Chapter 347 Qingxu Temple
May 1st.
At daybreak, the front yard of the Sun residence became noisy.
Needless to say, Jia Yingchun was there. Ruan Rong, after hearing that they were going to Qingxu Temple to hold a religious ceremony, also wanted to join in the fun. Together with the maids and servants around them, five carriages were packed with people.
In addition, there were a few young actors in the troupe who somehow got through to Sun Shaozu and also took a place in the team.
So when they went out, seven carriages were lined up in a row. Sun Shaozong rode a tall horse in front to lead the way, and behind him, Zhao Zhongji led a few strong servants, driving donkeys, mules and horses to respond. It was really bustling and lively.
The Qingxu Temple is located in the inner city, and is not far away.
About half an hour later, the Sun family's team arrived near the Qingxu Temple, and saw that the open space in front of the mountain gate had been surrounded by colorful coarse cloth. A dozen middle-aged Taoist priests with dignified appearances were posing at the only entrance, waiting for their arrival.
Sun Shaozong whipped his horsewhip, and a servant beside him came forward to reveal his identity. When he heard that the second young lady of Rongguo Mansion who had just married had arrived, the Taoists immediately dispersed in both directions, and a special receptionist came forward and led the convoy inside.
At this time, no one from the Rong and Ning mansions had arrived yet. There were only a few servants who were checking and filling in the gaps inside and outside the house.
This was actually something that everyone in the Sun residence had expected - if Jia Yingchun arrived late after Lady Jia had arrived, it would be a breach of etiquette for a junior.
It was precisely because Lady Jia had not arrived and the Qingxu Temple had not been cleared out that after the seven carriages stopped in the corner, all the female members of the family waited obediently in the carriages. Only a few older women got out of the carriages and, together with the male servants, commented on the Taoists of the Qingxu Temple.
Sun Shaozong got off his horse and took out a pocket watch with a carving of the Nian beast from his sleeve pocket. He checked the time and saw that it was just past 8 a.m. He estimated that the convoys from the Rong and Ning mansions would take some time to arrive.
He asked Zhao Zhongji to set up a stool and take the official bulletin that was distributed yesterday evening to study.
To be honest, the content of this issue of the court bulletin was quite beyond Sun Shaozong's expectations - the 'Shenxiansan Project', which was supervised by Emperor Guangde himself, only occupied a small space on the second page; on the contrary, the 'Longsheng Old Store Stealing Heart Case' appeared openly on the front page, in the fourth position.
However, compared with the confusing case, the content of the official bulletin clearly focused on criticizing the widespread slavery among wealthy families, which indirectly condoned the rampant human traffickers.
Could it be...
Did Emperor Guangde intend to curb the slave-owning trend?
This is nothing new. Many kings in history have issued similar decrees.
However, there are always countermeasures for every policy. According to today's customs and practices, the most that can be done is to reduce the number of young slaves bought and sold. It is unrealistic to completely ban it.
"Second Master."
He was working overtime to figure out the emperor's intentions when he suddenly heard Zhao Zhongji remind him in a low voice, "A few Taoist priests are coming."
Sun Shaozong raised his head and looked around, and saw an old Taoist with white hair and beard and kind eyes, walking towards him at great speed. The two middle-aged Taoists behind him could hardly catch up with him.
This old Taoist is naturally the abbot of Qingxu Temple.
Because he was the one who replaced the previous owner of Rongguo Mansion, Jia Daishan, he had a very close relationship with Rongguo Mansion. When Jia Baoyu was poisoned and insane, Zhang Laodao also participated in his treatment, so he knew Sun Shaozong.
This old Taoist not only had connections with Rongguo Mansion, but was also the leader of the Taoist sect in Beijing, appointed by the imperial court. Since he was personally entertaining him, Sun Shaozong naturally did not dare to neglect him. He hurriedly asked Zhao Zhongji to take away the stool and official newspaper, and then stepped forward and bowed, saying, "How are you, old immortal?"
"Blessings and infinite blessings to the Heavenly Lord."
Taoist Zhang also returned the greeting and laughed, "Compared to others, I am still relatively good, but compared to Lord Sun's physique, age is really not forgiving."
As he spoke, the old Taoist asked with a smile, "It has been more than half a month since we last met. When we discussed that matter, I wonder if Lord Sun has considered it?"
"this……"
Sun Shaozong smiled bitterly and said, "Old Immortal, please spare me. You are so respected that you don't care. How can I, a small governor of Shuntian Prefecture, withstand the siege of those big monks?"
The so-called "that incident at the beginning" actually meant that when Taoist Zhang was exorcising evil spirits and curing Baoyu's illness, he specially found Sun Shaozong and expressed that Qingxu Temple was willing to adopt the baby boy who was about to be born by the two nuns.
Although the monks were avoiding this matter as much as possible, only Miaoyu was willing to take in the baby girl - but if the child was really handed over to the Taoist priest, the situation would be very different!
"Hahaha……"
Taoist Zhang laughed heartily a few times, winking and saying, "It was just a joke. I guess Master Sun has spread the word that I want to adopt children, and there must be a temple willing to take over those children, right?"
"I, the Taoist priest, can protect a few children from worry for half their lives just by being scolded by others. It is a good profit."
This person is truly a man with great insight into the world!
No wonder after he succeeded as the abbot, he made Qingxu Temple the leader of Taoism in just over a decade!
"The old immortal is indeed very humble."
Sun Shaozong bowed and praised sincerely, and chatted with the old Taoist about some random things. Suddenly, drums and music sounded from the bell tower next to him, and then someone came to report that the carriage of Rongguo Mansion was approaching.
Upon hearing this, the old man and the young man hurriedly went out hand in hand to greet them.
When they got outside, they saw several sedan chairs decorated with flowers in the lead, followed by carriages and horses driving one after another, and servants responding to them in the middle. It was so long that they could not see the end.
Yes~
The emperor had just revealed his intention to curb the slave-owning trend in the imperial gazette, and the Rong and Ning mansions were showing off their wealth on the street...
"Brother Sun!"
“Second brother!”
Leading the way at the front of the team were Jia Baoyu and Xue Pan. They saw Sun Shaozong and Taoist Zhang coming out from afar, so they dismounted their horses and came over to greet them.
Seeing that Xue Pan was only concerned with greeting him and was somewhat indifferent to Taoist Zhang standing beside him, Sun Shaozong hurriedly called him to come forward and pay his respects.
At this time, another man came up from behind with great joy, dismounted from his horse and came closer. It was none other than Jia Zhen, the chief commander of this festival.
After not seeing each other for a few days, the Ningguo Mansion master seemed to be in better spirits. After meeting Sun Shaozong, he praised him without a word: "Brother, it really worked that night. After that, I never dreamed of Rong'er's wife again."
Uh~
Sun Shaozong really didn't know how to respond to this.
Fortunately, before he could reply, the eight-man sedan chair in front had already arrived at the door. Taoist Zhang exchanged a few words with Lady Jia through the curtain, then asked all the idle people in the temple to leave and invited the women from the Rong and Ning mansions in.
After all, Sun Shaozong was a foreigner, so he just waited at the door and chatted casually with Jia Zhen, Baoyu and Xue Pan.
Who knew that not long after, there was a commotion inside, and all that was heard was the sound of women shouting and yelling.
Everyone looked at each other in shock and hurried into the curtain to check what was going on. It turned out that there was a young Taoist priest who was cutting lantern flowers. He somehow bumped into Wang Xifeng and was slapped by her. He fell to the ground. When he tried to crawl away, he was surrounded by the maids, who beat and scolded him.
Taoist Zhang felt a little embarrassed when he saw this. It was not right for him to go forward and beg for mercy, nor was it right for him to just sit there and watch.
Fortunately, Grandmother Jia heard the noise and stepped forward to stop everyone, thus averting the disturbance.
