swear not to be concubine

Chapter 15

Jian Yan was sitting on the not-so-wide bunk in the cabin, holding a longevity lock in her hand and playing with it.

The Lantern Festival just passed after the year, and Mrs. Jane has already arranged everything, and has chosen a day that is suitable for traveling far away, planning to go to Tongzhou with her family.But two days before departure, an aunt came to Jian's house.

Jian Yan was called to the upper room by the little maid, and was stunned when she saw this sister-in-law.

Even though she hadn't seen her in ten years, and even though the aunt in front of her was much older, she could still recognize at a glance that this aunt was Mrs. Jingyuan, the abbot of the Guanyin nunnery who saved her life back then.

At this time, Mrs. Jian introduced impatiently by the side: "This is Mrs. Jingyuan, she wants to meet you."

Jian Yan took two steps forward and bowed respectfully to Master Jingyuan.

She doesn't blame Mrs. Jingyuan for sending her into Jane's house.At that time, the war and famine were enough for the people to live in poverty.There is no grain of rice in the Guanyin Nunnery, so sending her to a rich family to be raised is the best way out that Mrs. Jingyuan can plan for her, and she even lied about it.You must know that monks still attach great importance to the precept of not telling lies.

"Meet the teacher."

Jian Yan's face showed a rare look of respect, and she wouldn't feel anything in Mrs. Jian's eyes.After all, when Master Jingyuan came here with Jian Yan in her arms, Jian Yan was just a baby less than one month old. What can the baby remember?At most, it was the first time she saw her aunt, and she was in awe.

Mrs. Jingyuan put her hands together and asked Jian Yan for a question.The string of Buddhist beads that she had been holding in her hand hung down because of her actions, and the yellow silk ribbons on it swayed slightly.

"Good boy," Mrs. Jingyuan stretched out her right hand, stroked her eyebrows, forehead and temples three times with her fingers, then nodded and looked at her and said, "I saw you once when you were young, I don’t want you to be this big now.”

Jian Yan knew that this was a kind of ritual for the elders to meet the younger, commonly known as stroking the temples, and it was only used by those who were close to each other.It seems that Mrs. Jingyuan still misses her very much.

Then Mrs. Jingyuan handed over a small camphorwood box, saying it was for her.

Mrs. Jane's heart skipped a beat.

She didn't want Jian Yan to know that she was not her own, so that it would be difficult to control her in the future.So even though it's not etiquette to open a gift from someone else face to face, Mrs. Jian still asked: "What good thing did the teacher give to Miss Yan?"

She was afraid that Mrs. Jingyuan's box contained something like a letter that would let Jian Yan know her life experience.

Jian Yan immediately knew the scruples in her heart, and after hesitating for a moment, she stretched out her hand and opened the box.

Inside the box was a yellow safety talisman, and a silver longevity lock.

At this time, Mrs. Jingyuan was already talking to Mrs. Jian: "The poor nun has nothing to show for it. It's just a safety talisman and a silver lock, which cannot enter the eyes of wives and girls. But these two items But my son has been enshrined in front of the Bodhisattva's case, and the girl has brought it with her, so she will surely bless the girl with everything going well."

The last two sentences were addressed to Jian Yan.

Jian Yan immediately saluted and thanked Master Jingyuan very solemnly: "My little girl likes it very much, thank you for your trouble."

Master Jingyuan nodded, but said nothing.

Mrs. Jian just gave up, and then wentssiping with Mrs. Jingyuan.

It was only then that Jian Yan learned that after Master Jingyuan sent her to Jian's house that day, she went to Mount Emei to join her senior sister the next day.Because I couldn't bear to part with the Guanyin Nunnery that I had stayed in for so many years, so I came back a few days ago.After inquiring about Mrs. Jian's family leaving this place to go to Beijing, she rushed over to see her.

Mrs. Jane was also very sad when she heard this.Knowing that the Guanyin Nunnery was in ruins, she asked Shen's mother to take 50 taels of silver and hand it over to Master Jingyuan, saying that it was her heart for the Bodhisattva, and told Master Jingyuan not to refuse.

Mrs. Jingyuan received the money, saw Jian Yan sitting quietly in the chair next to them and listening to them talking, all dressed well, thought she had a good life in Jian's house, and was happy in her heart, He clasped his hands together and said to Mrs. Jane: "The bodhisattva will surely know about the kindness of my wife. When the poor nun returns home, he will light a long-lived lamp for his wife in front of the Bodhisattva, and pray day and night for his wife and the girl to live a long life. As one wishes."

After Jian Yan went back, she asked Bai Wei to take 100 taels of silver and entrusted Zhou Lin to hand it over to Mrs. Jingyuan, but she didn't let Zhou Lin tell Mrs. Jingyuan who took the money, only that it was a Thanksgiving people.

Then she held the silver lock in her hand and kept looking.

In fact, it's just an ordinary longevity lock.It's been a long time, and the surface of the lock is a little dull, and the color is not bright.But the style is a bit special, it is made into the shape of a crabapple with four petals, the front is engraved with lotus leaf and lotus, and the reverse is engraved with the words Longevity and Centenary, and five small bells are attached to the bottom. There is even a small corner missing on the edge of one of the small bells, and it is estimated that it should have been knocked off by something.

It was not the first time Jian Yan saw this silver lock.In my impression, after she was carried back to Guanyin Nunnery by Mrs. Jingyuan, one of her disciples took the silver lock from her neck to look at it, and said to Mrs. Jingyuan: "Hey, Master, this The Longevity Lock is made of silver, and its style is exquisite, and it should be worth several stones of rice in the rice shop."

At that time, she looked at the apprentice's hand, but the silver lock at that time was much brighter than it is now.

Mrs. Jingyuan reprimanded her apprentice at that time, saying that she shouldn't be greedy.But after that, Jian Yan never saw this silver lock. She just thought that the people in the nunnery couldn't survive the calamity after all, so they took the silver lock to exchange for rice. The lock had been preserved, and now it was in her hands.

Jian Yan thought she would be sitting in the boat with nothing to do, so she couldn't help but took out the silver lock and looked at it repeatedly.

This silver lock is definitely related to her real life experience in this life.But it is a pity that there is no clue from this silver lock, and it is not very useful after all.Moreover, she vaguely remembered that the servant girl who died lying beside her that day was not only dressed well, but also had blood on her body, so she definitely did not die normally, so what happened at that time?
Jian Yan couldn't think it out, and finally she simply didn't think about it, but put the silver lock into the camphor wood box with great care.

At this time, Bai Wei pushed the door in with a pot of hot water in her hand, and Si Yue held a small round painted tray in her hand with a cup of tea on it.

Si Yue just put the teacup on the small table next to Jian Yan's hand, and Bai Wei over there already deftly poured the hot water in the pot into the copper basin, put a clean cloth towel into it, and scooped it up. I got up and wrung it dry, then handed it to Jian Yan with both hands.

Jian Yan reached out to take the cloth towel, then opened it, and covered the entire cloth towel on her face regardless of her image.

I have been on the boat for several days, and I am getting more and more bored.When the warm cloth was covered on the face, I felt a lot more awake.

At this time, I heard Si Yue's voice saying: "Just now, when Sister Bai Wei and I went out to boil water, I heard the maid next to my wife say that my wife is very seasick now, and she is lying there If you can’t get up, and you vomit whatever you eat, even if you drink saliva, you will suffer.”

Jian Yan reached out and took the cloth towel off her face, handed it to Bai Wei who was standing beside her, and ordered: "Bai Wei, you will go to your mother later and tell me that I am also seasick and can't get up in bed. I can't serve her around, please forgive me."

Although the boat chartered by Mrs. Jane is not small, the space in the cabin is limited, the air is not good, and she has never been on a boat before, no wonder she got seasick.

But Jian Yan really didn't want to go to Mrs. Jian's place.She was impatient to see herself, why had she ever been impatient to see her?I wish I could not see you for a long time.

Bai Wei agreed, and ordered Siyue to hang the cloth towel on the shelf, and then pour the water in the copper basin outside, then she turned and went to Mrs. Jian's place.

After a few cups of tea, she came back and said to Jian Yan: "My wife is lying there very listless, she is sick, her face is like gold paper, and she doesn't want to say anything. The servant told her For your words, she just waved her hand and took it as an answer. But the young master missed you, and wanted to come and see you as soon as he heard that you were seasick, but his wife refused to let him stay by her side and would not let him go anywhere. The young master has no choice but to ask the servant to give you a message to let you rest well. When the servant came out from the wife, Qing Yan who was beside the young master chased after him and handed it to the servant, saying that the young master sent it to you. For you."

Jian Yan took a look at Bai Wei's hand, and saw that it was a small lotus leaf-shaped multicolored porcelain jar. When she opened the lid to look, there was a jar of Yanjin plums inside.She took one and put it in her mouth, it was so sour that her eyes narrowed.

But the discomfort in the stomach was all gone.

So she greeted Bai Wei and Si Yue: "Come and taste these Yanjin plums."

Neither of them moved.Jian Yan knew that there was a deep-rooted concept of superiority and inferiority in their hearts, and she couldn't explain it for a while, so she simply picked plums from the jar by herself, and stuffed one in each of them.

Then she got her wish and saw that Bai Wei and Si Yue were both frowning and squinting with sourness.

"Keep it in your mouth, don't spit it out," she urged, "it will make you feel better about seasickness."

They live far away from Tongzhou.If this is in modern times, you can get there on the same day by plane, or the next day by train, but in this era, it may take more than a month to change the land route to the water route, and the water route to the land route.

Jian Yan thought darkly in her heart, Mrs. Jian has been pampered all these years, and this journey is enough for her.

After nearly a month of work like this, Tongzhou finally arrived.

(End of this chapter)