The prince is more stable

Chapter 1007 Flowers Bloom and Fall
Having lived two lives, Zhao Xiaoqian stumbled and struggled at the bottom of society in his previous life, and in this life, as emperor, he still retained the same fundamental nature as in his previous life.

He was not used to ostentation, and he disliked riding on the backs of the people and acting arrogantly. He held supreme power, but he never abused it.

Even his becoming emperor was a result of being forced by circumstances; his initial motivation was not ambition, but survival.

Unless it's an emergency, Zhao Xiaoqian usually wouldn't use his power to affect people's lives.

He was standing on the mountaintop, yet he was still willing to consider himself as dust.

This is reverence for heaven and earth, and reverence for the people.

What about the emperor?
Even emperors had to queue to enter temples to offer incense and pray for blessings, obediently following the flow of people step by step, and enjoying the atmosphere of everyday life.

So Zhao Xiaoqian put his arm around Xue Meiyun and joined the line of people offering incense, and the two of them slowly moved forward with the line.

More than half an hour passed, and the queue was still as long as a bleak life.

Zhao Xiaoqian didn't care at all. He stood in the crowd, looking around. Of course, he never let go of Xue Meiyun's arm. He felt her delicate and smooth skin through her clothes and silently compared her to Di Ying and the other women in his heart.

That's just how scumbags are; they actually have a mental ranking of the beauties they've been with.

Rankings by skin tone, facial features, body shape (fat/slim), and body type (female/male), as well as rankings by appearance, legs, and feet...

On the various lists they silently created in their minds, the beauties were vying for attention, almost fighting tooth and nail.

He held Xue Meiyun tightly, and she lowered her head shyly, not daring to look at the eyes of others.

In this conservative era, it is considered shocking for men and women to hug and kiss in public.

Xue Meiyun, a daughter of an official, had been raised in seclusion since childhood and had never even touched a man's hand. Today, she had done something so shameless that she was so ashamed that she wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

Although being held so intimately by Zhao Xiaoqian was a long-held wish of hers, the fact that such an intimate act was happening in front of everyone caused her intense shame and the joy of having her wish fulfilled to struggle with conflicting emotions, leaving her feeling tormented.

After an unknown amount of time, Zhao Xiaoqian and his party finally entered the Daxiangguo Temple.

Xue Meiyun also showed a happy expression. This was her first time queuing up. She was a little impatient at first, but as she watched the number of people in the queue ahead decrease and she moved forward step by step, she felt a great sense of accomplishment.

Upon entering the Daxiangguo Temple, in the central Mahavira Hall, Xue Meiyun knelt on a prayer mat, respectfully offering incense and bowing to the Buddha. Then, with her hands clasped together, she knelt before the Buddha statue, murmuring prayers with a devout expression.

Zhao Xiaoqian initially stayed by her side, but he did not kneel down.

In both his past and present lives, he had no faith and did not believe in gods or Buddhas.

After waiting patiently for a while, Zhao Xiaoqian raised an eyebrow in surprise when he saw Xue Meiyun still kneeling in front of the Buddha statue with her hands clasped together, praying for blessings.

You only lit three incense sticks, how many wishes did you actually make to Buddha?

They didn't even ask if Buddha would be willing to do such a losing business.
The incense offerings received weren't even enough to cover the cost of Buddha's journey from the Western Paradise to the Song Dynasty. Xue Meiyun's vow was likely to fall through.

Never mind, Zhao Xiaoqian doesn't believe it anyway, so let's just treat it as accompanying her on a tourist trip.

Seeing that Xue Meiyun was still kneeling in front of the Buddha statue chanting endlessly, Zhao Xiaoqian gradually lost patience, got up and walked out of the main hall, grabbing a young novice monk along the way.

To be precise, Zhao Xiaoqian does have a faith, and his faith is very down-to-earth.

The young novice monk was jolted by the man's tug and was about to get angry when he saw a dozen or so menacing-looking men with fierce expressions slowly approaching. The young novice monk's heart tightened and he immediately became compassionate.

"Little monk, I have a question," Zhao Xiaoqian said lazily, "Where is your family's statue of the God of Wealth enshrined? I'd like to go and worship it."

The young novice was stunned and stared at him in shock.

This thing... could it be sent by a competitor to sabotage things? It must be those old Taoist priests from Yuqing Palace who instigated it, just to annoy their Buddhist disciples. Laozi is competing with Buddha for incense offerings, so they sent people to pour boiling water on the money tree at Xiangguo Temple...

Amitabha Buddha, how insidious, how vicious!
The young novice's expression immediately turned cold. Even though he knew this person was not to be trifled with and that they outnumbered him, he was not afraid at all.

I don't go to hell, who goes to hell?

“My friend, this is a sacred Buddhist site. Please do not joke around. Everything has its cause and effect.”

The young novice finished speaking coldly, then turned and left in anger.

Now it was Zhao Xiaoqian's turn to be stunned. After a long while, Zhao Xiaoqian pointed at the little novice's back and angrily said, "Hey! What kind of attitude is that! I just asked for directions, is he being so rude?"

Outraged, Zhao Xiaoqian cupped his hands around his mouth like megaphones and shouted at the little monk's retreating back.

"Your Buddha doesn't like you!"

The young novice monk suddenly stumbled, almost falling headfirst into the ground. After standing there stunned for a moment, he suddenly took off running, wiping away tears as he ran, genuinely bursting into tears.

The head of the Imperial Guards protecting him finally couldn't hold back any longer and whispered in Zhao Xiaoqian's ear, "Your Majesty, it's best to be careful what you say in a Buddhist temple. They don't enshrine statues of the God of Wealth. If Your Majesty wants to worship the God of Wealth, you can go to a Taoist temple..."

Zhao Xiaoqian was taken aback, his face turning grim as he asked, "Is the God of Wealth from the Taoist side?" The head constable nodded firmly, "Yes."

Zhao Xiaoqian's expression immediately turned awkward.

You can't blame him for that; after all, he's lived two lives and has rarely set foot in religious places.

In his limited memories of his previous life, whether it was a temple or a Taoist temple, a "God of Wealth Hall" was an indispensable feature. In his previous life, under the constraints of social environment and system, both Buddhism and Taoism got along in an unprecedentedly harmonious way, and they could even share their respective deities.

Of course, the bigger reason is that there are too many people worshipping the God of Wealth. It's practically a cash-printing machine. Which temple or Taoist monastery would miss out on such a gold mine of donations and incense money?

The religions of this world are clearly still very principled; they will never worship gods or Buddhas that are not their own, and no amount of incense oil or merit-making will do. Faith is invincible.

A strange sense of guilt welled up in Zhao Xiaoqian's heart towards the young novice monk. He wanted to catch up with him and correct his earlier words, telling him that Buddha liked him very much and that he would eventually go to the Western Paradise.

"Oh, never mind if you don't have it. I'll go to Yuqing Palace to pay my respects another day..." Zhao Xiaoqian rubbed his face awkwardly and added superfluously, "I have a good impression of the God of Wealth. His power is enough for me to kneel before him for a long time."

The leader grinned, forcing out a smile that looked more like a grimace.

Xue Meiyun waited for a long time outside the main hall of Daxiangguo Temple, while Xue Meiyun remained inside praying for blessings.

I wonder how many wishes she made to Buddha, and it seems like it's going to be very difficult. Isn't she afraid that Buddha might get angry and summon a lightning tribulation...

Outside the main hall, crowds still thronged, each face etched with piety, and the air was thick with the pungent smell of incense.

Zhao Xiaoqian suddenly remembered Lu Zhishen from Water Margin, which said that he had stayed briefly in the Xiangguo Temple. The famous story of Lu Zhishen uprooting the willow tree happened in the Xiangguo Temple.

Later, after hearing that a woman named Lin Daiyu had also uprooted a willow tree, Zhao Xiaoqian lost interest, thinking that it shouldn't be too difficult to uproot.

After carefully calculating the timeline, even if Lu Zhishen was a real person, he would probably only be born now, so we would never have the chance to meet him.

After a long while, Xue Meiyun finally walked out of the main hall with a relaxed and relieved smile on her pretty face, as if she had entrusted the business to Buddha and was just waiting for Buddha to take care of it for her.

Seeing Zhao Xiaoqian standing quietly outside the hall, Xue Meiyun happily stepped forward and said, "I am sorry to have kept Your Majesty waiting for so long. Please forgive me."

Zhao Xiaoqian looked up at the sky. The sky was clear and cloudless, and there was no sign of a lightning tribulation. Only then did he feel at ease and let her approach him.

"How many wishes did you make? Didn't you ask Buddha if he would grant them after making them? Isn't this considered forced buying and selling? What if Buddha gets angry and reports it to the authorities?" Zhao Xiaoqian asked curiously.

Xue Meiyun chuckled, gave him a cautious glare, and said, "I have donated quite a lot of money for merit. Since Buddha has accepted my money, of course he should do things for me. Otherwise, I should report him to the authorities."

Zhao Xiaoqian laughed heartily.

Xue Meiyun is indeed a person who doesn't discriminate between meat and vegetables, and has a very realistic personality. Seeing her kneeling in front of the Buddha statue and making a wish for so long, one would think she was very devout, but it turns out she was just negotiating a business deal with Buddha.

In terms of both heart and actions, she and he were actually not truly respectful of gods or Buddhas.

For her, activities like praying and making wishes are more like seeing a therapist; achieving self-decompression and self-comfort is enough.

"We've been out all day, it's time for us to head back to the palace. Let's go," Zhao Xiaoqian said, and started walking out of the Daxiangguo Temple.

Xue Meiyun followed behind him, looking slightly disappointed, and hesitated several times before speaking.

She really wanted to ask why the Emperor wasn't embracing her now, since he had been holding her when they came in.

Shouldn't we strive to have a good beginning and a good end?
Unable to bring herself to ask the embarrassing question, Xue Meiyun could only obediently follow behind Zhao Xiaoqian, walking out the door and along the Imperial Street all the way to the palace gate.

Upon entering the palace, Zhao Xiaoqian immediately sent Xue Meiyun back to her bedchamber, while he himself returned to the Funing Palace.

Today is not a day off. I've been out all day and there are still many memorials to review. Even the emperor has to work every day.

When Xue Meiyun saw that Zhao Xiaoqian sent her back after entering the palace, she felt even more disappointed, and her expression became gloomy.

She had thought that their time together today had left a deep impression on the emperor, and that tonight might be the perfect time...

However, Zhao Xiaoqian dismissed her with a single sentence, making her feel that everything she had spent with him that day was just a one-sided dream.

However, Zhao Xiaoqian was the emperor, and she dared not disobey him. She could only obey with a wronged and disappointed expression, and returned to her bedchamber with the help of the palace maids.

After returning to her palace, Xue Meiyun didn't eat. She sat alone in the palace, looking up at the sky as dusk gradually fell, then night descended, and finally it was almost midnight.

Xue Meiyun sighed sadly. Just as she was about to remove her makeup and return to her palace to rest, a personal maid suddenly rushed over with a look of ecstatic joy on her face.

"Reporting to Consort Xue, His Majesty, His Majesty... has issued an imperial decree that Consort Xue will serve His Majesty tonight!"

Xue Meiyun was startled. After realizing what was happening, she stood up abruptly, and tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.

(End of this chapter)