Chapter 890 Monk and Taoist

Throughout Yan Country, whether officials, gentry, soldiers, or civilians, everyone was "exhausted" from dealing with the recent war and lay on the ground, excitedly panting while savoring the thrilling aftertaste of breaking through the capital of the Qian Kingdom.

But in Jin East,

the officials, gentry, soldiers, and civilians there had been holding their breaths until now.

Especially after learning of their Prince's glorious victory, their hearts were filled with envy.

Unlike previous celebrations after the Prince's victories,

when news of this great victory reached Jin East, especially Fengxin City, the people followed their usual custom, buying wine and meat for a good feast.

Then, as they ate and drank, their eyes began to turn red, and the atmosphere at the dinner tables became extremely melancholic.

Ordinary people lamented why they hadn't been chosen to participate, wondering how much reward the laborers in the rear would receive for this great victory, and whether the auxiliary soldiers could earn the status of a standard household after a single trip.

As for the standard households, they were even more heartbroken, not daring to openly curse or say anything disrespectful, but just a mouthful of wine and a tearful face, as grown men lamented:

"We just don't understand, why does the Prince prefer to take outside soldiers to fight and not us?"

Fengxin City was absolutely loyal to the Prince; after all, it was no exaggeration to say that this city, everything here, existed because of the Prince.

But it was precisely this deep love and respect that made it

so difficult to accept the Prince's behavior of petting other people's dogs!

In short,

they were jealous,

and very jealous.

The entire Fengxin City seemed to be soaked in a large vat of vinegar, so much so that they didn't even need a dipping sauce for dumplings.

Those few nights, Qu Peiluo, who was responsible for the city's internal and external defense, arrested many people who violated the law while drunk.

Fengxin City had no curfew; it was a city with highly developed commerce, operating day and night.

But this didn't mean that you could get away with being drunk, shouting loudly, or smashing the walls or doors of houses on the street for no reason.

Many people were arrested and thrown in jail.

After sobering up, before they could realize what they had done, they huddled together in the prison.

Some shouted about how they had fought for the Prince at Xuehai Pass;

some cried about how they had blocked the Chu army's formation for the Prince in Chu;

some wept about how they had...

"..." the jailers.

Upon hearing this, the jailer immediately woke up, dragged the man out of the communal cell, and transferred him to a solitary cell.

Then, he asked his boss, who had been forced to retire from the army due to an arm injury and now worked as a prison warden, to take a look and realized that he was indeed a military assistant!

Damn it,

so this jealousy was universal, and even a military assistant got drunk and caused trouble late at night.

However, the jailers didn't panic or apologize. There were many retired veterans working in the Fengxin City prison, most of whom had the status of standard households.

Having the status of a standard household meant that they had a squad leader above them, and layer upon layer, they could push up to a very high position. In short, they had real people in high places.

Moreover, standard households had their own special government office, and if they were wronged or committed a crime, they had a place to appeal directly.

A military assistant was indeed a high-ranking official, but if he wanted to use his power to bully others, they could always find someone higher up than the military assistant to uphold justice.

Moreover,

it was General Qu who ordered the arrests and clearing of the streets.

Who was General Qu?

His relationship with the Prince was extremely deep. Who would he fear?

This logic, upon careful consideration, felt a little strange, but in essence, the words were rough but the meaning was correct.

However,

General Qu really didn't have time to care about how many big fish he had caught in jail last night.

Because,

the Princess was about to give birth.

When the Princess was first confirmed to be pregnant, the scholars of the Prince's mansion had already calculated the expected date of delivery, and the approximate date had been set.

This was not a secret.

In the early morning, all the Embroidered Uniform Guards who were originally on leave or off duty were recalled to the Prince's mansion, meaning that the Princess's belly must be showing signs of movement.

Qu Peiluo paced back and forth in the signing room.

He himself felt a little inexplicable, why was he so worried, why was he so uneasy and apprehensive?

How deep was his relationship with the Princess?

Before her marriage, he had only seen her twice;

after her marriage, he had only seen her twice.

This woman had almost brought him supreme glory, but also brought him the greatest humiliation in the world as a man, and subsequently, she became the fig leaf for him to continue living in this world.

Perhaps,

the relationship between men and women in the world was too thin and arbitrary to be expressed solely by the word "love."

Some tangled factors had long been attached with layers of羁绊 (jībàn, emotional entanglement), difficult to cut and sort out, even if it was only one-sided.

In short,

Qu Peiluo was now genuinely worried about the Princess,

without any personal feelings, just simply hoping that she could safely give birth to a child.

Stopping his steps,

Qu Peiluo sighed

and murmured:

"May she be safe."

…

At this time, the Pingxi Prince's Mansion had raised its security to the highest level.

But in the inner courtyard, it was a different scene.

"Clatter!"

Fourth Madam placed her left hand on her bulging belly, and her right hand skillfully played mahjong;

sitting at the table were also Liu Ruqing, Ke Shi, and the Blind Man's wife, Yue Xin.

"Hurry up, play your card."

Fourth Madam urged.

Liu Ruqing and the other two women could only continue to play along.

"Hey, hey, this is for money, be serious."

Fourth Madam reminded them.

The Princess, standing behind Fourth Madam, holding her large belly with one hand and supporting her waist with the other, also urged:

"Oh, hurry up, don't keep elder sister waiting."

Liu Ruqing, Ke Shi, and Yue Xin all subconsciously looked up at the Princess, then lowered their heads and sped up their card playing.

"Hu!" (Winning card)

Fourth Madam pushed down her tiles.

"Elder sister's card playing is truly amazing. I didn't notice it when I played with elder sister before, but standing behind elder sister today has really opened my eyes."

"Before, when we played cards, we kept three points of mind, playing back and forth, anyway, it wasn't for money, just playing around. Now it's different, nine points of mind have to be on your belly, so how can I have the mind to let you win?"

"Hehe."

Xiong Liqing gently bumped Fourth Madam's arm with her belly: "Elder sister is the best."

"What's so good about it? Your quirk is also amazing. You have a big belly, and you're about to give birth, but you can't eat or sleep well unless you listen to the sound of mahjong.

Our family is big, that's right;

our Prince has a good temper, that's also right;

the Prince doesn't have any expectations of his son becoming a dragon, but if you really give birth to a gambler, wouldn't that be too unfair to him?"

"Isn't that also pretty good? Such a big family, such a big inheritance, there should always be a few playboys or something, otherwise wouldn't the brothers and sisters have too hard a life in the future?"

Here, the brothers and sisters referred to the children.

Even though she was about to give birth, and the first child of the Pingxi Prince's Mansion was about to be born, Xiong Liqing still didn't dare to compete with Fourth Madam;

she couldn't compete with her for favor, and she couldn't play tricks as well as her. She had always treated herself politely, and if she was so clueless as to try to do something, it would really be too stupid.

In the past, the Princess had thought about relying on her son to gain status, not competing for the present but seeking the future;

but after ten months of pregnancy, such thoughts had faded a lot. Before pregnancy, the child was just a tool in her eyes, but after pregnancy, this feeling of mother and child being connected made her understand the true meaning of being a mother early on.

The root cause was still that although her man was now a veritable "local emperor," and his power was much higher than that of the rulers of small countries, the atmosphere in the family had always been very harmonious.

Unlike the deep palace, which was cold and full of a man-eating atmosphere;

since she wouldn't be forced to take that step, who wouldn't want a simple and peaceful life?

"Just right, when that Princess Fu arrives, she can help you take care of the child, and we can save ourselves from hiring a nanny." Fourth Madam said with a smile.

Xiong Liqing said with some anger: "The Prince is really something. In the past, younger sister didn't know what it meant to be unrestrained and romantic, but now I really understand. Not only must he fight beautifully, but he must also take beauties into his arms while fighting.

In the past, in the palace, I watched a lot of operas or scripts, and always felt that the stories inside were too unrealistic, but now I look at our Prince, who lives his life even more dramatically than the characters in the scripts."

"Do you still need to watch others? Do you still need to talk about now? Don't you look at how you came to be, hehe."

Fourth Madam teased without any reservations.

"Oh, elder sister you!"

Xiong Liqing's pretty face turned red, and she gently pushed Fourth Madam's arm.

Perhaps if you counted up and down five hundred years of history books, you wouldn't find a second example of a princess who was kidnapped and then performed great deeds again.

Fourth Madam sighed again: "I just heard that Princess Fu has long been tamed by our man. She had contact with him during the first attack on Qian. At that time, I was also there. This time, it can be considered that the master is going to relive old times and do it a second time.

It's not interesting to tame someone who doesn't resist.

I'm still looking forward to when that County Princess can also enter our Prince's Mansion."

In fact, the women present had always had a kind of illusion;

the women in the Prince's Mansion, rather than being gathered by the Prince, were better said to be gathered by their own sister Feng, using the Prince's name.

Liu Ruqing said with a smile: "The Prince's triumphant return this time has finally relieved me. I was really worried when I heard the rumors of the war over there earlier."

"Isn't there a saying called 'Regretting that I taught my husband to seek a title'? Our man is already a Prince, and we women are too late to regret it." Xiong Liqing said with a smile, picking up a cup of jujube tea and taking two sips.

Yue Xin then opened her mouth and said, "I don't know if the Prince will be able to make it back in time."

Ke Shi echoed, "The Prince is probably rushing back as fast as he can."

The Princess waved her hand and said, "Whether the man comes back or not, this child has to be born. How great was the risk of the assassination last time? Wasn't it because of next door..."

The Princess paused and said, "May the Prince be stable and return to the mansion safely."

"Alright, drink less of this blood-enriching tea now, lest the ginseng soup doesn't work when you really have to give birth later. Also, go lie down and sleep a little more to replenish your energy."

Fourth Madam instructed.

"Okay, elder sister."

Xiong Liqing obediently lay back down.

"Elder sisters, continue playing."

Xiong Liqing urged with a smiling face.

Fourth Madam couldn't help but have a headache. She still had a lot of things to do: bonds, paper money, coinage. A few days ago, when the man was fighting outside, she was too bored with a big belly, so she began to implement her previous ideas in a preliminary way. She had just started, and things were busy, but she still had to stay here to play mahjong for her to listen to;

but there was no way around it,

after all, she was the one she had "married" into the family, so she had to take some responsibility.

"Come on, shuffle the tiles."

…

The incense of the Calabash Temple has been very prosperous since its establishment.

In the past few years of war, the Wild Men came once, the Chu people came once, and the Yan people fought in and out again. Even famous ancient temples had long been battered by wind and rain.

After that, regardless of whether it was the Earl's Mansion at the beginning, or the Marquis's Mansion later, or the current Prince's Mansion, in Jin East, all foreign people, regardless of their sect, were invited to training once discovered, and then sent to the Snow Plains to enrich the spiritual and cultural life of the people of the Snow Plains;

with such partiality, the people of Fengxin City could only find this kind of spiritual sustenance in this Calabash Temple. It was the only one, without any branches, and without competition. It was difficult for the incense not to be prosperous.

Today was also like this.

However,

the people who came to burn incense today did not see the crazy monk and the enchanting little monk.

Moreover, today, the incense pavilion at the innermost part of the Calabash Temple, which enshrined the Pingxi Prince's longevity tablet, was also closed, and the explanation given to the outside world was that it was being repaired.

In fact,

there was someone inside.

A Taoist priest wearing a dirty Taoist robe was standing in front of the longevity tablet. Above the tablet was the Prince's statue, sitting on the back of a Pixiu (a mythical beast), with the Pixiu stepping on auspicious clouds, extremely heroic;

the statue was carefully carved by skilled craftsmen, and this treatment could make the "countless gods and Buddhas" in the temple, whose eyeballs were made of donkey dung, drool with envy.

Below the tablet was a merit monument, which recorded the Pingxi Prince's life achievements.

The latest carved achievements were the battles after entering Qian, but they were not yet finished.

The Taoist priest looked at it and smiled,

and said;

"The tablet has been erected, the statue has been sculpted, and the monument has been carved, but clearly this person has not died yet."

Behind the Taoist priest, the little monk Liaofan heard this and

said:

"Must a person be dead before they can have a tablet erected, a statue sculpted, and a monument carved?"

The Taoist priest nodded and said, "Otherwise? You must know that only when the coffin is closed can a conclusion be drawn. Even sometimes, a hundred years after death, you still have to worry about the case being overturned, and your reputation can be ruined."

The little monk Liaofan put his hands together and

said;

"Taoist friend, this is a Buddhist temple."

"So what if it's a Buddhist temple?"

"What Buddhist temples erect are Buddhas."

"Hahahaha, this flattery is really sickening. The person is still alive, and you are rushing to erect a Buddha for him?"

The little monk Liaofan was not ashamed or annoyed,

but said sternly:

"There are human Buddhas in this world."

"Human Buddha?"

"Five years ago, this place was still a blank space, barren after the soldiers passed through, with alkali rising and nothing growing. Now, the land of Jin East has begun to recover its vitality.

This is great merit.

Why can't someone with great merit become a Buddha?

The dead are already dead;

what good is it to make a dead person a Buddha for the living?

Letting a living person become a Buddha naturally has the method of compassion in his heart, which can restrain himself and benefit all the people."

The Taoist priest nodded thoughtfully and

said:

"This reasoning sounds novel, but it is indeed interesting. Only you bald donkeys can understand this kind of expediency. No wonder you can eat oily incense;

one is fat-headed and big-eared, and the other has a powdered face!

Taoists go down the mountain in troubled times, and monks collect wealth in prosperous times;

these words

are indeed true."

The little monk Liaofan then said; "Since you have become a monk, why do you still distinguish between you, me, and him? Have you really left this home?"

"I don't have the mind to argue with you, little monk. I came down the mountain this time for only one thing."

"What country are you from, Taoist friend?" the little monk Liaofan asked.

"Hehe, you said it yourself, since you have become a monk, why do you still distinguish between countries? Does Buddha have a country?"

On the side,

tilting his head,

with saliva drooling from the corner of his mouth, the crazy old monk then opened his mouth and said:

"Buddha has no country, but believers do."

The Taoist priest was speechless for a moment and could only curse, "You really can say everything with that one mouth!"

Then,

the Taoist priest seemed to have thought of something again and

said:

"Are you Yan people? It doesn't seem like it."

The old monk Kongyuan pointed to his feet and

said:

"This is the country, this is the home."

"Good."

The Taoist priest took a deep breath,

waved his sleeve,

and immediately scattered rays of light like morning霞 (xiá, rosy clouds).

People in the world who cultivate, either pursue天机 (tiānjī, heavenly secrets) and ask questions like those in the back mountain, or pay attention to effectiveness like Grandfather Tai of Yan and the current Eunuch Wei;

but this hand of the Taoist shows that he is not cultivating the Qi refiner type, nor the Gong Zhong Taiye sect. He is walking the most simple Taoist path, a very difficult path.

"I'm just passing by, passing by to take a look." Saying this, the Taoist priest revealed a smile at the corner of his mouth, "Heavenly secrets are虚无 (xūwú, ethereal and illusory), but people are born between heaven and earth, and there is always that portion of 定数 (dìngshù, destiny); but I perceive that a spirit will emerge today, and the emergence of a spirit is without reason, which must be ominous!"

The old monk Kongyuan sighed and

said:

"This should be asked of his father, because there is a head for the cause, just as there is a master for the debt."

The little monk Liaofan then interjected, "The Prince will return soon, you can talk to the Prince about cause and effect."

"Hahahaha hahahaha!!!!!!"

The Taoist priest let out a bold laugh,

after laughing,

he said:

"I dare not."

"..." Liaofan.

"Five years ago, I wanted to leave the Guan (mountain pass) to find senior Cang Fuzi to talk about the Dao, to sort out the Heavenly Secret, but I only knew when I left the Guan that he had passed away;

helplessly, I had to retreat again, thinking of waiting for the disciple of that Cang Fuzi to grow a little longer, and maybe I could find him to chat again;

but who knew that as soon as I left the Guan again, that Li Xundao had actually gone down the mountain.

Tell me,

are these师徒 (shītú, master and disciple) two really stupid,

having left home, they still look back. Can they have good fruit to eat by looking back?"

The old monk Kongyuan opened his mouth and said; "In the end, he came for the back mountain."

"I'm just here to take a look."

The old monk Kongyuan put his hands together: "I also hope that Taoist friend will think twice."

"What, have you made up your minds to intercede for your master's yet-to-be-born child?"

"No, it's for what you said."

The old monk Kongyuan limped to the door of the pavilion,

reached out,

and opened the door,

saying:

"Outside the door is home, do you also want to look back?"

"In my eyes, this is not a door, but a tribulation, it is the Dao."

The old monk nodded and said; "Then this poor monk will see Taoist friend off."

"Really?"

"Really."

"That's good."

The Taoist priest went out the door first, and the old monk limped behind him.

A monk and a Taoist, walking from the innermost part of the Calabash Temple to the outside, when they reached the incense burner courtyard at the outermost part, many incense guests saw this combination of a monk and a Taoist, and they all cast curious gazes.

The Taoist priest glanced at these incense guests

and lightly whispered disdainfully, "The world is ignorant."

The old monk echoed, "Right."

Then,

the old monk pointed at the Taoist priest

and shouted loudly at the surrounding crowd:

"He is an assassin who wants to assassinate the Prince, kill him!"