Chapter 54 Entering the Temple
Gu'an County Lady Mingluo and a group of palace servants accompanied the Holy Ce Emperor to the temple.
After them came the civil and military officials in court robes, and some heads of aristocratic families.
The families of officials and young men of the gentry followed at the end.
"…Since my father didn't come, my mother pushed me out. This time I have to stay here for seven full days. Seven days, isn't this going to cost me my life?" A young man in brocade clothes complained.
Cui Tang was too lazy to pay attention to his second brother. He looked over the crowd at the figure who was directing his subordinates to arrange the Xuan Ce Army to guard Dayun Temple.
During the saint's trip, the Xuan Ce Army is responsible for protecting the emperor's safety.
Cui Lang followed her gaze and nodded with satisfaction: "Every time I see my elder brother with such outstanding appearance and dignified demeanor, I can't help but sigh that he is worthy of being born from the same father--"
Cui Tang calmly replied: "There is a world of difference."
"How can you talk like that?" Cui Lang glared, "You and I are twins. I am Rang, and what are you?"
"So what if we were twins? You and I don't share the same brain."
"What do you mean?" Cui Lang reacted for a moment and was immediately so angry that he was about to hit his sister with the folding fan in his hand.
Cui Tang took two quick steps, and Cui Lang hurried to chase him, but accidentally bumped into someone.
The person who was hit was a girl wearing a tea-white cloak. She looked terrified and quickly supported the maid beside her. She cried out in a low and nervous voice: "Xiao Qiu!"
The maidservant quickly protected the person and said, "I am here, don't be afraid, girl!"
Cui Lang wanted to apologize and let it go, but seeing that the girl was so panicked and frightened, and the master and servant were acting like a drama, he couldn't help but ask, "It was just a slight bump, is it that serious?"
Why are the young ladies in the capital more and more pretentious nowadays? "My dear, you...you bumped into someone, why are you still talking like this?" The maid was so angry that her face turned red, but she couldn't say anything unpleasant.
The girl held her arm tightly, not daring to let go.
"What? Are you trying to blackmail me for money, or have you scared yourself out of your wits and I need to call your soul back?" Cui Lang was a well-known playboy, and at this moment he acted like a reckless person.
"you……"
The girl seemed to calm down and said to the maid, "Xiao Qiu, let him go.
Cui Lang made a "tsk" sound and walked away swaggeringly, fanning himself.
Cui Tang stepped forward and bowed: "My brother was rude, I apologize on his behalf."
The girl nodded slightly, her voice was also very soft: "It's okay..."
Cui Tang noticed that there was something strange about the girl, but out of courtesy he did not investigate further. He bowed again and left with the maid.
"Where's my brother?" the girl said, "Let's wait for him before going in."
The maid named Xiao Qiu looked at the young man who was approaching: "My dear, here comes my lord!"
The young man seemed to have seen what happened just now, and walked over quickly, asking with concern: "Mianmian, are you okay?"
"I'm fine." The girl shook her head and asked, "Where did you go, brother?"
"Just now, a senior from the Imperial Academy came to talk to me and asked about my father's recent situation. I answered a few words." Qiao Yubai said, looking forward, and smiled and said, "Ningning is here!"
It was indeed Chang Suining who came over with Xier: "Second brother."
Qiao Yubai smiled and nodded: "I thought I had seen it wrong before, but I didn't expect that Ningning really came."
The girl next to him subconsciously reached out her hand: "Ningning?"
Chang Suining was slightly startled. He had guessed her identity, but -
She took a step forward, grasped the hand that was extended to her, and called out, "Sister Mianmian."
"Since you can come out to pray, you must be well now?" Qiao Yumian asked in a low voice: "I heard from my brother and mother that you also had a head injury... Is it all right now?"
"It's okay now." Chang Suining answered as he held her hand and walked slowly forward, feeling confused in his heart.
Only now did she understand what Qiao Yubai meant by "Mianmian is not convenient to go out" when she asked Qiao Yumian why she didn't come when she first returned to the Chang Mansion.
But he was clearly fine when he was young, so why can’t he see now?
After entering the temple, Emperor Shengce led his ministers to the main hall to burn incense.
Ming Luo took the three green incense sticks handed to him by the maid, lit them on the fragrant oil, and handed them to the Emperor of the Holy Book.
The Emperor of the Holy Ce held incense and closed his eyes. After worshipping in front of the Buddha statue, he firmly inserted the green incense into the incense burner.
After offering incense, Emperor Shengce, accompanied by Abbot Wu Jue, left the hall. Chang Suining lowered his eyes and saw him off respectfully among the crowd. In his peripheral vision, he could only see the corner of his imperial robe slowly going away as he was surrounded by the crowd.
After the Emperor of the Holy Ceremonies walked away, everyone just stood up.
Chang Suining looked in the direction where the Emperor of the Holy Ce and Master Wu Jue left, only to see Cui Jing following them. When he raised his eyes, he saw a towering spire in front of him.
"The Saint is going to enter the Heavenly Maiden Tower... that is not a place we can follow."
"Let's go, let's go to the temple and burn some incense."
Several female relatives chatted and entered the hall together.
"Sister Chang!"
A joyful voice came into his ears, Chang Suining turned his head and smiled: "Mrs. Yao Er."
Yao Xia and a group of Yao family women came over.
Yao Ran also nodded to Chang Suining.
"Grandma, mother, this is the sister from the Chang family that I often talk about!" Yao Xia said to Old Madam Yao and Zeng.
"No wonder our Axia keeps talking about it all day long." Old Madam Yao smiled and nodded, and Zeng also praised her.
Yao Gui, who was standing aside, looked dazed, and only came to his senses after being pinched secretly by Yao Xia.
"Madam, it's time to go into the palace and burn incense." Pei reminded with a blank expression on her face.
Madam Yao nodded kindly, "Everyone go in."
"Sister Chang, I heard that we can go to see the sacred statue later. Let's go together then." Before entering the hall, Yao Xia whispered to Chang Suining.
Chang Suining nodded in agreement.
An elephant park was built in the Dasheng Palace, where several white elephants were raised. Since elephants have always been regarded as the embodiment of auspiciousness by the people of Dasheng, the elephants raised in the palace are called divine elephants.
It is said that the Emperor of Shengce ordered craftsmen to build a huge tripod for this blessing, which will be transported to Dayun Temple by an elephant cart later.
The blessing ceremony is scheduled for tomorrow, and today is just to prepare for the ceremony in advance. So after burning incense in the main hall, the officials' families, under the guidance of the monks in the temple, took their servants to the various meditation rooms to settle down.
Under the arrangement of the temple's abbot Wu Jue, Chang Suining and Qiao Yumian were given a separate Zen temple, and monks brought them snacks and vegetarian meals in advance.
Chang Suining saw this and couldn't help but feel that Wu Jue, as the abbot of Dayun Temple, had no noble awareness of treating all living beings equally.
Conscience wise, she did not agree with the other party's practice of using backdoors and getting special treatment, but emotionally, she was very relieved.
Qiao Yumian was not feeling well, so she went back to her room and went to sleep after her vegetarian meal.
Xier originally wanted to ask her daughter if she also wanted to take a nap, but when she saw that her daughter was full of energy and looked like she could run ten laps around Dayun Temple immediately, she swallowed the unnecessary words.
It was at this time that Chang Suining was able to ask, "Did Sister Mianmian's eyes suffer any injuries?"
I was in a daze today, so please forgive me for the late update.
There will be two more chapters later~ (End of this chapter)
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