Eunuch Feng also wanted to find someone to help his master with his loneliness. Even though he was still praying for blessings, he actually just needed to show his sincerity. He did not need to observe the rights for so long. It would be a great torture if that were not the case.
But the eunuch had never been able to find a chance to breach the topic, and he did not know whether his master was blaming him for not doing his job well. After all, the master's face became dark every time Eunuch Feng came over to take a bamboo slip back.
"She's a widow and will bring bad luck," Eunuch Feng said. He did not have a good opinion about Chu Yue's status as a widow.
"After Master saw her last time, he chose to allow her to gather firewood here," Yingda retorted.
Eunuch Feng was stunned. He looked at Yingda and said, "The master agreed to let her stay here?"
"Why else do you think I'd waste my breath with her?" Yingda asked faintly.
"Looks like Master doesn't hate her," Eunuch Feng nodded in certainty. Then, he frowned. "But our master is of high status, and she is of low status. She is not worthy of him."
"She might be a widow, but it's precisely because she is a widow that she has thought things through. She will not be like those girls. We won't run into trouble in the future," Yingda said in the manner of an experienced man.
When Eunuch Feng heard this, he started thinking about the situation carefully. Yingda was right. Widows were definitely more open-minded.
Even so, Eunuch Feng remained cautious. "Go and gather information about her to check if her identity is clean."
"Understood." Yingda nodded. Then, he went to ask for information from the nuns on the other mountain.
"Why are you asking about this?" A nun who did not look friendly tossed a question back at him.
Yingda did not waste his breath and gave her a handful of silver. The elderly nun looked around before she stuffed the silver into her sleeves.
"She's a widow and quite unlucky, but she's very resilient. Not only was she said to have brought death to her own husband, his family even sent her a divorce letter. Only Shangqing Temple was willing to take her in after that. No other nunnery was willing to take in such an unlucky person. What now? Was she restless?" the nun asked.
Yingda ignored her. Once he obtained the information he wanted, he left.
But the elderly nun had gotten the gist of it. She looked in the direction of the abode where Chu Yue stayed and spat on the ground. "I knew it, she's a shameless cur. She has just become a widow, and she is already thinking about getting herself another man."
News about Chu Yue being resilient, bringing about her own husband's death, and her misfortune were brought back to Eunuch Feng, and he frowned a little. "Won't that bring grief to our master?"
"She is really a widow, but I don't know the truth about the rest. When I looked at her, she didn't seem to be mean enough to cause her own husband's death," Yingda replied truthfully.
"Look for another one," Eunuch Feng said.
"She's the only one in the area." Yingda shook his head.
"If she comes again, ask her for the eight characters of her birth time. We'll have the imperial astronomer do a reading on it."
Yingda nodded. This was not something difficult. The widow was very passionate about his master, so she would definitely be willing to provide her eight characters.
*****
Chu Yue did not know these things. She was just training in her abode. Even if her tendons and bones were horrible, it was still better if she trained a little.
Shangqing Temple was not a place for anyone to stay for a long time, and she did not intend to fight against that.
If the monk on the other mountain was willing to leave with her, once they got to know each other, they could leave together. The world was large, and they could move about freely. Nothing could beat living the life of a wanderer.
Hupo was still weaving bags in the house. She treasured all the opportunities to make money. If she did her embroidery well, she could earn two hundred cash coins.
When she saw her mistress coming back while drenched in sweat, Hupo set aside her spindle and poured a bowl of ginger and jujube soup for her. "Milady, drink this. The weather is cold, so you mustn't catch a sickness."
Chu Yue drank the ginger and jujube soup and said, "You should go out and train as well. Your constitution will decline if you just stay in the house. That was what happened to me before. I got sick after a single shower."
Hupo could not express herself in words.
Her mistress had thought things through, but she seemed to have seen through the world a little too much. She was no longer wary of anything. If Hupo had not been constantly with her mistress, she would have thought that someone had taken her mistress' place.
However, compared to her past self, her current mistress made her feel much more at ease.
While watching her mistress drink the ginger and jujube soup with brown sugar, Hupo poured a basin of hot water so that her mistress could wipe off her body. She had sweated, so it would be better for her to wipe her body clean.
"How considerate of you," Chu Yue said in satisfaction.
Hupo's face turned red, and she reproached Chu Yue. "Milady, you really like joking now, don't you?"
"I lived a suppressed life in the past. Now, I want to live as I am. Hupo, you have to be prepared for it," Chu Yue said, trying to get Hupo to accept her changes.
Hupo chuckled with her mouth covered.
Chu Yue went off to wipe her body.
She trained every day and also went off to try and get herself affiliated with the handsome monk on the other mountain.
As for Shangqing Temple, there was a nun there who was really difficult to handle. Earlier, when Chu Yue was training at the periphery, the nun saw her, and she stared Chu Yue with an incredibly mocking and disdainful look. However, Chu Yue ignored her.
The prince's mansion had sent her here in secrecy. The mountain was far away from the capital, and no one knew her real identity.
To the nuns in Shangqing Temple, she was a divorced woman, and there were some who even said she was a widow.
She had heard about it from Yuhe.
Chu Yue did not mind it since she did not plan to stay around for long. She just needed to be able to provide for herself, and that would be enough.
Right then, the important thing for her was to get the monk. Or else, when winter came, it would be too bothersome to go and look for him.
Hence, Chu Yue went to his mountain even after she had failed to meet him multiple times.
This time, the man in black asked for the eight characters of her birth time.
"What?" Chu Yue was unable to wrap her head around his question for a period of time.
"The eight characters of your birth time," Yingda repeated faintly.
Chu Yue did not think that the eight characters of her birth time were a secret, but she did not say it immediately. Instead, she said, "Sir, why do you want the eight characters of my birth time?"
"If you're an unlucky soul, then forget about it," Yingda said faintly.
Chu Yue then understood what was going on and smiled. "Of course. You can go and see whether my eight characters match with the master's."
Then, she gave him the characters of her birth time.
Yingda noted them down and cast her a glance. "You should go back."
"You're asking me to go back? You should let me know when I can get the results, right?' Chu Yue asked with a smile.
She had no choice. Her life was too boring. She had to search for something to do, and the monk was her current goal.
"We'll naturally let you know once we have the results," Yingda said.
"Okay." Chu Yue nodded and left.
But when she was on her way back to Shangqing Temple, she came to a realization. What sort of identity did the monk have? Why did they ask her for her eight characters? And they even said that if her eight characters were bad, she would not be allowed to get together with the monk.
Oh well, she would just let them search for someone to make a reading of it.
She felt that her destiny was actually pretty good.
Yingda sent the eight characters to Eunuch Feng, but Eunuch Feng had something to do, so the matter of handing over the eight characters to the imperial astronomer so that they could see whether Chu Yue's eight characters were a good match for their master was delayed for two days.