TMBM Chapter 131: Eat Meat

    Banruo and a few monks stood in front of her with serious looks. He grinned grimly as they held out several sutras: “Princess, have you gained anything from your Buddhist practice?”

    The corners of Yaoying’s mouth twitched: She had relaxed too early just now. The person randomly checking her homework was waiting here!

    Banruo stood in front of Yaoying, his back straight as a poplar tree, and began to recite the contents of Yaoying’s sutra.

    He coincidentally questioned her on the section that Tumoroga had asked Yuanjue to remind Yaoying to study.

    Yaoying was stunned and then laughed: the monk actually helped her cheat.

    Although she couldn’t understand the deep meaning of the sutras, she couldn’t be beaten at memorizing them. She responded readily and neatly.

    Banruo frowned, opened another scroll, and continued to question her.

    Yaoying continued to recite fluently.

    After quizzing her on several books in a row, none stumped Yaoying, so Banruo could not help but be a little annoyed and asked, “Can you understand its meaning?”

    Yaoying’s eyes narrowed slightly and she smiled, “No.”

    Without waiting for Banruo to say anything, she answered his question with one of her own, “Do you understand it all?”

    Banruo wanted to retort at first, but when he met Yaoying’s smiling eyes, his face reddened slightly. He was not a shaved monk, but only a guard following Tumoroga. How dare he say he could understand the scriptures in the book? If he gave an affirmative answer, he would surely be pursued exhaustively!

    He could only shake his head.

    Yaoying smiled.

    Banyu refused to concede and asked, “Is that all Princess has memorized these days?”

    Yaoying coughed lightly and said with a straight face, “I have studied a scripture these days.”

    Banruo looked at her with suspicion: “What scripture?”

    Yaoying recited the “Heart Sutra” word for word.

    The Heart Sutra, that is, the Heart of Prajnaparamita Sutra, was short and poignant. Tang Xuanzang’s translated version was only 300 words in total. Concise and clear, yet infinite in meaning, for it was the essence and fundamentals extracted from hundreds of Buddhist sutras, condensed from millions of words from ancient Buddhist books like the vastness of the raging seas.

    Yaoying had thought about it, and this sutra, which was widely circulated in the Central Plains, was enough for her to handle the spot checks for the next few months with ease and no hassle.

    She recited it fluently, but Banruo had a lost expression on his face: “What is it that you are reciting?”

    Yaoying was even more bewildered than he was: “The Heart Sutra?”

    Banruo affirmed, “I have never heard of this sutra before.”

    Yaoying explained, “I am reciting the version translated by the Chinese monk Venerable Xuanzang, which may be different from what you have studied.”

    Banruo frowned and exchanged glances with several monks around him, one of whom shook his head at him. Several of them whispered and discussed for a moment, before he said, “Has the princess comprehended it?”

    Yaoying pressed her hands together and said, “The sutra is thought-provoking. I have not yet been able to comprehend its true meaning, but after reciting it a few more times, it can make my mood peaceful and calm.”

    Banruo stared blankly at her. If Yaoying had said that she had gained something, he could have argued with her about the truth, but when she said that, he really couldn’t find any faults.

    A monk next to him looked appreciative and nodded his head, “If the princess can have such comprehension, she is truly practicing intensely.”

    Yaoying smiled modestly.

    The corners of Banruo’s eyes twitched.

    The monks saluted Yaoying and turned to leave.

    Yaoying asked Yuanjue who was beside her, “Have I passed the test?”

    Yuanjue smiled and said, “Princess has performed well, and there will be less gossip in the city in the future. As long as Princess shows that she is practicing Buddhism, these monks will not dare to deliberately make things difficult for Princess.”

    Yaoying’s heart moved.

    It turned out that Tumoroga instructed her to respond well to the spot check for her sake so that she could have a better time in the Holy City.

    Seeing that it was time for lunch, Yuanjue sent Yaoying back to her courtyard.

    Footsteps sounded behind her, and a close guard came after her: “The king invites the princess to the meditation room.”

    Yuanjue responded and escorted Yaoying to the meditation room.

    The courtyard was quiet, the sky was blue, and the drifting clouds were lightly breezing past. The fine flowers and leaves on the dome appeared blue in the brilliant sunlight, and there was a faint golden glow floating amongst the frescoes.

    Tumoroga sat in front of the long table reading a letter. Several travel-worn blue-clad guards knelt in front of the courtyard, one of them being Ashina Bisha’s personal attendant.

    News came back from the Northern Rong side.

    Yaoying walked quickly into the long corridor. Outside the meditation room, her steps halted, and she subconsciously held her breath, stepping into the room.

    The room was remote and cool. Tumoroga did not raise his head, his long fingers raised, indicating that Yaoying could sit down.

    Yaoying knelt opposite him, sitting upright.

    After reading the letter, Tumoroga looked up and said, “Haidu Aling has injured his leg.”

    Yaoying was stunned.

    Tumoroga glanced at the courtyard. Yuanjue understood and signaled Ashina Bisha’s personal attendant to come forward.

    The personal attendant kneeled outside the hall, slowly saying, “When General Ashina arrived at the Northern Rong, Prince Haidu Aling had already returned to the camp. It was said that he was attacked by bandits on the way and one of his legs was trampled by a startled horse. In the hot weather, the wound festered, and the shamen used the wrong medicine to treat him, so Prince Haidu Aling’s right leg was ruined. The general said that several princes broke into his tent and personally checked Haidu Aling’s injury. His leg was crawling with maggots.”

    Yaoying’s eyelids jumped as she listened.

    As expected, Haidu Aling had a “disabled” leg.

    Those ambushing bandits should have been a trap that the princes arranged. He took advantage of the situation and pretended to lose his leg.

    The personal attendant finished, “The general remembered that Princess Wenzhao had reminded him that Haidu Aling would use a bitter meat trick and suspected that Haidu Aling’s leg was not ruined, so he sent us subordinates back to ask the king for instructions and ask the princess for ideas.”

    Tumoroga looked at Yaoying.

    Yaoying suddenly felt like the breath was knocked out of her. She said, “I did warn General Ashina.”

    The personal attendant whispered, “The princess knows Prince Haidu Aling’s nature like the back of her hand. The general would like to hear the princess’s advice.”

    The courtyard was silent.

    Yaoying met the personal attendant’s expectant gaze and worked up the nerve to say, “Since Haidu Aling is using a bitter meat trick, then the general might as well do the same and have Prince Haidu Aling recuperate properly.”

    Haidu Aling pretended to have a ruined leg. Ashina Bisha could use several princes’ suspicion of him to make that leg truly ruined.

    Several of the personal soldiers exchanged looks. Yuanjue, who was guarding by the door, looked surprised.

    Tumoroga seemed not at all surprised by Li Yaoying’s answer. Without making a sound, he put pen to paper and wrote a letter.

    The attendant got up, received the letter, and saluted, leaving in a hurry.

    Yaoying also got up and withdrew from the meditation room. When she walked down the corridor, some guards came in with a food tray. She inadvertently caught a glimpse of the silver plate on the tray and went blank.

    A plate of beef passed by her eyes.

    Yaoying turned around, her eyes following the plate of beef.

    The food tray was brought to Tumoroga. His long, graceful fingers picked up a piece of meat.

    Yaoying was dumbfounded.

    In the room, Tumoroga felt Yaoying’s gaze and raised his eyes to look over.

    The young girl stood in the courtyard, staring at him with an expression of stupefaction like being struck by lightning.

    Tumoroga paused for a moment, and his faint doubt flitted across his calm blue eyes.

    Was she hungry?