Business as usual

That night, Jia Yun tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

Half-asleep, he suddenly heard a soft creak at the window. When Jia Yun opened the window, he found Ping'er standing outside with a glass embroidered ball lantern. She whispered, "Second Mistress invites Second Master Yun to come over for a talk."

Jia Yun's heart pounded. He wondered why Second Master Lian was calling him over in the middle of the night, when he was away at the brothel. As he looked up, he saw two bright moons hanging in the sky.

The interplay of moonlight created an illusion.

As if guided by some strange force, Jia Yun followed Ping'er's swaying skirt through the covered corridor, where he saw a scene of erotic beauty emerging from the flickering candlelight in Feng Jie's room.

Jia Yun nervously lifted the curtain and went in, only to see Second Mistress Lian leaning against the hibiscus mat with seductive eyes.

Although it was cold outside, the house was warm and cozy. At this moment, Sister Feng was only wearing an apricot-red silk bodice, and her pine-patterned trousers were rolled up to her knees, revealing two sections of her fair legs.

Especially her delicate jade feet, unclad in silk stockings, with the tips stained with balsam juice, looked like bamboo shoots in the candlelight.

"Good nephew," Sister Feng said, her eyes sparkling as she twirled a handkerchief with her slender fingers, "don't you usually have those hooks of yours always wandering all over my body? Why are you so reserved today?"

Before the words were finished, Jia Yun, whose face was flushed, suddenly felt a heat in his lower abdomen and felt dizzy. Then, the other person used a silk ribbon from his undergarment to pull him down into a pile of brocade.

It's unclear who started it; readers can call it a thunderbolt from heaven or a timely rain after a long drought.

But then you could see her jade-like feet curled up and swaying gently in the air, her calves taut in a graceful arc, and the golden bells on her ankles making a soft, tinkling sound.

Indeed, with her cloud-like hair, flower-like face, and golden hairpins swaying, she spent a warm spring night in the hibiscus-scented tent.

Just as he was lost in passion, Jia Yun suddenly awoke at the last moment.

He suddenly stood up, but saw the moonlight shining through the wooden window. Where was the warmth of the boudoir? It was nothing but a ridiculous dream.

Jia Yun stared blankly at the lonely moon outside the window, her heart pounding wildly, cursing herself for having such a foolish dream that violated human ethics.

The next morning, Jia Yun bid farewell to his mother and returned to the Iron Threshold Temple in the same carriage that was delivering vegetables outside the city.

Life in the temple was simple, but also regular. He put aside the trivial matters of the mansion and the incomparably noble title of "Prince Xin" for the time being, and devoted himself to his own plans.

Every day before dawn, he would get up and light an oil lamp in the icy east wing, reciting the Four Books or pondering the current literary style.

The cold air seeped in through the cracks in the window and door, almost freezing the ink and brush, but he seemed oblivious, focusing all his attention on the words. When dawn broke and the temple bell rang, he got up to stretch his stiff hands and feet before joining the abbot for the morning prayers.

This was not because Jia Yun was truly devoted to Buddhism, but rather to temper his character and, incidentally, familiarize himself with temple affairs.

In recent mornings, the abbot has been busy, so Jia Yun has been learning how to manage the temple's affairs from another elderly monk who is in charge of guest services. He learns how to register incense offerings, how to allocate manpower to maintain temple property, and how to deal with visiting benefactors and neighboring estate managers.

In his previous life, he was a meticulous person. He grasped the essence of this subject immediately and was also literate and arithmetic. In just a few days, he had clearly understood the duties of the deputy manager. Even the old monks who initially had some reservations about him being a "connected person" couldn't help but stroke their beards and nod in admiration of the boy's intelligence.

In the afternoon, it was Jia Yun's inescapable time to practice his martial arts. The Zhou family's Sanqing Temple had practically become his second home.

That rusty iron rod was no longer so difficult to wield in his hands. The initial sharp pain in his wrists and trembling in his arms had been greatly relieved. Although he was still far from being able to hold the end of the rod horizontally above his shoulder without moving it, he had made rapid progress.

What alarmed Jia Yun even more was the change in his body.

At first, he thought he was just stronger than ordinary teenagers after transmigrating, but after more than ten days of intense training, he gradually realized the difference. Every afternoon during training, his muscles and bones were stretched and torn, and the pain was real, almost making him wish he were dead.

The strange thing is that the excruciating pain comes on fiercely but goes away just as quickly. Often, after returning to the temple, having dinner, and then copying books for an hour or two, the arms and legs that were originally sore and swollen, almost unable to lift, would feel as if they had been soaked in warm water. The pain would completely disappear, leaving only a warm, lazy comfort, as if all the fatigue had been sucked away. The next day, I would wake up full of energy, and could even feel that my strength had increased slightly.

That day, after practicing a set of rudimentary boxing techniques newly taught by Old Man Zhou, he was covered in sweat and almost collapsed. The muscles in his arms and thighs throbbed and ached terribly.

Old Man Zhou came over and pinched his arm, then looked at his complexion. His eyes widened in astonishment, and he clicked his tongue in amazement: "Strange! Strange! Yun-ge'er, your physique... truly, I've never seen anything like it in my life! An ordinary person practicing like you, let alone making progress, would probably have been ruined long ago. Your recovery speed is simply... beyond human capability! Could it be that you've taken some kind of elixir or magic pill?"

Jia Yun slumped to the ground, shaking his head with a wry smile: "Master is joking. This disciple often doesn't even have enough to eat, where would I get the elixir? Perhaps... I'm young and have a good foundation."

Old Man Zhou stroked his sparse beard, circled him twice, and shook his head. "Even with a good foundation, it shouldn't be like this... Strange, very strange! Could it be the legendary 'born martial arts bone'? What a pity, tsk tsk..."

He began to express his usual regret.

Hearing this, Zhou Yingluo, who was finishing her practice nearby, came over. She had just finished practicing, and fine beads of sweat clung to her forehead and temples, her cheeks flushed. Curious, she stretched out her finger and poked Jia Yun's much more muscular arm, feeling the taut muscles that were warm and elastic to the touch.

"Dad, you're talking nonsense again! I think he's just tough and can take a beating!" she said with a grin, a scent mixed with the smell of sweat and the unique fragrance of a young girl wafting over. "But junior brother, you are indeed much stronger than when you first came. Before, you were like a bean sprout, you would fall over if the wind blew you down."

Jia Yun's heart skipped a beat at her words. He looked up and saw that the girl's slender neck was flushed with a healthy pink from practicing martial arts. A few strands of wet hair clung to her skin, making her skin appear even whiter and more like jade.

After spending more than ten days together, in close proximity, it would be utterly self-deception to say that Jia Yun harbored no romantic feelings for this bright and lively young woman.

To be fair, Zhou Yingluo is indeed beautiful. She doesn't possess the dignified and quiet elegance of a lady from a noble family, but rather a vibrant and charming beauty, like a wild elf. Her eyes are bright and lively, her figure is agile and graceful, and every smile and frown is full of vitality.

Jia Yun was a normal young man, and in his past and present lives combined, he was only middle-aged. Naturally, his mind was more active than that of his peers. How could he not have thoughts when faced with such a beautiful woman?

But he is also aware of his current situation.

He had achieved nothing, gained no fame, lived in poverty, and faced an uncertain future. He was also entangled in a relationship with Prince Xin that was neither a blessing nor a curse.

If he were to rashly reveal his feelings at this moment, not to mention what the Zhou family father and daughter would think, even he himself would feel it would be irresponsible.

He carefully suppressed his budding feelings and only interacted with her as her junior brother.

As for how quickly these feelings came about, having blossomed in just over ten days, Jia Yun had his own unconventional explanation: all love at first sight in the world, frankly speaking, is nothing more than lust at first sight.

If physical appearance isn't attractive, why would anyone want to get to know you better? On the contrary, the "love" that arises after a long period of getting to know someone, after weighing their family background, character, and pros and cons, is the one that has truly been calculated.

His thought was quite sharp, yet it also carried a hint of world-weary indifference. Naturally, these words were something he absolutely could not say to a second person.

Jia Yun believed he had hidden his feelings well, focusing on his daily training and occasionally joking with Yingluo while maintaining appropriate boundaries. However, his gaze, which occasionally lingered on Yingluo with admiration and a hint of barely perceptible warmth, did not escape the notice of another pair of calm eyes.