Shi Fengju got down the bamboo sedan and went to help Sang Wan before asking with a smile, “Did it scare you?”
Sang Wan shook her head and answered with a smile, “I was a bit nervous at first, but I found it interesting after getting used to it!”
Shi Fengju chuckled and headed up with her while saying, “”There are sedans on the mountain too. We’ll take that when we go down the mountain later. Let’s go up slowly. The scenery on this mountain is good and there is a very tall waterfall not far ahead! It happens that today is neither the fifteenth day of the lunar month nor any other festive day, so no one will come here, which is to our advantage!”
Sang Wan responded with a smile and walked slowly with him.
Since Shi Fengju did not want Zhan Huan to follow, he instructed him to go up the mountain first to book a vegetarian feast. Liu Ya lifted up the lunch box in her hand and grumbled, “Young Master, Young Mistress, let me follow you! The two of you might get thirsty and want to have tea and refreshments while on your way up!”
Speaking about being considerate and attentive, even ten Liu Yas would not be as good as one Zhan Huan. Sometimes, Shi Fengju was speechless and wondered whether she was really muddleheaded or pretending to be one.
However, he did not know how he should talk about it. Thankfully, Zhan Huan had already whispered to Liu Ya, just enough for Shi Fengju and Sang Wan to hear, “You fool! Young Master clearly doesn’t want to be disturbed and yet you want to follow them. Why do you have to follow them and not wait for them! They will call you when they want to drink tea.”
When Liu Ya heard that, she looked at Shi Fengju as if asking him whether that was so.
Shi Fengju was a master. It was therefore inconvenient for him to say such blatant words in front of the servants. Seeing Liu Ya looking at him, he did not know how to respond for a moment and could not help but curse in his heart: What a blockhead! Even Zhan Huan is more scrupulous than her. Too bad he’s not a female servant!
Sang Wan held back her laughter and told Liu Ya, “What are you still doing there? Not going to leave? Just wait for us at Erdao Monastery’s main gate!”
“Yes, Young Mistress!” Liu Ya then went ahead with Zhan Huan. Deep down, she told herself that Young Mistress was still better since she was more straightforward!
With no one around, Shi Fengju held Sang Wan’s hand as they walked up slowly and admired the scenery. The two of them talked and laughed. They were so intimate that nothing could come between them. Seeing the purple irises on the side of the road that bloomed vividly, Sang Wan praised them with a few words. Shi Fengju picked a flower and carefully placed it in her hair, and the two looked at each other and smiled.
When they reached the front of the waterfall, the two held onto the railing for a while. They watched the white water whizzing down from a high cliff and crashing into the deep pool under their feet before flowing into the stream. The mist and cool air rushed forth, as if baptizing the surrounding flora and fauna. With mountains and the lush green hills all around, the place appeared secluded and refined, letting them forget any worries.
“The Great Teacher here must’ve been blessed to be able to choose such a good place to build a temple. Who knows how many would envy him!” Sang Wan could not help but praise with a smile.
Shi Fengju responded with a smile, “Sang Wan, do you like the waterfalls? We also have them in the mountains of Qingzhou. When we go back, I will have someone find a good place and we can build a manor on the mountain, plant flowers and trees everywhere, and raise two pairs of red-crowned cranes and sika deers. We’ll stay there for a few days whenever we’re free. What do you think?”
“…” For a moment, Sang Wan was speechless and looked at him in a slight daze.
“Sang Wan?” Shi Fengju raised his hand with a grin. He tidied the hair that was by the side of her head made messy by the wind as he came closer to her.
“Yes, of course that’s good!” Sang Wan refrained from showing her predicament and forcibly suppressed her thoughts that almost emerged: “Will Mother be angry with me if she knows about it?”
Shi Fengju laughed happily. He pulled her into his embrace and lowered his head to say with a smile, “Just wait and see, I’ll definitely find a bigger and better waterfall for you.”
Sang Wan smiled and felt that she nearly could not resist him anymore.
Near noon, the two of them arrived at the main temple on the summit. At a distance, they could see a white-bearded Teacher wearing a kasaya and holding Buddhist beads. Behind him stood several young monks in blue-gray robes.
Sang Wan froze for a moment and wondered if there were any noble guests visiting the temple today, but Shi Fengju quickly took her hand and quickened his pace.
Upon seeing them, that Great Teacher’s eyes lit up and he calmly walked up to bow with one hand before saying with a chuckle, “Benefactor Shi, I haven’t seen you in a long time. How are you? I heard from Zhan Huan that you encountered a small disaster some time back. Fortunately, you have the blessings from Buddha and managed to turn it into fortune. I’m happy for you!”
“That servant is so talkative! It was a small matter, and I’m already in good health. Thank you, Great Teacher, for your concern!” Shi Fengju respectfully returned the bow before carefully taking Sang Wan’s hat off and handing it to Liu Ya. He said with a smile: “Great Teacher, this is my wife, Sang Wan. Sang Wan, this is the Ling Xin Temple’s master, Great Teacher Ling Jing!”
“Greetings, Great Teacher!” Sang Wan hurriedly bowed to greet him.
Great Teacher Ling Jing smiled and did not dare to return the bow, “When did Benefactor Shi get married? Congratulations! Your wife is a gentle and virtuous person at first glance, a match made in heaven for you!”
“Thank you for your words, Great Teacher! It was last April, and it has been exactly one year since I took her as my wife!” When Shi Fengju heard Great Teacher Ling Jing praise Sang Wan, he was happier to hear that than anything else. The smile remained on his face as he took Sang Wan into the temple while accompanied by Great Teacher Ling Jing.
The backyard of the temple had been cleaned and the two of them washed their hands and face. Then, they went to the hall and paid their respects before they entered the meditation room to have tea with Great Teacher Ling Jing.
Sang Wan saw that Shi Fengju and Great Teacher Ling Jing seemed to be very familiar with each other, seemingly having many things to talk about. She was bored here and did not want to disturb them. Thus, she excused herself to have a tour around the temple.
Shi Fengju knew her intentions, so he did not stop her but only told her with a smile to be careful. He also told her not to go out of the temple. Great Teacher Ling Jing sent one of the disciples, Hui Zhen, to take Sang Wan to look around.
Sang Wan expressed her thanks and left.
When Zhan Huan and the rest saw that everyone did not need their service so they left to have fun in the temple. Only Liu Ya followed Sang Wan and Hui Zhen and went around the temple.
The area was exceptionally good and a temple had been here hundreds of years ago. After the ups and downs, it was built and destroyed, destroyed and built, leaving countless traces of tales for future generations.
Hui Zhen was eloquent and also studied Buddhism. In addition, he had the mind to give it his all. He talked non-stop and explained to Sang Wan with a silver tongue. Together with Sang Wan, Liu Ya also listened to him.
“Young Mistress, even though the temple looks bright and neat today, you won’t expect this place to be a desolate area where wild foxes roamed four years ago! My master was benevolent and reconstructed this temple to welcome Buddha. Many noble people and civilians from Handan City come here to make a wish, redeem a vow, and even pray sincerely to accumulate blessings!”
Sang Wan and Liu Ya could not help but glance at the majestic and grand buildings around them and exclaimed with surprise, “If Junior Teacher did not mention it, it really is hard to imagine Ling Xin Temple was built four years ago! To rebuild this temple, Great Teacher Ling Jing must have collected donations for many years and suffered a lot!”
Except for the imperial temples or the temples presided over by some local authorities, most of the temples in the world were built and renovated by various monks collecting donations. However, in order to obtain enough money and wood, it all depended on each person’s discipline to cultivate reputation and destiny. With so many halls and buildings in the Ling Xin Temple, it must have cost a lot. Even if Great Teacher Ling Jing was reputable, he had to put in a lot of hard work.
Flabbergasted, Hui Zhen glanced at Sang Wan and said, “Young Mistress hasn’t heard about that? Young Master Shi paid for the temple’s reconstruction! We are all very grateful to him!”
“That happened? I really didn’t know about that!” Sang Wan was taken aback. Shi Fengju had not told her that he had paid for the reconstruction of Ling Xin Temple.
Clapping her hands, Liu Ya said with a laugh, “It’s no wonder that Great Teacher Ling Jing and Young Master are so close. It turns out they have known each other for a long time! Great Teacher Ling Jing indeed has a good foresight to find Young Master for donations. Even ten of a temple this large won’t be a problem!”
“Liu Ya!” Hearing Liu Ya shoot her mouth off, Sang Wan quickly turned her head and shot an angry glare at her.
However, Hui Zhen did not seem to mind and he said with a smile, “I’m afraid this missy is wrong. My Master did not ask Young Master Shi for any donations…”
“That’s strange! Then could it be that my Young Master took the initiative to come here? This place is so far away from Qingzhou, it seems very unlikely! If it’s in Qingzhou, that would be more or less believable!” Liu Ya spoke again.
“That is not the case either,” Hui Zhen said with a good temper and a smile, “We were out of luck then. Ever since my Master chose and made a vow here to reconstruct this place, dozens of our disciples left to collect donations outside, but we barely managed to collect enough after five years. After collecting nearly enough and gathering the amount together, they rushed back to strive for the temple to be constructed as soon as possible. Who knew that the Martial Uncle, who was in charge of the accounts, lost the bundle with money in it. Even though we went back to search for it, it was nowhere to be found? Everyone was so anxious that even Martial Uncle cried loudly and wanted to kill himself in the river. That was where he happened to meet Young Master Shi’s fleet. Young Master Shi asked about the situation and agreed to fork out the money required to reconstruct the place. He told us to go back to the mountain first and someone would be sent to deliver the money. We thought he was joking at first, but since we had no other choice, we could only heed his words and return to the mountain first. Surprisingly, at the foot of the mountain, we met the person whom Young Master Shi sent to give the money. He rode a horse, so he was naturally faster than us who walked. At that time, he gave us a banknote worth 80,000 which shocked us all!”
Hui Zhen narrated as if the situation happened just yesterday and sighed lightly before going on, “I’m not afraid of being laughed at, but we were really dumbfounded at that time. Until that person who sent the money left, we did not return to our senses for a while as we did not dare to believe that it was real!”
Liu Ya said with a smile, “And after that, Ling Xin Temple was constructed?”
“Yes.” Hui Zhen nodded and told her with a smile, “With enough money on hand, we managed to purchase all sorts of materials quickly. Many villagers nearby came to help. It took more than a year to build the important halls and the other buildings were slowly built after that. When we did the calculations later on, there were still 20,000 silvers left. My Master initially wanted to return it to Young Master Shi, but he did not take it. As such, my Master built a school at the foot of the mountain and invited a schoolteacher to teach the children in the nearby villages to read and write for free. The remaining money was used to purchase a fertile land. Besides serving the purpose of the temple’s expenses every year, the produce of the fertile land also served as the school’s expenses. Every winter, we will also set up a food relief center to give out porridge, send cotton-padded clothings to the poor, repair the bridges and roads, and other deeds. Today, the reputation of our temple can be said to be known throughout all of Handan!”
