Chapter 785 Liang Han's sword strike severed a finger, imparted Zen, and ascended the tower!
Ouyang Rong's words silenced the entire room.
Although the people on the field did not know who "Zhi Shuang Xiao Niang" was calling, and did not dare to know who she was calling, they did not even dare to think about who the only "Xiao Niang" in the library was.
But they still felt a chill run down their spines.
Apart from the somber Zen Master in the pavilion, who was holding the Yunmeng Token and meditating with his eyes closed, everyone else in the room was displaying a variety of expressions.
Juzhi slightly opened his mouth, looking at this exceptionally brave young governor.
Madam Fang and Fang Yiwu were dumbfounded.
Fang Juxiu, usually so elegant and composed, turned her head and stared blankly at Ouyang Rong.
It was Fang Shengnan who spoke again, her face filled with panic. Looking back at the library, she lowered her voice and said:
"Young Master Ouyang, please keep your voice down! The Empress is inside."
Ouyang Rong, sitting on the wooden chair, ignored her.
He certainly knew that Xue Zhongzhu, Wei Shaoqi, Du Shuqing, and others were in the library in front, a fact that the agile constable had just pried out of them by the maids and stewards in the main hall.
The room remained silent.
Some people looked back at the library, some held their breath and waited, and some stared at the young governor.
In the tense atmosphere, time ticked by.
Behind the pavilion, the small building housing the books, its main entrance, remained completely still.
No one came out, and there was no sound.
Some people were slightly puzzled, but most were relieved and glad.
The woman and the others inside seemed to be busy and had no time to pay attention to the commotion outside.
Ouyang Rong sat upright in a wooden chair, while Yan Liulang stood behind the chair, holding a sword case in his arms.
He rested his chin on his hand, squinted slightly, and examined the small building.
Another voice came from the side, it was the familiar Fang Da Wuxia, her tone annoyed and dissatisfied.
“Young Master Ouyang, I know you look down on my sister and me. You didn’t listen to a word we said, or rather, you’re arrogant and dismissive…”
Fang Shengnan paused again, because a young man in a scholar's robe, who was lounging lazily on a wooden chair, turned his head, put his index finger to his lips, and shushed her.
It seemed that he interrupted her rudely because he thought she was too noisy.
Fang Shengnan's small face immediately turned bright red with embarrassment.
The young governor didn't look at her or at Xiaolou; he had already turned around and surveyed the crowd.
Has anyone seen Yue Chuzi today?
"Yue Chuzi?"
Fang Yiwu and the others looked at each other, somewhat puzzled and confused.
Under Ouyang Rong's gaze, the air fell silent for a moment. Fang Yiwu was the first to succumb, lowering his head and speaking in a trembling voice:
"Your Excellency, I have a predicament to make..."
Suddenly, Madam Fang pulled Fang Yiwu aside, interrupting his guilty complaint.
The woman took a step forward, half of her body blocking her husband's path.
After glancing at the monks who remained seated motionless inside the pavilion, she cautiously whispered to Ouyang Rong:
"Is Your Excellency only here to see Lady Yue? My husband and I certainly didn't see her today. Does Your Excellency have any news to share...?"
Mrs. Fang glanced at her two daughters, who seemed to have gotten into trouble again, her face showing displeasure. She pointed at the Fang sisters:
"Is it that Juxiu and Shengnan are talking nonsense again, or do they know something but are keeping it to themselves? Your Excellency, please calm down. It's chilly outside, and there are some guests here. Let Yiwu entertain them."
She put on a flattering expression: "Your Excellency, please follow me. Let's move to the West Flower Hall first, where all of you gentlemen can have some tea and rest for a while. I will then properly discipline them and make them give Your Excellency an explanation."
This Mrs. Fang was indeed poised and generous. After she finished speaking eloquently, turning a big problem into a small one and a small problem into nothing, Fang Yiwu and the others' eyes lit up. Realizing what she meant, they hurriedly nodded in agreement.
"Madam is right, Madam is right! This way, Governor, please. We can discuss this matter. It might be a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!"
The Fang family members, along with the women of the Fang family, all looked expectantly at the young governor sitting on the chair, awaiting his response.
Time ticked by... and then something embarrassing happened.
Ouyang Rong remained motionless, his body tilted to the right, his right hand supporting his chin, and his left index finger rhythmically tapping the wooden handle. The only change in his movements was that his dark eyes rolled slightly upward, as if he were scrutinizing them.
He responded to Mrs. Fang's words with a half-smile.
The atmosphere gradually became awkward.
There was a master in the pavilion behind him, and goddess-like female rulers in the library behind him, which gave him some confidence.
But for a moment, Madam Fang felt uncomfortable under the young governor's gaze.
Whether it was the imposing presence he exuded from his high position or some psychological effect, Madam Fang was afraid of a young man twenty or thirty years her junior for the first time, as if he could see right through her thoughts and expose her selfish desires.
Immediately, this invisible pressure vanished, and Madam Fang realized that it was the young governor who had shifted his attention.
He asked again, in a seemingly easygoing tone:
"What about Yu Nianyuan? Did you see him today?"
Everyone immediately fell silent.
Some people glanced at the pavilion, while others looked sideways at the library.
Ouyang Rong nodded calmly:
"Oh, so you saw her. Where is she? Is she inside too?"
He pointed his slightly bent index finger at the library not far away.
Still, no one spoke.
Madam Fang, supporting Fang Yiwu, silently took a half step back, getting closer to the pavilion and the library, and the two held hands tightly.
Fang Shengnan and Fang Juxiu both turned their faces away.
Ouyang Rong clapped his hands, stood up from his chair, and looked around at everyone with a normal expression.
The air suddenly became tense.
Suddenly, another agile constable arrived and whispered something in the ear of the constable in blue who was holding the zither case.
After hearing his subordinate's words, Yan Liulang, with a stern expression, glanced at the main hall and immediately stepped forward, whispering:
"My lord, Li Yu has been found. He is being guarded in a room by the Fang family."
Without turning his head, Ouyang Rong said, "Bring him up."
The expressions on the faces of the people on the field changed slightly.
A short while later, a plump man was led to an open space and came to Ouyang Rong's side.
"Young master."
Li Yu exclaimed in surprise.
Ouyang Rong turned and glanced at him, then asked:
"Li Yu, why is it that wherever you go, you always seem to get arrested and locked up?"
Hearing this teasing remark, Li Yu felt ashamed.
He couldn't help but sigh:
"And every time, it's the young master who comes to save this humble person."
Li Yu scratched his head, then suddenly remembered something and quickly said:
"Young master, I was just about to come looking for you."
Ouyang Rong nodded: "Liu Lang and I are also looking for you."
Li Yu confessed with shame:
“Young master, to tell you the truth, the Second Lady came to see me and mentioned Xiao Shu… I was tempted, but I didn’t plan to go with her. I originally planned to stay in the city, but before we parted today, I happened to see the Second Lady leaving with Yue Chuzi… also known as the Embroiderer. I know your relationship with the Embroiderer, so I took the initiative to follow her.”
Ouyang Rong pursed his lips. "So, you tried to run out of the manor just now to deliver a message?"
"Hmm!" Li Yu nodded and said impatiently, "I didn't see much. The Second Lady just took me away along the way. I only vaguely saw that the Embroiderer seemed to have been unconscious the whole way in the carriage. The carriage drove directly into the manor and brought me here."
Ouyang Rong calmly asked, "Did Patriarch Fang and Madam Fang see these?"
Li Yu stood next to Yan Liulang, lowered his head in thought for a moment, and then shook his head:
"It seems they were dismissed as soon as the Second Lady entered the manor, forbidden from seeing the library area, just like this commoner. However, before I was dismissed, I vaguely saw... the Second Lady's carriage with the embroiderer girl parked, and she asked the servants where Master Yizhi was, as if she had something to ask him. Judging from the Second Lady's expression, she seemed unusually anxious. I wonder what it was about, but it might be related to the embroiderer girl..."
Upon hearing this, Ouyang Rong spoke aloud:
"It turns out that the one-finger master who had been silent all along was the one who understood the most in the room."
The atmosphere fell silent.
Inside the pavilion, a middle-aged Zen master, who had become the unseen focus of everyone's attention, remained silent with his eyes closed, as if he were dozing off.
At this moment, Li Yu looked around, as if he had noticed something. He realized what was happening and asked:
"My lord, why are there only Military Advisor Yan and a few brothers... Is that all there are of us? Where are Lady Rongzhen, Deputy Supervisor Song, and Commander Yi? Are they still on their way?"
Yan Liulang glanced at Li Yu.
The Fang family, including the Fang sisters and the monks in the pavilion, all looked over.
Ouyang Rong remained calm and stated the truth:
“They didn’t come. They’re at Xunyang Grottoes. What’s happening here is none of their business, and we don’t need them.”
Li Yu didn't understand the meaning behind Ouyang Rong's last sentence, "I don't need them," but he wasn't deaf and understood what he had said before.
The chubby rich man's expression changed slightly, and he quietly swallowed.
He immediately pulled on Ouyang Rong's sleeve and whispered:
"Young master, I suddenly remembered something. Let's go outside and talk, come on, come on..."
With sweat beading on his forehead, Li Yu urged Ouyang Rong, Yan Liulang, and the others to evacuate.
Yan Liulang and the fifteen elite constables stood silently behind Ouyang Rong, their eyes fixed straight ahead. Without receiving any orders from the latter, they remained motionless.
Li Yu immediately became anxious, tugged at Ouyang Rong's sleeve, and whispered:
"Young master, hurry! There are too many of them. The eldest lady and the others are inside the building and could come out at any moment..."
Fang Yiwu, Madam Fang, and the Fang sisters all noticed the flustered little movements of the chubby rich man next to Ouyang Rong.
Fang Yiwu sighed, while Madam Fang remained silent.
Fang Juxiu had already silently retreated to the edge of the pavilion, waiting with his eyes slightly lowered.
Fang Shengnan snorted and turned her head away in a huff.
"Young master, we can discuss the matter of the embroiderer more carefully..."
Li Yu was almost pleading, lowering his voice to speak when he suddenly felt his hand being pressed down. It was the young master in front of him, and he was stunned.
Ouyang Rong removed Li Yu's hand from his sleeve, wiped his sleeve clean, grabbed a wooden chair next to him, dragged the chair past the somewhat confused members of the Fang family, and entered the pavilion.
Yan Liulang, carrying his zither case, followed behind the young governor like a servant.
Because it was being dragged along, the two chair legs scraped against the ground, making a screeching "whoosh" sound that attracted the attention of everyone in the room.
Under the watchful eyes of Li Yu and the Fang family, Ouyang Rong placed a wooden chair in front of a middle-aged Zen master inside the pavilion.
The young governor patted his robes, sat upright on the wooden chair opposite the middle-aged Zen master, and tilted his head to look at the monk.
"I'm asking you a question. What does Yu Nianyuan want with you?"
Master Yizhi's eyelids twitched slightly, as if he had opened a crack, and he looked at Ouyang Rong.
Their eyes met.
He didn't say a word, but raised a finger at Ouyang Rong.
Upon seeing this, Ouyang Rong smiled, turned to pick up the teacup respectfully offered by Madam Fang, blew on the tea, did not drink it, and stared at the tea before speaking:
"I remember saying this once at Chengtian Temple: stop raising this boring thing of yours and showing off your simple Zen methods. Well, thankfully it's just an index finger, not the middle finger."
After giving the reminder, the young governor, as if nothing had happened, asked again:
"Have you seen the embroiderer? What does Yu Nianyuan want with you?"
Upon hearing this, Zen Master Yizhi remained expressionless, his gaze towards Ouyang Rong neither sad nor happy.
He first lowered his hand, and then raised it again.
Raise one finger.
Ouyang Rong nodded, stretched out his palm, and grasped the middle-aged Zen master's raised index finger.
Just as the middle-aged Zen master and everyone inside and outside the pavilion were wondering about this strange action.
An arc appears inside the pavilion.
As the middle-aged Zen master stared intently, it lightly brushed across the base of his index finger.
Blood vessels are visible on the skin.
[Arc] Returning to the top of his head, Ouyang Rong cut off a finger and casually threw it on the ground. Under the increasingly wide-eyed gaze of the One-Finger Zen Master, Ouyang Rong elegantly took out a handkerchief and wiped his blood-stained palm.
"Ah—!" Mrs. Fang screamed first.
Fang Yiwu, Fang Juxiu, and Fang Shengnan stared in utter horror at the severed finger of the middle-aged Zen master, where blood spurted out.
Li Yu was also taken aback; the scene left him speechless.
At first, the Zen Master Yizhi looked puzzled, staring down at the severed finger. Then, his face turned pale, his lips trembled, and he stared intently at the arc in front of him.
It is a cauldron and a sword.
His crimson spiritual energy, almost turning purple, surged frantically towards the severed finger to stop the bleeding, but blood still gushed out like rain.
Because this is a wound inflicted by the mythical sword.
The face of this highly accomplished Zen monk, which had long been expressionless and devoid of emotion, suddenly became incredibly vivid. At one moment, he abruptly stood up, clenched his fist tightly, covered his severed finger, and bent over in pain like a shrimp, disregarding his posture as he tried to pick up the broken finger.
Ouyang Rong suddenly shouted, "Look at me!"
The middle-aged Zen master froze, turned around, and looked at Ouyang Rong with a mixture of fear and confusion in his eyes.
Ouyang Rong's eyes were vacant as he raised an index finger at him. Almost instinctively, the middle-aged Zen master followed suit and began to raise his own index finger.
An empty index finger.
The Zen Master suddenly realized something and stared blankly at the young man in a scholar's robe who was raising his index finger and looking directly at him.
The Zen Master Yizhi's pained expression froze for a moment, then his eyes suddenly brightened, as if he had attained enlightenment.
The middle-aged Zen master, who had once raised his index finger to enlighten countless benefactors about Buddhism, suddenly stood up, closed his bloodied nine fingers and two palms, and bowed deeply to Ouyang Rong. The middle-aged Zen master did not pick up the severed finger again, nor did he look at the dreamlike [Dingjian]. As if he had suddenly realized something, he stood quietly in the pavilion, looking with a kind smile at the severed finger that had stopped bleeding at some point.
Ouyang Rong ignored the Zen master who had attained enlightenment after cutting off his finger, picked up a cup of tea, turned and walked out of the pavilion, a clear blue arc hovering in the air beside him.
I still remember when I fell into the well and first woke up in the Pure Land Palace. At that time, I was still kept in the dark by the embroiderer. I had a brief Buddhist dialogue with the old Taoist priest in the crane cloak who saved me.
What is the first principle of the Noble Truth?
Vast and devoid of saints.
That is, it's completely empty, with nothing there.
Inside the pavilion, Yan Liulang did not follow any further. Holding an open sword box, he watched the young governor's departing figure along with the others, whose expressions were quite interesting.
The entire room was completely silent.
Ouyang Rong, carried by a floating arc, walked towards the small library building ahead.
This time, no one dared to stop him.
No one bothered to persuade him anymore.
Madam Fang and Fang Yiwu were so frightened that they knelt on the ground and could not get up.
Everyone else became mute.
Upon reaching the entrance of the library, Ouyang Rong suddenly stopped and turned back, calmly speaking to the Fang Shengnan and Fang Juxiu sisters, whose delicate bodies were trembling not far away:
"Lady Fang, do you know how I differ from you? It's because if you're weak, shut up and stop wasting your breath."
He turned his head, calmly pushed open the tightly closed door of the library, and climbed the steps to the top of the building.
A moment later, Ouyang Rong entered the warm pavilion.
The first thing you see is a huge sand table.
The warm room was empty.
——————
(PS: I spent the whole day on the road today, rushing home for the Spring Festival travel rush. I typed this on my phone while on the road, so it's a bit rushed and there might be some typos, sob.)
(End of this chapter)
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