Tang riddles

On this road to Chang'an, I walked very slowly, and I would go in to pay homage to the monasteries I passed by.Starting in May of the third year of Jingyun (that is, the first year of Xiantian, in July of this year, Prince Li Longji forced Ruizong to abdicate, ascended the throne, and changed the year name to Xiantian), stop and go until the next year, which is the first month of the second year of Xiantian At the beginning of the year, I just arrived in Chang'an.

Along the way, like my master, I took a lonely girl as my apprentice and gave her the name Hong.She is extremely intelligent, compared to my senior sister, she is born with a simple and straightforward temperament, and compared to me, she is braver and bolder.The child is good-natured, faithful, loving, and single-minded, and I like her very much.

After entering Chang'an, I temporarily lived in Qinglong Temple, lectured and asked the abbot of Qinglong Temple, and quietly waited for the arrival of the Water and Land Dharma Assembly.I heard that this water and land ceremony will be held on the [-]th day of the first lunar month, and it will be organized by the National Temple of Ci'en. Firstly, it is to pray for the new king, and secondly, it is also to pray for the victims of the Yellow River flood last year.This time, not only Buddhists were invited, but also many cultivators from different sects.Taoism, Nestorianism, and Zoroastrianism all sent people.

What I didn't expect was that soon after, Zoroastrianism sent someone to visit Qinglong Temple, and it turned out that the person who came was actually my senior sister Liaozhen.When I saw her, she had completely changed. I knew that she would grow her hair after returning from secular life, but what I didn't expect was that she actually joined Zoroastrianism and became a leader with a high status in Zoroastrianism.She was dressed in white, covered with a veil, her brown hair was braided, and she was wearing a Sogdian headdress.Looking at her spotless, like a fairy from a foreign land, it made me feel extremely uncomfortable.

She came this time to discuss various agendas for the upcoming Water and Land Ceremony.After discussing with the abbot of Qinglong Temple, she finally met me alone.She no longer called my junior sister, but only called me by my Dharma name. The feeling of being in another world really made people feel at a loss.And although she still has that smiling face, her eyes seem to be dark like an abyss, I can no longer see her through, every word of her seems to make me fall into a fog, and I can't figure out her intention.She didn't talk about the old days, and she didn't talk about what she had experienced in these years. Our conversation was very short. After the end, she asked me to meet in the meditation room of Qinglong Temple on the night when the water and land puja was over. She had something to say to me.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Water and Land Ceremony was very grand. I also saw the new monarch and Princess Taiping, who was in full swing at that time, attending together. The gentleman beside Princess Taiping was even more dazzling.I asked a priest next to me, who is that gentleman.The priest told me that that man was Princess Taiping's son-in-law—Yin Yu, Marquis of Yanling.At present, the secretary of the official residence, Lang and the son-in-law, the captain, will be crowned with the title of Marquis of the third rank.

I was shocked when I heard this, and suddenly remembered that the person she fell in love with that my senior sister mentioned to me was named Shen Yu, who was a rich man in Jiankang.Jiankang originally belonged to Yanling. Although Jiankang is long gone, the local people are still accustomed to calling it Jiankang. In recent years, more and more people call it Jinling, but it is no longer the status it used to be.Could this Yin Yu be Shen Yu?Is this a coincidence, or am I overthinking it?

I asked the priest again, Yanlinghou is a native of Chang'an.The priest told me that Marquis of Yanling came to Chang'an ten years ago. He was originally from Jinling.

Now, I feel even worse.In the dense crowd, I managed to find the position of the Zoroastrianism, and then I found the senior sister who was the leader. Although she was covered with a veil, her eyes were looking at the extension of the Chairman Taiping. Mausoleum.I was sure right away that Yin Yu was Shen Yu, the young patriarch of the Yanling Shen family that I knew well, and the person my senior sister had admired for many years.

However, after ten years, the senior sister joined the Zoroastrianism instead of marrying Shen Yu with all her heart.I know Senior Sister's temperament, if she can't get it, she will never let it go.Looking at the state of the senior sister, something is already very wrong.

I felt uneasy, thinking about meeting my senior sister tonight, I must have a good talk with her.

That night, I sat quietly in the meditation room of Qinglong Temple, waiting for my senior sister to arrive.However, until the second watch, she hadn't come yet.Liao Hong was still young and couldn't bear it anymore, so I let her go to rest first, and I still sat cross-legged in meditation.I know that even if my senior sister won't come to the appointment today, I will definitely not be able to sleep.If you don't meditate to clear your mind, don't lose yourself.

There were no watchers that night, and the city was a sea of ​​joy.When the clepsydra was dripping into the middle of the night, there was a loud commotion outside.At first I thought it was the cheers of the Lantern Festival, but I vaguely heard someone shouting outside:

"Go away!"

Suspicious in my heart, I stood up, and just as I walked to the door to go out, my senior sister suddenly walked in with a food box.

As soon as she entered the door, she smiled and said that it took some time to prepare the ingredients for me. It was too noisy outside, and it was not easy for her to rush all the way here.

I asked her if there was water outside, and she told me with a smile that a Qionghua Liuli tree nearby had been knocked over, so the water was gone, no serious problem.

I am relieved.

She put down the food box, took out two bowls of camellia oleifera, and asked me to eat it while it was hot.I wondered in my heart, senior sister came so late just to bring me oil tea?

I declined, saying that Camellia oleifera contains meat oil, so I can't eat it.The senior sister said that she deliberately added vegetable oil to the oil tea, and she didn't add the pork bone marrow that should have been added.It's just some peanuts, sesame seeds, and walnuts, so it's completely vegetarian and you can eat it with confidence.

I thought to myself, we haven't seen each other for many years, and she was so kind to bring me food, I couldn't refuse, so I took two bites.However, I felt that there were too many spices in it, especially cumin, fennel and peppercorns, which were extremely spicy and brought tears to my eyes. I couldn't eat it, so I had to put it aside.

She was sitting there, happily eating oil tea, chatting with me about the food in Chang'an City, saying that this oil tea is a delicacy in the Guanzhong area, and it should not be missed.I listened quietly, but my stomach became more and more uncomfortable. My eyes turned to the bowl of camellia oil, and I always felt that there was something wrong with it. I should have eaten something similar to pig or sheep bone marrow, but because of the , sesame, walnut, etc. were ground into fine flour noodles, and then fried, I am not sure.But I have been a vegetarian for many years, as long as I touch a little bit of meat, my body will react, I trust my judgment.

I asked her if there was really no meat in it?But she talked about him from left to right, and didn't answer directly.I was not feeling well, and my stomach was very uncomfortable. I suppressed the discomfort and asked her what happened all these years, what happened to her and Shen Yu, and why she joined Zoroastrianism.

She put down the camellia slowly, wiped the corners of her mouth with a towel, and just now that glib appearance disappeared, her tone suddenly became deep.she says:

"I worked so hard to follow one person, but in the end it was nothing. I was not reconciled, so I investigated this person. I wanted to know all the background and details of this person's life. But guess what, I found There are some very interesting little secrets. It is these little secrets that made me join Zoroastrianism, and that made me appear here tonight."

There was a smile on the corner of her mouth that made my hair stand on end. Pointing to the oil tea bowl that she ate up that night, she said:

"Do you know what's added here?"

My whole body was already on fire, as if it was about to be melted.Just listen to her:

"It's the marrow blood of Luanhuang, it's the elixir of life. What you take is a treasure that can't be found in this world. One, we have been together for fifteen years, and you are my only relative in this world. I I have to think about you in everything, I got a good baby, and I want to share it with you, you are my junior sister, and will always be."

I just felt that my bones were about to melt, and I couldn't sit upright anymore, lying on the ground in pain.In fact, she was not much better, but she was laughing maniacally, collapsed on the banquet, laughing and crying.My scalp is numb, and I can't control my anger. This lunatic, what did she do!I struggled to crawl over and grabbed her by the skirt, and I asked her what she had done.As soon as I got close to her, I could smell the indelible smell of blood under her incense.It was human blood, and I would never admit it was wrong.

"You kill! You crazy! You devil!" I yelled at her.

"I didn't kill, I didn't kill..." she muttered, "It's his fault that he didn't want me... He would rather fall into that woman's arms than look back at me. I thought, he His wife is his true love, I admit it, but he entered the princess mansion immediately after his wife died, he should die... he should die!"

I am in more and more pain. I have never felt that kind of pain in my life. It can almost be said to be a real pain. My consciousness is slowly drifting away. The last impression before I lose consciousness is that my senior sister is constantly Repeatedly "I didn't kill, I didn't kill him, I love him so much..."

When I woke up again, it was already three poles on the second day, and my senior sister had long since disappeared. I braced my still weak body and went up the main street of Chang'an City, heading for Princess Taiping's mansion.Along the way, all the people were talking about the fire last night with lingering fear, and I was at a loss for what to do, so I could only keep stepping up.When I rushed to the gate of Princess Taiping's mansion, all I saw were ruins.

I still remember the moment when my legs were weak and I knelt in front of Princess Taiping's mansion, feeling that I was suddenly burdened with a heavy sin.I know that the fire in Princess Taiping's mansion is absolutely inseparable from my senior sister, and I am also a part of it.I don't know what I ate last night, but somewhere, I know that I have become a member of the executioners.

And that day, there was an eleven or twelve-year-old girl, just like me, kneeling beside the ruins of Princess Taiping's mansion.She is dressed in white, very much like my senior sister, but her black hair is different from my senior sister, it is so pure and fragile, and there are tears on her pale and delicate face.She didn't cry, but just knelt blankly in front of the scorched tower, behind her, her maids and servants knelt with her.

I left quietly, this nightmare is engraved in my blood like this, I can't forget it.I told myself that I must find out the ins and outs of the matter, and I must get my senior sister to plead guilty. She is a sinner, and we are all sinners. We must atone for our sins.This is the karma of this life, and sooner or later one day it will be repaid.

After the case of Princess Taiping’s Mansion, I made a long-term investigation and unannounced visits around Chang’an City, but I did not find any traces of Zoroastrianism.Because the Nestorians were involved in the case, a large number of Nestorians were arrested and killed, and the Daqin Temple in Chang'an was closed down.The believers of other religions are also in danger, and most of them left Chang'an.

I got nothing, so I had to give up temporarily and return to Qinglong Temple.I suddenly thought of the girl in white who knelt outside the ruins of Princess Taiping's mansion that day.After many inquiries, I found out that she is the daughter of Zhang's family in Qujiang, and grew up with Princess Taiping's two daughters.Thinking about it, this massacre was a huge blow to her.

I couldn't be relieved, and with the mentality of redemption, I entered Zhang's residence, accepted this girl as a lay disciple, gave her the Dharma name Xinlian, and tried my best to enlighten her and accompany her through the difficulties.To my surprise, she really likes Princess Taiping's eldest daughter, Princess Yun'an.And what I know is that this county lord of Yun'an is not the biological daughter of the son-in-law Yanlinghou and Princess Taiping, but the daughter of Yanlinghou and his former wife.I suddenly thought of my senior sister's almost crazy love for Yanlinghou, and that bowl of camellia oleifera. The sense of guilt made me want to vomit.

In the next few years, I started from Chang'an, and started to visit and track my senior sister, but I didn't dare to go out for too long. After a while, I would come back to have a look at Xinlian.It wasn't until Xinlian completely recovered that I was finally able to visit further places.

I have tracked down the trail of my senior sister several times. She haunts the north and south of the river and almost never rests.I don't know what she is planning, so I can only mark the locations of her activities over the years on the map and keep guessing.

I have also collected some rumors about Zoroastrianism. I don't know if it is true or not, but it may also be of reference value.

These contents are recorded together later, scattered in pieces, and I have never organized them.In fact, after following these years, I still can't see through many things.The only thing I know is that someone is trying to subvert the order of the entire continent and all the dynasties. Such ambitions are terrible, and I am powerless to deal with them.I only hope that there will be strong people who, after knowing all the truth, will fight back and bring clarity to this world.

Life is short, but time is gradually stagnant in me.The more desperate I am, the more so, the more sinful I am.I hope someday I can put this all to rest.In this way, we can go to hell and reincarnate, and kowtow to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva in apology.

The karmic obstacles in the past life will be rewarded in this life. I hope that in the next life, I will gain great wisdom, so that this life will be blissful and all ignorance will be eliminated.

The author has something to say: I want to emphasize again that Shen Yu is Yin Yu. Their family name was originally Yin, and they lived in seclusion in the mountains. Later, they came out of the mountains and made friends with the Shen family of Huzhou, so they changed their surname to Shen.From the surname "Yi" of Shen Sui's mother-in-law, it can be seen that the Yi family has been the family doctor of the Yin family for generations, so a single person is added next to the word "Yin", representing an attendant.

The Shen family and the Qianyumen were once related to Emperor Wu's clean-up of the rebellious party, so Shen Yu used the pseudonym "Yin Yu" when he went to Beijing for the exam, which actually restored his ancestor's surname.