After rebirth, I joined forces with my mortal enemy to seek revenge.

Turning to look outside the curtain, Pei Jiaoran said, "I understand." She looked at Li Xiujing and smiled obscurely. Get up, put on your clothes, and go to the door.

The person who came to deliver the message was her accompanying servant. The servant stood respectfully at the door, raised his head and looked inside the house. Yesterday, he already knew about the people in the house, but in line with the principle of not saying anything, he just pretended to be completely ignorant. Pei Jiaoran tied his hair again, met him outside the house, and learned about the situation from his mouth.

"Xuanjing committed suicide in prison out of fear of crime. Shen Yunzhou has already rushed over. He has sent people to Chanzhi Temple to inform them to handle the funeral arrangements." Pei Jiaoran returned to the house and stopped in front of the screen. He looked at Li Xiujing and said, "He actually figured it out so quickly."

Li Xiujing looked at her and frowned slightly, "Are you planning to go there now? This happened too suddenly, and your decree restricting Buddhism has not yet been implemented. Most of those crazy believers will use this as an excuse to stop them."

"It was a sudden death. But it was within my expectation. Let's wait until Shen Yunzhou comes to report the situation tomorrow morning."

The next day, it was dawn. Shen Yunzhou and Wu Zuo hurried to Shen Garden to meet Pei Jiaoran. Xuan Jing died suddenly, and he also found out about it late last night. It is reported that Xuanjing hanged himself in his cell with a knot of monk's clothes. When the guards who patrolled in the middle of the night discovered him, he had long since lost his breath. Knowing the importance of Xuanjing among Buddhists, the jailer hurriedly reported the matter to the state capital.

He heard the news and rushed over. An autopsy was ordered to verify the cause of Xuan Jing's death. According to Wu Zuo, Xuanjing's nails were very clean and there was no sign of struggle, so it was considered suicide. The jailer also verified that except for Pei Jiaoran, no one else had seen Xuanjing, and when they went to deliver dinner, Xuanjing was still fine.

Taking the tea from the steward, Shen Yunzhou took a sip. Looking around, he asked, "Did anyone come to the garden last night to inform Mr. Pei?"

"No. But the servants who accompanied her went to look for her at night." The steward looked up and looked around, lowered his voice and said, "General Li came back with her last night and never left again."

Chen Yunzhou's hand holding the tea trembled. He had never heard of any relationship between the two. From what the garden steward said, the two men not only behaved intimately, but also had an extraordinary relationship. With his thoughts at this point, he sighed.

"Forget it. As long as we can open the river safely, other things have nothing to do with me. Send someone to ask Mr. Pei if he's up. It's a serious matter, and we still want her to know something." Shen Yunzhou waved his hand and motioned for the steward to go and inquire about the situation.

The steward took the order and left.

Not long after, Pei Jiaoran's voice sounded at the door.

"Mr. Pei." Shen Yunzhou stood up to greet him.

Xu gave Shen Yunzhou a hand, and Pei Jiaoran asked suspiciously: "Why did Governor Shen come so early in the morning? But something happened on the river?"

"No." Shen Yunzhou looked at Pei Jiaoran carefully and saw that she looked confused. For a moment, he couldn't tell whether she knew Xuan Jing was dead. A look of shame appeared on his face, "Mr. Pei, Xuanjing committed suicide in prison last night out of fear of crime. Someone has ordered someone to inform the director of Chanzhi Temple."

"Xuanjing is dead?" Pei Jiaoran asked in surprise.

Seeing that Pei Jiaoran was not pretending, Shen Yunzhou said: "Yes. He also left a confession, saying that he had deceived the public with his evil words and shaken the country. He only asked for his death in exchange for the peace of the public."

As he spoke, Shen Yunzhou presented Xuanjing's confession.

Pei Jiaoran took the confession and read it carefully, licking his lips. The content was almost the same as what she had imagined. Xuanjing really took all the charges to avoid involving other monks in the temple.

Just a pity. In this game of chess, his decision does not count, but her decision.

"Since Xuanjing once served Huan Qi, he later openly complained about Huan Qi's injustice. He was trying to destabilize the society with his monstrous words." Pei Jiaoran smiled slightly, "Does Shen Ci Shijue think this is an opportunity?"

Hearing this, Shen Yunzhou lowered his head, he was not stupid. At this point, he already understood why Xuan Jing committed suicide in fear of crime. It was because of what Pei Jiaoran said to him. However, he underestimated how cold-blooded politicians can be. His death, instead of stopping the butcher's knife from falling, actually helps.

No one knows the greed and domineering nature of Buddhism. It's just that they also enjoy this division of interests. If Pei Jiaoran hadn't deliberately not appropriated the funds and allocated the money in the name of restricting Buddhist temples, who in Jianghuai would be willing to help her?

Pei Jiaoran stared at Shen Yunzhou, spying the hesitation flashing in his eyes, and there was a smile on his lips. From ancient times to the present, witchcraft has been mixed with hundreds of schools of thought, even Zhuangzi's sage Buyan, and Emperor Xuan's overlord way of the Han Dynasty. Which one is not a tool for the court to establish its authority. Therefore, religion can only exist as a dependence on politics, but cannot exist as a ruler, let alone allow the Buddha to override the court.

Therefore, once the wealth of the Buddhist temple exceeds that of the imperial court, it will become the target of wealth extraction.

However, Pei Jiaoran did not plan to suppress the Buddhist temple as much as possible. After all, it has existed for hundreds of years, and it always has its own meaning. What's more, Emperor Wei also worshiped Buddhism, so he still had to save some face.

"A certain person has been sent to Zenzhi Temple. I hope that the host will give you an explanation, Mr. Pei." Shen Yunzhou said solemnly.

"Really?" Pei Jiaoran sneered, his tone slightly cold, "Xuanjing is guilty after all. If we can't protect Chanzhi Temple from his remnants, we should close the temple. Governor Shen, you are afraid of getting into Abi, but I am not. I will send someone there. Zenzhi Temple is closed to prevent the traitors from escaping."

Seeing Pei Jiaoran's firm attitude and his intention not to let him get too involved in the matter, Shen Yunzhou immediately nodded in agreement.

An hour after Shen Yunzhou left, Feng Yuanxian led the Shence Army to Shen Yuan to receive the prince's teachings, and went straight to Chanzhi Temple. On the grounds that Zenzhi Temple was harboring traitors, the pilgrims were driven away, and Xuanjing's confession was read aloud and posted in front of the temple.

The temple, which was bustling just now, suddenly became extremely quiet.

Qing Fan, who was returning after seeing off the pilgrims, saw Du Neng sitting cross-legged on the bluestone by the pool and walked slowly over.

"Master, senior brother, he is really..." Qingfan hesitated.

On the contrary, Du Neng smiled slightly and said, "That's his handwriting, there's nothing wrong with it. Do you know what mistake your senior brother made?"

"Disciple, listen to the master's teachings!" Qingfan hurriedly knelt down.

Du Neng said: "Your senior brother is wrong in thinking that everyone has compassion and ignores the interests in the eyes of politicians. Your senior uncle Du Hui also argued with her in the past. She said that everyone in the court has compassion, but only She has no compassion for Buddhism. She regards Buddhism as a giant beetle and wishes to destroy it."

"But my Buddha is compassionate and gives alms to the people. How can I not do good deeds? Is that Mr. Pei too extreme?" Qingfan frowned, "I think she is also compassionate towards the Buddha. She just doesn't know how to give. With this compassion, I would like to meet this Prime Minister Pei and hear her views."

Hearing this, Du Neng remained silent. He naturally likes Qingfan's temperament, but he is worried that Qingfan's intelligence may not be useful when facing politicians like Pei Jiaoran.