Green Mountain-Chapter 499 - 373: Green Words

Princess Yongchun was momentarily stunned, then started to laugh as well: "Truly wonderful."

Bai Li looked at Princess Yongchun’s demeanor, always feeling that she wasn’t truly mad, but it seemed unimportant now.

She went to the ear room, scooped up clean water from the large water jar to wash her face, loosened her hair, and combed it neatly again, tidying herself up.

She returned to the back hall, reaching out to help Princess Yongchun tie up her hair again, revealing her original face, and the traces that time had left on it: "Don’t disgrace yourself, Brother Zhuoyuan would definitely be saddened to see this."

Princess Yongchun rambled on, "Bodhisattva, you were once a clay Bodhisattva, now you are a living Bodhisattva."

Bai Li inserted a wooden hairpin for her, speaking to herself: "Only fifteen days left... The last time he came, I didn’t dare to turn back to properly look at him; I don’t even know how much effort he had put to get here, he must have been very upset that day. But this time there’s another chance, I don’t know if I’ll be able to talk to him, saying even one sentence would be good."

Princess Yongchun suddenly reached out and touched Bai Li’s cheek: "Don’t take the water route."

Bai Li was startled: "What do you mean?"

But Princess Yongchun reverted to her foolish state, not answering anymore.

Zhu Lingyun returned to the back hall at night, just about to talk to her sister, sharing the palace secrets she heard during the day, but found her already turned away and fast asleep on her bed.

She hesitated for a moment, removed her clothes, crawled into bed, and softly called out to her sister, with no response.

Zhu Lingyun wrapped herself tightly in the blanket and turned over to sleep.

As she turned, Bai Li, with her back to her, gently opened her eyes.

In the morning, the sound of the morning bell came.

Zhu Lingyun opened her eyes, called softly: "Sister..."

She instinctively reached out towards Bai Li’s side, but found it empty.

Zhu Lingyun sat up abruptly, only to find Bai Li had already gotten out of bed, just finished fastening her hair bun, and was walking out without looking back.

In the past, Bai Li would have coaxed her out of bed, and if she didn’t want to get up, she would stubbornly pull her up. It always felt annoying before, but today, with no one pulling her up, she felt an emptiness in her heart.

Just as she was about to get out of bed to catch up with Bai Li to say a few words, Du Miao entered with a basin of hot water, squatted down in front of her bed, wrung a warm towel dry, and handed it to her: "Steward Xuan Yun, wipe your face, we’ll help you dress, and then comb your hair."

Zhu Lingyun hesitated to speak, then after a moment delayed, ordered: "Use your rhinoceros horn comb, that comb smooths the hair well."

Du Miao beamed with joy: "Certainly."

...

...

As the day of the Silkworm God sacrifice approaches, the nuns became increasingly restless.

They gathered daily to discuss what kind of light makeup to wear, what hairpin to choose, and some nuns secretly narrowed the waists of their Daoist robes with needle and thread.

Bai Li attended morning classes, ate, wrote green words daily, then sat hugging her knees waiting for the eight hundred evening bells at sunset to finish tolling.

The back hall was bustling with people, the sun rose and fell, yet Bai Li seemed as if she never moved from her spot on the communal bed.

Zhu Lingyun stood outside the hall, anxiously glancing at Bai Li in secret: "What happened to my sister?"

Du Miao whispered at her side, "When Princess Yongchun first arrived she was like this too, then she gradually went mad."

Zhu Lingyun sharply turned her head, glaring at her: "Shut up, my sister won’t!"

Du Miao hurriedly changed the subject: "Steward Xuan Yun, in a few days it will be time to worship the Silkworm God, and you still don’t have a proper hairpin."

Zhu Lingyun didn’t care: "I think your plain silver hairpin is nice enough, lend it to me."

Du Miao was slightly startled, then lowered her voice: "I know Liu Pin Er has a Dian Cui flower hairpin, the Dian Cui was made with the neck feathers of eighteen hundred kingfishers, it’s a real treasure. Also, its color is elegant, just the right match for your new Daoist robe."

Zhu Lingyun shook her head: "Dian Cui is too luxurious, not suitable for a nun to wear."

Du Miao covered her mouth with a smile: "When the day comes to worship the Silkworm God, all the noblewomen from the Capital will attend, everyone showing off their beauty, who will care if we’re wearing luxurious or not? Besides, that day the Yulin Army will escort us, and scholars will accompany us."

Zhu Lingyun felt a slight temptation, but Du Miao didn’t wait for her to refuse and directly went into the back hall, standing in front of Liu Pin Er: "Take out your Dian Cui."

Liu Pin Er’s face twitched: "Why should I?"

Du Miao smiled: "The steward still needs a hairpin, she just arrived at Jingyang Palace and hasn’t accumulated any possessions yet, lend her yours for a bit. Don’t worry, it will be returned after the Silkworm God festival."

Liu Pin Er angrily retorted: "Dream on!"

Du Miao looked at the nuns around her: "Pin her to the bed, I’ll find it myself!"

The back hall erupted in commotion, Zhu Lingyun was startled and hastily looked at Bai Li, who sat hugging her knees, but she just stared blankly out the door, with no intention to intervene in the chaos.

Zhu Lingyun felt a pang of grievance arise in her heart, for it had been more than ten days since her sister had spoken to her.

At that moment, a nun ran in from outside, whispering in Zhu Lingyun’s ear: "Steward Xuan Yun, the Master calls for you to bring over all the green words everyone has written, she wants to review them."

Suppressing her feelings, Zhu Lingyun took a thick stack of green words from the Ancient Mirror Hall and headed to the Jingguan Hall.

Entering the door, Xuanzhen was just taking out some preserved fruits from the cabinet, placing them on the table with a radiant smile: "Have some."

Zhu Lingyun sat on the embroidered couch, picked a sugared plum, and popped it into her mouth, casually handing Xuanzhen the green words: "Master, all the green words are here, I’ve watched them write daily, not a single one is missing."

Xuanzhen stood by the incense burner, murmured an acknowledgment, and leisurely perused the green words.

She casually drew out Bai Li’s pages one by one, lifted the lid of the incense burner, then cast all Bai Li’s written green words into the red-hot coals within.

As Xuanzhen replaced the lid on the burner, Zhu Lingyun finally reacted. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

She lunged forward frantically, trying to retrieve the green words from the incense burner: "What are you doing? You’ve burned the green words, my sister will be punished by the Divine Chief Eunuch, without them how can she participate in the Silkworm God festival? Are you mad?"

Xuanzhen gently pressed a hand on Zhu Lingyun’s shoulder, the hand felt as weighty as a thousand jun, rendering her immobile.

Xuanzhen smiled faintly: "Your sister harbors great malice, as if possessed by external demons, how can she casually leave Jingyang Palace? Without this Three Pure Ones statue, she would be unrestrained beyond the palace."

Zhu Lingyun’s eyes reddened: "You’re the demon! Let go of me!"

Flames slowly rose from the incense burner, devouring the written green words.

Xuanzhen spoke calmly: "There are still three days until the Silkworm God ceremony, you have two choices, either keep your mouth shut and don’t let her know, so you can continue as the steward; or tell her now, with her talent surely within three days she can rewrite the green words, then both of you can leave the palace together."

She released her grip from Zhu Lingyun’s shoulder and stepped back.

Zhu Lingyun got up and ran out: "I’ll go tell her right now!"

Xuanzhen chuckled: "Go ahead, tell her this, and tomorrow I will replace you with someone else as the steward. Who to choose... perhaps Liu Pin Er would be good, she used to be a concubine in the palace, managing over a hundred people, and she’s killed more than that."

Zhu Lingyun’s pace gradually slowed, eventually stopping at Jingguan Hall’s entrance, her body trembled slightly, yet she dared not open the hall door.

Xuanzhen burst into laughter: "You see, where does the demon really linger?"