Chapter 19 (1/2)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Nearly half a month had gone by since the “jealous woman” incident. It was the middle of the last month of the year, and the weather was so cold that people would shiver in their boots.

Fortunately, Chu Yue and Hupo had gathered some charcoal before winter came about, so life was not very difficult for them.

When it was early morning, Hupo went out to sweep away snow after wrapping herself in so many clothes that she looked just like a dumpling. Chu Yue went off to exercise. Since Hupo asked her to play pitch-pot, she decided to play with it.

The master-servant pair saw Yuhe sweeping snow as well.

Yuhe was young. She was just around thirteen to fourteen years old. Since she had grown up in Shangqing Temple since she was young, she was rather naive and innocent.

Chu Yue liked her quite a lot.

“Did you rest well last night?” Chu Yue asked with a smile.

Yuhe looked at her and bowed. She also smiled. “Thank you for the charcoal you gave us, Female Patron. My senior sisters and I managed to sleep well last night.”

“That’s good.” Chu Yue nodded. Then, she continued to play pitch-pot.

Shangqing Temple had always lived a poor life, and they did not have a lot of charcoal to burn. Hupo had a good relationship with Yuhe, and she often went to look for her, so she knew that Yuhe barely had anything in her house. At one point, she mentioned it to Chu Yue.

Right now, the charcoal the master-servant duo used was the golden animal charcoal the monk gave them. They did not use the pure hardwood charcoal they bought earlier, so they gave some of it to Yuhe.

She burned it before sleep. Even if it did not last throughout the night, it was still enough to make her life much better.

The other nuns benefited because they happened to be with Yuhe. Due to Chu Yue giving Yuhe charcoal and how she had denied the rumors last time, right now, her reputation in the temple was pretty good.

However, in Grandmaster Jingmian, Yumei, and the others’ eyes, Chu Yue was trying to buy them over.

Yuhe had wanted to dissuade them from spreading rumors, but she could not, because Chu Yue did not give them a lot of charcoal. She only gave them a few catties. Since Shangqing Temple took donations from patrons, they would naturally accept charcoal.

Grandmaster Jingmian was still keeping a close eye on Chu Yue to one day catch her red-handed. Every time, she left early to cook, but a long time passed before she came back. If she were really just going there to cook, why did she need to spend so much time over there?

It was clear that there was some secret!

But Grandmaster Jingmian had learned just how devious the widow was. She had tried to commit suicide and even fainted. If Grandmaster Jingmian did not catch her red-handed, she would defend herself with all sorts of words. That was why Grandmaster Jingmian was very patient this time. She intended to wait until the widow let down her guard!

Chu Yue did not know that Grandmaster Jingmian had such grand ambitions. If she did, she might have actually gone to her to ask for a good way to improve her relationship with the monk so that Grandmaster Jingmian could catch them red-handed as soon as possible.

Ever since the conversation about jealousy, the monk seemed to have become slightly colder to her. Of course, that was just for show. She could tell that he still wanted her to go over.

But this made Chu Yue scoff at him coldly. Monks did not have any women with them, and once her monk became worldly again, he would naturally only belong to her. She would not let him have any thoughts of taking in more wives.

That was why Chu Yue decided to not humor him at all.

She only went there to cook and said nothing else to him.

On one day, Chu Yue went over to the temple again after putting on some foundation so that she looked very fragile. When she brought tasty vegetarian dishes to the monk, he was stunned and asked, “What’s wrong?

“Master, please eat. It’s cold, and if the food gets cold, it won’t be tasty.” Chu Yue smiled weakly. She did not say anything else.

The monk cast her a glance before he started eating. There was rice with assorted vegetables before him.