Traveling to the ancient harem

Huang Ye and the other two did not rush on the way back to Fanjing Mountain this time, so it took them a little longer. When they returned to Ciyuen Temple, it was another snowy afternoon.

Hongdou knocked on the door of the nunnery, and the door opened from the inside. The little nun stuck her head out and saw that it was them. There seemed to be surprise in her eyes. Maybe it was an illusion, but Huang Ye actually saw expectation in her eyes. Of course, Huang Ye didn't think that this expectation was for her, because they were not that familiar with each other.

After closing the door, the little nun looked around cryptically, and whispered to Jingzhen in a low voice: "Uncle, please go and see the abbot. He is seriously injured." After that, she pretended nothing had happened and started sweeping the snow in the yard with a broom.

Jingzhen's face changed and she didn't bother to ask anything and ran towards the courtyard of Abbot Guanzhen. Huang Ye and Hongdou both had a bad premonition and followed her closely.

The door of the courtyard was ajar, Jingzhen pushed it open and went straight to the abbot's living room. When she opened the door, she saw Guanzhen lying on the bed, her face as pale as gold paper, and Lingyu holding a medicine bowl in his hand, feeding her medicine.

Huang Ye rushed over at once, tears streaming down her face: "Master, what's wrong with you? How could this happen?" Seeing Master's appearance, thin and weak, she felt so distressed. It had only been a few months since she left. What on earth had happened to Master to make him become like this?

Guan Zhen looked at the three of them, and his dead eyes lit up: "Master is fine, he just got tricked by that person. Raising a tiger brings trouble to you!"

Jingzhen had already taken her arm and was checking her pulse: "Your heart meridian is damaged, your tendons are disordered, and you're poisoned." She looked serious: "Who beat you like this, and you're poisoned? What's going on?"

"Second Master, don't ask so many questions. The most important thing is to save Master first." Huang Ye was anxious. Didn't he see that Master was already dying?

"It must be Bai Lianhua who did it." Hongdou said without hesitation. Although she didn't know anything yet, she was sure that from the first time she saw Lian Zhen, she felt that she was not a good person, and she always felt that something would happen one day.

Jingzhen asked Lingyu to quickly pour a bowl of warm water, took out a pill from his purse, stuffed it into Guanzhen's mouth, and poured warm water into it. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief, took out the silver needle and began to give acupuncture, protecting the heart meridian first.

After Guan Zhen took the pill, he fell asleep quickly. Ling Yu cried with joy: "Master was attacked by someone and couldn't sleep for many days. She couldn't breathe as long as she closed her eyes. Now she is fine and finally fell asleep." She put her hands together and chanted the Buddha's name.

Seeing that the second master was still giving acupuncture, Huang Ye pulled Lingyu out of the door and into the room where she lived: "Senior Sister, tell me everything that happened in the past few months. Don't miss anything." Like Hongdou, she had no other suspects except Lian Zhen.

It turned out that after Huang Ye and the other two left, the nunnery welcomed the annual temple festival. Female believers from hundreds of miles around came from all directions. This was also the busiest time for the nunnery. They had to arrange to clean the rooms, and many wealthy families would reserve rooms. Of course, those who could reserve rooms were those who had given enough incense money. The nunnery also had to be redecorated, and a large amount of incense and cloth had to be purchased. The kitchen had to arrange vegetarian meals, and they all had to go down the mountain to purchase things. One carriage after another would deliver things to the mountain. All these things were handled by Lian Zhen alone.

Things were originally going on in an orderly manner. Guan Zhen was just checking the purchased items as he did in the past. After reviewing them, they were sent to the warehouse and would not be officially used until the temple birthday.

The problem was with the Buddhist incense in Guanzhen's hand. She found that there was something wrong with the Buddhist incense she bought this time. This Buddhist incense was different from the one she used before. It seemed to be shorter and thinner, and the smell was not as authentic as before. So she called Lianzhen to ask what was going on.

"Abbot, are you doubting something?" Lian Zhen looked at her arrogantly. "You don't know how expensive firewood and rice are until you run the household. Money is needed everywhere in the nunnery, and the prices of everything are rising. It took me a lot of planning to make this Dharma Assembly possible. The nunnery doesn't have enough money, so I can only buy inferior incense. I believe the pilgrims who come to burn incense will understand."

"Is the nunnery short of money?" Guanzhen didn't believe it. The nunnery had temple property, and the grain produced was enough to provide the nunnery with money. Every year, believers donated large sums of money for incense. Not to mention anything else, when Huang Ye came to the nunnery last year, the Minister's Mansion donated 500 taels of silver notes, which she brought back and put into the nunnery's account. You know, these 500 taels are more than enough to hold two large rituals.

"From tomorrow on, send me the account books of the nunnery. I want to see how the nunnery is running short of money, so that it has to reduce its expenses."

Guan Zhen was really angry. This Lian Zhen was too greedy. She had turned a blind eye to it before, and as long as she could get by, she didn't bother to care. But now she was going to empty the nunnery. It was simply unbearable.

Lianzhen looked at Guanzhen angrily, said nothing, and walked out without saying a word.