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  The days at the hermitage were simple and serene. Every morning and evening, it was compulsory to go to the Zen hall for early and late lessons. The kitchen had its own nun in charge of cooking, so Ming Xuan didn't need to personally cook. As for gathering firewood, carrying water, sweeping the courtyard, they took turns doing these tasks in pairs every few days.

  She and her fellow apprentice, Shami Ni, called Jing Xin, were two years younger than her, but very kind and considerate. Because she understood that Ming Huan was not used to doing heavy work and had little strength, she always took on the heavy and tiring tasks herself. Ming Huan felt that in her past life, she had also been independent since childhood and shouldn't be relying on a younger maid like this. She didn't want to fall behind others when it came to doing chores either.

  This young lady's body was indeed delicate, chopping firewood would cause blisters on her palms after holding the axe for a while, and every time she carried water, her shoulders would be bruised. In March, it was also the season for sowing seeds, and the nunnery was self-sufficient, rarely buying food from outside, so she had to follow the samanis to till the soil and plant vegetables. Her body ached and was tired, but her heart was content and satisfied.

  Ming Xuan has been in this world for three years, and every day she lives with extra caution. She often mocks herself as a performer who walks on steel wires and jumps through fire hoops in a circus troupe. If she doesn't hold her breath and tighten the strings in her heart, it's impossible to be safe and sound. There is also a difference: if the performance fails, at most, it will only get some boos from the audience, but if she falls, perhaps she will lose her life.

  After coming to the White Cloud Temple, it was as if the Buddhist teachings had no bounds. Those things that she used to be afraid of and worried about gradually faded into the back of her mind. She spent her days fully occupied and didn't have any extra time to think about those things. Once her heart and mind were broadened, she became a completely different person, feeling much more at ease.

  Time flies, and it's been half a month since Ming Xuan arrived. Although Master Yu Zhen is still cold towards her, she has become familiar with all the Bhikkhunis and Samaneris in the nunnery.

  That day, Jingxin told her that the pool water behind the Hut was warm and hot all year round for some reason. She was moved in her heart, so she took the opportunity to go out and pick wild fruits, especially running into the valley to take a look. As expected, this place is a spiritual mountain treasure land, and there are several spring eyes constantly emitting hot air, which is a natural hot spring.

  It's just that no one in the nunnery knows the benefits of the hot spring, and they are all nuns. Even if they knew, who would dare to go down and soak?

  Ming Xuan was feeling waist and back pain from the work of the past few days, and now there is a hot spring right in front of her. How can she bear it? But at this moment, there are still other samanis nearby, so she doesn't dare to act rashly. In her heart, she secretly thinks that when night falls and people quiet down, she will definitely come over to take a good bath to relieve her fatigue.

  It just so happened that it was her turn to sweep the courtyard and guard the gate that night. She only locked the front door, but the side door was only slightly ajar. It wasn't until all the candles in the courtyard had gone out that she quietly carried the clean clothes out of the side door. Fortunately, tonight's moonlight was high in the sky, casting soft silver light over the ground, illuminating the mountain road ahead, and she followed her memory to take a shortcut to the hot spring.

  The valley is surrounded by steep cliffs, and the only way to enter is through the White Cloud Temple. However, the entrance of the temple is heavily guarded, and unless one has an invitation from Master Yu Zhen, those guards would not let anyone pass easily. Due to this unique geographical location, Ming Xuan firmly believes that nothing else can fly in or out except for birds and other small animals. As for fierce tigers and beasts, she is not worried, even if they existed before, they must have been cleared away by people before Master Yu Zhen moved in.

  She calmly took off all her clothes, and with a beautiful dive, she jumped into the water. In the warm spring pool, she swam several laps at will, and then chose a place where the water was relatively shallow to rest against.

  The body is relaxed, but the mind's thoughts are flying far away.

  April is approaching, but Mrs. Jian'an still held on to her last breath and refused to let go. Ming Xuan wasn't heartless, waiting for Gu Mingru to take her last breath, it's just that Mingru hadn't closed her eyes for a day. All these things were left undecided for the time being. The nunnery was quiet and peaceful, she actually liked staying here, but if her grandmother didn't come with any news, she would be cut off from the outside world, which wasn't what she wanted either.

  Gu Yuanjing's whereabouts were still her top priority, she couldn't help but be preoccupied with it.

  Ming Xuan was thinking to herself when she suddenly heard some faint noises coming from above her head. She couldn't help but look up and take a closer look. Under the moonlight, there was a steep cliff about 100 zhang high above her. Recognizing the direction, she realized that it was the back mountain of Qingliang Temple. She thought it was just the wind blowing away some small rocks and sand, so she didn't pay much attention to it.

  Who would have thought that in just a moment, a deep and heavy sound would erupt, as if a giant stone had fallen into the other end of the icy pool. Fortunately, she was in a lucky position and wasn't crushed by the massive object, but the surging waves still splashed her face and head, and the force even blew off her headscarf, which fell into the water.

  Ming Xuan scrunched up her little face and muttered a sentence before jumping back into the water to look for her headscarf.

  She had originally tied her hair up in a bun, which was also good to prevent it from getting wet. It was already late at night and if her hair got wet, it would be difficult to dry for the next day's early class. If Mistress found out that she was not proper, it wouldn't be good. In front of Buddha, she couldn't lie, and she definitely couldn't gloss over it. But if she told the truth, being naked in the wilderness at midnight was also very improper.

  The water wave not only blew her headscarf away but also made her long black hair flow down, almost getting her completely wet.

  Ming Xuan searched around and soon found the handkerchief tightly clenched in her hand. She thought to herself that it was about time, she should come out, dry herself off, change into some clothes, and then go back to sleep comfortably.

  She slowly swam to the shallow waters, found a place where she could stand up, raised her hand to wipe off the water droplets on her face, and shook her hair to squeeze out the water.

  Suddenly, Ming Xuan heard a faint breathing sound behind her back. The voice was extremely suppressed, but still had ups and downs of panting. She instinctively turned around, and in the midst of shock, she forgot to cover her chest.

  Because of the moonlight, she only saw a tall and slender back shadow, which should be a man. His hair bun on his head was a bit disheveled, fortunately not scattered all over, and water droplets were dripping from his hair tips into the pool. He was facing away from her, and his light-colored undershirt was already wetted by the pool water, tightly clinging to his robust figure. From just looking at his back shadow, this should be a young man.

  Ming Xuan's lips trembled slightly, her mind a complete blank, and it took her a long time to stammer out a sentence, "Who is it?"

  The man let out a deep breath and slowly turned around, "I didn't mean to offend the young lady."

  He had just finished speaking when his face suddenly changed color, his body stiffened slightly, and even his breathing seemed to stop.

  Under the moonlight, the girl's raven-black hair cascaded down her shoulders and back like a waterfall of night, setting off her skin as white as silk, smooth and luminous like jade. Her waist was slender and delicate, as if carved by the heavens themselves into a perfect sculpture.

  Under the bright moonlight, he finally saw her jade-like face clearly, with a delicate and pretty face, slender eyebrows like the moon, sparkling and translucent eyes shining with mist, slightly upturned red lips. This was a familiar face to him. He suddenly became somewhat dazed, but his chest began to feel tight for some reason, as if someone was fiercely pounding against his heart, or like the drums beating in unison when two armies clashed, thumping non-stop.

  How could it be her...

  The man took a few deep breaths, slightly arduously turned his head, and happened to catch sight of the clothes scattered on the nearby rock. He picked up a shirt-like garment, closed his eyes, took a few steps forward, and put it over her body.

  He turned his face away and said, "Don't worry, I'm not a bad person. It's cool at dawn and dusk, the mountain wind is strong, put on your clothes first to avoid catching a cold, if... I'll be responsible."

  These words were like a thunderclap, Ming Xuan suddenly woke up with a start, her face already burning red.

  At this time, she didn't have the luxury to think about the consequences of this matter, nor did she have the leisure to carefully consider how embarrassing the situation was. She also didn't have the spare energy to guess at the other person's appearance or identity. All she could do was shiver and lean against the side, hastily putting on her clothes - whether they were clean or not, inside out or right side out, all of them were put on her body in a jumbled mess. Then, without making a sound, she crawled up onto the shore, put on her shoes, and wanted to leave.

  Ming Xuan took a deep breath, taking small steps away while constantly building herself up mentally. She thought that if she were a real lady, she would probably have to marry that man after such an encounter, but as a member of the Marquis's household, who could she possibly be married off to? So, if things really got out of hand, there would only be one dead end road left.

  She has only been here for more than three years and is not considered a true ancient person, how can she be willing to die for those rules? She was wearing underwear on her lower body, but only exposed her upper body. Her thick and long hair hung down to her chest, which didn't count as being seen through. She remembered that in her previous life, she had even taken personal photos with this level of exposure, as long as the three points were not revealed, it was like wearing a swimsuit to go to the beach, what's the big deal?

  The most urgent thing is that she must not have any further contact with this man. Anyway, it was a dark night, and they had only met once, she hadn't even seen his face clearly, her hair was wet and messy, covering half of her face, the other person probably didn't see her appearance either, as long as she got through this moment, tomorrow if someone asked her about it, she would deny it to death, who could do anything to her?

  Thinking so, Ming Xuan's footsteps quickened, she was familiar with this mountain path, and soon disappeared into the forest.

  Pei Jingxuan gazed at the fleeing figure, his eyes deepening slightly, but his mouth corners involuntarily curled up. He caught sight of Ming Xuan hastily pulling down her headscarf and looked towards the direction of Baiyun An with some surprise. His eyebrows furrowed as if recalling a rumor, but when he lifted his head again, his eyes cleared once more.

  He let out a low sigh, wrung out the towel in his hand and put it into his bosom, then swam straight to the deep part of the pool.

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