Chapter 14
Xiao Ji indeed guessed it all correctly. Master Mingran's title of "Eminent Monk" was indeed created by the emperor in order to consolidate his political power.
In fact, he was just an ordinary monk. Because of his sharp personality and his clever mouth, he was especially good at deceiving people. He was appreciated by the emperor who was still conquering the world at that time.
In order to show that he was destined to inherit the destiny and make the people of the world return to their hearts as soon as possible, the emperor used Mingran to fabricate the legend of the "Silver Bowl" and arranged for him to be the abbot of the Dahuang'en Temple after he ascended the throne to deepen his understanding of the world. The world's impression of this incident, and by the way, making some money from it - there are many people who believe in Buddhism nowadays, especially the rich and powerful people of aristocratic families, and most of them believe in Buddhism. These people were very generous when they prayed to God and donated money for sesame oil. The emperor had been severely short of money in recent years. When he saw that money was coming in very quickly from this place, he called Ming Ran over and gave him some advice.
Mingming is just a layman who became a monk to escape from the corvee when he could no longer survive in troubled times. Although he has been a monk for most of his life and still has the reputation of being an outsider, he actually has a love for money in his bones. , it cannot be changed no matter how hard it is changed.
Before, without the emperor's order, he was still scrupulous about amassing money wantonly. After getting the emperor's order, he let go.
Over the years, he used his fame and clever words to make a lot of money for the emperor, and also provided the emperor with a lot of information about the wealthy families. The emperor valued him very much and privately rewarded him with a lot of gold, silver and jewelry, and also He gave his unknown illegitimate son the title of uncle.
Ming Ran is very satisfied with this. Because he was careful enough and had the halo of the eminent monk as a cover, ordinary people would never imagine that the emperor would frantically extend his money-making hands to the pure land of Buddhism, so he has never turned over in these years. Who would have thought that today, by accident, Xiao Ji would see the flaw and cheat out the secret.
When I realized what I was doing, I felt bad. At the same time, I was very glad that Xiao Ji was the emperor's younger brother. He had always been kind-hearted and indifferent to fame and fortune. He was not one of those ambitious people who stood against the emperor. Otherwise, if this matter had happened If it were leaked, I'm afraid it would cause public outrage.
Thinking of this, he quickly took out the five hundred taels of silver note that he had put into his sleeve, and returned it to Xiao Ji with a flattering smile on his face: "Your Majesty is a smart and clever person. Now that the matter has come to this, you must have already done it." Understand, it’s not that this poor monk doesn’t want to help you, it’s that this poor monk’s ability is limited and he can’t help you even if he wants to.”
Seeing the old monk change his noble demeanor and reveal his flattering nature, Xiao Ji said: "..."
How should I put it? It's quite absurd.
But he didn't want to think that the emperor did this for the sake of governing the country and bringing peace to the country, so he wanted to give him some praise.
Most people wouldn't be able to think of such a trick. His brother is indeed a great man who can end troubled times and unify the world.
Seeing that the old monk was still eagerly waiting for his answer, Xiao Ji could not force himself any further, so he could only take back the banknote with a complicated mood and said: "Forget it, just pretend I haven't been here today. It's just that I didn't come here today." What this king wants..."
"Don't worry, Your Majesty. If Your Majesty asks, the poor monk will say that Your Majesty came to the poor monk to discuss the scriptures." Ming Ran was also afraid that the emperor would blame him when he found out what happened today, so he immediately assured Xiao Ji that he would keep the secret for him. He won't tell the real reason why he came to him - anyway, it's just a private matter, and he is very willing to sell Xiao Ji a favor.
The two effectively reached a consensus, and the matter was over. It's just that Xiao Ji's plan to use the theory of destiny to refuse the marriage came to nothing.
Xiao Ji suddenly felt depressed when he thought that he had to find another way. He was in no mood to talk to Master Lingran anymore, so he said goodbye and walked out of Dahuang'en Temple, and got on the carriage back home.
The wheels of the carriage turned and turned, heading towards the busy street. It was still early and it was not lunch time yet, but the weather was a bit bad and it looked overcast, as if it was going to rain.
Xiao Ji doesn't like wet rainy days, especially when the road is not good. When it rains, the ground is full of mud and puddles, and it is easy to stain shoes and robes. Seeing this, he asked the coachman to speed up the journey, but the weather failed. Halfway through the journey, it started to rain.
The ground was gradually shrouded in mist and rain, and the dripping sound of rain hitting the roof of the carriage made an annoying sound.
Xiao Ji: "..."
Xiao Ji leaned back against the wall of the carriage with a gloomy look on his face.
Everything is going wrong today, can you do something good to make him happy?
Just as I was thinking this, a panicked shout suddenly came from outside from far to near: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty is not good! Something happened to the Dowager Empress!"
Xiao Ji: "..."
Xiao Ji: "??!!"
*
According to the palace guard who came in the rain, the accident happened to Mrs. Sun on her way back to Beijing.
Seven days ago, she went to the Guanyin Temple on the outskirts of Beijing to pray for blessings. She stayed there for a few days and returned home early this morning. Unexpectedly, the horse suddenly frightened halfway, causing the entire carriage to flip down a slope.
Fortunately, Aunt Zhao, who had been serving Concubine Sun for many years, fought to the death to protect her, and Concubine Sun only suffered minor injuries. However, Aunt Zhao died of her injuries on the way back home due to her serious injuries.
Unexpectedly, someone was killed. Xiao Ji's expression changed after hearing this, and he immediately ordered the coachman to rush back to the palace as quickly as possible.
After receiving the order, the coachman ignored the increasing rain and speeded up the drive with all his strength.
Two-quarters of an hour later, Xiao Ji finally met the original owner's biological mother, Concubine Sun, in the Fuxiang Garden on the east side of the palace.
Concubine Sun was greatly frightened and grieved over the death of Aunt Zhao, and was in a coma. The imperial doctor invited by the palace steward immediately had already examined her.
"Mr. Wang, how is my mother-in-law's condition?" Seeing the pale-faced Concubine Sun lying on the bed, who looked fifty-six times similar to the original owner, Xiao Ji frowned and looked unhappy.
Although Mrs. Sun was just a stranger to him whom he had never spoken to, she was the biological mother of his body. He had the responsibility and obligation to take care of and honor her for the original owner.
Fortunately, Dr. Wang, who has a goatee, said that except for some skin injuries and a slight bone fracture in her right leg, Mrs. Sun was fine.
"My veterans have already helped to deal with the wounds on the concubine's body. She is unconscious now, mainly due to excessive grief. She will wake up after taking a rest and calming down..."
After speaking, Dr. Wang gave some instructions for Concubine Sun to pay attention to when she was recovering from her injuries. Xiao Ji asked someone to write them down carefully. After seeing that Concubine Sun didn't wake up, he went out first.
"Come here, call all the guards who are responsible for escorting the mother-in-law and the people who are serving the mother-in-law this time. I want to know what happened." He finished speaking in a cold voice and went to sit down in the main room not far away. .
"yes!"
Soon people arrived, and the empty main room became crowded. Xiao Ji looked at each one one by one, and finally his eyes fell on the leading guard: "You speak first."
This guard's name is Liu Dazhong, and he is the guard captain responsible for escorting and protecting Princess Sun this time. He looked to be in his thirties, very honest and honest, but spoke very eloquently. Hearing this, he immediately told the story of the incident in detail: "To the prince, this is what happened..."
In his words, the incident was an accident. Because before setting off this morning, he personally checked the horses and vehicles with the guards in charge of driving the carriage, and only after making sure that there were no problems with the carriage and vehicles, did he invite Princess Sun to get on the carriage.
The reason why the accident happened later was because when they were passing the road where the incident occurred, a very ferocious-looking big yellow wild dog suddenly jumped out of the woods on the roadside. The horse pulling the cart was frightened by the barking of the big yellow wild dog, and then it rushed down the slope not far away uncontrollably.
"Because the incident happened suddenly, it had already started to rain outside the city, and the ground was muddy, so I was unable to control the frightened horse immediately... I failed to protect my master, please punish me!"
Liu Dazhong finally knelt down to apologize, and the other guards followed suit.
However, Xiao Ji did not ask them to get up immediately like the previous owner. Instead, he asked the people serving Mrs. Sun and the guard driving the carriage one by one. After confirming that everyone said the same thing, he looked at Liu Dazhong again: "The one who caused the trouble Where is the dog? Where is it?"
Liu Dazhong hurriedly said: "I was beaten to death right then."
Xiao Ji asked solemnly: "Where is the dog's body? Have you brought it back?"
Liu Dazhong was stunned and carefully replied: "This... this was not brought back. The situation was chaotic at that time, and the dog was beaten to death with random sticks. It looked very ugly. The subordinates were afraid of scaring the prince..."
"Let someone retrieve the dog's body. I want to see it personally." According to these people, this incident can basically be characterized as an accident, but Xiao Ji's expression did not improve, but became even worse. Ugly.
Because a big wild dog suddenly jumped out of the forest, startling a passing horse, causing the horse to lose control and go crazy, pulling the carriage behind it down the slope. This plot happened exactly the same in the original work.
The difference is that the person in the carriage where the accident happened in the original work was not Concubine Sun, but a vicious female supporting character who targeted the heroine at every turn.
What happened to the vicious female supporting character seemed to be an accident, but it was not really an accident. Because the big yellow wild dog was arranged by Cui Ang, the male protagonist of the original work. Even when the heroine had an accident, he was at the scene of the incident because he wanted to vent her anger on her behalf.
Thinking of this, Xiao Ji's eyelids twitched uncontrollably, and at the same time he straightened up and said angrily: "Why are you just standing there? Why don't you go quickly!"
In the original work, in order to show how much the male protagonist cares about the female protagonist, he once used a few sentences to describe the appearance of the big yellow wild dog, saying that it was "huge in size, with strong limbs, and three lines of white hair between its eyebrows. At first glance, it looked like a tiger." , and specifically pointed out that Cui Ang went through several detours and had someone buy it from a hunter in the mountains.
If the wild dog carcasses brought back by the guards are the same as those described in the original work, then Cui Ang is almost certainly responsible for this.
But why? Why did he do this? At this time, there was no direct conflict between him and the original owner. As for Cui Lingyan, he has already broken off diplomatic relations with her...
"Yes! Yes! Your Majesty, please calm down. I will go now!" Liu Dazhong didn't know what his prince was thinking, and was a little surprised that his temper today was very different from the past. However, considering that the person who almost got into trouble was the prince's own mother, He didn't think it was strange, so he quickly followed suit.
But as soon as he left, a young man with wet eyes and red eyes rushed in from outside the main room: "Your Majesty! It was not an accident! What happened today was not an accident! Someone deliberately wanted to harm the concubine! "
He choked and fell to the ground, and kowtowed to Xiao Ji twice. Tears mixed with rain rolled down the young and pale face, "My mother... she didn't have to die!"
