The Nuns

Chapter 80: The Nuns

Li Huowang shook his head, refusing the frosted persimmon being held out to him.

"Don't eat too much. We're going to an inn soon. If we order good food, you won't be able to finish it."

But his warning didn't slow them down.

"It's fine. I can still eat after these."

"Right, right! I'd rather be stuffed to death than go hungry! That starvation was goddamn awful. Hey, Senior Brother Li, aren't you hungry?"

Li Huowang smiled but didn't answer. He tugged the horse's reins and kept walking. The inn wasn't far ahead now.

"Senior Brother Li, I bought you some ready-made clothes. Want to try them on?"

Li Huowang shook his head again. "Forget it. I'm used to the Daoist robe. Just changing the inner layers is fine. Also, you should put your blindfold back on. Your eyes are going to start hurting again."

The two carts squeezed through the dense crowd for a long time before finally arriving at the front of the inn.

Excited, Gouwa raised the gold beans in his hand high and charged in first.

"Waiter! Give Lord Cao the best room upstairs! And bring me braised pork belly! The fatty kind, no lean meat! Four big bowls of it!"

Li Huowang shoved past him and stepped inside. He scanned the townsfolk eating and chatting at the tables, then addressed the waiter who hurried over. "No private room. We'll sit here in the main hall. I like the noise."

"Senior Brother Li, we've got money now. Why eat in this noisy place? It's so—"

Li Huowang shot him a glare, and the excitable Gouwa deflated like a frostbitten eggplant.

Once they sat down at a wooden table, the murmurs of the crowd began to flood Li Huowang's ears.

"Baowen's mother, you'd better watch your back. Your mother-in-law's been saying things behind it."

"If you ask me, they're already shoving their way in! Fight back! We in Siqi have never been afraid of a war. I might have retired my armor, but if the order comes down, I'll be back in camp without a word!"

"Ha ha ha, Brother Ziji, my apologies, my apologies. My wife nags too much, so I'm a bit late. Let me down three cups as penance."

"Hey! Look at that Daoist. Isn't his robe a bit strange? It's red..."

Li Huowang waited until the waiter began serving the dishes, but he hadn't picked up the information he wanted.

In his understanding, so close to the nunnery, it should have had some influence on the people nearby, for better or worse.

But from the townsfolk's reactions, the nunnery had a very low profile.

Still, since one approach didn't work, Li Huowang had others.

"Twin Dragons Playing with a Pearl~ Three Yangs Bringing Fortune~ The Carp Leaps Over the Dragon Gate~ Hehe~ Dishes are all served~ Enjoy your meal, esteemed guests!"

The waiter was about to leave after announcing the dishes, but Li Huowang grabbed him.

"Aiya, Reverend, you can see how busy the inn is. I'm really sorr—"

The waiter didn't even get the last word out before a gold bean in Li Huowang's hand cut him off.

"You know Mount Henghua over there?"

"Know it, know it!"

"There's a nunnery on the mountain. I hear the incense offerings are quite abundant? Are their bodhisattva especially efficacious?"

A hint of confusion flickered across the waiter's face. "Abundant incense? Not really. The incense at Anci Nunnery isn't even as good as the local Earth God's shrine."

"Hm?" Li Huowang looked over at Xiaoman, who was eating. This wasn't what she had said.

"My neighbor told me the incense was very abundant." Xiaoman put down her chopsticks, a little embarrassed.

"Pfft, your neighbor's definitely just blowing smoke. The bodhisattva at Anci Nunnery has a layer of dust on it. If that counts as thriving incense, I'll eat my words."

"Reverend, take it from me. The widow from my second sister's nephew's village went to Anci Nunnery to become a nun."

Hearing this, Li Huowang perked up. "Oh? Why did she go there to become a nun? What are the requirements for joining?"

The waiter looked around, hesitating.

When Li Huowang pressed the gold bean into his hand, the waiter leaned in, deliberately lowering his voice.

"Her husband died. Her family was far away. And she couldn't bear a son. The village saw a way to seize her property. She had nowhere else to go, so she became a nun. Who'd choose to be a nun if they had any other way to live?"

"Oh... I see." Li Huowang nodded thoughtfully.

From the information he'd gathered so far, the nuns seemed relatively normal. Nothing too far off from what Li Zhi had said before he died.

"Do you know why those nuns wear black robes?" Li Huowang fished out another gold bean.

"Heh, those aren't black robes. The nuns' clothes are a greenish-blue. And I don't know if it's because the mountain has no well or something, but they never bathe or change. The clothes just turn from greenish-blue to black from the grime."

The waiter's face was full of disgust.

"The other day, a few nuns came down to sell a pig. I saw one of them rub her neck. Hey! Guess what? She rolled a lump of black dirt the size of a date right off her skin!"

As soon as the waiter said this, the people nearby put down their chopsticks, their faces sour.

Slap.

A palm hit the back of the waiter's head.

"Our esteemed guests are eating! What are you going on about! Trying to ruin the reputation of my Penglai Inn, are you?"

"Boss, it's not my fault! The Reverend asked, so I answered!"

Li Huowang watched the fat boss drag the waiter away, apologizing as they went. He picked up his chopsticks and started eating.

"Senior Brother Li, if you need to ask something, we can help."

Gouwa said this as he shoved a piece of greasy, fatty pork into his mouth.

"Forget it. With that spotted face of yours, you'd scare people to death. Baolu, after you finish eating, go to town and ask around about Anci Nunnery for me."

Of all the human ingredients, only this man, Sun Baolu, who was good with water, looked completely normal.

Sun Baolu, who had kept a low profile until now, was startled. He silently nodded.

Li Huowang studied him for a moment, then went back to eating. Looking normal didn't mean he was normal.

This man never took off his clothes to sleep. He even hid from others to use the latrine, avoiding both men and women.

Whatever was under his clothes was probably the reason Danyangzi had chosen him as an ingredient.

But Li Huowang didn't want to pry. He measured others by himself—he didn't want anyone discussing his own mental state with him either.

For the next few days, Li Huowang stayed at the inn.

He sent the young Daoist boy and Baolu to gather information about Anci Nunnery.

He didn't want another Zhengde Temple incident.

After a few days of inquiries, and after specifically sending Baolu to scout the mountain, Li Huowang tentatively concluded that the nuns posed no major threat.

The most common things the townsfolk said about the nuns were that they were dirty, lazy, and fat.

"If I haven't come down by the next day, you leave immediately. Understood?"

Li Huowang stood at the foot of the mountain path and gave his orders to the other ingredients.

"Senior Brother Li, we'll come with you."

"What for? To be a burden? Do you think this is a picnic?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Li Huowang felt he had spoken too harshly. But he didn't explain himself. He turned and began climbing the mountain alone.

Bai Lingmiao watched his retreating figure, biting her lip. Her eyes were wet with tears, as if she wanted to say something.

But she said nothing, not until he had disappeared into the mountain.