In the meditation room, Master Huichan dressed in a new robe and sat cross-legged on a cattail hassock. He was waiting for Emperor Renxian, Huanan Xin.

On one side, Great Warrior Monk stood there like a pagoda, staring at the Chief Abbot who was silently reciting the scriptures. He was about to say something but stopped.

In a moment, the old monk stretched his limbs on the cattail hassock. He slowly got up and stood respectfully under the niche for Buddha. He prayed three times to the bodhisattva's gilded image at the top.

"You and your disciples are not allowed to say much, and you are not allowed to do anything when something happens."

Not looking up, Huichan nodded and said.

Hearing this, Great Warrior Monk turned his head with a solemn expression, "Why didn't you stop Prince Xian from sending those two people out of the temple?"

Huichan looked up at the bodhisattva in the niche who was with a kind eyebrow and he sighed, "Heaven has care for every living thing. The Ninth Prince has practiced meditation with me for nearly one year, so he can be regarded as my lay Buddhist. At present, in his heart, the subcelestial affinity is not yet finished. If he can find his true heart and rise with force and spirit, I can save one life and round it off."

Great Warrior Monk was worried, and his eyebrows were trembling.

"If you have helped others, will His Majesty spare you and the disciples of the temple?"

The old monk looked calm, chanted "Amitabha", and slowly closed his eyes.

"Amitabha. Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva says, ‘If I don't go to hell, who will?’ I will take the consequences myself."

…

In the middle of summer, the sky was windless and cloudless. In the early morning, it was very sweltering.

The honor guards were about to set off. With an angry roar, the jade carriage moved.

"At this moment, you actually let me ask Ninth Uncle to come over, don't you? Noble Concubine Hui, I see that you are more foolish!"

Under the five-colored nine-dragon carved gold carriage roof, Huanan Xin sat majestically and stared at the woman angrily with eyes turning fire.

With the dragon sleeves swinging, he slammed down the crystal bead curtain.

"Your Majesty, I'm wrong. I originally thought that you and Ninth Uncle had a very good relationship. He has also visited Yonglu Temple to practice meditation many times, so..."

"Stop. Shut up!"

Before the woman could finish speaking, Huanan Xin interrupted her impatiently.

Beside him, Commandery Princess Jingle sneered at Noble Concubine Hui. She linked her hands through the Emperor's shoulders and smiled coldly.

"Okay, His Majesty, don't be angry. The auspicious time will arrive. Let's go quickly."

Yesterday, when hearing that the Emperor was going to take the concubines of the imperial harem to Yonglu Temple for praying, Jingle immediately went to Qinming Hall. She finally persuaded Huanan Xin into taking her with him.

She was left by her Ninth Uncle on the night of Girl's Day. After experiencing despair and grief, the girl calmed down and thought about it repeatedly. She finally determined that the original statement of the eunuch Xi was not nonsense.

Her Ninth Uncle really had a crush on the woman of Jingyang Palace!

Commandery Princess Jingle was angry and hateful. She couldn't tolerate it.

This time, she went to Yonglu Temple in order to have a good look at the ugliness of Lady Yun's acne-faced face.

The girl even secretly thought that if she had the right opportunity at that time, she would also make a big mockery of the ugly woman.

Jingle wanted the shameless dirty woman to realize that she was not qualified to compete with the young, beautiful, and rich Commandery Princess to fight for that frosty and gorgeous man.

Now sitting in the jade carriage, she heard Noble Concubine Hui mention her Ninth Uncle. Feeling that the words with a double meaning sounded weird, the girl couldn't help but be angry, and she secretly felt a little chagrin.

Noble Concubine Hui stood upright outside the carriage obediently with her hands crossed.

She was scolded in front of everyone, but her slightly drooping face did not have any grudge. She was pretty with clear eyes and rosy lips, and she gave a weird smile.

She deliberately said these words to the two people in the carriage.

At that time, the Emperor suddenly ignored the government affairs and went straight to the Ninth Prince's Mansion. On the same day, the news that the Eastern Depot went to Yonglu Temple spread like wildfire in the imperial harem, causing many speculations.

Many concubines did not say anything on the surface, but actually, they understood everything. That change was related to Lady Yun and the Ninth Prince!

Now Noble Concubine Hui's words meant to convey a message to the Emperor and Commandery Princess Jingle that the Ninth Prince would go to Yonglu Temple for Buddhist dharma and the woman of Jingyang Palace was resting there.

One was the Emperor's uncle and the other was the Emperor's concubine. If the two wanted to meet, naturally there were lots of opportunities.

Noble Concubine Hui used unscrupulous divisive tactics to convince the Emperor that the woman he was devoted to caring for and favoring betrayed him and made an unethical affair.

She succeeded.

Huanan Xin's body was stiff at this moment, and he turned pale for a while. He was indeed mad by the woman's harsh words.

Was this Noble Concubine intentional or unintentional?

Why was she so long-tongued, saying in public that Ninth Uncle often went to Yonglu Temple to practice meditation?

Was she not afraid that those who had ulterior motives would spread the news out and defame the royal family?

The more Huanan Xin thought about it, the angrier he became. He slammed his fist onto the golden pillar beside him and stared at the beautiful woman outside the carriage with his sharp eyes. He shouted in a hoarse voice.

"Go back to your carriage! Liang Zhen, transmit my order. Set out."

Eunuch Superintendent stooped down, shaking the plain white horsetail whisk. He drawled with his feminine voice deliberately.

"His Majesty sets out. Clear the way with music!"

The team of civil and military officials, Honour Guards, Imperial Guards, and servants surrounded more than a dozen jade carriages and slowly left the Palace.

Huanan Xin sat in the jade carriage and glanced at the beaded curtain with his cold eyes. He looked at the unusually quiet and spacious streets and alleys that had been cleared by Honour Guards in advance.

After a moment of thought, he suddenly turned to look at the girl next to him and smiled softly.

"Ying'er, can you guess what Ninth Uncle is doing now?"

The girl's body was shocked, and she stared straight at the Emperor's two cunning eyes.

"He... What he could do is naturally to drink and have fun in his mansion."

The girl's heart pounded fast. Looking pale, she answered and raised her hand to touch the golden Tian-tsui colored glaze hair accessory on her temple.

The Emperor scratched his eyebrows with his index finger, and a touch of sharpness flashed at the bottom of his cold eyes.

"The weather is very good. What can he do in the mansion? The honor guards will pass by Ninth Prince's Mansion... Liang Zhen, send someone to quickly ask Ninth Uncle to come here first."

The girl in the carriage suddenly turned pale. She pulled on the dragon sleeves of Huanan Xin and cried out in a daze.

"His Majesty, what do you want to do? Ninth Uncle, Ninth Uncle... This time, you travel with the womenfolk of the imperial harem. Don't call him, lest he would be rigmarolish and make trouble!"

"Why?"

Huanan Xin sneered evilly and raised his thumb to the back of the carriage.

"Those ministers can follow out, so why can't Ninth Uncle? Haven't you always loved him? Don't you want to see him at this time?"

"I..."

Jingle was dumbfounded, and an inexplicable wave of trepidation struck her heart.

It seemed that Emperor really thought about the words of Noble Concubine Hui. He was ready to send someone to Ninth Prince's Mansion for inspection.

The girl sat worried in the carriage, looking anxiously at the swaying beaded curtain on the opposite. An Honour Guard turned back and reported on the horse.

"Huanan He, the Ninth Prince, is not in the mansion!"

Just like thunder from the clear sky exploded above her head, Commandery Princess Jingle changed her face drastically for a while. She just felt that she was teetering. In an instant, she seemed to fall into the extremely cold abyss and her whole body was cold.

The pain of her heart being cut by the sharp blade suffocated her. She forcibly endured it, slowly peeking at the young Emperor with the dragon robe on her side.

He still held a majestic and heroic sitting posture. There was coldness on his handsome countenance, which was difficult to dissipate. A shallow smile on his face was gloomy and vicious, making people shudder at the first sight.

The air was dull and tight as if a rock had been pressed on a person's body. The sound of dislocation of muscles and bones was fierce in the ears.

…

After arriving at their destination, the honor guards playing music stopped outside the mountain gate. The monks welcomed the Emperor, concubines, and ministers into the temple.

Praying was just formalistic for Huanan Xin. He was eager to see Gu Yunxi at this moment.

Commandery Princess Jingle was worried and uneasy when praying for blessings. Her worried eyes were always fixed on Huanan Xin's expression.

Among the crowd, only Noble Concubine Hui was the proudest.

She stood under the high-hanging prayer flag upright and lit the incense with her delicate hands. She respectfully offered it to the incense burner, closed her eyes, and clasped her hands to pray. She really put on an act.

She seemed to be praying decently, but in fact, she was cursing in her heart.

"Well deserved! The woman surnamed Zheng dares to oppose me, and I will make you dead without a corpse!"

As soon as the incense blessing ceremony was over, Huanan Xin rushed out of the Great Buddha's Hall and ran to the meditation room where the womenfolk of the royal family mediated.

Zhiqi, Lord Lei, and the servant Xiuyu knelt down outside the Full Moon Gate to welcome the Emperor, lowering their heads.

"Yunxi, I come to see you!"

Ignoring these three people, Huanan Xin strode through the Full Moon Gate.

Commandery Princess Jingle followed close behind and clasped her two small hands firmly inside the sleeves. She was nervous enough to forget to breathe.

"Yunxi?"

Not forgetting the fact that smallpox was infectious, Huanan Xin only stopped outside the house and called out again to the door.

No one responded.

The Emperor stood under the porch and listened. He suddenly kicked the wooden door.

The meditation room was empty.

The two people he had thought about along the way were not inside.

At this moment, Noble Concubine Hui turned her head slightly sideways. Her eyes looked slowly past Concubine Liang's face with delicate makeup.

Noticing this, Concubine Liang immediately took on an innocent look and asked loudly in a confused tone.

"Hey, Sister Yun is also strange, isn't she? With acne on her whole body, does she actually have the mood to go out and play?"

Lady Wan beside her flirted with the handkerchief with two fingers. She slightly raised her eyebrows and continued to say in a sneering tone.

"Yeah, it's a coincidence. Why do we find nobody today? The Ninth Prince is not found. Neither is Sister Yun."

"Well, we come here on such a hot day, but we don't see the master..."

"That's interesting..."

Several concubines echoed it. Some laughed while others complained.

Huanan Xin was silent for a while. His eyes were aggressive, and his sideburns were swollen. Blue veins stood out on his sweaty temples.

He hurriedly walked out of the meditation room, staring down at the three kneeling people.

"Tell me where your master is? Tell me quickly!"

The three people just lowered their heads like wooden carvings that had lost the five senses. They pretended to be deaf and dumb in the face of the Emperor's rebuke.

"Sh*t!"

Huanan Xin was furious. He slapped Lei with his palm and then kicked over Zhiqi. Then he turned around angrily, pointed at Master Huichan, and shouted loudly.

"Come on! Take down the demon monk!"

The Honour Guards rushed up. With the piercing sound, several blades were mounted on the old monk's shoulder.

"Chief Abbot!"

Great Warrior Monk was terrified. He clenched his iron palms and felt wronged. His face turned red and he breathed heavily.

An Honour Guard ran into the chaotic scene and knelt in front of the Emperor.

"Your Majesty, the Ninth Prince is coming."