Chapter 54: Entering the Temple
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**Chapter 54: Entering the Temple**
The County Princess Mingluo of Gu'an, along with a group of palace maids and eunuchs, accompanied the Holy Emperor to the temple.
Following them were civil and military officials in formal attire, along with heads of various noble families.
The families of the officials and the young members of the noble clans followed behind in succession.
“...Father didn’t come, so Mother pushed me out. I’ll have to stay here for a full seven days! Seven days—doesn’t this mean I’m doomed?” complained a young man in fine robes.
Cui Tang didn’t bother to respond to her younger brother and looked past the crowd toward the figure commanding the Xuanzhe army, which was in charge of guarding the Dayun Temple.
Cui Lang, following her gaze, nodded in satisfaction. “Every time I see our elder brother looking so outstanding and dignified, I can’t help but feel that he truly is the one we share the same father with—”
Cui Tang calmly interjected, “But he is still worlds apart from us.”
“How can you say that?” Cui Lang stared, “We are twins! If I’m the earth, then what are you?”
“What does being twins matter? We don’t share the same brain.”
“What do you mean by that?” Cui Lang reacted and was so angry he was about to hit his sister with his folding fan.
Cui Tang quickly took a few steps ahead, and in his haste, Cui Lang bumped into someone.
The person he bumped into was a young girl wrapped in a light tea-colored cloak. She looked frightened and hurriedly steadied herself with the help of her maid, nervously calling out, “Xiao Qiu!”
The maid quickly protected her, saying, “I’m here, my lady, don’t be afraid!”
Cui Lang intended to apologize and let it go, but seeing how panicked and frightened the girl was, he couldn’t help but add, “It was just a light bump, was it really necessary to act like this?”
How could the young ladies of the capital be so pretentious these days?
“This young man, you… you bumped into someone, yet you speak so lightly?” The maid’s face flushed with anger, though she couldn’t bring herself to say anything too harsh.
The young girl tightly held onto her maid’s arm, not daring to let go.
“What, are you trying to extort money from me, or have you been so scared that your spirit left your body? Should I call for your spirit?” Cui Lang, being a well-known scoundrel, now put on an air of bravado.
“You…”
The young girl seemed to steady herself and said to her maid, “Xiao Qiu, let him go.”
Cui Lang clicked his tongue and swaggered away, fanning himself.
Cui Tang stepped forward and bowed slightly, “My elder brother was rude; I apologize on his behalf.”
The girl lightly nodded, her voice soft, “It’s no trouble…”
Cui Tang noticed something unusual about the girl but, out of politeness, didn’t pursue the matter further. After bowing again, she left with her maid.
“Where is my brother?” the girl asked. “Let’s wait for him before going in.”
The maid named Xiao Qiu looked toward the approaching young man, “My lord is coming!”
The young man seemed to have seen the earlier scene and hurried over, concerned, “Mianmian, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” The girl shook her head and asked, “Where did my brother go?”
“A court official from the Hanlin Academy just called for me to ask about our father’s well-being, so I answered a few questions,” Qiao Yubai said, looking ahead with a smile, “Ning Ning is here!”
Indeed, Chang Suining was approaching with Xi’er: “Second Brother.”
Qiao Yubai smiled and nodded, “I thought I was mistaken at first; I didn’t expect it to really be Ning Ning.”
The girl beside him instinctively reached out her hand, “Ning Ning?”
Chang Suining paused slightly, guessing her identity, and stepped forward to grasp the hand reaching toward her, calling out, “Sister Mianmian.”
“Since you can come to pray, you must be feeling much better?” Qiao Yuming whispered, “I heard from my brother and mother that you had an injury to your head… are you all better now?”
“It’s nothing serious now,” Chang Suining replied, holding her hand as they slowly walked forward, feeling puzzled inside.
Only now did she realize that when she first returned to the Chang residence and asked why Qiao Yuming hadn’t come, Qiao Yubai’s answer—that “Mianmian couldn’t go out” —was indeed a bit ambiguous.
But they had been fine as children; how could she not see now?
Upon entering the temple, the Holy Emperor and his ministers first went to the main hall to pray.
Mingluo received the three sticks of green incense handed to her by a maid and lit them in the incense oil, then passed them to the Holy Emperor.
The Holy Emperor held the incense with closed eyes, worshipping before the statue of Buddha, then steadily inserted the green incense into the incense burner.
After finishing the prayer, the Holy Emperor, accompanied by the abbot Wu Jue , left the main hall. Chang Suining looked down humbly among the crowd, only catching a glimpse of the corner of the Holy Emperor’s robe being surrounded as it gradually moved away.
Once the Holy Emperor had left, everyone finally straightened up.
Chang Suining gazed in the direction the Holy Emperor and Master Wu Jue had taken and saw Cui Jing following closely behind. Looking up, she noticed the tall tower spire rising into the clouds.
“The Holy Emperor is going to enter the Heavenly Maiden Tower… that’s not a place we can follow.”
“Let’s go; we should also go to the hall to light incense.”
A few noblewomen chatted as they entered the main hall together.
“Sister Chang!”
A joyful voice rang out, and Chang Suining turned to look, revealing a smile: “Young Miss Yao.”
Yao Xia, along with a group of Yao family ladies, approached.
Yao Ran also nodded in acknowledgment toward Chang Suining.
“Grandmother, Mother, this is the Sister Chang I’ve often mentioned!” Yao Xia said to the old lady Yao and Zeng shi.
“No wonder our Yao Xia talks about her so much,” the old Madam Yao smiled and nodded, while Zeng shi praised her as well.
Meanwhile, Yao Gui stood in a daze, only coming back to her senses when Yao Xia discreetly pinched her.
“Old Madam, it’s time to go into the hall to light incense,” Pei shi said with a calm expression.
Old Madam Yao nodded gently, her demeanor warm: “Let’s all go in.”
“Sister Chang, I heard that later we can go see the divine elephants; let’s go together then,” Yao Xia said quietly before entering the hall.
Chang Suining nodded in agreement.
In the Da Sheng Dynasty Palace, there was an elephant garden housing several white elephants, as elephants had long been considered symbols of auspiciousness by the Da Sheng Dynasty people; thus, the elephants kept there were referred to as divine elephants.
It was said that the Holy Emperor had ordered craftsmen to build a large cauldron for the blessing ceremony, which would be transported to Dayun Temple by an elephant cart later.
The blessing ceremony was scheduled for the following day, and today was merely a preparatory day, so after lighting incense in the main hall, the officials’ families were guided by the monks to settle into various meditation rooms within the temple.
With the arrangements made by Master Wu Jue , Chang Suining and Qiao Yuming were assigned to a meditation courtyard and were sent some snacks and vegetarian meals by a monk in advance.
Chang Suining observed this and couldn’t help but feel that Master Wu Jue , as the abbot of Dayun Temple, lacked the noble aspiration of treating all beings equally—
In regards to his familiarity with using back doors and giving special treatment, she felt discontent on principle, but on a personal level, she felt quite pleased.
Qiao Yuming’s health wasn’t good, so after finishing her meal, she returned to her room to rest.
Xi’er wanted to ask her mistress if she also needed to take a nap but seeing her mistress full of energy, as if she could run ten laps around Dayun Temple right away, she swallowed her words.
It was at this moment that Chang Suining finally had the opportunity to ask, “Sister Mianmian, what happened to your eyes?”
Today had been dim all day, and the update was late, so please forgive me.
There will be a second update later.
(End of chapter)
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