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At night, after the children had fallen asleep, Chen Feng went to the space and asked the Golden Swallow for a bit of swallow’s nest residue to treat Yang Chao’s arm. The Golden Swallow also liked Yang Chao and happily pecked a small toothpick for Chen Feng.
The green swallow nest in the space was extremely precious, and the Golden Swallow would never easily give it away, even to someone he liked. The leaves were next in value, not only for their strong fragrance but also because the leaves grew very slowly. However, the agarwood bark was more precious. With a large tree and many branches, as long as Golden Swallow approved of someone, he would give a little.
The next morning, as Chen Feng was playing with the three children in the west wing, Autumn hurried in from watering the watermelon field between Fengyuan and Luyuan. She reported, “Miss, Miss, something amazing has happened. There’s a watermelon vine in our watermelon field that has borne fruit. I noticed the vine blooming a few days ago, and today, it’s even more surprising—it has actually borne fruit.”
Chen Feng was also surprised and hurried to the field to see. The watermelon vines in the field were lush and healthy, and one of the vines had indeed borne two fist-sized watermelons.
She thought to herself that it must have been the Golden Swallow droppings in the air, and the droppings fell right into the soil of this vine.
Because of the diluted manure in this field and the five acres of watermelon field to the north, their growth was significantly better than the 80 acres of watermelon fields in Wangshan Village. They should be able to harvest the watermelons about ten days earlier than the fields there.
But the fact that this watermelon vine was already bearing fruit was quite extraordinary, and it wouldn’t be easy to explain it to others.
Chen Feng told Autumn, “This is really strange. Hurry and pull out this watermelon vine. Don’t tell anyone about it. Something abnormal is definitely sinister.”
Although Autumn was initially very excited, upon hearing her miss’s words, she had to stifle her pain and reluctantly pulled out the extraordinary watermelon vine.
Upon returning to the house, Chen Feng took the Golden Swallow, who had been playing happily with the children and Qiqi and Gray, into the bedroom, closed the door, and whispered, “In the future, when you need to drop, drop it into the chamber pot in the space or in the distant woods. Our crops are doing extraordinarily well, and we can’t afford any more unusual occurrences.”
The Golden Swallow also understood this reasoning and replied, “I was careless. Understood.”
Three days later, Chen Feng had finished sewing the two sets of plain clothes for Abbess Liao Chen and Dabao also wanted to go to the temple. They decided to go when he had a ten-day break.
On April 9th, Chu Hanyan couldn’t wait for Chu Lingxuan, and she couldn’t hide her disappointment. But at the thought of meeting her grandmother at Yingshuan Monastery tomorrow, she became happy again.
Early on the 10th, Chen Feng got up. She planned to make more snacks and pickled dishes, not only to send some to Abbess Liao Chen, but also to send some to the monk, Master Wuzhi. Remembering that the senior monk had said he wanted to eat something with a richer flavor last time, she asked Golden Swallow for a piece of nest residue about half the size of a toothpick.
Upon hearing that Chen Feng was going to Lingyin Temple to meet the wise senior monk, the Golden Swallow cleverly stayed in the space and didn’t come out. It was afraid that if it wasn’t in its nest, Chen Feng wouldn’t be able to resist the senior monk’s persuasion and would enter the space to take the green nest. It also warned Chen Feng, “Last time, the old bald donkey didn’t fulfill his promise. Most likely, today he’ll continue to ask for more. I’ll tell you, the green swallow nest is rare, and I would only give it to the person dearest to me and whom I like the most, and only if they are terminally ill. I won’t give it to anyone else. It’s not that I’m heartless, but with so many people suffering from illness in the world, can I save them all?”
Hearing that, Chen Feng was moved and held it in her hand, expressing her heartfelt thanks.
The Golden Swallow blinked his little green bean eyes and said, “Oh, I almost forgot someone. If something happens to Daddy Chu, I’ll help him too.”
Chen Feng tapped the bird’s head and said, “Annoying, he is himself, and I am myself. Stop linking us together all the time.”
The Golden Swallow touched his little head with the tip of his wing and muttered, “Daddy Chu has shown such concern, let’s see how long Mommy can hold on.”
At the hour of the snake (10:00 a.m.), Chen Feng led four children onto a carriage, accompanied by Steward Luo, ten guards, and several servants, heading towards the Honglin Mountain.
Upon arriving at the Lingyin Temple, Chen Feng, carrying two food boxes, got off the carriage with Autumn, followed by four guards, while the rest were directed to the Yingshuan Monastery.
She had already agreed with Dabao not to make a fuss, and he had promised. However, when she got off the carriage, Dabao still jumped down, tugging at Chen Feng’s clothes, saying, “Mother, I want to go too. Last time, Master Wuzhi saw me, and this time he will see me too.”
Seeing this, the three children in the carriage all clamored, “If Dabao goes, we want to go too.”
Chen Feng whispered to Dabao, “See? If you go, they all want to go. If Master Wuzhi sees only you and not them, they will definitely cry at the door.”
After some contemplation, Dabao reluctantly relented, but he didn’t want little Yan and little Qian to cry, so he sullenly allowed Steward Luo to lift him back onto the carriage.
As Chen Feng entered the Lingyin Temple, the young monk, who had previously escorted her, was waiting there. He folded his hands and said, “Lady, please come with this humble monk.”
Chen Feng and her entourage followed the young monk along the corridor to the back of the temple. Chen Feng guessed that this young monk might have been sent by the old monk again, so she had specially prepared a small bag of osmanthus glutinous red dates to give to him.
The young monk took it with a smile and said, “Thank you, lady.” He popped a date into his mouth, closing his eyes in delight at the fragrance.
Chen Feng asked, “What is the Dharma name of the young master?”
The young monk replied, “I am Guayi.”
Chen Feng chuckled inwardly at the choice of this Dharma name, which seemed more like that of a venerable monk than the old monk’s own name.
As they neared the bridge, they unexpectedly met the mysterious Ninth Lord (Ninth Prince) and his four attendants. He was still sitting in a wheelchair, his face slightly flushed, with a thin layer of sweat.
The young monk made way for them and stopped at the side to bow, saying, “Amitabha, please go slowly, benefactor.”
Chen Feng and her group quickly stood aside, bowing their heads.
The Ninth Lord nodded slightly at the young monk, then noticed Chen Feng standing next to him, looking slightly puzzled. Despite sitting down, he could still clearly see her.
The Ninth Lord and his group went past and headed towards the right, where there were several small meditation courtyards nestled among the trees in the distance.
Only then did Chen Feng and her group follow the young monk to the edge of the bridge.
After crossing the bridge, the young monk asked Autumn and the four guards to rest in the pavilion on the other side and led Chen Feng alone to the meditation room.
Inside the meditation room, a faint smell of agarwood lingered, mixed with a unique and elegant fragrance. Chen Feng could discern that it was somewhat like the leaves of Swallow Agarwood tree, only more delicate and lingering.