In the blink of an eye, the first day of August has arrived.
Wanning Street, where the Daxiangguo Temple is located, was cleared early and was guarded by specialized guards on both sides.
The imperial concubine and others left the palace early in the morning and headed straight to the Grand Prime Minister's Temple.
The weather was really good that day. Although it was sunny, there was a cool breeze.
When we arrived at the temple, the abbot, Elder Jingkong, had already led a group of monks to greet him at the door.
"Master, I haven't seen you for a long time. You are becoming more and more extraordinary. Buddhism is indeed the best place to practice." The princess said to Jingkong with a smile.
"Amitabha, how is your concubine always doing well? The poor monk has not yet reached enlightenment, but you, who do not care about wealth and honor, are the ones who are born to practice well!" Jingkong is nearly a hundred years old, but his ears and eyes are sharp, his face is red, and his face is white as snow.
The beard makes him even more transcendent.
Because the Queen Mother had become bedridden since she gave birth.
So he asked his biological sister to enter the palace as a concubine, so that he would have a reliable person to take care of the children.
Therefore, the emperor spent more time with Concubine Rong than with his biological mother since childhood.
After he ascended the throne, he repeatedly requested Concubine Rong to be named Queen Mother, but Concubine Rong refused.
So everyone knows that although Concubine Rong does not have the title of Queen Mother, she is actually no different from the Queen Mother.
"Today I brought all the female relatives in the palace here to burn incense and worship. I have disturbed everyone's Qing Dynasty," said Concubine Rong.
"The concubine's words are serious, and all the nobles are here to pray for Your Majesty. Although the monks have six pure roots, they also wish for peace in the world and prosperity for the country." Jingkong said and stretched out his hand, "Every place has been cleaned, and incense and candles are ready.
And please move."
Daxiangguo Temple is a royal temple and has always been very prosperous. It is just because today's emperor is good at Taoism. As the saying goes, if something is good above, it must be even worse below.
Today's temples are not as popular as Taoist temples.
The Dowager Empress led everyone to the Main Hall first, where they kowtowed and burned incense devoutly.
Then, incense was burned in other temples.
This journey took more than an hour.
After all, the Dowager Empress was an elderly person, so she was somewhat overwhelmed by all this and was eager to sit down and rest.
Naturally, a quiet room had been prepared in the temple for a long time, so that the concubine, queen, and others could rest.
"Are you tired, the concubine?" the queen asked warmly, "ask them to beat you some more, so as not to get too tired tomorrow."
"But! I did walk a lot more today, but that's just because I'm older. I think when I came here to smoke incense two years ago, I never felt so strenuous," said the concubine.
"His Majesty, you are already in good health. Even though I have been following you for a long time at my concubine's age, you still feel that your legs are weak." Concubine Hui said with a smile.
"Then let's ask each of our girls to give her a beating," the concubine said. "I also forgot to ask Lan Ning, you must be careful with your body now."
"Thank you for taking care of me, my granddaughter-in-law. I feel fine now. Going out for a walk with my ancestors and smelling the fragrance of the Buddha feels much better than being bored at home." Lan Ning said softly, "Besides, the imperial doctor
It is also said that moderate walking is good for the fetus."
Yao Wanyi was listening on the side, wishing she could hit Lan Ning in the stomach.
If she had not had a miscarriage with the baby she was pregnant with, she would probably have died by now.
At this time, the Zhike monk from the temple came in with a group of novice monks, wearing silk shoes and socks, holding a yellow cypress wooden tray with tea cups in the tray.
"The Concubine, the Queen, and all the masters, the Liansheng tea is ready." Elder Jingkong said, "I'm a little late, so please forgive me."
"This Liansheng tea pays attention to the heat. It won't work if it's too early or too late. We didn't know for sure when we arrived, so how can we get it right?" Princess Rong said with a smile, "What's more, it's not right now.
The tea is just right.”
Liansheng tea is a tea only available in Daxiangguo Temple.
It is said that a tea tree was transformed from a piece of walking stick left by Bodhidharma when he arrived in China.
This tea tree is shaped like a lotus flower, and the wonderful thing is that the tea brewed from it also has the fragrance of lotus flowers.
It stands to reason that the capital does not produce tea, but when tea trees are moved here, they always survive for a short time. Even if they barely survive, they will not produce good tea.
This tea tree is unknown how old it is, but its branches are still luxuriant and its tea tastes timeless.
Buddhism regards the lotus as a sacred object. Because "lotus" and "pity" are homophonic, the lotus tea is also the pity tea, which shows the Buddhist teachings of compassion.
This tea tree only produces eight taels of tea every year, which is really rare.
This tea must be brewed to be delicious, and it must be cooked in the medical stone pot passed down from the temple.
Therefore, this lotus tea never leaves the temple. No matter how noble a person is, if he wants to drink this tea, he must enter the temple.
Therefore, even the royal family who are accustomed to seeing rare treasures do not dare to neglect this tea.
"Try them all! This tea is really rare." The concubine smiled at everyone and said, "Thanks to the Bodhisattva."
Everyone agreed and picked up their teacups.
The queen accidentally turned her hand to the side, and half a cup of tea poured out, making her front piece wet.
The people waiting next to me immediately stepped forward to take care of it.
The queen smiled sheepishly and said, "I'll be with you for a while. I'm going to change my clothes before coming back."
After the Queen had changed her clothes, she came back and sat down to drink tea.
Princess Maoling stopped and said, "Queen, please don't take the half cup of leftover tea! It's cold, and it's unlucky. I've asked them to make another bowl."
Yes, wait a moment."
"That's fine. I'm not thirsty now anyway, so I'll give this half cup of tea to someone else." The Queen said, "Otherwise it would be a pity to throw it away."
So he casually gave it to a palace maid next to him.
The tea I brewed later was also good.
"You have taken a break from wandering now. Go out and wander around! There is still a while before the fasting time." The concubine said, "There is no need to stay in this room with me, an old woman."
They came here to eat vegetarian food before returning to the palace, so they still had plenty of time.
In addition, it was difficult to get out of the palace, so most people wanted to walk around freely, or make wishes for themselves and burn incense.
Therefore, only the concubine, the queen, concubine Hui and others were left in the room.
Several people talked in silence, just talking about the scenery and origins of the surrounding areas.
At this time, the face of the maid named Xue Ge in front of the queen became more and more ugly. She unconsciously covered her stomach with her hands, and sweat broke out on her forehead.
"Mother Hui, my stomach hurts so much." Xue Ge whispered.
"What's going on? Why don't you go out first! Stop waiting in front of the master." Sister Hui said.
"Yes." Xue Ge agreed softly and prepared to walk out along the wall, but fell down before taking a few steps.
"What's going on?" Concubine Hui asked quickly because she fell next to Concubine Hui.
"I don't know, she just told me that she had a stomachache, so I told her to go out and wait." Nanny Hui said and hurried forward.