The second elder's face flushed, and Gu Fuyou was filled with indignation. The two glared at each other, and the atmosphere was tense.
Ji Chaoling put down the teacup and said, "It's done." It was like a spring breeze, bringing spring rain, extinguishing the fire of karma.
The second elder took a long breath and said in a deep voice: "Master, this girl spoke wildly and insulted our master. How can we let her off so easily?"
Ji Chaoling smiled and said, "Elder, you also said that she is just an ignorant girl, so naturally she has many inappropriate behaviors. How can you be so serious with her? As an elder, you should teach her and be tolerant."
Ji Chaoling then said to Liu Guizhen and the other three standing in front of the desk, "There is no rule in our sect regarding the Yinxuezhai incident. If you want to punish them for this, it will be hard to convince everyone. However, cultivators should always focus on cultivation and should not set foot in places full of wine, sex and noise. I will punish you to copy the Pure Thoughts Sutra, concentrate your minds and reflect on your mistakes. Do you accept this?"
Gu Huaiyou, Liu Guizhen, and Si Miao bowed and said, "Disciples will obey."
Ji Chaoling looked at Gu Fuyou, took a look at her expression, and said slowly: "Gu Fuyou, your words and deeds are inappropriate and you are disrespectful to your elders. In addition to copying the true scriptures, I will also punish you to kneel in the ancestral hall for twelve hours. Do you accept this?"
Gu Fuyou didn't respond. Si Miao bumped her arm from the side, and Gu Fuyou said in a muffled voice: "Disciple accepts the punishment."
This punishment was not painful or even considered a punishment. Ji Xiyan was slightly dissatisfied: "Master, this punishment is too..."
Ji Chaoling said: "Once the master has spoken, there is no reason to change it."
"Can… "
Ji Chaoling raised his hand to signal him not to say anything more: "Okay, let's end this matter here. Everyone, please go back. I have other important matters to deal with."
Everyone had no choice but to take their leave and leave the study.
Ji Xiyan and the second elder walked side by side in front. Ji Xiyan sighed, "The headmaster is too kind and benevolent. How can he establish his authority if he is so gentle? How can he intimidate the disciples in the long run?"
The second elder looked at Gu Wanpeng coldly, waved his long sleeves, put his hands behind his back, snorted coldly and said, "What kindness? I think it's cowardice!" and walked away.
Ji Xiyan said goodbye to Gu Wanpeng and hurriedly followed.
The second elder's words had other implications. He simply meant that Ji Chaoling let Gu Fuyou and others off lightly because he was concerned about Gu Wanpeng.
How could Gu Wanpeng not understand that he had caused Ji Chaoling a lot of trouble this time, and he felt bad about it. He whispered to Gu Fuyou beside him, "You are too ignorant of your limits."
Gu Fuyou was eccentric and stubborn, and she was angry at the time. If she agreed with her, it would be fine. But if she went against her, she would definitely not give in: "Was what I said wrong?"
Gu Wanpeng said: "Is this a question of whether I was right or wrong? That's how you talk to your master!"
Gu Fuyou stiffened his neck and insisted on challenging his father: "He was the first to say something immoral, why should I respect him!"
"He is your master and your elder, so you should be polite to him. Even if he is wrong, you should not scold him. Otherwise, you will be unreasonable even if you are right. You are cursing to your heart's content, but you still want others to clean up the mess for you!"
The father and daughter both have the same impulsive temper. Although Gu Wanpeng has been immersed in the ways of the world for many years and has long lost the frenzy of his youth, and is now calm and dignified, like the lord of a city, he is always a little lacking in raising children and cannot control his temper. At least his two sons are worry-free, but his daughter...
"I think you have forgotten all the rules you learned at home." Gu Wanpeng pointed at Gu Huaiyou and scolded, "As a brother, you don't even know how to discipline her!"
Gu Huaiyou said kindly: "Dad, don't be angry, Ah Man is not usually like this."
Gu Wanpeng became angrier and angrier as he spoke: "Don't I know what kind of person she is! She started trouble right after entering the mountain gate, and used tricks to summon my senior sister to sign a contract, so that my senior sister violated the rules of the sect and entered Xianluo, and let her fellow disciples who practiced in seclusion enter Yinxuezhai. It's not enough for you to make trouble yourself, and you want others to do the same!"
"I thought you would calm down after coming to Xuanmiao Sect. Tell me what you have learned. You haven't made any progress at all. You might as well stay at home."
Gu Fuyou was originally angry and resentful, but Gu Wanpeng's last words directly hit her in the face, making her furious. She yelled with all her strength, "I didn't want to come in the first place, but you forced me to come. Now you're saying I should stay at home!"
As soon as he finished yelling, his eyes turned red.
Gu Huaiyou held her back and said, "Ah Man, don't talk to Dad like that."
Gu Fuyou shook off his arm, a little grievance swelling up, filling up her entire body, tears streaming down her face: "It was obviously the Second Elder who insulted Sister Zhu first, what did I say wrong? I didn't say anything wrong, so why am I wrong? This is what I want to say! I will say this from now on!"
"I changed the formation to summon Senior Sister Zhong myself because they all wanted to tease me and laugh at me! I summoned Senior Sister Zhong with my own ability, so why can't I make a contract with her?"
"I entered the Immortal Falls and fell into the inner layer. I was almost dead, but you didn't ask any questions. All you said was blame. Anyway, whatever I did was wrong. It just didn't suit your wishes."
Gu Fuyou kept sobbing, wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand, rubbing his eyes until they were red, but he couldn't stop crying. Pointing at Gu Huaiyou, he cried and spoke intermittently: "You want him to control me, he is my brother, not my father, I am your daughter, but not his daughter, you don't care, who will take care of you!"
"Ah Man..."
In the end, I lost control of my emotions and couldn't control myself. "You never cared about me!" I couldn't stop crying.
Gu Fuyou turned around and left, but when he turned around, he found Zhong Michu coming from another road and standing not far away. He thought that she was also going to the ancestral hall to kneel as punishment.
Gu Fuyou's eyes were red and her nose was also red from crying. She didn't want to pay attention to anyone and went straight to the ancestral hall. As she walked, she took off the pendants on her ears and threw them into the grass beside the road.
Zhong Michu walked over, greeted everyone, and went to the ancestral hall. When passing by the place where Gu Fuyou had walked before, his eyes moved to the grass, he walked over, silently picked up the pendant and wrapped it in a handkerchief.
Gu Fuyou walked straight to the stone gate of the ancestral hall, and a woman came towards him. She was wearing a cloud-like dress, her hair bun was like dark clouds, her eyebrows were like spring mountains, and her eyes were like stars. She walked slowly towards him.
Gu Fuyou had never seen her before, but he recognized her as Yun Ran Xuan Zun, and moved her aside and bowed: "Disciple greets Xuan Zun."
Yun Ran had a cold expression and walked straight past.
It just so happened that Zhong Michu also arrived and met Yun Ran.
Zhong Michu was stunned for a moment, stepped aside to salute, and called out softly, "Yun Ran Xuan Zun."
Yun Ran seemed not to see it and walked away.
Gu Fuyou and the other person entered the ancestral hall. There were already disciples waiting for them with ordination tokens. When they arrived, the disciples took them to kneel in front of the golden statue of their master, put on the ordination tokens, and then left.
The ancestral hall was always lit with candles and incense, but it was empty and silent with no sound of human voice.
When Gu Fuyou met Yun Ran before, the grievance and sadness in her heart were distracted and half of it disappeared. She didn't want to cry in front of others, and Gu Wanpeng was not around, so she simply stopped thinking about those sad things.
Gu Fuyou first untied the ring token from his body, then knelt down and sat down, and then he untied the ring token from Zhong Michu's body.
Zhong Michu was still kneeling upright, but when he saw Gu Fuyou wiping the tears from his face, he reached out from his sleeve to take out the handkerchief and said, "I'll give it back to you."
Gu Fuyou took it, opened it and saw that it was the earring. The emotions that she had suppressed with great difficulty surged up again. She bit her lower lip and held back the tears in her eyes.
Zhong Michu said, "Wipe it off."
Gu Fuyou did not refuse. He unfolded the handkerchief and covered his face, hiding his entire face, without looking at Zhong Michu.
After a long while, Gu Fuyoufang asked in a hoarse voice: "Senior Sister Zhong, do you also think that Yinxuezhai is a bad place?"
"If you feel bad about it, I apologize for summoning you there last night. I swear, I will never let you set foot there again."
Zhong Michu said: "It's none of your business. If I want to leave, you can't stop me."
Gu Fuyou took off the handkerchief and looked at her. She found that Zhong Michu was looking at her, as if looking at her shoulder. When he met her eyes, Zhong Michu turned his head hurriedly and adjusted the hem of his skirt with his hands.
"I..." he uttered, and after a long silence, Zhong Michu continued, "I don't know what kind of place Yinxuezhai is. I heard disciples mention brothels and prostitutes before, and asked the teacher, but the teacher turned pale and avoided talking about it. He only said that it was a den of demons and monsters, and that we were not allowed to approach it, let alone mention it. I rarely go down the mountain and have never been to those places, so I don't understand it very well."
Gu Fuyou looked a little disappointed when he heard her say this, thinking that she also thought that place was the "demon cave".
But then he heard Zhong Michu say: "What kind of place is Yinxuezhai? Tell me about it."
Gu Fuyou's eyes suddenly lit up again, and she quickly said: "What your teacher said is not entirely correct. Although some places are demon caves, Yinxuezhai is different..."
She dragged the cushion with her hand until she was one step away from the cushion where Zhong Michu was kneeling, then put it down and sat down.
"let me tell you… "
It turns out that Yinxuezhai was just an ordinary place for entertainment in the previous generation. The nanny in charge is a kind-hearted person. Because of a tragic incident in which a girl was abused to death, she wanted to disband Yinxuezhai.
But firstly, after Yinxuezhai was disbanded, those girls were homeless and had no means of making a living; secondly, even if they were disbanded, other girls would still be sold and suffer, they would just be sold to a different family. It was also possible that after she let these girls go, they would be captured by strong men and sold, which would be a waste of her efforts.
Finally, those who were willing to leave were allowed to leave, while those who were unwilling to leave were allowed to stay. They were made to learn poetry and music, and gradually they began to sell their art instead of their bodies. The nannies used the remaining money in their hands to buy as many girls as possible who were sold by human traffickers.
Zhu Ruo was bought by her. After Nanny passed away, Zhu Ruo took over Yinxuezhai. Yinxuezhai's business became better and better because of its unique style. With more spirit stones in Zhu Ruo's hands, she could even buy slaves from Bailu City.
But even if he was selling his art but not his body, some people would not buy it and insisted on having a quickie. How could they afford to offend such powerful people? Zhu Ruo could only swallow his anger and arrange for a girl to serve him.
Therefore, it can be said that most of the people in Yinxuezhai have miserable lives and are helpless in their destiny.
After hearing this, Zhong Michu said, "So Miss Zhu and that maid are both respectable people."
Gu Fuyou was even more delighted after hearing her words. He stretched out his body and lay on the ground. A stone in his heart finally fell to the ground: "Yes."
After talking with Zhong Michu for a while, Gu Fuyou's depression gradually dissipated. She smiled and said, "Senior Sister Zhong, if you have any words you don't understand in the future, just come and ask me and I will explain them to you. Your teachers will bully you and not let you go down the mountain, and give you nonsense explanations."
"good."
Gu Fuyou recalled the encounter with Yun Ran in front of the ancestral hall, and asked curiously, "Senior Sister Zhong, isn't Yun Ran Xuan Zun your mother? Why did you call her Yun Ran Xuan Zun just now?"
Zhong Michu's hands suddenly tightened, and after a while he replied, "I don't know."
"You don't know?" It was hard to believe.
"I don't know..." This one was even more difficult.
Gu Fuyou suddenly had an idea and figured it out.
Zhong Michu didn’t know. It wasn’t that she didn’t know why she had to call her mother by her name, but she didn’t know why her mother didn’t allow her to call her mother directly!
She suddenly understood everything, and other doubts came to her mind. She had already imagined many possibilities, but no matter which possibility it was, Gu Fuyou felt that Zhong Michu shared the same suffering as her.
Gu Fuyou felt a sense of mutual sympathy again. She looked at the roof of the ancestral hall and asked, "Senior Sister Zhong, why are there so many parents like this in the world?"
Zhong Michu had listened to half of the conversation between Gu Wanpeng and Gu Fuyou. She knew that Gu Fuyou had meant to blame Gu Wanpeng when he said this, so she said, "There are no parents who are not wrong in this world."
Gu Fuyou sat up and said, "How can it be 'not right'? If he had given birth to me, he should have raised me. Since he raised me, he should have loved me. Since he can't do that, then there is a 'right'!"
Zhong Michu frowned, not agreeing with Gu Fuyou's heresy. "Alas, my parents, they worked so hard to give birth to me. Why do you say it as if they owe us something? They don't owe us anything, but we owe them the grace of giving birth to us."
"They want to give birth to me. Do I have a choice? I can't choose." Gu Fuyou said dejectedly: "If I had a choice, I had a choice, I... I would rather she didn't give birth to me."
Gu Fuyou hung his head for a long time, then murmured, "What's wrong with me wanting his care? He is my father, the closest person to me in this world. If even he doesn't love me, who else in the world will love me?"
Gu Fuyou's words were very one-sided, but Zhong Mi was shocked when she heard them. The last sentence hit the nail on the head. She covered her chest with her hands, her face turned pale, as if she had been pricked by a needle. She was extremely uncomfortable. She was eager to get rid of this strange feeling, so she refuted Gu Fuyou, saying: "You are crazy!"
Gu Fuyou didn't get the response he expected, and was filled with disappointment. He pursed his lips and replied, "Pedant!"
"You are unreasonable..."
"You are unreasonable!"
Gu Fuyou was so angry that he dragged the futon back to its original place. But he felt it was not far enough from Zhong Michu, so he took two more steps before putting the futon down, lying down with his back to Zhong Michu, and no longer speaking to her.