Chapter 137 Wanted
In the Buddhist temple.
There are many branches of Buddhism in Nanzhou, but this one is the most important one. It has been with the Buddha for tens of millions of years until the immortals and gods left.
They had not been able to contact the Buddha for a long time. Even though they had spent countless amounts of money to build a golden statue for him in an attempt to communicate with him, they were still unsuccessful.
Until... this moment!
Master Rumeng picked up the oil lamp and looked up with his tiny body. He saw a golden Buddha about a hundred feet tall emitting light at a specific frequency!
His face, body and lips were trembling. The oil lamp fell from his palm. He slowly put his hands together and said, "Buddha, have mercy on me..."
The oil lamp fell on the flat ground of the cave, and the flame burned above the flowing lamp oil, illuminating Master Rumeng's crazy face.
"Bang--"
The Buddhist scriptures fell on the table.
Jikong turned his head to take a look, then bent down to pick up the Buddhist scriptures.
The Buddhist scriptures were placed back in the center of the table, but the owner of the scriptures obviously disliked this action.
With another huge sweep, the Buddhist scriptures fell off the table again.
Jikong caught it quickly.
His thin eyebrows slowly frowned.
"Uncle Ruzhi, why did you even throw away the Buddhist scriptures?"
Jikong muttered to himself.
He looked at Ruzhi who was curled up in front of him and his voice became hoarse.
At this moment, Ruzhi's monk robe was torn into pieces, revealing his shriveled body with countless scars. He pouted and turned his face away when he heard Jikong's question. He held the broom that had accompanied him for decades in his arms and muttered, "What Buddhist scriptures! Bah! Ugly! Not fun! I want to eat meat! I want to eat big meat buns! I want to eat big meat noodles!"
Jikong tried to persuade him, "Uncle Ruzhi, we are monks. We only eat vegetarian food and do not kill animals. Wait! Uncle! Junior brother can't bite!"
The young monk who was pulled up by Ruzhi tried to dodge immediately, but no matter how he dodged, his direction was predicted in advance and he was completely attacked in the chaos. He had no choice but to let Ruzhi bite his arm and grind his teeth.
Jikong stood aside in a panic, trying to save his junior brother: "Ruzhi, Uncle Ruzhi, you, you don't bite my junior brother! You can bite me too!"
He reached out and rolled up his sleeves, revealing his moon-white arms, and the corners of his eyes turned a little red with anxiety.
Ruzhi ignored him, as if he had decided on the "teeth grinder". The young monk said helplessly, "Brother, I'm dirty."
"Ah! Junior brother, I, I will definitely be able to pull my uncle away! You, you wait for me!" Ji Kong carefully took action, intending to pull away the leech that was biting him and wouldn't let go, while racking his brains to comfort him: "Junior brother, you are not dirty! I will fetch you some water to wash you later, it's okay, it's okay!"
"Brother Jikong! Master is calling you!"
Jikong looked up, and the little monk and Ruzhi in the chaos also turned their heads and looked at the door that was knocked open. The monk who came to call for help shouted with full energy: "Uncle Ruzhi, this way! I'm here to help!"
The monk rolled up his sleeves, revealing his sturdy body, and said cheerfully: "Little monk has nothing but a lot of strength!"
“…”
"Ah, ah, junior brother, please be gentle." Jikong warned in a low voice.
"Don't worry!" The monk patted his muscles and showed his big white teeth: "Uncle Bao will be satisfied!"
Feeling threatened, Ruzhi silently opened his mouth.
It seemed like overnight.
Master Ruzhi, who was originally highly skilled and recognized in the temple for his profound Buddhist knowledge, suddenly went crazy. His mind regressed to that of a child and he even forgot about the word "Buddha". He cried out "boring", "meaningless", and "I want to eat big meat buns" every day.
No one understood the reason, and after several investigations, they always hit a dead end.
Ruzhi was the best in the temple and a top expert in the entire Nanzhou. How could such an expert go crazy without anyone noticing or alarming him? This was simply an Arabian Nights fairy tale. This absurd plot that would make people laugh if it was used as a storybook was actually happening in reality.
Jikong sighed sadly and said goodbye respectfully: "Uncle Ruzhi, I will come back to serve you after I see my master."
Jikong grabbed the Buddhist beads, opened the door, and was about to leave when he suddenly heard Ruzhi shouting loudly.
——"Send it to nothing! Send it to nothing! It's all in vain! Don't send it! Send it to nothing!"
Jikong turned his head happily: "Uncle Ruzhi! Did you recognize me?"
In response, the old monk bit the monk's honey-colored arm: "Awoo! Little honey bun!"
"...Hey, hey, hey! Don't say it, it doesn't hurt when you bite me!"
"Because all of Master Uncle's teeth have fallen out, Brother! Even if you know, don't say it out loud! It's disrespectful to Master!"
Jikong turned around and left, his head slightly lowered, his eyelashes trembling, and he turned his face away, trying to hide the lost red in the corners of his eyes.
***
The rain was pouring down, splashing onto the asphalt road, leaving puddles of varying sizes on the overfilled road surface. Horse-drawn carriages flashed past at high speed, splashing out large and small splashes of water.
The yamen runner in a straw raincoat had his head full of rain. He casually brushed away the wet and sticky hair on his face. With every movement, the heat trapped in the raincoat surged upwards, causing him to move his shoulder bones uncomfortably.
He carefully used the key to open the transparent board, tore off the old paper, folded it together, and stuffed it into a pocket. Then he picked up the paste beside his legs and carefully outlined a few squares on the newspaper board.
It was the plum rain season.
The people who entered the city were uncomfortable because of the stuffiness, and the people who defended the city were also uncomfortable because of the stuffiness.
The soldier guarding the city looked at the people getting off the carriage anxiously and asked slowly, "Your family is going to flee from Nanzhou to Zhongzhou?"
He sighed softly and frowned suspiciously: "How is your family related..."
Several bodyguards lined up behind the master, and looked anxiously at the man who was walking forward with a child in his arms and a big smile on his face.
The man was dressed in rich clothes, with a clean-shaven face and no beard. In his arms was a delicate and delicate child of about three years old with a bun. His big, blinking eyes looked at the soldiers guarding the city curiously. He smiled and said, "Sir, I am the eldest son in my family. The one in my arms is my son, and the one with me is my eldest sister."
The woman beside him nodded calmly as a greeting. Seeing that he answered fluently, the yamen runner's suspicious brow relaxed: "The one in the carriage is..."
The man paused. The people in the carriage were naturally their family members. He said, "The one in the carriage is my little sister who has difficulty moving. She is shy by nature. Because of her weak body, it is inconvenient for her to get off the carriage in front of everyone."
"It's inconvenient to get off the car?" The guards' faces suddenly became serious. "What inconvenience is there? Nowadays, women from Nanzhou are also entering the government. My daughter at home even said that she would pass the imperial examinations and bring honor to the family. Is it an inconvenience to reputation or status?"
As the defenders asked questions, the sentries standing on both sides of the city gate also cast their gazes over unnoticed.
The atmosphere became tense, and the escorts behind the man also became visibly alert. As the two sides confronted each other, the man waved his hands and shook his head in panic: "How could it be! How could it be! That's not what I meant! Oh! You misunderstood me, sir!"
The man was obviously at a loss, and at this moment, a loud cry was heard. The child in the man's arms started crying, and a flush appeared on his young face.
Being attacked from both sides, the man was immediately at a loss. In the end, he stuffed the child in his arms to the vigilant city guards, rolled up his sleeves and crawled into the carriage, saying, "I'll bring my sister down right away!"
"Hey, hey! No! Your kid! No! Who is he!" The soldiers defending the city were bewildered when a child was inexplicably stuffed into their mouths.
The soft body of the child in his arms was shaking with the crying. Seeing the child crying loudly, the soldiers defending the city hugged the child and tried to comfort him in a daze.
"Don't cry! Don't cry! Uncle is not a bad person! Can I hold you and rock you?"
Two escorts helped to lift the carriage curtain, and one escort helped the man get on the carriage. The man moved clumsily, clinging to the carriage frame, twisting his long legs, as stiff as wood.
The soldiers defending the city could not stand it anymore. They thought they had caught some big fish, but it turned out to be just a weird family. The man in charge just handed the child to a stranger, and the woman who was the accountant was not very smart. She just stood there stupidly and watched helplessly. There was also a little girl whose face was unknown in the carriage.
With just this shoddy little family workshop, it’s no wonder that he had to bring six bodyguards with him just to do business in Zhongzhou. If it weren’t for them, he would have probably been eaten by ghosts halfway.
"I'll just come and take a look! Stop making trouble!" The city defender walked over and said disdainfully while rocking the child to coax him.
"Oh oh oh! I'll lift up the curtain to let you see, sir." The man made way and shouted in a low voice.
The person in the carriage opened the curtain, and the person was still covered by the curtain. She leaned forward, her legs fell behind her, and nodded shyly to the soldiers guarding the city, and whispered: "Sir, I have a physical disability and it is inconvenient for me to get off the carriage. Please forgive me."
The defender frowned sympathetically, but still shook the child and said seriously: "Please lift your curtain and let me see your face."
The woman cooperated by lowering her eyelashes and revealing a small part of her eyes.
It was raining heavily and the sky was dark. Half of her fair and beautiful face was revealed in the sparse light from the carriage. She pursed her red lips nervously. There was a little black mole on the side of her slightly upturned right lip, which trembled with her shy movements, adding a bit of charm to her.
"It matches the description on the certificate." The city defender nodded: "Excuse me."
The man took the certificate with many thanks, then took over the child that was being taken care of by the city defenders and left with his family.
Seeing that the people who were taken out for individual inspection had left, the defenders on the other side, seeing that no one from their side had entered the city, came over curiously and asked, "Is the person on the carriage good-looking?"
The city defenders nodded seriously: "It looks good."
"So beautiful!" Another city defender smacked his lips regretfully: "If I had known earlier, I would have checked this one out. What's the name of this family? Are they staying in the city for a few days?"
The soldiers guarding the city glanced at the boy and said, "Don't even think about it. He is going to Zhongzhou to do business and will not stay."
After talking like this, the city guard couldn't help but think of the names of the children in that family. They were so outrageous. The father was called "Zhang Yuan", the aunt was called "Zhang Yuan", the sister was called "Zhang Yuan", and this little kid was actually called "Zhang Yu"! It was really outrageous. Which family would register their child with this name? What an unreliable family.
By the city gate, the yamen runners had finally finished pasting an entire new notice board. Several soldiers guarding the city gathered together to take a look. Through the transparent glass, they saw some new policies issued by the higher-ups, as well as the newly revised wanted order on the notice board.
There were four wanted posters posted on it. One was for a determined man with a beard, one was for a pretty woman with a hairpin on display, one was for a young man with a weird face, strange eyes and white hair, and the other was a two-month-old baby.
"Huh? Why is he wanted?" a soldier guarding the city asked in confusion.
The yamen runner who had pasted up the wanted poster said casually, "It is said that they have committed some unforgivable crime. Buddhism, one of our national religions, has also come out and said that they will not let them go. But it is also weird. Who would commit a crime with a child in tow?"
"Huh, it's these monks." A soldier defending the city said in an ambiguous tone.
Perhaps the monk had arrived, because after a while, a tall monk in a moon-white robe, holding a Zen staff and an alms bowl, appeared at the city gate.
One of the city guards stepped forward solemnly and said, "Please show me your ID."
The monk had a handsome face and upon hearing that, he took out his monk's certificate from the bag on his back.
The monk's name is recorded on it.
The defenders were stunned.
One of the state religions of Nanzhou, the holy son of Buddhism, a holy lotus admired by thousands and no one dares to blaspheme - Jikong.
Jikong lowered his long eyelashes to cover his eyes, and put his hands together: "Amitabha, Jikong greets the donor."
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