The Prime Minister’s Daughter and the Marquis’s Fool

The Prime Minister’s Daughter and the Marquis’s Fool – Chapter 236

by Little Panda

Extra 11

Free of Charge

Xiao Bingying learned from the people in line that they had come for a monk whose dharma name was Lu Fa, who was said to be about to ascend to immortality and would bestow medicine upon the common people after his ascension.

Qu Sheng’s group waited in line. By the time they entered the city, it was past the hour for lunch, and the children were starving. Zhu Ming’an led them to the local branch of the Zhu family merchant house.

The Zhu family maintained a courtyard here, a residence used when conducting business in the area.

However, the place was short on supplies and staff, so Zhu Ming’an personally made a trip to a restaurant to arrange lunch for everyone.

“This man is ascending the day after tomorrow, and already this many common folk have gathered. Could he really become an immortal?” Zhao Jiayu asked, her words muffled by the food in her mouth.

Everyone looked up at her. Xiao Bingying replied, “If he could truly become an immortal, he wouldn’t need to gather this many people.”

Zhao Jiayu paused her chopsticks in thought. Cheng Xi added, “Those who cultivate the Dao almost always practice austere disciplines far from the noise of the world. For him to make such a grand spectacle, he must be after something.”

Qu Sheng ate in silence. Lin Xizhao glanced at her—Qu Sheng was most wary of people who roused the populace like this. To the court, it was a grave hidden danger.

“Whether he becomes an immortal or not, I’ll go smash his ascension platform tomorrow.” Jin Mingyi, with her usual grand-lady temper, had never been one to humor charlatans and cultists.

Qu Sheng lifted her eyes to look at her older cousin. At her words, the corner of her lips curved slightly. “Then on the day he ascends, you go smash it.”

“You’re really letting me smash it?” Jin Mingyi faltered a little.

Seeing this, Lin Xizhao smiled and said, “We’ll see how things look that day.”

Qu Sheng would certainly go to inspect the matter. Whether to smash or not depended on what the man had actually done.

Hearing Lin Xizhao’s words, Jin Mingyi cast a pleading look at Zhu Ming’an. Zhu Ming’an picked up some food and placed it in her bowl, saying in a low voice, “I’m here. If anything needs smashing, I’ll do it.”

Only then did Jin Mingyi’s worried expression brighten, and she resumed eating with peace of mind.

After lunch, Zhu Ming’an sent people to purchase the necessary supplies. The courtyard was not large, but it was certainly sufficient for their group. Still, they needed some essentials.

The little ones were always excited by a new place. Zhu Ming’an and her wife took them and Zhao Jiayu strolling through the streets.

Zhu Ming’an handled the shopping while Jin Mingyi and Zhao Jiayu led the children around, eating and drinking their way through the stalls. When they passed by a temple, the adults and children—all with candied hawthorn sticks in hand—came to a halt.

“Temples are usually built in the mountains outside the city. Why would there be a monastery inside the city walls?” Zhao Jiayu asked, visibly puzzled.

Jin Mingyi pondered, blinked, and met Zhao Jiayu’s eyes. The two exchanged a glance, then smiled and led the children inside.

The temple was thriving with incense and a steady stream of worshippers. Many had arrived carrying bundles, apparently from far away.

Qu Ning tugged at Zhao Jiayu and gazed at the scene before them. “Does praying to Buddha really bring blessings?”

Zhao Jiayu didn’t believe in such things. She smiled and said, “It’s all a scam. People won’t die from not praying to Buddha, but they will definitely die from not eating.”

Qu Ning held her candied hawthorn stick, deep in thought. Qu Zhimu, hearing her mother talk about dying, quickly said, “Mother, Ning-meimei is still little. Why say things like that to her?”

Zhao Jiayu noticed Qu Ning’s expression had grown somewhat solemn and seemed to realize that speaking this way to such a young child was inappropriate. She hastily smiled and said, “As for the Buddha’s blessings—believe, and they exist; don’t believe, and they don’t.”

Qu Ning turned to look at Zhao Jiayu and fell into thought once more.

Zhu Qianjie needed to use the privy, so Jin Mingyi led her off to ask for directions. Zhao Jiayu stayed with the three little ones in front of the hall, looking around. Inside, a large Buddha statue was enshrined. A young monk nearby held incense in his hands. Seeing that Zhao Jiayu and her group were dressed uncommonly well, he stepped forward and bowed. “Is the benefactor here to pray for the family’s safety?”

Zhao Jiayu had only come to look around. She smiled without answering and was about to lead the children away when the young monk said, “Has the benefactor come because a family member suffers from illness or misfortune, to pray for their safety?”

“Sincerity moves the Buddha. Benefactor, burn a stick of free incense—it is very efficacious.”

Zhao Jiayu stopped in her tracks. The little ones stopped as well.

She turned back and looked at the incense the young monk was offering. “You don’t charge silver for it?”

The young monk smiled and nodded. “The Buddha is compassionate. The incense is provided free of charge for benefactors to use. Over there, we also offer free fortune stick readings.”

Zhao Jiayu looked at the incense in the monk’s hand, released Qu Ning’s hand, and accepted the incense stick.

She knelt on the prayer cushion inside the hall and bowed, pressing the burning incense before her and closing her eyes in prayer. After a moment, the young monk took the incense from her hands and placed it in the censer, then handed her a fortune stick tube.

Zhao Jiayu shook the tube. Beside her, Qu Zhimu tilted her head, watching her mother with closed eyes, and asked, “Mother, I thought you didn’t believe in this?”

“Oh, hush. Don’t disturb your mother while she prays for your father’s health.” Zhao Jiayu continued shaking the tube, and as she spoke, a bamboo slip fell out.

“‘Reining the horse, whip raised, charging straight through—half fraught with peril, half with promise; like a house set ablaze, when timely rain from heaven turns it to ash.’ What does this mean?” Zhao Jiayu looked at the fortune text, blinking, and turned to the young monk.

The young monk glanced at it, raised his hand to point toward the fortune reader by the door, and said, “The benefactor may go to that gentleman to have the fortune interpreted.”

Zhao Jiayu looked in the direction the monk pointed, then glanced down at the fortune slip again. She rose from the prayer cushion and walked over to the fortune reader’s table.

“Sir, could you interpret this fortune for me?”

The fortune reader was about to reach for it when Zhao Jiayu pulled the slip back and asked warily, “It’s free, right? I don’t have any silver on me.”

The fortune reader smiled at this and said, “Please rest assured, madam. It is free of charge. We too wish to accumulate blessings for our families.”

Only then did Zhao Jiayu nod in relief and hand over the fortune slip.

The fortune reader read it back and forth, then replied, “This is a lower fortune. The hexagram shows a portent of half sorrow, half joy. In all matters, one should practice virtue.”

“What does that mean?” The moment Zhao Jiayu heard “lower fortune,” she was immediately displeased.

“Ah, what the madam seeks is half worry, half joy. One must do good deeds to dissolve the unfavorable portion.” The fortune reader by the door replied in a calm, measured tone.

But to Zhao Jiayu’s ears, it sounded as though Qu Yu’s health would suffer. She sat there in thought, her face clouding with worry. She hurriedly asked, “Sir, what is the fastest way to practice virtue?”

The fortune reader looked toward the donation box before the Buddha. Zhao Jiayu followed his gaze, and the reader’s voice came again: “The silver placed in the donation box is seen by the Buddha. The merit from such good deeds is doubled.”

Zhao Jiayu looked back at the monk, then turned again with a grave expression toward the donation box.

A moment later, Qu Zhimu led her two younger sisters and watched in astonishment as Zhao Jiayu pulled out every silver note and piece of loose silver from her person and deposited them all into the donation box.

When they left, Jin Mingyi—equally penniless—arrived with her daughter to rejoin them.

Zhu Ming’an came to pick them up. Neither woman mentioned the silver, though Zhao Jiayu was now carrying an extra object.

Back at the residence, Qu Zhimu recounted everything she had witnessed at the temple to Lin Xizhao and the others in vivid detail.

“Aunt, you have no idea—my mother was like she was possessed. Those silver notes went swoosh into the box one after another. My younger sisters and I couldn’t stop her.”

Not only Lin Xizhao was astonished, but even Cheng Xi beside her was taken aback.

“Where is your mother?” Xiao Bingying asked.

“The temple gave her a statue. She’s still in her room worshipping it,” Qu Zhimu replied.

At that very moment, from Zhu Ming’an and Jin Mingyi’s room came Zhu Ming’an’s incredulous voice: “I gave you 5,000 taels, and you put all of it in there?”

Hearing Zhu Ming’an suddenly raise her voice, Jin Mingyi flared up at once. She shouted, “It’s only 5,000 taels of silver! They were also wishing our Zhu family business prosperity—am I not worth these 5,000 taels in silver notes?”

Seeing Jin Mingyi get angry, Zhu Ming’an immediately backed down. 5,000 taels was a mere drop in the bucket for the Zhu family, but money shouldn’t be spent like that.

“I—I—I didn’t mean it that way. I just think there was no need to spend this money.” Zhu Ming’an hurried to explain.

But Jin Mingyi wasn’t listening anymore. “I knew it—I’m not as important as your silver. You’re actually yelling at me!”

“I’m not—darling, I’m not yelling at you, darling…”

Zhu Ming’an apologized, but Jin Mingyi ran out.

The three little ones sat together in the courtyard eating the pastries and fruit they had bought. When they saw Jin Mingyi come running out, they nearly forgot they still had food in their mouths.

Jin Mingyi spotted them, glanced at the snacks on their table, and as she passed by, casually pinched a piece before heading toward the back garden.

“What’s wrong with Little Aunt?” Qu Ning asked in confusion.

Zhao Ningying looked in the direction Jin Mingyi had run, equally puzzled.

Zhu Qianjie simply continued eating and said, “It’s nothing. Mother will go coax her.”

Sure enough, right after Zhu Qianjie spoke, Zhu Ming’an came chasing out. Seeing the little ones, she asked gently, “Have you seen your Little Aunt?”

Qu Ning and Zhao Ningying exchanged a glance and pointed in the direction Jin Mingyi had gone. Zhu Ming’an patted each of the little ones on the head and hurried after her.

Lin Xizhao and the others came out of the room and headed toward Zhao Jiayu’s quarters. When they entered, they indeed found the room wreathed in incense smoke. Zhao Jiayu was kneeling before the Buddha statue, hands pressed together in prayer.

When Qu Sheng returned and heard what had happened, she wasn’t particularly surprised. She took people out to make inquiries and learned that the city had a total of three temples, all thriving with incense. Furthermore, temples with the same names existed in other cities as well.

Every so often, they would deliberately spread word that someone was about to ascend to immortality, each time in a different location.

On that day, they would widely bestow charity, dispensing medicine to those who had contributed donation money. They claimed it cured all ailments. If the medicine didn’t work, it meant the donation hadn’t been enough—one had to wait until the next round of medicine distribution to find out whether one’s donation had been sufficient.

That night, Lin Xizhao helped Qu Sheng into night-travel clothes. Qu Ning watched Qu Sheng put on the dark outer garment, blinking her large eyes. “Is Mother going to be a great hero who robs the rich to feed the poor?”

Lin Xizhao and Qu Sheng both turned to look at her, guessing she had read it in a storybook. Lin Xizhao smiled and said, “No, but Mother needs to investigate something.”

“Can’t it be done during the day?” Qu Ning asked in her clear, crisp voice.

Qu Sheng nodded, meeting her daughter’s curious gaze. “Some things don’t show themselves in daylight. Only at night can you see them clearly.”

Qu Ning lowered her eyes, pondering her mother’s words. Lin Xizhao finished helping Qu Sheng with her outer garment, then walked to Qu Ning’s side, picked her up, and explained, “Those people are very cunning. In daylight, among crowds, they wear disguises. At night, when no one is watching, they take off their masks.”

Qu Ning thought about this, then gave a small nod. “This child understands.”

When Qu Sheng went out, Xiao Bingying was already outside waiting.

The author has something to say:

Zhao Jiayu: “They said it was free!”

Qu Zhimu: “It was free, but you insisted on stuffing the money in yourself.”

The neighboring story has also updated.