Chapter 6: Monkey

Mr. Zhang stared blankly at Jiang Li.

With these words and that warm and gentle appearance, she truly looked like an unmarried daughter of a wealthy family. However, he couldn’t help feeling this young miss was rather exaggerating.

Although he had some doubts, Mr. Zhang was in a hurry to go to other places. He had thought that Jiang Li was just joking and wouldn’t really spend all her money on cakes. After all, both master and servant were living here, and anyone with a discerning eye could see that they definitely did not have a lot of money. Ordinary rich people would not think twice about taking out forty copper coins to buy cakes, yet for two children who couldn’t even wear warm clothes, it wasn’t very reasonable.

“If you buy so many pastries, before you can even finish eating them, they will be already spoilt” Mr. Zhang Lang couldn’t help reminding her.

“It’s alright,” Jiang Li said. “We can eat them all.”

Words that needed to be said were already spoken, so Mr. Zhang no longer said anything. Those copper coins were other people’s copper coins, and Jiang Li bought most of the cakes that he carried with him. He was happy that he could return home a bit earlier, so why should he be worried?

On the other hand, Tong’er, although puzzled by Jiang Li’s words, had probably never disobeyed Jiang Li’s orders and could only suppress the anxiety in her heart. On the way back, the large basket full of pastries occasionally attracted looks from the gray-clothed nuns that passed them by. Tong’er was afraid that they would come over to snatch it and held it even tighter.

Upon arriving at the damp room, Tong’er placed the basket on the table and closed the door. Finally, she could not help but ask, “Why did young miss buy so many…?”

Jiang Li did not look at her. She pushed open the window, and outside the window could be seen the mountain range of Qingcheng Mountain, with its peaks rising and falling. The snow of winter had long since melted, and as far as the eyes could see, the peach blossoms that covered the mountains dyed the usually austere mountain with a pink glow, like a gentle and peerless beauty.

“Look,” she pointed towards the distance for Tong’er to see.

Tong’er approached the window to have a look and saw a palm-sized monkey with a curled tail squatting on a peach tree in the distance, clasping a fruit with both hands and happily nibbling on it.

“It’s a monkey,” Tong’er was puzzled, “What’s there to see with those monkeys?”

There were many monkeys on Qingcheng mountain, and they were usually mischievous as well. The monkeys here got along quite well with people, especially those from the He Lin Temple. There was a constant stream of pilgrims, and they would occasionally throw some peanuts and sweets when they saw the monkeys playing on the trees. With the shortage of food in winter, the monkeys frequently went to pick food from the hands of the pilgrims. During spring and summer, the monkeys did not lack food, so they did not disturb the pilgrims and played by themselves.

On this side of the nunnery, however, because it was cold and unfrequented, there were very few monkeys — where there was no food, there was no pleasure that would attract them.

“You go and get some cakes.” Jiang Li said.

Tong’er went to get a few walnut cakes according to Jiang Li’s order.

Jiang Li crumbled the cakes into a few small pieces and waved at the monkey on the far-away tree. Perhaps the cake from Mr. Zhang was really sweet, as the fragrance of the walnuts soon attracted the attention of the curled-tailed monkey. It quickly rushed to the window and vigilantly stared at the walnut cake in Jiang Li’s hand, eager to try but not daring to step forward.

Jiang Li moved forward and held out her hand. The monkey finally couldn’t resist the temptation of the walnut cake. It stretched out its paw, stole a piece of the cake, and ran behind a rock with its back facing Jiang Li, then ate the cake. As it finished eating, it turned its head to look at the window to see Jiang Li still standing in front of the window with a smile on her face, a few pieces of the crumbled cakes on her hand. Its nerve got bigger and it once again ran back to take another piece of cake from Jiang Li’s hand.

Little by little, the monkey ate all the crumbles in Jiang Li’s hands until they were completely gone. Jiang Li clapped her hands towards the daring, curled-tailed monkey, indicating that there was no more cake left. The monkey reluctantly looked at the palm of Jiang Li’s hand for a while, then he left with his tail raised.

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Tong’er, who witnessed everything from the beginning, asked, “Young miss, did you want to feed the monkeys? Why did you use cakes to feed it? It would be better to use wild fruits picked from the mountains. These cakes are expensive, it’s not worth it. “

Don’t even mention the Chief Assistant’s household’s young miss’s personal servant girl, even when Jiang Li was still Xue Fang Fei at Tongxiang, her personal servant girl would never have felt such pity over these few cakes. If other people were to see this, how much would they sigh? Jiang Li stretched her hand to rub Tong’er’s head and smiled, “But compared to wild fruits, monkeys prefer delicious food.”

Tong’er was about to say something when she saw Jiang Li turn around, walk to the table and sit down. There was only one stool in the room made from wood that Tong’er had picked up from outside. The legs of the stool were unsteady. Jiang Li said, “Tong’er, from tomorrow onwards, you will feed these cakes to the monkeys.”

Tong’er’s eyes widened. “Young miss, why? This servant doesn’t understand.”

They hadn’t even eaten their fill yet, and she wanted to look after the monkeys? What kind of logic was this?

“I want these monkeys to do something for me,” Jiang Li smiled. “Just treat these cakes as the exchange.”

“But …”

“It’s just a few cakes,” Jiang Li interrupted her. “When we get back, I’ll get the kitchen to make them for you every day, you needn’t worry about these.”

Tong’er said nothing. When mentioning returning to the capital, Jiang Li was very likely even more upset than she was. She didn’t dare say anything that would make Jiang Li feel heart-broken.

“These cakes…” Jiang Li said as she tapped on the basket of cakes. The fragrance of the pastries filled the entire room. The two master and servant could only eat thin porridge and pickled vegetables every day. Since earlier, the delicious fragrance had made their stomachs rumble with hunger. Jiang Li restrained the hunger in her stomach and said, “Divide these cakes into 15 servings and feed one portion to these monkeys every day until the 19th. There will be no need to feed them anymore after the 19th.”

Tong’er didn’t understand but still agreed. “This servant understands.”

“It’s an hour’s walk away from here to He Lin Temple,” Jiang Li said. “I am not allowed to leave the main entrance of the temple, so you go. Go out the door around 11 pm every day and, at midnight, feed the cakes to the monkeys in the forest behind the temple until the 19th. You no longer have to go on the evening of 19th.”

It was unknown whether Head Nun Jing’an had received orders from others, but Jiang Li could not step foot outside the nunnery. She had to stay in the nunnery every day, and her each and every move was watched. Tong’er, on the other hand, was able to go anywhere she wanted as she still had to go to the mountain to chop firewood every day. Tong’er had stayed on the mountain for six years and was very familiar with the road in Qingcheng mountain so she wouldn’t get lost.

Also, Qingcheng Mountain frequently received visitors from the upper-class ladies who came to burn incense. In order to ensure their safety, there were no bandits in the mountain, and it was extremely safe. Otherwise, Jiang Li would be anxious when Tong’er went out at night.

After listening to Jiang Li’s instructions, Tong’er suddenly asked, “Young miss planning all this, is it to return to the capital?”

Jiang Li looked at her and smiled, “Are you afraid?”

When Tong’er heard that, not only was she not afraid, on the contrary, she looked eager to give it a try. The little girl was very daring, and for some reason, she was ready to do it too. She enthusiastically said, “Not afraid! This servant has wanted to do this for a long time! “

“Very good,” Jiang Li nodded, “Let’s start tonight.”

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