Shortly after the morning hour, just after breakfast, when the Taoist practice of "dragons bringing rain" occurred, Emperor Jiajing began a fasting and offering prayers for the people. Soon the entire Western Garden was shrouded in the curling smoke of incense and candles.
Zhu Ping'an and other ministers who were seconded to present the Qingci were also left behind at the altar to copy the Qingci.
Burning incense, burning talismans, visualizing, chanting mantras, pinching fingers, clacking teeth, praying, reciting scriptures, chanting praises, lighting candles, and walking in the Yu step... ...a series of cumbersome, solemn, and extremely boring fasting and offering ceremonies lasted until noon.
After the ceremony, Zhu Ping'an walked down the altar leisurely, holding thirteen brushes dipped in gold powder in his sleeves, just like the last time he copied the Qingci. This was not because Zhu Ping'an was greedy, but mainly because he didn't want to give Tao Zhongwen, the old charlatan, a chance to get something for nothing. After the ceremony, all the gold powder used as ink would belong to Tao Zhongwen.
This old charlatan was too greedy. During the last "dragon bone" incident, this old charlatan used the excuse of performing a ceremony to appease the gods at Jianyuan Yue in Wudang Mountain to steal more than 200,000 taels of silver from Emperor Jiajing.
He also often instigated Emperor Jiajing to hold various fasting and prayer ceremonies, and every time a fasting and prayer ceremony was held, this old charlatan made a fortune.
Zhu Ping'an had no good feelings towards Tao Zhongwen, the old charlatan. On the surface, this old charlatan looked like a fairy, but in fact, he was a disaster to the country and the people, even worse than corrupt officials. Not to mention the expenses of alchemy and cultivation, the expenses of setting up altars and offering sacrifices alone would cost seven or eight thousand or even tens of thousands of taels of silver each time. This money should have been taken from the people and used for the people, but now it has been used to bring disaster to the country.
It would be a waste if I don't take the gold powder left over from these fasting and sacrificial activities. I can't let this old charlatan get it for free.
"Hehehe... Lord Zhu, it's summer time and your ears are still cold. Look at how you cover your ears."
After the fasting and offering sacrifices, Zhu Ping'an returned to Wuyi Hall. While walking on the road, he heard a sarcastic voice coming from behind him.
Zhu Ping'an turned his head and looked back, and then saw Yuan Wei with a face full of envy and jealousy.
When Yuan Wei saw Zhu Ping'an turning around, he pointed at Zhu Ping'an's ears, with envy, jealousy, hatred, mockery and ridicule on his face. These expressions mixed together, making Yuan Wei's face a little distorted.
Zhu Ping'an was wearing the scented leaf crown bestowed by Emperor Jiajing in the morning.
The most suitable scene for this scented leaf crown is Taoist related activities, such as today's fasting and offering ceremony. If you don't wear the scented leaf crown during today's fasting and offering ceremony, it will be a political mistake.
This is not just talk.
A few years ago, the senior Xia Yan proved this with his personal experience. At that time, Xia Yan was still the chief minister of the cabinet, and Yan Song was only the second minister. The two were successively granted a fragrant leaf crown by Emperor Jiajing. Xia Yan has always been against the superstitious activities of Emperor Jiajing, so after receiving this Taoist fragrant leaf crown, Xia Yan never wore it. The difference is that Yan Song not only wore the fragrant leaf crown during Taoist activities such as fasting and offering sacrifices, but also put it on every time he met Emperor Jiajing, and wiped it clean and covered it with a veil to prevent dust and damage. In contrast, Emperor Jiajing praised Yan Song and became increasingly alienated from Xia Yan. In the end, Xia Yan was abandoned and executed, while Yan Song was favored by Emperor Jiajing and became the chief minister of the cabinet.
So, this fragrant leaf crown Zhu Ping'an must be worn.
However, since the scented crown is green, and a green hat... ... no man would wear it.
Therefore, before the fasting and offering sacrifices, Zhu Ping'an made a cover for the scented leaf crown with black gauze by himself.
However, due to Zhu Ping's poor craftsmanship, the mask was a little too big. Before going to the ceremony, Zhu Ping'an stuffed the extra gauze into his hat. Unexpectedly, half of the gauze behind the hat fell off when he knelt and stood up during the ceremony. Because the gauze was thin, and the front half was well inside the hat, Zhu Ping'an didn't notice that the back half fell off, and it covered most of his ear like an ear warmer.
Therefore, Yuan Wei mocked Zhu Ping'an for his cold ears and ridiculed Zhu Ping'an for wearing the scented leaf crown in an inappropriate way. In his words, he was mocking Zhu Ping'an for wearing the crown like a macaque.
After hearing Yuan Wei's ridicule, Zhu Ping'an realized that the back half of his hat had fallen down and covered his ears.
"Hehe, your ears are still cold in the middle of summer. Lord Zhu is really... Tsk tsk..."
Yuan Wei clicked his tongue twice, shook his head and pulled his mouth, mocking Zhu Ping'an's macaque crown. Yuan Wei was extremely envious and jealous of Zhu Ping'an's receipt of the fragrant leaf crown from Emperor Jiajing, and now he had the chance to mock Zhu Ping'an and vent his anger, so he would not miss this opportunity.
Damn it!
Are you sick?!
Did I provoke you?!
Listening to Yuan Wei's sarcastic remarks, which became more and more sarcastic, Zhu Ping'an had a thousand thoughts in his mind and didn't know whether to say them or not.
At this time, the ministers who were returning to Wuyi Palace had stopped in groups of three or four and were looking over here.
"What's wrong, Lord Zhu? You really have cold ears, hahaha... Coincidentally, I know an imperial physician named Li who specializes in..."
Seeing people stopping to watch, Yuan Wei became even more excited and once again ridiculed Zhu Pingan.
This time, Yuan Wei went a step further and directly recommended the imperial physician to Zhu Ping'an, implying that Zhu Ping'an was ill.
"Haha, Master Yuan, my ears aren't cold, it's you who's jealous, right?!!"
Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but pull the corner of his mouth downwards, bowed to Yuan Wei, and replied lightly.
My ears are not cold, it's your eyes that are jealous.
You pink eye!
Zhu Ping'an's light words left Yuan Wei speechless. He opened his mouth several times but no sound came out. His face instantly turned as red as pig liver, and the redness spread all the way to his ears.
This scene is very funny. Yuan Wei just complained about Zhu Pingan with rich expressions and emotions, but Zhu Pingan just replied with this sentence, and instantly knocked Yuan Wei out. It was like a strong man showing off his fancy punches and kicks, but the other party just stretched out a finger and pushed him down.
Who am I, where am I, my face is so hot...
At this moment, Yuan Wei's mind went blank, his face flushed, his expression stiff, he was at a loss, and felt extremely embarrassed. He wished he could find a hole in the ground to crawl into.
"hehe… "
"It's not your ears that are cold, it's your eyes that are jealous... hehe..."
This is a typical case of Yuan Wei failing to rob someone and ending up being frightened. The onlookers couldn't help but laugh when they saw this.
"Since Lord Yuan knows Imperial Physician Li, Ping An will not go to the trouble of recommending a good doctor to Lord Yuan. I sincerely wish Lord Yuan a speedy recovery."
Zhu Ping'an bowed to Yuan Wei, shrugged his shoulders, added lightly, then turned around and left leisurely.
Yuan Wei was left standing there, accepting everyone's attention.