After they parted ways with Chu Yue and returned to Longan Temple, Yingda said, "Master, we ran into Prince Qin in Xiang City. His subordinate managed to recognize me."
"It's fine," the monk said faintly.
Even if he managed to recognize him, it was fine. That brat wouldn't dare to butt into his affairs.
Meanwhile, at Shangqing Temple, Chu Yue brought the silver notes worth five thousand taels of silver out. She asked Chu Yue to keep them properly so that no one could steal them.
Hupo eyes went wide. "Milady, where did we get so much money?"
"My grandmother gave it to me. I believe that she has given me all of her savings," Chu Yue said.
Her grandmother had indeed given her a lot of money, but all of it was stolen by Shanhu. That amount was not limited to the five thousand taels of silver Hupo knew about and all the other jewelry.
Hupo felt incredibly touched. "The madam's body is not very healthy now. I wonder just how sad she will feel when she learns that you're going through this."
"That's why I hate Prince Qin so much. Stop trying to persuade me to go back," Chu Yue decided to seize the opportunity and say, "But I don't think my grandmother knows about me. My aunt will not let her learn about it."
After all, her aunt's legitimate daughter was already fifteen years old. She could not afford to have her marriage delayed.
When Hupo heard this, she said, "Milady, should we look for a good moment to sneak back to Beijing and visit the madam? We can try to put her mind at ease."
"We should indeed look for a time to go and visit her," Chu Yue said.
Hupo nodded. As for asking her mistress to change her mind and forgive the prince? Hupo no longer thought about doing that. The prince had gone overboard in this matter.
The madam was the one who made the decision about the marriage, and it had nothing to do with her mistress. Yet the prince vented his anger on her mistress just because he did not manage to marry the second lady.
"Milady, are you still going to cook? We now have a lot of money." Once they had money, Hupo was not willing to let her mistress go over and cook for the monk.
"I'm not cooking for the monk. I'm going over to do what a female believer does. If I go over to cook every day, my mood improves. Hupo, don't try to stop me. You should know how I am by now. Will I be able to just stay put in the courtyard without doing anything?" Chu Yue said.
"But there's nothing nice to see over there," Chu Yue said.
"Who told you that? There's a huge plum blossom grove over there. The master also has a bird cage, and he rears quite a lot of birds," Chu Yue said.
Hupo stopped insisting on the matter. "It's spring now, so there are going to be patrons visiting the temple. We might be staying at a rather remote place, but we still need to be careful."
"I know." Chu Yue nodded. She was not thinking that Hupo nagged too much for her own good. After all, she only said this for her sake.
The weather in April was good, but the number of mosquitoes was also increasing.
When Chu Yue went over that night, she was curious as to why there were no mosquitoes in the place. The monk said, "Bring some incense back with you when you go back tomorrow."
Chu Yue agreed to it, but since she was too tired, her mind started wandering, and she just turned around and slept.
But before she went to sleep, she thought, 'Isn't there something wrong with us? We've been together for so long, and there's still no development in our relationship.'
Once she kept her hands to herself and fell asleep, the monk stopped writing. He put down the scriptures he had finished copying. Then, he washed the brush and hung it up before he went to sleep on his own.
When Chu Yue woke up the next day, she saw that the monk was not going out for morning practice, but instead sat by his bed to read. She was a little surprised by this, but after she listened to her surroundings, she understood. It was raining outside.
"Master." Chu Yue came over.
The monk let her lean against him and said, "Don't go back today. It's raining rather heavily."
"Then please ask Yingda to go over and inform my maid," Chu Yue said. She did not quite want to go back either. She wanted to just stay beside the monk.
The monk nodded, and Chu Yue said, "Master, could you talk with me?"
The monk put his scriptures down and asked, "What would you like to talk about?"
Chu Yue said softly, "Master, do you like me?"
The monk did not say anything.
If he did not like her, would he have let her hit and kick him? He even carried her. She had already committed a lot of crimes that would have caused her to be beheaded, but she was still alive and well. Was there even a need for her to ask him whether he liked her?
"I'm going to pretend that you like me." Chu Yue was fine even if she did not obtain an answer and continued with her questions. "Master, wouldn't it be great if we were normal citizens?"
"This is pretty good too," the monk said.
With his status, he could give her the best things in the world, but if he were just an ordinary citizen, he could not give her a lot of things.
"This isn't good." Chu Yue shook her head.
The monk looked at her, but the melancholic widow said, "Master, have you ever thought about what you will do to survive after you become worldly again?"
"I'll become a robber," the monk said.
He had just said it casually, but the widow's eyes lit up, and she looked at him and said, "Then go to my husband's house later to snatch me so that I can become your wife!"