Chapter 025
Chapter 25: The Buddha’s Chosen Awakens, Everyone Sees a Chance
Old Chen and Granny Chen crouched under the window of a side room and saw the whole scene just now, plain as day.
“Tsk, who knew the girl has such a quick tongue,” Granny Chen clicked her tongue as she watched Xiao Tao’s messy retreat, her tone somewhere between praise and something else.
“That Xiao Tao rides on her father’s rank and struts among the maids. Today, she kicked an iron plate,” Old Chen said, scratching the stubble on his chin and nodding. “She’s a bit tough. Good. Saves us the worry that she might get bullied.”
He watched Xiao Man shut the door with cool calm, her back straight as a board, carrying a hint of poise that was neither low nor haughty.
Granny Chen sighed, though, and her brows drew tight. “Old man, did you notice?”
“More and more maidservants have been strolling along our Auspicious Cloud Residence wall lately!”
“They’re dolled up in bright colors, and their eyes practically stick to the crack of the courtyard gate! Their thoughts are so strong you can smell them from far away!”
Old Chen snorted with disdain. “Hmph, common painted girls. With their little tricks, they can’t even beat Xiao Tao! They dare crowd around the Master? They’ll only dirty the Young Master’s eyes.”
“The Young Master is who he is? He was initiated under the Buddha! Would he ever look at that sort of thing?” He had mysterious faith in his Young Master’s taste.
Granny Chen pointed toward Xiao Man’s closed door, lowering her voice and filling it with doubt: “If common painted girls don’t catch his eye, then… is the girl in that room a Heavenly Immortal come down?”
“She looks only a tiny bit better than the common ones. Like plain porridge and small vegetables.”
Old Chen choked, his old face a bit awkward. He stroked his beard and tried to look deep, speaking low: “You don’t understand.”
“The Young Master is the Buddha’s Chosen. His level isn’t like ours.”
“Maybe that miss has some kind of ‘interest’ or ‘wisdom root’ we ordinary folks can’t see, and the Young Master noticed it.”
He tried to solve the mystery with “Buddha-nature.”
Granny Chen’s eyes lit. She slapped her thigh: “Oh my! Old man, you’re sharp. That makes sense! It must be that.”
In a flash, the Young Master’s eye for people became profound again in her mind, shining with the light of Buddha-nature that someone like her could not understand. The bit of grievance she felt for him faded away.
Her thoughts skipped ahead, pleased: “Shi Tou followed the Young Master to Fahua Temple today. He’ll surely bring back a pile of temple offerings tonight. Last time that honey offering was so sweet!”
“I should plan how to share with Granny Liu who sweeps the back yards, and Granny Li who tends the flower beds… oh no, what if there’s not enough to go around?”
Drowning in the happy problem of dividing offerings, she tossed both “plain porridge” and “common makeup” out of her head.
As for Xiao Man being rattled by Xiao Tao? Granny Chen curled her lip: “Let it be. In the days ahead, there may be worse.”
She sounded like someone who had seen it all.
Meanwhile, in the rear garden of General Zhenyuan Manor, three well-dressed girls with very different temperaments sat around a stone table in a cool pavilion.
Delicate pastries and fragrant tea rested on the table.
They were the three young ladies from the household of Lin Qing Xuan’s second uncle, Lin De Shang: the eldest, Lin Yu Wan, crisp and gallant; the second, Lin Yu Jiao, bright and lively; and the youngest, Lin Yu Ning, still a bit baby-faced and currently busy with a piece of hibiscus cake.
“Say, what kind of miss could have bewitched our ‘Immortal’ cousin?” Lin Yu Jiao held an almond crisp but didn’t eat it; her lively apricot eyes shone with curiosity and gossip. “News has reached our manor! Grandmother and Aunt have both allowed it, I hear? And she’s a maid?”
Lin Yu Wan set down her cup with quiet grace, her tone helpless and amazed: “Yes, it is strange. Big Brother used to reject everything. So many ladies from fine families sent word through friends, and even hints from the Imperial Palace were politely declined. And now…”
She shook her head. It felt unreal.
Lin Yu Ning finally swallowed her cake, lips shiny with grease, and said: “What’s wrong with a maid? In storybooks, isn’t it always ladies eloping with scholars or maids seducing masters?”
She was young and didn’t really grasp family rank yet.
Lin Yu Jiao burst out laughing and poked her little sister’s forehead: “You little glutton, all you know are storybooks! This isn’t the same.”
She glanced at her elder sister, then lowered her voice with a playful gleam: “Big sister, remember our close friends, and your dear boudoir friends? How many asked us to pass messages to Cousin, to arrange a chance ‘meeting’ to show their hearts? At least eight or ten, right?”
“Every one had a good family, good looks, good talent.”
“And the result?”
She mimicked Elder Cousin Lin Qing Xuan’s cool, still air, straightening her face and pinching her voice: “This humble monk holds only Buddha in my heart. Do not bring up worldly desires.”
“Tsk, so heartless! We sisters never knew how to turn those ladies down. We could only say Elder Cousin is devoted to Buddha; even if you meet him, it’s pointless and only adds trouble.”
Thinking of those disappointed, embarrassed faces, Lin Yu Wan sighed softly. “Exactly. That’s why this news is so shocking.”
“I’ve heard that the third miss of the Marquis of Yong Chang’s house and the legitimate daughter of Vice Minister Zhang from the Ministry of Rites both sent invitations yesterday. They say they haven’t seen us in a while and want to admire flowers together.”
The timing was just a bit too perfect.
Lin Yu Jiao’s eyes sparkled brighter. She slapped the table: “Right!”
“Before, there was no hope. Cousin’s heart was like a rock; you couldn’t warm it. But now it’s different!”
“If he can feel something for a maid, it proves he’s not truly ‘immune’; he just hadn’t met the right person.”
The more she thought, the more sense it made, and the more excited she became. “So our close friends have… a chance! In what way are they not a hundred times better than a maid?”
In her head, scenes formed: if she could help a friend connect with Elder Cousin so he shifted his feelings and dropped that junior maid, then Lin Yu Jiao would gain a lot of face among the ladies. She could even repay favors she owed.
Watching her second sister’s eagerness, Lin Yu Wan frowned slightly and warned: “Yu Jiao, don’t act rashly. Our elders will decide Cousin’s affairs. And if that maid caught his eye, she must be special. If we meddle, I fear—”
“Oh, big sister, you’re too cautious,” Lin Yu Jiao waved away the worry. “We won’t do anything improper. We’ll just… create a chance.”
“Let Cousin meet real ladies from noble families more often. Maybe he’ll see that the maid is nothing but wild grass compared to carefully raised peonies and peony roses.”
“Then he’ll choose on his own. We’re helping him.”
Already, her eyes were spinning with plans: which good friend was best, what excuse to use to invite Elder Cousin out, and where to stage it.
Lin Yu Ning licked cake crumbs off her fingers, looked from her excited second sister to her worried big sister, and asked blankly: “But… what if Cousin likes wild grass? In storybooks, lots of scholars like the rule-breaking maid misses…”
Little Sister’s words made Lin Yu Jiao choke; she glared: “Eat your pastry and read fewer messy books!”
In the cool pavilion, each sister held her own thoughts.
Meanwhile, at Fahua Temple, Lin Qing Xuan was saying, “All forms are illusions.”
His calm eyes drifted over the devout crowd, but in the deep pool of his gaze, a faint, hard-to-see ripple passed as he sensed some oncoming worldly desire shaped like “peonies and peony roses.”
The fingers turning his Prayer Beads sped up, just a little.