Chapter Sixteen: Only Wishing for Peaceful Years

  This era requires women to be humble and gentle, and the ladies from noble families are taught from a young age to be dignified, generous and tolerant. The purpose is for them to marry well, manage the household properly, be filial to their parents-in-law, gain respect from their husbands, so that Mother Gui can completely ignore Bai's mother.

  However, Qingjin understood more clearly that rules are dead and people are alive. Moreover, which woman does not have a desire for love? No matter how strict the rules are, they cannot stop a woman's heart from wanting to be loved and cherished.

  She used to want all of Long Han's favor, didn't she? The queen wasn't being cruel to her because of Long Han's special treatment of her, was she? She went to great lengths to make things difficult for her and stirred up the concubines in the palace to fight with her. It can be seen that any woman cannot tolerate her husband having someone else in his heart besides her, let alone being willing to have her husband only respect but not love her.

  Thinking of this, Qingjin let out a faint sigh. She herself couldn't help but feel a certain way about it, so how could Junshi be any different? It was only natural that her mother, Junshi, would harbor dislike and discontent towards Bai Yiniang.

  And Bai Yiniang, probably also because of that thing in the early years: even if Father's house didn't have a legitimate son, an illegitimate child wouldn't be able to inherit the title later, clearly understood her own position, so she stepped up and competed with Mother for Father's favor without leaving any room for doubt. Apart from seeing the reality, it was actually more because of unwillingness, unwilling that the son she gave birth to would never have the right to inherit the title.

  The son of Bai Yiniang has no right to inherit the title, and he is also a bastard. So in the second half of her life, she had nothing to rely on. Winning over her father's heart was her only reliance for the rest of her life. Bai Yiniang understood this clearly, so she was so unscrupulous and made things difficult for her mother everywhere.

  Well, let's get back on track anyway!

  Nowadays, the cousin of Auntie's family didn't go, so only Gu Qingjin and Bai Niang's daughter Gu Qingxia went together. Qingjin originally didn't like going with a group of people either, it was just right, thinking in her heart that if Gu Qingxia suddenly had something and couldn't go, that would be the best, she could go alone to the temple to clear her mind.

  It's unclear whether Qingjin's prayers had an effect or something else, but on the day before they were supposed to set off, in the afternoon, Bai Niang suddenly felt unwell and Gu Qingxia, who was originally going to go, ended up staying by her side to take care of her.

  The next day, accompanied by her personal maid Yuanyang, two young maids and several old women and small servants, Gu Qingjin took the carriage of the Anji Marquis's mansion to Banruo Temple in Huangjiao to pray for blessings.

  The Prajna Temple is an ancient temple, and it is said that the first abbot of the Prajna Temple once saved the life of the founding emperor of the Great Jing Dynasty. The Prajna Temple was also granted the title of "Protecting the Country Prajna Temple" during the founding of the Great Jing Dynasty, and its abbot was granted the title of "National Master". Later, when the imperial throne changed hands, the title of National Master held by the abbot of the Prajna Temple was tacitly approved by successive emperors. Fortunately, for generations to come, the abbots of the Prajna Temple were all highly accomplished in Buddhist teachings and looked down on fame and wealth, bringing many benefits to the imperial court.

  If Qing Jin didn't remember wrongly, the current abbot of Bao Ru Temple should be Master Kong Wu. Speaking of Master Kong Wu, although Qing Jin didn't care about many things from his past life, he absolutely knew this master. The reason was that Master Kong Wu was not only more profound in Buddhist teachings than the previous abbots of Bao Ru Temple, but also rumored to be well-versed in divination and numerology, with an accuracy unparalleled in history. The current emperor also held him in extremely high esteem.

  What's more worth mentioning is that this empty-handed master has a proud disciple, whose Dharma name is Shuijingchen. It is said that Shuijingchen was a teenage prodigy, with an innate understanding of Buddhist teachings that was both profound and transparent. His temperament was holy and pure, like a heavenly being, making him a rare talent in the world of Buddhism, someone who appears only once every few hundred years.

  In her previous life, Gu Qingjin had been to the Banruo Temple many times before she became a concubine of Long Hanshan. When mentioning Long Hanshan, Gu Qingjin's eyes flashed with complexity. If I'm not mistaken, it was also in this temple that she boldly confessed her feelings to Long Hanshan back then, and thus began their romantic entanglement. This Banruo Temple should be the place where they sealed their fate in their past life, but unfortunately, theirs was a doomed relationship.

  Gu Qingjin was thinking about these things when the horse carriage slowed down and stopped. The Banruo Temple had arrived.

  With the support of Yuanyang, she walked to the edge of the carriage and looked at the familiar yet strange Banruo Temple in front of her.

  Qing Jin got down from the carriage, looked up at the temple reflected in the green trees, the apricot yellow walls of the courtyard, the cyan gray ridges of the hall, and the dark green ancient trees that reached the sky, all bathed in the rose red morning glow.

  The ancient temple under the shroud of morning light and dawn, like a silhouette floating on the floating clouds, looks exceptionally solemn and quiet.

  Gu Qingjin suddenly had the idea of wanting to change temples to worship, Gu Qingjin hesitated and lingered, not moving forward. The surrounding civilians who got up early to burn incense couldn't help but steal curious glances at the noble lady's carriage. Even some scholars who got up early deliberately came to catch a glimpse of Miss Qianjin, hoping to rely on their connections to turn their fortunes around overnight. Seeing Gu Qingjin getting off the carriage and lingering, some bold ones frequently cast ambiguous glances at her. If it weren't for the family guards standing in front of the carriage, they might have already gone forward to chat her up. Yuanyang felt the gazes of those scholars, looking at her mistress standing still in a daze, and reminded her: "Miss, let's go inside!"

  Gu Qingjin came back to her senses after hearing Yuanyang's words, nodded, and walked towards the Banruo Temple.

  As she walked into the gate of Banruo Temple, it was still the same as when she came before. She didn't expect so many people to come and worship Buddha so early. Looking at the coming and going incense guests, Banruo Temple is indeed a royal temple. Gu Qingjin originally thought that her arrival should be considered early, but unexpectedly, there were so many people who arrived earlier than her.

  The incense burner at the gate of the grand hall was already surrounded by swirling smoke, and an endless stream of ordinary people living nearby rushed to this place, they joined their hands together, raised them over their chest, forehead, and head, then devoutly worshipped.

  Looking at these devout faces, Gu Qingjin's heart unexpectedly calmed down.

  Before long, Qingjin and the others arrived at the gate of the Banruo Temple's main hall. Yuanyang dismissed the servants who had followed them, leaving only the two young maidservants and the wet nurse who had accompanied them.

  Qing Jin glanced at the listless old woman and two maids, then turned to Yuanyang and said, "Let them go down too, I want to stay in the main hall for a while, you can keep me company!"

  Yuanyang nodded at Qingjin's words and turned around to instruct the servant woman and two maids standing there to go down first.

  Seeing everyone being ordered to leave by the mandarin ducks, Qingjin turned around and walked into the main hall of the Banruo Temple, slowly kneeling down in front of the Buddha statue and piously kowtowing.

  Thank the Buddha, thank you for letting me be reborn, thank heaven for giving me this chance to be reborn. I will cherish it well and will not foolishly pursue some empty and unbelonging things again in this life. May years be quiet and good, all her relatives around her are safe and sound. After saying these words in my heart, I closed my eyes and prayed sincerely to the Buddha.