Chapter 59 : Offering Incense

On the first or fifteenth day of every month, the women of the Tantai family would make a date to go to the Clear Bamboo Nunnery on Yanjing Mountain outside of the city to offer incense, to pray for their family members or themselves, and to divine their future destinies.

The Clear Bamboo Nunnery is located in a bamboo forest at the southern foot of Yanjing Mountain. Two hundred years ago, a young lady from the first line of the Tantai family willingly became a nun and spent her entire life in the company of the ancient Buddha, only asking the heavens to hear her wish and bless the Tantai family for thousands of generations and for peace in the world. The clan built a nunnery for her on the mountain, and at first it was mostly noblewomen who were friends with the Tantai family who came to offer incense and prayers, but later on the abbess took on many female disciples, and the nunnery was revitalised, and the Tantai family, in order to show its pro-people image, allowed ordinary people from the vicinity to come on a few days each month.

Gradually, the reputation of the Green Bamboo Nunnery in the imperial capital grew, and from time to time women came to ask to be released into the empty door, and there were more and more visitors, coupled with the fact that after the death of the first lady, the abbot's position was passed on to an outsider, and the Tantai family no longer restricts the ordinary people's coming and going, except that the Tantai family's female family members still retained the habit of coming to visit the nunnery together to pay their respects to the incense, and on that day, it was forbidden for any outsiders to set foot in the nunnery, demonstrating that the noble clans were in a position of high authority. The noble family's high position.

Pei Siyan sitting on the bumpy carriage, out of the window looking at the lush green scenery, the countryside is everywhere in the shade, a piece of heavenly trees to block the hot sun, can not help but feel not a trace of heat, on the contrary, in the wind blowing through, there is a cool sense of comfort.

Li Qing dye fast horse rushed up, bent down and whispered a few words to the woman by the window, Pei Si Yan nodded her head, indicating that she understood, and then lowered the curtain, shrinking to a small corner of the carriage to close her eyes and rest her mind.

After about half an hour of walking, finally arrived at the door of the Qingzhu nunnery, Pei Si Yan got off the carriage, looked up and gazed at the plaque on the door, strong and powerful "Qingzhu nunnery" three words, it is said to come from the first generation of the abbot's father's hand.

Pei Siyan suddenly wanted to laugh, have the time to build a nunnery, self-seeking pain, praying to the gods and Buddhas who do not know if they exist, it is better to plan for the future, in the predicament of killing a way out to the actual some.

I really don't know what's going on in these people's heads, boringly wasting their energy on such things.

That father is also really incompetent, his own inability to make the family prosper, so he sent his own daughter to this situation, she is really willing to be lonely in the nunnery for life, or was forced to leave the house, now who can learn the truth?

Pei Siyan is the first time to come to Qingzhu nunnery, before the busy political affairs, she has not been free, just take advantage of the holiday and relatives together to see, as a distraction, in fact, always bored in the house is also boring enough.

The women on the other carriages have already got off the carriage and gathered behind Pei Si Yan with a smile and a laugh, waiting for the abbot to come to greet them. The guards that followed were under the command of Li Qingyan, quickly surrounding the nunnery to ensure the safety of the masters.

Lady Yuexi looked around and said with some curiosity, ''Little Si really didn't come ah? It's a pity, you should always come and pay your respects when you return."

"No?" Xu, the head mother of the sixth house, agreed, "It's good to come and remove the bad luck, so don't let that bad luck haunt you again. That said, I vaguely remember seeing Little Si when I left the house. Matriarch, Little Si wasn't with you?"

Pei Si Yan shook her head and said faintly, "No, I didn't see her."

That said, she felt that this younger sister was a bit strange - these days, Tantai Si had eaten and chatted with the clan members without any semblance of abnormality, yet she had not once talked alone with her, her older sister. Although she wasn't the real Tantai Yan, they were still nominally siblings with the same father and mother, could it be that after five years of not seeing each other, even a little bit of affection didn't exist anymore?

Pei Si Yan considered that perhaps it was because Tantai Yan had grown up cold and stereotypical, so she was not close to her sister.

Sent to investigate the scouts have not returned, Pei Si Yan things a think too much, and feel sleepy unbearable, simply wait until the scouts come back to say, but also leave the sister.

Anyway, Tantai Si can do whatever she wants, as long as it doesn't get in the way of her and the family's interests.

"Lord Wu Pan!" A grey-clothed woman hurriedly walked out of the gate and greeted her, folding her hands and bowing to Pei Si Yan, "Lord Wushan has come, I've missed the welcome, please see you."

"No harm done." Pei Si Yan smiled casually, sizing up the middle-aged woman in front of her, she was not tall, the person was very thin, and had a kind look, which was instantly appealing.

"Poverty Nun Hui Lin, Lord Wu Pan as well as all the monks, please come in." The abbot took a step to the side and made an invitation gesture.

Pei Si Yan nodded to the abbot and led a group of women into the nunnery. From the outside, Qingzhu nunnery was a quiet and elegant place, but only after walking in did she realise that it was a different world.

Huge expensive incense burner emitted bursts of white smoke, rich sandalwood scent in the air dispersion, through the curling smoke can be vaguely see the solemn and magnificent hall, and that a white jade like snow Guanyin statue, the surrounding buildings than the general temples and Taoist temples do not know how many times to be refined and chic. Thirty to forty grey-clothed nuns stood respectfully on both sides of the road, and immediately bowed neatly when they saw the Tantai family clansmen come in.

Pei Si Yan is not very interested in Buddhism, but to this place can not not give people face, hastily kneeling on the incense, will leave the time and space for the female members of the clan, oneself out of the hall, looking for a shady place, sitting on the edge of the flower beds, boredom and look around.

In the empty courtyard, there are only a few people, only a few nuns with brooms quietly cleaning, the big hall from the vague sound of talking, the distant trees of the mockingbird spared no effort to call, and there is nothing to see, Pei Siyan with wide sleeves fan, gauze outerwear light dance like butterfly wings, bring a cool breeze, and then play with embroidered pink lotus pattern of the poncho, haphazardly wrapped around and around, tied a beautiful bow, and then loosened then knitted other patterns, and then loosened then knitted a beautiful bow, and then loosened then knitted a pretty bow, and then loosened then loosened and then knitted a pretty bow. Then loosen and weave other patterns.

The nuns who hurriedly passed by saluted Pei Si Yan and then quickly left again.

Pei Si Yan looked in the direction of the main hall, the ladies were still kowtowing and praying for blessings, many people were waiting in the back of the queue.

Sitting around like this was boring, Pei Si Yan stood up, ready to go find someone to take herself around for a casual visit to pass the time, when out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at a purple-clad guard with a cloud pattern on his sleeve hurriedly walking in.

If not for the absence of important matters, a guard would never break into a nunnery.

Pei Si Yan stopped her steps and waited for the guard to come closer to her, "What happened?"

The guard bowed and said softly, "My lord, the emperor has declared you for an audience."

Pei Si Yan narrowed her eyes slightly, sizing up the guard carefully again and again, "Who came to the residence to tell you? Did it say what it was about?"

"A chamberlain surnamed Huang beside the Emperor," the guard replied, "Did not specify what the matter was, only said that the Emperor was in a hurry to see you, and asked you to enter the palace quickly."

"Go." Pei Si Yan tugged on a passing nun and said to her, "Please go to the temple and say something for me, just say that I have something that requires me to go back to the imperial capital first, and that all of you are here on your own to offer incense and eat vegetarian fasting."

"Yes, Lord Witch Pan."

As Pei Si Yan turned around, she glanced towards the temple again, her red lips curved slightly, a hint of a disdainful smile surfacing, a cold humming sound emanating from her nose, before leading the guards out of the Clear Bamboo Nunnery.

Tantai Yuan had been intentionally looking at Pei Si Yan in the courtyard, seeing her get up and leave with the guards, she hurriedly coughed a few times, and when she saw that Lady Yuexi noticed her coughing, she smiled at her cousins around her and walked out of the great hall, heading towards a secluded area of the place.

The little nun that Pei Si Yan had instructed brushed past her and entered the main hall to explain to the crowd what Lord Wuban had instructed her to do, and the ladies nodded their heads to show that they understood.

Lady Yuexi was a little distracted, her heart startled when she heard Tantai Yuan's coughing, glancing in the direction she had left, whispering a few words to Xu and following Tantai Yuan out as if nothing had happened.

Lady Yuexi rounded the corner and found no sign of Tantai Yuan in all directions, she was surprised, that day in the Ruihe Building, they had agreed that if there was any change, Tantai Yuan would cough three times as a reminder, and then they would look for an unoccupied corner before making their next move, but after following the person out, there was no trace of her, and it felt as if she was being tricked.

Just when Lady Yuexi was angry and panicked, Tantai Yuan poked half her head out from behind a house and waved at her.

"Not big or small." Lady Yuexi scolded in a low voice, if she hadn't been working with Tantai Yuan on a grand plan, she would have hated to slap her, the people of the second house were always disgusting no matter who they were.

Behind that house was a small flower garden with a small gazebo in the middle, except for Tantai Yuan, there was no one there.

"What the hell are you up to, suddenly gone!" Lady Yuexi could hardly hold back her dissatisfaction and said in a slightly chastising tone.

Tantai Yuan wiped her lips with a silk handkerchief that she didn't really care about and laughed, "I always have to find a place where no one is around to talk, ah? What if there are ears on the walls and someone hears it? That would be a lost cause."

Lady Yuexi bristled, her white and slender fingers pressed on her chest, today was the day the plan was to be implemented, and at first she was barely able to put her mind at ease, but as soon as Pei Siyan left, when she thought of the conditions her niece would encounter on the road, her heart involuntarily sped up and she was barely able to breathe properly.

"Is something wrong?" Lady Yuexi asked with difficulty.

Tantai Yuan slowly and methodically tucked the silk handkerchief back into her sleeve and said, "Auntie, Tantai Yan is on her way to the Ghost Gate, I wonder if you would be interested in seeing it with your own eyes?"

"Suddenly leaving this isn't making people suspicious?" Lady Yuexi frowned, what kind of trick is this Tantai Yuan playing again.

"Auntie, Tantai Yan is taking the excuse that she needs to go back to the Imperial Capital for an important matter to leave, you can also find an excuse ah?" Tantai Yuan said, "You and the matriarch have always been as close as mother and daughter, the clansmen are all there for all to see, who would suspect that it was you who killed the matriarch? Moreover, Tantai Yan will be sent to me immediately after she is captured, you won't have a chance to speak to her again, don't you want to take out the grievances you've had for so many years?"

Lady Yuexi didn't reply, her tightly furrowed brow slightly loosened and unfurled, what Tantai Yuan said wasn't unreasonable ...

"If auntie is willing, I've already prepared the carriage."

Lady Yuexi quietly clenched her fingers, her finely manicured nails almost poking through her delicate palm, "Fine, I'll go!"

"Then auntie please." Tanyuu smiled pleasantly.

"Are you coming with me?" Lady Yuexi hurriedly asked.

"The eldest house and the second house have always been incompatible, if you and I leave together, won't that make people suspicious?" Tantai Yuan explained, looking around alertly, "Auntie, I've arranged the carriages and guards, they won't realise that you're following behind until Tantai Yan is caught."

Lady Yuexi nodded, casually searching for a good excuse, and returned to the great hall with quick steps.

Tantai Yuan looked at her aunt's back, the corners of her mouth slightly raised, revealing a wicked smile.