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The lady pointed to the heated brick bed next to her and smiled gently, saying, “Sit down and talk.”

Gu Jiao sat down on the bed, with a small table between them. Several exquisite pastries were set on the table.

The lady pushed the pastries towards her, “Are you hungry? Have something to eat first. The vegetarian meal will be served soon.”

“Yes.” Having climbed up the mountain for so long, Gu Jiao was indeed hungry and picked out a piece of yellow flower-shaped pastry.

Gu Jiao was very quiet.

“Is it tasty?” the lady asked her.

“Yes.” Gu Jiao nodded, seeing the lady looking at her with suspicion, she paused and said, “It tastes better than the pastries from Liji.”

“What’s Liji?” the lady asked her.

“The best pastry shop in the town,” Gu Jiao replied.

The lady finally felt relieved. Actually, she had made these pastries herself. When she was bored in the residence, she would make pastries to kill time. Unfortunately, among her two children, her son was weak and often sick and couldn’t eat, while her daughter was in great health but didn’t like eating. It made her doubt whether her pastries were just too bad.

Gu Jiao’s appreciation was not feigned, she genuinely found the pastries tasty.

The lady found fulfillment in Gu Jiao’s appreciation. She couldn’t help but look at Gu Jiao more closely, noticing the birthmark on her face, which she had noticed already.

Such a good young lady, it’s such a pity, the lady quietly regretted.

Then, she noticed Gu Jiao’s hands. They were the hands of someone who had labored for many years with callouses and crisscrossing scars.

The lady thought of her own daughter, thankful that she was born in the Marquis Residence, where she didn’t have to suffer the hardships of ordinary folks; if not, as a mother, she wouldn’t be able to bear the heartache.

Gu Jiao sat in the lady’s room for a while, and all the chestnut cakes had gone into her belly, and the presiding abbot had just returned to the temple.

In the end, Gu Jiao didn’t forget her main business. After bidding farewell to the lady, she went to the abbot’s meditation room.

The abbot was quite old, with a white beard, but he was astoundingly energetic, probably a result of his years of martial arts practice.

Gu Jiao briefly stated her intention: “…I wonder if the abbot would be willing to sell?”

After she had finished speaking, she did not hear the abbot’s answer for quite a while. Looking closely, she saw that the abbot was staring at her… face without blinking.

Just as Gu Jiao was about to ask, ‘Is there something on my face?’ she remembered, there was indeed something on her face, wasn’t there?

“Abbot?” Gu Jiao reminded.

“Ahem, ahem!” The abbot returned to his senses, cleared his throat and sat upright, saying, “You just said… you want to buy the mountain?”

Gu Jiao: “Yes.”

Abbot: “How old are you this year?”

Hmm?

Isn’t the topic changing too quickly?

“Can’t I buy a mountain because I’m too young?” Gu Jiao asked blandly.

“Ah, no, no! Amitabha, young benefactor, please do not misunderstand!” The abbot placed his hand on his chest and said, “The brother Jingxin who manages the temple’s property is not here. It will take him two or three days to return. Why not come back in a few days?”

“Okay, I will find a day to visit again before the year ends.” After Gu Jiao had spoken, she stood up to take her leave.

The abbot’s gaze remained fixed on her birthmark.

Gu Jiao frowned slightly, “Abbot, although I don’t mind how others view me, as a monk, isn’t it inappropriate for you to keep staring at others’ flaws?”

The abbot hurriedly apologized, “The old monk was rude. Please, young benefactor, do not take offense!”

After Gu Jiao left, the abbot remained dazed for a long time.

One of his disciples came up and asked, “Abbot, what’s wrong?”

“I remembered something,” the Abbot replied.

“What is it?” the disciple asked.

The abbot heaved a long sigh and said, “It’s something from many years ago.”

One night, he had drunk too much and accidentally left a mark using a special kind of ointment on the face of a newly born baby girl…

The next day when he woke up and recalled the foolish thing he had done, he quickly went to apologize to the lady of Marquis Residence. But he found that the face of the baby in her arms was clean and without any trace of the ointment.

Since he had been drunk, his memory was not very clear. He thought that since the baby girl’s face did not bear any mark, it meant he must not have done it, right?

After so many years had passed, he had completely forgotten about it. But when he saw that girl earlier, memories rushed back and he began to question whether or not he had left a mark on someone’s face that night?

But wait, the baby he marked was the daughter of Marquis Residence, and that girl just now mentioned she was a villager at the foot of the mountain.

After leaving the abbot’s meditation room, Gu Jiao went to find the lady she had met earlier. However, she was told that the lady had already descended the mountain.

“These few boxes of pastries were left for you the benefactor by the lady. Please, you must accept them.” The monk who cleaned the meditation room handed Gu Jiao a large bundle.

Gu Jiao held it and felt its weight and knew that the lady had left all the pastries for her.

Gu Jiao sighed lightly, she hadn’t returned the lady’s clothes yet…

The clothes given to her by the lady were beautiful, but they were not suitable for climbing the mountain road, she estimated it would snag after a few steps. This couldn’t be blamed on bad quality, after all, those who could afford such material would not need to walk themselves.

On the way home, Gu Jiao walked quite fast because she was somewhat worried that the old lady might not get along with the next-door family. After all, the old lady was bad-tempered, always finding faults with others, belonging to the extremely unsociable type.

To her surprise, when Gu Jiao entered the house, she was stunned.

What’s happening? Why are there so many people? And they’re all women?

Neither Gu Jiao nor Xiao Liulang usually interacted with the villagers. In the past, the villagers would only come over when they needed to write or read a letter. The record was three visits in a day, not more.

So, Gu Jiao didn’t understand why their main hall was suddenly filled with so many people.

The old lady was sitting domineering at the top chair. Uncle Luo’s wife was by her side, holding a pot of tea in a very beguiling manner.

On the other side was Gui Fang, the young wife from Aunt Zhang’s family. Gui Fang was holding a tray with melon seeds and a cup of tea.

Gu Jiao was even more puzzled. Didn’t Sister Gui Fang just give birth?

The rest of the people seemed to not have the privilege to come near, so they stood across, pushing and squeezing each other, looking like a village version of a palace drama!

“Alright, you all may leave,” the old lady put down the melon seeds, waved her hand.

Everyone withdrew, but before leaving, they all paid respect to the old lady with their heads tilted.

Seeing the imperial concubines bowing was a pleasing sight, but seeing a group of women from the village bowing, that was a large-scale accident site!

Gu Jiao was utterly shocked, she grabbed Xue Ningxiang who was nearby and asked, “What did my grandmother do this time?”

Xue Ningxiang couldn’t hide her admiration and said, “Grandmother was telling stories to the villagers! She told it so well!”

Gu Jiao twitched at the corner of her mouth, “And the part about paying respect, what’s that about?”

Xue Ningxiang thought for a while before understanding what Gu Jiao meant, “Oh, you mean that? That was taught by Grandmother. She said that’s how they do it in the theater!”

Performers in the theater definitely do not do that!

Grandmother was brazenly deceiving everyone into paying respect to her.

Gu Jiao was puzzled, where did this grandmother come from, who was so mischievous?