Chapter 314.

Zhu suddenly woke up in the middle of the night.

Only Empress Xu’s even breathing could be heard.

His eyes snapped up, but he was in a daze.

He seemed …… to be dreaming of something.

It’s different from the old days when you always dreamed of being in the middle of jingoism.

But what is it that you see in your dreams?

He frowned, unable to recall it for a moment.

Just midnight, although he has no intention to sleep, but still did not get up, probably for fear of waking up the side of the Empress Xu, did not even make a little noise.

In the dim light of the bedchamber, he looked at the beams of the room with his eyes open, as if struggling with what he would be thinking.

Stayed up to the dawn of the early morning light, the sky turned up the fish belly white, that is only since the darkness broke out of the dawn, at this time shone in the Forbidden City glazed tiles, refracted a strange kind of halo.

This halo of light through the window, spread into the bedchamber, so Zhu Di could not help but close his eyes, and then gently shuffled up with his clothes.

The eunuchs on night duty obviously didn’t expect His Majesty to wake up so early, and were still curled up in a corner sound asleep at this time.

Zhu ignored him and glanced at Empress Xu, who was still sleeping, then gently opened the door of the hall.

Outside of this hall door, there were several more listless eunuchs on duty, and when they saw Zhu Di, they were immediately scared to death.

Zhu Di, in response, did not think anything of it, and only slightly raised his head and looked at the sky.

And then revealing a look of suspicion, he mouthed, “Go to the House of Letters.”

“Yes.”

Hurriedly came to the cultural building, Zhu Di at this time awake a little, in addition to the eyes slightly red, but can not see the tiredness.

Yishakha had long since heard the news.

Seeing that Zhu Di had not yet combed his hair, he took a comb, pulled Zhu Di’s bun and put on the Tongtian crown.

Only then did he say with a smile, “Your Majesty, how is it that you have risen so early this morning, and have hurriedly come to the House of Letters.”

Zhu Di, however, gently frowned and said, “How strange, I had a dream.”

“I wonder what the dream was?”

Zhu was trying very hard to recall again, but finally raised his eyebrows and said, “I can’t think of it, just that so far when I think of it, my heart is like a boulder weighing down.”

“The dream is the opposite.” Yilungha piled on the laughter, “This must be another lucky star, our Ming is going to be blessed.”

“What if it’s not a counter?” Zhu Di said, “Then I will cut off your head.”

Yiluoha’s smiling face immediately froze, and he busily said, “No …… dare not …… slave girl ……”

Zhu calmly said, “If you don’t know how to interpret a dream, you should not learn from others to do the same thing, don’t you think it’s ridiculous?”

Yiluoha hurriedly said, “Yes, yes, the slave girl really deserves to die.”

Zhu Di did not continue to count, but said: “Speaking of dream interpretation, I think of Master Yao, why does not Master Yao come to see the driver in these days?”

He also said, “The slave girl will later…ask someone to go and invite…”

Zhu nodded.

After a short time, the ministers were summoned for an audience.

Yang Rong and others, compared to the previous days of anxiety, now the mind are set a lot, because it has already begun the spring, so worried about preventing the plague delayed the spring plowing, and therefore the center of gravity, and began to be persuaded to agriculture.

Zhu is not interested in farming, but he understands it.

When Emperor Taizu Gao was around, Zhu Di had the experience of being sent to Fengyang, the central capital, to study and cultivate the fields before he assumed the vassalage.

Thus, Zhu Di accounted for some: “I heard, Taiping Province now want to start promoting new crops, this is not urgent, this kind of son to other places, may not be able to harvest, to let the people of the counties, their own open a mu and a half acres of land planted to try to teach Zhang Anshi side, urge the government not to push.”

“I Ming lacked so many years of food, not lack of this year or two, and that Deng Jian, to ask Deng Jian also do not have to be stuck in the middle of the farm, to go to the counties to walk around, he is a connoisseur, a lot of things, he has seen it, after the heart to have a number.”

Yang Rong smiled and said, “Your Majesty, I am also this proposal, but …… Taipingfu now, the court is not good to care more about it, tube more, Wei Guo Gong is afraid of complaining about things court management again, out of the ordinary, and then he has to take the blame.”

Zhu Di kindly laughed, then said: “his words are not unreasonable, the court only acceptance results, intervene more, when there are merits and faults count who? Well then, all the wills to persuade the farmers, bypassing the Taiping and Ningguo provinces, these two provinces, let them decide for themselves.”

The Grand Maestros exchanged glances.

Hu Guang laughed: “Listen to the Ningguo House side, their side …… has started to preside over farming after the beginning of spring. Agriculture is fundamental, Jian Princess grasped this matter, but also personally wrote a book to persuade agriculture.”

Zhu said, “How come I didn’t hear about the bubonic plague there?”

Hu Guang said, “There is no report. His Majesty’s decree is that the affairs of the Taiping and Ningguo Mansions are not to be questioned, whether they report or not, let them go anyway.”

Jin Youzi thought for a moment and said, “After all, Ningguo Fu is a bit remote, unlike Taiping Province and Yingtian Province, which are densely populated; if it is properly responded to, I’m afraid that before it crosses the border, this bubonic plague will have been extinguished.”

After Zhu Di thought about it, he nodded and said, “That’s true, Jianqing has always been steady.”

Zhu couldn’t help but be happy, so he said, “In any case, nothing is good, and it’s good to let them compete, it’s good for the people.”

Discussed a bit, Zhu Di seems to think that there is something else, so suddenly looked up and glanced at the also lost ha.

Yizhuoha stood on the sidelines, and mindfully hastened to say, “Your Majesty, Master Yao …… has disappeared.”

Zhu frowned, “Gone?”

Yizhuoha hesitantly said, “Master Yao is a person outside the square, may …… may ……”

Also lost ha after the words did not finish, Zhu Di will sigh: “He ah, all the skills, but daily thinking about how to protect oneself, ultimately is to look down on my temperament. But …… let him immortal a few days, then will come to see me.”

Also Lostha said, “Yes.”

…………

At this time, the lively marketplace was bustling with people.

This is a vegetable market, Qixia’s vegetable market is always overcrowded, after all, here, long gone from the old tradition of self-sufficiency, people work in order to catch up with the morning, not only women to buy some vegetables and meat, along the street is a variety of morning food stalls.

By now the sun was up and the people had thinned out a bit.

Across the street from this one goat soup store, there were people killing chickens and geese, and the two monks, who were in the middle of it, were in the middle of it.

Yao Guangxiao was dressed plainly, while the old monk sitting across from him looked jittery.

The shopkeeper, while preparing the goat soup and vegetable buns, secretly glanced over to these two strange monks, feeling very strange.

“Ever eaten meat?” Yao Guangxiao looked at the old monk and said.

The old monk was silent and just kept chanting.

Yao Guangxiao sighed as if he had a face of emotion, ”I was a monk in my early years, and like Emperor Taizu Gao, it was because my family was poor and had no way out. At that time, to be able to enter the temple, it was always a meal. Where in the world is the person born to want to disappear into the empty door ah, it is only some have no way out. And some are just greedy for the Western World of Ultimate Bliss.”

The old monk continued to chant in a low voice as he grew more and more nervous.

Yao Guangxiao said, “So I have never eaten meat in my life, once upon a time I could not afford to eat, and when I could afford to eat, I had already entered the empty door. But I smell the fragrance of meat, and I can not help but eat my fingers, you see ……”

With that, he raised his hand and gently pointed to the busy people outside the store.

Even though the crowd was much thinner, there were still a lot of people. There were people leaving in a hurry, a woman bargaining with a vegetable vendor, or a girl holding her brother’s hand.

Yao Guangxiao looked as if he was looking at an interesting sight, with a hint of a smile on his face, before saying, “The poor monk has always wondered about the Western Ultimate Bliss, what is it really like? I also wondered whether the Tianzhu, which originated from Buddhism, is already the land of ultimate happiness. The poor monk has thought about it for many years, but could not come up with a clue.”

The old monk was finally attracted by his topic and gazed at Yao Guangxiao, “Why is that?”

Yao Guangxiao said, “Because I have seen too little. I was born at the end of the Yuan Dynasty in the chaotic world, human life is like grass, everywhere is white bones. Tartars want to eat people, the government wants to eat people, the scholar also want to eat people, not to mention them, even the monks in the temple, also want to eat people. Otherwise, you think, many big temple temple property, from where to come?”

Yao Guangxiao appeared extremely calm, eloquently said: “At that time, I was still small, but I was thinking, the so-called Western Ultimate Bliss, must be the world without military disaster, without bandits, without robbers. At least …… will not be in the middle of the night, suddenly someone breaks in, whether this person is a Yuan Tartar or not, is a roving bandit or not, or is a mountain bandit, or even the marketplace of the shrewd. No one will disturb your sleep, rush in, give you a knife, and then abuse your wife and daughter, and then throw your young son into the well.”

The old monk sighed, his eyes couldn’t help but redden, as if recalling something extremely difficult, with a few tremors on his lips, he said, “I am the only one of my family of seven who survived.”

Yao Guangxiao then said; “By the time of Emperor Taizu, the world was finally peaceful, poor monks thought they had reached the ultimate happiness, but then again, people are still bitter, bitter, even if it is already ten times better than the chaotic world, at that time, poor monks can not help but give birth to a new question, what in the end is the world of ultimate happiness like?”

Yao Guangxiao said, “The poor monk can’t find the answer, so I’ve come down from the mountain in the past few days, and I’ve brought you here to walk around, come here to eat meat, and see all the living beings, so do you know why?”

The old monk didn’t speak, only shook his head.

Yao Guangxiao said, “If there is really ultimate happiness, then at least here, it may be closer to ultimate happiness. If you and I when we can become Buddhas on the ground, then you and I are sitting here at this time, enjoying the delicious food here, looking at the beings here, and I think that after we become Buddhas, it is roughly the joy of enjoying such a clear peace every day.”

As he spoke, the shepherd’s pie was delivered, along with a plate of vegetable buns.

Yao Guangxiao said, “Eat.”

The old monk shook his head and only pinched up the vegetable bun.

Yao Guangxiao, however, was unimpressed and began to eat the mutton soup.

He ate indecently, his mouth making bazzy, bazzy noises.

If one looks closely, it is not difficult to realize that Yao Guangxiao’s lips are floating with a bit of a smile.

As he savored the taste in his mouth, he said, “Surely, surely, the joy of becoming a Buddha is unimaginable.”

Old Monk: “……”

Yao Guangxiao squinted his eyes with a look of enjoyment and sighed, “If there is really a Buddha in the world, it must have a bowl of goat soup to eat every day.”

The old monk chewed his dry, hard vegetable bun.

And aside Yao Guangxiao, eating, tears in the eyes: “If at the beginning, but where there is a bowl of this kind of goat soup every day, the world will never have today’s Yao Guangxiao.”

The old monk finally couldn’t help but say, “You broke your fast.”

Yao Guangxiao glanced at him and said with a frank face, “Buddha is in my heart, but Buddha is only in your mouth.”

The old monk’s appetite was so great that his greed was gone, and he subconsciously wiped the remnants of his mouth.

After eating, Yao Guangxiao stood up, he took a dozen copper coins and solemnly rested them on the edge of the table.

Then he said, “Come, let us look again and see the beings again.”

The two of them, one after the other, wandered through the streets and alleys of this Qixia.

Maybe it’s because he’s fallen for more than one monk of the Cockatoo Temple.

So the shopkeepers and people here are not very friendly to monks, sometimes when Yao Guangxiao passes through the alleys and stays a little bit, someone closes the door with a clang and curses under his breath, “Bad luck.”

The old monk sighed, “People’s hearts are not ancient!”

Yao Guangxiao, on the other hand, looked very understanding and said, “After cheating them out of so much silver, they didn’t come to beat us up, instead they just refused to leave the door, they’re really too svelte and courteous.”

Old Monk: “……”

Yao Guangxiao added, “If this is the world of bliss, poor monk would like to stay here for the rest of his life.”

The old monk, however, said with a look of disapproval, “There is too much filth here.”

Yao Guangxiao said with a smile, “But its streets are clean.”

“There is too much filth in the heart.”

Yao Guangxiao shook his head, “You still haven’t practiced to the fullest!”

“Master Yao, you have eaten wine and meat, a lifetime of cultivation ……”

Yao Guangxiao said with a self-conscious face, “The Buddha I cultivate is different from you; you cultivate the Buddha statue made of that gold lump, I cultivate the Buddha of all living beings.”

After a pause, Yao Guangxiao continued, “When I first came here, it was in an inn, I saw that it was also very lively at that time, there were many people eating and drinking, they were very strapped for cash, but the more so, the more they ate, I remembered that I saw a father, who tightly scraped together a few bucks, and was very careful when he came here. The little girl who came with him, however, was overjoyed.”

Speaking here, Yao Guangxiao’s eyes were a little moist, then said: ”I don’t know how their father and daughter, how are they now. But …… I know, they must be safe and happy now. You see, there are many people here, they are the same as those father and daughter, we are in today’s Qixia, and the original Qixia, and not the same, changed. It’s only been a few years, and it’s changed again, for the better.”

The old monk was unmoved by this, he felt that he was a person outside the square, he should stay outside the square, transcend himself, and give up his foul-smelling skin, so that he could cultivate the right fruit.

Yao Guangxiao sighed and said, “I remember that father and daughter so far, I remember the way that girl laughed when she ate the meat, she laughed so happily, the poor monk is happy for her even now.”

“Alright.” Yao Guangxiao suddenly turned his head, “Let’s go, it’s time to go where we should go.”

His face suddenly became wooden, as if he were a walking corpse, and he took a step to the pier and bought a boat ticket.

Waiting on the boat, but found that this one boat is empty, the boatman said: “this time of the year, the monk went to the Ningguo Palace to do what?”

Yao Guangxiao said, “See all beings.”

The boatman shook his head and tried to say something, but eventually shut his mouth, rocked the boat and left.

Since a ferry from a boat, more just Qixia compared to this ferry is sparsely populated pathetic, few pedestrians.

A few officials were making their rounds, and seemed to see the monks and surveyed them, but when they saw that they were dressed in ragged monk’s clothes, they seemed to lose interest at once, and hurried away.

Yao Guangxiao picked the small path to walk, and the old monk followed closely behind.

By the time we reached a village, it was already dark and there were not many lights in the village.

But in the distance, there were faint cries.

In the dimness of the night, hearing this kind of crying suddenly made people feel oozing for no reason.

Entering the manor, Yao Guangxiao raised his eyes and saw a firewood house lit up, so he went to knock on the door.

The door opened, but it was a hanyou.

The man saw that it was two old monks, not only did he not want to drive them away, but on the contrary, he was very happy at this time, avoiding his body, letting them come in, and said under his breath, “Are the two Zen masters going to stay the night? Stay, my place is small, Zen masters do not mind, I will open fasting food for you.”

Yao Guangxiao entered the dimly lit thatched hut, which was empty, but a small girl was lying on a short bamboo woven couch.

The little girl didn’t move a muscle, only the yellow paper covered her face.

Yao Guangxiao said, “Amitabha Buddha.”

Han stood aside, as if he could no longer control the general, tears fell like rain, the side said: “I have bad luck, even dragged their own children also suffered, she was born sick, only yesterday past, Zen master, you do good, to give her super a degree, I would like to add incense oil money.”

Yao Guangxiao said, “Why don’t you set up a spiritual hall?”

Han with a sobbing voice said: “The coffin are not prepared, and the child is also small, and said to organize, the people in the clan also do not agree, said it is bad luck. Tomorrow, we will find a place to bury her, she has sinned in her past life, reincarnated in my family, oooh oooh ……”.

The hanyou began to whimper and cry extremely hard.

Yao Guangxiao sighed, “What kind of disease was committed?”

“Do not know.” The Han said, “Go to ask …… for a doctor, but the doctor …… has been drafted to the Prefecture City, and this place is too far from the Prefecture City.”

Yao Guangxiao then said, “I’ll override it.”

Saying this, he sat down in front of this girl and, in the dimness, recited the scriptures.

He pronounced it forcefully.

The hanyou seemed to be infected all at once, and cried tears of joy.

Yao Guangxiao, however, stopped chanting at this moment and said, “Why are you laughing?”

The man said with a sincere face, “The Zen master’s sutra is very authentic, and with the Zen master’s transcendence, this child will be able to reincarnate in a good family in his next life, and will surely enjoy endless blessings.”

Yao Guangxiao said, “Yes, you have met the right person, the poor monk is a high monk.”

Saying this, he continued to recite the sutra.

There was no talk all night.

Early the next morning, many people in the manor learned that the monk had come, many people were overjoyed, this family invited Yao Guangxiao to go, that family also invited, if Yao Guangxiao was willing to come to the door, they would have a red glow on their faces.

A few days down the road, Yao Guangxiao was entertained with a red glow, and by the time he left the manor, he had already overtaken seven families, and even on his way out, people were scrambling to give him money and food.

There was not much money or grain, and some even offered the last bit of rice in their rice jars, and wailed, “Master’s great virtue, the good woman is unable to repay it, so please accept these as a gift from the master.”

Yao Guangxiao accepted it.

The old monk couldn’t bear it, and after leaving the village, he said towards Yao Guangxiao, “That’s the last of their rations, they might starve tomorrow.”

Yao Guangxiao faintly said, “I know.”

The old monk didn’t understand, so he asked, “Then why do you still collect?”

Yao Guangxiao, however, sighed and said, “If I don’t accept it, they may starve two days late, but even though they can starve again two days late, they just don’t feel solid in their hearts. Sooner or later, they are going to starve, but at least before they starve to death, they still have hope.”

The old monk sighed, “In their next life ……”

“If there is an afterlife ……” Yao Guangxiao interrupted him, “If they are still like this, as usual, they still have to starve and freeze, and be bullied.”

As we speak, someone in front of the gong and drums, but a long series of police officers came in great numbers, some holding cattle, some escorted the corv茅e carrying rice, and more people starring around a donkey-riding clerical officials.

Yao Guangxiao and the old monk hurriedly stood by the roadside respectfully, waiting for this procession to pass.

Seeing this, the clerical official riding on the donkey stopped, got off the donkey, and with a big belly, he walked up to Yao Guangxiao and the others and said, “Monk, just came from the Chen Village, right?”

Yao Guangxiao said, “Yes.”

The clerical official looked at him with dissatisfaction, then his eyes fell on the bundle in the monk’s hand and said, “What’s in the monk’s bundle?”

Yao Guangxiao said, “This is private property.”

But the civil official obviously saw something, unhappy: “This Chen Jia Village, too bad, the local Li Chang what to eat? With them to urge the plague money, they are crying one by one that they will starve to death, to the monk’s money and food is generous, unruly people do not know how to be considerate, but even to such a point.”

One person in the back, apparently the head of the mile, hastily nodded to this clerical official and said, “Liu Secretary …… has tried his best to do his best ah.”

Wen Wen said angrily: “I also know that you folks, not good to collect, but this plague money, is related to the county’s big plan, the county governor love people like children, for the sake of the county’s long-term security, which is the levy of money for the treatment of rats. But what’s the reason for the delay? Do you really think that the magistrate is so kind-hearted that he refuses to use torture?”

The rikishi said, “This time, we can definitely press for it, definitely ……”

The civil official glared at Yao Guangxiao and coldly said, “Monk, the money and grain you have on you, you need to leave it behind, it is not that we are disrespectful to the Buddhist sect, it is just that the higher-ups are pressing hard for it, and if I can’t fill in the money and grain as much as I should, it is I who will be the one who will be beaten with a plate.”

Yao Guangxiao, however, shook his head, “This can not be, this is the good men and women of the incense oil money ……”

The clerk was even more displeased.

Not waiting for him to command, an errand boy on the side seemed to step forward as if inviting credit, and directly gave Yao Guangxiao a slap on the face.

Snap ……

With a crisp ringing sound, Yao Guangxiao was struck with a mouth full of blood, and he immediately staggered as a whole.

The officer scolded fiercely, “False monk, I see that you are not a good person, the county official work, you dare to make trouble, bold, do not know death?”

Saying that, he moved his hand to snatch Yao Guangxiao’s baggage.

Yao Guangxiao deadpanned.

But soon, it was knocked over on the ground, snatched the baggage, and immediately, it was scattered with copper coins and grains of rice.

The civil official has gone back to ride the donkey, to the officer commanded: “Do not bully him, will be the money and food away is, the county master and the local gentry said, this plague, must be someone sin, so do not sin, and even more shall not kill.”