Chapter 23
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Xue Yuan’s voice near his ear felt like that of a hungry wolf or a mad dog.
The danger and the smell of blood rushed to his head, and Gu Yuanbai looked down to see several wounds on Xue Yuan’s hands.
Ordinary people would have died being dragged like that. Xue Yuan’s strength was frightening, and his body was in excellent condition. His grip on the reins was terrifyingly strong. Except for the blood and wounds, he was no different from others.
Gu Yuanbai’s face remained expressionless.
He had genuinely felt an urge to kill Xue Yuan just moments ago, wanting to eliminate this man who continually offended him and would eventually usurp his power. As he dragged Xue Yuan, Gu Yuanbai even felt a bit of satisfaction.
How great it would be if Xue Yuan were dead; he could kill the future regent.
But as his reason returned, he knew he couldn’t kill him now, and ordinary methods wouldn’t work.
Xue Yuan was completely tense, holding the young emperor close. The strong smell of blood and pain enraged him, revealing the madness hidden deep within. His expression was terrifying, but he restrained himself from harming the young emperor.
He laughed grimly, “Did Laozi get it right?”
“Laozi?” Gu Yuanbai remained calm, glancing at Xue Yuan and smiling slightly. “So it was Guard Xue who injured that horse.”
He slowly and deliberately turned the tables, “You ruined one of my fine horses and damaged several of my good blankets. Although it’s of no use, I still must punish Guard Xue with three months’ salary to set an example.”
Xue Yuan laughed coldly, raising his whip and making the horse bolt like an arrow.
“Your Majesty!”
The guards behind them shouted in alarm, “Xue Yuan, stop!”
The scenery flew by, the horse’s gallop causing dizziness. Gu Yuanbai reached for the reins, but Xue Yuan’s grip was too strong, and he couldn’t take them.
D*mn it.
Gu Yuanbai’s insides felt nauseous from the jolting. He shouted angrily, “Xue Yuan!”
Xue Yuan shouted, “Your Majesty, it seemed to me that you were running fast just now, I thought you were going to gallop with the horse, wasn’t that so?”
Gu Yuanbai: “—Stop for this Emperor!”
Xue Yuan fiercely pulled the reins, the steed lifted its front hooves, and his whole body leaned back. Gu Yuanbai fell into Xue Yuan’s arms, and Xue Yuan’s chest was firm.
After this incident, Gu Yuanbai’s back was sore, but what hurt more was his thighs. After a moment of relief, Gu Yuanbai suddenly chuckled.
Very good, very good.
Indeed, a mad dog doesn’t know pain so easily.
Anger and another kind of desire for conquest surged strongly. Gu Yuanbai had a spirit of adventure, but this body couldn’t provide him with the conditions for taking risks.
But the process of taming Xue Yuan seemed to be another kind of adventure in itself.
Killing wasn’t thrilling enough, it didn’t count as a successful adventure. Making him obedient, making him kneel obediently at the Emperor’s feet was considered successful.
Seeing his anger, Xue Yuan smiled instead. With one hand around the young Emperor, adjusting his position to make him comfortable, Xue Yuan let him lean against him. The horse slowed down, almost like taking a stroll.
“Your Majesty,” Xue Yuan spoke with moderation, “Today, accompanying Wan Taifei to the temple, it’s not suitable for galloping. Your Majesty’s body is weak, it wouldn’t be good if you scraped your skin.”
Gu Yuanbai: “Hmph.”
“I naturally was taking this into consideration for Your Majesty’s sake,” Xue Yuan rolled up his sleeves, showing Gu Yuanbai the abrasions underneath, caused by being dragged for tens of meters. The abrasions covered his entire arm, oozing blood, and looked painful. “Look, I have wounds like these all over. The blood on my back even stuck to my clothes. It’s painful when bandaging. Your Majesty, considering the way you treated me, I only had to bear you riding for a few breaths. Isn’t that enough consideration for Your Majesty?”
The Emperor curled his lips and said in a calm voice, “I punished you once, and you remembered to retaliate. Truly, you are my good guard.”
“Your Majesty jests again,” Xue Yuan said slowly, “Just like how I thought Your Majesty wanted to kill me just now. Now, whether I retaliate or not, it’s all Your Majesty’s imagination. Your Majesty is the Emperor, the ruler of Great Heng. How dare this minister?”
In the nearby grass, many white butterflies and small insects fluttered about. In the spring, white butterflies are the first and most common to appear. Gu Yuanbai glanced at the white butterflies and thought to himself, you crushed the butterfly, and because no one saw it, you can say whatever you want.
You have taken your revenge on me, and because no one saw it, your talk of loyalty and integrity now is simply laughable.
Gu Yuanbai didn’t regret wanting to kill Xue Yuan. He was angry because of Xue Yuan’s attitude. He dared to be so bold even in front of the Emperor, and if provoked, he knew how to push the boundaries. He dared to do such things openly, what else wouldn’t he dare to do?
The guards behind caught up, relieved to see Gu Yuanbai unharmed. The chief guard glared angrily at Xue Yuan and sternly said, “If Guard Xue can’t ride, don’t force it.”
Xue Yuan’s mood was not good, and at the words, he smirked, saying, “What’s it to you?”
The chief guard’s face turned red with anger. “You—”
“Enough,” Gu Yuanbai said, “Shut up for this emperor, all of you.”
No one dared to speak anymore. Gu Yuanbai stood straight with an expressionless face, the atmosphere oppressive and strange as they proceeded to the outskirts of the capital.
***
Wan Taifei had been looking forward to today for a long time. The weather was nice, and she was in high spirits.
Gu Yuanbai supported Wan Taifei and leisurely walked towards the temple.
The royal temple was named Chengbao Temple, covering a large area, with a towering pagoda. The paths winding through the temple were secluded, hidden among the vegetation, exuding a sense of Zen.
“Your Majesty,” Wan Taifei couldn’t walk after a while and was assisted to sit in a nearby pavilion. She smiled at Gu Yuanbai, “I can’t walk anymore. Your Majesty, please go ahead, and please burn some extra incense for me.”
Gu Yuanbai smiled, “Shall I go ahead then?”
Wan Taifei nodded in relief. After watching the Emperor’s figure disappear into the woods, she wiped the sweat from her forehead with a smile.
Chengbao Temple was built halfway up the mountain. The abbot and many monks had already heard about the arrival of the Emperor and Wan Taifei. When Gu Yuanbai finally arrived at the temple, all he saw were rows of monks with shaven heads.
These monks were dressed in uniform robes, led by the abbot, they bowed to Gu Yuanbai. Gu Yuanbai kindly asked them to rise and scanned the monks in the temple.
There were probably two thousand of them.
Gu Yuanbai narrowed his eyes but said nothing, allowing the abbot to lead him around the temple.
The abbot sighed, “His Majesty, the late Emperor, also brought His Majesty here to worship Buddha. However, at that time, His Majesty was still young and probably doesn’t remember.”
Gu Yuanbai smiled politely, “Abbot, you reside in the beautiful mountains and rivers all year round, far from the hustle and bustle of the world. In your eyes, the past may seem like it was just yesterday.”
The abbot chuckled, “Your Majesty is absolutely right. Now seeing Your Majesty again, with the true dragon protecting Your Majesty’s body, even though this monk seldom leaves the temple, I know that the world will flourish under Your Majesty’s rule.”
In the midst of conversation, the group arrived at a pavilion towering on the mountainside. The wild wind in the mountains blew Gu Yuanbai’s clothes, and the abbot kept telling amusing anecdotes and Buddhist principles, all delivered with a touch of humor.
But he had been talking for a while, and his throat was dry. Following Gu Yuanbai’s gaze down the mountain, he asked, “What is Your Majesty looking at?”
“I’m looking at this Big Temple,” the Emperor said.
The abbot couldn’t help but smile, “If Your Majesty wishes to enjoy the scenery, there is a viewing platform ahead, where the scenery is even more beautiful and enchanting.”
“I’m not looking at the scenery.”
With this statement, not only the abbot felt strange, but also the guards behind couldn’t help but feel puzzled.
At the end of the crowd, Xue Yuan brushed off the last bit of dirt on his robe, looked up at the Emperor’s profile.
The black hair fluttered in the wind, occasionally a few strands drifting onto his face. Xue Yuan glanced at it for a while, then withdrew his gaze. After a moment, he moved his gaze back, this time not intending to withdraw, just openly looking.
As he spoke, there was a smile on his lips, slightly upturned, making him appear to be a good-looking figure that could disarm anyone’s guard. His lips were also pale, and judging by his appearance, he probably hadn’t eaten rouge from a woman yet?
Clean and neat, yet such a ruthless person, his appearance was so fragile.
No need to say, Xue Yuan had an intuition that the young Emperor was about to do something terrifying again, something that could make people pee their pants in fear.
Gu Yuanbai took the initiative to ask, “Is the abbot curious about what I’m looking at?”
The abbot respectfully said, “Please enlighten us, Your Majesty.”
“Unlike the abbot, I am just an ordinary person,” Gu Yuanbai said, “What I see is not the scenery, but the densely packed fields at the foot of the mountain.”
The abbot suddenly realized, “It’s spring planting season now, and we in the temple will also be busy.”
“The cultivated land at the foot of the mountain is all within the scope of Chengbao Temple,” Gu Yuanbai smiled, “Standing high and looking down, there must be thousands of acres of land.”
The abbot smiled without saying a word, with a hint of pride in his expression.
Gu Yuanbai didn’t say much more. After worshiping Buddha at Chengbao Temple and having a vegetarian meal, he leisurely descended the mountain with his entourage.
The abbot respectfully bid farewell to the Emperor as he left. When the Emperor’s group disappeared from sight, he turned around and was about to dismiss the monks when something flashed in his mind, freezing him in place. Then his face changed drastically!
The expressions of the many monks flashed through the abbot’s mind, along with the words the Emperor spoke on the mountain.
“I’m not looking at the scenery, but the densely packed fields at the foot of the mountain.”
“There must be thousands of acres of land.”
Large beads of sweat dripped from the abbot’s forehead. His breathing quickened as he exclaimed, “This is bad!”
The fields in the temple were exempt from taxes, and the monks in the temple were also exempt from corvée labor. The meaning behind the Emperor’s words was clearly implying something about surplus monks!
Layer upon layer of cold sweat covered the abbot as he suddenly remembered the story of the Three Disasters Extinguishing Buddhism!
In the temple, there were so many idle monks, so many tax-exempt fields. The late Emperor turned a blind eye to this because he revered Buddhism. But the current Emperor was not the late Emperor. Unfortunately, although the Emperor’s implications were so obvious, he only realized it now!
No, Chengbao Temple couldn’t become the sacrificial lamb!
“Quick,” the abbot grabbed someone, his voice trembling as he urgently said, “Quickly count the number of fields at the foot of the mountain and donate them to the government! Hurry!”
They had to be quick, quick to show the Emperor their sincerity.
With one punch from the Emperor, none of them could bear it.
Surplus monks… Extinguishing Buddhism…
The abbot shivered. If it was really what he thought, then this would definitely be another tragedy for the monks. The Emperor’s implications now might just be for the sake of Chengbao Temple’s face as a royal temple.
In Chengbao Temple alone, there were more than two thousand monks. With hundreds of temples of all sizes throughout the Great Heng, how many monks would there be in total?
As Gu Yuanbai descended the mountain, he was also pondering this question.
But he hadn’t thought about it for long when he heard the sound of a waterfall nearby.
“Let’s go, take a look,” Gu Yuanbai put aside his work and smiled, “It’s rare to come to the mountains, how can we not see the scenery?”
The group walked towards the water, and as they approached the source, Gu Yuanbai heard faint sounds coming from the bushes on the opposite bank. Intrigued, he took a few steps forward, and the scene suddenly became clear.
The water flowed gently, and on the opposite bank, among the bushes, there was a passionate voice that made one’s ears hot. The guards’ faces first turned red, then pale. How could they let the Emperor hear such obscene words?
The chief guard stepped forward with a dark face. “Your Majesty, this is the location of the royal temple. How can people engage in such licentious behavior here! I’ll go and arrest them!”
The person on the other side of the river seemed to have heard the commotion and a shirtless man raised his head, looking over in their direction.
His wrist was still wrapped with a red dudou. Gu Yuanbai didn’t look directly at him, taking a step back and turning his body to the side.
The jade pendant around his waist got caught on the branches nearby. Gu Yuanbai didn’t notice, and with that step back, the jade pendant was torn off.
Xue Yuan, who was standing aside, promptly bent down to catch it. The smooth and delicate jade pendant fell into his hand, feeling more comfortable than touching the finest silk.
Xue Yuan tossed the jade pendant a bit, kneading it a couple of times. As he thought about how the Emperor’s hand was colder than the jade, he casually said, “Your Majesty, you dropped your jade pendant.”
Gu Yuanbai glanced sideways and reached out his hand towards Xue Yuan.
The meaning was clear, but Xue Yuan seemed not to understand, grasping the hand that the young Emperor extended to him, and habitually kneading it a couple of times, as if he was playing with the jade, “Is Your Majesty’s hand cold? Shall I warm it up for you?”
With his left hand holding the young emperor’s jade pendant and his right hand grasping the young emperor’s icy hand, Xue Yuan thought to himself, this jade pendant doesn’t feel as good as the young emperor’s hand.
Ice-cold, strange.
Just because Xue Yuan kneaded his hand a couple of times, the skin on Gu Yuanbai’s hand turned even redder. He withdrew his hand silently, “I want the jade pendant.”
What kind of idiot was Xue Jiuyao?
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