Chapter 36: 36 Birthmarks
Editor: As Studios
Thedy 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.
Thedy 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?” thedy asked her.
“Yes.” Gu Jiao nodded, seeing thedy looking at her with suspicion, she paused and said, “It tastes better than the pastries from Liji.”
“What’s Liji?” thedy asked her.
“The best pastry shop in the town,” Gu Jiao replied.
Thedy 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.
Thedy 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 youngdy, it’s such a pity, thedy quietly regretted.
Then, she noticed Gu Jiao’s hands. They were the hands of someone who hadbored for many years with callouses and crisscrossing scars.
Thedy 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 thedy’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 thedy, 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 ndly.
“Ah, no, no! Amitabha, young benefactor, please do not misunderstand!” The abbot ced 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 note 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’ ws?”
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 identally 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 thedy 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 hadpletely 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 viger at the foot of the mountain.
After leaving the abbot’s meditation room, Gu Jiao went to find thedy she had met earlier. However, she was told that thedy had already descended the mountain.
“These few boxes of pastries were left for you the benefactor by thedy. Please, you must ept them.” The monk who cleaned the meditation room handed Gu Jiao arge bundle.
Gu Jiao held it and felt its weight and knew that thedy had left all the pastries for her.
Gu Jiao sighed lightly, she hadn’t returned thedy’s clothes yet…
The clothes given to her by thedy 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 med 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 olddy might not get along with the next-door family. After all, the olddy 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 Ling usually interacted with the vigers. In the past, the vigers would onlye 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 olddy 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 toe near, so they stood across, pushing and squeezing each other, looking like a vige version of a pce drama!
“Alright, you all may leave,” the olddy put down the melon seeds, waved her hand.
Everyone withdrew, but before leaving, they all paid respect to the olddy with their heads tilted.
Seeing the imperial concubines bowing was a pleasing sight, but seeing a group of women from the vige bowing, that was arge-scale ident 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 vigers! 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 grandmothere from, who was so mischievous?