Xiang Yifeng and the others in Group One had been brought back to Qingyang Temple a day before us.
Apparently, they had been hiding in the city all along, in the basement of a villa.
They might have had food and drink, but they had suffered more than we had. They had gone nearly twenty days without seeing sunlight, just like being in prison.
And they had already been badly injured when they went into hiding.
Until I left the Steward's Office, Grandmaster never mentioned the traitor to me.
Since he did not bring it up, I did not ask any more questions.
Over the next two days, however, all the elders at Qingyang Temple went down the mountain except for the cooks at the Vegetarian Hall, including Grandmaster and my Master.
They did not come back for two whole days.
The New Year was only a few days away. The young senior brothers and sisters at the temple no longer had to study, either. Like other children, they were getting a winter vacation.
During the two days Grandmaster and the others were away, I played with these senior brothers and sisters around the temple.
Heavy snow was falling in the city too, and a thick layer piled up inside the temple every day. I had to clear it away, though of course I left some for my senior brothers and sisters to have snowball fights.
Once they no longer had to study, they could be seen running around everywhere in the temple, except near our dormitory.
Zhang Rong's group and Xiang Yifeng's group all stayed in their rooms recovering from their injuries, since the rooms had heating.
Around the evening of the third day, Grandmaster and the others returned, bringing back the traitor who had sold us out.
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