Chapter 653 Pay Respects in the Buddhist Temple
“Yeah, you’re right. But I always feel less secure here than in our yard.”
Hongyu had a keen sense, and perhaps no one could surpass her in terms of getting along with others.
“Yes, be careful these days. Hongyu, please take care of Yinghua.”
The Empress would never have asked her to bring Yinghua here for no reason.
Moreover, it was said that in the first three days in the Huguo Temple, the royal ladies led by the Empress would bathe and fast in their own ditation rooms before they would pray for the country with the noble madams and young ladies.
Perhaps Yinghua would be taken away then.
Only Hongyu could adapt to the situation here, so Lin ngya planned to ask her not to leave Yinghua by a foot for the next few days.
“Don’t worry, Master. I understand.”
Hongyu was clear that it was an important task, so she solemnly agreed to Lin ngya’s request.
“With you around, I can rest assured. Also, if anything happens, just do as we have planned—send soone to take Yinghua’s shoes inlaid with the Dragon Pearls.”
Hongyu kept all of Lin ngya’s instructions in mind.
After all, it was a matter of Yinghua’s life.
There were many children in the palace, and they would die before they reached adulthood. Sotis, it was an act of God, but most of the ti it was murder.
“Well, I’ve got it all. But, Master, there’re many noble ladies here. You should be careful. Baiji is careful, Baishao is tough, and Baizhi is clever. If sothing happens, you must protect yourself.”
In their yard, Hongyu was like the eldest sister.
She was so experienced in the ways of the world that she was able to handle everything.
No one in the mansion could find a fault with her. Even Lin ngya would sotis listen to her advice carefully.
Hongyu really regarded Prince Yu’s Mansion as her ho and the people in Liuxin Courtyard as her relatives.
This ti to the Huguo Temple, Hongyu had slled sothing unusual.
But they had no idea what was wrong.
The first night was disconcertingly calm. Lin ngya had already been used to the lively life in the Liuxin Courtyard that began at dawn. Suddenly coming to the ditation room in the backyard of the temple, she was not used to the quietness.
As soon as she opened her eyes, Hongyu and the other girls, as well as Yinghua, were gone.
She couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. But in a flash, she rembered that Hongyu seed to have taken Yinghua out to wash up before she woke up.
Imdiately, she felt a little relieved.
“Your Highness, Her Majesty sent to bring you the incense which will be burnt when you bathe.”
Outside the door, there was a strange voice. But at this ti, Baiji, who was guarding outside the yard, had taken the tray from the palace maid.
After sending the palace maid back, she carefully took the things in the tray into the ditation room.
“You’re awake? Baizhi, bring in so warm water.”
Looking at Baiji, Lin ngya gave a nod.
Except for herself, the four girls were the only ones who took care of her.
In particular, Baiji and Baizhi would never ask soone else to do it when it ca to her.
They had to do everything by themselves so that they could rest assured.
Lin ngya rolled up her sleeves, and gently picked up the warm water in the copper basin. After washing her face and hands, she sat down in front of the dressing mirror and let Baiji and Baizhi comb her black hair.
“What are those things that have been delivered?”
Through the mirror, Lin ngya cast a look at the tray on the table.
There were only two round bronze boxes with many patterns of scriptures carved on them.
However, they looked like Sanskrit words, and Lin ngya could not understand them and just felt that the pattern was quite rare.
“They’re incense sent by the Empress. She ordered that we should keep burning the incense inside and outside the room for the next three days. The other people have also received the incense. I’ve checked it, and there’s no problem.”
No one could be more attentive than Baiji, so Lin ngya was relieved.
Moreover, if there was really sothing wrong with the incense, it would be very easy to investigate the matter after it was found.
The Empress was not a fool like Gu Xing and she would not make such a careless mistake.
Although it seed peaceful now, they had to stay here for about 10 days. No one knew what the Empress would do later.
“Please keep your eyes on Yinghua in the next three days. Do you understand?”
Qinghu and Long Tianyu were both stopped outside, so she could only rely on the four girls.
In fact, with the poison her teacher gave her, it was more than enough for her to protect herself. But she was afraid that the four girls would not be able to take good care of Yinghua.
Having no choice, Lin ngya secretly prepared poison for each of the four girls so that they could protect themselves.
The poison was stored in the things they carried with them. That way, it would not be easy to discover and kept the girls from feeling helpless.
Even so, Lin ngya was still worried. Before they ca here, she gave confidential instructions in person as to how to use it.
Although the four of them felt that their master had made a big fuss, they all knew that it was for their safety. So they took it seriously, which made Lin ngya put away her worries for the ti being.
After breakfast, a palace maid ca to invite Lin ngya.
She said that everyone had to fast in their ditation rooms for the next few days, and thus could not go out at will.
Therefore, they had to go to the Empress’s room before they started to fast.
After thinking for a while, Lin ngya decided to only take Baiji with her. The rest of the people would watch Yinghua in the yard. Before she ca back, they could just ignore anyone’s summons.
After so arrangents, Lin ngya brought Baiji along with the palace maid to the Empress’s ditation room.
Compared with the ordinary ditation rooms they lived in, the Empress lived in a small courtyard the Huguo Temple specially prepared for the emperor’s relatives.
It was in a quiet Buddhist temple but was as good as a common temporary imperial residence.
It was a fine courtyard with three rows of rooms. But the luxury inside the temporary imperial residence had been replaced by black bricks and white tiles, and the ornate paintings had beco scenes from Buddhist sutras.
Other than that, there was no shortage of pomp.
After briefly looking around, Lin ngya stood in the crowd.
There were five or six prince’s wives here, as well as imperial concubines, so it was best to keep a low profile.
Gradually, all the noble ladies in the Buddhist temple had arrived.
Standing in the crowd, Lin ngya quietly listened to the greetings of others.
So people took the initiative to greet her, but she just responded with a faint smile. She was neither overly enthusiastic nor indifferent.
Her lukewarm manner made it impossible to find any fault and kept her from attracting any attention.
And so people who wanted to provoke her also could not find any fault with her because of her temperate and polite manner.
Besides, this was the Empress’s yard, and no one dared to act wildly.
“Greetings, Your Highnesses, madams and ladies, Her Majesty wants to see you.”
Soon, a middle-aged woman in plain clothes ca out from the inside of the main room.
Others might not know her, but Lin ngya, who had lived in the palace for a long ti, knew that the person in front of them was the chief palace maid of the Empress’s palace, addressed as Aunt Yan.
The fact that she had also co here showed that the Empress really attached great importance to this religious ceremony.
However, when everyone was about to enter the room, a little palace maid ca to Aunt Yan in a panic. After whispering to her for a while, she stood behind Aunt Yan with a frightened look on her face.
Aunt Yan looked around.
With a slight frown, she asked softly, “Greetings, ladies. I would like to ask you sothing. May I know if any of you have seen an imperial concubine?”
Her question was a little abrupt.
However, Lin ngya imdiately realized what she ant. Many concubines had co this ti, and it seed that all the childless won had co.
On the one hand, it showed how serious the royal family was about the matter; on the other hand, many people hoped to get the Buddha’s blessing here and have children in the future.
Therefore, except all the high-ranking won who lived in this big yard with the Empress, the other low-ranking imperial concubines actually lived in the sa yard with the prince’s wives and those won with a title.
However, Lin ngya had no idea who the missing person was.
“Which concubine do you an?”
Finally, a respected and elderly madam who had an official title asked in a low voice.
Aunt Yan was very respectful when she saw the woman.
“It’s Beauty Cheng from the palace,” she answered. “She’s 19 years old and lives in a courtyard in the south. I wonder how her servants served her. They found that Beauty Cheng was not in the room early in the morning. This is a Buddhist temple. I’m afraid that if we look around, we will disturb Bodhisattva’s peace.”
Aunt Yan’s voice was not loud, and only the prince’s wives and titled won, who stood before her, could hear her clearly.
However, Lin ngya had excellent hearing, so she quietly heard the general content of their conversation.
Beauty Cheng? A delicate, pretty figure appeared in Lin ngya’s mind.
Actually, she had t this person once.
When she was treating the emperor in the palace, she had t her once on the long street.
But she didn’t say much with the woman, and to her, the woman was only an acquaintance.
This woman was missing in the Huguo Temple. Lin ngya felt that it was a little weird. However, no matter how weird it was, it would be fine as long as it did not happen to her.
It was just a small episode before these won paid their respects to the Empress.
Besides, the whole Huguo Temple was so tightly sealed that even a fly could not fly out of the high wall of the temple, not to ntion a living person.
Perhaps because Beauty Cheng had just arrived here and was not familiar with the route, she was trapped sowhere.
Aunt Yan led a few servants to the ditation rooms to look for Beauty Cheng under the instruction of a few highly respected, titled madams.
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