Buddha's Book of Beauty

Emperor Yun Qi has been sleeping restlessly for the past few days, and often dreamed of terrifying scenes, so he invited Taoists and mages in the palace, but after several searches, he did not find any evil spirits, instead it was a corpse slaughterer among the mages I came to report that there was movement on the corpse plate at Zhanghua Street outside the palace.

On the thick Shengjing Code, page [-], article [-], expressly forbids raising walking corpses. If someone dared to disobey the imperial order, Emperor Yunqi immediately sent an imperial envoy, together with the mage, to Zhanghua Street to search. At noon the next day, the imperial envoy Then the relevant people were brought into the palace for interrogation.

In Dali Temple, a group of people knelt down.Ruan Ji, Xue Qingluo, Gu Tao, the prince, Zhang Bi and four other common people.

Knowing about the walking corpse, Emperor Yun Qi scanned everyone's faces.Each has his own thoughts and suspicions.

"Prince—" Although Emperor Yun Qi had a sick look on his face, he still maintained a supreme majesty, looking at Yun Chengyu with sharp eyes.Yun Chengyu knelt down slowly, cupped his hands and said: "This matter is indeed my fault. In the past few days, there were landslides in the middle of Beijing, and my minister was out to comfort the victims. It happened that there was a disturbance in the mansion. There was a collapse accident, so I went to see it, but I have never been in contact with a walking corpse, so how would I know that the collapse was caused by a walking corpse? Fortunately, no one died, so I condoled the injured and treated the matter as a landslide Second, I saw that Miss Ruan's family was very frightened that day, and I was afraid it would irritate her, so I didn't want to ask more questions, so I asked her to go back and rest early. Thinking about it now, Miss Ruan appeared really suddenly. As for Gu Tao, she only said I came here to pay homage to the martyrs, but I didn't want to suffer such a big change, she was also injured, I really couldn't bear it, so I ordered the imperial doctor to treat her."

"Prince, you are confused—the back house of the mansion has collapsed. Although you have reported to me, you should check it out! It's so unclear, how can you get under control?"

"Father forgives the sin, but my son is incompetent. Although I wanted to find out that day, the palace called me urgently, saying that my father was unwell, and my son was very anxious, so I panicked. Please don't be angry, my son. It's up to you!" Yun Chengyu was extremely ashamed on his face, and he didn't shirk responsibility in his words.

After hearing his words, Emperor Yun Qi's anger subsided a lot. Although the crown prince was cowardly and righteous, Emperor Yun Qi felt very relieved when he saw his filial piety.In fact, for a person in power who is dying and suffering from illness, the ability of the heir is second. If he is too ambitious, sharp-edged, unfeeling and ungrateful, he will feel uneasy.Yun Chengyu was very good at hiding his clumsiness, he would show his talents from time to time, and he was extremely filial, so even though he was not the son of the eldest son, he was named the crown prince, which was highly valued by Emperor Yun Qi.

"Yu'er, I know you are filial. But in the future, don't be so sloppy in handling things..." Emperor Yun Qi taught him earnestly, Yun Chengyu knelt up straight, lowered his eyebrows and accepted it humbly.

"As for you, why do you want to make a statement?" He looked at Xue Qingluo and Gu Tao.

"Although the women of the people have fallen into prostitution, but this is definitely not what I want..."

"Bold, a commoner like you will be called a slave in front of the Holy One!" the chief manager yelled.

Emperor Yun Qi saw that she was extremely lovable, and said: "Just speak according to your usual habits!"

"Thank you, my lord——" Xue Qingluo continued: "That day was the first time my family had a wedding, Mr. Zhang Bi drank some wine, and started talking nonsense, and showed a very strange mark on his body, but Minnv is very tired, although she listens, she doesn't quite understand."

"What did Zhang Bi say?"

"Mr. Zhang said that he was a cousin of the Ruan family, and he often helped them buy boys and girls. Most of them died, but there were also many alive."

"You, what you said is clearly framing me! Your Majesty, how can you trust the words of a prostitute?" Ruan Ji was panicked and didn't want Xue Qingluo to continue talking.

Emperor Yun Qi glanced at Ruan Ji, his eyes were like frost in the cold winter and September, he was shocked and dared not speak any more.

Xue Qingluo continued: "Young Master Zhang also said that only the Ruan Mansion in Shengjing can afford to raise walking corpses, and a walking corpse costs at least a hundred gold every year. And the number of high-quality walking corpses raised by the Ruan Mansion has reached as many as a hundred .As for some inferior ones, each will cost fifty gold a year."

"How can you remember so clearly?" Emperor Yun Qi asked suspiciously.

"Folk girls serve people with their beauty, so naturally they should take care of what the guests say." After hearing this, Emperor Tianqi felt sorry for her beauty, so he said, "Go ahead."

Shen Shu bowed her head and raised her head and said: "Mr. Zhang Bi stayed at the slave's house for several days, and as the top card of Xiangmanlou, the cost of staying for guests is very expensive. It will cost three hundred gold for seven days just for accommodation, let alone a reward." Expenses and other things. Although Mr. Zhang's family is rich, but the family is in decline, if it is not for the help of the Ruan family, and he has no official position and property, how can he get so much money? Thinking of the walking corpse he said a few days ago, I Pay attention, the more you know, the more afraid you will be. I heard that people who have kept walking corpses have unstable temperaments, and sometimes they will suddenly become irritable and hurt others, my slave..." She rolled up her snow-white sleeves, which were covered with bruises, "Although the slave family is a plaything, it really can't bear this kind of abuse. That day the imperial envoy came to Xiangmanlou, and Mr. Zhang went out again. The slave family... the slave family thought that the Holy Spirit would not sit idly by, so I was bold. I came here with the imperial envoy." She was crying as she spoke, the tears were like pearls, rolling down non-stop, her snow-white and elegant face made people feel really heartbroken.

Emperor Yun Qi's tone softened slightly: "Do you know where that Zhang Bi went?"

"Minnv didn't dare to ask more questions, but Mr. Zhang said that he would definitely come back before sunset."

"Zhang Bi is dead." Emperor Yun Qi said.Xue Qingluo was very surprised, "How could it be..." Emperor Yun Qi wanted to find flaws in her face, but he couldn't find any clues.A few days after the walking corpse was exposed, Zhang Bi, who was in charge of the matter, was silenced. It is very clear who did it.

After a long time, Emperor Yun Qi looked at Ruan Ji, "Ruan Aiqing, do you still have something to defend?"

"Chen, Chen... First, even if that Zhang Bi has some friendship with the minister, but once he settled down, the minister has not seen him for a long time, so how can he entrust the matter of walking the corpse to him? Second, the salary of the minister is fixed. , fifty gold per year. Although I have been favored by the Holy One, I often have some good things, but my heart is respectful, and I have been offering them all the time. Where can I get spare money to raise dead bodies? Three times, not to mention that I have little contact with Zhang Bi, Even if I really entrusted him to raise the walking corpses, the minister just got the news, how, how could he kill Zhang Bi so quickly? Emperor Yun Qi listened to his words, even though he was sophistry, he was justified, but seeing An item presented by Dali Temple only hit Ruan Ji on the head, "Look for yourself! Ruan Ji looked at some familiar paper, picked it up, and changed his expression.

"There are more than 20 industries in the four streets in the southeast, northwest, and government-business collusion. Mr. Ruan, what a big deal!" Emperor Yun Qi was obviously angry.

"Chen, Chen..." Ruan Ji quickly thought of the answer in his mind, "I just take care of others, at home...the house has never been extravagant and wasteful, my lord, you, you have to learn from it!" Ruan Ji panicked , To say such a lame reason.

"Your Majesty, that day when the women were making clothes, they saw that Miss Ruan was very generous, and she bought ten pieces of bright brocade from the hardware of Caiyun Pavilion without even blinking an eye. You can only watch from afar as you make fun of the shabbiness." Gu Tao hadn't said anything until now, so he added a sentence at this time.

Emperor Yun Qi sighed, waved his hand, and motioned for the guards to take Ruan Ji into the jail.

"Your Majesty, I've been wronged——" Ruan Ji's cry brought a fairly satisfactory end to this farce.

Xue Qingluo, who was originally threatened by Ruan Mei, suddenly betrayed her at this moment, which made Ruan Mei, who was far away in Chunyue, a little surprised.Then Gu Tao begged for a reward from the sage, with a lot of tongue, redeemed Xue Qingluo, and gave her a mansion and some silver taels.

But what Ruan Mei didn't know was that Gu Tao went to Xiangmanlou on that day, and something unexpected happened in Xue Qingluo's room.

Gu Tao went to Xiangmanlou that day, and found that Xue Qingluo was not in the room, only Zhang Bi who had acupuncture points on the bed.She quietly closed the door, lay down on the table to rest, and fell asleep unconsciously.In a daze, she felt that someone was approaching her, and her vigilance suddenly rose. She felt that the person was getting closer, and found an opportunity to restrain her.

"You?" Gu Tao looked at Xue Qingluo, although he was not surprised, but slightly disappointed.Fortunately, Xue Qingluo didn't know how to punch, otherwise it would be another fight, and it would be bad if it provoked other people.

Xue Qingluo was also very knowledgeable, she didn't yell, but just kept silent and lowered her head.Gu Tao unloaded her knife and said, "Everyone has a reason for doing things, your reason, are you willing to tell me?" She squatted down, her eyes were bright, Xue Qingluo didn't expect her to say such a thing, Just no words.

"If you really want to kill me, please wait for a while. If you don't want to, you can tell me, trust me, I will protect you, okay?" Gu Tao's tone was rare gentle, this Perhaps, the reward for Xue Qingluo's saving her was to give her the privilege of being alone.

Now that her spiritual power is meager, she cannot take out a drop of blood from her personal spiritual world to tell Xue Qingluo all about the past.

When Xue Qingluo heard this, her shoulders trembled a little, but she still didn't dare to look up at her.The shrinking appearance reminded Gu Tao of a vague shadow.She raised Xue Qingluo's hand, "Have you heard of Yan Lingbin?"

Xue Qingluo shook her head.

"If you hold a person's hand, call her name, and draw a character from her name on your hand with a special symbol, you will become a close friend forever and will not leave easily. Xue Qingluo, maybe you are Doubt why I am so enthusiastic about you. But let me tell you, I have never been an enthusiastic person. The things between you and me, maybe you don’t remember, and I can’t tell you now, but please believe me, I didn’t It is necessary to harm you, but there is absolutely a reason to protect you!" Xue Qingluo raised her head and saw a pair of star-like eyes, although the young man in front of her was thin, and she had never heard of Ling Binding, but she wanted to go Believe, want to try a new possibility.

"Clear, clear, clear." She said softly.

Gu Tao smiled, and with his meager spiritual power, he wrote the character "Qing" on her hand with his index finger, and drew some special symbols around the character "Qing".After a while, the characters "Qing" and "Tao" glowing blue flashed a few times, and then disappeared.She led Xue Qingluo's index finger to do the same thing on her own hand.

"If you and I regard each other as close friends, holding each other's hands, as long as we read each other's names, the imprints in our hands will appear."

"Gu—Tao—" Xue Qingluo read slowly, and a "Tao" child appeared.

"That's right." Gu Tao smiled.

Xue Qingluo looked at her and asked timidly: "Are you a woman?"

Gu Tao was stunned for a moment, and said, "Yes."

She thought Xue Qingluo would be disappointed, but she just smiled, "Thank you for accepting me like this."

"Silly girl..." Gu Tao helped her up from the ground.

Xue Qingluo chatted with her for a while, and told her Ruan Mei's plan. Gu Tao revised his plan while listening.In the evening, Gu Tao left Xiangmanlou, went to Shen's residence, rediscussed the plan with Shen Shu, arranged the layout in advance, and released the news of his own death, which made the Ruan family relax their vigilance, and was suddenly taken to the palace by imperial envoys , which killed Ruan Ji by surprise.

Inside the small building of the animal husbandry, the lights are bright.

"Although the emperor punished Ruan Ji, it was not because he was guilty, but to quell the controversy. This Gu Tao can drive the direction of public opinion in a short period of time, so it should not be underestimated."

"The prince, do you want to accept her?" Shen Shu asked.

"Today is really strange. It's rare to hear you say something sour and jealous." Yun Chengyu destroyed the prestige of the Ruan family today, and Shen Shu cares about him so much, how could he be unhappy?

Shen Shu shook her head, "For you, I am not the irreplaceable person. What you want is just some help. So, when are you going to let me go and find someone else?"

"Let you go?" Yun Chengyu raised her chin, "If I want to fall into the darkness, then the one who will accompany me must be you, only you!" Come echo.Shen Shu's hand holding the pen trembled, the ink dots smudged, forming a cloud of fuzzy black smoke on the rice paper.

"You...Are you not afraid that I will tell the Holy Spirit everything you have done?"

"Maybe I thought about it before, but now, I know your biggest weakness—" Yun Chengyu's words made her shudder, she didn't know if he was cheating her, or if he really knew the fear in her heart Things.

"However, if you are willing to tell me who your first man is, maybe I will change my mind..."

"Forget it, you can do whatever you want..." She put away the pen and entered the inner room, and Yun Chengyu followed her in.

The curtain fell lightly, and the setting sun was like blood, dyeing half of the sky in Yungong red.

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Landslides: This article refers to earthquakes.