♂?，，

  Deep in the pool of water was a curtain of turbulent waterfall, which flew straight down from the hundred-foot high cliff, looking quite perilous. However, Pei Jingxun seemed to be completely unbothered, and he moved through it with ease, all the way into the belly of the mountain, where there was a secret cave. At this late hour, the inside was faintly lit by the soft glow of candlelight, looking quite mysterious.

  Changgeng heard the noise and hurried out to greet him, "Sir!"

  He handed over clean towels and clothes, waiting for Pei Jingxuan to change, and only after collecting them properly did he speak up, "The wolf has arrived, it's waiting inside for you."

  Bai Jingchen nodded slightly, "Something came up, I'll be a bit late."

  He suddenly turned around to face Chang Geng, with a sparkling light in his eyes, "What about the man who was wandering under the big pine tree behind Qingliang Temple last time?"

  The stone wall rotated, and a stone gate suddenly opened on the flat ground. Chang Geng led Pei Jingxuan in while answering, "That person is called Qian San, originally a slave of the Yongning Hou Mansion's Gu family's third house. Later, his cousin gave birth to the fourth master of the Gu family, Yuan Jing, and he was sold as a slave, sent to an outside shop to serve as a manager."

  Three years ago, Gu Siye trespassed into the imperial hunting grounds and offended Tian En, so he was sent to the Western Frontier battlefield. Outside, many people said that this Gu Siye didn't know what's good for him and had already died outside. Therefore, these past few years, Qian San's days haven't been easy, and his position as manager was also taken away. It's said that a few days ago, he somehow got the idea to leave and actually resigned from his job wanting to return home to spend his remaining days.

  Chang Geng paused for a moment, "I had someone follow him again and found that after he left Shengjing, he didn't go to his hometown of Xiangnan, but instead headed west. When he was in Bingzhou Prefecture, he lingered for many days, purchasing horses, carriages, rice, and grain, and even hired a few bodyguards to accompany him. The person who followed him reported back that he seemed to be going to the De Long Money House to exchange silver, judging from his demeanor, it looked like he was heading west to search for someone."

  "Leave someone to continue following, report back at any time. If Qian San is in trouble, lend him a hand, just don't let anyone detect it," said Pei Jingchen with a slight movement of his eyelids and a low voice.

  He had barely finished speaking when he entered another stone chamber amidst the strange rocks, where two burly men stood up from the table and chairs, calling out in unison: "Young Master."

  Pang Jian took a step forward, half-kneeling on the ground. His rugged and majestic face showed a hint of reluctance and nostalgia. He said in a deep voice, "The emperor's reward to the troops has been completed, and the military pay and rewards have been bestowed. I order my subordinates to set out tomorrow to return to the Western Frontier and share with all the generals. Today, I came to bid farewell to the young master. The road is long and distant, and I hope the young master will take good care of himself. Also, when we were on our way here, General had instructed me to convey a few words."

  He paused, "The general said that the Beining Army was established by the king himself, and every soldier was carefully cultivated by the king. Xu Qiuyuan was just a small groom in front of the king's horse, but now he can become a second-class general of the Beining Army, which is a great honor for the king. The king's great kindness, he will never forget that the Beining Army has been loyal to the king for 19 years, and it is still the king's Beining Army!"

  The general also said that the king was killed by a thousand arrows and died, and the county lord did not know how to die. This blood feud should have been avenged long ago. In the past, I endured it for the safety of the young master. Now that everything is ready, only the east wind is owed, please ask the young master to make an early decision.

  Pei Jingchen's face was calm as water, peaceful and still like an ancient well with no ripples.

  He remained silent for a long time, then said in a low voice, "Greedy Wolf, I have a letter here that must be delivered to General Xu by your own hand. Tell him my intentions are all written on the paper. Since I've made up my mind, I won't regret it. Let him do as he wishes with that matter."

  Pang Jian handed over the letter, solemnly saluted Pei Jingchen with a big bow, and then retreated into the empty mountain belly. Occasionally, there was a cool breeze passing through the hall, and the dim candlelight flickered, casting bright and dark shadows on Pei Jingchen's face. He let out a low sigh towards the air, shaking off the silence in the room. After a while, his facial expression suddenly became calm again, restoring its usual coldness and serenity, but his eyes had unknowingly added a few points of firmness and determination.

  The arrow shot from the bow has no return; some things, once decided, can never be turned back.

  At midnight, the vast mountain forest, Ming Xuan followed the road she came from, shuttling back and forth without stopping. Her footsteps were swift, not daring to stop for a moment. After finally returning to the quietly hidden side door, she flashed into the hut, quickly locking the door. She leaned against the door panel with her hand covering her chest for a long time, listening carefully to the movements outside. For a long while, there was nothing unusual. Only then did she dare to put down the heart she had lifted up.

  It doesn't matter who he is, as long as he didn't come after her, she would be at peace.

  Ming Xuan carefully entered the house, tidying up her clothes, only to realize that she had lost her headscarf somewhere. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly as a sense of unease arose in her heart. The headscarf was originally part of her nun's robe, which she had removed to tie up her hair. Now that it was gone, if Yuan Hui were to ask about it, how would she respond? Most importantly, she couldn't recall where she had lost the headscarf. If it was on the mountain path, she might still be able to make an excuse, but if...

  If that piece of cloth was picked up by the inexplicably appearing man, how could she explain it away? She couldn't possibly take apart all the front seams of every nun's robe in the entire temple.

  Suddenly, thousands of doubts flooded her mind again.

  In the dead of night, this man seemed to have jumped down from the cliff on the mountain top. How did he fall? If he had lost his footing or been pushed by someone else, falling into such a deep chasm would be frightening and shocking, even if he ended up unscathed. But he didn't show any fear. In such weather, he should have been wearing a thick outer coat, but he was only wearing an undershirt. Looking at how tightly his hair was tied back, it seemed like he had prepared for this, as if he had intentionally jumped off the cliff.

  But why did he want to jump off the cliff?

  The White Cloud Temple was surrounded by steep cliffs on three sides, with only one path leading out, but it was heavily guarded. She had also observed this valley carefully over the past few days and found that there were no other houses besides the temple. The man just now did not follow her, but he could not climb up such a steep cliff either, so where did he go?

  In such a state of confusion and anxiety, the distant sound of the evening drum from Qingliang Temple suddenly came.

  Ming Xuan was startled in her heart, and she thought wildly, but it had already reached the third watch.

  It's already April, and the sky is bright at dawn. The rules of the nunnery are to get up early for morning lessons as soon as the sky lightens. Calculating carefully, it's only about an hour and a half from now. However, her hair was still dripping wet and hanging down, sticking to her neck like white jade.

  The headscarf is gone, it's nothing for the time being, but if the hair isn't dried in time, it will surely arouse suspicion later.

  She thought for a moment, then quietly entered the kitchen, thinking that she could dry her hair with the heat from the fire while boiling water. She started to get busy, first boiling water, and seeing that time was not early, she simply kneaded the flour, wrapped up some dumplings, and steamed breakfast.

  The nun in charge of the kitchen, Yuan Miao, came in and said with a smile on her face, "I woke up early and had nothing to do, so I came over to boil some hot water and make breakfast. Master Yuan Miao, try it and see if it's edible?"

  Yuán Miào - Although somewhat surprised, she still took a bite, the method of making steamed dumplings was a bit unusual, but the taste wasn't bad at all. Her face lit up with surprise and delight. In this day and age, households with some wealth have specialized cooks in the kitchen, where would they need the young mistress to personally wash her hands and make soup? Ming Xuan, the eldest daughter of the Hou family, had an identity that couldn't be said to be humble, yet she could still make such delicious breakfast dishes, truly rare.

  She nodded hastily and said, "I'll go get it for the mistress to try."

  Ming Xuan's mouth curled up into a bright smile. "Take some more of the pastries, I steamed a lot, enough to eat."

  The whole morning, everyone's attention was focused on the steamed dumplings, and no one noticed anything wrong with her, nor did anyone know that she had sneaked out to soak in the hot springs at midnight.

  Today it happened to be Ming Xuan and Jing Xin's turn to fetch water, she hadn't slept all night, actually feeling both tired and weak, but didn't dare let Shifu see through her, so could only force herself to carry the bucket with Jing Xin out the door. The stream for fetching water was halfway up the mountain, on the way there were many small rocks, her legs were soft and weak, one careless move and she fell heavily to the ground.

  Jing Xin hastily put down the water bucket and came over to take a look at her, only to see that her small white hands had been scratched by the fine stones when she fell, and fresh blood was flowing out. Jing Xin was both shocked and frightened, and quickly took out a handkerchief to wrap around her palm, then wanted to support her back to the nunnery first, "Shifu is skilled in medicine, she has excellent ointment there, let's hurry back to apply the medicine, otherwise this wound is so deep, even if it heals, I'm afraid it will leave a scar."

  Ming Xuan didn't mind if there would be a scar on her palm or not, she just looked at Jing Xin with anxiety, and since she couldn't go against the other person's wishes, she nodded and agreed.

  Jing Xin accompanied Ming Xuan back to the nunnery, and seeing that there was no one around, she suddenly remembered that the bhikkhuni had taken the samaneri to the mountain to plant vegetables and fertilize this morning. After thinking for a moment, she sent Ming Xuan to the medicine room. However, she had not followed Shifu to learn medicine, did not know which bottle was the hemostatic ointment, and did not dare to use medicine randomly.

  She hesitated for a moment, looking somewhat embarrassed as she spoke to Ming Xuan, "Sister Xuan, press down on the wound and don't move, stay here first, I'll go find Shifu."

  She had just finished speaking and hurried away.

  Ming Xuan exerted force to press down on the wound on her hand, enduring the pain as she surveyed the medicine room. She saw that three walls were lined with small square blocks, each one filled with rows of colorful medicine bottles. In her heart, she secretly felt surprised - she hadn't expected that Master Yu Zhen not only excelled in Buddhist teachings but also had a talent for making medicine. Judging from the hundreds and thousands of jars in this room, it was clear that Master Yu Zhen was an expert.

  She sighed, and suddenly her eyes glanced at the table next to her, where a yellowish-brown cloth ball was lying quietly. Her face tightened slightly, and she quickly walked over to pick it up and unfold it, and it turned out to be the headscarf she had lost last night.

  （）

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