Shao Yanru arrived at Huaguang Temple at noon but was stopped by the reception monk near the temple on the way to Shao Wanru’s yard.

“Master, I’m here to see Fifth Sister. Grandma asked me to explain what happened this morning to Fifth Sister!” Shao Yanru bowed extremely courteously to the monk who stopped her and spoke in a delicate tone. She was gentle and looked very likable with her gorgeous face.

However, she did not run into an ordinary monk!

“Miss Shao, Fifth Miss is not receiving guests now. She’s recovering from her illness and is spending the rest of the time copying scriptures and praying for blessings. I’m afraid she can’t see you!”

The reception monk bowed with good manners.

Shao Yanru delicately pleaded. “It’ll be fine. I’ll leave after I explain. I won’t interrupt her cultivation in seclusion!”

“First Miss, copying scriptures and praying for blessings require calmness and focus. I hope you won’t disturb her!” The reception monk shook his head with a smile.

“I’ll be fast. I only need a moment!” Shao Yanru grew agitated.

“Not even one moment. Serving requires being pious. Only when she’s pious will her prayers be answered. How can she be disturbed by trivial matters!” said the reception monk.

“Our Miss only wants to discuss with Fifth Miss the thing that happened in the morning. Our First Miss doesn’t know about the chests at all. Old Madam sent them, but people out there are all saying that it’s our First Miss’s fault. What exactly is happening!” Shuqi could not refrain from walking out from behind Shao Yanru and snapping to defend her master, while Shao Yanru seemed to be on the brink of tears, looking aggrieved!

“What happened in the morning is our fault. Fifth Miss Shao is a distinguished royal guest and poor in health. She shouldn’t be disturbed by anyone. People of the Ministry of Justice came, so we let so many people in, and the incident took place. Now that everything has settled down, First Miss should stop dwelling on it too!” the reception monk said gently and pressed his palms together to slightly bow to Shao Yanru.

However, his feet did not move an inch.

“Why did you say our First Miss is dwelling on it? It’s just that Fifth Miss said something misleading, which led to people gossiping about our First Miss!” Shuqi said indignantly.

Her words were a little disrespectful; it seemed that she really got carried away.

“Miss Shao, Fifth Miss is from the royal family and is now cultivating in seclusion in our temple. If something were to happen to her in our temple, both we and Miss Shao couldn’t take responsibility! If someone overheard what you said, they could charge you with smearing her reputation, and even your First Miss would be implicated!” The monk’s face fell as he spoke in a displeased tone.

…

“I…” Shuqi was almost livid with range. She was stopped by Shao Yanru when she was going to snap.

“Thank you, master. My servant girl has been impolite. When will Fifth Sister have a rest? I’ll meet her when she takes a break!” Shao Yanru inhaled deeply to suppress her irritation, trying hard to hold back the bubbling anger.

She used to think that the matter would never be traced back to her, but she did not expect Shao Wanru’s servant girl to be so audacious, hinting that she hurt Shao Wanru and also telling all of her past relevant affairs. When she heard people say that she was an extremely sinister girl who envied Shao Wanru and schemed against Shao Wanru again and again, either to ruin Shao Wanru’s reputation or to kill Shao Wanru, she just wanted to vomit blood because of anger!

She intended to escape unscathed, but actually, she got trapped deep in trouble. Shao Yanru knew that the longer the words circulated, the uglier they would get. She could only hurry to the mountain and wanted to act like Shao Wanru’s close sister in front of people. Nevertheless, she didn’t expect to be cold-shouldered.

Huaguang Temple was different from Yuhui Nunnery, so she did not dare to put on a harsh attitude. Judging from the Huaguang Temple monks, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to see Shao Wanru right now. Hopelessly, she could only gnash her teeth and take it lying down and go to an ordinary yard, saying that she would also stay at Huaguang Temple for a few days to present a lot of incense.

The reception monk led her to the yard where she would be staying. She found it very far away from Shao Wanru’s yard. One was in the east, and the other was in the west. It was nearly impossible for her to sneak over there.

Ordinary pilgrims were supposed to live far away from the distinguished guests of the royal family, and now, the monk purposely chose a yard even further for Shao Yanru. However, still, Shao Yanru could not protest. She could only wait, not believing that Shao Wanru was really cultivating in seclusion.

During the next few days, once Shao Yanru got time, she would wander around Shao Wanru’s yard, thinking that whenever she met Shao Wanru, she could “display their sisterhood” with her. However, the door of Shao Wanru’s yard had always been tightly shut.

Every day, only the little food-delivering monk would come, carrying a food basket.

Shao Yanru also thought about sneaking near the yard with Shuqi. Nevertheless, they would always be stopped by Huaguang Temple monks before they even got to the door. They would always put on professional faces and advise Shao Yanru to leave that area, saying that this was where Fifth Miss Shao cultivated in seclusion and no one was allowed to trespass.

After doing this a few times, Shao Yanru felt angered and resentful, and at the same time, hopeless. This was Huaguang Temple, not Yuhui Nunnery, where she had stayed for long and had some connections left. If it had been Yuhui Nunnery, she could still have seen Shao Wanru even if the latter claimed to be cultivating in seclusion, but she just could not do so in Huaguang Temple.

Huaguang Temple had a strong background and did not fear a daughter from an aristocratic family like her. With a connection to the royal family, Huaguang Temple dared to do many things other temples did not, like blocking Shao Yanru, the eldest daughter of lineal descent in an aristocratic family, at the yard door and stopping her from going an inch closer.

While feeling angry and anxious, Shao Yanru finally realized that she and Shao Wanru were different in their mothers’ families. Her mother’s family was, after all, weaker compared to Shao Wanru’s royal bloodline, which was her weakness when she faced Shao Wanru.

If her mother had been Infanta Qinghua and Rui’an Great Elder Princess had been her grandmother, she would not have ended up in such a plight.

She used to think that her mother had been smart enough to marry into Duke Xing’s Mansion from her relatively small family and also to have the entire Duke Xing’s Mansion in the palm of her hand.

Nevertheless, now, she could only wait anxiously and angrily in a yard for normal guests for Shao Wanru to walk out one day!

This was because she was not from the royal family. If she had been a daughter in the royal family, how could she have been treated so unfairly? Every time she thought of that, Shao Yanru would gnash her teeth in anger. If things continued in this way, all the previous plans would fail.

She had to meet with Shao Wanru and discuss the past matters with her. She had to make all the people think that she was on good terms with her sister Shao Wanru.

This was a royal temple that restricted her in some ways. However, it must have done that to Shao Wanru too!

She was patient enough to wait…

“Miss, Miss Shao is still staying at Huaguang Temple and wanders near our yard occasionally!” Qing’er went in to report something that Yujie and Qu Le could not track.

“Just let her. Anyway, I don’t plan to go out anytime soon!” Shao Wanru put down her pen, stretched her wrist, and spoke calmly!

She chose Huaguang Temple exactly because its status was different from that of other temples. Even with the status of Duke Xing’s Mansion, Shao Yanru was incapable! Huaguang Temple might compromise one time, but there would not be a second time, which would seem intentional!

When the farce took place, no monks from Huaguang Temple showed up even when it was such a big scene, which meant that someone had instructed them to do so. Nevertheless, they could not do it one more time. Therefore, she specially asked Qu Le to tell the monks that she would either take time to recover or copy scriptures and would not receive guests!

She meant to tell Huaguang Temple that she did not want to see anyone, which was a somewhat official notice to the temple: If something like this happens again, Huaguang Temple can’t avoid it even if it wants to.

The first time could be an accident; they could say that they failed to take care of Shao Wanru properly since she just came and did not notice such a thing had happened. But, if such an accident took place again after she informed them, even Huaguang Temple could not shirk the responsibility. Moreover, even her grandmother could interfere to inquire about the matter!

“Miss, even though First Miss wanders, it won’t change anything. Now, words must have gotten ugly out there! She’s just too sinister—scheming against you all the time and dreaming of pushing all those matters onto others!” Yujie said indignantly while bringing in a cup of tea.

Shao Wanru’s subordinates did not have any good impressions of Duke Xing’s Mansion and hated the evil Miss Shao even more.

“If she gets close to my yard and sees me, she’s bound to act like we’re close. She’ll even intentionally hurt herself to force me to act like that,” said Shao Wanru with calm eyes. She picked up the teacup by her hand, took a sip, and spoke indifferently.

Yujie became restless. “Then will you hide from her all the time?”

“It won’t be long. Grandmother said that the two princes are soon going to officially start selecting consorts. I might be a candidate!” Shao Wanru said flatly. She could not be sure about it either. Her grandmother just mentioned it and seemed to imply that she should also take part in it.

However, the Shao Yanru in this life was not the Shao Yanru in the last life, after all. She could not have all the advantages. When she lost them, Shao Yanru would panic and would definitely take another shortcut when she failed to seek any profits after sticking around Shao Wanru for a while. She would never put all her eggs in one basket.

Moreover, there was one more baffling thing that kept haunting her dreams these days. She even could not tell if she was living in the past or the current life!

There was a tunnel under the main room. The tunnel went past the silence room and probably Shao Yanru’s room too. Shao Wanru remembered that when Shao Yanru returned, her room got quite noisy as well and she wouldn’t let people mess around with it, even though her empty main room had always remained quiet.

Lying in bed at night, she was still thinking. Shao Yanru really seemed to know about the tunnel that should lead deep into Yuhui Nunnery. Behind the high wall, Commandery Prince Qing had already appeared, so what was the use of the tunnel and why were they still digging it?

Or had the tunnel been dug long ago? If that was the case, did this matter have something to do with Commandery Prince Qing?

She seemed to forget a very important thing. What was it? In a blur, she seemed to see Shao Yanru standing in a pavilion in a fancy dress. Shao Yanru looked down at her as she was kneeling and Shao Yanru slightly curved her lips. Shao Yanru smiled gently and elegantly, as if what was kneeling in front of her was just an ant.

Who was beside Shao Yanru? There were so many people, men and women, and Shao Wanru couldn’t see clearly…