When Guo Xin followed Zhang into the temple, he felt as if he had entered another world.
Today, Chongfu Temple is "booked" by the royal family, so there are no pilgrims. The temple is full of green pines and ancient cypresses. The faint sound of wooden fish chanting sutras can be heard in the ears. Green smoke curls up from the Guanyin Hall not far away. The monks coming and going look leisurely and behave calmly, which is quite interesting. A feeling of alienation.
But Guo Xin knew that in ordinary days, countless good men and women came here to worship Buddha and contribute incense. This place was by no means a pure land far away from the world.
Zhang often came to Chongfu Temple to pray for blessings, so he was familiar with the layout of the place. He took Guo Xin around seven times and eight times to reach the quiet place of the back temple. At this time, the queen's guard of honor had not yet arrived, and a group of Taiyuan civil and military family members, most of whom were women, had gathered in front of the longevity pavilion in the back temple.
When Guo Xin saw this, he thought to himself: Women don't know about foreign affairs at home, and they are more interested in this because they are worried. Men work hard outside all day long, how can they have the mind to take care of these things every day? This way is only used to educate the living people. In Guo Xin's opinion, it is very stupid to indulge in this.
However, there was no time for Guo Xin to think about it. Since Zhang arrived, all the women here seemed to know her, and they gathered around to greet and chat with her. Naturally, Guo Xin had to be pulled by Zhang to introduce him to the familiar women of the noble family: "This is my brother Erlang Yi, who has just returned from Daizhou with the army."
"This is the first time I've seen him. I didn't expect Erlang Guo to be so heroic."
"Is it Guo Erlang who saved the beauty in Shangyuan this year?"
"I heard that the officials personally praised Erlang in court. It seems that Erlang will be very noble in the future."
"Erlang is not married yet? Prime Minister Wang's family is expecting a girl to marry..."
Surrounded by a group of women talking all over the place, Guo Xindun felt in a hurry, and he kept trying to parry and respond: "Everywhere, my father has taught me well..."
There seemed to be endless topics to talk about between the women. After a while, Guo Xin escaped from the sea of misery through Chu Gong and found a balcony with a backlit sun to hide from the sun. Mrs. Zhang in sight was still chatting with a group of women. He knew that the members of these noble families were divided into circles and had their own fame and fortune. Those noble ladies from prominent ministerial families would obviously be more popular, while those whose men's status was not high would be more popular. Women can only take the initiative to ask for friendship, and even curry favor with other ladies.
Therefore, the Zhang family surrounded by women may not necessarily be popular, but maybe it is just because Guo Wei is in a prominent position.
Just as Guo Xin was enjoying the brief silence, a long-drawn voice suddenly came from his ears: "The Queen is here!"
Then he saw a group of eunuchs and maidens, cheering and surrounding a dignified woman coming from the front temple. Guo Xin secretly thought: This is the most noble woman in the Central Plains who everyone should be close to and befriended.
This was not the first time for Guo Xin to see the royal guard of honor. He had watched Liu Zhiyuan from a distance when he drove eastward, but this was the first time he had experienced it at such a close distance.
The queen named Li Sanniang was surrounded by several layers of attendants, and there were several monks from the temple beside her. Guo Xin stood up and stretched his neck to vaguely see that the queen looked very upright, but she was wearing a large brocade robe, which made her look different. The season is a bit unfavorable.
The civil and military family members who had been waiting here for a long time finally welcomed the rightful master, and they retreated to both sides to worship. Only then did Guo Xin realize that he was very unruly by stretching his neck to look... Fortunately, all the monks and ladies were there. Surrounding the queen, no one noticed his impolite manner.
The queen said something to everyone, and soon went to the longevity pavilion inside. The longevity pavilion is the most secretive area of Chongfu Temple. Even ordinary monks are not allowed to enter. It is said that the several giant Buddhas enshrined inside are all golden bodies. shape.
At this time, Guo Xin discovered that the queen was accompanied by only a few female family members, including Zhang. The hierarchical order of civil and military affairs in the outer dynasty was obviously reflected in these women. Not all female family members were qualified to follow the queen closely. Most of them were They can only wait outside the pavilion.
Guo Xin was not interested in the golden Buddha statue, nor did he want to pray to the Buddha to bless the Liu family's military fortune, so he found his way alone and wandered around the temple.
"Dong, dong, dong..."
The sound of wooden fish tapping was soothing, and Guo Xin's feet also slowed down. He felt that a temple like this should be quiet and quiet, but in reality, the more famous a temple is, the more entangled it is with the secular world... People come here for fame and fortune, and in this kind of daily pilgrimage How can a large, bustling temple really make people calm down and devote themselves to worshiping the Buddha?
Unknowingly, Guo Xin walked into a dead end and was about to turn around when he found four men following behind him.
Guo Xin glanced at the four people in confusion. He saw four men wearing brocade clothes, each holding a waist-length whistle stick, and blocking his way back. He frowned and asked, "I wonder what you are doing?"
The leader of the four people smiled and said: "May I ask if Mr. Lang is the second son of the Guo family?"
Guo Xin mentioned him when he saw him speaking. The four of them were each strong and strong, and they did not look like ordinary people. He immediately concluded that these people came because he was well prepared. He looked at the brocade clothes on the four men and knew in his heart: Apart from Li Ye, who had been kicked by him, which enemy would dare to attack the generals of the Forbidden Army?
Guo Xin wanted to understand what was going on, so he nodded calmly to the man: "I am Erlang of the Guo family."
"Since it's Guo Erlang... shouldn't we get to know each other now?" The smile of the leading man disappeared instantly, and he led the other three people towards Guo Xin step by step.
Guo Xin's eyes quickly swept across the four people, and he put his hands in front of him as if to block.
"Guo Erlang is worthy of being a military commander, but today we want to see which one is stronger, Erlang's body or the stick in our hand! Come on!" The leading man greeted, and the remaining three men rushed towards Guo Xin together. come over.
Soon enough, when the man at the front was approaching Guo Xin with his stick raised, Guo Xin put down his blocking hand, dodged the man's chopping stick, and suddenly took out a short blade from his waist. Directly send the short blade into the man's arms!
Guo Xin's movements were very fast. The man screamed and dropped his whistle stick, hugging his stomach and shrinking to the ground.
"This guy has a knife!" Someone shouted, and the other two men who were rushing towards him jumped back a step, pointing their sticks at Guo Xin at a loss.
The leading man was even more surprised. Seeing that his companion on the ground was still wailing in pain, he also lost sight of himself for a moment.
Although Guo Xin was carrying a short blade, he could only deceive the opportunity just once. The remaining three people would not come close to fight again, so they picked up the whistle stick that was thrown on the ground and shook it in his hand. , looked at the remaining three people with cold eyes, and snorted: "I am from a military family and a general of the Forbidden Army. How many of you want to try my stick skills?"
The remaining two people turned to look at the leading man. The leading man saw that Guo Xin's body skills were so powerful just now, and the space here was so narrow that the three of them couldn't move. He gritted his teeth and stared at Guo Xin fiercely: "I'm asking for advice on Guo Erlang's skills, but this matter is not over yet. I hope you can do it next time." You still have such good luck when you return to Guo Erlang! Let’s go!”
The man left his words and turned around and walked away quickly. The other two quickly followed with whistle sticks in hand, not caring about their companions who fell at Guo Xin's feet.
Guo Xin breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the three people disappeared from his eyes. He raised his foot and kicked the man who fell on the ground. Seeing that he didn't move, he squatted down and stretched out his hand to explore, only to find that the man had died.
Guo Xin raised his short blade and looked at the sun. The blood on the blade showed a dim red color in the sunlight - the knife Zhang Chenghua gave him was indeed useful.
He wiped off the blood on the short blade with the man's brocade clothes on the ground, then put away the knife and turned around to look for Zhang.
