After waking up from a nightmare, Tai Chen felt severe pain and screamed immediately. Jiang Pi threw an apple to gag her mouth accurately.
She looked at everyone in the room in horror, such as Fourth Lord Geng and several of his companions, and... Tai Shan and Tai Xi! Tai Chen looked at Tai Xi like seizing the life-saving straw. She hoped that Tai Xi could save her. She didn"t want to go to jail or die! 26 years ago, she and her uncle pa.s.sed by Yangzhou. Her uncle was jailed for reselling the philter and then died in jail—she didn"t want to go to jail!
Tai Xi read a chant and ignored Tai Chen"s gaze for help. Then she looked at Master Geng.
Master Geng nodded and said, "Since the account book is found in the Medicine Room, the suspicions of the rest of you will be eliminated." Tai Shan and Tai Xi felt relieved, but Master Geng continued, "But there is such bigoted woman in your Taoist Temple. You not only don"t know it, but also provide her with a place refining pills. Tai Chen, as an ascetic, was wors.h.i.+pped by local people, but did a dirty and harmful work behind her back. Are you aware of your sin?" Tai Shan and Tai Xi kowtowed to apologize for their guilt with fear.
Jiang Yi leafed through the account book and said, "Master Geng, the two nuns named Zhen Wei and Zhen Ping got 1.5 liang silver and 1.2 liang respectively besides Tai Chen..." Liao Zhiyuan sneered. Jiang Yi shook his head and continued, "Although they claimed that they were totally unaware of what Tai Chen did, they just helped Tai Chen deliver letters. However, the quant.i.ty of banned drugs is staggering. In addition to dozens of nearby brothels, buyers also involved in the Fourth-Grade high-ranking officials in the imperial court. Therefore, all people related to this case must be arrested on the spot. As for whether they are innocent or not, we"ll see after the joint hearing of 3 departments."
Jiang Pi said with a smile, "Those Taoist nuns are really timid. I went out and called Zhen Wei and Zhen Ping"s names just now and just asked them to come forward to be bound. Then more than 7 Taoist nuns fell in a faint in the courtyard!"
Master Geng pondered for a moment and said, "Jiang Yi and Jiang Pi, detain Tai Chen and another two Taoist nuns who are involved in the case in the wood house of the West Wing-room. You will be in charge of guarding in turn. They can neither escape nor die. We won"t punish them until we leave the Taoist Temple."
Hearing Master Geng"s order, Jiang Yi and Jiang Pi took Tai Chen and others who were tied up out of the room. Tai Chen stared at Tai Xi in despair, hoping that Tai Xi could plead for her. Tai Chen knew that ascetics had many privileges. Even the current emperor wors.h.i.+pped Taoism. As long as she could earn a bare living, she would rather hand over all the banned drugs and silvers!
However, Tai Xi just read a chant and stopped talking. Tai Chen lay on the ground with her hair disheveled. She looked sad and was dragged away by Jiang Yi rudely. Seeing this scene, some of the Taoist nuns who were locked in Fu Mian Yard were too timid to fall into a coma.
Master Geng glanced at Tai Xi and others, then said in a low voice, "Although you have exonerated the charges of making the banned drugs, you have sheltered the wicked for more than 20 years. So, you must be punished. Shui Shang Temple brings shame on Taoism. I order you to shut yourself up and reflect on your misdeeds. You can"t do business with the outside world in the next 6 months, or you will be severely punished!" Tai Shan and Tai Xi kneeled to thank him hastily.
Duan Xiaolou said coldly, "Do you know? If Miss He didn"t come to plead for you in spite of the cold night wind and helped with the evidence, you would all spend the rest of your life in Yangzhou Prison." Tai Shan and Tai Xi were so scared that they kowtowed repeatedly, chanting "Bless you" and so on.
In the courtyard of the East Wing, Zhen Jing served a bowl of ginger tea with sugar for He Danggui and advised, "Since you have a cold, you should sleep more in the room. Why do you sit in a daze in the courtyard? Our courtyard is bare and there is no gra.s.s at all. What are you looking at? Let"s go back to the room!"
He Danggui closed her eyes and took a deep breath, saying, "What a cool autumn." Then she walked into the room. Zhen Jing stood in the courtyard in confusion.
The next day, Tai Chen was in custody and Tai Xi was sick. So, Tai Shan grasped at the authority by herself in the Taoist Temple. After she took office, the first thing she did was to order the nuns to stun with stick and tie up the 7 disciples of Tai Chen, including Zhen Shu, Zhen Gong, Zhen Jue and others. Then she ordered Biddy Cheng and Biddy Wu to take and sell them down the hill with the cart.
Zhen Zhu stopped Biddy Cheng and persuaded Tai Shan, saying that the Medicine Room was in a mess. All the medicinal materials were scattered on the ground and the medical books were out of order. In the whole Taoist Temple, only the disciples of Tai Chen could recognize a few herbal medicines. They might as well let them do some ch.o.r.es in the Medicine Room and Pill Room, and then punish them later.
A hint of maliciousness flashed in Tai Shan"s eyes. She bit her teeth and said nefariously, "The disciples of Tai Chen turned a blind eye to me like their master and often monitored my actions. Now the evils Tai Chen brought on herself were the hardest to bear. Her disciples should also suffer the same! Be sure to sell them into the lowest brothel so that they would never get out of the fire pit until their death! This is the end of opposing me!"
Zhen Zhu sighed inwardly and found an excuse to leave. She didn"t leave until she walked around the Temple. After waiting for a while on the hillside, she saw Biddy Cheng and Biddy Wu, who were tall and st.u.r.dy, pus.h.i.+ng a two-wheeled cart and heading for the hillside of the mountain.
Zhen Zhu stopped their cart at once and said with a smile, "Biddy Cheng and Biddy Wu, have a rest in here. No need to rush. I pa.s.sed by the mountain stream and took some just now. You might as well take a sip of it before you keep walking."
Putting the cart aside, Biddy Cheng wiped her sweat and glanced at Zhen Zhu, saying with a sneer, "Hum, your master said that you didn"t look right when you went out. You should come to disturb what we want to do. As expected, you are here! You"ve been waiting here for quite a while, haven"t you?"
Zhen Zhu became stern.
Biddy Wu looked at her impatiently and said rudely, "Zhen Zhu, we have to hurry on with our journey before dark. Get out of the way! You are a visionary and promising person. In the future, you may be the new Master of Shui Shang Temple. These silly girls always have a bone to pick up with you. Why do you care about them?"
Zhen Zhu managed to smile and persuaded patiently, "We are all acquainted with each other in Shui Shang Temple. All beings grieve for their fellow beings. Please show your mercy to leave them a way for living! Don"t sell them to the brothel. Sell them to the rich as maids!"
Biddy Cheng smiled disdainfully and said, "Zhen Zhu, you are really a kind-hearted person. Will we all be unscrupulous? But if we sell them as maids, we can only get 15 strings of 1,000 qian in total. If we sell them to the brothel, everyone can be sold at least 7 liang silver. So, 7 of them means more than 50 liang silver! Who"s going to make up the difference for us? We are just here to go on a message, and then will take the money back to your master to report on our mission! I"m not the one who came up the idea of selling them to the brothel. So, I have no choice!"
Zhen Zhu felt happy and nodded at once, then said, "That"s good to hear. I"ll make up the difference! I still have more than 50 liang silver, which can be withdrawn in the money shop in Tu"er Town. But I sneak out of the Taoist Temple just now and should run back to hand over the affairs and call the roll in the morning immediately. Why don"t you send them to the rich first and then live in Yuelai Inn to wait for me? I will give you the money no later than tomorrow morning!"
Biddy Cheng said with a smile, "You think we are so gullible! If you don"t show up in due course, we won"t dare to go back to the Taoist Temple to report and have to get a new job in another place. In this way, you can achieve what you wish. We will also be charged with "absconding with the money" by your master, then you will notify the local yamen to arrest us! What a good plan!"
Biddy Wu looked at Zhen Zhu"s old robes disdainfully and asked, "Didn"t you say that you were driven out by your husband and parents-in-law and begged all the way to Shui Shang Temple? Why do you have 50 liang of saving?"
Zhen Zhu had nothing to say in reply, so she had to stretch out her hands to bar the mountain road, and insisted, "I will act up to my promise and won"t repudiate a debt. 50 liang silver is not a lot of money for me. I can definitely afford it! Please believe me this time. In this way, you will a.s.semble yourself a good fortune and acc.u.mulate a good virtue. Biddy Cheng, you have a granddaughter. Just think of her as you look at them. Please, show your mercy to them!"
Biddy Cheng spit before Zhen Zhu and blamed her angrily, "Bah! These b.i.t.c.hes are born to be b.i.t.c.hy. They aren"t qualified to take the shoes for my granddaughter! You dare to compare them with my granddaughter. Don"t you want to live?" Biddy Cheng"s daughter worked as a maid for a rich and influential family in the early years and became the waiting-maid (maid in name, concubine in reality) later because she was pregnant with the Young Master"s child. Afterwards, she gave birth to a daughter, who was smart and beautiful. This girl was favored as the pride in Biddy Cheng"s family. They hoped that the girl could marry a good family in the future so that the whole family could live a prosperous life.
Biddy Wu pushed Zhen Zhu and said coldly, "If you have money, give it to us now. Otherwise, give way then, or we"ll bring you to light in front of your master. You will be severely punished by then!" Zhen Zhu bit her lips and refused to give way.
"Well, I"ll give you the money." A colder voice came suddenly behind them.
Biddy Cheng and Biddy Wu turned around simultaneously and saw a girl. She wore a light apricot skirt with small-sleeved narrow style, covering with a pale pinkish purple-colored cloak, standing behind them. The girl didn"t make up and had red lips and white teeth. She looked at here quietly. The strong wind of the mountains and forests constantly blew her clothes and blew her hair off, seeming like she was going to fly with the wind. Biddy Cheng was already an old lady over 50 years old. She couldn"t help being shocked when she saw such a beautiful girl. If her granddaughter was a beauty, the girl in front of her was almost a fairy she had never seen before!
Since Biddy Cheng felt that the girl in front of her was more beautiful than her granddaughter, she said unkindly, "Oh, you must be Miss He. Aren"t you a Miss of an eminent family? How can you be so impolite? You have no right to meddle the housework of the Taoist Temple!" When being detained in Fu Mian Yard yesterday, she heard Tai Shan say that He Danggui might be able to help them plead for mercy. So, Biddy Cheng regarded He Danggui as a bodhisattva, and talked about her half of the night.
Now the problem was solved, Biddy Cheng"s att.i.tude to Miss He was very different from before. She looked at He Danggui disdainfully, thinking that she was just a b.a.s.t.a.r.d who was abandoned by her parents and then had to live in their Taoist Temple. Even if she was beautiful, she was destinated to be a concubine in the future!
He Danggui was despised, but she was not angry. She stared at Biddy Cheng with a faint smile, saying, "Here is 50 liang silver. I wonder if you can make an exception in my favor and sell those in the cart to a decent family?"
Biddy Cheng took the bag dubiously and was shocked to see the inside. There were 5 of 10 liang silver, 50 liang silver in total in the bag! Biddy Cheng became ecstatic at once. Then she nodded and said, "Okay, okay! Well, you prove yourself of Luo"s Family. You are really generous! Miss He is not only beautiful, but good-hearted. You"re sure to marry a good husband in the future!"
He Danggui said with a smile, "It depends on your support. Be careful on the road."