Volume 2: The Case of the Red Lotus in the Ancient Temple Chapter 57: Storytelling
"Telling a story? Are you kidding!" Master Wangji scolded him in a deep voice, but Duan Ming didn't care at all.
"Don't worry, listening to stories is good for your health." Duan Ming said with a smile.
"Please ask Mr. Duan to tell you a story." Li Waner covered her mouth and smiled, then said, "I, the princess, want to hear it."
"Since the princess wants to hear it, let me start." Duan Ming cleared his throat and said, "Where should I start? Well, I still have to start with this."
"Once upon a time, there was a mountain, and there was a temple in the mountain. In the temple lived an old monk and a young monk..."
"Later, the old monk got older and older, and the younger monk grew bigger and bigger. The younger monk didn't want to be a younger monk anymore, but the older monk still wanted the younger monk to be a younger monk."
"Nonsense, what nonsense are you talking about!" Master Wangji said in a deep voice.
"Nonsense? What nonsense are you talking about? Don't you understand?" Duan Ming looked at Master Wangji Hall with a smile, and then said in a deep voice: "Princess Wan'er, do you think Xiaomin's story is interesting?
"
"It's very interesting." Li Waner said with a smile, "But I didn't hear enough."
"Don't worry, I haven't finished speaking yet." Duan Ming replied with a smile.
"Commander Xing." Xu Shizhong, who had arranged everything, returned to Xing Qianqiu and whispered: "Look at these two people, they almost made the master of Wangji Hall mad to death by singing and harmonizing."
"Stop talking nonsense!" Xing Qianqiu glared at Xu Shizhong and said in a deep voice: "Listen to Mr. Duan's story. What a good story."
"Oh." Xu Shizhong immediately didn't dare to speak anymore.
"But the little monk has grown up, and the bird's wings have hardened. The old monk can't fly or fight against the little monk. The other little monks in the temple only listen to this little monk. What should I do?
What?" Duan Ming continued: "The old monk just thought and thought and thought, and finally set a fire and burned down the temple."
"Burned?" Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned and looked at the Main Hall involuntarily.
"That's right, it was burned." Duan Ming nodded: "The area is not big, only one main hall was burned, but the main hall is money, so it can't be burned in vain. After all, we have to beat the little monk and tell him about the temple.
Who has the final say here?"
"Then what?" Li Waner became interested and listened with some fascination.
"Then? Then of course the old monk found a financial sponsor to help him, and did some tricks to hide it from the officials who came to investigate the case." Duan Ming looked at the master of Wangji Palace and said in a deep voice: "Master, my dear
Is this story right?"
"Hmph! Who knows what you are talking about!" Master Wangji Hall snorted coldly.
"How could you not know?" Duan Ming narrowed his eyes slightly, but his voice became sharp: "The financial sponsor that Abbot Xuanbei is looking for is you, isn't it?"
"What!" Everyone had vague guesses after hearing Duan Ming's words before. Now when they heard the name Abbot Xuanbei, everyone was even more shocked.
Could it be that, in Duan Ming's eyes, the initiator of all this is the highly respected Abbot Xuanbei?
"Nonsense." The master of Wangji Hall said coldly: "Mr. Duan, are you saying that our Immortality Sect burned down the Great Hall!"
"Of course not! The master of Wangji Hall has so many things to do, how can he take care of these minutiae. At that time, he probably only contributed money and effort, so how could he know the old monk's methods." Duan Ming replied with a smile: "Isn't that right? Wangji Hall
host?"
"Humph!" Master Wangji Hall snorted coldly and stopped talking.
He had previously admitted that he had funded the remodeling of the Golden Buddha, but now that Duan Ming had given him the opportunity, he did not want to continue to defend himself.
"So, Abbot Xuanbei, do you have anything to say?" Duan Ming secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the master of Wangji Palace stopped talking, and then looked at Abbot Xuanbei with a clear gaze.
"Amitabha." Abbot Xuanbei clasped his hands together and pronounced the Buddha's name: "Donor Duan, although I am not a big shot, I am not someone who can throw dirty water casually."
"So, Abbot Xuanbei doesn't admit what he has done?" Duan Ming smiled and shook his head, as if he had expected this.
However, what he said just now was not intended to make Abbot Xuanbei submit to the law, but to make Master Wangji "put aside the relationship" and shut up.
"Okay, let's talk slowly." Duan Ming said in a deep voice: "This story will start from July 20th, the Buddhist Festival. Abbot Xuanbei, oh, I'll call you the old monk. Then
One night, the old monk had everything ready and was ready to take action."
"Before his death, Jingfa came to tell me that on the day of the Mu Buddha Festival, he went to the Main Hall to check whether the doors and windows were closed tightly." Duan Ming said, "Then he happened to see a man in red, that is,
Holy Mother of the Red Lotus. At that time, I was very puzzled by this statement. After all, Fa Wu, Fa Neng, and Fa Ming were patrolling at night that day. Their purpose was to check whether doors and windows were closed tightly, so why bother with the purification of Dharma?
"
"Even at the beginning, I thought this was a lie deliberately made up by Jingfa in order to frame Master Jingxin."
"Later I learned another situation from Master Fawu. That day, Jingfa went to the Mahavira Hall not to check the doors and windows, but to retrieve the belongings hidden behind the Golden Buddha in the Mahavira Hall during the day."
"In this case, I was wondering, could it be true that Jingfa said that he saw the man in red?"
"Combined with what little Master Mingde said before, I once suspected that there was a woman in the temple who was the initiator of all this."
As he spoke, Duan Ming looked at Li Waner: "After all, it is very possible for Jingfa to lie, but there is absolutely no need for little master Mingli to lie."
"Little Master Mingde saw this princess, but Jingfa said otherwise. This princess did not bring a red dress when she came this time." Li Waner said directly.
"Well, the moment I saw the princess, I knew I was going in the wrong direction." Duan Ming nodded: "Then I thought and thought, and thought, what went wrong?"
"Then I remembered what little Master Mingde said. Master Jingxin once asked Master Mingli to buy rouge and gouache for him."
As he spoke, Duan Ming looked at Jingxin, who saw Jingxin lowering her head and closing her eyes. There was no change on her face. It seemed that everything Duan Ming said had nothing to do with him.
"I naturally wonder whether Master Jingxin has a transvestite habit and likes to dance gracefully in a red dress at starry nights when no one is around."
"Speaking of this, I have to say that the old monk's scheming is indeed extraordinary. At that time, he had already thought of how to attract our attention if we came to investigate."
"It also combines the act of inducing our attention with beating the little monk, which is really clever."
"We were almost taken into a ditch..." This chapter has been completed!
