With only a child like Yunjuan by her side, Yin Shi didn't have to be so cautious and could relax much more.
Under the pretense of testing Yunjuan, she spent her days asking all sorts of questions, quietly familiarizing herself with the household's personnel and rules.
She even painted a grand picture for Yunjuan: "When Qing Yan gets married in the future, I'll promote you to my personal maid. You'll earn a higher monthly allowance then."
Young maids all dream of becoming senior maids, earning more monthly allowance, and eventually marrying someone respectable. Yunjuan cherished the opportunity to serve Yin Shi, working diligently and attending to her with great care.
Gao Mama quickly became acquainted with the villagers at the foot of the mountain. Tasks like buying groceries no longer required her to go down personally, as she arranged for a villager to deliver them regularly.
The water on the mountain was sweet and clear, even better than what Yin Shi drank back at the mansion. Upon asking, she learned it was indeed mountain spring water.
Just a short walk beyond the courtyard gate, there was a pavilion at the halfway point of the mountain, serving as a scenic lookout. Sitting there, with a gentle breeze blowing and lush greenery all around, Yin Shi would take her maids for walks on the mountain every day after breakfast to exercise.
As long as she overcame the guilt of using child labor, life was actually quite pleasant.
But after a while, such a monotonous routine became boring, as there was simply too little entertainment. At Yin Shi's age, others saw her as merely literate enough not to be illiterate, and since she was here to observe mourning, no one thought to provide her with books to pass the time.
Bored out of her mind, Yin Shi finally remembered that the temple offered lectures, and she decided to attend.
Surprisingly, they were quite interesting.
These lectures weren't for the monks but specifically for people like her—those who paid to stay in the temple for worship, meditation, or mourning. Yin Shi understood this was meant to deepen the patrons' faith in Buddhism and encourage more donations, but the monk delivering the lectures was quite skilled, making them far from dull.
Especially for someone like Yin Shi, who had already lived a competitive life in her previous existence and later even escaped the big city, the lectures evoked many sighs and reflections.
So Yin Shi persisted, attending the morning lectures every day.
Unbeknownst to her, this pastime of hers caught someone's attention.
The head monk delivering the lectures remarked to the abbot, "The young lady from the Yin family, here to mourn her concubine mother, shows remarkable spiritual aptitude."
That was to be expected. Though she had a child's body, her soul was that of an adult, so of course she could understand and comprehend. But in the eyes of the monks, this little girl was "spiritually gifted."
On the other hand, other women attending the lectures for worship inquired, "Whose daughter is that? So young, yet she sits so still—truly rare."
Upon learning she was here to mourn her birth mother, they sighed even more: "What a filial child."
Some even sent their maids or elderly servants to deliver gifts—nothing extravagant, just food and fruits, treating her purely as a child.
Yin Shi hadn't expected that living in a temple would still involve socializing. It was impolite in any era not to return a gift when someone sent one.
Scratching her head, she asked Gao Mama to find Monk Chunyuan: "I noticed the flowerpots in the front courtyard are quite nice. Ask him if he has a prettier one to sell me. I'll transplant the flower I dug up from the back mountain into it as a return gift."
Gao Mama, who was illiterate and lacked both education and worldly experience, said, "What's so special about sending wildflowers from the mountain?" After all, they could be dug up anywhere.
Yin Shi replied, "Just go buy the pot."
Apart from listening to sutra lectures and borrowing a few Buddhist storybooks from the monks, Yin Shi often took walks in the mountains.
After arriving at Donglin Temple, she intentionally allowed Qiao Que to be lazy, keeping only Yunjuan by her side for personal service. Since Gao Mama was also unfamiliar with her, Yin Shi could finally relax and be herself. While walking in the mountains, whenever she came across beautiful flowers and plants, she would dig them up and plant them in the courtyard.
In her previous life, after leaving the big city with her savings, she chose a small town and made a living by running a flower greenhouse.
As a non-professional, she taught herself through trial and error, paying many "tuition fees" and taking numerous detours. Eventually, she managed to turn a small profit, at least avoiding losses.
As long as the Fourth Young Lady stayed safe and out of trouble, tending to flowers and plants was a good hobby. Gao Mama didn’t interfere much. She simply watched as Yin Shi trimmed branches, watered the plants, or sprinkled wood ash, marveling at how the wildflowers thrived under her care.
This time, when Yin Shi wanted to gift these cost-free wildflowers as a return present, Gao Mama thought it over. Indeed, as a child, Yin Shi didn’t have any proper items to give. Flowers would do just fine.
Gao Mama went to find Chun Yuan and brought back a blue-and-white porcelain flowerpot.
Yin Shi was delighted at the sight: "This is perfect."
She selected the plant with the best buds, transplanted it into the pot, and used smooth, glossy pebbles she had collected from the mountain stream during her walks to weigh down the soil. She then gave the branches a light trim.
Gao Mama was impressed: "It really looks quite presentable."
Once everything was ready, Gao Mama was asked to deliver the potted plant. She was gone for the time it takes to burn an entire stick of incense before returning.
Yin Shi asked curiously, "Why did it take so long?"
Gao Mama’s face glowed with pride as she replied, "That lady was very fond of it. She even invited another lady to admire it together and asked me many questions about flowers and plants."
Of course, she couldn’t answer most of them, only saying, "My young lady usually enjoys tending to these flowers and plants." As for the fact that both ladies had tipped her, there was no need to mention that to Yin Shi.
She boasted, "One of them was a jinshi’s wife."
A jinshi was not an official position but an academic honor, a status. Xiucai, juren, jinshi—starting from juren, one could become an official. This jinshi’s wife was likely the wife of an official.
But since she didn’t mention her husband’s official title, it meant she preferred to keep a low profile.
To Yin Shi, it wasn’t a big deal. In the novels she had read in another time and space, characters like prime ministers, chief grand secretaries, regent princes, Top Graduates, second-place scholars, and Flower Scholars were commonplace. If it was just an ordinary second-tier jinshi, she really didn’t think much of it.
However, Gao Mama’s proud expression, as if she had been honored just by speaking to a jinshi’s wife, reminded Yin Shi of how ordinary people in this era revered academic honors and official positions.
Especially since the Yin family, though wealthy and well-off, had only purchased a Sanguan title, their origins were not high. If even the masters weren’t of high status, the servants would feel even more insignificant in the presence of an official’s wife.
The concept of a "class society" struck her with overwhelming force, making Yin Shi sigh and lose sleep for a while that night.
Because a class society was an entire systematic social structure, and this system contained far too many dregs—all things Yin Shi would have to face in the future.
Not having to bind her feet was already a great stroke of luck. Such fortune wouldn’t accompany her in every matter.
Yin Shi lay awake until midnight, finally realizing how foolish she was being. Worrying about the future wouldn’t solve anything. She decided to take life one day at a time, eating whatever food came her way.
She finally closed her eyes, but unsurprisingly, she woke up late the next day. Since she had overslept, she naturally skipped the morning lecture.
Who would have thought that around noon, a young novice monk would come to check on her: "My master sent me to see how you are doing."
The young novice was a head shorter than Yin Shi, even shorter than that cousin from the Shen family, Shen Ti. His smooth, bald head was particularly adorable.
Yin Shi desperately wanted to rub that little bald head but ultimately didn’t dare to act recklessly and restrained herself.
She had Yunjuan bring some malt candy for the young novice to eat and told him, "I stayed up late playing yesterday and couldn’t get up this morning. I’ll go tomorrow. Please tell the master not to worry."
The young novice chewed on the malt candy as he returned to report: "She overslept."
Only then did the lecturing monk feel relieved.
The reason was that Yin Shi, as a young girl, had been consistently diligent before. If she had been someone who worked in fits and starts from the start, no one would have worried. But when a disciplined person suddenly breaks their routine, it raises concerns. Especially since she was staying alone in the temple without any elders, accompanied only by a few maidservants, the monk had sent the novice to check on her.
"Amitabha," the monk said. "It’s good that she’s fine."
Yin Shi was somewhat moved by the monk’s concern.
Because all the interpersonal relationships she now inherited actually came from the "Yin Shi" of the third branch of the Yin family. But the monk didn’t know "Yin Shi," so his concern was genuinely for her. It was a human connection she had established with someone else in this time and space through her persistence in attending the lectures these past days.
Then there was the lady who had sent her maid to deliver food to her.
Yin Shi even mentioned to Yunjuan: "When I see her again at tomorrow’s lecture, I should greet her properly."
That lady probably just really liked children. They had seen each other several times while listening to the monk’s lectures. But Yin Shi keenly noticed that, just as she wanted to rub the little bald head, the lady’s eyes expressed a strong desire to pat her—the original body had indeed left her with a lovely appearance. All those common adjectives like "snow-like" or "jade-like" could be applied to her.
Who wouldn’t want to pinch such an adorable little girl?
But Yin Shi, with an adult soul, didn’t want to be treated like a plaything.
So every time the old monk finished his lecture, she would dash off immediately, not giving any of the ladies or old madams present a chance to pat her.
But now that the lady had sent her food and she had returned the gesture with a pot of flowers, it would be impolite to continue pretending not to see her after such exchanges. Yin Shi decided to take the initiative and greet her at tomorrow’s lecture.
Who would have thought that when she went to the morning lecture the next day, that lady was nowhere to be seen, and the "jinshi’s wife" mentioned by Nanny Gao was also absent.
She asked a familiar monk about it, and he said, "The two ladies have already returned home."
"Oh…" Yin Shi flapped her arms like a bird spreading its wings a few times before lowering them. "It’s fine, I was just asking. Well, it’s nothing."
A few days later, the family sent her more supplies.
It was already June by then. Nanny Gao and Qiao Que surrounded the delivery woman, asking all sorts of questions.
The woman said, "Nothing much new. Oh, the Shen family’s aunt and her son, the young master, have returned to the capital. They traveled back to the capital together with another official’s wife."
Nanny Gao said, "I heard the young master looks like a celestial being. What a pity I don’t have the fortune to see him."
The woman proudly replied, "I saw him."
She was a laborer, and when moving heavy trunks and boxes for the womenfolk, they needed someone like her, so she had the good fortune to see him.
The old woman also said to Yin Shi, "Miss Qing Yan told me to tell you not to be willful—she means well for you."
Yin Shi had a headache.
Qing Yan was too ambitious, fearing that the young lady she served would be forgotten if she stayed away from the estate for too long. In April, she had entrusted the old woman to repeatedly remind Yin Shi to make handkerchiefs, shoes, pouches, and the like for Third Madam while in the mountains, as offerings to her legal mother.
Given the general environment, not doing so would make her stand out. Yin Shi tried her hand at it, only to find that while her mind held memories of needlework and her eyes knew what to do, her hands simply wouldn’t obey.
She immediately knew this was bad.
Needlework was something everyone here should know how to do. Moreover, it seemed that one could even identify who made something by the stitches alone—though she didn’t know if it was truly that miraculous. Still, if "Yin Shi" suddenly lost her needlework skills, it would definitely raise suspicions.
Yin Shi had thought that inheriting the original body’s memories would also mean inheriting her skills, but she never expected this. Terrified, she stopped immediately and even unraveled the few stitches she had already made.
Then she thought of another thing that might expose her: handwriting. Handwriting was an even more revealing flaw than needlework.
She cautiously probed and found that neither Mama Gao, Qiao Que, Yunjuan, nor Granny Li could read, which relieved her. But upon further inquiry, disaster struck—Qing Yan could read.
Qing Yan was her chief maid, who had accompanied her to lessons in the past. A clever maid like her could pick up a bit of learning along the way. Qing Yan knew a few characters roughly, making her semi-literate.
Yin Shi rummaged through the trunks and boxes they had brought along. Although there were paper, ink, brushes, and inkstones, as well as calligraphy copybooks, there were no previous examples of her handwriting.
So when someone from the estate came in May, she had Qiao Que give a few coins to the old woman and said, "Mama, go back and tell Qing Yan that I am still grieving my concubine mother’s passing and am focused on copying Buddhist scriptures, with no mind for other things. There’s one matter you must relay to Qing Yan for me: have her gather my previous handwriting practice and bring it to me next time. I need to compare it to see if my calligraphy has improved."
The old woman, having received the money, naturally agreed to handle the task.
Now in June, she had returned, conveying Qing Yan’s message for Yin Shi not to be willful—meaning, of course, that she should properly curry favor with her legal mother.
Yin Shi paid no heed and only asked, "What about the things I asked for? Did you bring them?"
The old woman replied, "Miss Qing Yan said they’re stored in that flat box."
It was good that they were brought.
After the people from the estate left, Yin Shi stayed in her room to examine the original body’s previous handwriting. After looking it over, she breathed a huge sigh of relief. After all, it was still a child’s writing—she could easily replicate it.
At this level, she had nothing to fear. In fact, she could write much better than the original child. When she returned, she could simply say she had practiced diligently in the mountains.
As for needlework, Mama Gao hadn’t been familiar with her before, so she naturally wouldn’t know her previous skill level. Yin Shi took advantage of this information gap, sending Qiao Que and Yunjuan outside to play and keeping only Mama Gao in the room to teach her.
Another hidden danger resolved.
Yin Shi didn’t seek great wealth or status—she only hoped not to expose her identity, allowing her to live peacefully and safely in this place.