Chapter 7 Flower Demon
In the following days, Tong'er went to the mountains every day.

The nuns in the nunnery only felt that Tong'er went out more frequently every day than before, but they followed her secretly and didn't find anything wrong. Tong'er chopped wood even harder.

These nuns knew that Jiang Li had exchanged forty strings of copper coins for a basket of cakes and pastries. Whenever Jiang Li walked out of the house, she could hear the nuns' ridicule. Jiang Li didn't get angry, but just smiled and watched them. After a few times, the nuns found it boring and stopped talking.

Tong'er went out at 11:00 every night and sneaked back at 12:00. She was always clever and could avoid the nuns in the nunnery surprisingly well. When she went out, Jiang Li was waiting for her in the shabby house, but the waiting was very boring. There were no scriptures in the nunnery, and Jiang Li had no paper or pen. After waking up, she no longer worked day and night to make soles for shoes, but just sat quietly, wondering what she was thinking.

However, the peaceful days did not last long. Perhaps because she could not bear to see that the master and servant were living too peacefully, Master Jing'an began to make things difficult for them again. For example, the daily porridge was not only much thinner, but also looked more like other people's leftovers.

"Miss, they are going too far now." Tong'er said bitterly, "It must be Ji's doing this behind the scenes!"

Tong'er called the current wife of the Prime Minister in Yanjing City "Ji", which was probably accepted by Miss Jiang Er in the past. Jiang Li didn't think there was anything wrong. At first, everyone thought she couldn't make it and was dying. In any case, Ji Shuran must have felt very comfortable. Who knew that she not only survived, but also became very good-tempered. Seeing her so happy, Ji Shuran must have felt uncomfortable, and she must have wanted Master Jing'an to make her uncomfortable.

Nun Jing'an would not openly beat or scold Jiang Li, but for a young girl who had just come of age, not having enough to eat and not having warm clothes, making her feel that her life had gone from heaven to hell, and feeling humiliated was enough to make her suffer. It was a pity that she was not the real Second Miss Jiang. Not to mention whether she could endure hardship or not, the lowest point in her life was much lower than that of the original Second Miss Jiang.

Having been to that point and then to the point now, I don’t feel that there is anything I can’t overcome.

By the 19th of May, the basket of cakes was empty. Tong'er leaned on the edge of the basket, carefully scooped out the cake crumbs at the bottom of the basket with a wooden spoon and put them on a plate, and asked Jiang Li, "Miss, have some of this to fill your stomach first."

They hadn't eaten for a day and a night. The nuns in the nunnery had deliberately broken up the porridge they had been given yesterday, and there was no other food in the kitchen. All the remaining cakes were also fed to the monkeys in the forest behind Helin Temple. Both of them were starving.

Jiang Li looked out the window. Although it was much cooler on the mountain than down there, summer was approaching and the days had already lengthened significantly. The sun was about to set, and it would be night soon. She said, "I won't eat anymore. You eat first."

Tong'er stared at the snack crumbs, swallowed, and shook her head, saying, "If the girl doesn't eat it, Tong'er won't eat it either."

"It's okay, we'll eat something delicious later." Jiang Li smiled.

Tong'er became even more confused.

Jiang Li stood up and walked to the corner of the room. There was a big wooden box in the corner. She opened the box. It was so big that the things inside looked pitiful. There were only a few yellowed clothes, which were not even half full. This was all the belongings that the second Miss Jiang brought with her when she came to the nunnery from Yanjing six years ago. Maybe there were some valuable things in it, but in the past six years, only a few yellowed clothes were left here.

Tong'er also came over. Jiang Li stroked the clothes inside with both hands and shook out a black dress from inside.

Obviously, the clothes with better materials in the wooden box were all gone, and the remaining clothes were made of poor materials. Six years later, Miss Jiang Er, who had grown taller, was no longer suitable for them. The people in the nunnery naturally would not make new clothes for Jiang Li. Jiang Li usually wore clothes that were ill-fitting and too short. This only black robe was given to Jiang Li by a little nun who returned to secular life during the Chinese New Year this year. It was just the right size for her.

Normally, Miss Jiang Er never wore this well-fitting black dress, as if this was the only way to convince herself that she was different from the nuns here, and that she would return to Yanjing one day to be a lady of the Jiang family. But now Jiang Li had to wear this black dress, because she had to meet people tonight, and wearing a shorter dress in front of everyone was a bit too rude.

Tong'er asked, "Girl, do you want to wear this?"

Jiang Li nodded, and she said, "Let's take this one."

By the time she had put on her black robe, the sun had completely disappeared, and night was about to fall on Mount Qingcheng. Tong'er and Jiang Li watched the small kerosene lamp in the house until long after midnight, when Jiang Li stood up and said, "Go out."

Tong'er asked: "Where are we going?" "To eat, of course." Jiang Li said with a smile.

Tong'er was full of doubts until Jiang Li took her to the Buddhist temple in front. There was a female Bodhisattva in the Buddhist temple. Sometimes there would not be a pilgrim in the nunnery for ten days or half a month. The pilgrims all went to the nearby Helin Temple. Jiang Li walked to the clay statue of the Bodhisattva. There were offerings of fruit on the incense table. She picked up the plate and handed it to Tong'er, "Eat it."

Tong'er was horrified. The nuns in the nunnery were all asleep at the moment and would not get up at night. Tong'er whispered, "Girl, this is the fruit offered to the Bodhisattva!"

"Well," Jiang Li shrugged, "So what?"

"What should we do if the nuns find out tomorrow morning?" Tong'er waved her hand, "Let's just put it back."

"It's okay." Jiang Li comforted her, "It won't matter if they find out."

"But this is the Bodhisattva," Tong'er still didn't dare to take it, "We are disrespecting the Bodhisattva by eating the fruit offered by the Bodhisattva."

Hearing this, Jiang Li smiled and said calmly, "Even the clay Buddha can't protect itself, and you still expect her to save you and protect you? Since it's just a clay doll, what does it matter if you respect it or not? You have to walk your own way, you can't rely on the Buddha."

Tong'er looked at Jiang Li in amazement. The former Second Miss Jiang would never say such shocking words.

As I was there, I suddenly heard a soft laugh coming from above my head. The laugh was very light, but in the silent night and the deserted Buddhist temple, it seemed particularly clear.

Tong'er looked up and was stunned for a moment. She pointed to the distance and stammered, "Flower... Flower demon?"

A person sat on the roof of the small Buddhist temple. He was dressed in black, but with a long cape embroidered with dark red and black peonies, which made him look particularly charming and gorgeous.

The moon was bright and the mist was thin. The white mist at night dissipated layer by layer at this moment, illuminating the face of the young man on the roof. His long eyebrows flew diagonally into his temples, which was particularly prominent. He also had a pair of narrow and affectionate phoenix eyes with long eyelashes. Under the straight nose bridge, his thin lips were slightly raised, as if he was smiling, but people felt that his smile was also a bit sarcastic. At the corner of his slightly raised eye, there was a small red mole the size of a grain of rice, which made his profile, which was already so handsome that it seemed unearthly under the moonlight, even more lingering.

The beauty of April is gone, and the peach blossoms on the mountain begin to bloom. The peach blossoms on Qingcheng Mountain bloom late, and in mid-May, they bloom in layers. The gorgeous and passionate peach blossoms can't take away this man's charm. On the contrary, he is among them, turning the peach blossoms all over the mountains into embellishments, and he seems to be outside the soft red, with a faint smile, watching the people in the secular world struggling in it indifferently.

Jiang Li was wearing a gray black robe worn by nuns, with her long hair untied and draped behind her head like a waterfall, making her look like a lotus fairy child at the feet of the Buddha. She held a candle and looked up with a calm gaze, which happened to meet the eyes of the man on the roof.

One is pure and simple, living in harmony with the world; the other is gorgeous, alluring and captivating. The three thousand worlds are neatly divided into two, one half is bright like a spring day, the other half is dark like the abyss. The brightness is an illusion, while the abyss is an alluring gift.

The two looked at each other from a distance, their eyes met, and they came into close combat.

No one noticed the flash of surprise in Jiang Li's heart.

Why is it him?

　My flirtatious son is here! Handsome or not? Handsome or not? I just want to ask you, handsome! No! Handsome!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)