Chapter Twenty-Five: Dwelling in the Mountains and Forests

  Madam Feng sighed and said, "August 19th is the tenth anniversary of your aunt's death. In previous years, we had a small Buddhist temple in our mansion where you would quietly go to burn incense. This year, since we are here, there is no place for worship in the mansion, so why not tell Eldest Sister and we can stay in a nunnery outside for a few days."

  "Oh!" Yao Yan muttered to herself, "How could I have forgotten this? The tenth anniversary of the death is coming up, and it's finally a round number. As a daughter, I should at least spend half a month in the ancestral hall copying scriptures, reciting sutras, and praying for blessings."

  The next morning, Yao Yanyu found an opportunity to see Yao Fengge and told her his thoughts.

  Yao Fengge listened and fell into deep thought for a long time.

  Yao Yan's mother was originally a distant niece of the old lady of the Yao family, Song Shi. As for how many generations apart she was from her cousin Yao Fengge, it is unclear, but after Wang Shi gave birth to her second son Yao Yanyi, she didn't recover well and was bedridden with illness. The old lady took charge and brought Song Shi into the Yao household in a small sedan chair, making her a noble concubine for Yao Yuanqi.

  After entering the Song family, she naturally couldn't interfere with the major affairs of the household, and only helped the mistress take care of trivial matters in the backyard, such as managing the maids and servants, and taking care of the elderly lady. However, after several years of marriage, there was still no news about her getting pregnant.

  Later, Wang suddenly became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter named Yao Fengge. After the delivery, the doctor said that it was impossible for her to become pregnant again.

  The main room cannot have children, the Yao family wants to prosper and must give Yao Yuan a concubine. Anyway, Wangshi has two legitimate sons and one legitimate daughter, her status is already very stable, so she doesn't care about these things. Then another concubine, Tian Shi, enters the house.

  It's strange to say, but after Tian entered the door, Song had a pregnancy and gave birth to Yao Yanyu. However, giving birth to children is harmful to one's health, and afterwards, she was often ill and taking medicine. Then in the sixth year of Yao Yanyu's life, she died. The old lady had her buried properly and bought a separate grave for her.

  So every year on the day of the Song family's ancestral worship, Yao Yan would light an incense stick for the Songs in the small Buddhist shrine at home. Old Lady Song would have someone send over some fresh fruit, and Wang wouldn't say much about it.

  Yao Fengge was very clear about these things, so when Yao Yanyu brought them up, she couldn't just flatly refuse. After all, she was her own mother by birth, and her status wasn't particularly lowly; she also shared a blood relationship with the old lady. Even if she didn't care about others, she had to consider the old lady's face.

  Yao Fengge fell into deep thought for a moment before nodding: "Your kind intentions will surely be appreciated by Auntie's spirit in heaven. However, you said staying in the nunnery for a month is too long. As the weather gets cooler day by day, if you catch a chill outside, it'll harm your own body. In my opinion, staying for twelve days should be enough."

  Yao Yan said she just wanted to go out and talk about it later, so she hurriedly agreed: "Yes, I'll listen to sister."

  "An Tang...” Yao Fengge calculated in her heart for a moment. An ordinary An Tang would not do, as Yao Yanyu was now a guest of the Ding Hou Mansion. If something were to happen, it would be embarrassing for both herself and the Ding Hou Mansion. So she said: "Three miles south of the Dabeisi Temple in the west of the city is the Cixin An. This An Tang, like the Dabeisi Temple, belongs to the royal temple, with a quiet environment and many houses. It's convenient for you to take the girls there to live, and I also know the abbess, Jingfang Shitai. You can go there to recite scriptures for your aunt."

  Yao Yan suppressed the joy in her heart and calmly thanked her. Yao Feng Ge then called over two servant women who were waiting on them, instructing them to follow Second Miss, and also ordered Shanhu to wrap up forty taels of silver as alms for the oil lamps at Ci Xin An, and had someone fetch four bolts of plain white silk to be made into monk's robes for the masters in the temple.

  Yao Yan returned and had Old Lady Feng pack up all her personal belongings, filling two large carts to the brim. The next morning, she set out with Yao Fengge to pay a visit to Madame Lu's quarters, no matter what others might say, after being away for over ten days, she still needed to bid farewell to Madame Lu.

  Mrs. Lu smiled slightly and said, "You're a kind-hearted child, so you can go. It's not like being at home, be careful of catching colds outside, take care of yourself."

  Yao Yan hurriedly got up and responded, then bade farewell to Lu Furen and came out. She directly boarded the carriage outside the Huahua Gate of the inner mansion and headed straight for the west of the city.

  "Ah! Finally out!" Yao Yan sat in the carriage, stretching her arms and taking a deep breath, feeling that even the air was much fresher.

  "It's just over ten days, but you still have to come back." Cui Wei smiled and reminded her, "I really don't know what the young lady is thinking, do you like the days in the mountains and forests so much? The nunnery only serves vegetarian food, I don't know if the young lady can get used to not eating meat for twelve days?"

  "If I can live a carefree life, then not eating meat for the rest of my life is no big deal! Besides, with your family's daughter by my side, what can't I eat? I'm just worried that you'll get tired of eating meat. Moreover, as long as I can come out, I have the ability to never go back, who says it's only for twelve days?" Yao Yan's words were accompanied by a smile that curved her eyebrows and eyes, with a sly glint in her eye, completely different from the gentle and reserved Yao Erniang of the Hou household.

  "Isn't that right, miss?" Cui Ping's eyes widened in alarm. "That is a place where the Buddha is worshipped, even if we are just temporarily staying there, we can't have meat on someone else's turf, can we? The abbot will chase us out."

  "Who says we can't have meat in the temple?" Yao Yan chuckled and said with a smile, "At such a young age, how can you be so old-fashioned? Let's go to the mountains and forests to catch some game, roast it and eat it. Can the master of the temple control us?"

  Cui Ping took a glance at Cui Wei, thinking to herself: Didn't Miss say she was going to the Ancestor's Hall to recite scriptures and pay respects to the late Song Niangniang?

  Ci Xin An is a temple that, although small in scale, surpasses many smaller temples. The front and back of the temple have three large halls, with golden statues of Buddha, Bodhisattva, and Arhat inside, all majestic and awe-inspiring.

  Yao Yanruo, a medical student who believed in science, also didn't dare to disrespect the gods after this transmigration. So after entering, she first washed her hands and lit incense to worship Buddha.

  After the incense was finished, the two old women summoned by Yao Fengge presented the silver and silk. Jingyun Shitai, who was in charge of the temple's finances, had someone store the items in the warehouse and then invited Yao Yanyu to have tea in a quiet room next door. Yao Yanyu clearly expressed her intention and also offered an additional forty taels of silver as incense money.

  Ci Xin An is a place where the madams of the noble families in the capital often come to accumulate good karma, so the houses are renovated year after year, and the small courtyards are very clean and quiet.

  Jingyun Shitai arranged for Yao Yanyu a small courtyard in the west wing of the main hall, with a cluster of purple bamboo planted inside, hence the name Bamboo Heart Courtyard. The main house and side rooms totaled over ten rooms, neat and elegant. As the mountain breeze blew gently, the green bamboo swayed within the courtyard, producing a soft rustling sound like the gentle hum of a dragon or the whispering of phoenixes.

  Madam Feng brought people to move in Yao Yanyu's four large trunks of bedding, clothes, toiletries and other items. Cuiwei and Cuiping, the two maidservants, were busy going in and out, while Yao Yanyu was having tea with Shizheng Shitai and Jing'an Shitai, they had already tidied up the house.

  On August 19th, Aunt Feng arranged the ancestral tablet of Song's family and the incense burner in the ear room of the small courtyard. Yao Yanyu changed into a plain dress, came over to offer incense and pray, then sat down on the couch beside her, copying scriptures for the whole day.

  On the twentieth day, Yao Yanyu still came over to burn incense. She sat quietly for a while before calling Cui Wei to bring over the prepared blouse. Cui Wei glanced back at the two servant women sent by Yao Fengge in the courtyard and whispered: "Miss, can't you bear it for just one more day?"

  Yao Yan smiled lightly: "This house has a back door, let's sneak out quietly, what are we afraid of?"

  Cui Wei quietly returned to her room to fetch her clothes, helped Yao Yanyu change into a white satin dress, put on a light gray coarse linen dress, and quietly left through the back door.