"Baoyu's mother, what kind of nonsense are you talking about? You gave birth to Baoyu for our Ye family and have been serving me and your mother-in-law all these years. If it weren't for you, who knows how we would be living now? Now that you say you want to leave, isn't that the same as taking the lives of us two old people? Stop talking such nonsense!" Ye Yuxiu said, banging his cane on the ground.
"Yes, Minying, if you leave, what will your father and I do? We're both counting on you to support us in our old age. Regardless of whether Zhu'er is adopted or not, there's no way we can let you leave the Ye family. Come, hurry up and get up." Guan Shi came in from outside and reached out to help Zhao Shi up.
"Father, mother..." Zhao's words were cut off by Ye Zhuo: "Aunt, brother is not killed by you, don't put such a sin on your own head, and don't say you want to leave. Even if Zhuo'er was adopted, she would still treat you as her mother. Otherwise, how could Zhuo'er bear it? In the future, Zhuo'er will still need your love, how can you leave?"
"But..." Zhao's mouth had just opened when Ye Zhuo continued: "Aunt, rest assured, I'm a hardy person, no one can bully me. Besides, if you don't agree, I'll be married off to those old men as a concubine and live a life worse than death. It's better for me to die instead. You agreeing to let Zhuo'er call you mother is saving my life. Since you're such good people with Uncle and Aunt, heaven will surely bless us with no disasters or difficulties."
"Yu'er is right." Gu's family helped Zhao's family up, "Our Pu'er's life was ruined by Jiang Xing, he will definitely get his retribution. You silly child, how could you put the blame on yourself and let yourself suffer in vain? As for the adoption matter..." She glanced at Ye Yuqi and stopped talking.
Although she had a good impression of Ye Zhuo and believed that she was not the kind of person Ye Yu Zhang was, you can't know someone's heart no matter how well you think you know them. Who knows what the truth is? If Ye Zhuo really was sent by Ye Yu Zhang, then adopting her would be like inviting a wolf into their home.
"How could your grandfather possibly agree to adopt him?" Ye Yuqi asked Ye Zhuo, taking over the conversation from Guan Shi.
"He naturally won't agree. As I've already reached adulthood and am the legitimate daughter, it can be said that I'm his biggest bargaining chip for marriage alliances. How could he easily let me go? Even if you personally went to talk to him, he still wouldn't agree."
Ye Yuqi looked at her with a puzzled expression: "Then what you said earlier about adoption..."
"I have my own way of dealing with the matter of adoption. I only hope that the three elders can take in Yu'er when she has nowhere else to turn. Of course, if Grandfather suspects that Ye Zhuo is trying to covet the wealth of the main house, then let's just forget what was said today. Goodbye!" Ye Zhuo bowed and turned to leave the room.
Ye Yuqi understood the defensive thoughts of Guan's family, but she didn't want to explain it in words. When she broke up with Ye Jia's second house, it was time to show her intention. Otherwise, no matter how much she said, it would be useless. Of course, if the first house still hesitated because of suspicion, she would turn around and leave without looking back.
"Old man..." Watching Ye Xiang's thin figure disappear at the gate of the courtyard, Guan Shi felt a little unbearable.
"Let's see about that." Ye Yuqi sighed and stopped talking.
Qiu Yue followed Ye Zhuo out of the main house and saw that she was not heading towards the east wing, but rather walking outside. She couldn't help but call out: "Miss."
Ye Chou stopped in his tracks, turned around and said to Qiu Yue: "Don't worry, when I leave the second house, I will definitely make arrangements for you and Qiu Ju."
"I'm not worried about that." Autumn Moon shook her head. She had followed Ye Zhen for four or five years, and no matter how Ye Zhen's personality had changed, his kind heart had always remained the same. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been so devoted to him either. No matter what happened in the future, Ye Zhen would never treat her and Autumn Chrysanthemum unfairly, of this she was confident.
"The slave is wondering, are we going to Zheng's house now? Should we hire a horse carriage?" she asked.
"I'm not going to the Zheng's house today, I'll go to Guangneng Temple instead. You can hire a carriage for me." Ye Zhuo said. She wasn't the real Ye Zhuo, so she had a responsibility to take care of the Zheng family, but didn't have any dependent or affectionate feelings towards them. Today's events weren't something that the Zheng family could share in, telling them would be pointless and only add to their worries. She was going to Guangneng Temple for more important matters.
"Guang Neng Temple?" Qiuyue looked at Ye Zhuo, wanting to speak but hesitating, intending to dissuade her from going so far. But thinking about what happened today, knowing that Ye Zhuo was unhappy in her heart, she ultimately didn't say anything and quickly ran out to find a carriage. As soon as Ye Zhuo walked out, a carriage stopped at the entrance of the alley.
Guangneng Temple is the temple with the most prosperous incense in Nanshan Town. The reason why it has the most prosperous incense is that the abbot of the temple, Master Eren, had told Nie Guifei's fortune when she was still a little girl and said that her fate was noble and unspeakable. In the autumn of that year, Nie Guifei was favored by the emperor who was still a prince and entered the palace as a concubine. Later, relying on her son, she became the most honorable woman in the world after the childless empress died.
The Guangneng Temple was built on a mountain not far from Nanshan Town. In the time it took to eat a meal, the horse carriage stopped in front of the temple gate. Ye Zhuo let Qiuyue pay the money, then climbed up the steps and walked all the way to the top of the mountain.
After dying and being reborn, Ye Zhuo had an extreme reverence for the gods. He first went to the Daxiong Treasure Hall, where he respectfully burned incense and worshipped Buddha. Only then did he find a monk and say: "I don't know if I can borrow the temple's chessboard for use? I'd like to set up a leftover game and ask Master Nengren for guidance."
Neng Ren Master was a high-ranking monk who gained great fame for helping the imperial concubine to obtain a noble fate. As a result, many people tried every means to get close to him, hoping that he would also give them a noble fate, which made Neng Ren Master extremely annoyed and he flatly refused all requests. However, he was also a chess enthusiast and enjoyed playing against others. Therefore, some people often used the excuse of seeking guidance on chess skills to achieve their goals. After being deceived several times, Neng Ren Master no longer wanted to play chess with unfamiliar guests.
As soon as Ye Zhuo spoke these words, the monk's face changed and he smiled and said: "Sorry, sir, our abbot is not convenient to see guests."
Ye Chou still said calmly: "It doesn't matter if we don't meet, I'll just leave a chess puzzle and go, no need to see Master Neng Ren."
Since they said it wasn't necessary to meet in person, leaving a chessboard behind wouldn't be a big deal. Anyway, the chessboard was left there, and Master Yiren could look at it if he wanted to, or not look at it if he didn't want to, without any hindrance. The monk didn't say anything else, just said "Please wait a moment", and then went out of the hall. Not long after, he brought in a chessboard and handed it to Ye Zhuo.
Ye Zhuo set up a chessboard with a leftover game, handed it to the monk, made a gesture of courtesy, and then took Autumn Moon away from the Great Hero Treasure Hall, heading towards the mountain gate.
"Miss, what was that just now..." Autumn Moon suddenly felt that she couldn't understand Ye Zhuo any more.
The Ye family was just a merchant's household, and Old Master Ye Yuzhang's requirements for his granddaughter were that she should be good at needlework, recognize some characters, and learn some etiquette. If the needlework is good, the embroidered products can sell for a higher price; if you can recognize characters and understand etiquette, you can get more chips when you get married, which will bring greater benefits to the Ye family. Apart from this, things like playing the piano, chess, calligraphy, and painting are useless and wasteful, so Old Master Ye Yuzhang looked down on them. Therefore, Autumn Moon didn't know when Ye Zhuo learned to play chess, but she could actually set up a chessboard with a residual situation.
"That remaining chessboard, I've only seen it in books, and specifically, I don't understand it either." Ye Zhuo explained.
She was known as the talented woman of the capital in her previous life, and she was proficient in chess, piano, calligraphy, and painting. After rebirth, she found that these things were not very useful for making a living, and were not as practical as embroidery. Fortunately, now they can be used, as long as the monk can deliver this残局 to Master Nengren, she is confident that she can get an audience with Master Nengren and achieve her goal.
"Oh." Qiuyue suddenly realized, just about to speak, when a man's voice came from beside her: "Miss, using the chessboard you've been studying, wanting to see Master Nengren, I'm afraid it won't work."
Two people turned their heads to look, but saw a young man of seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing a purple cloud-patterned embroidered flower brocade robe, with an eight-treasured agate crown on his head, his face as white as jade, his eyebrows and eyes clear and bright, slowly walking up from the foot of the mountain. Behind him, two men dressed as servants followed, carrying poles on their shoulders.
Thanks Qin Mu Jin and Ning Yu for the peace talisman!