Han Ruzi has nothing but a little ambition, so he can only wait and wait patiently.
On the last day of the first lunar month, Yang Feng left and went to the Northern Army to serve as the chief history officer. When he parted, he warned Marquis Juan: "Don't act rashly. If someone takes the initiative to contact you, you must tell me. Du's grandfather and grandson are trustworthy, but they are from Jianghu, don't treat them. Talk too much."
Han Ruzi remembered, he was looking forward to someone coming, even if it was provocative, but the days passed, and it became more and more dull. No guests ever came to the House of Marquis, and no strangers suddenly rushed up on the street. , the puppet career in the palace has become magnificent in memory.
The Emperor seems to have been forgotten.
There was not much new news in the newspapers sent every three or five days. The queen mother failed to resist the repeated letters from the courtiers. She recalled the three uncles of the new emperor to the capital and gave them heavy rewards, but did not arrange positions of real power. The struggle between the Queen Mother and the Cui family has come to an end, at least on the surface, Han Ruzi has no other source of information, and can only guess that both sides are accumulating strength and waiting for an opportunity.
Spring is blooming. Cui Xiaojun was tidying up the back garden with great interest, and Han Ruzi felt that it was time to go to Baoen Temple to fulfill the wish of the concubine.
Bao'en Temple is not a city square. Ordinary pilgrims can only enter the front hall to burn incense and worship. If they want to see the substitute tablet of the late emperor, they must obtain permission from the temple, Zongzhengfu, Rites, and Sengzhengsi. The trip finally took place on the third day of April.
Cui Xiaojun prepared a lot of gifts. Gold and silver, sesame oil, food, clothing, beads, and more. As long as it is a monk registered in Baoen Temple, everyone has a copy.
The yamen from all sides finally proved that they had a little reason for delaying for so long. The whole process of offering incense went extremely smoothly. From the moment when Marquis Juan and his wife left the house, everything went according to plan. location and bring back the situation of the monks.
On this day, Baoen Temple only received Juanhou and his party.
Han Ruzi felt like he was leading a fight, but it was a battle that was doomed to fail. He even had to prepare the spoils for the opponent in advance.
As a "victory" party, Baoen Temple gave enough face. The abbot and more than a dozen monks went out of the temple to welcome them. The stars and the moon generally welcomed the young couple into the temple's guest room. After drinking tea and resting, go to the main hall to worship the Buddha, where the emperor has to bend his knees and treat the gods and Buddhas as ancestors.
The next step is to keep praying to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. After each worshiping a temple, take a short rest and taste the vegetarian food in the temple. Listen to eminent monks chanting sutras and chat with abbots.
After noon is the highlight of the incense offering—giving alms to the monks. Cui Xiaojun took a bag of things from the servant and handed it to another servant, who then passed it on to the monk whose name was called.
The whole process lasted for more than an hour. Han Ruzi stood next to his wife and kept saluting, feeling more tired than being an emperor.
In the evening, the formal process finally ended. The couple went to the meditation hall to sit for a while to feel the atmosphere. Cui Xiaojun went back to the guest room to rest, and Han Ruzi, led by the abbot, gave incense to the late emperor's substitute tablet.
They can only go home after burning incense and making a wish tomorrow morning.
The room where the tablet was enshrined was not large and was spotlessly cleaned. The abbot, the old monk, recited the scriptures to the tablet for a while, and retired wisely, leaving only Marquis Juan and a entourage.
Zhang Youcai let out a long breath and whispered, "I didn't expect it to be so troublesome in the morning. The monks in the temple are too stingy, and they don't even care about dinner."
"Monks don't eat after noon, so we have to go to the villages and do as the custom." Han Ruzi also heard from the ceremonial official, so he ate a little more at noon, and now he is not very hungry.
Zhang Youcai rubbed his stomach and said, "I practiced the squatting stance with Du's grandfather and grandson for so long, and finally it was useful. After standing for a day, I was able to persevere."
Han Ruzi smiled and came to the offering table to look at the tablet on it. The tablet was placed in a small wooden alcove. When he looked closely, he found that the tablet was covered with a piece of yellow silk, presumably to hide the name of the late emperor.
Han Ruzi took out the jade ornament, placed it lightly in the wooden alcove, and said in a low voice, "We haven't met, I am your younger brother Han Ruzi. I was entrusted by the imperial concubine to send this thing... That's it. "
Zhang Youcai knelt on the futon, kowtowed a few times to the tablet, and said, "Your Majesty Si Di, we have never met, but please keep my master safe."
Han Ruzi smiled and shook his head, "You go out first, I'll be here alone for a while."
"Yes." Zhang Youcai kowtowed to the tablet again, got up and exited.
Han Ruzi stood alone for a while, but couldn't find any feeling. He didn't know this brother, and he didn't know how to get along with normal brothers.
He folded his hands and bowed twice, ready to leave.
There was a sudden noise outside the door, as if someone was shouting, Zhang Youcai pushed the door open and said in a panic, "Master, I will protect you!"
"what happened?"
Zhang Youcai looked dazed. At this time, the voice outside was clearer. It was clearly a loud voice shouting: "It's on fire! It's on fire!"
Startled, Han Ruzi hurried to the door and looked in the direction of the guest room.
No fire.
Zhang Youcai ran to the abbot in a few steps, "Where is the fire?"
The old abbot smiled bitterly, "Amitabha, there is no fire, it's a mad monk who is screaming."
Zhang Youcai and Han Ruzi turned around and saw that four monks were working together to hold another monk at the corner of the wall.
"There are still crazy monks in the dignified Baoen Temple?" Zhang Youcai didn't quite believe it.
The abbot walked in front of Hou Juan. Heshi said: "He is not a monk in this temple, and I don't know where he came from. He has always been crazy, and the former abbot saw him as pitiful and allowed him to stay in the temple. He came and went sometimes. He left the temple a month ago and wandered around, not knowing when he would come back. Yes, it's hidden in the back temple. We didn't even see it. It's a sin and a sin to bump into the nobles."
Han Ruzi didn't care, "As a monk in the temple, he should also be given an alms. Please ask the abbot to release the person and call him over."
The abbot looked embarrassed, thought for a while, and said to the monks: "Let go of the light top."
Zhang Youcai laughed out loud, "The monk's name is 'Bright Top'. It's really... really frank."
The abbot just smiled bitterly, "How else would you say he is a mad monk."
The mad monk Guangding had a lot of strength, and as soon as the monks let go, he jumped up and looked around. "Strange, such a big fire, how can it be gone?"
"Where did the fire come from, you're the one who slept in the nightmare," said a monk breathlessly.
Guangding suddenly rushed forward, and the four monks beside him had no time to stop him. In the blink of an eye, Guangding ran to Hou Juan without saying a word. Circled around him.
Han Ruzi was not afraid, he stretched out his hand to signal that the other monks did not need to help him, and said to Guangding, "How is the monk?"
Guangding was dirty all over his body, his hair was two or three inches long, and he couldn't tell his age, but his eyes were extremely bright. He stared at Hou Juan for a while, then turned around suddenly, and pouted at Hou Wan, "Let it say, um, We're fine." After that, a stench came out.
Zhang Youcai stood in front of his master, "Bold and bare... Even a vegetarian monk is so stinky..."
Han Ruzi covered his nose and ducked, and the abbot waved his sleeves, "Amitabha, you have sinned and sinned, and you are not afraid of falling into hell after death?"
Guangding laughed loudly and recited a verse: "Let the qi in the belly be exhausted, and the body is empty. Please sit in the Buddha's heart, and the bells of hell laugh. Old monk, you are worried that I will fall into hell, but I am worried that you will perish forever. In the world, there is no day to come out."
The abbot did not want to argue with the mad monk, and while chanting the scriptures, he signaled the other four monks to shove off the top of the light.
The mad monk's sentence "Eternally lost to the world" made Han Ruzi's heart move, and he stepped forward and said, "Wait a minute, we are both monks of Baoen Temple and cannot be treated differently, Zhang Youcai..."
"Our alms are prepared according to the head, and there is nothing superfluous at all." Zhang Youcai was unwilling to give benefits to the mad monk, "It's all the abbot's fault, and there is a mad monk who will not let you know in advance."
"Blame me, blame me." The abbot admitted with a smile, "You don't have to worry about Hou Juan, there are many monks in the temple, we can share a share and give it to the top."
Looking at the way the abbot looked at Guangding, he probably only gave him a stick afterward.
"Buddhas see the world as equal, but the world sees Buddhas as big temples and small temples, golden bodies and clay bodies. Isn't a mad monk a monk?" Guangding insisted.
Han Ruzi said to Zhang Youcai: "Master is right, give him money."
Zhang Youcai covered his purse and said, "No, Master, it's bad luck to smell someone's odor, and you have to give money, what's the point of this?"
Han Ruzi smiled and said, "Don't look at eminent monks from a worldly perspective."
Zhang Youcai couldn't understand those crazy words, so naturally he didn't think that the other party was a high-ranking monk, so he muttered: "The high-ranking monk... I don't see how high." Reluctantly, he took out a small piece of silver from his purse. I had to take out a few more pieces, collect enough taels, and hand them to the mad monk.
Guang Ding grabbed it rudely, put it in his mouth, bit it twice, and threw it away, "Instead of giving me money, give me something else."
Zhang Youcai blushed with anger, and the four monks hurried to pick up the silver on the ground to return it to Marquis Juan.
Han Ruzi became more and more respectful and asked, "What does the master want?"
"I saw your whole body glowing red just now, as if on fire - leave me your clothes."
"That's not possible!" Zhang Youcai hurriedly refused.
Guangding didn't force it, he laughed a few times, and suddenly jumped forward, carrying Hou Juan on his shoulders and running forward.
Zhang Youcai, the abbot and the others were all startled, and they chased after him in a panic, shouting and ordering Guangding to release him.
Han Ruzi was also startled, and threw his fist at Guangding's back, banging a few times, like hitting a dead tree, causing his hand to hurt.
Guangding was very familiar with the path in the temple. After turning a few corners, he put down Hou Juan, "Stingy donor, it's boring." After saying that, he ran away.
Zhang Youcai and others chased after him, surrounded Hou Juan and apologized, and the abbot called a few monks to chase after Guangding, in any case asking him to plead guilty.
The figure on the top of the light is gone, but the voice is still there: "Chaoyang will not rise in the east tomorrow, and the red flames will rush to the west to shock the world! Haha, the world is shocked!"
While dusting the ashes for Hou Juan, the abbot said, "I am sorry for Hou Zhuan. Guangding is not usually so crazy. I don't know what happened today. The things he recites are also nonsense, and it is definitely not a Buddhist language."
Han Ruzi felt more and more that there was no deep meaning in the words of the mad monk. Maybe he was the one he had been waiting for