PNB Chapter 102 Bloodshed
Chapter 102 Bloodshed
At dawn, before daybreak, chaos erupted within the Duke of Dingguo's mansion, and a piercing neigh shattered the silence from the stables.
Gu Changyi walked barefoot in the mud, blood still seeping from the whip marks on his back. He burst open the wooden door of the stable and was about to mount the restless Zhaoyebai horse.
Sikong clung tightly to Zhao Yebai's neck, crying out, "Young Master, no! Your back is almost to the bone!"
"Get out of my way!" Gu Changyi gripped the riding whip, the brass buckle at the end sweeping across the rain curtain under the eaves, splashing water everywhere. "If I can't protect her, what does it matter if I lose my life!"
As soon as the main gate of the Duke of Dingguo's mansion opened a crack, Gu Changyi spurred his horse across the slippery stone path, splashing water from the horse's hooves onto the gatekeeper's face.
Sikong hurriedly led his men in pursuit, their moon-white robes fluttering before their eyes as they vanished into the mist rising from Zhuque Street.
Upon hearing Yaoqin's urgent report that Gu Changyi had broken into the Prince Jing's mansion and then ridden to Shanyuan Temple, Shen Jingshu didn't care about anything else. She put on her oilcloth, picked up her sheep horn lantern, and rushed into the rain.
He chased after someone for half a mile along Zhuque Street, but was grabbed and his horn lantern was snatched away.
Jiang Jin'an pressed down on the back of her neck with one hand, his tone filled with helplessness, "Gu Er is always causing trouble, don't get involved."
"Sister Wenying..." She clutched her embroidered handkerchief tightly, suppressing the metallic taste rising in her throat, "The two of them are so reckless..."
A dark cloak suddenly fell over her head, and the warmth of her body enveloped her in the fragrance of agarwood. "Just now, when Gu Zhong was tying people up in the ancestral hall, he broke off the carved armrest of the mahogany chair. He's probably gone mad right now."
As Lin Yu led the carriage over, the copper bells on the eaves suddenly rang. Shen Jingshu stared at the winding red water stains on the ground, feeling a sense of panic. It was clearly blood splattered from the wound on Gu Changyi's back.
The eaves of Shanyuan Temple were faintly visible in the rain. Shen Jingshu lifted the curtain in the carriage and looked down to see a huge crowd gathered at the bottom of the nine-tiered steps, all there to watch the excitement.
The two characters "Jingchen" (净尘, meaning "pure dust") hang on the eaves of the Sutra Repository, glistening after being washed by the rain.
A young novice monk stood in front of the temple gate, his robe mostly soaked with sweat, his hands clasped together: "Uncle-Master Jingchen is copying scriptures and is not receiving visitors. He said that if anyone asks, I should answer—'Stained glass is easily broken, and spilled water cannot be gathered up again.'"
The mountain wind carried the sound of chanting into her ears, and Shen Jingshu suddenly felt that the jade bracelet on her wrist had become cold.
After passing several screen walls, the main hall doors were tightly closed, and behind the rain curtain under the eaves, a figure in plain white leaned against the wall.
Gu Changyi knelt on the bluestone steps, his palm embedded with broken porcelain, blood dripping down the grooves of the steps. He looked up at the tightly closed carved door, his voice hoarse and barely audible: "She said... what kind of flower should she wear on the day she cuts her hair?"
Shen Jingshu felt a tightness in her throat.
"When you return, there will be seven lotus blossoms before the Buddha, and I will become a Bodhi seed."
As the drumbeats parted the rain, a soft tapping of a wooden fish suddenly came from inside the door. Gu Changyi abruptly stood up, staggered to the door, and the broken gilded hairpin scraped against the ground with a piercing sound.
“You said you would teach me to draw landscapes on Kongming lanterns…” He pressed his forehead against the door, splashing water that dampened his dark blue temples. “But I’m so clumsy, you always think the lotus patterns I draw are too tacky.”
Wen Yin, separated by the door, ran her fingertips along the faded red string on her wrist. "Do you still remember the willow branch I broke off by the release pond?"
Gu Changyi stood there, stunned.
That day, Sikong coaxed him out to see her. Wenyin broke off a willow branch to use as a brush and taught him to paint twin lotus flowers in the water on the bluestone table. The willow tip brushed against the flower decoration between her eyebrows, and his eyes could no longer see anything else but her figure. Every frown and smile was engraved in his heart.
"The willow branches for purification have long been offered before the Buddha." A sigh came from inside the door, and the sound of the wooden fish stopped abruptly. "Benefactor Gu, please return."
The rain suddenly became denser, and Shen Jingshu saw new bloodstains appearing on Gu Changyi's soaked back. He wanted to raise his hand to knock on the door, but the red rope on his wrist got tangled in the offerings in front of the door.
It was hand-woven by Wen Yin, and he wore it faithfully, never taking it off.
He ripped the rope off suddenly, the glass beads rolling to his feet. "Wen Huaiqing, are you using the Wen family to coerce me? I'll fight to the death today—"
“You are mistaken, benefactor. No one forced you. It was Jingchen who voluntarily converted.” Wen Yin’s voice, carrying the scent of sandalwood, drifted through the crack in the door. “Of all the sufferings in the world, none is worse than a lamp before the Buddha.”
Gu Changyi suddenly rammed into the carved door like a madman. Before Shen Jingshu could even cry out, a Buddhist chant suddenly rang out from inside the door. He stared at the slowly opening door and trembled all over.
Wen Yin was dressed in black robes and plain shoes, with a faded red string wrapped around her wrist as a Buddhist prayer bead.
It's exactly the same as Gu Changyi's.
She bent down to pick up the glass beads from the ground, and Gu Changyi smelled the sandalwood scent lingering on her clothes.
The wind scattered the prayer flags, and Gu Changyi noticed a strand of silver hair that had appeared overnight at her temple. "You once said that when the crabapple blossoms next year... you wanted me to find that crabapple-shaped frozen stone hairpin."
The moment Wen Yin turned around, Gu Changyi suddenly grabbed the broken hairpin from the ground and stabbed it into his own chest without hesitation.
Sikong and Lin Yu flew to stop them, but they were still a step too late.
"The Duke of Dingguo's mansion's blades are bloodless..." Gu Changyi stared at the blood-dripping hairpin tip, her smile more like a grimace. "My own blood should count, shouldn't it?"
A thunderclap ripped through the sky, and Shen Jingshu clearly saw Wen Yin's hand, hidden in her wide sleeve, gripping the Buddhist prayer beads tightly. Broken Bodhi seeds mixed with blood dripped onto the steps.
Lin Yu snatched the broken hairpin, and Sikong tore off a piece of his robe to press on his bleeding wound.
The carved door closed again, and Gu Changyi finally couldn't hold on any longer and fainted.
Shen Jingshu wanted to step forward, but Jiang Jin'an suddenly pressed down on her shoulder, his warm fingertips brushing against her cool earlobe. Following his gaze, a dark green hem flashed behind the prayer flags on the east side of the hall.
"Be careful on the steps, benefactor." As the monk bent down to add oil to the lamp, a dark crane pattern flashed across his waist badge.
That's the insignia of the Commandery.
A flash of silver light appeared at Jiang Jin'an's fingertips, and a muffled groan came from behind the prayer flag. A man in a dark green robe clutched his neck and fell into the release pond, where a pool of red carp scattered.
"When the Commandant's Office is handling a case, all unauthorized personnel should stay away."
Jiang Jin'an flashed his waist token at the monk who was terrified and pale, "Please trouble you, Master, to scoop up this filthy thing. It'll be good to add some human oil to the eternal lamp in front of the Buddha, which can be considered as him doing a good deed."
The person was pulled out of the water, and Lin Yu took a look; it was a stranger.
Lin Yu tore off his waist tag and presented it to Jiang Jin'an, but Lin Yu shook his head slightly.
"How much longer are you going to watch this spectacle, Commandant?" Fu Zijin's voice came from under the eaves.
Jiang Jin'an's eyes darkened, and in a flash, his ring-pommel sword was already pressed against Fu Zijin's throat. With a light slash, a line of blood appeared. "You're in quite a mood, aren't you? Did someone expose your scheme and you're afraid I'll ruin your plans?"
"Between you and me, what is the difference between good and bad?" Fu Zijin neither dodged nor flinched, letting the blade get an inch closer.
Jiang Jin'an sheathed his sword and sneered, "Go tell Wen Huaiqing that when the red sedan chair passes in front of the Duke of Dingguo's mansion, the only thing inside can be what Chu Xiangling brought out from the Commandery."
Fu Zijin smiled slightly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.