All Hail Cousin Brother

191 Meeting Song Mingzhao

Yu Youyao looked enlightened. Her head was seriously injured, and there was only a scar left after she recovered. Her grandmother had personally cut her hair and let her have a fringe to block the scar so that she wouldn’t get a bad tan.

Her grandmother had also sent over the best medicinal dew in the Xie Residence. After applying it with the best jade facial cream for half a year, the scar finally disappeared.

Chun Xiao continued, “That day, you were wearing a longevity lock that looked like a pair of white fish playing with a pearl. Later, a corner of the longevity lock was broken, and the other corner was missing. You cried for a long time. Old Madam’s heart ached for you, so she specially ordered someone to enter the temple to look for the missing parts for you but she didn’t find them.”

At the mention of this, Yu Youyao had a deep impression of it.

The White Jade Pair of Fishes was one of the 15 longevity locks her mother had given her.

There were red and yellow floating flowers on the white jade. The floating flowers looked like two fish, one red and one yellow. Her mother had asked someone to carve them, and they looked like two fish playing with pearls. They also had natural patterns. The fishes were vivid and lifelike, and they were really spiritual. She liked them very much and always wore them.

Later, it was discovered that a piece of the longevity lock was missing, leaving only a red and yellow wishing silk fish.

At that time, she was heartbroken and even cried for a long time.

Later, her grandmother said that the broken longevity lock was inauspicious, so she kept it at the bottom of her box. As time passed, she gradually forgot about it.

Yu Youyao nodded. “Did you catch that thief?”

Chun Xiao smiled and nodded. “I did. I heard that it was all thanks to the heir of the Marquis of Zhen that we caught the thief.”

Why was it related to Song Mingzhao again? Yu Youyao did not ask further and went to the Bodhisattva of Wishes in advance. There was an old woman beside her who was selling red wishing silk for wishes. She even had some rare materials.

Chun Xiao bought two of the best prayer mats, took out copper coins, and put them on the wishing silk. She strung a hundred copper coins, but Yu Youyao did not allow her to add any more. “Enough!”

Chun Xiao said, “Young Miss, I heard that the more copper coins you string on the wishing silk and the higher you toss it, the more auspicious it is. Why don’t we string more?”

Yu Youyao shook her head. “Buddhism emphasizes fate. Everything can be stopped if it’s appropriate. All I want is peace of mind.”

Chun Xiao handed the wishing silk to Yu Youyao.

Yu Youyao held the wishing silk and pressed her palms together. She lowered her head and recited the Longevity Scripture. She muttered a wish, “May Grandmother live a long and healthy life…”

After making her wish, Yu Youyao stood on her tiptoes and threw it up the tree.

Behind them, Chun Xiao and the others looked up along with the wishing silk that had been thrown high up. They saw the wishing silk hanging on a main branch high above the Bodhi tree.

The middle-aged woman who was selling the wishing silk said with a smile, “Young Miss, you’re really good at throwing this wishing silk. Not only is it high up, but it’s also on the main branch. It won’t be fall easily even if it’s raining or windy. I guarantee that it will last for a long time.”

Who wouldn’t like to hear such pleasing and auspicious words? Yu Youyao smiled and asked Chun Xiao to give her the silver.

The old lady weighed it in her hand and immediately grinned.

In addition, there was also a wish letter. Yu Youyao recited the Sutra of the Medicine Buddha and made a wish. “Cousin, I hope that your illness will go away and all your illnesses will disappear. I hope that you will be free from calamity and live a peaceful life.”

This time, she did not throw it easily. Instead, she took a deep breath and threw the wishing silk away with all her might.

At this moment, a strange wind came from nowhere.

The wishing silk fluttered in the wind, and Yu Youyao’s heart rose to her throat. Fortunately, the wishing silk followed the wind and wrapped around a higher branch. Only then did she heave a sigh of relief.

Chun Xiao smiled. “Young Miss threw it even higher than before.”

“It’s also because of the wind.” Yu Youyao smiled.

At the side, the old lady said happily, “The good wind is lending you its strength. This wind came at the right time. It’s really auspicious. Miss, you’re lucky to have the help of the east wind. You’ll definitely be able to achieve your goal.”

Yu Youyao felt that this old lady had a glib tongue, so she asked Chun Xiao to give her some silver.

It was rare for the old madam to see such a generous young mistress, so she was happy to say much more flattery.

Yu Youyao took one last look at the wishing basket and was about to return to her room when she suddenly saw a person in a dark green dress not far away. He was looking at her, and she had no idea how long he had been standing there.

Yu Youyao’s heart skipped a beat, and she subconsciously took a step back.

Chun Xiao also saw it and whispered, “It’s Crown Prince Song. I didn’t expect him to come to the Precious Peace Temple today. Do you want to go over and greet him?”

The young lady was still young, so there was no need to be so wary of men and women. Moreover, there were maidservants behind her. If she met someone she knew, she would have to greet them.

“There’s no need. I haven’t seen Young Master Song in the past, so he probably doesn’t know me. There’s no need to go over specially.” Yu Youyao pursed her lips slightly and bowed to Song Mingzhao before leaving.

Song Mingzhao was also stunned.

He had originally planned to make a trip to Youzhou, but before he left the capital, his family had already heard that Youzhou was under martial law. They said that a spy had infiltrated and that no one was allowed to enter or leave, so he could only give up.

Today was the Buddha Festival, so they were just walking around casually. Who knew that he would end up here? He saw a little girl standing under a tree, making a wish and throwing wishing silk.

The little girl was dressed in a plain dress and looked calm and beautiful. She looked like she wasn’t at the age where men and women had to be wary of each other. It was better to avoid her. Just as she was about to leave, he heard the little girl’s gentle voice, like a young bird’s cry. Her voice entered his ears. “Buddhism emphasizes fate. Everything can be stopped if it’s appropriate. All I want is peace of mind.”

For some reason, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

She looked up and glanced at the Bodhi tree. There were many pieces of wishing silk hanging on it. Some of them had long strings of copper coins. There were even people who had wrapped silver and gold ingots in red paper and tied them to the wishing silk. Everyone felt that the heavier the wishing silk was, the higher it would be thrown, and the longer it would hang on the tree, the more auspicious it would be.

Few people were as clear-minded as her.

Little did they know that the “heavier” the wishing silk was, the more difficult it was to throw it to a higher place. When it came to the wind and rain, the first to fall were those wishing silk pieces that were heavier.

Seeing the little girl’s indifferent figure gradually disappear into the distance…

Song Mingzhao felt a sense of loss for no reason. Coincidentally, he saw an old monk sweeping the leaves at the side and asked, “Which family is that young lady from?”

Actually, he did not know if this monk knew him, so he just asked casually.

The monk who was sweeping the floor looked up. “What a coincidence. I happen to recognize her. She’s the Eldest Miss of the Yu Residence. Every year, she has to follow Grandmother into the temple to worship Buddha and mourn her late mother.”

Song Mingzhao’s breathing tightened. “Every year?”

If he remembered correctly, the Eldest Miss of the Yu Residence seemed to be called Yu Youyao. Her grandmother doted on her very much and often mentioned things related to her.

Eldest Miss Yu had previously given his grandmother a good prescription using the pear paste. After taking it for a while, his grandmother’s cough had eased a little.