◇ Chapter 44 (44) Linshan Temple
Eunuch Wen was quick to act, buying several similar-looking sandalwood bracelets. He didn't even need a lotus branch to identify them; Eunuch Wen, accustomed to fine goods, could tell at a glance that they were fakes: "These bracelets are crudely made, they don't look like sandalwood, they look like ordinary wood."
"There are many people in the market now, all selling bracelets like this. They all claim to be disciples of the immortal Xingjiezi, and their bracelets are blessed with magical powers. But the bracelets I bought from them range from dozens of taels of silver to just a few cents. They are all different from the one the Prime Minister's wife has."
Eunuch Wen claimed to be a servant of a scholar in the suburbs of Beijing. He went to inquire and said that he had seen a completely different string of yin in the home of a wealthy merchant and wanted to ask for one. His "disciples" said that the one he saw must have been obtained from the immortal Xingjiezi, and that his magic power was deeper, so it must look different.
They were just apprentices, so the bracelets they sold were different from their master's, which was only natural. Eunuch Wen's criticism was just an excuse. If they were already selling things, how could they be real immortals?
"Xingjiezi?" Lianzhi frowned, "Shouldn't it be Chongshan Immortal?"
"I have inquired about it." Eunuch Wen said, "Immortal Chongshan is the chief disciple of Immortal Xingjiezi."
This wasn't quite right. If a person truly practiced cultivation, how could they allow secular vendors to scam people under their name? Lianzhi unconsciously turned the wooden bracelets in her hand when she suddenly felt a pain in her fingertips.
The workmanship was so poor that it pricked his finger.
He thought about it and ran to the study room, knocking on the door with his finger raised, asking Bai Kang to come out quickly. As soon as Bai Kang opened the door, he sobbed and said, "Brother Kang, I'm hurt."
"Where!" Bai Kang's expression suddenly changed, and he lifted the man up.
Lianzhi originally wanted to play a prank on Bo Kang, but she didn't expect him to react so strongly. She was frightened by him and quickly hit him hard: "How can you see it when you hold me up so high! Put me down!"
After he had gained his footing, he raised his finger and said, "It's been cut!"
Seeing the thin, almost trace of blood, Bai Kang smiled bitterly: "Baby, don't scare me next time."
He should have thought of this earlier. Lianzhi was always noisy, so if she was really hurt, she wouldn't have the energy to cry out. Lianzhi wiped the blood and said, "Don't you want to know what scratched me?"
Although he was already very busy, Bo Kang was still willing to play with the bored Lian Zhi and followed his lead and asked, "What is it?"
Lianzhi had a few bracelets brought up to Bai Kang. Seeing the familiar bracelets, Bai Kang's expression became serious.
He had had Xingjiezi and the others under surveillance for several days, so he naturally knew what this was. Those charlatans were rampantly selling all sorts of rubbish in the capital, specifically targeting the aristocracy, while also claiming to be immortals. He would arrest that swindler and his "apprentices" and convict them of the crime of spreading lies.
But more importantly, Lianzhi actually bought so many bracelets. It was obvious that she had discovered this a long time ago, but she only told him now.
Bo Kang looked at him, hesitant to speak, and finally opened the door: "Come in first."
Before he could question her, Lianzhi leaned back on the couch and confessed, "Last time at the Prime Minister's residence, I saw that the Prime Minister's wife really liked bracelets like this, so I asked Xiao Wenzi to buy some. She bought a lot, but none of them looked like the Prime Minister's wife's, and the craftsmanship was poor. Every single one of them was very prickly."
Bai Kang grabbed a handful of low-quality wooden skewers on the tray and examined them again and again. "What do the Prime Minister's wife's skewers look like?"
"It's green sandalwood, inlaid with gold threads, and has a fragrance," Lianzhi recalled. "It's a bit like the little trinkets Lingjia Temple gives away."
It turned out that she was hinting that this matter was related to Liangzhou. Bo Kang put down the tray and asked, "Why are you telling me now?"
"Even if I don't tell you, the Prime Minister will tell you, right?" Lianzhi blinked innocently, "The Prime Minister's wife even asked me to go with her."
Bai Kang didn't respond. His fingers unconsciously rubbed the wooden pillar in his palm. He felt that it was indeed prickly, and the burrs scratched his palm slightly. "Why tell me?"
He could tell that Lianzhi was unaware of the matter, otherwise she wouldn't have investigated privately. But why did she tell him?
Lianzhi did many little things behind his back, which were within his tolerance, so he endured them. He thought that Lianzhi would always keep his secrets and never tell him.
Are you slowly accepting him?
The boy's big, round eyes blinked again, his eyelashes fluttering like feathers, as if they would scrape against Bo Kang's palm in the next second. He pouted slightly, "I've been saying I'm thirsty for so long, why don't you pour me some water?"
Bai Kang's attention was drawn to those big eyes, and after hearing this, he quickly poured a cup of tea and handed it to him. Lianzhi drank it in two gulps and said, "You will know it sooner or later anyway."
Seeing that Bai Kang didn't answer, he asked again: "Brother Kang, have the guards outside the door been changed?"
Bai Kang was still thinking about Lianzhi's words. Would he find out sooner or later, or was there a deeper meaning behind it?
He always guesses when it comes to matters concerning Lianzhi.
"Yes, it has been changed." Bo Kang said, "What's wrong?"
"Why didn't you discuss this with me?" Upon hearing this, Lianzhi finally found an opportunity to lash out. "Didn't you agree that I'd be the housekeeper? You didn't even tell me about such an important matter!"
Even though there were only the two of them in the mansion, and the servants were pitifully few compared to other official households, Lianzhi was determined to hold on to her power as if she was afraid someone else would take it away. Bai Kang found Lianzhi's competitive nature endearing and said with a smile, "It's just a small matter. Those few people weren't very competent before. How about I give them a review next time?"
Lianzhi then snorted, "Don't let others manage the household. Especially don't let Lianzi manage it."
If he hadn't mentioned Bo Kang, he would have almost forgotten about him. He was so busy every day that he didn't have time to pay attention to such trivial matters. "Are you still picking on him? I asked the housekeeper to move him to the stables to feed the horses a few days ago. You can't ask me to kick him out, can you?"
"I just hate him!" Lianzhi said angrily.
He couldn't explain why he hated her. But hating someone was unreasonable. Lianzi was the first to speak rudely to him, and even said she liked Bo Kang... Thinking of this, Lianzhi suddenly realized that in the eyes of others, they would not be jealous of each other, right?
Realizing this, Lianzhi fell silent, urged Baikang to come back as soon as possible to have dinner with him, and then left. The guards were replaced. Lianzhi was afraid that people would think he had lost his stewardship, so he transferred several people to the courtyard to serve, and even asked the people from Baikang's study to come over.
The housekeeper was unsure and asked, and the answer he got was that as long as Lianzhi didn't tear down the Shangshu Mansion, he could just let him do it.
Summers are often rainy, and since July, it has been raining continuously for several days. Lianzhi and the Prime Minister's wife traveled to Linshan Temple on the outskirts of Beijing. Linshan Temple was originally a dilapidated little temple, practically devoid of worship. Unmaintained, the walls were already mottled, and moss had crept up the stone steps. Fortunately, the immortal Xingjie Zi had recently taken up cultivation at the temple, attracting a steady stream of pilgrims and boosting its popularity.
The mountains in the distance were faintly visible in the rain and mist, and the blue tiles and white walls looked particularly quiet in the rain, not looking desolate at all, but rather adding a touch of ancient charm. The carriage stopped on the flagstone path outside the temple. The guards opened the door, laid a footstool on the ground, and invited Lianzhi to get out.
Lianzhi looked at the muddy cracks in the stone pavement and really didn't want to go down. Not to mention the rainwater running down the stones, making it look dirty. The person who opened the door for him was an unfamiliar guard who had been brought in by the butler two days ago.
"You carry me down here," Lianzhi complained. The housekeeper had no sense of judgment in choosing his people.
The guard was so frightened that he slipped and almost fell to his knees. Lianzhi seemed to have just remembered that he couldn't let others carry him, and waved his hand in disdain: "Forget it, you move aside and hold the umbrella for me." The guard then stood behind him and held the umbrella without complaint.
"Mrs. Bai." The Prime Minister's wife, who was following behind them, got out of the car and walked towards him. "Come on, I'll take you to see Taoist Master Chongshan."
Outside the Lingguan Temple, smoke curled from the ancient incense burner, blending seamlessly with the rain and mist. Lianzhi paused before the incense table, took the three incense sticks from the Taoist priest, lit them, and closed her eyes in silent prayer.
The air was thick with incense, and beside him, the Prime Minister's wife was still praying devoutly. Several Taoists were waiting nearby, waiting to guide them to find Taoist Master Chongshan. Lianzhi, bored, wandered outside the temple. The name of the Immortal Master Xingjiezi was so well-known that even at the remote foot of the mountain, one could hear the sound of carriages passing by. He stopped the young man and woman passing by and said, "Are you also here to see the Immortal Master Xingjiezi? This is my first time here, and I'd like to ask someone for advice on the rules."
Being pulled by a stranger, the young man glared at him warily. However, upon seeing Lianzhi's well-behaved and beautiful face, his attitude softened considerably. "I don't know either. This is my first time here too. If you have any questions, why not ask the Taoist priests in the temple?"
The little girl behind him tugged nervously at his sleeve. The young man clasped his fists and quickly left with his sister. Lianzhi looked at a few more people and, after a cursory inquiry, discovered that most of them had heard of the efficaciousness of the Xingjiezi Immortal and were visiting for the first time.
These people burned incense outside the temple and then returned. Those who were treated with special treatment and invited into the backyard were all dressed in finery, clearly wealthy or noble. It was certain that this person in this business was obsessed with money and only treated the wealthy as guests of honor. He was most likely a swindler.
Lianzhi bit her lower lip unconsciously. The Prime Minister's wife called him several times before he finally came to his senses and followed. Once they entered the backyard, they realized they couldn't go directly into the wing room and had to wait outside.
After waiting for half an hour, someone finally came to ask Lianzhi to move over and follow him to offer the lamps. Lianzhi looked at the man in the dark blue robe and smiled slightly, "I want to offer a set of misfortune-relieving lamps for my brother."
He said he didn't understand the rules, and it wasn't just a cliché; he really didn't know. When he was a prince, he had never participated in sacrificial ceremonies with his father. After becoming emperor, he died before it was his turn to perform sacrifices, so naturally, he had never come into contact with monks and Taoist priests.
Following the other person's instructions, he lit the lamp and paid the incense money. The man glanced at his gorgeous clothes as if unintentionally and said, "I have never seen you before."
"I rarely go out." Lianzhi said softly.
The man bent down again and said, "Please follow me. Your mother is currently discussing the sutras with the immortal. Please take a rest for a while."
Did they mistake him and the Prime Minister's wife for mother and son? Lianzhi laughed and didn't explain: "I'm very curious about what they talked about. There is one more thing, please enlighten me, Immortal."
After saying this, he raised his hand, revealing the sandalwood beads on his wrist. At the connection point, the pattern of a ferocious beast was faintly visible.
Seeing the pattern, the man's expression remained unchanged: "It's not appropriate to talk here. Please follow me first."
Lianzhi saw that he was acting furtively, and she knew he must have something shameful to say. She followed him around the main hall, and just as she was about to enter the side rooms, a pair of hands grabbed her and dragged her behind the vermilion lacquered gate.
Lianzhi was about to shout, but the other party shushed her loudly, "Don't move!"
The voice was all too familiar. Lianzhi turned around and saw Arus, whom he hadn't seen for several days. He was wearing a green robe and holding a broom. His long, curly hair, which had a foreign look, was tied into a bun. He was hiding here, sweeping the floor. He asked in surprise, "Arus? Why are you here? You're not dead."
Hearing this, Arus's face darkened: "You really want me to die? I saved you!"
Lianzhi glared at him.
"Why did you show him the bracelet? You're so reckless, he was just trying to trick you into killing you!" Arus spoke quickly, his words tinged with the Mobei dialect. Lianzhi looked at him strangely, "Didn't you notice I was testing him? I'm capable of protecting myself. Who kills who is still uncertain, so leave me alone."
Arus knew Lianzhi's abilities well; after all, he had suffered at his hands. His eyes widened. "Probing? Who are you testing for, Bo Kang? Could it be that you're truly in love with him and working for him?"
"Are you crazy? Why do you always think that I like Bai Kang?" Lianzhi said angrily.
It was not advisable to stay here for long, so Arus took him into another room and closed the door.
When I turned around, I met a pair of sharp eyes.
"Who exactly is Xingjiezi? He doesn't look like someone from the Central Plains, nor does he look like someone from Liangzhou." Lianzhi's voice was so calm that it was almost emotionless. "Why didn't you tell me such an important thing?"
"Tell you? Your heart is wild, Lianzhi." Arus replied in the same cold tone, "Tell me first, are you in love with Bai Kang?"
Why does he always mention Bai Kang? Lian Zhi really doesn't know what he's thinking: "Do you think I'll tell Bai Kang about us?"
"No?" Arus twitched his lips. "Who told me about Bo Kang's whereabouts? Who impersonated me and fabricated the story of a burglary at the Shangshu Mansion? And who caused my portrait to circulate in the capital, forcing me to hide here?"
Lianzhi's voice was still cold: "You are useless, it has nothing to do with me."
As soon as he finished speaking, Arus suddenly touched his neck. Lianzhi was startled by his action, and the sword hidden in her sleeve almost cut off his palm. But soon, Lianzhi realized that he was not trying to strangle her, but seemed to be looking for something.
"Where's the jade he gave you?"
"What jade?" Lianzhi was confused. Arus's words today were so strange that it was completely incomprehensible. Arus hinted again, and then he remembered that it was the jade that Bai Kang had given him.
"I'm not wearing it." Lianzhi said honestly, "I don't like that kind of stuff."
For some reason, after saying this, Lianzhi felt that the person in front of her suddenly relaxed, and the corners of his mouth rose slightly.
"Lianzhi, don't forget. We are from the same path." Arus warned, "You can't turn back, and neither can I. I will come to find you."
The rain is getting heavier.
The Prime Minister's wife chatted with the Immortal Chongshan for a long time. When they were about to descend the mountain, they found that the mountain road had become extremely difficult to walk on. Fortunately, it was not yet dark, so it was not too late to return to the city.
In the distance, Lianzhi spotted a familiar carriage. He had the guards light a lamp, and within the dim glow, he could see the man in official uniform. Bai Kang stood beside the carriage, holding an umbrella, apparently waiting for someone.
Seeing them, Bai Kang smiled and strode towards them.
Lianzhi heard him greet the Prime Minister's wife, calling her "Master's Wife." After that, a warm embrace wrapped him in his arms. Bai Kang said, "I've asked Master's Wife to take care of my wife."
With Bai Kang present, the Prime Minister's wife rode in a separate carriage, while Bai Kang and Lianzhi rode in the same one. Bai Kang's official uniform was damp, evidently having braved the heavy rain. As soon as he boarded the carriage, he removed his outer robe and had the guards pass him a hot water bottle.
"It's freezing. The rain in the city is heavier than in the mountains." Bo Kang said, hugging Lianzhi again. He was too cold, and Lianzhi instinctively avoided him: "Don't hug me, I'm cold too. What are you doing here in such heavy rain?"
"To pick you up." Bo Kang said as a matter of course, "Didn't you ask me to pick you up last time? I'm here now."
Lianzhi didn't know how to refute.
The car was warm, and the moisture on Bai Kang's body dried up quickly. Coupled with his good physical strength and strong temper, his body soon became warm again. Lianzhi unconsciously snuggled into his arms, rubbing her head against Bai Kang's chest.
"Brother Kang, why did you tell the Prime Minister's wife that I was your wife?" Lianzhi asked.
"Huh? Aren't you?" asked Bo Kang, his tone filled with both joy and worry.
That was true. But he thought that Bai Kang would not be willing to admit this relationship. After all, marrying a man who was an actor was too shameful. If Bai Kang did not admit this relationship, his departure would be smoother.
Lianzhi stopped talking and warmed her hands with the hot water bottle. The car was silent for a moment. As she began to drift off to sleep, she felt Bai Kang holding her. She shifted her position and leaned in to whisper, "Baby, why did you bring that guard out today?"
Lianzhi was so sleepy that she didn't hear what he was saying. Bai Kang asked again, and Lianzhi's mind started to work. After thinking for a long time, she answered, "I like to wear that one."
Bai Kang held him tighter. "Why do you like bringing that guy? Don't you usually bring Lao Wen or Xiao Liu?"
Lianzhi's eyelids twitched as she casually said, "Because he's good-looking."
This time, Bai Kang pinched Lianzhi's face hard. Lianzhi felt pain and had no energy to make a fuss anymore. She fell asleep hugging Bai Kang's arm.
When they were almost outside the Shangshu Mansion, Bai Kang woke him up.
He was sleeping so soundly that he didn't notice that he had been holding Bo Kang's right hand all the way. He quickly let go and opened the car window a little.
It was still raining outside, so dense it almost formed a curtain. Lianzhi looked at the guard sitting in the corner and said, "Go get me a footstool and hold an umbrella. Go down quickly and do it."
The guard responded and when the carriage stopped, he got out with a footstool and waited. Before he could open his umbrella, Bo Kang had already squeezed him out of the way, picked up another umbrella, and said, "Baby, I'll carry you down."
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