When Zhang Yanling hurried back to the main hall, Zhu Qingyi had already burned several rounds of incense, and the monks waiting nearby were already chanting sutras until their mouths were dry.
"Why did you come back? Where are we going now?" Seeing Zhang Yanling, Zhu Qingyi breathed a sigh of relief, her tone was a bit coquettish, but also a bit relieved.
Zhang Yanling whispered: "I'm not going anywhere. Have the coachman and the people following him come in?"
Zhu Qingyi said: "Not really, but Caiyun saw them poking their heads in front of the mountain gate."
Zhang Yanling nodded and said in a deep voice: "Princess, tell the monks in the temple that you want to donate money and ask the monks in the temple to gather in the courtyard behind the temple."
Zhu Qingyi didn't know what he meant, frowned and said: "If you haven't prepared any silver items, what's the point of giving?"
Zhang Yanling stretched out her hand and took off the gold hairpin on her head and the jade bracelet on her hand and said: "Just give these things away. I still have dozens of taels of silver here, so I'll give them to them together. Try to delay as long as possible, wait for me to go
Let’s go to see you.”
Zhu Qingyi was speechless, thinking: You are generous to others. This is my jewelry.
But at this point, knowing that Zhang Yanling must have a deep meaning, he didn't ask any more questions. He immediately ordered Caiyun to talk to the monk about the donation.
The two monks were overjoyed and hurriedly reported to the temple abbot. Zhu Qingyi and Caiyun went to wait in the courtyard behind the main hall. After a while, the bell rang in the back hall, and the overjoyed old temple abbot rushed over quickly, and all the monks also arrived quickly.
Zhu Qingyi and Caiyun explained their intentions and identities. The old abbot and the monks proclaimed Buddhism repeatedly and were extremely grateful. They then made merit books and picked up merit boxes and were busy non-stop.
At the gate of Hongguang Temple, the driver and the two guys who were watching were waiting anxiously. The three of them had already looked at the temple gate several times. When they saw the princess and the maid kneeling in front of the Buddha, praying endlessly, they had no choice but to endure.
But at this moment, the sound of singing wooden fish in the temple had stopped, and the bells rang again. The three of them felt surprised. When they looked around again, they found that there was no one in front of the Buddha in the main hall, and they suddenly panicked.
"Where is the person? Why is he missing?"
"I don't know. I was there just now."
"Let's go in and take a look. Don't run away. That's a big deal."
The three of them didn't care anymore and entered the mountain gate and rushed to the main hall. As soon as they entered the main hall, they saw the tall maid standing behind the curtain with her hands on her hips and smiling at them.
"Why, are the three of you coming to offer incense too?" Zhang Yanling pinched her throat and laughed.
"Where is the princess?" the coachman asked.
Zhang Yanling said with a smile: "It turns out that I didn't come here to offer incense. I was afraid that the princess would be lost and you wouldn't be able to report to Sun Jingwen, right?"
The three of them looked at each other and knew that their whereabouts had been exposed, so they no longer concealed it. The coachman said solemnly: "Where is the princess? It's time to return home."
Zhang Yanling smiled and said: "Follow me. The princess is drinking tea in the back. Look at how anxious you are."
Zhang Yanling turned around and walked behind the Buddha statue. The coachman and the other three people were suspicious, but they followed them without warning. The three people walked to the side of the tall Buddha statue. The coachman walking in front suddenly felt that there seemed to be breathing sounds behind the heavy tent curtains. Alert.
He immediately chose to retreat.
However, it was too late.
A long knife tore through the curtain and hit him in the vital part of the chest. The coachman yelled and threw himself to the ground.
When the two people behind saw that something was not going well, they quickly turned around and ran towards the entrance of the palace. Three figures on both sides jumped out, blocking the way.
"Who...are you?" The two shouted in horror.
"The person who will send you to see the Tathagata Buddha in the West." Zhang Yanling stopped twisting her voice and shouted in a deep voice.
The two of them turned around in shock and saw the tall maid holding a dagger in her hand, blocking the road behind them with a sneer.
"Kill them!" Zhang Yanling shouted lowly, and Chen Shiyi beside him and three brothers across from him jumped up. The two men still tried to resist, but were knocked down with three moves and two moves, and they were all killed.
"Wrap their bodies in cloth curtains and take them to the back mountain for burial." Zhang Yanling shouted in a deep voice.
Several brothers pulled down the curtains in the hall, wrapped the three corpses and carried them away. Zhang Yanling took back the dagger and whispered a few instructions in Chen Shi's ear. Chen Shi nodded, handed over his hands and left quickly.
Zhang Yanling breathed a sigh of relief and was about to go to the back of the hall. He saw blood stains on the ground, but his men had not wiped them clean in a hurry. So he turned back and took several large handfuls of ashes from the incense burner in front of the Buddha to cover up the blood on the ground.
Bloodstains.
When putting the incense burner back in front of the Buddhist niche, Zhang Yanling raised her head and looked at the huge Buddha statue in front of her. The Buddha statue was squinting its eyes and smiling. Thinking about killing someone in front of the Buddha statue, although he did not believe in gods and Buddhas, he was still a little uneasy.
"Bodhisattva, forgive me. I have to kill people in front of you today, but the people I killed were all bad people. The Buddha was merciful and saved these people. The Buddha just turned a blind eye to the murder. If the Bodhisattva can bless me again, I can go smoothly this time."
Complete the plan, and I will gild your body when you come back." Zhang Yanling clasped her hands together, bowed, and walked quickly to the courtyard behind the palace.
Zhu Qingyi was talking patiently to a group of monks. The old abbot was very flattering and flattering. Zhu Qingyi could only smile and deal with them.
When Zhang Yanling came, Zhu Qingyi felt relieved. After handing the silver coins and jewelry to the monks, she followed Zhang Yanling and left.
After leaving the mountain gate, the driver and the people following him disappeared. After getting into the car, Zhang Yanling began to take off his clothes.
Zhu Qingyi asked in a low voice: "What did you do? Where did those people go?"
Zhang Yanling took off her flowered robe and put the coachman's broken straw hat on her head while saying, "Send them off to the west in the main hall."
"Ah!" Zhu Qingyi stared in shock. "You killed them in the temple? In front of the Bodhisattva?"
Zhang Yanling straightened her clothes and said in a deep voice: "It doesn't matter, I have confessed my sin in front of the Buddha statue. Maybe my wish has been granted. In the future, I will have to ask the princess to help me fulfill my wish and plate the Buddha statue with gold for me."
Zhu Qingyi was shocked and speechless. Zhang Yanling had already arranged her clothes, stuffed the floral robe into Zhu Qingyi's hands, opened the car door and got out.
Zhu Qingyi shouted in a low voice: "Where are you going?"
Zhang Yanling said with a smile: "Don't I have to drive the car? A dead person can't drive the car for us. Princess, don't worry, I'm a good driver. All you need to do is show me the way to Baishui Lane."
…
Half an hour later, a carriage arrived outside the Baishui Lane alley in Beicheng. It was actually not far from Hongguang Temple. There were no checkpoints on the road, so we arrived here smoothly.
Zhang Yanling stopped the carriage, gave Zhu Qingyi and Caiyun a few instructions, and asked them to wait patiently, and then walked quickly into the alley.
In the carriage, Zhu Qingyi looked at Zhang Yanling's leaving figure with concern, her worry palpable.
Caiyun on the side saw this and said softly: "Princess, have you fallen in love with this Lord Zhang?"
Zhu Qingyi blushed and said angrily: "What nonsense are you talking about?"
Caiyun laughed softly and said: "Princess, please don't lie to me. Princess has never been so close to a man. She held his hand and was not angry. The look in his eyes was different. Others may not be able to tell, Caiyun
But you can see it.”
Zhu Qingyi spat: "That's nonsense."
"It's okay to admit that I like him. Such a good man is worthy of becoming the princess. He has good status, character, courage, and appearance. Maybe this is a good marriage." Caiyun said with a low smile.
Zhu Qingyi said angrily: "Stop talking nonsense, he...he is already married."
Caiyun made a sound and sighed with regret. She thought to herself: The princess only said that he was married but did not deny that she liked Mr. Zhang. That means she really liked Mr. Zhang. What a pity.
Marriage. It's not easy to find someone the princess likes, but it turns out she is someone else's husband. What a pity.
"Master Zhang doesn't know if he can save our Prince Qing's Mansion, the young prince and the princess. Hey, this is really worrying."
"Blessed by Bodhisattva, everything is safe." Zhu Qingyi clasped his hands together and prayed in a low voice.