Chapter 6 Paying the Debt of Love "It's clearly my sword, how can you use it better than...
Xiangshan Temple wasn't far from the post station, only a quarter of an hour's walk. It was now bright daylight, the temple's red roof shone through the trees, and the pungent aroma of incense filled the air, a bit choking.
Qin Yanheng dismounted and quickly climbed the stairs. Standing in front of the door, he looked back at Luo Qingling who was following behind him. He looked at her carefully for a moment and said, "Madam Luo, if it weren't for..."
"If the Golden Dragon Sword wasn't on me, you wouldn't have let me come to Xiangshan Temple." Luo Qingling interrupted Qin Yanheng and walked past him into the temple.
As much as she wanted his Golden Dragon Sword, she would definitely return it to him after she found her aunt. She couldn't keep this hot potato with her.
The skirt fluttered and the person had already walked away.
How could this young lady be so rude!
It would have been fine if she had just "taken his sword under her wing," but her attitude was so unyielding. Did she understand the consequences of contradicting the prince? Qin Yanheng was speechless for a moment, stunned for a long moment before chasing in.
Inside the temple, a young novice monk emerged from his room, carrying a teacup. Seeing Qin Yanheng from afar, he retreated in fear. A moment later, a monk emerged from inside and walked straight towards the two of them.
"Your Highness has come to Xiangshan Temple in person. I'm sorry that I can't greet you from afar." Abbot Dewang led the two into the side room, raised his hand to signal them to sit down, and then sat across the table and poured tea for them personally.
"Thank you, Abbot Dewang. I've come here today for a matter," Qin Yanheng straightened his back, acting like a prince, and asked directly, "Zheng Luo, the wife of Imperial College Doctor Zheng, came to Xiangshan Temple to pay homage to the Buddha early yesterday morning. Does Abbot Dewang remember her?"
My uncle holds a sixth-rank official position, which is not a low one. My aunt also often attends banquets in the capital, so she should have become a familiar face in the city. It is not surprising that Abbot Dewang knows my aunt.
As expected, Abbot Dewang nodded gently upon hearing this, his face calm as he replied, "Madam Zheng did come to Xiangshan Temple yesterday. She left after the midday Buddha ceremony... Your Highness and the young lady came specially, but what happened to Madam Zheng?"
"My aunt—"
Suddenly, someone touched her arm lightly, and she stopped talking. Luo Qingling looked at Qin Yanheng, who was sitting beside her, with a puzzled look on her face. The latter ignored her gaze, as if he had just touched her accidentally.
"Miss, do you have something to say?" Abbot Dewang poured himself a cup of tea, and after drinking half of it, he raised his eyes and glanced at Luo Qingling.
"No, Miss Luo and I were just relaxing in the woods and passed by here. We had nothing better to do and came in to take a look."
Qin Yanheng told a lie that was obvious to anyone with a discerning eye, stood up and left first, paused at the door, turned around and motioned Luo Qingling to follow him.
"This old monk will walk Your Highness and Madam Luo for a while." Abbot Dewang followed over.
Just as the two of them stepped out of the door, Qin Yanheng waved his hand, and several secret guards appeared from nowhere and pinned Abbot Dewang down on the table.
"Your Highness?"
"Your Highness, what do you mean—"
Not only Abbot Dewang, but even Luo Qingling, who had come with Qin Yanheng, didn't understand his sudden action. Qin Yanheng sneered and turned to stare at Abbot Dewang, leaning against the door with his arms folded across his chest, his lips curled up.
"Xiangshan Temple is the largest Buddhist temple in the capital. Incense is constantly burning daily, and there's a constant stream of people worshipping Buddha in the early morning. As the abbot of the temple, you're naturally responsible for preaching the Dharma. How did you remember when Zheng Luo left?"
Qin Yanheng flicked his sleeves and slowly approached Abbot Dewang, who was being held by the secret guards. He leaned forward with his hands on the table, a gentle smile on his face, but he couldn't say anything nice. "Before Abbot Dewang tries to trick me, why don't you first find out who taught Song Yutai, the Junior Official of the Dali Temple, his fearsome methods of solving cases."
"Speak!" Qin Yanheng straightened up and suddenly raised his voice, "Where exactly is Zheng Luoshi?"
*
After walking around the corridor twice and passing the archway, a courtyard with three entrances and exits came into view. The strange thing was that the doors of the wing rooms inside were all locked with two locks, as if some kind of monster was locked up there.
Abbot Dewang was walking in front, leading the way for everyone. He twisted his wrist secretly, and saw a red and swollen area on it, which was the mark left by the secret guard who had held him upside down on the table.
Abbot Dewang stopped in front of the locked door and turned his head to signal the young monk who followed him to open it.
"Prince Rong'an, Madam Luo, after the incident, the old monk sent people to carry the ladies to the side rooms and sent people to guard them day and night."
After what happened just now, Abbot Dewang dared not hide anything anymore. He was somewhat dissatisfied with this young prince who would arrest and interrogate people at every turn, but he dared not show it. He could only work on his address - from the young prince to Prince Rong'an.
The copper lock fell, and Abbot Dewang raised his hand to signal the two to enter. Luo Qingling glanced inside suspiciously. The room was dark, with only a few rays of light shining through the tightly closed stained glass windows. There was no sign that anyone was inside.
"Yesterday, after noon, the old monk finished his Buddhist teachings to several ladies who came to protect their pregnancies and then left," Abbot Dewang lifted the curtain and led the others inside. "Not long after, a disciple came to report that he had seen several ladies in the side room to the right of the Buddhist hall. They..."
Abbot Dewang stuttered a little at the end of his speech, paused, and turned sideways to signal the two to investigate personally.
Luo Qingling followed the line of sight and looked inside the curtain. Just that one glance made the hairs on her body stand on end. She felt as if she had fallen into an ice cave and could not move at all. Qin Yanheng, who was standing beside her, frowned with a serious look on his face.
Behind the curtain, five one-meter-tall pottery figurines stood on the ground. Judging from their attire, they were probably wives of officials who came to worship Buddha. The aunt was the innermost one, standing face to face with Luo Qingling.
Several ladies turned into porcelain, with clothes hanging on their bodies, just like clothes were worn by the terracotta figures. What was going on?
"Because I haven't figured out what happened yet, I haven't reported it to the Dali Temple yet..."
"This is a human-shaped pottery figurine," Qin Yanheng interrupted coldly. He walked forward and stopped not far from a lady who had been transformed into a pottery figurine. He examined it carefully but did not touch it. "I have seen this thing in ancient books."
"Your Highness, do you have any ideas for solving this problem?" Luo Qingling asked hurriedly. Her beloved aunt had now become a mute "living figurine," so how could she not be anxious?
Qin Yanheng shook his head slightly, standing there with his back to Luo Qingling, speechless. The ancient text his Taoist master had left him mentioned a demonic force that could absorb a pearl fetus, instantly transforming a living person into a terracotta figurine. As for the solution... well, that page had been burned.
But regardless of whether there was a way to restore the person to their original form, the most important thing now was to protect the reputation of the ladies. Qin Yanheng waved his hand, and a secret guard stepped forward, passing the crowd.
"Inform all the ladies that they need to stay in Xiangshan Temple for a few days to protect their fetuses and worship Buddha, and they will not be returning home for the time being." Qin Yanheng carefully identified the appearance of several ladies, as if he was recalling which official's wife they were.
"Your Highness, will... the people in this mansion believe this?" The secret guard asked boldly, somewhat doubtfully.
Qin Yanheng suddenly raised his eyes to glance at him, and sighed, "Do I even need to make up a reason for you? For example, there was a heavy rain last night and I couldn't get back to the mansion in time to report the news. Now that the rain has stopped and the sky is clear, the messenger has finally arrived. Believe it or not, it's up to them!"
The secret guard nodded in agreement, turned around and left quickly, but was called back by Qin Yanheng halfway.
Seeing the secret guard's unintelligent appearance, he was worried and warned him again: "Don't reveal my identity, so as not to cause misunderstanding."
Because the monster disappeared into the river with Qin Lou last night, the two men didn't dare to smash the terracotta figurines easily, even though they had done the same thing before in Qin Lou. Qin Yanheng could only order people to guard the terracotta figurines day and night while he found a way to solve the problem himself. As for Abbot Dewang—
"Knowing and not reporting shall be punished with twenty strokes of the cane."
Abbot Dewang, who was standing not far from Luo Qingling, almost collapsed at the knees when he heard this, but because he was truly unable to defend himself, he had no choice but to take the blame.
Luo Qingling didn't care what was happening around her at the moment. She stood in front of her aunt with tears in her eyes.
She came all the way to the capital, not just to "meet" the little prince, but to see her aunt who had loved her since childhood. Who would have thought that the two of them would meet in this way.
She really regretted that she should not have gone straight to Qujiang Banquet after entering the city yesterday. If she had found her aunt in time and come to Xiangshan Temple with her to worship Buddha, would her aunt have... Luo Qingling wiped the corner of her eyes, not wanting others to see her emotions.
The little prince had really done so much harm! The thing she regretted most was handing the portrait to the palace for him to choose, and then traveling to the Qujiang Banquet to try to "see" him, which had delayed the time to save her aunt.
"If Madam Luo cannot accept Zheng Luo's current appearance..." Qin Yanheng suddenly spoke from behind, and it was unknown what he meant.
"You make it sound as if your Highness will definitely have a way to save people!" Luo Qingling felt a surge of resentment stuck in his heart that he couldn't swallow, and his tone of voice was unconsciously sharp when he replied.
Qin Yanheng was a little confused when someone interrupted him for no reason. He opened his mouth but couldn't say anything.
He thought, he hadn't offended her, had he? He had only suggested that she return home to rest, and he would take care of the rest. Why did this person still have such an attitude?
Luo Qingling didn't know what Qin Yanheng was thinking. At the moment, her mind was only on her aunt. She turned her head slightly to check on the other lady, and she caught a glimpse of a black shadow suddenly flashing through the closed stained glass window, as if it had been lying there eavesdropping for a while.
Seeing Luo Qingling's gaze, the black shadow suddenly disappeared on the window paper.
"Who is outside?"
Luo Qingling drew out the Golden Dragon Sword and swung it violently in the direction where the black shadow left. A golden dragon suddenly appeared, broke through the flower window and directly wrapped around the black shadow, instantly tying the man to the ground and making him unable to move at all.
"It's obviously my sword, how come you use it better than me?" Qin Yanheng's voice came from behind him, his tone was extremely shocked.
The two men rushed out of the door. The man rolled on the ground, trying to break free from the Golden Dragon Sword. Seeing this, Luo Qingling pinched the hilt of the sword, and the dragon's tail suddenly tightened. The man opened his mouth for help in pain.
"My dear, my dear... I, I didn't mean to eavesdrop," the man lay on the ground on his side, his body pressed down by the dragon's tail and unable to get up. He raised his head and shouted to the two people under the corridor.
Luo Qingling walked forward quickly and saw that the man was very tall, but thin, with sparse eyebrows. His face looked familiar.
"You are Jia..." It was Master Jia who took Deng Yesi away that night! Why did he appear here?
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