Of course, Jiang Mian could also learn these things from Jiang Zhiqing.
But what kind of pain could have caused Jiang Zhiqing to lose a part of her soul and become as innocent - minded as a child?
Her mother had suffered for so many years. With great difficulty, thanks to her plan, her mother had regained her sanity and was reunited with her father. Could Jiang Mian really take the initiative to ask and uncover that old wound?
Just thinking about it made Jiang Mian feel extremely pained.
Master Huaihai closed his eyes tightly and then told how he and Lady Ye had conspired to drive Jiang Zhiqing crazy.
It turned out that Lady Ye came to Ling'an Temple to take shelter that night. She recognized Jiang Zhiqing in the crowd.
Before the Li family was massacred, Lady Ye once represented the Ye family to attend a banquet at the Li mansion. From afar, she had seen Jiang Zhiqing skillfully arranging the banquet.
Jiang Zhiqing was astonishingly beautiful, and her every gesture was free from the pettiness of a maid. Lady Ye thought she was one of the Li family's young ladies and casually asked about her.
When she learned that Jiang Zhiqing was from Li Bingjun's courtyard and just a concubine - in - waiting, as the mistress of the family, Lady Ye curled her lips and didn't care about her anymore.
Later, when she heard that the Li family was going to form an alliance with the Zhang family through marriage, and that the Zhang family's young lady had forced a little maid to drown in the lake. Li Bingjun even went to the Zhang family with his sword, forcing the young lady to kneel and kowtow at the place where the maid had fallen into the water to apologize. Lady Ye increasingly thought that this maid was a seductive vixen reincarnated.
So when the Li family met such a tragic end, she thought they deserved it.
After that, the Xiao family rebelled under some pretext, and the world was in turmoil. Lady Ye had no time to think about other things and threw these matters to the back of her mind.
It wasn't until this time when they met again in Ling'an Temple.
A mere concubine - in - waiting who relied on her beauty, even if she hadn't been forced to death by the Zhang family's young lady and had survived by a fluke, was just a woman of low social status. How could she be worthy of lying in the same hall as Lady Ye to give birth?
Especially when she learned from Master Huaihai that Jiang Zhiqing's child had a better fate than her own, she found it even more unacceptable.
So she ordered her servants to go into the mountains in the heavy rain to catch a wild cat. They skinned the cat alive and wrapped the bloody dead cat in a Buddhist robe, then placed it beside Jiang Zhiqing.
When Jiang Zhiqing woke up, her maternal instinct made her pick up the baby to get close. Seeing the bloody cat in the swaddle, she was naturally extremely frightened.
Master Huaihai and his people came when they heard the commotion. Jiang Zhiqing hugged the bloody swaddle and begged Master Huaihai for help. Master Huaihai then told her that the fetus in her womb was a sinner and shouldn't have come into this world. Since she knew this child shouldn't be kept but still gave birth to it, she was also guilty. So the Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha and the demons from hell had come to take the child away and send it to where it belonged.
As for Jiang Zhiqing, because she had given birth to a "sinful" child in the Buddhist temple, she must eliminate her karmic obstacles.
Master Huaihai and several monks chanted scriptures for three days and three nights. Under extreme grief and self - blame, and with such "punishment", when Jiang Tao and Wen Shi found her, she had completely gone crazy. She only knew how to hug a pillow wrapped in a Buddhist robe and said it was her child.
Meanwhile, Lady Ye had already left with her two children.
It was clearly summer now, and the weather was extremely stuffy. But after hearing all this, Jiang Mian felt as if she was in the middle of a freezing winter.
How could there be such a vicious person in the world?!
Jiang Mian couldn't help but think of her experiences in the Ye family over the years.
No wonder Lady Ye always avoided seeing her under the pretext of going to worship Buddha and meditate. No wonder Lady Ye was always cold towards her. No wonder when she was slandered by rumors, Lady Ye ignored her.
The Ye family enjoyed the benefits brought by her noble fate but treated her so badly. They were really abominable!
Moreover, Ye Wanxing was indeed Lady Ye's daughter. They were both as vicious as snakes and scorpions. One drove her mother crazy and made her lose a part of her soul, while the other almost poisoned her mother with arsenic.
As for the incident when she was framed and wrongly thought to have seduced Xiao Jingcheng, causing a big stir in the city, there was no need to investigate the truth anymore.
It must have been a dirty plot by the Ye family to get rid of her so that they could fully occupy her fate.
If she didn't bring down the Ye family and make these two people pay the price, she would never be able to quell the hatred in her heart!
Master Huaihai put his hands together and bowed deeply to Jiang Mian:
"All this started because of my greed. No matter how the young benefactor punishes me, it is the consequence I deserve."
Jiang Mian sneered and said sharply, "Since the master is so clear about his sins, he should also know how to atone for them. God is watching everything we do. Master, don't disgrace your Buddhist robe."
She stood up and was about to leave. But perhaps because she had been sitting for too long or because she was too angry, her vision went black when she stood up, and she almost fainted. Fortunately, Mo Zhizhang was beside her and quickly reached out to support her.
After regaining her balance, Jiang Mian quickly broke free.
She calmed her emotions and said, "Second brother, Dahuang, let's go."
After saying that, she ignored Master Huaihai, who was still bowing deeply behind her, and strode out. Xiao Jingcheng, controlling the body of the yellow dog, closely followed behind her.
Mo Zhizhang was a few steps slower. After Jiang Mian walked out of the door, he stopped, turned around, and looked at Master Huaihai.
Smiling faintly, he said, "Buddhists who always talk about doing good deeds actually harm the innocent because of their own desires. Yes, this is the human nature I'm familiar with."
"The master won't let the real evildoers go unpunished forever, right?"
It was not until all the footsteps had faded away that Master Huaihai straightened up.
Then he noticed a small black porcelain bottle that had appeared on the table.
He picked it up, opened the lid, and smelled it. He found that it contained the deadly poison, red crown of the crane.
Master Huaihai held the bottle of poison and sat silently in the room for a long time. Then he called all the monks in the temple to him.
He put on a brand - new Buddhist robe. He looked radiant and didn't look like someone who had just been in trouble at all.
"Prepare well tomorrow. I'm going to give a sermon in the temple. Invite all the pilgrims who come to the temple to listen."
"But won't this expose the fact that you've been hiding in the temple instead of traveling?" the young monk said anxiously.
"Yes, yes!"
"No, master!"
The others also expressed their concerns. Master Huaihai raised his hand to signal them to be quiet. Turning the other string of Buddhist beads in his hand, he said to everyone:
"My mind is made up. Don't try to persuade me anymore. Just make the arrangements properly."
The others had no choice but to comply.
"Yes, master."
Jiang Mian didn't care at all about what happened next in the back courtyard of the temple.
After learning all the things from Master Huaihai, she was eager to rush back to the Hall of Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha and be with her parents.
Her hardships had started from the moment she was born. The fact that the heavens had allowed their family to be reunited in Dongli Town after all the twists and turns showed that the heavens were just and that the villains' schemes had ultimately failed.
Running all the way back to the Hall of Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha, Li Zhao was just walking out. He was about to ask her where she had been, but Jiang Mian threw herself into his arms.
"Daddy—"
Hearing the girl call him "daddy", Li Zhao's heart skipped a beat. He gently patted her on the back and said softly, "What's wrong?"
"I don't like it here. Mom must not like it here either. Let's leave quickly, okay?"
Li Zhao looked at Mo Zhizhang and the yellow dog who had followed her back. He guessed that something must have happened. He said gently:
"Okay, daddy will listen to you. Let's go."