Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 358 - 357: Separated by a Galaxy

Chapter 358: Chapter 357: Separated by a Galaxy

Liao Chen continued, "...I’ve always felt that Dabao looked familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I’d seen him. It was only today that it occurred to me that he resembles the Ninth Prince somewhat. Then I remembered his maternal grandmother, Mrs. Wang, was the woman who found the child in the woods back then. If I hadn’t twisted my ankle that day, I would certainly have taken the child to Tang Garden to raise him there... How could such a coincidence occur!"

Chu Lingxuan said, "Indeed, back then, when the emperor was worried that the Ninth Prince’s leg would never heal, he allowed Shan Jieyu to become pregnant again. Shan Jieyu did not disappoint the emperor’s favor, and indeed gave birth to another prince. Fearing another mishap, the emperor had my father take him away to be raised among the people. My father would have surely placed him in the most reliable place, and also, considering that mother was too lonely, he planned for the mother to find him and raise him in Tang Garden. This would ensure his safety and he could often stay by mother’s side, providing her with some consolation. Once I returned from the border, I could acknowledge him as my son and provide him with a good education. Who would have thought that there would be a mishap..." He laughed again, "It’s as if fate had its own plans. After all the twists and turns, he ended up becoming my adopted son."

Liao Chen’s eyes reddened, and she said, "It is the women who suffer the most when men are accomplishing big things. Shan Jieyu first had to watch her son suffering from illness, then had to endure the pain of being separated from her child. And as for me..."

Chu Lingxuan knew that his mother, afraid of him being sad, never referred to herself as a poor nun in front of him. Now, however, she used this self-deprecating term. His heart raced, and he quickly said, "Mother, when the Ninth Prince successfully succeeds to the throne, or perhaps even before that, as soon as we take down the Second Prince’s party and the Ma family, we will bring you home."

Liao Chen, wiping away tears, said, "I’ve been living as a nun for eleven years, already accustomed to the Buddhist scriptures and the sounds of morning bells and evening drums. A few years ago, I was simply worried about you and Yan’er, which is why I couldn’t let go of worldly affairs and devote myself completely to Buddhism. Now, I’m worried about the child in Fu’er’s womb, hoping she can give birth to a boy, so that you will have a successor, and I will be able to rest easy. Once that wish is fulfilled, I will have let go of all my worldly troubles..." Having said this, her tears spilled over.

Chu Lingxuan said with sorrow, "Mother, we are trying our best to bring you back as soon as possible."

Liao Chen shook her head and then asked, "The man who was speaking with you, was it really him?"

Chu Lingxuan was startled for a moment, then nodded and said, "It was my father. He will stay at Lingyin Temple for three days. He...he said the time isn’t right yet and was afraid that you would be upset, so he can’t come to see you yet. In the future..."

Liao Chen covered her mouth and began to sob. After crying for a while, she dried her tears and clasped her hands together in prayer, "Amitabha Buddha."

Chu Lingxuan knew his mother was signaling for him to leave. He had no choice but to stand up and walk out of the small Zen room, to the sound of the Wooden Fish behind him.

Chu Lingxuan sat in the pavilion looking at the countless stars in the sky. Would his father’s dream and his own wish ever come true?

At this moment, his father was staying at Lingyin Temple at the foot of the mountain, while his mother was living at Yingxue Nunnery halfway up the mountain. They were only two miles apart, yet it felt as if they were separated by a river of stars...

The sound of the Wooden Fish went on until the middle of the night. When Chu Lingxuan returned to his Zen room to rest, he could still hear it, right until he fell into a dream.

At this moment, Chen Afu was watching Jin Yanzi cry helplessly in the spacious room. When she told Jin Yanzi that she needed another piece of Green Swallow’s Nest the size of a fingernail to save the Chu family, Jin Yanzi immediately opened her little pointed mouth and started crying.

She couldn’t refuse, as her owner had made the situation sound very serious. But she really didn’t want to give it up, either. She was unwilling.

Chen Afu also felt extremely upset and guilty, feeling that she had let her down. After Jin Yanzi had just helped her deal with her evil stepmother, she was making her upset again.

Her eyes were also red as she said, "Baby, I’m sorry, mommy has no other choice. Baby, what can I do? Besides you, who else can mommy ask for help... I’m also angry with that old monk, who is greedy for things and even lies..."

She was truly full of resentment towards the old monk this time. His words were so serious and vague, without revealing anything, she had no clue what he wanted. By doing this, the old monk was clearly threatening them into submitting. These actions, how could they be those of a senior monk!

Jin Yanzi cried while speaking, "That old bald donkey is too bad and too greedy. He has taken so many treasures from people, but still isn’t satisfied. He keeps asking for more and more, threatening people’s lives... It will take me a lot of time and essence to weave a nest that large. Does he think a piece the size of a nail is small? The measurement units of the Green Swallow’s Nest are strands of hair and eye crust... In the past, no owner had ever demanded this much in his entire life. But that old bald donkey, with one word, demanded a piece the size of a nail. Does he really think that the world would not survive without taking these things from me since I came here with you? I don’t believe it! He’s too wicked, too greedy, wuwuwu... My head hurts, my wings hurt, my beak hurts, my tongue hurts, my claws hurt, everything hurts, it’s unbearable, wuwuwu... Ah... Ah..."

Even YanYan and naughty Dabao’s voices were crying out.

Chen Afu felt even more guilty. Since coming to this different world, many difficulties have been resolved by this little cutie, and it has given her endless joy. But she keeps bringing trouble to it. However, she couldn’t say any comforting words, as they all seemed hollow, all she could do was cry with it.

The little one neither agreed nor refused. It just wept for a long time, cried until its little eyes were swollen, and gradually fell asleep. She didn’t even retreat into her Golden House, instead, she fell asleep right there on the floor, obviously too upset to care about anything anymore.

Chen Afu sighed, wiped away her tears, and had no choice but to leave and get some rest. She couldn’t bring up the matter of the three color beads again. She would discuss it with the bird when it was feeling better.

The next day, the sound of the Wooden Fish still echoed from Liao Chen’s Zen room, she didn’t come out.

The little nun who serves her said, "The abbot suggests that you eat and leave the mountain."

When Chen Afu saw Chu Lingxuan’s gloomy face, she guessed that he and his mother might have had an unpleasant evening. She didn’t say much, as she coaxed the two children into eating breakfast.

Dabao asked, "Where’s Jin Yanzi? I haven’t seen it since I woke up early in the morning."

Chen Afu said, "It may have gone to play in the forest."

After breakfast, the family of four went down the mountain.

By noon, they were back at Tang Garden. After Chen Afu and Chu Lingxuan washed up in Yanxiang Pavilion, she saw Chu Lingxuan wanted to go to the front courtyard to find Old Marquis Hou, so she stopped him and dismissed the servants.

She told him about meeting Master Wu Zhi and the deal she made with him. However, she withheld the part about the Green Swallow’s Nest and only mentioned the condition of having Jin Yanzi find the three-colored balls.

Both Chu Lingxuan and his grandson knew that the last three-colored ball was found by Jin Yanzi. They knew she was not just an ordinary bird, so there was no harm in telling them this.