After leaving, Su Huaijing did not return to the Censorate immediately, but took a detour to the Wentian Tower.
Wentian Pagoda is a seven-story pagoda specially built by Emperor Renshou outside the imperial palace. After Huimian came, he lived in it and chanted scriptures and prayed for blessings. Occasionally, he was summoned to the palace to preach.
The carriage stopped outside the tower and Su Huaijing got off. There was a novice monk guarding the gate of the tower. When he saw the visitor, he went back to the tower to report, and then led Su Huaijing up the stairs one step at a time.
The tower is so magnificent that even the most famous Buddhist temples in the world cannot compare with it.
There are three layers of golden Buddha statues, three layers of Buddhist scriptures, and the top layer is locked, and people are not allowed to enter normally.
Huimian was sitting on the fifth floor copying sutras when the novice monk led Su Huaijing to the door and knocked respectfully, "Uncle Master, Master Su is here."
In Tuolan Temple, all living beings were collectively called donors, and those who came and went in Wentian Pagoda were kings, princes, generals, and high-ranking officials.
A clear voice came from inside, and the novice monk pushed open the door and invited Su Huaijing to come in.
The room was filled with the scent of sandalwood and the cabinets were filled with Buddhist scriptures and scrolls. Huimian sat behind a desk, his posture upright and dignified, writing a pen in his hand. His every stroke revealed his elegance. He did not look like a high monk who had attained enlightenment, but more like a gentle and kind young man from a wealthy family.
It was the first time that Su Huaijing met him formally. His gaze lingered on his white hair for a moment, then he moved away calmly, walked to the opposite side of the desk, and sat on the cushion.
A cup of tea had been poured in advance, and white mist was drifting up along the rim of the cup.
Huimian said, "I am currently copying scriptures to pray for Your Majesty, and have not had time to come and greet you in person. I hope you will forgive me."
Su Huaijing: "I came here rashly without handing in a visiting card. This is my fault. Master, please don't blame me."
Huimian smiled and didn't refuse. She pointed to the cup of tea, and Su Huaijing began to sip it silently.
The capital was noisy everywhere. The palace was full of flowers and flowers, and the government offices were busy with people coming and going. There were endless lawsuits and calculations every day. Su Huaijing had just come from the city. He sat on the top of the tower, watching the late autumn sun shine through the carved window ridges on the side of the tower. The dust was slowly spinning in the air. Except for the rustling sound of the pen tip scratching the paper, the surroundings were very quiet, just like a Buddhist holy place that was incompatible with this secular world.
Su Huaijing drank half a cup of tea. Huimian finished copying a scroll of the sutra, put down his paper and pen, washed his hands, and then looked at Su Huaijing and asked in a gentle voice, "What are you here for, donor?"
Su Huaijing heard the change in his address, paused for a moment, put down his teacup, stood up and bowed: "Thank you for saving me, Master."
Huimian said, "Donor Rong is a kind-hearted person. That is his blessing, not my credit. Donor Rong is too kind."
Su Huaijing sat back on the cushion and asked, "According to what the master said, retribution and destiny are all predetermined?"
Huimian did not answer but asked, "Don't you believe in destiny?"
Su Huaijing shook his head honestly: "If everything in the world is determined by fate, how can we say that man can conquer nature?"
Huimian smiled softly: "The donor's mind and perseverance are different from ordinary people. It is normal that he is not bound by fate."
Su Huaijing frowned, not quite understanding what he meant for a moment, but seeing the look of the white-haired monk, it seemed that he didn't want to say anything more, so he didn't dwell on it.
After all, he didn't come here just to argue with him about fate.
He asked: "Master, you have the heart to help the world and the energy to work hard for the people. You should have traveled around to help and give alms. Why did you come to the gate of the imperial palace and stay in this pagoda every day?"
Huimian asked, "Isn't the imperial city also located within the world?"
Su Huaijing looked at him, and could not see any extra emotion in his eyes. Instead, he had a pair of calm pupils with a peaceful smile as he looked at everyone who came to him for help because of their troubles.
Su Huaijing: "So the master got involved in this power center in order to save all living beings in the world?"
“No.” Huimian shook his head: “There are so many sentient beings in the world, I alone cannot save them all.”
He said: "I came here just to follow my heart."
Su Huaijing frowned and asked sharply, "Instructing Your Majesty to make the elixir, is that also just what you want?"
Huimian smiled softly, "Donor, in what capacity are you asking me this? You are not wearing court robes, so can I understand that you are not questioning me in your capacity as the Chief Censor?"
"What's the difference?" Su Huaijing asked.
Huimian: "If the imperial court officials come here to ask, I will say that your majesty is sincere and moved by heaven; if you just happen to pass by here and want to ask me for a cup of tea to start a small talk, I will tell you that among all the ways in the world, Buddhism has its own way, and using killing to stop evil is also a kind of Buddha's kindness."
Su Huaijing frowned, "Then do you know that throughout history, many monks and Taoists who have encouraged emperors to make elixirs for immortality will eventually be labeled as evil and heretical. Thousands of years later, history books will say that you are a demon monk?"
Huimian smiled calmly and said slowly, "I am cultivating my mind in this world, not for fame in the next. Why should I bother seeking a few words of evaluation from the future?"
Su Huaijing stared at him for a long time without saying a word.
After a long while, Huimian pointed at the teacup and said softly, "The tea is cold."
Su Huaijing came back to his senses, stood up and saluted again: "Master, you are so great, I admire you."
Huimian raised her eyes and smiled softly, and was about to say "go slowly", but Su Huaijing changed the subject and said, "It's just that if you sacrifice your life for someone who is not worthy, it is really unfair. Even if you achieve enlightenment and ascend to heaven, I think the Buddha will not approve of it."
Huimian was stunned for a moment, and his expression, as if he had known everything, finally relaxed a little. He was a little surprised, but also understood a little, and asked, "Did Rong Shi want you to advise me?"
Huimian's understanding was now completely gone. He stared at Su Huaijing for a long time, then suddenly lowered his head and smiled softly.
The monk stood up from behind the table, put his hands together and bowed to him, chanted a Buddhist name, and said in an ambiguous way: "The donor has changed a lot now."
Su Huaijing did not respond, and he didn't know where this comparison came from, but he had his mind calculated and knew what to ask and what not to ask.
Huimian said, "Since the donor has said so, I will take care of myself."
Su Huaijing was relieved then. He turned around and was about to leave without saying anything more.
When he reached the door, he heard Huimian sigh behind him: "Then you have to work harder."
Su Huaijing paused slightly, turned around, and saw the white-haired monk standing by the window, looking up at the autumn sun. The words sounded like a delirium, and it seemed as if they had never been spoken out loud, but he was just hallucinating.
Su Huaijing concentrated, turned around and walked out of the pagoda.
The long street is bustling day after day, but the pagoda overlooking the imperial city and Yujing is quiet and peaceful every day.
-
As winter approached, Rong Tang became weaker, but after taking care of himself for so many years, his health was not too bad after all.
The system came to him every month. It was no longer as depressed and frustrated as it was when it first discovered that it could not find the world outside of this world. Every time it came, it chirped like a small loudspeaker and talked with Rong Tang for a long time about the customs and practices along the way.
Each one is worth celebrating.
Rong Tang discovered that the time it could appear had increased a lot, from two quarters of an hour at the beginning to one hour after the winter month.
One time, Su Huaijing opened the door at the usual time, but saw the ball of light that should have disappeared was lying on Rong Tang's neck, chattering against his ear and rubbing against it while talking. Tang Tang also rubbed it from time to time. Both the host and the guest were enjoying themselves, and their happiness was visibly evident to the naked eye.
Only the main villain's face suddenly turned cold and he gritted his teeth.
Soon everyone noticed him and even diverted their attention from chatting with Rong Tang. They started to speak to Su Huaijing in a series of words, like a cannonball, with a fast and overwhelming speed. They scolded the villain to his heart's content, but before he could say anything in retort, they had disappeared in a leisurely manner, leaving the two of them staring at each other in the room, one embarrassed and the other resentful.
Enemies. Rong Tang thought, there are still two of them.
It was clearly the system that provoked him, but in the end he still had to coax it. He didn't know whether his own system was a fool or a smart one.
Anyway, the villain is definitely a dark mushroom.
It's quite big.
As the days passed, Su Huaijing became busier and busier. Sometimes Rong Tang woke up in the middle of the night and there was no one around.
Some unfamiliar servants moved into another courtyard, and the lights in the study in the courtyard were often on until dawn.
There were obviously more guards at the place where he lived. Rong Tang would occasionally open the door at night, and if he was lucky, he could catch a glimpse of a piece of emerald green clothes disappearing over the treetops and eaves.
If Su Huaijing was not around, he would definitely ask Liuyun to come and guard. Even though they had never met openly, over the years, Rong Tang had long been accustomed to having three or two secret guards around him.
He did not disturb Su Huaijing. He looked at the moonlight and went back to his room to sleep. In the second half of the night, sometimes someone would crawl into the bed, sometimes not. Rong Tang did not ask much, but just counted the days silently.
The weather was extremely cold, and the entire city of Yujing was covered in silvery white snow. Rong Tang's health was gradually improving, but the man in the palace was absent from court every few days.
It is said that at the beginning of winter, King Ning Xuan helped the emperor recruit a group of beautiful women from the people into the palace. All of them were very beautiful.
Su Huaijing went to the palace for a banquet and saw him from a distance. He came back and said to Rong Tang with a half-smile, "Those new nobles who entered the palace look more or less like the Fifth Prince."
Rong Tang immediately knew who the person looked like.
When she is alive, they wear her out to death; when she dies, they look for a new partner to match her appearance.
It was really disgusting and ironic. Rong Tang snorted coldly upon hearing this and did not comment.
The time from the eleventh year of Qingzheng to the twelfth year seemed to pass especially quickly. In the blink of an eye, it was the twelfth lunar month. When Tang Jing's family was preparing for New Year's goods, Rong Tang asked people to buy more. Shuangfu was very puzzled. Su Huaijing looked at the food in the granary cellar that could almost last for half a year, and a hint of understanding flashed across his face.
One day in the twelfth lunar month, news suddenly came from the palace that His Majesty had accidentally ingested metal used for alchemy and fell into a coma.
For a time, people in Beijing were in a panic, fearing that they would not be able to celebrate a peaceful New Year.
But perhaps what you fear will come true. On the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, the most lazy day of the year, the third prince Sheng Chengxing entered the palace on the pretext of attending to an illness, and soon after that, Marshal Xia Jingyi entered the palace on the pretext of visiting his daughter. The two of them did not come out for a long time.
The army was stationed outside the city. The common people who were unaware of the situation felt that something was wrong on the streets today, so they returned home early and locked their doors and windows before it got dark.
At night, a signal firework was lit from the palace wall, and the cavalry entered the imperial city.
The quiet night sky was suddenly shrouded by the neighing of war horses, just like the scene of war and rebels marching north.
(End of this chapter)