Lu Huan: I Can't Figure It Out!

When Lu Huan saw that the adults had finally finished talking, she asked from the side, "Can we look around the nunnery?"

Duo Wen smiled, the wrinkles on her face easing slightly. "Of course. This nun will have Miao Sheng show you around."

With that, she rose to her feet and slowly departed, leaning on her bamboo staff.

The moment they left the dining hall, Miao Sheng was indeed waiting outside, still wearing that gentle, smiling expression. "This way, please."

She led them slowly through the courtyards of the nunnery.

The autumn afternoon sunlight slanted down over the gray tiles and white walls, gilding everything with a mellow warmth.

Bright Moon Nunnery had been built along the mountainside, its three successive courtyards layered across the sunlit slope.

There were many trees within the nunnery, and Miao Sheng pointed them out one by one as she introduced them.

"This is a luohan pine. The third abbess planted it herself, so it must be over three hundred years old."

She pointed to an ancient pine with a vigorous, twisting form. Its trunk was so thick that even two people could not encircle it, while its canopy spread like a cover, casting a broad swath of deep shade.

The stone table and stools beneath it had been worn smooth and bright, with several pine needles scattered across them.

"Those two over there are bodhi trees. A traveling Dharma master brought the saplings from the south back then. They've grown for over a hundred years now as well."

The bodhi leaves were heart-shaped, rustling loudly in the wind like countless little flags fluttering in formation.

She also pointed out several halls in turn, explaining which Buddhas were enshrined within and what stories lay behind them.

After passing through a small courtyard, they arrived at