Upon seeing Ye Guixue’s horse carriage, Zhou Gu tenseed up.
He Zheng slowed down his horse and quietly asked Zhou Gu, "It seems like the carriage belongs to the Second Young Master Ye from the Nanchu Ye Xiang Residence. Should we greet them?"
He didn’t know Ye Guixue personally, but he recognized his horse carriage. Although the carriage appeared ordinary at first glance, it was made from top-quality rosewood, which made it far from ordinary. It just wasn’t as extravagantly decorated as the carriages typically used by other residences, making it seem exceptionally mundane.
"Let’s not." Zhou Gu shook his head.
Upon reflection, he realized that Zhou Gu didn’t know Ye Guixue either. He spurred his horse to surpass the slow-moving carriage ahead.
Behind them, a rapid clatter of hooves signalled a rush of movement which quickly overtook the carriage and raced into the distance. From within the carriage, it sounded like there were quite a few of them.
Curious and not minding the dust, Su Rong peeked through the corner of the curtain. She saw Zhou Gu’s figure galloping away. She redirected her gaze and naturally let the curtain fall back into place.
Ye Guixue was motionless, and asked with a smile: "Who was it?"
Su Rong said, "It’s the Imperial Guards."
Ye Guixue nodded. "About the case of Old Zhao’s storytelling, it is said that two members of the Imperial Guard have been found dead. They must have some clues and have gone out of town to investigate. Otherwise, the Imperial Guards rarely leave the city."
Su Rong nodded, "Probably so."
Ye Guixue looked at her and asked, "Are you bored? Want to read a book?"
"No." Su Rong shook her head decisively.
"Then how about playing chess?"
"That works." Su Rong nodded.
Then, Ye Guixue took out the chess box. One of them played with black pieces and the other with white, and they began the game.
When Su Rong played chess, her moves were complex and unpredictable, which captivated her opponents. When she played chess with Zhou Gu, his straightforward style—taught by Grand Tutor Qin—could not compete with hers. But Ye Guixue, who was specially cultivated by the Nanchu King and Ye Xiang for Su Rong, was also very smart. A few moves, and he understood Su Rong’s unpredictable style. He followed her, and the game suddenly took an unexpected turn, as if they were competing to see who could play the most deceptive moves.
Su Rong was surprised and raised her eyebrows, "Impressive."
Ye Guixue chuckled, "I have to be capable, or else how could I compete with the princess?"
Su Rong smirked, "I learned the hard way, could it be that the Great Scholar summoned by the Nanchu King also manages it the hard way?"
Ye Guixue laughed and nodded, "He manages to handle everything."
Su Rong: "..."
Well done! Truly impressive for a secluded Great Scholar summoned by the Nanchu King himself.
Su Rong was at once filled with a fighting spirit. This enthusiasm made her blood boil, and she regarded the chessboard as a battlefield, eager to wage war with Ye Guixue. As a result, her chess moved not only unpredictably but also with a strong killing intent.
Ye Guixue also perceived her intention, of course he did not sit back and tolerate. He too straightened up and treated the chessboard as a battlefield, fighting fiercely with her.
If one could hear the sounds of the battle from the chess game, it would be full of thunderous cries and roars.
The game came to an extremely quick end with a completely wiped board, ending in a draw where both parties were injured.
Su Rong was shocked, "Was this actually a draw?"
Ye Guixue was also quite surprised, he laughed, "I didn’t expect a draw either."
"Again!" Su Rong was not yet satisfied.
"Sure."
And so, they started another game.
After a while, Su Rong again said: "Again!"
"Alright!"
In this way, they played for two hours, until they reached the foot of the Dafo Temple Mountain, and the result was still a draw.
Su Rong was tired from the battle. She pushed the chessboard away, raised her eyebrows at Ye Guixue, and said with a mix of anger and laughter, "Okay, you’ve annoyed me."
Ye Guixue looked up in surprise, watching as she grinded her teeth at him. He held his forehead and couldn’t help but chuckle, "Isn’t this just us irritating each other?"
Su Rong thought about it and agreed. Ye Guixue had annoyed her considerably, but she had also angered him in turn. Especially in this game of chess, where they were both so aggressive, she almost wanted to draw the Broken Snow Sword against Ye Guixue. She didn’t believe that Ye Guixue didn’t feel the same way, he must have wanted to draw his sword against her too.
Playing chess almost turned them into enemies.
This situation was indeed a result of mutual provocation.
Su Rong acknowledged her fault and decided to reflect upon her actions. She touched her nose and admitted sheepishly, "You’re right."
Ye Guixue lowered his hand and smiled softly, "At this time of the year, there should be autumn pears on the mountain of the Buddha Temple. We can ask someone to make us some autumn pear water to relieve the heat after we go up the mountain later."
Su Rong felt that was necessary. She currently was full of anger, so she nodded, "I think that would be good."
The carriage arrived at the foot of the mountain and stopped. Fen Ling was already waiting there. Seeing Su Rong lift the curtain to get off the carriage, he immediately stopped her, "Sister, don’t get off the carriage yet. The carriage can’t pass through here if we are going up the mountain. We need to stay here tonight, so we need to go up the mountain from the back gate where there’s a carriage path. Unlike here at the front gate, there are only stone steps."
Having sat for quite a while, Su Rong was understandably tired. She turned to ask Ye Guixue, "Should we walk up from here and let the coachman take the carriage up the hill from the back gate?"
Ye Guixue nodded, "Sounds good."
Therefore, they both got off the carriage.
Su Rong kneaded her shoulder, then waist, and then legs, and jumped twice on the spot to loosen her muscles. Turning around, she saw Ye Guixue looking at her, which prompted her to retort, "Aren’t you tired? Get some exercise too."
Ye Guixue couldn’t do what Su Rong just did. Not even his four-year-old niece, Ye Qiuying, acted like her. He chuckled, "I’m used to it, it’s alright."
"Alright then!" Su Rong turned to Fen Ling, "Is everything ready?"
"Everything is arranged, don’t worry when I’m on the job!" Fen Ling said assuringly. He leaned closer to her, "Sister, this Buddha Temple is so huge that I’m afraid we won’t have enough time to explore everything in just one night. I’ve already inquired from the abbot about the temple. There are sixteen halls in the temple alone. The Dabei Pavilion is built at the highest point with five floors. From the Dabei Pavilion, one can see the Imperial City. There are numerous Buddha statues and golden Bodhisattva figures, all with their own history to look at. The most famous one is the God Sophora. It is said to be particularly effective in helping people find their matches. The mountain behind the temple is also worth a visit during this season as trees are covered with red leaves and it’s very beautiful."
After sharing this, Fen Ling continued by making a suggestion, "Sister, there’s a spring on the mountain that flows into a stream, and it’s said that the stream is filled with fish. I wonder how they would taste compared to the ones from the stream behind the Chenghuang Temple in Jiangning County?"
Su Rong was left speechless...
She stared at Fen Ling and asked, "So, how long are we staying?"
Fen Ling raised two fingers, thought for a moment, and added another one, "Three days."
Su Rong didn’t make the decision on her own, as she wasn’t familiar with the place, and turned to Ye Guixue.
Ye Guixue came to Daliang only for her, and he wasn’t eager to see the Emperor. He didn’t believe there was anything special about meeting the Emperor of Daliang, but he was interested in meeting the Crown Prince, Yan Huisheng. He smiled and said, "You can decide."
Su Rong hesitated.
Fen Ling was about to tug on her sleeve, "Sister!"
Su Rong glared at him, "Are you planning to grill fish in the temple? Aren’t you afraid that the abbot will throw you out of the mountain?"
"I assure you he won’t." Fen Ling quickly responded, "I donated five thousand taels for lamp oil. They wouldn’t dare drive us away even if we stayed for ten days, right?"
Su Rong was breathless, "How could you be so thriftless?"
"Ah, sister, once you go in and see, you will know that the silver I spent was totally worth it." Fen Ling lowered his voice and whispered, "There is a forest at the back of the mountain, which produces a kind of delicacy. It’s delicious when stewed with chicken or duck, but how could it be possible to get chicken or duck in this vegetarian temple? So, if we stay for three days, we can ask someone to go to the mountain to collect the delicacies and catch some chickens..."
Su Rong just looked at him in quiet.
Fen Ling scratched his head, "We can’t kill in this sacred Buddhist place, but we can catch them alive to take away, right? Catch more, we can raise them slowly once we get back to eat..."
Su Rong coughed, "The mountain delicacy and grouse are not worth the money."
Five thousand taels of silver could provide for so many orphans. Back then, she had to scratch and save even two taels from the lady of the house. When Yuewan wanted to eat date cakes, she could only buy the cheapest ones.
Fen Ling retreated a step back, "Ah" in discomfort, then lowered his voice to say, "Sister, these things are not worth much, but the Buddha Temple has a Book Pavilion, medical and poison martial arts, ancient weapon diagrams, several rare books, all in the Buddha Temple. Others can’t get in, but both of us can. We both can pick locks and solve puzzles, and you have the ability of memorization..."
So much for his donation, to sneak in and take a look wasn’t too much, right? Wasn’t he very conscientious?
Su Rong finally had no words to retort, "Alright!"
She remembered that the day she came of age in Jiangning County, Zhou Gu seemed to have said something similar to her. He was interested in the Book Pavilion in the palace at that time and wanted her to memorize the contents.
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