It was already night, and a sumptuous vegetarian meal was prepared in the Tongtai Temple's purification room. As soon as Master Niankong raised his chopsticks, he heard the novice monk at the door calling out, "Master, a female donor wants to see you."
He stroked his beard and looked up, and saw a smiling woman in a moon-colored dress standing at the door, bowing slightly to him. His face darkened, and he said, "If the girl from the Xu family comes to accompany me, please come in and have a vegetarian meal with me. If she is like those nagging ministers at the temple gate, please go back."
She shrugged her shoulders, stepped over the threshold without hesitation, and said with a smile: "Zhao Pei was afraid that the emperor... the master had no one to take care of him, so she came here specifically to accompany him. You must not misunderstand me."
Hearing this, Xiao Yan turned aside and asked the waiter beside him to add another set of bowls and chopsticks. Zhao Pei smiled and sat opposite the emperor without waiting for him to give her a seat. Xiao Yan snorted, "Don't think that I don't know what you, a little girl, are thinking."
Zhao Pei yawned at him and replied with blinking eyes: "Master, you are wise and intelligent. Zhao Pei never thought that you didn't know. Zhao Pei came here with such sincerity, you should understand Zhao Pei's good intentions."
Xiao Yan laughed loudly after hearing this: "I just like your smooth talk. I will allow you to stay here for a few days, but you must leave the mountain when the time comes."
She nodded and replied, "Of course. Then Zhao Pei and Father will go down the mountain together."
"Go back by yourself. You can choose to go back now or in a few days." Xiao Yan restrained his smile and his facial features straightened.
Zhao Pei opened her mouth, but closed it wisely under Xiao Yan's cold gaze. She knew that if she said those words of advice now, she would be waiting for him to kick her out. She had finally squeezed in through the temple gate, so she couldn't leave so soon.
With a quick glance, Zhao Pei replied with a smile: "A few days later, of course a few days later. Zhao Pei will recite scriptures and worship Buddha here, and... wash away the sins."
Xiao Yan nodded in satisfaction after hearing her say this, and praised her again. Zhao Pei buried her head in the vegetarian meal, and said secretly: "The first plan failed." She sighed secretly, thinking that they would not really use the same trick as last time. She raised her head and looked at the clear sky. It was a warm night, without any chill. How could she catch a cold
Because Xiao Yan missed his disciples who were away, he invited Zhang Sengyou to paint for them. Because of Zhang Sengyou's night visit, the chanting that Zhao Pei was supposed to accompany was cancelled. Zhao Pei sighed with regret, but she was actually laughing in her heart.
It’s good to be spared from this hard job.
It was not that Zhao Pei blasphemed the Buddha, but being in the same room with the emperor always made her nervous. She also discussed with him from time to time, "When Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva practiced deep Prajna Paramita, he saw that the five aggregates were empty."
I have never studied it in depth, I just heard some monks talk about it. But I have to pretend to be very clear and answer calmly, which is really a punishment for Zhao Pei.
Finally, it was late at night. I went back to the prepared room and fell asleep without changing my clothes. The bedding smelled of the clean and refreshing pine scent of the temple, and the room was also burning pure incense. In such an environment, people can't help but sink into it, quiet and peaceful.
Her eyelids twitched and she felt sleepy. She had become extremely sleepy recently and still felt sleepy even after sleeping for at least six hours a day.
Now it was time to go to bed soon after dinner. Zhao Pei patted her cheek and cursed inwardly: "You lazy pig! Why don't you think of a solution!" Although she said this, her brain was not working.
The bed was a little hard, and Zhao Pei tossed and turned on the couch, feeling uncomfortable. Suddenly, she missed the soft bed and the warm embrace of the person next to her every night. The warmth in the coldness, so strange and familiar, made her feel at ease... ...
"Oh my god... what am I thinking about." Zhao Pei's ears turned red, and she stopped her wild thoughts. She turned around and looked at the single red candle burning on the table.
The vision in front of her gradually blurred, and in the dimness, she seemed to see the back of the man who buried his head in the book under the lamp every night. Just before falling asleep, she thought of many things in her mind, and without exception, they were all about the man she would never think of.
Since we shared the same bed, I could fall asleep almost every night with his scent. That cold yet warm embrace, that strange yet familiar smell... ...
“Mad man…” She cursed herself again, wrapped her body tightly in the pine resin and fell into a deep sleep.
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In the morning, Youyou woke up and it was already bright. She sat up suddenly and looked at the water clock. It was already past 12:00. Her brain did not react for a while. After thinking for a while, she asked herself in disbelief: "You slept for seven hours! You still have a mission to complete. Oh my God, are you sick? No, you must get treatment. Otherwise, you may die one day."
She put on her shoes and got off the couch before she heard a monotonous but persistent knock on the door, accompanied by a childish voice with tears in her eyes: "Donor, please say something. What do you want? Say something so I can answer you... Donor"
The young monk in green waited outside for a long while before Zhao Pei opened the door with a smile. The young monk breathed a sigh of relief: "Donor, you finally came out."
"I'm so sorry, I overslept." She walked out the door and closed it. "Where is Master Niankong? Am I late?"
The young monk replied, "Master Niankong is presiding at the Daxiong Hall." Zhao Pei nodded and walked towards the Daxiong Temple. But the young monk behind her held her tightly and said, "Donor, women cannot go. The master told you to wait for him in Songhe Pavilion and copy a copy of the Diamond Sutra."
Zhao Pei's eyes widened when she heard this, and she exclaimed, "What?" He was going to copy again? What on earth was this old emperor planning
She was becoming more and more lazy and unwilling to copy those things. She was getting more and more anxious to think of a good way to persuade the emperor to go back, or to relieve herself of these things. Raising her numb wrist, Zhao Pei put down her pen and looked out the window.
It was early summer, and the sun was shining brightly. Outside the window was a pond, sparkling with green light. In such a lively scene, she could only sit here and copy scriptures. Was the old emperor deliberately torturing her like this? Zhao Pei curled her lips, her mind suddenly turned, she smiled, put down her pen, turned around and walked out.
There was no one else in the pavilion. Zhao Pei sat down on the stone beside the pond, leaning against a green willow tree. The warm wind blew the willow branches, tickling her neck. Zhao Pei hid in the shade of the tree, plucked a willow branch and played with it in her hand. She looked around again, then bent down, took off her embroidered shoes, and carefully dipped her white jade feet into the pond.
"Huh..." The feet felt extremely cool, instantly sweeping away the irritating air around them. Zhao Pei exclaimed in satisfaction, swinging her legs to stir the water, splashing white water that was crystal clear under the bright sunshine.
I didn't expect playing in the water could be such a pleasant thing, Zhao Pei thought to herself. At first she didn't feel cold, just chilled through her heart, but later she found that the chill slowly came up from the soles of her feet and then seeped into her bones.
Her body trembled, but she didn't intend to withdraw her foot. She was determined to repeat the same trick. What is meant by "all is fair in war".
"Girl. What are you doing here?" The emperor's voice was heard from afar.
Zhao Pei shuddered again, and hurriedly looked back, saying in a daze: "You, you came back so early." It seemed that she had miscalculated the time. Xiao Yan frowned and looked at her feet soaking in the water, and said: "What are you doing?"
Zhao Pei finally reacted, and quickly put her feet back into her shoes, not caring whether they were wet or not, and stood up, smiling awkwardly, "You, you're here. I didn't even notice."
"Why, do you still want to find a disease?" Xiao Yan looked at her with a faint smile, which was meaningful.
Zhao Pei smiled awkwardly and shook her head as she walked over: "It's just that this scene is so charming that Zhao Pei unconsciously wants to get closer. You are wrong. Who wants to get sick?"
Xiao Yan chuckled, turned around and walked through the corridor: "But there are people like this."
Zhao Pei pretended not to hear and followed silently behind.
Xiao Yan asked again: "I heard that you are a lazy girl who likes to sleep and only wakes up at noon. Have you finished copying the Diamond Sutra?"
These words entered Zhao Pei's ears, but they became blurred, with thick noises exploding in her head. Zhao Pei shook her head, but she felt that the coldness had never left her body. The coldness lingered around her and gradually drained her strength. A chill jumped up to her lower abdomen and caused a continuous and piercing pain. She felt a thump in her heart. What happened? Something seemed to be wrong... ... ..
There was another wave of pain in my lower abdomen.
Her feet froze, and Zhao Pei stood still without moving. Xiao Yan waited for a long time but didn't get her reply. He turned around and saw her leaning against the red pillar, holding her stomach, her face pale. She didn't say anything, but was sweating and trembling all over.
"Xu's girl?" Xiao Yan felt something was wrong and frowned at her. Then, thinking of her tricks, he said coldly, "You..."
Before Leng Yan could finish his words, he saw the body slowly sliding down the red pillar... (To be continued)