Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 575 Greedy
Master Zhiyuan has been very busy lately.

Although Xie did not visit Baode Temple, her disciples and followers often came.

wrong……

Amitabha.

Master Zhiyuan quickly corrected himself, saying that Benefactor Xie was not a Buddhist and had no disciples.

But those people... are really too similar to Benefactor Xie, they are clearly using the same methods.

Duan Dalang kept sending medicinal herbs to the temple. Even if the pills were ruined, he didn't care. He gave whatever the old doctors needed without hesitation. Seeing so much dregs being thrown away, Master Zhiyuan couldn't sleep at all. So he simply took a few young monks and went over to help every day.

If Master Zhiyuan saw that any of the apprentices were not doing their work carefully, he would stand aside and chant sutras incessantly.

Monks are not allowed to hit or scold people; they can only use chanting to guide others.

This method actually worked quite well; the amount of dregs was decreasing. However, Master Zhiyuan also had a sense of shame, and seeing that the heat was almost reached, he didn't dare to push it too hard...

It wasn't until a benefactor named Zhao Zhongliang moved into the temple that, after dark, Zhao sought out him and asked for his help in venting his anger. Then, Zhao began to talk about some things concerning the border people.

In border regions where medical care and medicine are scarce, people often turn to "shamans" for help. He once saw a child being bled to death. Others who contracted fever were spread rumors of plague and were driven to the mountains.

After saying all this, Zhao benefactor, he wondered if the knots in his heart could be relieved, but Zhiyuan really couldn't sleep. Then he appeared in the courtyard of the medicine factory again.

Xie Yuyan said, "You have worked hard these days, Master. Please don't blame me. It is truly no one else who can shoulder this heavy responsibility."

“This Buddhist medicine is extraordinary. It consists of several pills that need to be effective against common ailments in the border regions. I would not trust anyone but the Master to entrust it to.”

Buddhist medicine is meant to be sent to temples; it would be inappropriate for anyone else to urge the delivery.

Master Zhiyuan sighed, but he wasn't the only monk in the world.

Xie Yuyan continued, "Now that the Buddhist medicine has been delivered, Master, you don't need to work so hard."

Speaking of this, Master Zhiyuan was about to recite scriptures again. He said that he had only given out some of the Buddhist medicine, and if it proved effective, he would do more in the future.

The more renowned the Buddhist medicine became, the heavier the burden on his shoulders became.

"When will you take that person away, Benefactor Xie?" Master Zhiyuan asked. "This humble monk will continue to provide porridge for five more days. Benefactor Xie should make plans as soon as possible."

Xie Yuyan said, "Then five days, I will follow Master's arrangements."

Master Zhiyuan felt very tired... It was clearly Benefactor Xie who forced him to do things, so how could he be listening to his arrangements?

After a moment of silence, Master Zhiyuan suddenly remembered: "What has Ciyun Temple been doing lately?"

Xie Yuyan pointed in the direction Zhao Zhongliang and the others had left: "The cloth that was just transported to the temple all came from Ciyun Nunnery."

So they weren't idle after all.

Master Zhiyuan felt inexplicably relieved, even though he knew it shouldn't be this way. But just thinking that the novices in the temple weren't being forced to dye cloth made him truly happy.

Without Ciyun Nunnery, these tasks would likely have fallen to him, yet he simply doesn't know how to refuse.

“Actually, I still owe money to Ciyun Temple,” Xie Yuyan said. “I haven’t paid the incense money for the water and land ritual I did on the Bian River last time.”

Master Zhiyuan was shocked; there was someone even worse off than him.

Xie Yuyan said, "Master, have you ever thought about lending out the temple's money and earning some interest, which could be used to help more orphans and refugees?"

Master Zhiyuan was stunned: "Loaning money is... not allowed by the imperial court."

“Things may change,” Xie Yuyan said. “Master, you should make some preparations in advance. If the court has such a new policy, you should have money to lend out.”

Borrowing money through the treasury was something she had done in her previous life; she was just doing it a few years earlier. With the money Baode Temple earned, they might be able to produce their own "Buddhist medicine" in the future, and she wouldn't need to spend too much money to support it.

Master Zhiyuan pondered carefully: "Amitabha, thank you for the reminder, benefactor."

Xie Yuyan nodded: "I will go to the temple to listen to the abbot preach when I have time another day."

Master Zhiyuan performed the Buddhist rites, then took his leave with the novice monks.

After Xie Yuyan boarded the carriage, Liu Siniang couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Master Zhiyuan is really amazing. He walked so fast that he's almost out of sight in the blink of an eye."

Mother Yu couldn't help but laugh. The master was afraid that her eldest daughter-in-law would go to Baode Temple with him.

"Let's go!" Xie Yuyan said. "We need to get back to the city as soon as possible. It's not safe outside."

……

Xie Yuyan's carriage gradually drove away, and a moment later, several people walked out from both sides of the official road.

One of them said, "The master forbade us to take action... In fact, if we had worked together, we could have tied up that woman."

"Then, we can use her to exchange for a husband, and everything will be fine, right? Why go through all this trouble?"

Another man, his face grim, was about to speak when he heard the sound of horses' hooves, and the group immediately shrank back.

A group of patrolmen galloped along the official road, their hooves kicking up clouds of dust. Only after the men had gone far away did the few men dare to raise their heads.

The leader said, "If we had made a move just now and were surrounded by the patrolmen, we would not only have been able to take the person away, but we would have also fallen into the hands of the government."

"Haven't you figured it out yet? It's precisely because that Xie family member left the city that the government officials are patrolling the area. Master's caution is justified. If it were so easy to enter the city and rescue someone, why would he need to linger here?"

"Perhaps that woman is just bait thrown out by the government, waiting for us to fall into the trap."

Upon hearing this, the group lowered their heads.

“Let’s go,” said Wu Er, the leader, “we will report the situation to the master.”

They rushed to the outskirts of Bianjing after hearing news that the government was arresting young men everywhere, but they never dared to go in.

Taking action before fully understanding the situation will likely lead to failure.

"Isn't the attendant here?" someone finally couldn't help but say. "She actually didn't save the young master? The people in the sect are increasingly disregarding our Wu family."

The Wu family has been suppressed over the years, and Master Wu has long lost his voice in the sect; otherwise, he wouldn't have come to rescue people personally at this time.

Wu Er remained silent, and the others dared not utter another word.

The group walked through the woods and climbed over a mountain before finally reaching their lodging.

The aroma of meat wafted from the courtyard, and the group exchanged glances, knowing that the master was entertaining Yang Kuan, the messenger.

“This person has been eating meat for several days in a row, and he still hasn’t had enough,” Wu Shi couldn’t help but say.

Wu Er glanced at him coldly: "What do you know? The master is testing his identity. What does a leader of a group of refugees know? Isn't it just about food, drink, and money? The more vulgar and uncouth he is, the more at ease the master will be."

After they finished talking, they walked towards the courtyard. Just as they had expected, Master Wu had the kitchen prepare a lot of food to entertain Yang Kuan.

Yang Kuan was eating with his mouth full of oil. He picked up a bowl of wine and drank it all in one gulp. Then he greedily picked up the wine jar and placed it in front of him. He took another big gulp of wine before he spoke: "It's not that I want too much. This job of yours could easily cost you your life."

“Let’s be frank. It’s not just the government that’s arresting him; you people in the city are also watching him, wishing you could just hand him over to the authorities so that Bianjing would be at peace and the patrols wouldn’t be searching everywhere anymore. To put it bluntly, you’ve been abandoned.”

(End of this chapter)