Not only Master Right was eating it, Master Left and the left and right masters were also using this box of pastries.
The four men had just seen off the second prince and were discussing countermeasures.
It was obviously not the first time for them to have something to eat in the afternoon, and the young monk next to them made tea for them as if it was nothing strange. It was obviously not the first time for such a thing to happen.
"The second prince is the most suitable candidate." said the right magician.
Everyone remained silent, apparently agreeing with this statement.
The eldest prince is too stupid, the third prince is too smart, only the second prince is just right.
Moreover, the Second Prince really needs their help. If this prince ascends the throne, the power of Buddhism will last forever.
The four people made their decision, but Master Zuo said, "Don't be in a hurry. It's the beginning of March now. Wait a day or two."
It was obvious that he wanted to make the Second Prince anxious for a while longer.
"Is the Third Prince going to come back?" Master Zuo asked again.
The Right Grand Master obviously respected him very much and said, "Yes, we can enter the capital today and capture those Taoists."
"That's right. Once the Taoist curse case is settled, the previous things will not be a problem anymore."
Everything could go back to the way it was before, when they were at the height of their power.
But after the case of the fake monk, Master Zuo found that they still didn't know enough, so they took away Concubine Chu's Buddhist beads. If there had been a prince involved at the time, they would not have been so passive.
In the end, you still have to choose one.
Now the candidate has obviously been chosen.
"As for the black ointment, it needs to be used a few more times." Master Zuo said tiredly.
Who knew that before the three of them could take any action, Concubine Chu could no longer hold back. The Second Prince came over in the afternoon, and in the evening she sent over a wooden fish, which looked very ancient.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be used by a highly respected wizard two hundred years ago. It appeared a few years ago, but there was no news after that. I didn't expect that it could be found by Concubine Chu.
Who wouldn’t be jealous when seeing this thing?
Even the Great Master Zuo could not help but nod his head, and asked people to return some gifts. The Second Prince came to visit again, and this time they had a long conversation, which was very pleasant.
In the early morning of the tenth day of March, Su Wan and others came to cook as usual and had already learned the news.
Yes, the two have finally officially hooked up.
There will be something interesting to watch next.
In addition, there was another piece of news, that is, Xie Pei had returned to the palace and would attend the morning court today.
Everyone thought that Xie Pei would make big news during the morning court session, but unexpectedly he was still very quiet, not like his usual behavior at all.
Anyway, I heard that the case of the Taoist curse has some clues, but it will take a few days to review it, and many things are not ready. Xie Pei said he would give him three days.
Some people say that he is delaying and does not want Buddhism to recover so quickly. After all, if the Taoist priests are convicted, Buddhism will definitely benefit.
In this way, he was giving all the limelight to the imperial examination, otherwise the Taoist curse case would have overshadowed the Ministry of Rites.
Many people couldn't guess his intention. Maybe there were really a lot of files to deal with?
Anyway, no matter what, the imperial examination is still going on as usual and its glory remains the same.
But Xie Pei suppressed the matter, but Tianbei Palace could not wait and directly told the Saint that the Second Prince was a man of great virtue and knowledge, and wanted to implore the Second Prince to take charge of the Buddha's Birthday Festival.
As soon as these words were spoken, the issue of Buddha's Birthday immediately became a hot topic.
First of all, everyone knows how the saint favors several wizards. Some people also say that the attitudes of the wizards can even determine which prince the saint will appoint as the crown prince.
But the people from Tianbei Palace have never shown any interest.
But now this sentence clearly has a stance!
Anyway, Concubine Jiang in Zhongcui Palace was so angry that she broke countless bowls and dishes.
Although Zhongcui Palace was not close to Tianbei Palace, she did not want to see Chu Jieyu from Yonghe Palace getting close to her.
Because Concubine Jiang always felt that there was something wrong with these monks, but she couldn't find any evidence. She didn't want to see the saint indulge in this and follow the messy practice. For her, the saint's health was the top priority.
Therefore, he does not like the cultivation in Tianbei Palace.
But I didn't expect that Concubine Chu would get there first, which shows that she is not a person who would keep quiet.
She was fighting for power in the harem and in the front court. What she wanted was the position of crown prince, and she didn't care whether he was worthy of it or not.
But Imperial Concubine Jiang was still worried. In the past few years, the Saint had listened to her advice and not to get too close to these monks, but in the past two years, he had done that and it was obvious that he was very superstitious about them.
Just to digress a little bit about the fake monk.
She always felt that something was wrong.
Imperial Concubine Jiang was thinking about what to do when the eldest prince rushed over and the first thing he said was, "Mother, I heard that father wants to make my second brother the crown prince!?"
Although the eldest prince is stupid, he is particularly concerned about these things.
If you are the crown prince now, you can become the emperor in the future, just like your father!
He wants to be!
So he seems particularly anxious now.
"Why are you panicking? It's just that we are getting closer to Tianbei Palace and organizing the Buddha's Birthday Festival together. It's not a big deal." Concubine Jiang calmed down and said, "Where did you hear these nonsense? Don't talk about it anymore."
"I'm not talking nonsense. Many people are saying this. My father likes Tianbei Palace so much, and those bald donkeys in Tianbei Palace are on good terms with the second brother. What should I do then?" The eldest prince immediately shouted.
Concubine Jiang Guifei felt a headache. There was nothing to worry about, so why was she so anxious?
The eldest prince also asked: "How about we also go to Tianbei Palace and cooperate with them?"
Two princes held a Buddha's Birthday Festival for Tianbei Hall at the same time? What a great honor.
After Imperial Concubine Jiang made a detailed analysis, the eldest prince felt much more at ease. However, looking at him, Imperial Concubine Jiang wanted to arrange a marriage for him as soon as possible so that he would have the help of his wife's family and would not have to worry about it alone.
But just as the eldest prince left Zhongcui Palace, he heard several young palace maids and eunuchs muttering, "It seems that this time it is really the second prince."
"Yes, why doesn't the eldest prince go to find Tianbei Palace?"
"The eldest prince will definitely listen to the Imperial Concubine."
"You're right. I heard that the Second Prince is the boss of Yonghe Palace. Here, the First Prince listens to his mother."
"You are so old, but you still listen to your mother in everything."
Several people laughed together.
When the eldest prince became furious and took his men to look for the people, he found that the palace maids and eunuchs had already gone far away and could not be caught at all.
The people around the eldest prince were trembling with fear, knowing that those gossipers had hit the spot where the eldest prince was uncomfortable.
But what can I do? This seems to be the truth.
Looking at the expressions of the people around him, the eldest prince became even more furious.
He knew what people around him said about him, nothing more than that he was incompetent, not as good as his two younger brothers, and a bastard.
There are also those who only listen to their mothers and don’t understand anything.
It was okay before, as he was the only one in charge of government affairs in the court, and things were stable. But since last November, when Xie Pei took charge of government affairs, the second son was also dragged into it, and it's really infuriating.
This made him feel more threatened.
Xie Pei, who was secretly resentful in his mind, was now closing his eyes and listening to someone report what had happened recently.
Being away for more than a month, I have to understand all the situations.
After hearing what Su Wan did, not to mention Xie Pei, even the Dongge Grand Secretary, the Minister of Finance and the guard Zang Dongxin who were standing next to them looked at each other in bewilderment.
Su Wan instigated the Second Prince to follow Tianbei Palace. Was it intentional or unintentional?
If he did, did he really want to help the Second Prince and Tianbei Palace, or was he just fanning the flames?
If I help, I feel like I have no position.
If she is adding fuel to the flames, then she is too sensitive, even more so than the ministers in the court. Is there really such a clever little girl?
And the golden bead with Sanskrit inscription is used very cleverly.
It was because of her accurate description of the golden bead that Concubine Chu of Yonghe Palace and the Second Prince were so sure that the First Prince had already taken to Tianbei Palace, and that prompted them to act quickly.
A Sanskrit gold bead can play such a great role in her hand.
Also, why did the Third Prince give her such an important thing?
This also made everyone less suspicious of Su Wan. A truly smart person always knows what he is doing.
Xie Pei didn't expect that Su Wan did such a big thing quietly.
Even after he came back and heard that the Second Prince was cooperating with Tianbei Palace, he was so happy that he raised his eyebrows. He also deliberately delayed the case of the Taoist curse, waiting until the Second Prince was entangled with Tianbei Palace, and then he would catch them all in one fell swoop.
Moreover, they sent people to deliberately convey anxiety to the eldest prince, so that he would make a stupid decision quickly, regardless of whether it would succeed or not.
Anyway, a fish is already in the net, so this stupid fish doesn’t matter.
But I didn’t expect the fish to get into the net this way.
Even if Su Wan didn't play a decisive role, at least she sped up the process. To be able to do this, she has made an indelible contribution.
This is indeed a big deal for him.
Apart from this matter, Kyoto also has the imperial examination sponsored by the Ministry of Rites. Today is March 11th, and the examination will obviously end in five or six days, and the results of the palace examination will be announced in a few days.
In this case, let’s settle this matter before the imperial examination, as a favor to the Ministry of Rites and the Hanlin Academy.
After everyone left, Xie Pei instructed not to mention Su Wan's name casually and just pretend nothing happened.
It would be fine for others, but Xie Pei felt that Su Wan must have noticed something, which is why she forced the Second Prince to get entangled with Tianbei Palace. Maybe she has thought of something different.
In that case, let’s go and take a look.
Maybe there will be unexpected gains.
Xie Pei discovered that, except when he was in the west kitchen, he always had to take a detour every time he came to see Su Wan.
At that time, she went to the Shangshenjian from the westernmost Xiting. Now she came to Chonghua Palace not far from the Shangshenjian, and she went directly to the inner palace.
It was not that complicated for Xie Pei to enter the inner palace. He just found a secluded little door, greeted the guards at the gate, and walked in leisurely.
When we arrived at the Ciqing Palace where Su Wan and her friends lived, they saw that renovations were already underway in preparation for the Buddha's Birthday.
Because of the second prince's joining, this matter immediately gained a lot of glory. The saint also felt that the second prince could please the emperor, which was very good.
As soon as Xie Pei entered Ciqing Palace, he heard the sound of chanting Buddha's name from the other side. However, there should be no monks from Magadha and wandering monks who he had stuffed in there. They were all found by his people and forced in.
And no one knew who had sent these two people here, they just followed the team welcoming the Buddhist monks in a daze.
During this time, the wandering monk seemed to understand and was about to leave with his good friend, the monk from Magadha, but he was thrown back into the team by Xie Pei's men on the road.
This situation repeated several times until the two men entered Beijing.
The two men were truly capable and understood what was happening, but they only talked about Buddhist teachings and nothing else, which won them the heart of the saint.
I am still discussing Buddhism with saints.
So we have the current situation.
What's more, Tianbei Palace is a little anxious, so they are looking for cooperation with the Second Prince.
But I didn't expect Su Wan to add fuel to the fire and make this happen as soon as possible. Otherwise, this matter would have to be done after the imperial examination, and I wouldn't be able to do the favor to the Ministry of Rites.
However, just as Xie Pei was about to go to the side courtyard, he saw Su Wan coming out.
It was night time now, and she should be resting in her room.
Su Wan looked at him in surprise. Although Ciqing Palace was relatively remote, how could she come here so openly?
Although it was late, it was inevitable that someone would notice.
"Are you back from your business trip?" Su Wan didn't even bother to ask why you were in the inner palace.
Xie Pei nodded: "You will be able to return to the Shangshenjian soon."
With Xie Pei's words, it means that the matter has been settled.
Su Wan's eyes lit up. Great! I can leave the inner palace soon!
But Xie Pei asked again: "Do you hate the inner palace?"
Strictly speaking, it’s not like that. In fact, I’m quite happy making vegetarian food during this period, and I can also learn cooking skills from the imperial chefs.
The food in the inner palace is richer than that in the outer palace, but in terms of freedom, the outer palace is better.
“Not annoying.”
"You don't like it either?"
After Su Wan finished speaking, she didn’t notice Xie Pei’s eyes narrowed slightly, and then nodded after a while: “Well, I don’t like it too much either.”
Although she didn't know what Xie Pei meant, Su Wan just nodded.
The two hadn't seen each other for more than a month. Su Wan only felt that Xie Pei had a more imposing aura. As he grew taller, he became thinner and his facial features became more three-dimensional.
I guess it's not easy to work hard outside.
Seeing that the other was safe, the two of them didn't care. Xie Pei didn't ask anything about the Second Prince. Even if he asked, Su Wan would probably just laugh it off and pretend nothing happened.
Indeed, she just said a few words and did a few things, but if you look closely, there is nothing.
So after the Second Prince checked Su Wan's background, he immediately believed that she really saw the Sanskrit golden bead in the hands of the great wizard, and he also believed that they were having a secret transaction and would definitely not tell anyone.
Xie Pei smiled again when he thought of this, and finally said cryptically: "Take care of your own safety. No matter what happens next, it has nothing to do with the vegetarian kitchen. Hide if you can, and it's best to stay far away."
This is important information!
Su Wan immediately asked, "Where should we hide then? Approximately what time should we hide?"
After asking, Su Wan also felt something was wrong. How could she ask about the time? What if the news leaked out?
Wouldn't that mean all the previous efforts would be wasted? Just when she was about to change her words, Xie Pei made a fourteen gesture and pointed to the moon in the sky.
The 14th, evening.
Today is the evening of March 11th, which is three days later.
Yes, she would definitely take everyone to Ciqing Palace that day and would definitely not step out of the side hall.
But Xie Pei also asked: "What are you doing out so late?"
Su Wan blinked: "Do nothing."
Xie Pei's eyes swept across the purse on Su Wan's waist. It was made by her aunt, and the Sanskrit gold beads were inside?
Thinking about the rumor that she deceived the second prince, is she going to make the rumor true?
If this golden bead really fell into the hands of the great wizard of Tianbei Palace, then in the heart of the second prince, there would be no dispute between him and the eldest prince.
If that is true.
She is a little too bold!
"You don't want to live anymore?"
If she was discovered, she would be dead.
The two exchanged glances, obviously noticing each other's thoughts.
Su Wan coughed lightly and said, "Nothing."
It's just a matter of stuffing the gold beads into the room where gifts are given. Recently, because of the Buddha's Birthday and the saint's renewed favor, there are a lot of people coming to give gifts.
It is normal that some gifts may not be registered in time.
Stuff it in a pile of stuff and it will naturally see the light of day.
She did research!
It's definitely okay!
Xie Pei looked at her with disapproval, and finally said, "Let me do it."
It’s better for his people to do it rather than Su Wan.
But only Su Wan could use such a cunning trick.
When Su Wan finally went back to rest, Xie Pei almost held his forehead with his hand.
He looks well-behaved and too daring on weekdays, but if you think about it carefully, there is indeed room for maneuver.
The eldest prince can also be involved.
If the stupid fish doesn't want to go into the net, then pull it in.
If Su Wan was his aide, she must be the chief aide at this moment.
But what did the people in Tianbei Palace do to make her so unhappy?
The last time Su Wan showed her displeasure, the monks of the Kamikaze Temple closed the temple doors tightly. They would rather have their halls empty than allow the victims to enter.
What about this time?
Fortunately, there is always an answer to what Xie Pei wants.
If you take a closer look at the inner workings of Tianbei Palace, you will know how much filth is hidden inside.
All the palace servants inside were suffering terribly.
People like the kitchen staff who are often punished are just microcosms.
They still have some value. They have to copy scriptures all night long and even register in front of the saint, saying that the food they cook is not delicious.
Everyone knows how big of a blow this is to the royal chef.
Not to mention the extravagance inside, and the fact that several palace maids who were tortured to death were secretly carried away.
Su Wan must have long been fed up with the fact that he was eating the people's money and his Buddhist beads were stained with blood.
How could she not be angry when she knew all this?
Yes, she loves to help the poor and the weak.
Even if Su Wan didn't say it, he knew it.
After Xie Pei finished reading the information in his hand, he suddenly asked, "How far has the Kamikaze Temple been converted into a salesian's home?"
Guard Zang Dongxin didn't expect that the Third Prince would suddenly bring up this matter. Wasn't this something that had already passed?
After the letters between officials from the Kamikaze Temple and Dawen Village were dug out, it was discovered that there had been no progress.
Xie Pei said: "Hurry up and get it done as soon as possible, and keep a low profile."
ah?
Isn’t the focus now on Tianbei Hall?
Why did the Third Prince suddenly think of this?
But it is not difficult to run an orphanage, so can we do it easily?
It won't have a big impact.
When Su Wan returned to the room, the golden bead in her purse was still there. Xie Pei said that she didn't need this one because he had another one.
It's amazing. The wizard has been looking for something for so long, and he still has more than one? He can't have a set, right?
The Tianbei Palace was peaceful these days, and no one was interested in copying the scriptures that were originally supposed to be copied. After all, everyone was busy trying to get close to the Second Prince.
The second prince actually brought in a lot of officials to help.
This made the Ministry of Rites curse their bad luck. The palace examination would be held in a few days, and all the results would be announced by the end of the month. It was obvious that the students who took the imperial examinations should have the most glory.
Basically, the exam will be over on March 17th, the results will be announced three days later, and the palace examination will be held on March 20th.
Aren’t you tired of rushing ahead and making a fuss?
However, the Ministry of Rites did not know that the Third Prince's actions could surprise them as well.
On the evening of March 14, at Su Wan's suggestion, Su Wan, Li Rongrong, and two palace maids had dinner early and gathered together to play color selection.
This thing was handed over by Xie Pei.
Su Wan didn’t know how to play at first, but she had fun after taking a quick look.
Isn’t this just the ancient version of flying chess!
The only difference is that the points thrown are not numbers, but virtue, talent, merit and corruption.
Virtue, talent, achievement, and stolen money.
If you throw the ball to the corresponding point, you will either be promoted or be exiled to your hometown if you throw stolen money.
Su Wan didn’t recognize the “color selection map”, but if you say another name, “official promotion map”, then she would understand! People played it in the Tang Dynasty, and it continued in the Song and Ming Dynasties.
Another game of the same type is Select Immortal Map, which has a similar gameplay.
This set of color selection pictures is beautifully made and contains many mechanical techniques. The four of us had a lot of fun playing with it.
Meanwhile, things outside were not peaceful.
The Imperial Guards rushed into Tianbei Hall and captured the Second Prince who was inside. He was not tied up, but the other monks were not so lucky.
Especially the great master and others, who were tied up tightly and rushed into the Zen temple and found a lot of messy things.
As they searched, other mages shouted angrily, "What are you doing? I am the saint's honored guest!"
"Whose orders did you follow? How dare you cause trouble in the inner palace!"
"The Second Prince is here! Why are you acting so rashly?"
"Someone, come quickly, tell the saint!"
Unfortunately, the Royal Guards who came were ruthless and brought them directly to the saint. Does that mean he listened to them?
Outside the Qinzheng Hall, the saint sat on the high dragon throne, his fingers tightly gripping the teacup, his eyes filled with hatred.
Not only did he hate the mages who were tied up, but he also hated Xie Pei for not giving him any face at all!
Is this what you call "please come over"?
This is clearly tied up!
Xie Pei just said: "Just wash it."
After that, the rude soldier, with thick hands, used alkaline water to wash the long black beards of the great masters on both sides.
The six grand secretaries took a half step back and the six ministers of the six ministries also covered their noses lightly.
It all started in the evening. Government affairs were done and everyone was supposed to go home. It was a peaceful spring day.
Unexpectedly, it was broken by Xie Pei.
In front of everyone, Xie Pei handed over the testimonies of witnesses collected from all over the country, as well as the evidence of collusion between these gang members and Tianbei Palace.
What’s more, how much property these people have embezzled.
Among them, the left and right masters are in a mountain village in Tianxiang Country. They have children! They also call themselves Buddhist disciples and have a complete plan.
Master Zuo would say that the heavens had some response and had bestowed upon him a Buddha child, who would then be brought to the palace for training.
The saint had actually heard about this matter vaguely, and it was probably that Master Zuo was laying the groundwork in advance in order to bring his son over.
Not only that, there is also something called black paste that was found in remote villages. It is made by local women and applied to gray hair. As long as it is applied evenly, it will make the hair black and shiny, and look very natural.
However, the production of this thing is extremely small, and this small village is very remote, and the plants that can be made into black paste are also rarely grown, so it is not well known.
The same black ointment was also found in Master Zuo’s room!
This black cream not only makes hair black and shiny, but also does not fade when it comes into contact with water, and it is fine even if rubbed.
Since this thing can be on the hair, it can naturally be on the eyebrows and beard.
When the left and right wizards came over, they had long black eyebrows and beards, and their skin had occasional wrinkles, but they said that one of them was in his sixties and the other in his fifties, but some people didn't believe them.
But after various tests, such as taking the pulse and measuring bone age, plucking eyebrows and beards and cleaning them with pancreas, all the evidence showed that they were indeed not young and their hair was indeed black.
And it's very healthy and black.
This is why the two mages came to the saint.
When people are young, they are not afraid of the word old, but the older they get, the more afraid they are of aging and death.
The presence of these two people seems to indicate that people can be so young.
If there was only one person, then he could be said to be different from ordinary people, but they also had disciples and followers, and they were all the same, which made the saint more and more convinced.
Recently, I have even been drinking the incense water given by Master Zuoyou. I heard that it can cure diseases and relieve worries.
The saint became extremely angry when he thought about the unknown thing he was eating.
Only then did they have the mages brought over for questioning.
Faced with the evidence presented by Xie Pei, he was still trying to find excuses for Tianbei Palace in his heart. Besides, even if these people were really liars, should they be exposed?
If he were to be exposed, where would his face be?
It would be better to deal with it privately, why make such a big fuss!
I am afraid that tomorrow morning, everyone in Kyoto will know that the saint of Tianxiang Kingdom has been deceived by a liar for three or four years!
Does he still want to save his face?
It doesn't matter if someone else does this job.
It happened to be Xie Pei.
Will Xie Pei give this face?
Naturally, the Royal Guards were ordered to search the Tianbei Palace and tie up those who needed to be tied up, and imprison those who needed to be imprisoned.
The Imperial Guards were a little hesitant at first, but Xie Pei directly took the order given by the saint and asked him if he was disobeying the order.
Anyway, he only said that these people should be taken to the gate of Qinzheng Hall, but he didn't say how to take them.
Besides, the bald donkeys in the Tianbei Palace look down on everyone on a daily basis, and the Royal Guards have long been fed up with this humiliation.
Be it the eunuch chief of Tianbei Palace or the mages inside, they are all people who look down on others.
At this time, Xie Pei is the one who has to bear the brunt of the fall, so what is there to be afraid of?
Su Wan stopped playing with the color selection pictures and listened to the gossip with shining eyes: "What's next? What's next? Tell me quickly."
The young man from the Ministry of Rites who came to report the news originally came to tell them to stay in Ciqing Palace and not run around, but he unexpectedly turned out to be a gossiper.
However, facing the eager gazes of Su Wan and others.
Then keep talking!
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More updates will be added tomorrow~See you tomorrow!
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