The Rebirth of an Ill-Fated Consort (Chapters 1- 203)

Chapter 123 : The Grand Preceptor's Help

Translated by : Shl

Edited by : Anks & Ely

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The palace's Jing Yi Hall had been built at the end of the southern garden, in a secluded location where the environment was quiet and the air was fresh. It was a little paradise in the palace; when the previous Emperor had been alive, he had once thought of constructing a courtyard here, but had dropped the idea for fear of ruining the palace's fengshui. Now, this little piece of paradise was once again in use, but it had been renovated to become a Buddhist temple. From this, it was clear that the master of the Buddhist temple had a high standing in the palace.

Yang gugu brought Jiang Ruan to Jing Yi Hall and exchanged a few words with the little novice monk at the Buddhist temple while Jiang Ruan entered. The main hall of the Buddhist temple held a golden Buddha statue; this was the first time in the history of the palace that there had been a Buddhist temple within the premises. An elderly monk wearing a red robe was sitting quietly, with a string of sarira[1] in his hands and his eyes shut in silent meditation. Green smoke rose in spirals in the hall, and there was something otherworldly about it all.

[1] 舍利子 (she li zi) – 'Sarira' generally refers to Buddhist relics, particularly, the pearl or crystal-like bead-shaped objects supposedly found among the cremated remains of Buddhist masters.

The little novice walked up to the elderly monk and said a few words to him. The monk opened his eyes and gave a slight start the second he recognised the person standing before him. A trace of panic crossed his otherwise benign and pleasant expression.

The little novice listened to what his master had to say, then walked over to Jiang Ruan and said, "Benefactor[2], Master invites you to the inner room to hear the scriptures."

[2] 施主 (shi zhu) – benefactor (term used by a monk to address a layperson).

Jiang Ruan put her palms together and uttered a blessing for the little novice. Upon seeing this, Yang gugu smiled faintly at her. Thereafter, Jiang Ruan followed the little novice.

The inner room had a small Aoki[3] wood table, upon which was a qian tong[4], and several books of scriptures.

[3] 青木 (qing mu) – Aoki (aucuba japonica), a plant belonging to the genus Aophyllum in the genus Sericinaciceae. Found in Japan, North Korea and Zhejiang, China.

[4] 签筒 (qian tong) – a long cylindrical bamboo tube holding (usually) 100 flat sticks, painted red at one end and inscribed with a single numeral. They are used for fortune-telling, with each of the 100 numbers corresponding to a written oracle outcome. 

The elderly monk walked into the room and sat beside the table, while Jiang Ruan sat in front of it. From outside came the sound of the novice monks chanting sutras, and while the renovation of the hall had retained the quaintly antique appeal of the structure, the atmosphere was quite spiritual.