Lao Bo shrank his neck. Seeing Wen Heyu's smile that didn't reach his eyes, he was truly startled.
Since his young master passed the imperial examination, although he hadn't been officially appointed yet, it seemed that he had already been influenced by some of the atmosphere in the court. Lao Bo didn't know how to describe it. In any case, the two different faces this man showed in public and in private were enough to give him the creeps.
"Young master... What are you planning to do?" Lao Bo swallowed hard, afraid that Wen Heyu would ask him to do something shady.
Wen Heyu threw the gifts in his hand into Lao Bo's arms. His eyes glinted coldly as he slowly tidied his sleeves, his movements as elegant as a nobleman's.
"Go, call that young nun here. I want Miss Shen to know that without me, she won't be able to move an inch in the capital."
"Alright..."
Lao Bo answered and carried the gifts in his arms to call someone.
The gifts were heavy, but Lao Bo didn't dare to put them down. He originally thought he could just carry them all the way here, but unexpectedly, he had to carry them all the way back.
After seeing Wen Heyu off, Shen Linyi returned to her room to ponder.
She really couldn't understand. Was her judgment of people really that bad? Wen Heyu might as well have written the words "hypocrite" on his face. How come she didn't see it back then?
"Miss..."
Liuyun's face was full of worry. Her voice was soft, afraid of disturbing Shen Linyi.
"Liuyun, staying here for a long time is not a good plan. We need to find an opportunity to move somewhere else," Shen Linyi said as she rubbed the jade pendant in her hand until it was warm. There was already a plan in her eyes.
Liuyun glanced at the jade pendant and immediately understood Shen Linyi's intention. "Miss, are you going to the Dingguo Marquis Mansion? But we can't enter the city so openly, or else..."
She stopped halfway through her sentence.
Shen Linyi knew that Liuyun was afraid that they might be recognized by the people from the Prime Minister's Mansion.
"Don't worry. I won't be so impulsive." Before the situation became clear, she really wouldn't go there so impulsively.
Shen Linyi held Liuyun's hand. It was warm and full of strength. Liuyun felt Shen Linyi's determination, and the uneasiness in her heart dissipated.
"Yes, Miss."
The mistress and the maid looked at each other with smiles, giving each other warmth, just like in the days and nights they had accompanied each other before.
Shen Linyi asked Liuyun to go out and find out where they could rent a carriage. But before Liuyun came back, the gate of the small courtyard was rudely pushed open.
The young nun they had met yesterday led several other nuns in. Each of them was carrying a large bucket of clothes.
The young nun, who had been polite yesterday, now looked haughty as she called Shen Linyi out. Pointing at the several buckets of clothes on the ground, she said, "Benefactor, our nunnery kindly took you in, but it's not a place where you can eat and live for free. Since you can't pay the silver, you might as well work to pay it off."
The nuns behind her also looked at Shen Linyi eagerly.
Who wouldn't want to hand over their work and take a leisurely break?
A look of inquiry flashed across Shen Linyi's eyes. She asked, "Young master, may I ask how much the accommodation fee here is? I'll pay it immediately."
The young nun's expression froze for a moment.
This was different from what that person had said! Weren't they supposed to be so poor that they couldn't even scrape together two copper coins? Why was she still asking to pay the accommodation fee?
But after a moment's hesitation, the young nun quickly regained her composure. "Pay? Can you afford it? This courtyard is the best in our nunnery, and we don't know how long you're going to stay. You should at least pay two taels of silver first."
"Do you have two taels of silver?"
Hearing this, Shen Linyi didn't show the panic they had expected. Instead, she calmly said, "Yes."
The young nun's expression became even more stunned. She was still young and couldn't hide her thoughts. They were all written on her face. "You... You really have two taels?"
"Yes," Shen Linyi replied. Then she deliberately asked, "May I ask if as long as I pay the fee, I don't have to do this work?"
The young nun clenched her hands tightly and stammered, "That... That won't do either. Everyone who enters our Jingxin Nunnery is a person of cultivation. Letting you work is also a part of cultivation. Hurry up and get to work!"
Seeing that the young nun refused without even thinking, Shen Linyi understood immediately.
These nuns in front of her were all deliberately found by Wen Heyu to torment her.
He just wanted her to submit and obediently become a lowly concubine in his backyard.
But she, Shen Linyi, was not the kind of person who would just accept everything meekly. Just before the young nun was about to explode, Shen Linyi said casually, "Young master, people of cultivation shouldn't be so irritable. I'll wash the clothes. Calm down."
Then, as if sighing, she said, "This is supposed to be a place of cultivation, but some people have impure minds and no Buddha in their hearts. They really need to be purified."
"You!" The young nun pointed at herself, her face flushed with anger. "Are you talking about me?"
Shen Linyi pretended to be innocent. "Young master, don't just take everything dirty and smelly onto yourself. I didn't say that."
After saying that, Shen Linyi picked up one of the buckets of clothes and walked towards the back mountain, ignoring the angry people behind her.
The mountain path here was quite flat. Putting aside the overbearing nuns, the Jingxin Nunnery was really a peaceful place to live. Shen Linyi had grown up in the south of the Yangtze River and had long forgotten the scenery and the air in the capital.
By the stream at the back of the mountain, Shen Linyi put the wooden bucket down heavily. Then she picked up the clothes in the bucket. All of them were the clothes of the nuns in the nunnery.
Shen Linyi wasn't in a hurry to start. She found a relatively flat stone and sat cross - legged on it.
There were many gravels by the stream. Shen Linyi carefully selected a few and started to play at skimming stones on the water.
The tree shadows were mottled, and the gurgling stream brought a touch of coolness. Shen Linyi watched as the small stones sank as soon as they hit the water surface and made an excuse for herself.
It must be that the stream was flowing too fast, which was why she failed again and again.
"Miss! You've made me search high and low. You're having a great time playing here!" Liuyun's voice came from behind.
Shen Linyi turned around and saw that Liuyun was carrying two large buckets of clothes. She said helplessly, "You're really too honest."
Liuyun looked annoyed. "Those nuns kept staring at me. I just grabbed the clothes and ran away, so as to avoid their many excuses."
"Miss, why is that Young Master Wen so petty? Just because you refused to be his concubine, he asked the nuns to target us. His character is really questionable."
Shen Linyi looked at Liuyun with amusement. Such an obvious truth was understood by everyone, but Wen Heyu just didn't get it. Fine, then let's see who would torment whom.
A sly look flashed across her eyes as she picked up the laundry pestle...
After handing over all the work, the nuns had a leisurely morning. When the time was about right, one of them said to the young nun, "Qing He, it's about time. We should go and check."
Qing He, the young nun, slowly put down the fruit in her hand and said, "Alright, let's go and take a look."
The group walked along the gravel path towards the back mountain. There was a stream on one side.
The stream flowed from top to bottom. Suddenly, two familiar pieces of clothing floated past on the originally clear water surface.
"Hey! Aren't those our clothes?"
Qing He looked at the clothes floating down from the upstream, her face turning black.