"Grandpa." Song Tao's face was filled with astonishment. Could Grandpa already have guessed my origins?
That was right. If she hadn't seen the Bodhisattva's warning, she certainly wouldn't have rushed to Thousand Buddha Temple that day and returned the same day.
Moreover, the first thing she had done upon returning was come here to the Deer Garden and report in.
This old man had lived for nearly a hundred years, and his eyes had watched the world for nearly a hundred years. His ears had also listened for nearly a hundred years. What was there that he had never seen or heard?
Every word and action of hers, every little secret and scheme she had tried to conceal, was probably as clear as a mirror in his eyes, with Nowhere to Hide.
"Tell me. What hint did the Bodhisattva give you?" The old man's face was calm and unruffled as he rose and walked toward the wintersweet tree in the courtyard.
The wind had eased, but the snow had grown heavier. Fluffy snowflakes drifted down in a flurry, as if competing with the freshly blossomed wintersweet for beauty.
"The Bodhisattva was bleeding." Song Tao didn't dare hide anything and answered honestly.
"Mm. The Bodhisattva was bleeding, and the nation had lost a pillar. It seems that I, this old skeleton, have been praised rather highly." Song Gudú's face held a smile. He stood in the middle of the plum grove, and amid the swirling snow, he seemed about to merge with the wind and snow themselves.
"Grandpa, the wind and snow are fierce outside. Why don't you go back inside to talk?" Song Tao urged him from the side.
"Foolish." Song Gudú rebuked her softly. "Can this wind, this snow, and this chill hurt me in the slightest?"
"But..."
The