Chapter 366: Chapter 366 He Enters Her Dreams Every Night_1
 

Wenya let out a deep sigh,

“Ayun, actually, so many years have passed. The truth of the matter doesn’t matter anymore. After all, Gu Yuanzhou… is already dead. Let all grievances return to dust. The more you know, the more regret you’ll have in your heart, and the more pain you’ll feel.”

“It hurts, yes, but I don’t want to deceive myself for a lifetime in a daze.”

“But, with Gu Yuanzhou gone, and he has no parents or siblings, where will you go to find the truth?”

No sooner had Wenya asked this question,

than Su Peisheng gave me the answer, “Doesn’t he have an aunt in the Nun’s Nunnery at Qingmu Mountain?”

Wenya immediately kicked him again, “It’s always you who has the smarts, always you who can’t keep his mouth shut, you’d feel uncomfortable if you didn’t speak up, right?”

I patted Wenya’s arm, “It’s okay, he’s right. Actually, even if he hadn’t said it, I would have thought of it myself. I plan to go there tomorrow to check it out.”

“Ayun, there’s really no need. Let bygones be bygones!”

I didn’t argue with Wenya.

I’m the kind of person who likes things clear-cut, everything laid out clearly.

There can be no confusion.

This late-night meal lasted a long time, until one o’clock in the morning.

Wenya claimed to have drunk too much and insisted on staying at my place for the night.

I could tell she wasn’t really drunk, she just wanted an excuse to stay with me.

I didn’t keep her, instead, I persuaded her and Su Peisheng to go home.

We’re all adults now.

No matter how tough the barrier, I can get over it myself.

That night, I couldn’t fall asleep.

Tossing and turning in bed, rolling around with my pillow, despite desperately wanting to sleep, my mind was unusually alert.

Only at dawn did I manage to drift off in a daze.

However, I hadn’t slept long when I was awakened by the sound of the doorbell.

When I got out of bed to open the door, there stood Shen Yishu, his left hand holding a packaged breakfast, his right hand clutching a document bag.

Upon closer inspection, it was indeed the letter from Gu Yuanzhou that I’d left in the car.

“Such heavy dark circles, you didn’t sleep well last night again?”

“Yeah, I had insomnia!”

“I think, maybe you should consider taking some of the medicine Dr. Jiang prescribed you,” Shen Yishu suggested as he placed the packaged breakfast on the table.

After brushing my teeth and washing my face, I felt utterly drained when I finally sat down on the chair.

For some reason, I had dreamt about Gu Yuanzhou all night long.

Sometimes in my dream, I saw him in the courtroom, staring at me with bloodshot eyes, bitterly asking, Ayun, do you want me to die?

“Ayun?”

I looked up sharply, and Shen Yishu was watching me.

“Uh, what’s up, what did you just call me?”

“Called you Xiaoyun, what’s wrong? Xiaoyun, you look really pale, are you sick?”

“I’m fine, maybe I’ve just caught a cold recently and I’m a bit weak.”

“Oh, eat this breakfast then! I’ll go with you to see the doctor later.”

“I don’t need to see a doctor, it’s just a minor illness…”

In fact, I wasn’t hungry at all, not the slightest appetite.

But since Shen Yishu had gone to the trouble of buying it, I couldn’t dismiss his kindness.

And besides, eating breakfast is something everyone should do.

I nibbled on a little bit.

Shen Yishu just sat silently next to me, watching me.

After a long while, he said,

“Hasn’t Ding Yinuo come back yet?”

“No, he hasn’t!”

“Then you two…”

“I don’t want to talk about it, Shen Yishu, I need to go out.”

“Where are you going?”

I grabbed a windbreaker and, clutching my bag, looked at Shen Yishu, “You go to work, I’ll handle my matters myself.”

“Xiaoyun, let me be your driver today, just tell me where you want to go. Don’t worry, I won’t interfere with your affairs. I just see that you’re in this state and am afraid you’ll faint outside. It’s better if I’m nearby to look after you.”

I couldn’t refuse Shen Yishu when he put it like that.

So, I nodded in agreement.

When the two of us stepped out, the sky was overcast.

Shen Yishu drove, and after I got into the car, he handed me a box of chocolates.

“Where to?”

“Qingmu Mountain!”

Shen Yishu really did honor his promise, not asking any superfluous questions.

That place was indeed far and secluded.

It took over an hour to reach our destination.

Shen Yishu parked the car at the parking lot at the foot of the mountain, and I pushed open the car door to step out.

Somehow, it had started to drizzle. The rain was light, but it felt ice-cold on my face.

I took a long, deep look towards the eaves of the temple in the woods and then began to walk up the mountain path, with Shen Yishu following behind, holding an umbrella aloft.

“Xiaoyun, wait up. Don’t go so fast; the mountain roads are slippery.”

“Okay, sure!”

It took nearly half an hour for the two of us to walk up the mountain.

The mountain path was difficult to navigate on a good day, let alone slippery from the rain.

Throughout the journey, I was fortunate to have Shen Yishu supporting me; otherwise, I would have truly ended up covered in mud.

We finally reached the nunnery, only to find the doors tightly shut.

After knocking for a long while, an old nun came to open the door. After we explained our purpose,

The old nun shook her head and said,

“She is not seeing visitors anymore!”

“Master, please convey a message to Gu Xinlan for me. I really have urgent business with her.”

The old nun sighed and said,

“Originally, Miaohui practiced her devotion while keeping her hair, and she had only one worldly concern, which was her nephew. Last month, her niece passed away, and after she brought back the urn, she requested to be ordained! Now her worldly ties have ended, her heart has died, and she will not see anyone from the secular world again. Please, both of you, go back!”

Such words were bitterly heartbreaking to hear.

Gu Yuanzhou was probably Gu Xinlan’s only concern in life.

Her last kin.

His death was a fatal blow to Gu Xinlan.

It was only natural that she refused to see us.

The old nun was about to close the door after speaking.

Shen Yishu quickly said,

“Master, our visit today was to fulfill a vow. Once we have offered incense to the Bodhisattva and completed our vow, we will leave. You see, on this rainy day, it wasn’t easy for us to climb the mountain, and several times we nearly fell off the cliffs. I was thinking that this might be a test from the Bodhisattva. You see, we persisted all the way up here; we can’t just leave without seeing the Bodhisattva, right?”

Moved by our muddied appearance, the old nun showed compassion and let us in.

Shen Yishu first made a donation for merit and then accompanied me to pay respects in the main hall…

After the old nun left, he turned to me and said, “You go to the back chamber to find Gu Xinlan. I’ll watch over things here for you.”

Then it hit me; his talk of fulfilling a vow was a ruse; the real aim was to find a way to let me in.

I had visited once before and knew where Gu Xinlan lived, so I headed straight for the back chamber.

Finally, in this simple room, I saw Gu Xinlan.

She was very different from before.

Dressed in a monk’s robe, her head shaved clean, she looked no different from the other nuns.

Now, she was kneeling on a meditation cushion, her small figure almost curled into a ball, a sight that struck a chord of pity.

Her fingers were moving through Buddha beads as she murmured sutras that I couldn’t understand.

I didn’t disturb her and just silently knelt beside her on another cushion.

I don’t know how long I knelt there for, only to be startled by the tolling of a heavy bell in the distance.

Only then did she stop her chanting, glanced at me, and sighed deeply, “Karmic ties, alas!”