjin's father, Gu Huaili, had a total of four children in this house. Gu Qingjin and his younger brother, Gu Ningxuan, were both legitimate sons born to Junshi. The eldest son, Gu Jingxuan, and the illegitimate daughter, Gu Qingxia, were born to Bai Jinniang.

  Bai's early years were marked by her giving birth to a son and then a daughter, which made her proud and arrogant for a while. However, after Qingjin's mother, Junshi, became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and Bai learned that the Anji Houfu was a centuries-old noble family with strict rules regarding legitimate and illegitimate children, and that illegitimate children had no right to inherit the title, she gradually toned down her arrogant personality and became more subdued and humble, which earned her father's renewed favor.

  It was Qingjin's mother, Junshi, who was born into a military family and grew up in an environment where her grandmother had passed away early and her grandfather had not remarried after her grandmother's death. As a result, there were no concubines or other women in the household, and Junshi was not skilled in the various struggles between wives and concubines. She also would not fawn over her father, which is why he spent more than half of every month at Baiji's place. Junshi often complained about this to Qingjin.

  In Qingjin's view, her mother, Junshi, didn't need to bother with these things at all. The Anji Marquis Manor was a hundred-year-old aristocratic family, and the rules of seniority were very important. No matter how much Bai Shi struggled, it was impossible for her to surpass Junshi.