The White Horse Temple abbot's meditation room was filled with the strong smell of alcohol. The monks passing by were not surprised when they smelled it. Great Master Huai Yi was happy without alcohol. As long as he was in the temple, there was never a time when he did not drink.
From time to time, loud noises would come from the meditation room. Sometimes it sounded like a wine jar had been smashed, and sometimes it sounded like a wooden table had been smashed. The monks passing by were not surprised when they heard it. How could a drunk Great Master Huai Yi not go crazy?
Smelling the smell of alcohol and hearing the noises, the fake monk smiled knowingly and swaggered away. The real monk put his palms together and said in his heart, "Sin! Sin! " If Daoist Yi Zhuo had heard this, he would have laughed coldly in his heart, "So this is your Great Zhou Imperial Preceptor and Buddhist protector? Bah! It's far worse than my Daoist Sect. "
Hong Liu, who was kneeling in the meditation room, was not as relaxed as the real monks, fake monks, and true Daoist priests who occasionally passed by. He knelt on the ground, trembling in fear. There were five finger marks on his face, and half of his face was swollen. It was so numb that he could no longer feel it, but he did not dare to reach out to touch it.
Xue Huai Yi was pacing around in the meditation room like a trapped beast. His eyes were red, and his nostrils flared as he panted heavily. The weather was still cold, but he was still bare-chested, exposing his firm, well-built, and fair chest. His chest rose and fell violently as if he was bellowing. His chest was bellowing, and his nostrils flared as he panted. Xue Huai Yi's eyes were red, and he looked like an angry bull.
Suddenly, Xue Huaiyi's gaze fell on a brazier in front of him. He immediately kicked the brazier up into the air and dropped it to the ground with a bang. The red-hot coals scattered all over the ground. One of the burning coals rolled to Hong Liu's side, causing Hong Liu to hurriedly withdraw his hand in pain. He didn't dare to get up, nor did he dare to move. He only quickly withdrew his hand to avoid the coals.
Xue Huai Yi was shocked, afraid, angry, and afraid because Hong Liu had just reported a piece of earth-shattering news: the Empress had a new favorite!
No wonder the Empress had not summoned him for a long time. No wonder Wu Sansi and Wu Chengsi hadn't invited him to their family banquets in a long time. It was no wonder that the number of nobles seeking to see him and presenting him with gifts was decreasing.
Xue Huaiyi was like a spoiled child. His parents doted on him, pampered him, and gave him whatever he wanted. He only felt that his parents were annoying and noisy, but when he suddenly lost his parents, all he felt was confusion and fear for the future.
In the past, when Wu Zetian summoned him, he always felt that using his body to please a seventy year old woman was disgusting, so disgusting that he wanted to vomit. When Wu Zetian gradually stopped summoning him to the palace, he was still secretly glad. But now that he found out that it was because Wu Zetian had favored someone else, he only felt resentment, jealousy, anger, hatred, and … fear.
If he lost the Empress' favor, he would lose his glory, wealth, and status. If he lost all of this, what did he have? He had never been a great husband. He was only a vine attached to the towering tree that was Wu Zetian. When he was attached to the tree, he looked more glorious and ostentatious than the tree, but without the tree, he could only lie limply on the ground, and anyone could step on him.
At this time, Hong Yi barged in. "Master, Seventeen is here and wants to see …"
"Get out!"
Xue Huai Yi's roar scared Hong Yi into covering his head and scurrying away. The window was also shaken by Xue Huai Yi's roar.
Xue Huai Yi quickly calmed his breathing and thought for a moment. He said to Hong Liu, "Hong Liu!"
Hong Liu quickly crawled a few steps in front of him and raised his face in a fawning manner. "Master!"
Xue Huai Yi said gravely, "Do not speak of this matter!"
Hong Liu hesitated and said, "Master, even if this disciple doesn't speak … the brothers will know. This matter … has already spread all over the city. As long as the brothers walk in the streets, they will inevitably hear … "
"Peng!"
A large foot flew through the air and interrupted Hong Liu's words. Hong Liu let out a blood-curdling scream as he was sent flying. His body spun in the air and slid far away along the smooth wooden floor. In just a short moment, he let out another scream and jumped up with a whoosh, desperately slapping the smoking parts of his body.
This pitiful child was frank and outspoken. He didn't understand the logic of deceiving himself at all.
Xue Huai Yi humphed angrily and strode out of the meditation room.
When he appeared in front of Yang Fan, his chest was bare, and his face was drunk. His shoulders swayed slightly, and he was smiling from ear to ear. He had recovered the appearance that he usually had when he saw Yang Fan in his drunken state.
Yang Fan's visit today was just a routine greeting to his master. For the past two months, Yang Fan had visited every few days. Xue Huai Yi knew that this disciple was different from the other disciples. He was a person with great ability, unlike the other disciples who completely relied on themselves to make a living. Furthermore, he rarely relied on Xue Huai Yi's help and connections in the officialdom. He only relied on his own ability to develop. Thus, Xue Huai Yi looked at him differently and didn't treat him like an ordinary disciple. Although the two were master and disciple in name, they were more like friends.
Yang Fan paid his respects to his master and chatted with him for a while. Then, he mentioned the imperial court's "ban on slaughter". Yang Fan smiled and said, "Master, it's not that this disciple is slandering the emperor, but this imperial decree of the emperor is truly against the will of the people. This disciple reckons that not only will the people be dissatisfied, but the officials won't be able to bear it either. It won't be long before this decree will only exist in name, and no one will obey it. But before that, if your disciple's wife wants to eat meat, she'll have to ask me for help. "
"I think the Sage has gone senile!" Xue Huai Yi curled his lips and disdained his evaluation of this "ban on slaughter". Then, he waved his hand at Yang Fan and said, "Don't worry. If you can't get meat, just come and find me. Master is also a person who likes to eat meat. If I were to be like that bald donkey Sanshan, wouldn't I be asking for my life?
Master will think of a way to get meat like chicken, duck, sheep, and dog. If she wants to eat fish, it's even easier. There are a lot of fat fish in the river behind our White Horse Temple. Moreover, other people don't dare to catch them. If I want to eat fish in the future, I'll just catch them with a net! Haha, there are many ways. Can a living person die from holding his urine? I'm still waiting to hold my disciple's grand-disciple. I don't dare to be greedy and spoil my disciple's wife. "
Yang Fan cupped his hands and said with a smile, "If that's the case, this disciple will first thank you on behalf of Master's wife and my unborn grand-disciple."
Xue Huai Yi laughed heartily.
Hong Liu curled up like a shrimp in the abbot's meditation room. It took him a long time to catch his breath. He clutched his abdomen and limped out of the meditation room. Hearing Xue Huai Yi's hearty laughter as usual from the guest room, he couldn't understand why his master was so hearty and unscrupulous when chatting with Seventeen when he was obviously extremely angry and terrified.
"By the way, this disciple also heard something wonderful related to Master these two days …"
Yang Fan changed the topic in a flash. When Xue Huai Yi heard that it had something to do with him, he was a little frightened. In fact, he knew very well that the news of him falling out of favor was probably known by the entire imperial court. He would definitely be the last to know. But even if the entire world knew, he didn't want anyone to expose it in front of him. It seemed that as long as this open secret was not exposed in front of him, he wouldn't wake up from his dream.
Yang Fan smiled and "inadvertently" told Xue Huai Yi about how the barbarian Mo Lei had met Xue Huai Yi's past life two hundred years ago and how Xue Huai Yi was the reincarnation of the Buddhist Protector Wei Tuo Bodhisattva.
Even if Yang Fan didn't say this, Xue Huai Yi would know in a few days because this matter had already spread after today's court meeting. Wu Zetian had issued the "ban on slaughter" and appointed an old Taoist as the Prime Minister. Of course, she had to give the officials of the imperial court a sufficient reason.
Otherwise, how could the Emperor casually give such an important position as the Prime Minister of the imperial court to a Jianghu wanderer? How could those who had worked hard for ten years but couldn't even get an official position, and who couldn't even get promoted after hundreds of battles on the battlefield feel? Did the imperial court still have rules to speak of? Was there any dignity to protect?
Although Wu Zetian had done more and more things to break the rules and order after she became the Emperor, there weren't many things that were so outrageous after all. How could she not give everyone an explanation?
Therefore, in the imperial edict, Wu Zetian solemnly bestowed the surname of Wu to Taoist Shifang and appointed him as the Minister of Remonstrance and the Minister of Peace of the Phoenix Pavilion. He officially became the Prime Minister of the Great Zhou Dynasty. In the imperial edict, Wu Zetian praised Taoist Shifang greatly. She praised him for his profound Taoist skills, which surpassed the immortal Guang Chengzi in the period of the Yellow Emperor and the immortal Lord Bo He in the period of Emperor Wu of Han.
As for the news that Wu Zetian was the reincarnation of Maitreya, Wu Zetian didn't say it clearly in the imperial edict because it would obviously be suspected of boasting. She just gave a hint, and the palace maids, eunuchs and Marquis Le An who waited on her to the old house of the Yu Family quickly spread what they had seen and heard.
At this moment, the eunuchs who had just returned from Bei City were still bragging to passers-by that the three immortals didn't dare to use magic under the light of Her Majesty, so as not to hurt their own vitality. The story of Wei Tuo and Maitreya Buddha had spread throughout the palace in one day.
Xue Huaiyi was stunned. A kind of ecstasy quickly filled his chest. When he was afraid of the arrival of doomsday, he suddenly heard that he had such an inseparable relationship with the Empress. Xue Huaiyi naively thought that this was enough to ensure that he would always be loved by the Empress and that it was enough to restore the respect of the civil and military officials for him.
Frankly speaking, Feng Xiaobao, who was a street performer, actually didn't believe in the existence of Gods and Buddhas. Among the ancient people, the proportion of superstitious people was much higher than that of modern people, but not everyone. Xue Huaiyi was one of those people who didn't believe in Gods. If he believed in Gods and Buddhas, he wouldn't have made the White Horse Temple such a mess. But it didn't matter if he didn't believe in Gods or Buddhas. He felt that as long as the Empress and the civil and military officials believed in Gods and Buddhas, it was fine.
Xue Huaiyi excitedly rubbed his hands and paced back and forth in the room, "Seventeen, I'm very interested in this Dissimilated Man named Mo Lei. It's getting late now. Tomorrow morning, can you accompany me to see him?"
Yang Fan bowed and smiled, "If there's anything, I'll do it. Of course, I'll accompany you. What's more … I have some karma with these three extraordinary people, so I should go and pay my respects. "
…
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
