A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Then, because of her busy schoolwork, Guier didn't go to the small courtyard for a while.

On this day when the whole family was having dinner with the Marshal, his wife said, "Tomorrow is the birthday of Guanyin. As usual, we all have to go to the Guanyin Temple up the mountain. Let's get ready."

All the concubines agreed and said, "Yes, ma'am."

After Gui'er returned, she asked Dingxiang and found out that her wife was a devout Buddhist. Every year on the birthday of Guanyin, she would go to the Guanyin Temple in Jiangcheng to burn incense and worship with great fanfare, and she would also give white flour buns to the poor people at the temple gate.

Although the Marshal is not a kind man, this is a good opportunity to show the people that he is a compassionate leader, so he cooperates with his wife every year. In short, on this day every year, everyone in the Marshal's Mansion shows the outside world that there is harmony in the mansion, the Marshal is wise and brave, and his wives and concubines are all virtuous.

Gui'er couldn't help but find this very interesting, so she smiled and said to Dingxiang, "Ever since Sister Dingxiang came, I've learned a lot of interesting things about the Marshal's Mansion. It's amazing that you know so much. You must have been there for quite a while, right?"

Dingxiang smiled and said, "I was originally a servant of the Second Lady, the Madam. When the Second Lady married into the Marshal's Mansion, she brought with her a dowry of more than a dozen maids and servants, my parents among them. But after the Second Lady passed away, most of her servants were sent to work on the farm. Since I was too young to do farm work, I stayed behind and became the Second Lady's maid."

Gui Er asked curiously, "How did the Second Concubine die? I heard she committed suicide."

Ding Xiang's face changed drastically. She said, "Miss, don't mention this. It's a taboo in the mansion. In fact, I don't know how the Second Concubine died. I was too young at the time. I just followed a few older maids in the kitchen all day and didn't know a lot of things."

"Then you should know how the second young lady went crazy, right?"

Ding Xiang couldn't help but wipe her eyes when she heard this and said, "The young lady has had a miserable life since she was young. She's submissive, timid and introverted, even the servants dare to bully her. After marrying Marshal Zhang, she's been unhappy and won't tell us anything. You know, we servants don't say anything, so it's not easy for us to ask. But I heard some servants say that it's because Marshal Zhang would do everything he could to torture his wives and concubines when he had sex with them. I think this may have something to do with it, but I don't know if it's true or not."

Gui'er felt a little sorry for the second young lady after hearing this, so she comforted her, "Father had already arranged a hospital for her before he came back. I believe that the second young lady will receive good treatment. If there is a chance to go to Shanghai again in the future, I can take you to see her."

Dingxiang opened her eyes wide in surprise, and after a while she said happily, "Thank you, Miss Gui'er."

It seems that she still has some master-servant relationship with the second young lady.

The next morning, the people from the Marshal's Mansion got in several cars and set off from the Mansion to Guanyin Temple in a mighty procession.

Miss Ji and the three Miss Zhangs, as the young marshal's fiancées and future concubines, should have gone together, but Sha Yanxiao said that taking them out in a flashy manner before they were married would easily cause gossip, so forget it, so they didn't go.

What surprised Gui'er even more was that even though they were in the same city, they had soldiers on three-wheeled motorbikes leading the way. Sha Yanxiao told Gui'er, "Because the city was just closed, we're worried about people being uneasy. To avoid any accidents, we've arranged for soldiers to lead the way."

Gui'er felt a little uneasy after hearing this.

The car drove for about an hour before arriving at the foot of a mountain. The mountain was lush and green with many trees. There was a wide stone staircase leading directly to the top of the mountain. On the top of the mountain was the Guanyin Temple. Usually, this place was very popular, but today, people from the Marshal's Mansion came to worship, so the place was cleared.

A large tent for charity has been set up in an open space at the foot of the mountain. The servants of the Marshal's Mansion are distributing white flour buns. Ragged vagrants, the city's poor, and even nearby villagers come to line up to receive the buns after hearing the news. However, with soldiers maintaining order, the scene is still relatively orderly.

The Marshal and his wife led everyone up the stairs slowly. The mountain was not very high, and the stone steps were wide and not too steep, so it was easy to walk on. It took them more than half an hour to reach the top of the mountain step by step. Guier looked along the way and found that except for the temple on the mountain, the mountain seemed to be covered with small paths, connecting the farmlands on the mountain and the temple. Obviously, the fields on the mountain also belonged to the temple. However, the people farming in the fields were not dressed as monks, but ordinary civilians. They should be tenants farming for the temple.

When they arrived at the temple gate, a fat monk in a cassock was already waiting there. When he saw the commander-in-chief approaching, he stepped forward and said, "Amitabha, I have been waiting for you for a long time. Please come this way, commander-in-chief."

After that, he led the Marshal into the temple and led them to burn incense and worship. Gui'er thought that it was the Marshal and his wife who performed the first sacrifice, but it turned out that it was the Marshal and his three sons. Sha Yanxiao was even ranked before the eldest young master. It can be seen that Sha Yanxiao's status in the Marshal's Mansion was indeed remarkable. After the men had finished worshipping, it was the turn of the lady to lead the women to worship. Gui'er was a child and almost the youngest in generation. Anyway, she just followed whatever others did.

This Guanyin Temple is not large in area. The main hall houses Guanyin, Shancai Tongzi and Longnu. The side halls house Tang Sanzang, Manjushri Bodhisattva, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva and Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. Although it is not large in area, the temple looks quite old. There are only about a dozen or twenty monks in the temple, and some of them look to be in their seventies or eighties.

After the worship, the Marshal took his three sons and the abbot to the tea room for tea. A man who looked like a young monk led his wife and other female relatives to the dining hall to rest.

At this moment, everyone felt much more relaxed because they had finished the worship and were just waiting to eat, so they all relaxed and started chatting with each other.

The Fifth Concubine smiled and said, "This temple is always full of old, weak, sick and disabled people, but this time there are a few young and strong monks, which is really rare."

The Sixth Concubine also smiled and said, "Maybe the old monks can't do the work anymore, so we have to find some young and strong ones."

When they said this, the little monk who brought them was standing beside them. Guier saw that the expression on his face was very strange, and she couldn't help but become alert.

At this time, the kitchen next to the dining hall brought in some tea. Everyone was thirsty and started drinking. Guier saw that the little monk was watching everyone closely to see if they took a sip of the tea. If someone was too busy talking to drink, he would bring the teapot, walk over to her, pour two sips of tea into her cup, and then say, "Please have some tea."

Normally, one would feel embarrassed to see someone so attentive, or at least pretend to take a sip. Gui'er always felt weird in her heart and didn't want to drink much, but the little monk stared at her, which made her feel uneasy. She had to pick up the cup and take a sip, but didn't swallow it.