female concubine

The horse's hooves stepped on the dry loess, splashed dust, and finally stopped in front of a dilapidated fence. In the yard surrounded by bamboo fences, moldy books were still drying.

A scholar wearing a shirt came out of the house, backed away in fright when he saw the intrusion into the courtyard, and said in a panic: "Mr. Zhang?"

Zhang Dalang approached pretendingly with his hands behind his back, "Wang Xiucai, I heard that Qishan County Lord Bo has promised to betroth the female son to you?"

The scholar's protruding throat rolled up and down, "My father and Uncle Liu are family friends, and Miss Liu and I fell in love at first sight. Is there anything wrong with Mr. Zhang asking like this?"

Zhang Dalang immediately turned cold, "Announce the engagement, if you don't annul the engagement, don't blame me for being rude."

The scholar straightened his back and took a step forward, "The marriage certificate has been issued, and the Liu family has already received the dowry. We are getting married soon. Why does Mr. Zhang come here without saying a word and let me withdraw the engagement?" The law is strict, you are the son of your parents, how can you know the law and break the law in broad daylight?"

"My sincerity to Ms. Liu can be learned from heaven and earth. If you want me to divorce, even if you beat me to death, it is absolutely impossible!"

Zhang Dalang stepped forward and grabbed the skirt of the scholar's shirt, and threw it heavily to the ground, "This entire Fufeng County belongs to my father." Before he could get up, he stepped on it again, and said viciously, "Today I will fight If you die, no one will dare to do anything to me."

The scholar turned his head, stared and said: "The surname Zhang..."

"Hey, you still dare to stare at me? I'll beat him until he begs for mercy." Zhang Dalang stepped back immediately, and several burly attendants stepped forward to punch and kick the person lying on the ground.

He walked to the side unhurriedly, lay down slowly on the bamboo chair, and basked in the sun leisurely, "Oh my god, if you kneel down and beg for mercy, agree to break the engagement and move out of Fengxiang Mansion, maybe I will return to you." I will show mercy and let you go for Miss Liu's sake."

"You are dreaming!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, no wonder they all say you are a mediocre person who doesn't know how to flatter you. There are thousands of women in the world, why bother to lose your life for just one person?"

"Bah, you villain, don't think I don't know what you think of her."

"Hey, yo, how about pretending to be noble? It seems that you are not the same, don't pretend to be noble, without the help of his family, you can't even pass the exam."

"You despise the laws of the Song Dynasty..."

"The sky is high and the emperor is far away," Zhang Dalang clasped his hands, "Even if the capital sends people here, so what, in this world, if you have money, you have power."

"I advise you to be more sensible. I know that Liu Zhubo actually doesn't like you as a poor scholar. I heard that he really wants to marry the girl to the new magistrate of Qishan. He gets angry when he mentions that little boy. , if it wasn't for him, how could this son-in-law of the Liu family get you..." Gradually, the people on the ground stopped responding, and he was left talking to himself.

The person who noticed something was wrong immediately opened his eyes and saw the blood on the bottom of the entourage's mouth, "Stop, stop, don't beat me to death..."

An attendant bent down and stretched his hand towards the bleeding nose of the scholar, and suddenly withdrew his hand tremblingly, "Lang...jun, he seems to have really died."

"What?" Zhang Dalang jumped up, approached hastily, bent down, stretched out his hand cautiously, and immediately backed away in fright, "Hey, how could he die?"

Immediately, he slapped the attendants again, "Didn't I tell you to be gentle?"

A few attendants bowed their heads guilty, "You guys don't know why he is so ungrateful."

"Hurry up and clean up the people, and go see if anyone nearby sees it."

"Yes."

"Lang Jun, I heard that the magistrate of Fengxiang dislikes the county magistrate of Qishan County very much, and that county magistrate often goes to Liu's house, and last time he rejected your marriage on behalf of Liu Shubai, I am afraid that the county magistrate also likes Miss Liu, Somehow, this poor scholar got ahead of him."

"Mr. Liu's eyesight is bad. It's not been a year or two since I liked this scholar."

"Lang Jun, the small one doesn't mean that, the small one means..." The attendant leaned over and muttered in Zhang Dalang's ear for a while.

Zhang Dalang opened his eyes and said, "Send someone to Qishan County to keep an eye on that county magistrate surnamed Wei."

"Yes."

--------------

early midsummer

"Lang Jun, the magistrate of Qishan County surnamed Wei seems to believe in Buddhism, and every once in a while he would go to the temple to listen to the elders talking about Buddhism."

"Dragon Boat Festival is coming soon, and there will be no way to hide the Liu family's banquet at that time. Has the servant of the Liu family who asked you to bribe you been bribed?"

"Your Majesty, don't worry, this money can turn ghosts around."

There is a temple in the middle of Qishan County and Fufeng County. Although there are not many monks, the incense is very strong. During the day, there are many good men and women who come to offer incense and listen to the Dharma.

King Chu didn't believe in Buddhism in his heart, and he had only followed the emperor to Daxiangguo Temple since he was born. If Xiao Youqing hadn't mentioned it to her by chance, she wouldn't have thought of coming to the temple in Qishan County.

The King of Chu looked at the Buddha of the third generation in the treasure hall, walked to the middle and folded his hands and knelt down slowly. She opened her eyes and looked at the Buddha's benevolent face, "If you are really merciful, you won't blame me."

Immediately, he got up and walked slowly to the side hall. The abbot in the temple was interpreting a dream for a young man. It was not until the man thanked him and left that the King of Chu approached him. He joined his hands and bowed slightly to the abbot, "Elder."

"The benefactor has not come for many days."

"A few days ago I was busy with affairs, and I was able to relax until these few days. However, my heart was troubled by dreams, so I came to the elders to seek answers."

The abbot stretched out his hand to signal her to sit down, "Dreams are the state of mind, what the heart thinks, dreams come naturally, and if the knots in the heart are not resolved, the dream will last forever."

"I dreamed that the fire was burning from my home. No one was sad because of it, but some people were secretly happy. They couldn't save them, so they had to use the butcher's knife as a last resort."

The abbot closed the rosary, "Amitabha, everything has cause and effect, and everything has reincarnation. There has never been peace in the home of the donor, right?"

"Yes, life and death are often seen in dreams, and the words short life and short life are hovering around."

"When the intention to kill is also the beginning of sin."

"But I have no choice but to do it."

"People are kind and have a good relationship, people are evil and all living beings are resentful. It is good to punish evil with good, and to punish evil with evil. Why not do good?" on the brow."

"I don't know if I'm doing the right thing, but I don't want to look back, and I won't look back, even if my life is really short."

The abbot looked at her, "The length of life, in addition to old age and illness, will also be affected by the heart. The six senses are sad, and the eight sufferings are perishing." He handed a scripture on the table to the king of Chu, "The benefactor looks like a scholar. .”

"I often see my wife copy scriptures. Is there an answer here?"

The host shook his head lightly, "It's not what you can answer by copying the book, but what you can think about after calming down during the process. If people can calm down and think for a while when they are impatient, maybe the choice they make in the next moment will be different."

King Chu stood up and took the scriptures, "Thank you, elder."

After walking to the door, the old monk chanted again, "Don't you see, in the bustling place, there are many solitary lamps guarded by Zhumen, looking around, the family of good scholars, and the descendants will stay in peace for generations."

Chu Wangzheng was at the door of the room, looking down at the Heart Sutra in his hand, "Send someone back and say that I won't be going home for a few days, so they don't have to wait."

"Yes."

----------

In Liu's house, the female envoy opened the door and approached Liu's boudoir.

Fushen said: "Girl."

"It's almost the Dragon Boat Festival, is there any news from Fufeng County that Prince Wang is back?"

The female envoy shook her head, "There is no news from Fufeng County, but Weizhi County sent someone to spread the word, saying that a pond of flowers bloomed in the temple on the east side of Qishan Mountain during the Dragon Boat Festival, and you are invited to come and offer incense together."

Mrs. Liu was a little surprised, "The county magistrate has never sent anyone to take the initiative..." Looking at the darkening sky, she raised her eyebrows and said, "But after all, he has kindness to me, and after I was hired, my father will not let me associate with him , and never went to say thank you.”

"Ah Lang has been in the county office for the past few days and hasn't come back."

"Clean up, go find a bamboo hat and I'll put it on, oh, take out the newly made pastry in my kitchen."

"Yes."

The carriage from the backyard of Liu's house drove out and stopped in front of the monastery all the way eastward from Qishan County.

A few bells rang from the temple, and the evening drum settled down, indicating that it had entered the night.

The female envoy walked ahead with a lantern and led her all the way into the monastery, "It is said that the magistrate is waiting for you in the meditation room on the back mountain of the monastery."

Mrs. Liu hesitated, "It's already night, wouldn't it be good to meet in private?"

The female envoy said indifferently: "Miss, don't worry, you have entered meditation at night, and no one will come to the temple. The county magistrate specially sent someone to call you, maybe there is something urgent."

Mrs. Liu nodded, and followed her around for a long time before arriving at the back mountain. The birds that had been foraging for food during the day had already returned to their nests, only the cicadas were singing from the trees, and the spring of the back mountain could be heard when it was quiet.

The courtyard is covered with moss, which seems to have been abandoned for a long time, but there is still a faint candlelight in the meditation room.

——Boom! ——

The King of Chu stared at the east in a daze, and was awakened by a knock on the door. He immediately put down his pen vigilantly, "Who?"

"Wei County Magistrate, it's me."

Hearing what seemed to be Mrs. Liu's voice, King Chu heaved a sigh of relief, "Come in."

Mrs. Liu took the food box, pushed the door lightly and walked in. Seeing Wei Qian sitting cross-legged on the couch holding a candle reading at night, she approached and put down the food box, "I've seen Wei Zhixian."

"Miss Liu, you're welcome..." Before he finished speaking, he heard a burst of giggles and jumped up in panic. He didn't even have time to put on his shoes. When he ran to the door, he found that the door had been locked from the outside. Lock.

"Why did you find it here?"

Mrs. Liu was surprised by King Chu's question, "Didn't the magistrate call the slave's family here?"

"When will I..." The King of Chu suddenly realized something. Qishan is no different than every square in the capital. She has her own eyeliner. She didn't plan to do anything in Qishan. Naturally, she didn't put her mind on it. She always came back from the Cold Food Festival Thinking about things in Beijing, because she was often awakened by nightmares at night, she remembered the Buddhist pure land that Xiao Youqing said.

"never mind."

Seeing her walking barefoot to the door, Mrs. Liu was stunned for a while and then turned back, with a sad face on her face, "Is it the right time for my servant to come?"

The King of Chu shook his head lightly and sighed: "The door is locked, I'm afraid you and I will be accused tomorrow."