Chapter 170 Offering Incense (First Update)

Not long after he fell asleep, Feng Lin woke Lin Chengye up: "Wake up, it's time to go offer incense!"

Lin Chengye, still half-asleep, asked after a while, "What kind of incense should we offer?"

Feng Lin hurriedly jumped out of bed, dressing as he said, "You forgot, today is the first day of the Lunar New Year. We agreed to go to Puji Temple to be the first to offer incense!"

Puji Temple is a very famous temple in the capital. While other temples are mostly famous for praying for marriage or children, Puji Temple in the capital is different. It is famous for praying for people to pass the imperial examination.

There were rumors in the capital that the scholars who managed to be the first to offer incense at Puji Temple all passed the imperial examinations and became Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations).

Feng Lin didn't expect to pass the imperial examination and become a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations). He would be grateful if he could just pass the provincial examination and become a Gongshi (a successful candidate in the provincial examinations).

Lin Chengye had completely forgotten about the incident. He pulled the blanket over his head and continued to sleep soundly.

Feng Lin pulled his blanket off: "Wake up! Get up! We still need to wake Liu Lang!"

Upon hearing that he was to be called Liu Lang, Lin Chengye was mostly awake.

Feng Lin knocked on the door of the east room.

Xiao Liulang was startled awake. He looked at Gu Jiao, who was sleeping soundly beside him, and was reluctant to get out of bed, but he was afraid that if he didn't go out, Feng Lin would keep knocking on the door.

He got out of bed and opened the door for Feng Lin. A gust of cold wind blew in, and he quickly went out and closed the door behind him: "What's wrong?"

Feng Lin rubbed his hands together and breathed on them, saying, "Let's go offer incense! Hurry up! If we don't leave now, it'll be too late! We're going to be the first to offer incense! Even if we don't get the first incense, any incense sticks within the first hundred will be effective!"

"But, Liu Lang, is your leg... alright?" Lin Chengye asked as he walked over.

Feng Lin said, "It's alright! We won't have to walk far! The carriage can go directly to the river, and we'll reach the temple after crossing just one more bridge!"

Besides, Xiao Liulang's surgery was very successful. Jiaoniang said his foot no longer hurts, but he needs to exercise more!

The matter of offering incense was something Xiao Liulang promised Feng Lin on New Year's Eve last year. Feng Lin said at the time that if he had the opportunity to go to the capital for the imperial examination in the future, he would definitely go to Puji Temple to pray.

Xiao Liulang never expected that he would actually go to the capital.

How did I, who vowed never to set foot in Beijing again, end up where I am today?

"Alright, stop making a fuss, I'm going to change my clothes," Xiao Liulang said as he went into the house.

He glanced at Gu Jiao, who was sleeping soundly, pulled the blanket over her, dressed her properly, and then went to the backyard to wash up before leaving with the two of them.

Manager Zhou knew they were going to be the first to offer incense, so he waited outside early, and breakfast was already laid out on the carriage.

The group boarded the carriage and headed towards Puji Temple under the stars and moon.

Not long after the group left, Gu Jiao had a dream.

This time, she dreamed of Xiao Liulang.

The last time she dreamed of him was in June when he went to the provincial and municipal examination centers. Half a year has passed in the blink of an eye, and he hasn't had any more bad luck. She thought he wouldn't have any more problems.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Xiao Liulang and his two companions went to a temple called Puji Temple to compete for the first incense offering. This practice of competing for the first incense offering not only existed in ancient times but was also quite popular in previous lives.

Normally, it's nothing, just offering incense. If you manage to get one, it's a good omen; if you don't, praying to the Buddha is also a good idea.

Moreover, Xiao Liulang himself did not place his hopes on gods or Buddhas; he had come with Feng Lin.

Unfortunately, among those who went to offer incense on the first day of the Lunar New Year was a distinguished person. In order to facilitate the passage of that distinguished person, his guards occupied the stone arch bridge early on.

Other pilgrims who want to cross the river have to take a longer route to another suspension bridge, which leads to the back gate of the temple.

The suspension bridge had been in disrepair for many years and was usually not used by many people, so it was fine. But on the first day of the Lunar New Year, so many pilgrims crowded onto that wooden suspension bridge.

The immense weight snapped the last rope of the suspension bridge, and the pilgrims on the bridge fell into the icy river.

In the dead of winter, everyone was wearing many layers of clothing, and hardly anyone swam ashore.

Most of the pilgrims who perished were candidates for the imperial examinations next spring. The loss of so many successful candidates was a devastating blow to the imperial court.

This year's imperial examination also saw the fewest candidates since the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Xiao Liulang was one of the many who fell into the water. The people in front of him had just gotten across when the suspension bridge broke. He was just one step away, only one step away!

This situation is the most regrettable.

Even though so many people fell, he just felt like the unluckiest one.

After waking up, Gu Jiao looked at the sky. It was already dawn, and Xiao Liulang and the other two should have reached the foot of the mountain and discovered that the stone arch bridge was impassable.

So they would walk across the suspension bridge.

Because of the large number of people, the whole way was congested, and we were moving very slowly.

I might still be able to catch up.

No, we absolutely have to catch up.

The market was closed on the first day of the Lunar New Year, and I couldn't rent a horse-drawn carriage, but the old man next door did.

Gu Jiao knocked on the door and said she wanted to offer incense.

The old priest nodded and quickly told Liu Quan to drive the carriage to take Gu Jiao to the temple.

The road ahead was fine, but it became impassable near the temple.

It wasn't spacious to begin with, and then half of it was blocked off to make a special passage for that important person.

Gu Jiao lifted the curtain: "Uncle Liu, you go back first, I'll walk over by myself."

"Will it work?" Liu Quan looked at the vast sea of ​​people, somewhat uneasy.

"It's not far now." Gu Jiao jumped off the carriage.

She squeezed through the crowd and came to the riverbank.

From here, the temple on the opposite bank of the river can be clearly seen, but there is only a bridge in front of us, which is guarded by guards. Pilgrims are going to take the long way around and walk towards the east side of the riverbank.

This detour is probably at least five or six miles.

It's too late.

By the time she went around to the other side, Xiao Liulang was already on the bridge.

The only way is to cross the stone arch bridge in front of us, go through the temple, and get to the back gate to find a way to stop Xiao Liulang from crossing the bridge.

Gu Jiao walked towards the stone arch bridge.

As expected, he was stopped by a guard at the entrance.

The Imperial Guards, clad in armor and wielding spears, were a formidable sight.

"You can't leave here," he said coldly.

Gu Jiao looked up at him and said, "I have urgent business to attend to."

The Imperial Guards said coldly, "Which one isn't in a hurry to be the first to offer incense? There's another bridge over there; we can cross from there!"

Gu Jiao's gaze was indifferent, yet it inexplicably made the Imperial Guards feel a sense of pressure. He added, "We have orders from above, and there's nothing we can do about it."

Gu Jiao said, "There are too many people over there, the suspension bridge will collapse."

The Imperial Guardsman chuckled coldly: "I just crossed that bridge a few days ago, it was perfectly fine, how could it have collapsed?"

Gu Jiao had originally thought that if she didn't go, they could send people to stop her from crossing the bridge.

But as things stand now, it doesn't make any sense at all.

Gu Jiao's gaze turned cold: "What if I insist on going through here?"

Her eyes suddenly turned sharp, startling the Imperial Guards.

But since she was just a young girl, the Imperial Guards hardened their stance again: "Then I'll have no choice but to arrest you!"

There were eight guards at the entrance, and two guards every ten steps on the bridge. The bridge was thirty meters long, and guards stood all the way to the entrance of the temple.

A full one hundred people.

There are probably places inside the temple that you can't see.

Breaking through the encirclement of a hundred Imperial Guards was no easy task.

But she's determined to cross this bridge today!

Gu Jiao stepped forward.

The Imperial Guards raised their hands to grab her, but Gu Jiao pressed down on his arm with one hand, used the momentum to spin around on his back, and leaped into the air. With her other hand, she drew the sword from his waist!

She knelt on one knee, using her sword to support her body, her eyes as sharp as ice blades.

The guard was stunned for a moment, clearly not expecting such skill from an unassuming little girl.

After regaining his senses, he shouted, "What are you all standing there for? Arrest her!"

The Imperial Guards swarmed onto the arched bridge!

Normally, dealing with a little girl wouldn't require such a large fuss, but Gu Jiao's move just now shocked them, and everyone actually drew their swords.

A sharp killing intent suddenly erupted from Gu Jiao's body.

But she didn't want to kill anyone.

A royal guard lunged at her.

Gu Jiao slashed at his sword with her own, the force of which numbed half of the Imperial Guard's arm.

However, this was only one Imperial Guard, and soon the rest of the Imperial Guard rushed up.

If we don't kill anyone, the process will be slower.

Xiao Liulang is almost on the bridge.

Three more Imperial Guards charged toward her. Killing them with a single sword strike would be instantaneous, but taking them down one by one would take too much of her time.

"Don't force me..."

Gu Jiao gripped the long sword in her hand tightly.

She was never a kind person, and the organization in her previous life was not some charitable alliance to save people from suffering. It was just a group of fugitives who lived on the edge of death. If you can afford the price, I dare to kill!

Gu Jiao gritted her teeth and shouted sharply. She kicked onto the stone railing of the arched bridge, leaped into the air, and swung her long sword. The cold light of the sword flashed across her eyes.

A powerful killing intent swept over everything.

Just as her sword was about to draw blood, a familiar, delicate shout suddenly came from not far away: "Stop!"

Gu Jiao's waist and abdomen tightened, and she suddenly suspended in mid-air. With a turn of her longsword, she cleaved through the armor of three imperial guards.

The three imperial guards turned pale with fright.

That move was too powerful; they were completely powerless to fight back. If it weren't for that voice just now, that sword strike would have been far more than just cleaving through their armor.

"Third Prince's Consort!"

Some of the Imperial Guards recognized the elegantly dressed woman at the entrance.

He cupped his hands and bowed respectfully to the other party.

The remaining Imperial Guards also saluted.

Gu Jiao turned around calmly.

The Third Prince's Consort ignored the imperial guards who were saluting her and quickly approached Gu Jiao: "Are you alright, Miss Gu? Did they hurt you?"

"No," Gu Jiao said.

The Third Prince's wife looked her up and down and, seeing that there was no blood on her, felt relieved.

But isn't she a doctor?

How can he wield a sword?

That skill he just displayed was absolutely terrifying to her.

"Miss Gu, are you also here to offer incense?" the Third Prince's wife asked, looking at Gu Jiao.

The Third Prince's wife also came to offer incense, but it wasn't her own choice; her family urged her to come.

Seeing that there were many people, she was too lazy to join the fun, so she had her carriage parked in the nearby woods to rest, intending to go later when there were fewer people. But then she heard a noise on the arched bridge.

Gu Jiao nodded: "I have urgent business crossing the bridge."

The Third Prince's wife hurriedly said, "Then you go."

"Third Prince's Consort!" a guard exclaimed, "This bridge..."

The Third Prince's Consort said coldly, "What? Am I not allowed to cross this bridge?"

The Imperial Guard replied, "Of course you can..."

The Third Prince's Consort coldly flicked her sleeve: "Then get out of my way!"

The Imperial Guards looked at each other for a moment, and finally made way for each other.

The Third Prince's wife said to Gu Jiao, "You walk faster than me, you go ahead, I'll be right there."

"Thank you." Gu Jiao thanked her and was about to leave when she remembered something and turned to the Third Prince's wife, asking, "Did you bring any guards?"

"I brought it," said the Third Prince's wife.

Gu Jiao said, "Call all the guards who can swim and go to the suspension bridge outside the back gate of the temple."

"Why, why?" The Third Prince's Consort wanted to ask for the reason, but Gu Jiao didn't have time to explain. She ran across the bridge with her sword, and only after reaching the other side did she throw away the sword in her hand and then quickly entered the temple.

The Third Prince's wife watched her silently as she crossed the bridge.

She did want to chase after him, but a hundred days is needed to recover from a broken bone. She had only had surgery a month ago, and although she was recovering well, she still didn't dare to exert herself too much.

Thinking of Gu Jiao's words, she frowned suspiciously: "Why do you need a guard who can swim? What does Miss Gu want to do?"

After entering the temple, Gu Jiao quickly asked a monk, "Where is the back door?"

“Over there. Go around the Heavenly King Hall, and at the end you’ll see a small garden. Then turn left…” The monk was halfway through his sentence when Gu Jiaoren disappeared.

Gu Jiao climbed onto the roof and jumped all the way to the back door in a straight line.

The monk was so frightened he stared in disbelief: "Amitabha, Amitabha..."

There were many people at the back gate as well. Gu Jiao went against the flow and when she arrived at the suspension bridge, she glanced at the ropes that were suspending the bridge and saw that they were indeed about to break.

She moved a few steps to the side and immediately spotted that figure in the crowd.

He was about to step onto the suspension bridge.

Gu Jiao shouted, "Don't come any closer!"

The suspension bridge was packed with people, and the other end was equally crowded, with a cacophony of voices that instantly drowned out the shout from the opposite bank.

However, as if sensing something, Xiao Liulang's heart skipped a beat, and he subconsciously raised his head.

He already had one foot on the suspension bridge.

He stared blankly at the opposite bank, and saw Gu Jiao looking at him anxiously across the mountains and rivers.

Gu Jiao wasn't expressionless, but she rarely showed any emotion. This was the first time he had ever seen her with such anxious eyes.

Don't come any closer.

She said.

It's the last day of the month, and I need to use up my monthly votes. Can I vote for Jiaojiao and Xiaojingkong?

Little Jingkong is sending you a flying kiss!

Continuing with 10,000 updates today.

(End of this chapter)