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  Chapter 16: The Cost

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  In the evening, a thunderbolt flashed across the sky, and the weather changed.

  Qing Guo came in, holding a raincoat, wooden clogs, a conical hat and an oil-paper umbrella. He looked for a place to put them in the main room. Chu Ke asked, "Where did these come from?"

  "It was Wu Ye who went to buy it. Wu Ye said that the sky looked like it was going to rain, and he was afraid that Liu Niang would get wet on her way to the main hall, so he went to buy these first."

  Liu Yiniang heard it in the inner room and hurried out, seeing these also became suspicious, asking Chu Keqin " Fifth Master... felt like... are you familiar with the young lady?"

  "Chu Ke was nodding his head, when we were at the Duke's mansion, we often hung out together. Fifth Uncle is a good person, he treats me well, and Auntie also likes him."

  Liu Yiniang was even more perplexed and remained silent for a long time.

  It was indeed raining heavily in the middle of the night, and the loud noise woke up Chu Ke'er. After listening for a while, she fell asleep again in a daze.

  The next day, the courtyard was flooded with water. Liu Yiniang wore wooden clogs under the eaves of the house, and her maid held up an umbrella for her...

  Not yet, Madam Liu signaled her to keep her voice down, and the maid hurriedly said in a softer tone, "The slave will send it over."

  "It's all right." Yulan said in a whisper, picked up the umbrella and glanced at the tightly closed window of San Guniang, smiled slightly before stepping down.

  She froze at the gate of the courtyard, seeing the fifth master of the county prince's mansion standing at the entrance, holding an even larger oil-paper umbrella. He smiled and said, "Auntie is coming out? I found a bigger umbrella last night and brought it for Auntie. This rain is too heavy, using a bigger umbrella won't get you wet." As he spoke, he handed over the large umbrella in his hand.

  "Grandma Liu hastily retreated and hurriedly said, 'No need, I have an umbrella here too, it was also sent by Fifth Master. You can quickly take that one.'"

  "Let's change it, never mind." Zhu Yuhuan smiled brightly.

  Because of the heavy rain, their voices were also louder.

  Liu Yiniang looked at Zhu Yuhuan again and handed over the umbrella, seemingly a bit anxious, saying "Fifth Master, what's this... for? Obviously you don't like reciting scriptures or Buddhist chants, yet every day you accompany me to listen. The scenery around here is nice, we could go for a spring outing or hunting trip instead, why force yourself to sit with me all day amidst the sound of wooden fish? If it's... if it's because of Third Miss, Fifth Master, you've made up your mind, but Third Miss's marriage isn't something I have control over. Besides, aren't you and Cousin Second Master Zhu Yuhuan close? Why is it like this?"

  Zhu Yuhuan's smile froze, he didn't expect his aunt to say such things, feeling a bit embarrassed, he scratched his head and said "this... I..."

  Liu Yiniang saw his embarrassed appearance, and was even more certain that she had said it right. She hastily said, "Fifth Master, you'd better give up the idea. Our family and the Duke's mansion... are probably not going to have any new relatives in the future." As she spoke, she hurriedly walked past him and entered the large hall not far ahead.

  Zhu Yuhuan scratched his head and muttered to himself, "Where did he go?"

  Suddenly, someone coughed beside him, startling him. He hastily looked around and saw a woman standing under the eaves of the wall at the corner. The person was wrapped in a white cloak, eyes fixed coldly on him.

  What a coincidence, it's actually Lan Cixi

  Zhu Yuhuan immediately recalled the last time she scolded him, and angrily shouted: "With such a poor character? You can even eavesdrop on walls?"

  Lan Zixiang originally had some sympathy for him after hearing what Liu Niang said, but when she heard that he scolded people without asking about the situation, she immediately got angry. Conveniently, there was no one around, and her maid handed her a wooden clog. With a mocking expression, she glared at him, "Can't bear to see people's sinister intentions, can you? You're so enraged that your face is red!"

  "What's with you? Nonsense!" Zhu Yuhuan was too lazy to bother with her and turned around to follow him to the grand hall.

  "I said, what's the use of being sinister and thinking that by forcefully holding someone's hand in front of others, they will misunderstand? Isn't it still useless to not care about them now and want to be their lackey, stabbing them in the back and hurting them just the same? That's truly despicable and shameless."

  Daughter's family, 'everybody everybody' is endless, and it doesn't even represent one person. How can a confused young man like Zhu Yuhuan understand such twisted words? He was completely bewildered. However, at least she scolded him, and he heard the last two sentences clearly.

  Then she jumped up and scolded, "What do you mean by following me here? A woman who is so shameless still wants to get married. I think she won't be able to get married in this lifetime." After finishing speaking, she immediately turned around and ran away.

  He ran so fast because he didn't think he could scold this dead girl, and he didn't want to be angered to death by her.

  "Look at him running so fast, Lan Zixiang was furious and stomped her feet wildly in the back, scolding 'useless stinky man, can't even win an argument, just runs away with his tail between his legs'"

  In the distance, footsteps approached, and Lan Xiangru hastily stood up straight, blinked, smoothed her hair with her hand, and instantly transformed into a dignified and virtuous young lady. It's likely that if her maid had heard her scolding just now, she would have fainted on the spot.

  Zhu Yuhuan walked to the gate of the main hall, put down his umbrella in front of the gate, went in and found Madame Liu, still sitting cross-legged on the couch beside her.

  Madam Liu turned her head and saw that it was him, she was startled. Zhu Yuhuan hastily smiled and said: "Madam Liu actually misunderstood... Cough cough, as for Ke'er, I have always treated her like a relative, so, Madam, you can also treat me like a relative..."

  Liu Yiniang's eyes suddenly widened in shock and she exclaimed, "Fifth Master, you mustn't say such things!"

  Zhu Yuhuan looked at her frightened appearance, scared not lightly, could only awkwardly rub his nose randomly. Anyway, it's not what Auntie thought, cough, Auntie shouldn't think wildly, hurry up and recite the scriptures." Turned his head to recite the scriptures more seriously.

  Lan Zixiang walked past the temple gate and saw Zhu Yuhuan's large umbrella on the other side - it was impossible not to notice, as it was really eye-catching. It was a super-large umbrella in bright purple color. Lan Zixiang, who had just been taken advantage of, didn't think twice and casually picked up the umbrella and started walking away with it, as if nothing had happened. Her maid looked at her in shock for stealing someone else's umbrella...

  ……

  The rain outside grew heavier, and after the early class ended, Zhu Yuhuan followed behind Liu Niang with a bit of embarrassment, not daring to get too close, watching as she opened her umbrella and smiled before walking away, only then slowly taking out his own umbrella...

  Where's the umbrella? Zhu Yuhuan looked around, left and right, front and back, but couldn't find that big umbrella he had specially gone out to buy for Aunt Liu yesterday. It was large enough to keep her completely dry in the rain, a bright yet dignified purple color that suited her perfectly. But now it's gone?

  Zhu Yuhuan asked the nun at the door, and everyone was confused. No one noticed who took that umbrella. Besides, the people living here are either incense guests or nuns, not passersby. Could it be that someone would leave just to steal an umbrella?

  Zhu Yuhuan's energy was not enough, and after searching for half a day, he still couldn't find it. He had no choice but to admit defeat. The rain was still pouring down heavily, and Zhu Yuhuan naturally wouldn't come to pick him up. He could only run in the rain.

  Inside the house, Zhu Yuxuan was sighing at the heavy rain, unable to go find Chu Keqi. Suddenly, he saw a figure dash into the house from the rain, and it was Zhu Yuhuan, who had gotten completely drenched. He asked in surprise, "Where's your umbrella?"

  "Don't mention it, or some wicked ghost will snatch it away" Zhu Yuhuan rushed into the house to change her clothes. "I'll recite scriptures today and pray to Bodhisattva to make him fall into a muddy pit."

  Zhu Yichan heard a series of sneezes coming from inside and smiled, saying "Hurry up and take a hot bath, don't catch a cold."

  "Zhu Yuhuan in the inner house shouted at me to go get hot water... Ah-choo!"

  ……

  Zhu Yuhuan took a hot bath, still went to the main hall with an unchanged attitude, and indeed scolded that umbrella thief in front of the Bodhisattva.

  At the time of You, Lan Zixiang finally arrived with the support of her maid, and as soon as she entered the courtyard, she hurriedly walked towards the house. The maid grumbled and complained that some mischievous ghost had dug a hole at the gate of the temple, and if she hadn't been careful, she would have fallen into it...

  ……

  The heavy rain kept getting heavier, and the drainage measures in the An Tang courtyard were not very good. In just one day's time, a whole courtyard of water had accumulated, with the water overflowing onto the high steps under the eaves, making it impossible for people to walk.

  The chanting of scriptures was also suspended on this day, and the nuns followed the abbot to fight against the flood in the temple.

  Zhu Yichan and Zhu Yihuan were invited to assist them, not to ask the two gentlemen to take action, but to ask them to see the flood discharge method of this courtyard. They are idiots in this aspect, and they didn't understand it even after studying for half a day.

  Zhu Yichan stared at Chu Keqi and her courtyard, directing where to dig to let the water flow out.

  Zhu Yuhuan was enthusiastic, and in the courtyard, he drew a long waterline from the main hall to the corner of the wall, asking them to dig a trench along this line. This trench passed through all the courtyards of the An Tang Temple, and each courtyard dug a drainage channel leading to the trench, so the water was drained away. Moreover, when the weather was fine, this trench could be properly repaired and become a permanent drainage ditch.

  When Zhu Yuhuan passed by Lan Zixun's courtyard, he deliberately went in to show off his guidance. Since he was there to help, Lan Zixun hid in the house and didn't come out to look for trouble.

  They were busy outside, while Chu Kei was accompanying Liu Niang in the house.

  Liu Yiniang didn't go to listen to the lecture, Chu Ke and she were playing shuttlecock in the house, wanting to probe and ask about what happened that day, Liu Yiniang just smiled faintly "Girl, don't worry about my affairs."

  Then he refused to say another word.

  Chu Ke heard it and felt depressed, she still didn't understand the temperament of Liu Niangniang, what's the meaning of this? It seems that a decision has been made, but is this decision right or wrong, won't she regret it later?

  The next day, she told Zhu Yuhuan about it. Zhu Yuhuan was even more unclear what Liu Niangniang was thinking and could only tell Chu Keqin to observe her. However, Zhu Yuhuan was more optimistic, saying that as long as there were plans, it would be better than being determined to stay in the Chu Mansion.

  The heavy rain had been falling for several days before it slowly stopped. After the rain stopped, the weather turned fine, and someone from the Chu family came to take them away.

  This time it was still the Liu Rong family, and this time they were very polite to the Men family. They went in and first looked for Mrs. Men, whispering with her in her room for a while. Mrs. Men then sent a servant woman to tell the girl that the Chu family would send a carriage tomorrow to pick up everyone, asking the girl to be prepared.

  Chu Xue was instructing the maid to clean up, when Bai Guo rushed in and said, "Miss, Fifth Master is asking you to hurry to the main hall."

  Really?

  "It seems... Auntie said she wants to stay..." Bai Guo stuttered.

  Chu Xue was startled and thought to herself "it can't be", she quickly rushed over, the people from Men's family and Liu Rong's family also heard it and followed her in a hurry.

  Liu Yiniang knelt in front of the Buddha statue in the main hall, with Zhu Yuxian standing beside her and Zhu Yuquan squatting in front of her, persuading her. Zhu Yuhuan was pacing back and forth at the door, and when he saw Chu Kui'er rush in, he hastily grabbed her and said, "Kui'er, please persuade Aunt Liu, she insists on becoming a nun."

  "Going out of the family?" Chu Ke had been suspicious for days and finally confirmed it. No wonder when she mentioned it to Liu Niang, she became calm and seemed to have made up her mind, but she was tight-lipped and refused to reveal anything. It turned out that she had made up her mind to become a nun here.

  Chu Xue was pulled by him to the front of Liu Niang, who had already looked up and smiled at Chu Xue: "Miss, don't persuade me anymore. The words you said last time, I've actually thought about them for many years, and I've also thought about a way out - becoming a nun. It's just that I couldn't make up my mind... Now that Miss has grown up and has someone to rely on, what else do I have left?"

  Chu Ke sat in front of her and said hastily, "How can you say that you want to leave home just like that? Don't you need to discuss it with me first? What's the hurry? Is there no other way out? Were those words I said that day meant to force you to leave home?"

  "Don't be so angry, miss." Madam Liu looked at her and said, "Miss is doing this for my own good, how can I not? Every word you say makes sense, it's just that the methods you mentioned won't work... Besides, I've already settled worldly affairs and feel that I've exhausted all earthly ties. Becoming a nun is actually the path I most want to take."

  "It won't work, you didn't listen to me carefully, just saying it won't work?" Chu Ke looked at the large group of people behind her and couldn't elaborate, so she said "listen to me carefully, it can be done... I didn't make myself clear last time."

  "It's better if you don't think about these things anymore, I don't want to cause you trouble. Living here is peaceful, and in the future, if you can come visit me once a year, I'll be content."

  "This is trouble..." There were many people behind her, and Chu Ke had a lot of things she couldn't say to persuade them. She turned around to look for Zhu Yuexuan, but he was nowhere to be found.

  The ladies-in-waiting and the wives of the Liu family, several maids and old women, all began to persuade Madame Liu in a cacophony of voices.

  It is by.

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