Aoyama

Chapter 297 Sworn Worship
Chen Ji once thought that entering the palace to meet the emperor would be like the movies and TV shows he had watched, where a eunuch would lead him in small steps through the gray tiles and red walls, and into the palace paved with lapis lazuli bricks, and he would answer whatever the emperor asked.

The truth is more severe and serious than imagined.

In the quiet guest room of the post station, Zhang Xia went through the rules for Chen Ji in detail: "Tomorrow, an official from the Honglu Temple will come to check your appearance... What clothes do you plan to wear? Bring them here for me to see."

Chen Ji took out a black coat with a stand-up collar from his luggage: "Is this okay?"

Zhang Xia was stunned: "This one? Sure. Let's talk about avoiding prophecies. The current emperor is superstitious about the word 'death'. If you want to mention the soldiers who died in Guyuan, you should use the word 'eternal'. Don't mention the word 'ghost'. The emperor is superstitious about this. For example, change the Gate of Hell to the Gate of God..."

There were sixty-seven words that needed to be avoided, and Zhang Xia wrote them down one by one on paper for Chen Ji to remember.

Zhang Xia continued to instruct: "If you cough or sneeze in front of the palace, you must immediately apologize, otherwise you will be in danger of being beaten with a stick; when His Majesty is angry, you must immediately take off your hat and apologize; when entering the palace, civil officials walk on the east steps, and the prince promised you that the right guard is a military officer, so you have to walk on the west steps; if His Majesty doesn't tell you to, you must not raise your head..."

Zhang Xia talked about the rules in great detail, and it took him two whole incense sticks of time just to explain them.

Zhang Zheng was also hearing such details for the first time. He was dumbfounded and said, "No wonder Dad said that not letting me become an official is for my own good. If I became an official, I would probably be beaten with a stick every day!"

Xiao Man said disdainfully: "You speak as if you can enter the palace to meet the emperor if you become an official."

Zhang Xia also glanced at him and said, "Fortunately, Chen Ji is a member of the Chen family, otherwise the Honglu Temple would have already investigated his three generations of ancestors. Since then, entering the palace to meet the emperor has always been the most stringent. An imperial censor once said: Once entering the Meridian Gate, I trembled and sweated, not because I was afraid of the emperor, but because I was afraid of the axe! Don't disturb Chen Ji, let him write these things down quickly."

Xiao Man muttered, "That's right. If my son gets beaten in the palace tomorrow, hehe!"

Zhang Zheng rolled his eyes and kept silent.

After Zhang Xia finished teaching the rules, he began to teach Chen Ji common sense in front of the palace: "The first-rank officials wear white crane patches. There are only three of them now, Grand Tutor Xu Ge Lao, Grand Guardian Hu Ge Lao, and Grand Guardian Qi Ge Lao. But the accessories they wear are also different, and they are easy to identify. Grand Tutor Xu wears a gold foil crown, which is bestowed by the current emperor to the chief minister of the cabinet; Grand Tutor Hu wears a mutton-fat jade belt, which was bestowed by the previous emperor; Grand Tutor Qi holds a blood rhinoceros hu, the texture of which is like blood threads, different from the others..."

Chen Ji asked, "No Grand Master?"

Zhang Xia explained: "The title of Grand Master is usually conferred after death, and it is difficult for a living person to receive this honor."

Zhang Zheng and Xiaoman felt drowsy after listening to the lecture and kept nodding their heads.

In the dim guest room, Zhang Xia taught tirelessly, and Chen Ji learned tirelessly, from early morning to late evening, even learning the postures of walking and standing.

Zhang Zheng took a nap on the table. When he woke up from hunger, he found Chen Ji sitting in the sunset, reciting the rules with a thick stack of papers. Zhang Xia sat opposite him and watched quietly.

He looked at the orange-yellow sunset shining on the two of them from the window in the evening and couldn't bear to interrupt.

Until the sun sets, until the sky is about to rise again.

Zhang Zheng was feeling depressed. He was fighting in Guyuan a dozen days ago, with his sword drawn and his horse in hand, making him famous all over the world. But now he was buried in red tape and rules, and had to kowtow.

But life seems to be like this. It will always become calm and stagnant without you noticing.

He was silent for a long time, and suddenly asked: "Chen Ji, do you think A Xia is powerful?"

Chen Ji smiled and responded, "Very impressive! If the imperial court allowed women to take the imperial examinations, I'm afraid there would be no place for anyone else."

Zhang Zheng turned around and asked Xiaoman: "Xiaoman, do you think Axia is pretty?"

Xiaoman became excited: "It's beautiful. Sister Xia is both powerful and beautiful. She doesn't have the affectation of a noble lady at all."

Zhang Zheng looked at Chen Ji and said casually as if jokingly: "We have lived and died together so many times. Axia has tried her best to help you, and you have saved her many times. Otherwise..."

However, at this moment, Zhang Xia's expression changed, and he pulled Zhang Zheng and walked out.

It was not until he left Fengtai Post Station that Zhang Xia stopped in the darkness.

She turned around and stared at Zhang Zheng: "Brother, what do you mean by suddenly saying those words just now?"

Zhang Zheng said irritably: "What do I mean? I'm your brother. Don't I understand the way you look at him? I want to help you!"

Zhang Xia said angrily: "I don't need your help!"

Zhang Zheng was also angry: "If you don't need my help, when will you be willing to break this window paper? We just experienced life and death in Guyuan. If I don't help you, I am worried that you will be like this person who went to the palace to meet the emperor. You just fought vigorously, but you will be buried in complicated and trivial rules! What if you forget everything about Guyuan after a long time?"

Zhang Xia said in a deep voice: "Do you know why Chen Ji came all the way here and is about to enter the palace? Do you really think he wants to be an official? No, he wants to be the princess!"

Zhang Zheng paced back and forth outside Fengtai Post Station. He took a deep breath and walked back to Zhang Xia: "Axia, Chen Ji can't save the princess."

These words sounded like thunder in the dark night.

Zhang Zheng said slowly, "Father told me very clearly that if we want to save the princess, we must first vindicate Prince Jing. To vindicate Prince Jing, Your Majesty must admit that he was wrong. How can an emperor who is entrusted by heaven admit that he was wrong? The princess's case has become an unsolved case. She can't die, but she can only stay in Jingyang Palace to practice Taoism forever."

Zhang Xia frowned: "Father said..."

Zhang Zheng sighed, "Father said that as long as someone else takes the throne, there will be a chance to vindicate Prince Jing. But the current emperor is in his prime and can live for at least another thirty years. In thirty years, the princess will be forty-seven and Chen Ji will be forty-eight. Are we going to watch him waste his life without getting married? How many thirty years are there in a person's life?"

Zhang Xia was silent for a moment: "Maybe there are other ways."

Zhang Zheng interrupted, "There are many masters of Jiefanwei in the imperial palace. Unless Chen Ji can enter the realm of the gods, he will be qualified to make a deal with the Tian family. Otherwise, what else can he do? But there are countless officials in the two dynasties. How many of them can enter the realm of the gods?"

He asked, "Axia, he has saved you so many times, don't say you are not moved, I would be moved too. In the last battle at Guyuan, you rode with him on the same horse, what were you thinking when you rested your forehead on his back? At Mengjin Posthouse, you asked me to bring him a cloak because you were afraid he would catch a cold; at Longmen Inn, you asked me to save food for him because you were afraid he didn't have food. But I won't always be by your side, how much can I do for you? Chen Ji is so smart, if I do too much, he will notice it."

At this point, Zhang Zheng softened his tone and said earnestly, "Axia, sometimes people have to be a little selfish."

Zhang Xia listened to her brother's words. She looked at the night and said slowly: "Brother, Chen Ji is not a person who cares about rules. Until today, he still calls him Lord Chen. But in order to enter the palace this time, he has learned the rules over and over again. Do you know why?"

Zhang Zheng was startled: "Why?"

Zhang Xia said softly, "Tomorrow, he will change into the clothes the princess gave him and go to see the princess. In his arms, he has a letter written by the princess to him, "Year after year, year after year". This is a long-awaited reunion after he traveled thousands of miles and killed hundreds of people."

Zhang Zheng was speechless.

Zhang Xia stood in the dark night. The evening breeze was blowing fiercely, but the moon in the sky was not her moon.

Zhang Xia looked at Zhang Zheng with a resolute expression: "Brother, I, Zhang Xia, never take advantage of others in distress, and never take away someone's love. Whoever's love belongs to him, it belongs to him. He and the princess are a match made in heaven. He saved my life, and my gratitude to him is nothing else, and it cannot be anything else."

"He saved me three times, and I will repay him three times. Since the previous method of saving the princess didn't work, I will kneel in front of my uncle and become an official, practicing day and night to help him save the princess! If he can't cultivate to the Divine Realm, I will cultivate to the Divine Realm and help him make this deal with the Heavenly Family! If one Divine Realm is not enough, then two Divine Realms will do!"

Zhang Zheng said bitterly: "You and he have been living in the same house in Guyuan. There is no wall that is impenetrable. If this matter were to spread to the capital one day, who would dare to marry you?"

"I'll take care of it!"

After that, Zhang Xia turned around and walked into the post station. She came to the counter and found the postman on duty: "Bring some wine!"

The postman asked curiously, "What kind of wine would Miss Zhang want?"

Zhang Xia said loudly: "The most intense!"

She returned to the door with the strongest burning knife and pushed it open. Xiaoman smiled and wanted to continue the previous topic: "Sister Xia, what does Zhang Zheng mean by 'or' just now?"

Zhang Xia said seriously: "Chen Ji, let's become sworn brothers."

Xiaoman stood there in a daze, and Chen Ji also felt it was a little awkward.

It was as abrupt as a knight who decisively cut off his retreat.

Chen Ji said softly: "Zhang..."

Zhang Xia interrupted, "Don't say anything, stop talking nonsense!"

She didn't explain any more, and quickly opened the mud seal, cut her palm with a dagger, and dripped blood into the wine jar: "It's your turn!"

There is no doubt about it.

Chen Ji smiled, just like when she first came to the door of Taiping Clinic and asked loudly, "Who is Chen Ji?"

The girl in fiery red riding a horse is always the most open-minded.

Zhang Xia is still Zhang Xia and has never changed.

Chen Ji cut his palm with a dagger and let the blood drip into it, then it was Xiaoman, and finally Zhang Zheng.

Zhang Zheng was about to swear an oath of blood when he suddenly thought of something and pointed at Xiaoman: "Wait, how can she be sworn brothers with us?"

Xiaoman was at a loss for a moment. She lowered her head and tugged at the hem of her clothes: "Well, why should a maid like me become sworn brothers? Sister Axia, you two should just become sworn brothers."

Zhang Zheng hurriedly said, "No, no, I don't mean to dislike you. I mean, why don't you three become sworn brothers? I won't become sworn brothers with you... Forget it!"

He cut his palm and dripped blood into the wine jar.

Zhang Xia picked up the jar of wine and gulped down a large mouthful. She knelt down facing the bright moon outside the window and said, "Today, Zhang Zheng, Zhang Xia, Chen Ji, and Yao Man are willing to become brothers and sisters with different surnames. We do not ask to be born on the same day of the same month of the same year, but only to die on the same day of the same month of the same year. The heavens and the earth will bear witness to my heart. If you betray your loyalty and forget your gratitude, you will be killed by both heaven and man!"

Chen Ji, Zhang Zheng, and Xiao Man said in unison: "Today, Zhang Zheng, Zhang Xia, Chen Ji, and Yao Man are willing to become brothers and sisters with different surnames. We do not ask to be born on the same day, but only to die on the same day. The heavens and the earth will bear witness to our hearts. If you betray your loyalty and forget your gratitude, you will be killed by both heaven and man!"

The four of them became sworn brothers unexpectedly, it was so sudden, yet it seemed like a dream under the moonlight.

Zhang Xia said: "My brother is the oldest, he is the eldest brother, I am the second sister, Chen Ji is the third brother, Xiao Man is the fourth sister!"

After that, she took off a string of Buddhist coins from her wrist and handed it to Chen Ji: "This is six hundred taels of silver, as a meeting gift from my second sister, accept it."

Chen Ji did not refuse.

Zhang Xia took out a red jade hairpin from her head and handed it to Xiaoman: "I have worn this for many years. It was given to me by my father. Today I give it to you."

Xiaoman said obediently: "Thank you, second sister!"

Zhang Xia looked at Zhang Zheng again: "What about you? Say something too!"

Zhang Zheng coughed twice and said, "I don't have anything good to give as a gift. I will definitely make up for it when I return to the capital!"

Chen Ji lowered his head and thought for a moment, then raised his head and asked seriously: "Second sister, do you want to practice the way of officialdom?"

Zhang Xia smiled and said, "Yes, of course I do. I will go find my uncle when I return to the capital. If he still doesn't give me a chance to be an official, I will never talk to him again."

"No need, I have it here," Chen Ji picked up the pen and wrote a sutra on the paper.

The whole article has 239 sentences, totaling 1,673 words.

Zhang Xia whispered to the side: "In front of the Supreme Purple Cloud Emperor, there is the Jade Morning Lord of the Supreme Dao. He composes seven words in his leisure time, and changes into five forms and ten thousand gods. This is the inner chapter of Huangting, and the three layers of Qinxin dance the fetus fairy. The nine qi shine brightly in the sky, and the divine boy produces purple smoke. This is the Jade Book that can be studied carefully, and chanting it ten thousand times can ascend to the third heaven..."

She looked up suddenly: "What is this?"

Chen Ji looked at him and said, "This is the way to go about your official duties. Don't ask where it comes from, don't ask what it is called, and don't tell Xu Jianzheng. Write it down and recite it silently over and over again, without missing a single word."

Cover the clouds.

This was the official pass that the internal minister had sent to Luo City at an express speed of 600 miles.

Jin Zhu once said that Qi Zhayun joined the border army at the age of sixteen, and in three years, he killed more than ten generals of the Jing Dynasty. In the winter of the seventeenth year of Jianing, he led three hundred cavalrymen to penetrate six hundred miles into the Jing Dynasty and captured the Marquis of Chicheng of the Jing Dynasty alive. In the spring of the twenty-first year of Jianing, Qi Zhayun was ambushed and killed, and his official position fell into the hands of the Silijian.

Although Chen Ji didn't know the inside story, it involved the forty-ninth heaven, so he had to be cautious.

Zhang Zheng and Xiaoman came over to take a look, but Zhang Xia glanced at the sutra on the paper and immediately put the paper over the candle flame and lit it, not even allowing his own brother to look at it.

Zhang Zheng muttered, "Why are you so stingy? What if I'm also a cultivation genius?"

Zhang Xia said in a serious tone: "Chen Ji has taken a huge risk by taking out this item. Less trouble is worse than more. You should stop looking at it."

Zhang Zheng curled his lips and said, "Okay, okay, if you don't want to watch it, then don't watch it... Chen Ji, what level can you reach in this official career?"

Chen Ji recalled what Jin Zhu said, that Qi Zhayun was determined to become the first martial saint of the two dynasties and unify the country. It seems that this cultivation path from the forty-ninth heaven has a very high upper limit, so high that it is difficult to find in the secular world.

He thought for a moment, and finally concealed it: "I don't know, second sister, try it first."

Previously, he had just cultivated the Purple Air Coming from the East, but it was cut off by the sword seed. He had no idea what changes had taken place in this method.

Zhang Xia closed her eyes and silently chanted "Zhayun". After about half an incense stick of time, she opened her eyes and pointed at the candlestick.

Everyone only felt an undercurrent in the room, and the candlelight... shook a little.

Zhang Zheng hesitated and asked, "Axia, don't you have the talent for cultivation?"

Xiaoman glared at him and said, "What do you know? It takes months or even years to become an official. Sister Xia got the hang of it in just half an incense stick. Such talent is rare among ten thousand... No, there's not one in a hundred thousand or a million."

Zhang Xia looked at his palms and felt the magic of the official method for the first time: "Chen Ji, thank you."

Chen Ji smiled and said, "You're welcome, Second Sister."

At this time, the gong of the fifth watch sounded, and a night watchman came from afar: "The morning cock crows, go to bed early and get up early!"

There were more sounds of carriages and horses, and the post station became noisy.

Zhang Xia looked at Chen Ji and said, "The official from the Honglu Temple is here. Go and meet the person you want to meet."

(End of this chapter)