UCTOOT CH12

When Shi Shu woke up, Xie Wuchi was not in the room. He must have gone out early to exercise, practice martial arts, or attend to business. He seemed to never be idle, always had a pile of things to do, and was extremely self-disciplined.

Clothes were hanging on the line, and the scent of soap beans wafted in with the wind, fluttering gently in the sunlight.

“Xie Wuchi is so early, he even washed his clothes?”

Shi Shu’s face was pale and translucent in the sunlight. Thinking about a young man washing his pants first thing in the morning, he knew what it meant, “Could he have had one of those…”

“Did he also dream…”

He couldn’t say the next two words.

Shi Shu imagined it, and Xie Wuchi’s solid back muscles crashed into his mind. The night fell on his collarbones, his upper body bare, those hands also strong and powerful, the blue veins prominent…

Pah, why am I imagining this! Am I crazy!

I’ve been driven mad by you homosexuals.

It was still better to play with the dog. Shi Shu took a stone and watched it pounce back and forth. At this time, a monk hurried past the courtyard. It was considered disrespectful to walk quickly in a temple. At first, Shi Shu thought it was a coincidence, but a moment later, several more monks hurried past.

A tense atmosphere.

Shi Shu called out to one of them, “Senior Brother, why are you in such a hurry?”

That monk: “Oh no! Something terrible has happened!”

Shi Shu asked, “What terrible thing?”

That monk: “You don’t know? Last night, the abbot suddenly ordered a search of the Zen monastery. Any books that violate the precepts, such as erotic novels and storybooks, will have their ordination certificates revoked, and they will be expelled from the temple!”

“…”

Erotic novels and storybooks. The book Xie Wuchi had brought back last night was still on the bedside table. Shi Shu: “Are these storybooks not allowed in the temple?”

“Of course not. They were confiscated all night. The abbot flipped through those books, and his face turned green with anger! He was furious! But for now, they’ve only confiscated from the regular monks, not yet the lay disciples.”

Shi Shu: “How strange. Did they search before?”

“In the past, they just turned a blind eye. They didn’t care. I don’t know why they suddenly started caring this time. I heard that it seems to be because—”

The monk lowered his voice, “The crown prince is currently in the temple to worship Buddha. Yesterday, he went to the sutra depository to read, and he actually saw lewd and obscene texts mixed in! The crown prince was furious, which is why he ordered the temple to conduct a thorough investigation overnight!”

So that was it. Shi Shu blinked.

Xiangnan Temple was located in the bustling city of the Eastern Capital. The monks were either enlightened masters who had practiced asceticism for many years, or they were from wealthy families in the Eastern Capital who were fostered in the temple. The latter often had unstable minds and only regarded the temple as a place of refuge, a place to escape from evil and protect themselves, not as people with true faith.

They pursued novelty and excitement, and the ten-mile red dust of the Eastern Capital was a source of extravagance. This latter group was the most likely to have problems.

Shi Shu said thanks, and the monk hurried away. A thought flashed through his mind. A storybook… Xie Wuchi had happened to bring one back last night.

He had to quickly ask him what to do with this book. Otherwise, if he was implicated, he might not be able to remain a monk.

Shi Shu turned and ran towards the sutra depository. He went around the meditation hall, the Guanyin hall, and then turned back, stepping into a square paved with stone slabs. He could then see the magnificent building of the sutra depository.

What was different from usual was that today, no monks were coming and going. It was quiet outside the sutra depository, with only a few attendants standing at the entrance, waiting with their heads bowed.

“Xie Wuchi, Xie Wuchi!”

Shi Shu was in a great hurry.

He finally understood why everyone else was in such a rush—to tip each other off and hide their pornographic books!

“Stop!” Shi Shu was stopped.

The guard outside the sutra depository, the scabbard of his sword pressing against his chest, “The crown prince is inside the hall listening to a high monk’s lecture. Do not disturb him. The sutra depository is closed for the time being.”

Shi Shu: “???”

The crown prince? Why was this crown prince here again at such a crucial time?

Just as the two were in a standoff, a line of people filed out from the entrance of the sutra depository. The crown prince in the middle was dressed in splendid clothes, holding a flirtatious folding fan, stretching and yawning. He spat to the side, and a servant quickly presented a spittoon.

“Master, spit here.”

“Get lost.”

The crown prince raised his hand. The servant didn’t understand and almost spat in his face.

Such great prestige, a true royal. Shi Shu had long heard Xie Wuchi say that this crown prince could supervise the army’s provisions because the current emperor was his own brother, who had been adopted into the Da Jing imperial clan to inherit the throne.

The previous emperor had no son and had chosen his own brother to be the legitimate heir. So this crown prince also rose with the tide and took on important affairs of the court.

“Xie Wuchi…” Shi Shu saw the person he was looking for.

Beside him was Xie Wuchi, walking with various lay Buddhists, councilors, attendants, and scholars. Xie Wuchi was still wearing a simple sea-blue monk’s robe, but he walked with a high-spirited stride, his face as calm as water. His posture was as straight as a pine tree and as beautiful as jade, like a pile of precious stones. He was very eye-catching in the crowd and blended in with the simple and profound temple, carrying an air of deep-seated shrewdness.

The crown prince was talking to him. Xie Wuchi was just passing by a lush, shaded area and glanced at the crown prince without any emotion.

Monks only knelt to gods and Buddhas, not to emperors.

“Xie Wuchi, Xie Wuchi, Xie Wuchi… quickly turn around and look at me,” Shi Shu shouted in his heart.

In a flash of inspiration, Shi Shu thought of a good way to get his attention.

Shi Shu held onto a pillar with one hand, clutched his chest, and coughed forcefully, “Cough—cough cough—cough—”

The sound wasn’t particularly loud.

“Cough cough—sorry, I have a bit of a cold.”

“…”

Xie Wuchi finally turned his face. From a great distance, his dark eyes stared fixedly.

Crown Prince Chu Wei: “Who is that person looking for?”

Xie Wuchi: “Your Highness, it is my younger brother.”

“Pfft, you brothers are both quite handsome,” the crown prince laughed lazily. “Go on, it looks like your brother has something to discuss with you. The army provisions are not urgent. We can discuss it later.”

Xie Wuchi withdrew his gaze and started walking over. It was unclear if it was Shi Shu’s illusion, but he felt that he had been quite calm and composed, but as soon as he saw him, the light in his eyes dimmed a little, and his face became thoughtful.

I just fell asleep last night. I didn’t have any friction with him, did I?

Shi Shu whispered in a deserted place, “Did I embarrass you?”

Xie Wuchi said faintly, “No.”

“Oh,” Shi Shu believed him. “What should we do with your book? I heard they’re confiscating erotic books in the temple.”

“Just leave it there. They’ve already finished confiscating.”

“Huh? They’re not confiscating from the lay disciples’ meditation rooms?”

“No. That book, it was after the confiscation was over that I casually picked one and brought it back.”

Shi Shu was stunned, vaguely feeling that something was not right, “I heard that the crown prince saw a romance storybook in the sutra depository and was furious, so he ordered the abbot to conduct a thorough investigation. You’ve been in the sutra depository all this time. Did you witness it yourself?”

“What’s wrong?” Xie Wuchi suddenly smiled.

The light was blocked. Xie Wuchi’s clear eyebrows and eyes were against the light. Under the clear sky and bright sun, his pupils seemed to shimmer with a dazzling light, unblinking, his sharpness revealed.

But his simple monk’s robe, his high-piled black hair, and his tightly pursed, pale lips, along with this skin, had a natural coldness, distance, and even divinity.

“You didn’t put it there on purpose, did you?!” Shi Shu was surprised.

“Not at all. It’s just that I saw it half a month ago. After flipping through it, I didn’t organize it and just left it as it was.”

“Why? I heard that their ordination certificates were confiscated, and these monks will be expelled from the temple and can no longer be monks. Aren’t you harming people…”

Xie Wuchi said, “Of course not. You don’t read Buddhist scriptures. Do you know about Pāpīyān? Pāpīyān is the demon king in the Buddhist scriptures who opposes the Buddha. He often transforms into a monk and follows the disciples to obstruct and corrupt the Buddhist teachings.”

“—Demon Pāpīyān. He will lead eighty billion followers to destroy the Buddha. The foundation of Buddhism is to eradicate desire. The ordination certificates of many monks in Xiangnan Temple were exchanged for money. As for piety, there is none to be found. They are still spreading obscenity and blasphemy in the temple. They are the Pāpīyāns who disguise themselves as monks and are actually corrupting the Buddhist teachings.”

Xie Wuchi had a kind-hearted expression, “My purpose is only one: the demon king Pāpīyān is spreading temptation and is about to destroy the Buddha. And I—I want to destroy Pāpīyān.”

“The minds of the dismissed monks have already been possessed by demons. They can’t become Buddhas in the temple anyway. I am kindly cleaning up the house for the temple. It’s just that some people don’t understand and think I want to destroy the Buddha.”

“…”

One by one, the words came out of Xie Wuchi’s mouth, very kind, but Shi Shu always felt that something was strange.

He turned his head to look at the towering green peaks and overlapping eaves of the monastery. The ancient and simple Buddhist chants echoed. The Xie Wuchi in front of him was dressed in a simple monk’s robe—

He didn’t look like a Buddha, more like a Pāpīyān.

It was only at this moment that Shi Shu realized, “Our thinking is not on the same level.”

Xie Wuchi had read a lot of books. Ever since he had been exposed to books, his appearance had changed.

People really shouldn’t be exposed to knowledge. Once they are, this life is over!

He’s playing a game of chess, and I haven’t even touched the board yet.

Forget it. Don’t compare yourself to a Tsinghua University brother. It will cause internal friction.

“…You do your great things. I won’t disturb you.”

He was about to return to the Zen monastery and finish reading that storybook.

Suddenly, Shi Shu turned back.

“By the way, the author of those storybooks is Yuan Guan. Just a thorough investigation in the temple, it won’t do anything to him, right?”

“Normally, nothing will happen.”

Xie Wuchi said faintly, “But he has another identity, a slave from the north. The Da Jing has been attacked on the border for years, and the court has been deeply troubled. If the crown prince finds out that he is the author, he might make some connections, and his life will be in danger.”

“—You shouldn’t interact with him anymore.”

“—Then I’ll go and warn him.”

The two sentences were spoken at the same time.

A brief silence in the air.

The sunlight shone in Shi Shu’s eyes. His brown eyes were lustrous and fair, fearlessly meeting Xie Wuchi’s gaze.

The sea-blue monk’s robe was not worn neatly. As summer approached, a bead or two of sweat hung on his snow-white neck, slowly flowing down the deep hollow below his Adam’s apple, glittering and bright in the sunlight.

A very healthy and alluring skin tone, so bright it hurt the eyes.

Xie Wuchi frowned slightly, withdrew his gaze, and his lips were pressed into a cold line.

His voice tightened, “You came in a hurry? You’re sweating.”

“It’s fine. Let’s talk about this matter first—why won’t you let me go?”

Shi Shu’s fair face showed a hint of confusion. When he asked this, Xie Wuchi knew that any persuasion was useless. Shi Shu would suspect him. He looked like someone who needed to be stroked along the grain.

“You can go.”

Xie Wuchi looked up at the sky.

Then he lowered his eyes, his obsidian-like pupils scattering with light, “But I have one request. Before dark, you must already be in the Zen room.”

“When I come back, you must be in my line of sight.”

“Otherwise, I will be angry.”