Meanwhile, within Huayan Temple, tranquility reigned.
Zhu Mo had just woken from a nap and felt anxious, as he had received no news from Ma Fang and the others. He wandered alone through the temple, thinking, "No matter how you calculate it, Anda should have made a move by now. Why is there still no word from Ma Fang and Li Wenjin... Malu and his men are familiar with preparing for battle, but if we had Li Wenjin, the proper Grand Commandant, everything would be much easier..."
Lost in thought,
He found himself at the Guanyin Courtyard, where he heard a mournful, flowing melody from a zither.
"Oh?
Who is this?"
Zhu Mo, who always enjoyed music, stopped by the moon gate to listen closely. He recognized it as a tune similar to "Autumn Moon in the Han Palace," a lament of courtly sorrow. After listening for a while, he felt the player was quite skilled, conveying a subtle melancholy, not the bitterness of a resentful woman. He murmured to himself,
"This zither playing has a certain grace. Rare, truly rare... It's a pity they changed keys incorrectly just now."
Just as he was about to peek inside,
He heard a soft chuckle. A maidservant rounded the moon gate, covering her mouth with a laugh, and said, "Oh, Sir is also a connoisseur? If I may say, in this remote place, to have someone like you is truly rare. Heh heh..."
Zhu Mo asked, "And who is playing the zither?"
He inwardly thought it must be a lady from some influential household in the city.
As the maidservant was about to answer, a gentle voice called from within, "Jin'er, you mustn't speak to strange men. Have you forgotten all your manners?"
The zither music also stopped. A graceful and elegant beauty stood beneath a plum tree, looking at the maidservant Jin'er with a feigned pout.
Seeing Zhu Mo looking somewhat bewildered, she also chuckled, covering her mouth, and pretend-scolded the maidservant, "Hurry and apologize to Sir... You've disturbed his elegant mood, humph."
Jin'er bowed gracefully and said, "Please forgive me, Sir. Jin'er knows she was wrong..."
But before she finished speaking, she suddenly stared at Zhu Mo, glancing at the imperial envoy's seal on his waist. Her eyes flickered, and then she suddenly laughed coyly, "Your servant guesses, your servant guesses! You must be the renowned Young Master Zhu Mo, right?"
"Ah?
The beauty's exquisite eyes suddenly shone with admiration. Her face then flushed, and she glided forward, bowing gracefully to Zhu Mo, "So it is Young Master Zhu Mo? I am truly honored..."
She was visibly excited, her voice trembling, and she appeared very shy, her eyes fixed on Zhu Mo with undisguised adoration and worship.
Zhu Mo, not yet twenty, felt his heart flutter at this scene and became a little embarrassed. He stammered,
"May I know, may I know, uh... may I know who you both are...?"
"Pfft!
Jin'er chuckled softly and said, "Young Master Zhu, although you are a hero, our young lady is also very famous... She is the great talent of Datong..."
"Oh, my apologies, my apologies..."
This awkward display caused both women to laugh, their bodies shaking with mirth.
...
Just then,
Zhu Mo caught sight of a fleeting shadow in the Guanyin Courtyard window. His mind suddenly went still—
"Wait, this seems like a trap? What talent does Datong have? This woman looks like she's in her thirties, no amount of pretense can hide that... Could this woman be that bitch, the Prince of Dai's consort?"
With this thought, he looked more closely and indeed noticed the woman's actual age. Despite her affectations, she couldn't conceal a certain worldly air about her, and a sinister glint occasionally flashed in her eyes...
"Damn it!"
"Are they sending this trash to mess with me?"
Just as Zhu Mo was about to turn away, he saw the beauty suddenly look anxious.
"No! Don't move yet..."
Having experienced many perils, he now envisioned a extremely dangerous scenario—
Huayan Temple was in the center of the city. The Right Guard was to the north, Yang Xuan and the others were to the south. This place was a transition zone. So, if several burly men rushed out of the courtyard at this moment and subdued him, and this woman then accused him of molestation, with the maidservant acting as a witness, what would happen?
In that case, Yang Xuan would naturally be very polite,
And he would be extremely, extremely polite, saying things like, "It's alright, it's alright, human nature after all." At the same time, they would spread rumors throughout the city, saying, "Zhu Mo forced the Prince's Consort," "Zhu Mo is having an affair with the Consort," "Zhu Mo has a silver den in Huayan Temple," "Zhu Mo is selecting a concubine in Datong," and so on.
Malu and his men would naturally not believe it, but they couldn't withstand the sheer numbers. Moreover, this kind of dirty work was their specialty. Had Yan Song and Yan Shifan not spread countless rumors in the capital and Jiangnan?
As for the common people, they could be coerced by authority. After all, Yang Xuan was the Provincial Governor, Wu Ying was the Grand Commandant, and Li Chong was the Investigating Censor and the Grand Commander of the Valiant Army. What the officials of the entire city said, the common people had no choice but to believe!
More dangerously, the other twelve Guards, swayed by the rumors, would see a shift in the balance of power. Those officers were already more inclined to serve the Yan family, and the soldiers, though different, couldn't defy their superiors. In the end, they would use Zhu Mo's alleged lack of virtue as an excuse for non-compliance, and the situation would collapse.
Furthermore, this would make it difficult for the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Yu Zhen to intervene. After all, he was an imperial envoy; how could he side with someone accused of an affair with a princely consort?
With widespread gossip, public opinion would waver, and the Right Guard would inevitably stand with them. Yang Xuan and the others would then use the excuse of disunity to forcibly expel him.
These could be considered standard tactics,
But what was more terrifying was—
Their daring to do this indicated that Anda had already arrived!
Upon realizing this,
Zhu Mo couldn't help but regret—
"Too careless!"
"I shouldn't have kept Huayan Temple open!"
When he entered the city this time, in order to win over the people, he had rejected Malu's suggestion to keep the temple open, making it seem as if he had nothing to hide. But now, it appeared to have backfired.
Sweating profusely, he didn't know how to proceed.
One must understand,
Rumors about men and women are extremely potent. Once a hint of suspicion arises, it's impossible to shake it off. Even if nothing happened, and he left now, they could still say, "Zhu Mo was discussing music with the Consort in the Guanyin Courtyard," "His personal guards were all dismissed at the time," and so on. To refute these claims would be incredibly difficult; only time could truly quell them.
...
Caught in a dilemma, Zhu Mo couldn't decide whether to leave or slip away.
The moment the bitch saw him about to leave, she had already become anxious. If he truly left now, she would immediately shout "molestation." But if he stayed, wouldn't he be sinking deeper?
In his anxiety, he suddenly remembered the shadow in the window, and a flash of inspiration struck him—
"Perhaps I can claim they tried to assassinate me? Summon Zheng Qin and tell him I was attacked? Use an assassination story to counter their salacious story?"