Chapter 78

Chapter 78

Not long after Jingkong's three other concubines were locked in the room, they also expressed their willingness to publicly accuse Jingkong, just to keep their children safe.

After dawn, Su Yu ordered people to take the four of them to Guiyuan Temple in four separate groups at staggered times.

On the third day of the first lunar month, the incense at Guiyuan Temple burned continuously.

Before dawn, devout believers kowtowed their way up from the foot of the mountain to the top, and then from the mountain path to the temple gate.

These devout believers included local prominent families, wealthy merchants, and mostly ordinary people who came to pray for the New Year.

As the abbot of Guiyuan Temple, Jingkong was naturally very busy. Judging from his appearance, Jingkong was fair-skinned, tall and thin, with a beautiful beard, giving him an air of immortality. His speech was unhurried, making people feel at ease. Just looking at him made people believe his words.

The people of Tongzhou held him in high esteem.

Wei Jiong, following Su Yu's order, specially arranged for the Wei family head to come to Guiyuan Temple that day. Since it was a last-minute decision, by the time Jingkong received the news, the Wei family head was already at the gate of Guiyuan Temple.

Jingkong personally came to the gate to greet the Wei family head. He had just uttered "Amitabha" when a young, beautiful woman rushed out from the crowd and slapped him, saying, "Chen Tianxi, you promised it would only be me, but you actually had children with others!"

Chen Tianxi was Jingkong's secular name.

Jingkong was stunned. If it weren't for the Wei family head saying "How dare you!", he wouldn't have reacted. He quickly said, "Madam, don’t lie, I am a monk..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a three-year-old tottered up to him, innocently tugging at his monk's robe and calling out, "Father..."

Jingkong's face changed slightly, and he instinctively pulled his robe back.

The three-year-old, already unsteady on his feet, fell to the ground with a thud and burst into tears.

The child's mother, another concubine who had just been brought up the mountain, saw from her angle that Jingkong had pushed her son to the ground. Without hesitation, she rushed forward, yanked off her shoe, and began whacking Jingkong's bald head with the sole, cursing, "You scoundrel! How dare you push your own son, you're asking for death!"

Jingkong shrank back, not resisting, as if he was used to this.

He suddenly remembered that this was not the courtyard in Tongzhou and dodged, saying, "Madam, what are you doing?"

"Madam? Bah! You two-faced bald monk, I followed you because you were a monk, and you said I was the only one. I agreed, but I didn't expect you to secretly raise others! You bald donkey, how dare you deceive me!" The concubine was fierce, spitting out each word, never putting down her shoe.

Jingkong wanted to defend himself when he saw the other two concubines in the crowd. Although they had agreed to Xiao Luo's request, they were still on the fence. But seeing the other two rush forward and hit Jingkong, their closeness burned their eyes, and they lost their rationality, slapping Jingkong left and right, "You Chen Tianxi, I actually trusted you, I should have known that a bald donkey like you wanting to marry couldn't be any good! You actually hid others from me!"

The four women fought, all hitting Jingkong. By the end, Jingkong forgot what day it was, just cowering and shouting, "Stop hitting me, stop hitting me!"

The more he shouted, the more they were encouraged, dragging him to settle the score, each speaking their piece, revealing every detail of their daily lives with Jingkong.

The crowd was too stunned to intervene for a moment. Then, hearing them reveal Jingkong's secrets and seeing his well-rehearsed head-covering move, they realized something was wrong and started pointing at Jingkong.

The Wei family head had already stepped aside when the second concubine rushed forward. He was closest to them and heard everything clearly. When the five of them were pulling and tearing Jingkong's monk's robe, he coughed heavily and glared at Wei Jiong, who was watching with great interest, "What a disgrace, why haven’t you pulled them apart yet?"

Wei Jiong then waved his hand, and the waiting soldiers hauled Jingkong and the four concubines off.

Jingkong hadn't gone far, and the crowd hadn't dispersed when a voice came from somewhere, "What a high monk! Bah! Even the abbot is like this, what good people can there be in Guiyuan Temple!"

Immediately, someone echoed, "Exactly! No wonder the prayers at Guiyuan Temple have never been answered all these years!"

"Exactly! No wonder I've been getting more and more unlucky! It's all because of these monks!"

"I haven't married yet, and I give incense money to Guiyuan Temple every year, hoping to bless me to marry soon. But instead, this bald donkey from Guiyuan Temple is using my money to marry four women!"

Once someone led the way, others followed, and the more people spoke, the more the crowd echoed, feeling more and more unlucky. Over the years, they had spent so much incense money, but none of their wishes had been fulfilled, all because of these monks!

Everyone started accusing the monks of Guiyuan Temple, and some even tried to exploit the chaos, shouting to get their donations back and charging into the temple. Luckily, Su Yu saw this coming and had Wei Jiong bring an extra squad of soldiers hidden in the shadows. When someone tried to take advantage of the situation, the soldiers quickly stepped out of hiding and stopped those attempting to loot the temple.

Seeing the soldiers, the crowd quickly dispersed, and in no time, the once lively Guiyuan Temple fell into an eerie silence.

Standing with Su Yu, Xiao Luo waited until the farce was completely over before asking with mixed emotions, "Your Majesty, what was Jingkong really after?"

Seeing how effortlessly the four mistresses slapped Jingkong, it was clear that he had been beaten frequently in private. It was hard to understand what Jingkong was after, bringing four such fierce women into his life.

"Maybe he just likes it that way," Su Yu said indifferently. With a wave of her hand, she had the soldiers encircle the temple. "Let's go."

"What are we going to do now?" Xiao Luo asked again.

"Since we're here, let's begin by reviewing Guiyuan Temple's financial records," Su Yu replied.

The monks, encircled by soldiers, didn't dare to budge, allowing Su Yu to storm into their accounting room.

Su Yu swiftly skimmed through the ledgers and tutted softly. She asked the monks, "Who manages these accounts? Just the food expenses alone amount to 1,325 taels of silver per month. Are you also using the funds to keep mistresses?"

The accountant monk turned pale and crumpled to the floor in fear, as Su Yu had hit the nail on the head.

Su Yu then did a quick tally of the temple's holdings. The temple owned 380 qing (approximately 2,500 acres) of farmland alone. Of course, the monks didn't farm it themselves, so they rented the land to farmers and lent seeds to them at usurious rates, ensuring the farmers' entire harvest ended up in the temple's coffers—

Even the most unscrupulous landlords wouldn't stoop this low.

No, even ruthless landlords had to pay land taxes, but these monks were exempt from them.

Su Yu clenched her teeth and commanded the soldiers to haul the monks and ledgers back for scrutiny. She rushed back to the capital herself, determined to move against Daci Temple before Xu Yun caught wind of the Guiyuan Temple incident.

After all, Daci Temple was different from Guiyuan Temple, and Xu Yun was not like Jingkong.

Back in the capital, Su Yu promptly called Yu Chiyi and Xie Yiguan to the palace.

Noticing Su Yu's disheveled, travel-weary look, Xie Yiguan frowned and asked with rare seriousness, "Your Majesty, did you go to Tongzhou yourself?"

"Yes, Zhi Wei, I deeply regret it," Su Yu pouted, looking genuinely upset.

Seeing her like this, Xie Yiguan's frown eased, and he chuckled, "Your Majesty actually regrets something?"

"I regret not taking you to Tongzhou!" Su Yu said indignantly. "You have no idea how rich Guiyuan Temple is. I did a quick estimate, and there's a fortune! If I had brought you, I could have left you there to audit the accounts!"

Now she had to leave the matter in the hands of the Wei family, and she wasn't sure how they would handle it. But there was no other choice; Guiyuan Temple was just a side target. Her real goal was Daci Temple.

Xie Yiguan: "..." He should have known that even the emperor's regrets were calculated.

Su Yu rolled up her sleeves, "Come on, tomorrow we'll make a big move. Since Zhi Wei missed Guiyuan Temple, we must not let Daci Temple slip by."

Yu Chiyi followed with excitement. Ever since working with the emperor, he had no worries about plundering!

Xie Yiguan: "..." These two sometimes had an unexpected synergy, no wonder they got along so well from the start.

He firmly refused to admit that he was also eager to plunder the royal temples—

How could it be called plundering? He was just setting things right.

Su Yu didn't keep an eye on Xiao Luo, and as a result, while the three of them were still discussing, Cui Xuan hurried into the palace.

When Cui Xuan saw Su Yu, his frown was deeper than Xie Yiguan's earlier.

Su Yu spoke first, "Premier Cui, stay away from me. I haven't changed my clothes or bathed since returning from Tongzhou."

Cui Xuan couldn’t help but laugh in exasperation, striding over to stand in front of her, his phoenix eyes fixed on her. "Your Majesty, when I sent you the message, it wasn’t for you to go to Tongzhou alone."

Su Yu shook her head. "How is that alone? I brought Ayou and Changyun, and General Wei was in Tongzhou. I’ve kept the Wei family token you gave me with me this whole time."

Cui Xuan’s brows relaxed slightly. "If I hadn’t come, would Your Majesty have kept tomorrow’s plans from me?"

Su Yu smiled. "How could that be? I didn’t stop Changyun, so I figured he’d tell you."

Xiao Luo: "..." He knew it. The Emperor kept him around as a messenger—and not even a free one, since he was paying for the privilege!

"But I really didn’t want you involved in this," Su Yu said seriously, stepping forward to lightly pat Cui Xuan’s shoulder. "It’s not that I don’t trust you, but your position makes it tricky—I can’t put you in a tough spot."

The Great Compassion Temple, a royal institution, had deep ties in the capital and strong connections with several elite families. If Cui Xuan got involved, the main worry was that it might strain his ties with the Li and Wang families. She still needed Cui Xuan to unite these two families to deal with the Lu family.

As Cui Xuan looked at her, she softened her gaze. "I want to keep my Premier Cui safe."

Cui Xuan was stunned, quickly lowering his eyes to avoid her peach blossom eyes that seemed to brim with deep affection.

After a moment of silence, he finally spoke in a low, gritted voice, "Have you washed up since coming back from Tongzhou?"

Su Yu silently withdrew her hand from his shoulder, trying to recall. "I think I washed my hands? Besides, you’re going to bathe when you get home, so don’t sweat the small stuff."

A vein twitched on Cui Xuan’s forehead, and he felt something was off. "How do you know I’m going to bathe when I get back?"

Su Yu thought to herself that she had seen him bathe countless times.

She smiled sweetly. "Isn’t it obvious? You might as well have 'daily bath' written on your forehead."

Cui Xuan: "..."

Another vein twitched on his forehead. Taking a deep breath, he said calmly, "Then I’ll just pretend I wasn’t here and take off."

He had come in a hurry, and he left just as quickly.

Xie Yiguan chuckled as he watched Cui Xuan’s unusually quick steps. "Your Majesty really treats Premier Cui well."

"Don’t I treat Zhi Wei well?" Su Yu asked Xie Yiguan with a smile.