Chu Yue wanted him to seize the monk's weakness as well. But it was not time yet. Over the past month, she had gained an understanding of the monk. He was the type to be won over slowly. If she used any other method, it would only have an adverse effect.
"I will, I have been learning how to massage people lately. It can loosen a person's muscles and tendons. The master always sits in his room to copy scriptures and recite mantras, so I will massage his shoulders," Chu Yue said.
The monk could not bear to listen to them anymore beside the wall. He shook his head and returned to his room with a resigned look.
When Eunuch Feng came out of the room, his master had come out with him. 'Do you truly not know that the master is just one wall behind us, or are you simply pretending that you don't know?'
However, at the end of the day, the master had to hear her as she tried to curry favor with him.
Eunuch Feng said nothing. He just thought that if the widow entered the palace and became a palace maid, she might actually have a chance to raise her status.
If she could become a noble lady, her ancestors would feel happy too.
As for her status as a widow, who would know about it? Eunuch Feng believed that his master was thinking about this like that as well.
However, she was not worthy of his master being so attentive to her and even talking about her. After all, she was just a widow who cooked.
Chu Yue had indeed been learning how to massage lately. She had even washed the monk's feet, so massaging him was nothing.
At the end of the day, she would be rewarded for all the effort she put in right now. No one would tell just who would be serving who in the end.
Time flew, and in the blink of an eye, it was the last month of the year.
It had been nearly two months since Chu Yue came to this place.
On this day, she made dried meat with Hupo. She also bought some intestines and spent some money to ask the stall owner to pack it properly, because she intended to make Chinese sausages with it.
The pigs in this era were not castrated, so their taste was rather foul, but Chu Yue had a way to handle them. Once she got rid of the foul smell, she would use dried meat to make the Chinese sausage.
Once she was done, she hung them under the eaves to let the wind dry them.
Hupo did not believe that meat made this way would taste good, but since her mistress said it would, she just needed to follow her instructions.
"Milady, you have been staying for longer periods of time over there. Why is that?" Hupo was bothered by this.
"They pay us a lot every month, and they also give us high-grade golden animal charcoal. It's fine if I work a little more for them."
Chu Yue could not just tell her that she had begun staying by the monk's side. Hence, she could only give an indirect answer.
"Milady, can't you let me go? I'm already perfectly fine," Hupo said.
"The master is used to my food, and he doesn't like food made by others. If you go, you will only annoy him. We might even end up losing this job," Chu Yue said.
Hupo felt really regretful. She was so useless that she could not even take up the burden of providing for the family. In the end, her mistress' thin shoulders had to carry this responsibility.
"Let's go. We'll see whether we can hunt any wild chickens or wild rabbits," Chu Yue said.
Hupo was very interested in it. Hence, the master-servant duo grabbed some grain to lure in wildlife. Some sparrows dropped by, but nothing else. However, the master-servant duo was still in a rather good mood. Their laughter was as clear as bells.
When the young nuns from Shangqing Temple came back and saw the master-servant duo play in the snow, they snorted coldly. "Why do they have to come out to seduce men instead of staying in their house?"
A young nun by the side said softly, "Senior Sister, let's go back. We still have a lot of things to do in the nunnery."
"Say, why doesn't that woman know how to be less shameless? She was rejected, and yet she's still not behaving cautiously. How could she still dare to flaunt her face around?" the senior sister in front said.
"Senior Sister, this is her matter. We shouldn't bother about it," the nun said with a shake of her head.
"Why are you here mumbling to yourselves?" an elderly nun asked while walking past them.
When they saw her, the two nuns quickly said, "Greetings, Aunt-master Jingmian."
Grandmaster Jingmian was the elderly nun who told Yingda about Chu Yue. "What were you saying just now? I heard that someone did not know her place."
The young nun said nothing, but the nun who was her senior sister said, "Aunt-master, while we were on our way here, we ran into the master and servant pair playing in the snow. You didn't hear them, but their laughter was really bewitching. It's no wonder why they were chased out by her husband's family!"
When Grandmaster Jingmian heard this, her expression turned colder. She went out to take a look, and just as the senior sister had said, Chu Yue and Hupo were playing around in the snow without caring about their image at all.
Hupo saw Grandmaster Jingmian and quickly schooled her expression. She called out, "Milady."
Chu Yue saw the grandmaster who always pulled a long face when she saw them. "Grandmaster Jingmian, what are you looking at? Have you never seen a beauty in the snow before? Have you had your fill staring today?"
Grandmaster Jingmian was so angry that her face turned red. She glared at Chu Yue before she turned around and went back.
Yumei, the one whom the young nun had referred to as her senior sister, went to Grandmaster Jingmian. "Aunt-master, you saw it as well, right? This woman is going to ruin Shangqing Temple's reputation sooner or later. It's best if we just chase her out."
"The family which sent her here is either really rich or aristocrats. She did not do anything wrong right now, so we can't chase her away," Grandmaster Jingmian said with a gloomy expression.
The woman was divorced and not worthy of coming to Shangqing Temple. What exactly did they think Shangqing Temple was?
"She didn't do anything wrong? She has been going to Longan Temple every day! Isn't that considered a major offense?" Young Nun Yumei asked.
"What?" Grandmaster Jingmian was stunned.
"Aunt-master, didn't you know? She has been going to the other mountain every day. I've been observing it. She has not missed a single day. She might have gone there to seduce monks!" Young Nun Yumei said with a cold huff.
"Tell me, what on earth is happening?"
Young Nun Yumei spoke of what she knew and told her that quite a number of people saw this, so there was solid evidence for it.
Grandmaster Jingmian's eyes lit up with excitement. That woman was divorced, yet she still did not know her place. She still went out to seduce people.
It meant that they could really not keep her around.
From the moment she dropped by, Grandmaster Jingmian did not like her because of how delicate she looked and how her fragile appearance would garner pity. When she was sent over by the servants from her husband's family, Grandmaster Jingmian went about asking for information privately. The old maid said that the woman had loose morals and was sent here to repent.
Her husband must have died, and since she did not know her place in the family, she went off to seduce her uncles or something. She was then sent away to prevent her from bringing disquiet to her husband's family.
After all, she had the looks of a seducer. Once her husband died, how could the uncles be able to resist her charms?!
"Are you sure that this is the truth?" Grandmaster Jingmian suppressed her excitement.
"Aunt-master, this is absolutely true. Would I dare to lie to you? If you don't believe me, you can ask them." Young Nun Yumei mentioned a few nuns' names.
Grandmaster Jingmian asked them one by one. Once she was certain that it was true, she went to report the event to the abbess of Shangqing Temple.