freenovelworld Chapter 247 Uncle
Chapter 247 Uncle
He was always polite and distant, without any intimacy. She didn't know about his past with her mother at the time, and thought that her uncle was really cold-blooded and heartless. After visiting twice, he never came again.
On the day of Bai Chanzi's faked death and funeral, she specially arranged to pass by Lingying Temple. She saw her uncle standing in the distance in a monk's robe, holding Buddhist scriptures to pray for her mother's soul.
Qiao Qingshu was standing in the funeral procession at the time, but did not approach. She just watched from a distance and had no desire to go up and talk to him.
But now, she has developed a desire to meet him properly.
Standing at the temple gate, they heard the melodious sound of bells in the distance, and a young monk came out and led them inside.
“Master Kongyi is currently giving a lecture on Zen. Please wait a moment, benefactor.”
Qiao Qingshu stood outside the Buddhist gate, looking at Qiao Jishen, who was sitting solemnly in front of the Buddha statue, explaining Buddhist teachings to the monks sitting cross-legged on the ground.
In her memory, her uncle was still that elegant and witty man with a wine gourd hanging from his waist, not the indifferent monk in front of her.
She stood there for a long time, listening to him finish his lecture on Buddhism, when she saw Master Kongyi slowly walking towards her.
Master Kongyi slowly stretched out his hand, gesturing for them to come forward and talk. In a secluded courtyard, Master Kongyi stopped.
"What business do you have with this humble monk, benefactor?"
Qiao Qingshu stepped forward and said,
“Master Kongyi, I would like to invite you to come and perform a ritual. I know you are hard to invite, so I have come in person.”
Master Kongyi was quite famous in the capital because he was extremely good at preaching and was highly appreciated by the nobles in the capital, so they often invited him to perform rituals.
However, Master Kongyi did not go out often, and many high-ranking officials and nobles had been turned away at his door.
Kong Yi smiled faintly and said,
"There's not much to do at the temple these days, so it's a good place to perform religious rites."
Qiao Qingshu smiled meaningfully, gave an address, and then turned and left.
Only Master Kongyi remained standing there, not leaving for a long time.
Master Kongyi knew that address all too well; it was his favorite secluded retreat from the world when he was young.
That bamboo grove courtyard was even designed and built by him personally; the bamboo chairs and stools in the courtyard were all made by his own hands.
The past came flooding back like a tide. He closed his eyes, trying to shake off these old memories, but they remained vivid in his mind.
He sighed, a touch of melancholy rising in his heart. For so many years, he had been accompanied by Buddha every day, and outsiders all said that he was a master of Buddhism.
But only he knew that he was still just an ordinary mortal, unable to sever ties with his past and forget those he had known.
The image of the girl in white resurfaced in his mind, and a sharp pain shot through his heart.
Beautiful people and things are always fleeting, like fireworks, like rainbows, like Bai Chanzi, the eldest daughter of the Bai family.
On the day of Bai Chanzi's funeral, the procession passed by his temple. He was deeply saddened and even hand-copied a hundred copies of scriptures for her.
At that moment, he realized that all his years of cultivation had been completely useless.
He will never forget this woman in his life.
He even secretly visited Bai Chanzi's grave several times, each time setting off at dawn and returning after dark.
He would sit by her grave and talk to her all day long.
Facing the tombstone, he always seemed a little unrestrained. He called her Chanzi, Chan'er, Xiaozi. Whenever he was moved, he would reach out and wipe the tombstone with his sleeve, and tears would slowly flow down his face.
When he stood outside that bamboo grove again after many years, looking at the familiar little bamboo house, he felt timid.
He dared not go in, and he didn't know who Qiao Qingshu had asked him to perform the ritual for.
"Master Kongyi, aren't you going in?"
Qiao Qingshu stood behind him and asked with a smile.
After hesitating for a moment, Master Kongyi still stepped inside. At that moment, Jiu'er, who had gone out to hang up the clothes, came out carrying a basin.
Then they saw Qiao Qingshu and a monk walking in. Jiu'er didn't recognize Qiao Jishen, after all, Qiao Jishen had changed a lot.
He immediately laughed and shouted inside.
"Master, the young lady has come to see you."
"Hey, here I am."
A soft female voice came from inside the room.
This caused the slowly advancing mage Kongyi to immediately stop. He sensed something was wrong; the voice was all too familiar to him.
He turned to look at Qiao Qingshu in disbelief, completely losing his composure.
"Shu'er, is that your mother in the room?"
Qiao Qingshu smiled and winked mischievously.
"Alright, don't call me benefactor this time."
He then pointed inside the house and said...
"Go in and you'll find out."
Master Kongyi turned his head, wanting to go into the house to find out what was going on, and his eyes met those of the white-clad woman who came out of the house.
Bai Chanzi was holding a dumpling in her hand, wearing an apron around her waist, and her temples were smeared with white powder. She was making dumplings with Xiao Caiwei.
Looking at the person in front of her, Bai Chanzi's expression froze, and her body stood still.
Xiao Caiwei, who was inside, also came out upon hearing the sound. Seeing Bai Chanzi standing there in a daze, she teased her.
"What's wrong? Why are you standing there so blankly? What did you see that made you look like that?"
After saying that, he also looked up and glanced outside, his eyes widening in disbelief, and said...
"This is...Master Qiao?"
Both families were nobles from the capital, and the Qiao and Xiao families were not strangers to each other. They had met at a gathering when they were young, and later, when they learned about Bai Chanzi and Qiao Jishen's unfulfilled relationship, they sighed for a long time.
Now, when we meet again, we are separated by the long river of time, and everything has changed.
Master Kongyi took a deep breath, his heart already rippled with emotion. Seeing Bai Chanzi, whom he had longed for for many years, still alive and well standing before him, he couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.
"Chanzi, you...you're still alive?"
At this moment, he even forgot his usual farewells and realized that he had lost his composure.
I lowered my head, trying to compose myself, but then I heard a gentle response.
"Yes, Jishen, I am still alive."
He looked up again, and their eyes met; both of their eyes were already wet with tears.
Xiao Caiwei hurriedly said from the side,
"Don't stand at the door, come in and talk."
She then asked Jiu'er and Huan'er to make tea, while Xiao Caiwei dragged the two wooden-like people into the house.
Qiao Jishen seemed to still be in disbelief, staring at her intently, as if afraid that Bai Chanzi would vanish in the blink of an eye.
Bai Chanzi also seemed a little uncomfortable, and a blush even appeared on her snow-white face.
When Qiao Qingshu recounted the details of her mother's faked death to Qiao Jishen, even including the story of her grandmother scheming to marry her mother to Qiao Jizhou, Qiao Jishen's expression grew increasingly serious. He even stood up and said something after hearing this.
"These are all true!"
Bai Chanzi nodded with a wry smile.
"it is true."
Suddenly, his head throbbed with pain. Qiao Jishen clutched his head, overwhelmed with endless regret. He hadn't known anything at all!
All those years of running away turned out to be a mistake.
If he had stayed and fought back then, perhaps he could have rescued Bai Chanzi from the fire sooner.