Chapter Seventy-One: Encounter with the Devil

  Upon hearing Qing Yao's words, Qing Jin's heart skipped a beat as she mechanically followed Qing Yao to admire the plum blossoms. Her body instinctively went on high alert, and she lifted her head to gaze in the direction Qing Yao had spoken of.

  As expected, a cold and silent figure was standing under the plum tree not far in front. It was undoubtedly Long Han Yan. At this moment, Long Han Yan was as silent as a distant mountain, quietly standing there, as if he had been there for eternity. His angular face did not have any extra expression, his eyes were dark and deep. When Qing Jin looked at him, he also looked over at the same time, and their gazes parted immediately after touching.

  Qing Jin looked at the obviously delighted expression on her younger sister Gu Qing Yao's face, just like her in her past life... No, how could she think of that? She stopped herself from recalling those memories, they were not supposed to be remembered.

  Due to this sudden memory, Qingjin originally wanted to watch the play with a good mood, but suddenly it was gone. Looking at the scene in front of her, she felt somewhat inexplicably annoyed, so she opened her mouth and said to Gu Qingyao: "Fourth sister, I'll go to the restroom for a bit, you can stroll around by yourself first!" After saying that, she didn't wait for Gu Qingyao to say anything, and quickly pulled Yuanyang away.

  Qing Yao was gazing into the distance where Long Han was, when she heard her second sister suddenly drop this sentence. Before she could even react, she saw Qing Jin hastily leaving. She felt puzzled and unclear about what just happened, and didn't bother to look at Long Han in the distance anymore. Instead, she called out to Qing Jin's retreating back: "Second sister..."

  Unfortunately, Qing Jin never looked back. Qing Yao saw Qing Jin leave and turned around to glance at the Third Prince Long Han Yuan, who was not far away. She knew that the Third Prince had seen her, and thinking of her second sister Qing Jin, who had left in a hurry, she felt some hesitation. To be honest, when she saw the Third Prince earlier, her mood was somewhat excited, and she even wanted to go up and greet him.

  But Qingjin's sudden departure made her think of what her mother, Su Shi, had told her. Her mother said that the Third Prince already had a wife. And from what her father had hinted at, it was possible that the Emperor intended to marry her and her second sister off to the Third Prince and the Sixth Prince respectively. Her mother said that if her second sister wasn't engaged, the Emperor might give her to the Third Prince as a concubine. However, since her second sister was now engaged to her cousin, Junmu Xiang, if the Emperor really did intend to arrange a marriage for her, she would likely become the Sixth Prince's wife. Her mother told her that it was better to be a poor man's wife than a rich man's concubine. Especially since the Third Prince and the Sixth Prince were of similar status. She had met the Sixth Prince before, and he was a warm and refined man. When he smiled at her, his expression was especially gentle, and she could see that he was taken with her and liked her. She wouldn't mind being the wife of someone like him.

  However, every time she sees the Third Prince Long Han Yuan, she feels that there is something about him that makes her want to comfort him and be good to him. Occasionally being looked at by him will make her heart beat faster, which is not the case when facing the gentle Sixth Prince, but it's just that.

  Just as her mother said, the third prince already has a legitimate wife, who was spoiled and raised by her mother. Accepting her mother's idea, she naturally understood that being a legitimate wife is better than being a concubine, and in her heart, she had also chosen the sixth prince. So looking at the third prince standing quietly in the distance, reason told her to stay away, but her feet hesitated on the spot, unwilling to leave.

  Qing Yao turned her head to glance in the direction that Qing Jin had left. After seeing Qing Jin's figure disappear into the depths of the plum forest, she decided to take one last look at the Third Prince before quietly leaving. However, as she gazed over, she happened to catch the Third Prince Long Han Yan staring at her in a daze. Her heart skipped a beat and, as if possessed by a mischievous spirit, she led her maid towards Long Han Yan's direction. She told herself that this was just basic courtesy, that she was only going to greet the Third Prince. With this thought, she steeled herself and walked up to Long Han Yan's side, curtsying to say: "Your subject, Gu Qing Yao, greets Your Highness, the Third Prince. Why is Your Highness alone here?"

  "Is it Gu Qingyao? No need for formalities, I was just with you..."

  "I report to the Third Prince, just now with my daughter was my second sister Gu Qingjin. My second sister wasn't feeling well and left first, she asked my daughter to apologize on her behalf, please don't blame my second sister." Gu Qingyao heard Long Han's question about her second sister Gu Qingjin, and for some reason felt a sour heart, but still spoke the truth.

  "En, let's go for a walk together!" Long Han Yuan heard Gu Qing Yao's words and his gaze gathered on Gu Qing Yao's body, responding to her invitation.

  "Ah?" Qingyao was taken aback by Long Han's words for a moment, she had originally thought that the Third Prince asked about her second sister Gu Qingyan because of her second sister... but unexpectedly, the Third Prince actually invited her to admire the plum blossoms, and for a while, she couldn't react.

  Seeing Long Han's inquiring gaze, her face turned slightly red as she replied, "Alright."

  Long Han-yuan heard Gu Qing-ya's answer, looked at her, turned around and walked forward. Qing-ya followed closely behind him, originally thinking that Long Han-yuan had invited her to say something, but after waiting for a while, she saw the Third Prince Long Han-yuan walking alone without any intention of stopping to talk to her.

  She had originally been excited to accompany him, but as they walked on, one in front of the other, she slowly began to calm down and cool off. After a while, he couldn't help but glance at the Third Prince ahead, only to see that Long Han still showed no signs of speaking or stopping. Her heart felt a little resentful, thinking that he had asked her to accompany him on this walk, yet he hadn't said a single word.

  Gu Qingyao finally couldn't help but say: "Third Prince..."

  Long Han Yuan stopped in his tracks when he heard Gu Qing Yao's voice, turned around, and gazed at her with a pair of dark, profound eyes.

  On the other hand, Qing Jin suddenly felt a complex and indescribable emotion after pulling Yuanyang away. Those memories of her past life with Long Hanshan flashed before her uncontrollably. She told herself to stop it, wasn't she supposed to watch the show between Long Hanshan and Gu Qingyu?

  In the end, when it came down to it, she was the first one to run away. However, thinking of those two people staring at each other, Qing Jin's heart couldn't help but feel nauseous, and her mind involuntarily flashed back to that night, Long Han Yuan and her, and in the end, the name he called out. In these years since she was reborn, every moment she told herself, it's fine like this!

  They have been at odds with each other, never looking back. Is it not enough to have such a tragic life as a lesson? After reincarnation, she met Long Hanshan again, and she was very calm. She told herself that this was good enough, but when Gu Qingyao and Long Hanshan had a deep and passionate gaze at each other, she suddenly felt an urge to destroy everything. The thought that flashed through her mind at that moment was that she wanted to go home and tell Jun Shi that she wanted to cancel the engagement with her cousin, she wanted to take revenge on Long Hanshan. Wasn't he after the throne? She would ruin his dream of becoming emperor, and make him taste the pain she had suffered before. At that time, her body and soul seemed to be separated, and she felt her soul coldly laughing, with a surge of desire for revenge and destruction brewing inside her bones.

  She had just hastily left the scene, because she was afraid that she would not be able to hold back her desire for revenge. Yes, in her past life, she had been infatuated with vanity and had sought power and wealth, but Long Han Yan was someone she had truly loved. How could he have been so ruthless towards her, destroying all of her convictions? The scene from that night kept flashing before her eyes, as if a voice was saying, how could she let Long Han Yan off so easily, how could she?

  "Master Gu Shi..." Just as Qing Jin was thinking this, a calm and peaceful voice suddenly came from behind her.

  Qing Jin's mind, trapped in demonic illusions, suddenly cleared for a moment. She turned around and hesitantly addressed the figure clad in white monk robes: "Shui Jing Chen?"

  Water Mirror Dust gazed at the determined look in Gu Qingjin's eyes, who had a faint aura of evil on him, and smiled calmly: "Gu Shizhu, it is I, a poor monk." That one smile was like the Buddha's enlightenment when he picked up a flower.

  Upon hearing Shuijingchen's response, Qingjin's eyes seemed to clear up, and she asked with a hint of puzzlement: "Shuijingchen, your Buddhist teachings speak of ferrying all sentient beings across, so why do they still suffer? Why do the Buddhist scriptures mention the Eight Great Sufferings?" She appeared to be smiling gently, but her body was shrouded in endless dark energy.

  Shuijingchen stood in front of Qingjin, gazing at him lightly and replied quietly: "It is precisely because all living beings are suffering that the Buddha delivers them universally. The Diamond Sutra says: 'All phenomena are empty and false!' Moreover, there are the words of enlightenment from the Sixth Patriarch Huineng: 'Bodhi originally has no tree, a bright mirror is not a stand, originally there is not a single thing, where can dust be stirred up?'"

  "Is it? Originally there is not a single thing, where can dust be stirred up?"

  "Amitabha..."

  After a Buddha's name, Qing Jin's eyes cleared up a lot. She spoke to Shui Jing Chen again: "Shui Jing Chen, how can one let go?"

  "The Buddha said: From love comes worry, from love comes fear. If one is detached from love, there will be no worry and no fear. Homage to Amitabha Buddha!"

  "From love comes sorrow, from love comes fear; if one is detached from love, there is no sorrow and no fear..." Qing Jin listened to these four lines of verse, and couldn't help but become infatuated. In her heart, she silently recited: "From love comes sorrow, from love comes fear; if one is detached from love, there is no sorrow and no fear."

  Half a moment later, her eyes cleared up, and the emotions on her body slowly calmed down, as if she had finally gotten rid of some kind of obsession. She took a deep look at Shuijingchen, who was indeed a high-ranking Buddhist monk. With such a Shuijingchen, even if he didn't do anything, just standing by his side would make one feel very comfortable, giving people a sense of serenity and peacefulness.

  Looking at Shuijingchen, Qingjin often let out a sigh of relief. She faced Shuijingchen and said: "Thank you, Master, for pointing out my confusion!"

  Plum blossoms bloomed behind Qingjin, forming a cloud of petals that fluttered down like they were weaving a dreamy color. The smile on her face was so radiant that it outshone the plum blossoms filling the entire courtyard. Her bright eyes sparkled like the most dazzling stars, as if they had just dispelled an illusion, and were merely a mirage in the water mirror's dust.