Why is there no movement at all? Zhang Si thought to himself. Seeing that the prince was still at home at this time, I felt relieved.
"Perhaps my plan was right. The prince knew that the outside was tightly guarded and retreated when he saw difficulties, so he gave up the idea of becoming a monk." Zhang Si comforted himself in this way.
Seven days of intense life had made the Crown Princess and the palace maids serving around the Crown Prince so tired that they almost collapsed. Today was the last day, and it was already nighttime.
"The prince will never become a monk again." The palace concubines thought so, and let go of their hearts that had been hanging around for many days and nights; the prince's concubine also had the same idea. However, she did not relax her vigilance. She still tried her best to guard the prince and prevent him from going out.
However, many days of intense life had made them very tired. Whenever they had the opportunity, they wished they could fall asleep and never wake up again.
Therefore, on the seventh day, everyone in the palace was conquered by fatigue. As soon as night fell, everyone packed up their work early and prepared to have a good sleep.
When the prince saw that the guards were so tight, he had no way out, so he could only wait secretly. Although he was extremely anxious in his heart, he remained as usual on the surface. He had no idea that there were waves rushing in the turbulent sea under his calm appearance.
The Crown Princess, who was always waiting by her side, was so tired from the past few days that she lay down on the bed and fell into a deep sleep as soon as her shift ended. She had three very important dreams, and basically every one of them was a nightmare.
She was so frightened that she woke up in her dreams every time. After waking up, she felt even more frightened, so she told the prince her three dreams and said: "I have had three nightmares in succession in the past few days, and I woke up every time in the dream, so I felt very scared."
The prince asked: "Then what kind of dream did you have?"
The Crown Princess recounted what she saw in her dream: "When I had the first dream, I dreamed that the moon fell to the ground; when I had the second dream, I dreamed that all my teeth fell out; When I had my third dream, I dreamed that I had lost my right arm. Every dream was extremely scary, and it was still frightening to me when I woke up.”
The prince then said to the princess: "Look, the moon is still in the sky, your teeth have not fallen out, and your arms are still on your body. What is there to be afraid of? You should know that these dreams are all You should not be afraid of what is false.”
The princess said to the prince: "I secretly guess that what I saw in my dream must be a sign that you want to become a monk."
The prince said to the princess: "You just need to sleep well and don't worry about it. As the saying goes, suspicion breeds ghosts. Otherwise, something ominous will really happen to you."
After hearing the prince's words, the princess temporarily let go of her thoughts. Since she was tired from the past few days, she urgently needed sleep. Therefore, she said good night to the prince, and then fell on the bed and fell asleep.
The night is very late, and a bright moon hangs quietly in the high sky. The bright moonlight falls leisurely from the sky, covering the splendid palace with a beautiful veil; the jagged trees in the distance are scattered. The shadows they cast on the ground seemed to have been washed in water, very clear and moving.
The earth returned to its original appearance, and the noisy time and space suddenly became empty and silent.
At this time, the prince stood up from his seat. He did not go to sleep, but went around the palace and outside. Everywhere he went, there was deathly silence.
He passed through the place where singing and dancing were noisy during the day, and he saw all the singers and dancers falling into sleep like wooden figures. Some were leaning on the instruments with disheveled hair; some were lying on their hands and feet; some were lying on each other's backs, swaying; some were messy with tears and runny noses; some were drooling and extremely dirty. It is really an ugly and disgusting picture of the impermanence of the human world. How can there be any sense of beauty? Like a banana tree, there is nothing solid inside.
The prince sighed deeply, "The unparalleled splendor and beauty of the country are all so false and untrue, giving people a sense of impermanence!"
The prince also looked at his wife and all the singers and dancers, and saw that their bodies were divided into hair, fingers, claws, bone marrow, skull, bones, teeth, skull, skin, muscles, tendons, blood lipids, as well as heart, lungs, spleen and kidneys. , liver, gallbladder, intestines and stomach, feces, urine, saliva, the outside is like a big leather bag, and the leather bag contains some foul-smelling and filthy things, none of which can be called strange. But they were unaware of it. They not only fumigated their bodies with fragrance, but also decorated themselves with gorgeous clothes.
However, all these are external and temporary. For example, something borrowed will always be returned to others one day, and the borrowed time will not be too long.
The prince thought to himself: Even if a person can live for hundreds of years, half of it will be spent sleeping, and he is always entangled with worries and troubles. Apart from that, there will not be much time for joy. Why do people in the world often see the above situations, but never realize it, and even remain greedy and persistent without repentance? In the three realms of past, present, and future, nothing else can be relied upon. There is only one thing that is worthy of pursuit and attachment, and that is the perception of wisdom and the awareness of the Tao.
The prince thought again: Yes, it is time to become a monk.
At this time, everyone inside and outside was asleep, and everything was silent. So the prince woke up the coachman and said to him: "Go and fetch my horse."
When the coachman saw that the prince suddenly asked him to lead the horse, and it was in the middle of the night, he was trembling all over and was very frightened.
He thought: The prince must be a monk. The king has a strict order and no one is allowed to let the prince leave the city. If I go to fetch the horse, wouldn't I commit the crime of deceiving the king? But the prince's order cannot be violated.
After thinking about it for a long time, I couldn't think of a way to get the best of both worlds.
"What should I do?" The coachman was so anxious that tears fell out.
In the end, the coachman had no choice but to gather his courage and muttered to the prince: "Your Majesty has a strict order, and the prince is not allowed to go outside these days; and it is so quiet tonight, it is not a time for sightseeing, nor is it a time to defend against the enemy. Day, why do you suddenly ask me to fetch the horse in the middle of the night? Where do you want to go? "
The prince saw that the coachman was hesitant and refused to lead the horse, so he patiently said to the coachman: "I want to subdue the source of troubles for all sentient beings in the world, so you should not go against my wishes."
When the coachman heard this, he knew that the prince was about to become a monk. When his heart became anxious, he burst into tears.
He wanted the crying to wake up the Crown Princess and others, letting them know that the Crown Prince was about to become a monk, and come out to stop him.
However, everyone in the palace was as sleepy as before, and no one heard the coachman's cry.
The coachman cried for a long time. Seeing that no one stood up to stop the prince, he had no choice but to follow the order and lead the prince's horse.
