lady, please calm down

On March 19th, just after the hour of Chen, the King of Chu, his princess, and Jiarou suddenly visited the Daxiangguo Temple.

When the temple's abbot Hui Kong received the news, the King of Chu's carriage had already arrived on East Street where the Daxiangguo Temple is located.

There was no time to clean up the place, so the abbot led the abbot, the receptionist, the steward and other monks to greet them outside the temple.

Daishokoku-ji Temple is located in the heart of Tokyo, only a few hundred steps away from the busiest Shubashi Night Market, so the square outside the temple formed a large market a hundred years ago.

At this time, the morning market had just ended. Upon hearing that the King of Chu had arrived, many vendors and customers flocked to the temple. A large number of monks were dispatched to maintain order.

Speaking of which, the relationship between the King of Chu and Buddhism has never been close. Perhaps it was because of the Taoist priest Wugen, the director of the Imperial Observatory. Instead, he was closer to Taoism, and he went to Taoist temples to pray for the country on festivals.

Moreover, after the King of Chu entered Tokyo, he became even more unfriendly to the Daxiangguo Temple and forcibly expropriated tens of thousands of acres of fertile land outside the city from the temple. He even acquiesced in the Kaifeng government's refusal to support the temple's lawsuit regarding usury.

That’s right, this Buddhist holy land was once one of the largest landlords in the Zhou and Qi dynasties, and it was also the largest loan sharking institution in Tokyo.

Today, Chen Chu came to visit for the first time, but Hui Kong guessed why he came and felt uneasy.

At one o'clock in the morning, Chen Chu and his party arrived at the temple gate.

"Amitabha~"

Hui Kong chanted the Buddha's name for a long time, and stopped in front of Chen Chu's horse with his hands clasped together. "The King of Chu and his family have suddenly arrived, and this humble temple has been brightened up. I am sorry for not welcoming you from afar. I hope the King of Chu will forgive me."

Chen Chu laughed, jumped off his horse, looked up at the majestic temple gate, and said jokingly: "This Daxiangguo Temple is not cold, and the abbot is not necessarily poor."

"Your Majesty is joking."

Even though he felt uneasy in his heart, Huikong's kind face, flushed with rosy glow, was full of the calm Buddhist nature, and he seemed neither humble nor arrogant.

As he spoke, he stretched out his right arm towards the temple, "Although this is the first time that Your Majesty has come to our temple, Your Majesty has saved countless people in the world, so you must have a connection with our Buddha. Please..."

Chen Chu did not take a step immediately. Instead, he looked from the temple gate at the majestic palaces and the fragrant mist in the temple, and said with a smile: "But I have killed many people! According to your Buddhist teachings, you will probably fall into the Avici Hell."

"Your Majesty is wrong. The Buddha also said that 'killing those who steal or commit adultery is good'."

"Hahaha"

At the back, several women got off three carriages one after another. The one at the back was very tall, taller than an ordinary man; the one in the middle was Jiarou, who had been frequently accompanying the King of Chu recently; and the petite woman who got off the carriage in the front was probably the King of Chu's wife.

It is said by everyone that the princess has a kind face and looks like the Buddha Mother.

It’s a pity that the princess went out today and wore a veil, so her face couldn’t be seen clearly because of the veil.

When Chen Chu and his party entered the temple, Hui Kong led them directly to the main hall to worship Buddha. Unexpectedly, Chen Chu said, "No hurry. I came here today to see an old friend."

"Old friend?" Hui Kong looked a little confused.

Chen Chu looked at him seriously and said with a smile, "Yes, I heard that the widow and descendants of the former Minister of Rites Xu Derang came to Beijing yesterday and stayed in the temple. Please ask the abbot to bring them here."

Daxiangguo Temple was not only a landlord and a money house, but also ran an inn.

Hui Kong seemed to be completely unaware of this matter. He called the receptionist over to ask about it, and only then did he confirm that the Xu family was there.

After instructing the receptionist to invite the Xu family over, Hui Kong temporarily led Chen Chu and others to the side hall next door.

When entering the hall, Xiao Yi and his eldest son, who were wearing goose-feather knives on their waists, were stopped and asked to leave their weapons outside the hall.

Xiao Yi and the others would not obey the monk, so the abbot could only plead with Chen Chu with an embarrassed look on his face: "Your Majesty, there are also Arhats enshrined in the side hall. It is disrespectful to hold a weapon. In the early years, the Emperor Zhou Qi also did the same when he entered the hall."

"Xiao Yi, follow the instructions of the abbot and leave your weapons outside."

After Chen Chu spoke, Xiao Yi and the others put down their weapons indignantly.

While waiting for the Xu family, Chen Chu looked at the empty front hall of the temple and said to Hui Kong, "Abbot, Buddha said that all living beings are equal. If that's the case, don't stop other pilgrims from entering the temple."

This was originally a trivial matter, but Hui Kong actually thought about it for two or three breaths before saying, "Okay, then let's do as the prince wishes."

After the order was given, a large group of people rushed into the temple. However, since people knew that the King of Chu and his family were in the temple at the time, most of the people who came in came to watch the fun.

They gathered outside the side hall, wanting to catch a glimpse of the heroic figure of the King of Chu.

However, in the guest room in the northwest corner of Daxiangguo Temple, the receptionist informed the Xu family that the King of Chu had arrived at the front hall and was about to summon the whole family, but the two sons of the Xu family suddenly became panicked.

Zhang dismissed the rest of the family and left only two maids and her son in the room.

Seeing the second son Xu Yi sweating profusely, Zhang couldn't help but scold him, "Why are you panicking? He took the initiative to come to us, saving us the trouble!"

According to the original plan when they went north, Zhang would make contact with Jiarou and the royal palace, seek an opportunity to meet Chen Chu, and then let the assassin who was mixed in with the family take action.

However, she had just met Jiarou yesterday, and today Chen Chu came over in person. This shows how eager this thief is to wash away the stain on his body.

But Xu Yi's voice suddenly choked up after hearing what his mother said, "Mother, since the day my father died for his country, I have been determined to die! But... do you really have to let the women and children in the family get involved? Once the incident today starts, there will be no chance for them to survive."

Outside the house, the grandchildren, who were unaware of the situation, were still jumping and chattering with excitement about coming to Tokyo.

The daughter-in-law, who was also unaware of the situation, was seizing the last bit of time to teach the children how to greet the Queen of Chu.

Zhang was silent for a few breaths, and a little kindness and reluctance flashed in her cloudy eyes, but it disappeared in a flash.

Then she said earnestly, "Zhong'er, Yi'er, your father named you two Zhongyi, because he wanted you two to be loyal and righteous! When the thieves caused chaos in the court, your father was alone and helpless, so he had no choice but to die to repay the late emperor's kindness. But the officials in the court were all servile and fawning, and your father's death could not bring back their consciences, cough cough cough."

Zhang coughed a few times, but the two maids behind her remained standing straight, not even stroking their backs to help them breathe, which was quite strange.

Zhang didn't seem to care, and continued, "Thanks to Prime Minister Qin's help, our family was able to find this opportunity for revenge after going through so much hardship! From a private perspective, the thief and you two have a grudge for killing your father. If you don't take revenge, you are unfilial! From a public perspective, the thief has occupied the magpie's nest and wants to steal the country. If you two just stand by and watch, you are disloyal! In order not to arouse the thief's suspicion, I can't care about anything else."

The so-called 'others' are those ignorant family members in the house who are about to be led to the gates of hell by Zhang.

In fact, Xu Yi still has something to say. For example, his father's death was not caused by the King of Chu, but his father's own choice; for another example, as they traveled along the way through Huaibei and Central Plains, they heard the people from all over the country's evaluation of the King of Chu.

It seemed that at this moment, they were the only family in the world that still stubbornly believed that the King of Chu was a traitor who brought disaster to the country. This made the two brothers' self-proclaimed heroic act of "sacrificing themselves for the sake of the people of the world" become ridiculous.

However, under the whip of his mother's "disloyal and unfilial" words, Xu Yi hid all these words in his heart, just quietly wiped away his tears, and solemnly said: "Everything will be done according to mother's wishes!"

After these words were spoken, there was no turning back for the family.

Zhang nodded in satisfaction, then turned to the two maids behind her and said, "I'll be relying on you two heroines later!"

One of the women said calmly, "Before coming here, my master has already informed us that this trip will lead to death." At this point, she glanced at Xu Yi who was just grumbling, and said, "It's your family, don't be afraid to swallow the poison pill afterwards. If you implicate my master, no one in this world will be able to clear Lord Xu's name!"

Zhang turned around and glanced at her two sons, then laughed and said, "There is not a single coward among the men in my Xu family!"

"Madam Zhang, haven't you packed everything yet? Don't make the nobles in front anxiously wait."

Outside the door, there came a voice urging the receptionist.

Zhang's mother and son looked at each other silently, then walked out together.

After the two sides reunited, the whole family headed towards the front hall in a mighty manner. On the way, a reckless young monk accidentally bumped into Xu Zhong, the eldest son of the Xu family.

After the young monk apologized and left, Xu Zhong found a note in his hand. Xu Zhong unfolded it and took a quick look. It said: There are three guards in the palace, none of them are armed. Two of them are from the military. They are good at fighting on the battlefield but not good at close combat. They need to focus on tall women. When fighting, one of them can entangle the woman while the other goes straight for the thief. After they succeed, they can kill the princess.

After reading it, Xu Zhong quietly handed the note to the two maids. The two girls read it, put the note into their mouths, chewed it into pieces and swallowed it.

Today's incident happened suddenly, and we were unable to enter the palace as planned. Many things needed to be decided on the spot. The other party took the initiative to come to the door, which was much easier than sneaking into the palace.

But things were going so smoothly that Xu Zhong felt vaguely uneasy.

I heard my wife and sister-in-law were still talking excitedly in the back, "If the King of Chu shows mercy and doesn't care about the past, my husband can be an official again and we can move back to Tokyo to live."

Xu Zhong became more and more annoyed, and couldn't help but turn around and scold: "Can you be quiet!"

This sentence made his wife wilted. Seeing her brother treating her sister-in-law like this, Xu Yizhi's wife couldn't help but feel unfair and murmured quietly: "Over the years, our family has been displaced. Now we finally see some hope for a better life, and you can't let us be happy for a while."

Hearing this, Xu Yi forced himself not to look back, for fear that he would burst into tears when he saw his wife and children.

When they reached the front hall, they saw that the courtyard was filled with common people.

The maid who was supporting Zhang seemed to have made quick eye contact with several men dressed as hawkers in the crowd.

But Xu Zhong thought to himself: letting the common people in as well will make it easier for certain people to hide and suddenly rise up.

He knew that there were definitely more assassins than just the maidservants beside his mother, but he had no idea how many there were.

3:45 pm

Led by Zhang, more than 20 members of the Xu family knelt in the hall.

The situation that Zhang hoped for the most, that Chen Chuwei would show magnanimity in front of the people and personally come to support her, did not happen.

He just sat there steadily in the chair. Zhang had no choice but to continue acting and took the lead in kowtowing to the enemy in front of him whom he hated so much.

"The guilty woman Xu Zhang is from the same family as Xu from Jingyuan."

Before Zhang finished speaking, she heard Chen Chu, the leader, ask curiously, "That person, if I remember correctly, is Xu's second son, right? It's only March now, why are you sweating so much? Are you feeling unwell?"

Back then, Chen Chu had personally gone to the Xu family to pay tribute to Xu Derang, so it was not surprising that he recognized Xu Yi at this time.

Zhang was shocked when she heard this and turned around quickly, only to see her second son kneeling on the ground, with sweat all over his forehead and his arms trembling as he supported himself on the ground.
After all, he is just a scholar who is used to sitting back and chatting!

Even though I had already prepared myself mentally for the sacrifice, I was still so nervous when the time came!

"Your Majesty, uh, King Chu, I was weak and couldn't stand the hardship of traveling to Tokyo, so I caught a cold."

Fortunately, Xu Yi was not so nervous that he could not speak, and he explained it haltingly.

Hui Kong beside him also said: "The spring weather is unpredictable, sometimes hot and sometimes cold. Recently, many donors have caught a cold. Donor Xu, you need to pay attention to it."

Xu Zhong, with his head lowered, could not help but feel moved. To others, the abbot's words did not sound unusual, but he heard the hidden reminder in the words 'Donor Xu, you need to pay attention'!
Combining this with the note from the little monk just now, Xu Zhong thought to himself: Could it be that the eminent monk in the Daxiangguo Temple is also connected with Prime Minister Qin?
But Zhang was a little anxious. Her second son had just shown signs of weakness in his will, and now he was so scared. If he continued like this, he might be exposed.

We need to act quickly!
But she kowtowed again and said, "Your Highness, my late husband was stubborn and stupid, which ruined your reputation. Now that we have traveled around the world, we know that everything you do is good governance. I have written an article based on what I have seen and heard in recent years, please take a look."

"Oh? Let's take a look."

After hearing Chen Chu's words, Zhang took out a neatly folded silk book from her bosom, and then stood up from the ground tremblingly. Two maids behind her immediately came forward to support Zhang, and they walked forward together.

All of this looks so natural.

But the "cat" sitting next to Chen Chu and wearing a veil hat slowly retracted his hands into his sleeves.

Moving three feet forward, Zhang bowed and presented the silk book with both hands.

Chen Chu raised his hand to take it
At this moment, something unexpected happened.

But the two maids let go of Zhang at the same time, one rushed straight towards Tiedan, and the other stretched out her arm and stabbed straight at Chen Chu. It was unknown when the two women had short blades in their hands.

Jiarou, who was in the room with her, didn't react at all. She even hadn't screamed out in alarm when she saw the 'cat' who had been sitting quietly next to Chen Chu suddenly raise his hand at lightning speed and stab upwards from under the outstretched arm of the maid.

Blood suddenly appeared.

Only then did he see clearly that the maid who attacked Chen Chu had her forearm pierced from below by a short dagger less than a foot long.
The rabbit rises and the falcon falls.

'Mao'er' flipped his wrist holding the dagger, and the maid's arm was pierced. In pain, she had to follow 'Mao'er's movements and twisted her body, exposing her back to 'Mao'er.

"Mao'er" took advantage of the situation and pressed the maid down on the table, then slammed the table with his right hand holding the blade, nailing the maid's arm to the table.

Only then did the cat free his hands and took off his veil, saying to Chen Chu: "Don't be alarmed, my lord. Xiaoman is here, no one can hurt you!"

"When did I get shocked?"

Chen Chu, who had already sat back in his chair, looked at the complacent Xiao Man and said with a smile, "Your figure is almost the same as the princess's. Her clothes are simply made just for you."

"Hehe, back then Xiaoman often picked up the lady's clothes to wear."

"Not bad, not bad. When we get back, let the princess make you a few more nice clothes. Xiaoman is becoming more and more handsome."

“It’s all thanks to Master’s good teaching.”

Xiaoman has been learning martial arts with Tiedan and Dabaojian since she was young, combining the strengths of both families. Now even Tiedan doesn't dare to say that he can definitely beat her.

Over there, Xiao Yi didn't even get a chance to make a move, so Tiedan, with the cooperation of his eldest son, took down the other person.

The maid who was nailed to the table by Xiaoman tried to struggle, but Xiaoman hit her liver with his elbow. She felt her whole body paralyzed and could not exert any strength.

But she endured the severe pain, turned her head and shouted to the outside, "Do it!"

Although there were many people outside the side hall, they were blocked by the monks on duty and the personal guards. Moreover, the sun was shining brightly outside the hall, while the light inside was much worse, so it was difficult to see clearly in the dark.

It was not until I heard the woman's loud shout that I realized something was wrong.

A man hiding in the crowd immediately reached for the sharp blade at his waist, and at the same time looked at his companion who was also hiding in the crowd six feet in front of him.

Then, he saw a horrifying scene. His companion had just drawn out his dagger, and behind him, there appeared a man dressed like an ordinary citizen. He covered his companion's mouth with one hand and stabbed the companion in the back with a knife with the other hand.

I wonder if there are any of our people in the crowd!
After realizing what was happening, he immediately shouted, "It's buried."

Before he could utter the word "ambush", he felt a chill in his back. He slowly turned around and saw a cold-faced man standing behind him.

"Who are you?" His vitality was quickly draining away, and he didn't want to be a fool.

"I am He Huanfeng, the King of Chu is used to calling me the Great Sword."

The big sword, who was in a rare mood to chat, whispered in the assassin's ear.

"what!"

In the crowd, a hawker slowly leaned backwards. The people behind him didn't understand why, until they were covered in blood gushing from the hawker's waist. Then they screamed in fear.

At this moment, a loud shout was heard from inside the palace, "There is an assassin, the King of Chu is seriously injured, please call the imperial physician!"

With a loud bang, the crowd outside the hall broke out and fled in all directions.

As the people desperately fled, the news that the King of Chu was stabbed and seriously injured quickly spread throughout the city of Dongjing. (End of this chapter)