Tang riddles

After the ceremony, the group of people still stayed in the temple to recuperate, and the departure date was set on the tenth day of March.

Zhang said that these days he plays chess to relieve his boredom, and he grabs everyone he meets to talk about a game.The first person he arrested was Shen Sui, but he didn't expect that Shen Sui was a stinky chess player, and his chess skills were really unbearable.However, Zhang said that asking her to play chess was out of ulterior motives. After repeated probing, Shen Sui understood, and Zhang said it was implying that she would go to Zhang's mansion to propose marriage after returning to Luoyang.Shen Sui felt bitter in her heart, why would she not want to, but now is not the time.So he could only hem and haw, and responded vaguely, which was considered to have passed the test of Zhang Shuo.

At the end of the chess game, Shen Sui counted, Zhang Shuoyu looked at her earnestly and said:

"Bo Zhao, about the princess...do you know?"

Shen Sui remained silent.

Zhang said that he couldn't see what she was thinking, so he could only say:

"The matter between Princess Jin and the maidservant is a misunderstanding, so don't think too much about it."

Shen Sui deliberately asked:

"What's the matter between Princess Jin and Mrs. Zhang? Is it because Mrs. Zhang visited Buddhist temples in the world on behalf of Princess Jin this time?"

Zhang said he looked embarrassed, paused, and then explained:

"Bo Zhao, you are my niece and son-in-law that Zhang Shuo values. There are some things that I don't want to hide from you, and I hope you will know about them as soon as possible. You are not in Chang'an, so you may have never heard of the story of the Jin princess falling in love with the lotus maid."

Shen Sui's eyebrows twitched slightly, but he didn't speak.

Zhang said that seeing her expression, he became more and more worried, and quickly continued to explain:

"It's just that the princess was confused for a while, and the maidservant has always kept her sense of proportion. There is no cross-border behavior between the two of them. Bo Zhao, you must trust the maidservant."

"Don't worry, Mr. Zhang, I never doubted Mrs. Zhang San. It's just this incident that surprised me." Shen Sui said slowly.

"Alas..." This incident was really difficult for Zhang Shuo to say, "The maidservant and the princess have always been classmates and close friends. During that time, the princess lost her husband and mother, and she was distraught, so the maidservant entered the house. Taking care of the princess mansion. But I never thought that it would cause the princess to develop feelings that shouldn't be there. Fortunately, the lotus maid has always been cautious and widowed, so she promptly terminated the work of taking care of the princess mansion. But, Bo Zhao, I'm just afraid that if you go back to Luoyang, once you bring up your marriage, it may be difficult to avoid conflict with the princess."

Shen Sui remained silent.

"Bo Zhao, I'm sorry for you." Zhang said with a sigh.

Shen Sui panicked, and hurriedly said: "Why did Mr. Zhang say that?"

"It was my fault that I concealed this matter and forcibly linked you with the maidservant. I don't want you to get involved in the incident. The princess is not a good-looking person. You are not high in status and have no backing. I am afraid that you will not be able to compete with the princess. If not, it’s over.”

"Mr. Zhang, how could I go back on my word? Now that I have made a marriage contract, no matter how hard it is, I, Shen Bozhao, will marry Sanniang in a dignified manner." Shen Sui expressed his attitude.

"Okay, Bo Zhao, I saw the right person. Don't worry, as long as you never leave, I Zhang said that even if I risk my life, I will help you get married with the lotus maid." Zhang said with a gratified smile up.

Shen Sui sighed inwardly, this conversation was just a temptation between her and Zhang Shuo.Zhang said that she was testing her determination towards the lotus maid, and she was testing Zhang Shuo's attitude.Naturally, her attitude towards the lotus maid will not be changed, and there is no need to hide this matter from Zhang.However, Zhang's attitude made Shen Sui a little worried. It was obviously impossible for him to accept the union of two women.He is currently dressed in men's clothing, so he has no doubts about him, so he naturally supports him with all his strength.But once his identity is accidentally exposed, will he still support himself like this?

Shen Sui only felt that the road he walked was really like walking on thin ice.The world is vast, but there are few people who really help each other.

Zhang said that he still had some doubts in his heart, Shen Bozhao, who has not long met the lotus maid, is it true that he is so affectionate?To be able to fight against the dignified princess Jin Guo for the sake of the lotus maid, without any fear.Although Shen Sui concealed it very well, Zhang Shuo, who has an extremely sensitive political sense, still noticed some of this person's ambitions.No matter what Shen Bozhao's purpose is, it can be used by him at present.This person's heart is not bad, you can rest assured that the lotus maid entrusts him.Don't be afraid of being ambitious, a man should always have some ambitions.Shen Bozhao is cautious and prudent, knowing how to measure.Zhang said that his health was getting worse and worse, and if he wanted to return to court, he might have to fight here.

Jiuling, oh Jiuling, the future and destiny of you and my sworn brothers, the future and destiny of the dynasty, are all tied to a weak woman and a sixth-rank judicial official. It is not sad.

Zhang Shuo, who lived a life of ups and downs in the officialdom, gradually became aware of some discordant rhythms in the dynasty's prosperity and long songs after he was dismissed from office. Harassment, treachery and sycophants are in power, and local military governors are gradually out of control. This prosperous world has finally come, which makes it difficult for veteran officials of his generation to rest assured.

***

On the ninth day of March, the sky was cloudy and the sun was not clear.The temperature is quite comfortable, and the mountain breeze blows, making the scenery in the temple more and more pleasant.

Shen Jin was sitting in the courtyard of the guest room, cleaning his Jiaowei piano. If he played the piano every day these days, even the best piano would wear out.The blue robin waited by her side, and the fine mountain spring water brewed the green tea leaves. This is the best camellia given by the temple, and the clear brewing flavor is the best.

"Erlang, drink tea." Bluebird held the tea cup and handed it to Shen Jin.

Shen Jin reached out to take the teacup, took a sip, and with a flicker from the corner of his eyes, he saw a figure appearing on the cherry blossom tree by the courtyard wall not far away.When the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, that person seemed to be lying in a soft pink cloud, with blossoming cherry petals lining her handsome face. She was holding a knife, sitting sideways on a branch, with one leg hanging down, shaking slightly.

The breeze blows, the cherry rain falls, and the scenery is picturesque.

"Erlang, isn't that... Qianhe?" Blue Robin asked doubtfully.

Shen Jin's eyes flickered, he held the blue robin, and said a word to her.The bluebird nodded, and shouted to the man on the cherry tree:

"Mr. Qianhe, why don't you enter the courtyard and drink a cup of green tea."

Qianhe smiled and said: "Thank you Erlang for inviting me, Qianhe just drank a lot of water, and really can't drink tea."

The bluebird asked, "Why did you drink a lot of water?"

Qianhe replied: "Because I just finished practicing the knife, I was sweating all over, and I was extremely thirsty, so I went to the well in the temple and drank to my full."

The blue robin asked again: "Why do you have to practice your sword skills so hard this early in the morning?"

"Because Shen Dalang went to look for Sanniang early in the morning, Wu Ya and I couldn't stay, so we had to avoid it. I had nothing to do, so I practiced sword skills." Qian He replied with a smile.

"Then why are you here?"

"Come here looking for the fragrance of cherry blossoms. In my hometown, the cherry blossoms bloom beautifully every spring. Qianhe misses it very much."

The bluebird stopped asking, but Qianhe knew that it was Shen Jin who stopped asking.The series of questions and answers just now were only asked by Shen Jin through the mouth of the blue robin.The alienation and suspicion over the past few days had already made Shen Jin unwilling to get close to him, so she didn't get close to her either, just like that, just right.The seemingly free and easy smile on the corner of Qianhe's mouth was slightly bitter.

She pulled out the shakuhachi from her belt, wiped the mouthpiece with her sleeve, put it to her lips, and began to blow.This is a song chanting cherry blossoms, which is often heard in the court of Pingcheng capital.While blowing, Qianhe suddenly remembered that when she was eight years old, she was standing in the shadow of the porch of Fujiwara's house, secretly looking at the banquet under the cherry blossom tree in the distant yard, her biological father, in his arms Hugging a strange woman and making out.Her adoptive mother stood behind her, put her hands on her shoulders, and said softly:

"Did you see it? If you see it, remember that you have nothing to do with him. "

The Shakuhachi tune took a sharp turn, her sobs were difficult to continue, her throat was choked up, and it was rare that she couldn't keep playing.

Suddenly, she heard a distant plucking of the strings. It was Shen Jin playing the piano to pick up the broken note. The tune of the cherry song was simple. She only listened to it once, then memorized it, and now she played it smoothly.

Shen Jin played it twice, Qianhe's mood improved, he adjusted his mood, and continued to play. The long-lost piano and flute ensemble finally reappeared.The sound of leisurely music echoed in the monastery, faintly revealing a sense of sadness and Huaiyuan.

***

Shen Sui clutched the object, tucked his hands into his sleeves, feeling inexplicably nervous.Just diagonally in front of her, Zhang Ruohan was holding two scriptures and was about to send them back to the bookshelf.

They are in the Sutra Pavilion of Yuquan Temple.When she went to look for Zhang Ruohan this morning, it happened that Zhang Ruohan was planning to go to the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion.Zhang Ruohan was a little indifferent to her, Shen Sui could only follow her, so the two came here directly.Zhang Ruohan has borrowed a lot of scriptures to read these days, and copied the ones he couldn't finish reading, and now he is here to return the scriptures.

Seeing that the bookshelf was too high, Zhang Ruohan struggled to put the scroll on tiptoe, Shen Sui hurriedly stepped forward, stood by her side, took the book in her hand, and put it on the shelf.

"Lotus maid..." The sudden closeness made Shen Sui's nervousness even worse.

"It's just a small birthday, and it's not a full year, so why come to me?" Zhang Ruohan lowered her eyebrows and didn't look at her, and asked lightly.

She knew that she was here for her birthday, and she pointed it out directly.Shen Sui's heart tightened, she seemed a little angry, was she angry at her intentional alienation these days?

"Lotus maid, I miss you very much these days, I'm sorry..." Shen Sui said in a low voice.

"You apologized to me again..." Zhang Ruohan's tone revealed resentment and anger.

Shen Sui pursed his lips tightly, not daring to speak.

"Okay, I never blamed you." How could Zhang Ruohan have the heart to really blame her?She has always understood Shen Sui's heart, and also understood what she should do to be the best for the two of them.

However, it was still a bit sad after all.

Shen Sui couldn't help stretching out his hand to hold her hand, Zhang Ruohan realized that this was the Buddhist scriptures pavilion, and moved his hand, but did not move away, and followed her.

Fortunately, Shen Sui knew how to measure and did not take any further actions. This place is indeed no better than the suburbs of Jiangling, nor the private house of the governor's mansion. This time she came to look for Zhang Ruohan, which was already out of the ordinary.

"Lotus maid, happy birthday. I have nothing to do these few days, so I made a little thing for you." After speaking, Shen Sui took out the object from his sleeve, and held it in front of Zhang Ruohan like a treasure.

Zhang Ruohan took a closer look and found that it was a beautiful magnolia flower - a lotus flower carved out of wood.The palm is big, and it looks like a bud, with lotus seeds in the heart of the flower.The carving is extremely delicate, the polishing is exquisite, the color is beautiful, and the wood grain is very clear and tasteful.

"It can be opened here." Shen Sui pressed one of the mechanisms for moving the lotus seeds, and the layers of lotus petals carved out of the wooden block slowly bloomed like this. Zhang Ruohan saw the four lotus petals in the innermost circle On it, the scriptures of the Heart Sutra are engraved in beautiful small seal scripts, the strokes are as thin as a mosquito's feet, it is really hard to imagine how Shen Sui could achieve such meticulous seal engraving.

"Lotus maid, this can be used to store your holding beads. Your wrist beads with fourteen bodhi seeds can just fit in. The wood I use is the best red sandalwood, which can just grow bodhi seeds. This lotus pod The small pillars can also be opened, and I embedded a copper base inside, which can be used to burn incense, hold it in your hand to play, warm up in winter, and repel mosquitoes in summer.”

This person... how could he be so caring... Zhang Ruohan's eyes were a little moist.

The fourteen bodhi seed wrist beads, she often wears on her wrist, and uses them when reciting Buddhist scriptures and practicing Buddhism in daily life.Because the string of [-] bodhi holding beads is too precious, it is a relic left by her mother, unless it is absolutely necessary, she does not often take it out.On the day when we first met in Ci'en Temple, it happened that she was chanting scriptures for the dead Abbot Miaopu and Shanyin in her own room, so she took out the [-] Bodhi seed holding beads, and because she felt something while chanting, she temporarily stopped , before he put on his outer robe, he went out to the plum garden in the outer courtyard with the pearl in his hand, stood under the plum tree in a daze, and then met Shen Sui as fate would have it.

Fourteen, representing the fourteen fearlessness of Guanyin.The symbol of Avalokitesvara is the lotus, so Shen Sui made a magnolia lotus and engraved the "Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra" in it.And it just so happens that my name and character are "Lian".Every part of this object is exquisitely adapted to her, and it can be seen that it is made with deep care.

Zhang Ruohan silently took the magnolia, and saw that Shen Sui's left hand, which had been hidden all the time, had a bandage tied to his thumb.She grabbed her wrist, but Shen Sui couldn't take it back in time, so he became nervous for a while.

"your hands……"

"It's nothing, just a small injury, I accidentally scratched it with a carving knife." Shen Sui pretended to be careless and said.

Zhang Ruohan's throat choked up, and tears rolled down, wet the corners of his eyes and cheeks.Shen Sui hurriedly wiped away tears for her, and said:

"Don't cry, don't cry, on a happy day, I didn't give you a gift just to make you cry."

She spoke lightly, but Zhang Ruohan knew how difficult it was to make such an exquisite organ magnolia in just a few days.The craftsmanship of Shen Sui's carving and production mechanism is exquisite and proficient, and his knives in handling the carving knife have reached the peak, which is clearly a master's demeanor, how could he hurt himself with ordinary carving.If she hadn't sculpted for herself, she would not have been hurt if she had worked too hard and backfired.

Thinking that I still resented her, I couldn't help but blame myself, and the tears became more violent.

Shen Sui felt extremely distressed, and wanted to give her a small gadget to make her happy, but unexpectedly made her cry and left her at a loss.Ignoring that this is the most important place of Buddhism, he embraced her in his arms, stroked her back, and murmured "Don't cry, don't cry", as if coaxing a child.In order to divert her attention, she turned the Mulian over, and Zhang Ruohan saw the four seal characters in the center of the bottom through her tearful eyes:

Heart lotus bliss

"Look, Xinlian is very happy, you have to smile happily after accepting this gift, otherwise I have to change it to 'Xinlian is extremely bitter'." Shen Sui said.

Zhang Ruohan let out a "puchi", and was successfully teased by Shen Sui and laughed.

Seeing her smile, Shen Sui hurriedly continued to work hard: "I also made a lot of fun gadgets for you. I make them every year on your birthday. I have accumulated 17 of them, and this is No. [-]. It's a pity I didn’t bring it out this time, and it’s all left in my mansion in Luoyang. When I return to Luoyang, I’ll bring it to you. Let’s make it clear in advance, don’t laugh at me, I did a terrible job at the first few Yes, the workmanship was too poor, and it got better later on.”

"Why... didn't you take it to Chang'an?" Zhang Ruohan wiped away her tears, calmed down her emotions, and murmured with a nasal tone, with a rare sweetness in her tone.

"Hey..." Shen Sui smirked embarrassedly, "I never thought about meeting you in Chang'an. I originally wanted to take you to Luoyang for a short stay after everything was over, so that I could get to know me My brothers and sisters, and then we will go to Jinling to settle down. I have been in Luoyang for six years, and it is also the current headquarters of Qianyumen, which is my second home. Therefore, I did not bring out many belongings.”

Zhang Ruohan was silent, and slowly clenched the skirt of her chest.

Shen Sui saw that she hadn't spoken for a while, and just about to speak, she heard Zhang Ruohan say:

"Chishi, when did you... treat me..." She was not ashamed to say the following words, but the meaning was obvious. She was asking when Shen Sui had thoughts of love for her.

Shen Sui's face was a little flustered, and he dawdled and said: "That's... the year I went to Chang'an to take the exam at the age of 16, I secretly went to see you, for some reason, just... I didn't understand these things at first, but before that It’s just that I miss you very much, and I miss you too much, but it seems that I can’t compare to how I miss you. Later, I vaguely understood.”

Zhang Ruohan smiled, sweet and slightly sour, with a warm heart.

She said: "Chishi, don't be afraid, when I go back, I will have everything. If she can't accept you, I will talk to her."

"Um……"

"Everything will be fine." She closed her eyes and said.

The author has something to say: this is the last chapter of the second volume, and the next chapter enters the third volume.The beginning of the third volume will be quite different, because it will start to enter the part of the flashback, starting from the three of them when they were young.Shen Sui's life experience and the bonds of the three of them will unfold slowly in the third volume.