Chapter 368: 169 Unsteady (Part One)

Translator: 549690339

Zhao Xiaohui had just finished venting her frustration when she received a phone call from her neighbor.

“Xiaohui, come back quickly. Something’s happened to Old Deng from your family!”

Zhao Xiaohui’s brain seemed to ring loudly, “What happened to my Old Deng?”

“He was taken away by an ambulance covered in blood. There are quite a few police officers here too, they say someone was killed… you better get back here quickly.”

“Murder?” Zhao Xiaohui’s face instantly turned pale: “You… you’re not trying to scare me, are you?”

“I don’t know if he killed anyone, but he definitely committed a crime. Your building’s entrance has been cordoned off by the police; this incident is becoming quite serious.”

Meanwhile, an ambulance whizzed through the hospital gates and made its way into the emergency room.

Zhao Xiaohui watched from a distance, her heart pounding involuntarily.

Anxiety surged within her.

Before she had even left the hospital, she received a call from the police station.

Ming Ti and Ming Chen climbed off the bus, carrying their school bags, as they excitedly headed home.

Seeing a slender and graceful figure standing in the garden from a distance, the two children excitedly ran towards her.

“Senior, we’re home.”

In early September, chrysanthemums blossomed all over the garden. Their pink and blue petals, accompanied by their proud and noble demeanor, drew the admiration of the onlookers. Pine and chrysanthemums still exist.

The girl in white standing among the flowers was even more pure and ethereal, with an otherworldly elegance.

Ming Jing turned her head, as streaks of golden sunlight from the setting sun cast a glow over the garden, seemingly highlighting her with its brilliance, an almost unbearable sight.

The cool autumn breeze swept through the leaves, swaying the shadows of the flowers, with their faint fragrance in the air.

Delicate skin and weak bones scattered like mysterious petals, with golden stamens reflecting the rosy glow.

The garden was filled with golden chrysanthemums, with a single frost-like cluster amidst them.

Ming Ti and Ming Chen held their breath, afraid of startling the person.

“How did it feel on your first day of school?” Ming Jing asked with a smile.

Her smile seemed to outshine the blooming flowers behind her.

Ming Chen looked dazed before replying, “Going to school is so much fun, Senior, let me tell you, I made many good friends. Everyone is so friendly; today we got new textbooks and everyone took turns introducing themselves. Ming Ti and I were the most popular among our classmates. I’m so happy, I wish it was already tomorrow morning so I could play with my friends again.”

Compared to Ming Chen’s excitement, Ming Ti appeared much calmer.

She glanced at the prayer beads in Ming Jing’s hand, “Senior, did you change your prayer beads?”

Prayer beads are one of the main tools for chanting and cultivating oneself. Since she could remember, Ming Jing never parted with that string of prayer beads. However, after returning this time, Ming Jing’s prayer beads were gone, and now she had a new strand.

Ming Jing touched the prayer beads on her fingertips and said softly, “I gave them to someone with destiny.”

Ming Ti frowned subconsciously.

As practitioners recited their prayers day and night, their prayer beads were infused with their thoughts and intentions. Accumulated over time, they had become powerful instruments. Their Master’s prayer beads were already enshrined with him.

Of the five sisters, the eldest could barely recite the Heart Sutra, Ming Chen was impulsive and impatient. She was told by their Master that she had too many distracting thoughts and an impure heart, unable to pursue her spirit, while little Xiao Wu was too young and had already returned to the secular world. Only Ming Jing had perfectly inherited her Master’s mantle; her cultivation was unfathomable, and her ever-present prayer beads were truly powerful instruments.

And yet, Ming Jing had gifted those beads to someone else, which meant that person must be very important to her.

The ordinary wooden prayer beads seemed to highlight those jade-like hands, delicate and slender, almost indescribable.

Ming Ti had always been more afraid of Ming Jing than respectful, and she never dared to ask about Ming Jing’s affairs. Ming Ti simply nodded and said, “Well, Senior, I’ll go to my room to prepare my lessons now. Ming Chen, don’t bother Senior anymore, let’s go.”

Ming Chen followed Ming Ti out of the garden, and the garden fell silent once again.

The sun set quietly in the west, and the last strand of light faded as it fell beyond the horizon, casting a sorrowful beauty upon the scene, like a beautiful woman in the twilight of her life.

The cool breeze brushed against her face, causing her skirt to flutter, while the Silver Lotus was bathed in golden light.

“A flower represents a world, a Buddha embodies a Tathagata.” Ming Jing’s gaze fell upon the golden flowers throughout the garden as she murmured softly.

The vast world was as vast as the sands of the Ganges, coming and going like the Tathagata.

Unbeknownst to her, the setting sun gave way to the rising stars, and a crescent moon hung from the treetops as night enveloped the sky.

Car noises came from outside the door, and as the gate opened, the respectful voice of Uncle Wen could be heard in the night breeze, “Madam, you’ve returned. And what about Miss Zhu Xiangxiang?”

His last words were filled with surprise.

“Uncle Wen, long time no see.” The girl’s gentle and husky voice echoed softly in the night.

Uncle Wen laughed awkwardly, glanced at Lin Qing, and his brows furrowed imperceptibly.

It seemed like just yesterday that Zhu Xiangxiang had left, and yet so little time had passed…