TGPSAC – Chapter 74

Great Master Jingchen was ninety-one years old and had been a monk for ninety-one years.

That’s right. When Great Master Jingchen was just a few months old, she was abandoned outside a temple. Unable to find her parents, she was raised by the temple and lived there her entire life.

Rumor had it that Great Master Jingchen was the reincarnation of a Buddha’s son, destined to endure countless hardships, experience birth, old age, sickness, and death, and cast aside all suffering.

Just as the rumors said, she was abandoned. When she traveled down the mountain, she experienced such hardship that she nearly starved to death. Later, she fell gravely ill. It was only because her master exhausted his internal energy and gave his life that she was able to survive.

In her ninety years of life, Great Master Jingchen had experienced many tribulations. It wasn’t until after she turned eighty that she remained in Xuanyang Temple, not leaving its grounds for ten years.

When Emperor Shengyuan was still in good health, he would come every year to listen to Great Master Jingchen lecture on Buddhist principles.

In the last two years, his health had declined, but he would have Yu Jiuzhou bring back the master’s new insights for him.

When Chi Wan saw Great Master Jingchen, the woman fit her stereotype perfectly: thin and small, yet benevolent and compassionate, viewing the world with an air of pity.

A smile on her face, she pressed her palms together toward Yu Jiuzhou but did not rise. “Your Highness.”

“Great Master.”

Then, Great Master Jingchen’s gaze shifted to Chi Wan. “Fuma.”

“Great Master.”

After they were seated, someone served tea.

“This tea is grown here at Xuanyang Temple. Your Highness and the Fuma may have a taste,” Great Master Jingchen said with a smile, dismissing Huijue.

Such a Great Master Jingchen naturally made one feel a sense of closeness.

But Chi Wan felt the master’s gaze linger on her. After a long while, she finally asked, “Does the Great Master have something to say to me?”

Great Master Jingchen hesitated for a moment, then smiled freely. “May I ask where the Fuma comes from?”

This question made both Chi Wan and Yu Jiuzhou pause with their teacups at their lips. They then set them down in unison.

Seeing their reaction, Great Master Jingchen understood. “It seems Your Highness also knows.”

Chi Wan frowned. “I am Chi Wan, a native of the Great Zhou capital, from the House of the Marquis of Huai’an.”

She felt that Great Master Jingchen had seen through her—that her soul was not of this world.

But until the other party said it outright, she would not admit it.

“The Fuma comes from beyond this world.”

Great Master Jingchen was very direct. “The heavens are round and the earth is square. The Fuma comes from beyond the heavens, beyond the earth, unbound by this world. Yet your internal energy is of the Daoist arts. Do Daoist arts exist beyond this world as well? And what of Buddhist principles?”

Uh… Chi Wan never expected that after confirming her identity, this was what Great Master Jingchen would want to ask.

She stared at the master for a good while before finally saying, “Great Master, you are attached to form.”

“All that has form is illusory.”

Great Master Jingchen was enlightened. “Yes, this old monk has become attached to form.”

“This old monk observes that the Fuma has a strong affinity for enlightenment. Would you be willing to study Buddhism with me?”

Yu Jiuzhou: “?”

What kind of person asks someone with a spouse to become a monk?

“Old nun!!!”

Hearing Yu Jiuzhou’s somewhat angry voice, Great Master Jingchen was taken aback and quickly said, “Little Jiuzhou, you are too stingy.”

Chi Wan raised an eyebrow, not having expected their relationship to be so close.

As if sensing her confusion, Yu Jiuzhou explained softly, “I have known Great Master Jingchen since I was a child. She is the matriarch of Xuanyang Temple, but her temperament is like a child’s.”

“Your Highness is mistaken. They say the old become like children, and this old monk is indeed a child.”

Jingchen chuckled. “But I did not realize Your Highness was so protective of the Fuma. It was this old monk’s blunder.”

Yu Jiuzhou quickly glanced at Chi Wan. Seeing no reaction, she felt a sense of relief, yet also a hint of disappointment. “It has been so long since we last met. Is this all the Great Master has to say to me?”

“It has indeed been a long time. This old monk will pass into nirvana in three days. It is just enough time to preside over one last blessing for Your Highness.”

Yu Jiuzhou’s expression was calm; she had clearly known for some time that Great Master Jingchen did not have long to live. “What if you hadn’t changed my fate for me?”

“Then how would Your Highness have returned?”

Hearing this, Chi Wan began to understand. Great Master Jingchen had changed Yu Jiuzhou’s fate, which was why Yu Jiuzhou could return. This “return” must refer to her rebirth. And if her fate hadn’t been changed?

Chi Wan was inwardly astonished. Great Zhou truly had many capable people. There was even a master who could alter fate and see at a glance that she was not from this world.

To say she came from beyond the heavens and earth was to see that she was not of this world.

Those words also indicated that Yu Jiuzhou’s chance at rebirth was related to Jingchen.

But why was all of this being said in front of her? Did Jingchen know her situation so well that she could speak so freely?

Chi Wan brought the teacup to her lips, listening without a change in expression.

She heard Yu Jiuzhou say nonchalantly, “I have already returned.”

“The fatal calamity remains.” Great Master Jingchen closed her eyes and divined for a moment. “The day you died is your fatal calamity. If you pass it, you will live a long life.”

“Is there no other way?”

She was twenty this year. She had died in the seventh year after the new emperor’s ascension, at the age of twenty-eight. There were still many years to go.

“There is.”

“What is it?”

“Kill the baleful star in your fate.”

A baleful star in her fate? Chi Wan also began to calculate. Perhaps she didn’t even need to; she already knew who it was.

Prince Bao’an.

Prince Bao’an was the biggest beneficiary. He gained the throne and killed Yu Jiuzhou.

The one who killed her was naturally the baleful star in her fate.

Chi Wan’s divinatory gestures piqued Great Master Jingchen’s curiosity. “The Fuma also understands divination?”

“I have studied it a little.”

It was quite normal for a Daoist practitioner to know a bit of feng shui and fortune-telling. Whether it was accurate was another matter.

However, Chi Wan felt she was decent at it, knowledgeable but not an expert.

Yu Jiuzhou, on the other hand, recalled the time on the pleasure boat when Chi Wan had read her palm.

Born with the fate of a dragon and phoenix, destined for countless trials, reborn through nirvana, but the fatal calamity will be hard to pass.

Chi Wan also thought of that palm reading. It seemed her calculations had been accurate. Yu Jiuzhou had already successfully achieved nirvana; she just had one more fatal calamity to overcome.

Great Master Jingchen grew interested. “I wonder if the Fuma has performed a divination for Her Highness.”

“Naturally.”

Chi Wan stated her findings. Everything before was correct, but she hadn’t understood the part about a variable from the void.

On Great Master Jingchen’s aged face, her eyes visibly brightened. She re-examined Yu Jiuzhou, then burst into laughter.

“That’s right, a variable! There is a variable.”

She laughed heartily. “Reborn through nirvana. Though there is a fatal calamity, there is a variable. A variable means life.”

Having figured it out, Great Master Jingchen took out an object resembling a lotus-shaped oil lamp. “This is one of the eighteen śarīra of Xuanyang Temple, the main relic. This old monk has infused it with my life’s work. I ask Your Highness to keep it with you at all times.”

“Your life’s work?”

A master of internal energy could live to be over a hundred. Great Master Jingchen was only in her early nineties; living another twenty or thirty years wouldn’t be a problem. If she infused the śarīra with her life’s work, her own life would soon end.

Moreover, infusing a śarīra or some other Daoist treasure with internal energy was a profound matter, not something accomplished overnight. It certainly required daily nurturing with internal energy, a daily infusion. It would be useless without at least eight or ten years of work.

This meant Great Master Jingchen had started this process a very long time ago.

Yu Jiuzhou was shocked. “Jingchen, I never asked you to do this.”

This life was different from the last. She was not a cripple. In this life, she had made many plans in advance and was not disabled. She didn’t need Jingchen to do this for her again.

She wasn’t displeased with Jingchen. In her past life, she hadn’t known that accepting the śarīra would cause Jingchen’s death. Now that she knew, Yu Jiuzhou couldn’t accept someone dying for her to live.

Chi Wan reached out and took Yu Jiuzhou’s hand, patting it soothingly. “The Great Master’s śarīra has been nurtured for at least ten years.”

“What do you mean?” Yu Jiuzhou didn’t practice martial arts and didn’t understand the principles involved.

“I believe that for the Great Master to have spent ten years nurturing it, she must have long ago decided to trade her life’s work and the śarīra for Your Highness’s life.”

Over those ten years, Great Master Jingchen had countless opportunities to stop, but she persisted day after day, year after year, which was enough to show her determination.

Ten years of nurturing? The term was not unfamiliar to Yu Jiuzhou. Not long ago, when her body was weak, she had relied on Chi Wan’s internal energy to nurture her. Ten years without interruption—she knew what that represented.

Yu Jiuzhou’s brow furrowed, and her eyes reddened. “Jingchen.”

“Enough, Your Highness. You and I are friends despite our age difference. Ever since my master passed into nirvana, you have been my only family. Having lived for ninety years, this old monk has lived long enough. To trade this life for a young friend’s is worth it.”

“Besides, if not for nurturing the śarīra, this old monk would have followed my master long ago and would not have clung to life for these past ten-odd years.”

Jingchen smiled faintly. “It was Your Highness who helped me discover the true meaning of life and death. What is life, and what is death? Life is not the birth and existence of the physical body; life is the arising of karmic conditions. Death is not the cessation of those conditions.”

“The physical body will decay and perish, but the consciousness is indestructible…”

Jingchen spoke at length on the Buddhist principles of life and death, finally concluding, “The Buddha said that life and death are like the alternation of day and night. This is the true essence of life and death—an endless cycle, without beginning or end. To this old monk, both life and death are forms of cultivation. To live forever through life and death is enlightenment.”

Profound, very profound. Chi Wan understood the literal meaning of the words, but if she had to explain it, it was that Jingchen had no attachment to the mortal world. To her, her friend’s life was more valuable than her own death.

“The Great Master’s righteousness is profound.”

Chi Wan was indeed a student of Daoism, and she loved it dearly, but anyone with such great righteousness, unbound by their station, was worthy of admiration.

Yu Jiuzhou lowered her gaze, the corners of her eyes red. If she weren’t holding back with all her might, her eyes would have filled with tears. “I understand.”

She had never been one to dwell on things. Since the matter could not be changed, she could only accept it.

But Jingchen had one more matter. “I also ask Your Highness to spare the lives of the monks of Xuanyang Temple below the ‘Ming’ generation.”

With these words, Chi Wan finally understood. So there was another reason.

The interior of Xuanyang Temple had likely long become a stronghold for her enemies. No wonder there were so many martial monks inside, yet Yu Jiuzhou had still been plunged into a life-or-death crisis.

Chi Wan squeezed Yu Jiuzhou’s hand. “The Great Master means that there are people with ill intentions within Xuanyang Temple.”

“Amitabha. When the Fuma began the reforms, you must have known that not everyone would be unable to guess who the true supporter of the reforms was.”

Although Gao Zheng had always been the one at the forefront, without the approval of Yu Jiuzhou and the Emperor, the pilot program for the new laws in Yanbei would not have started so easily.

It was well known that local officials had many ways to terminate reforms. When the capital had a policy that the localities did not want to implement, one method was very effective: take things to the extreme.

For example, if the capital ordered a survey of the land, local officials would, on top of surveying the land, doubly oppress the common people, stirring up conflict and not hesitating to incite public resentment and rebellion.

Chi Wan swirled the teacup in her hand. “Does the Great Master believe the reforms are wrong?”

“The reforms are not wrong. But for secular reforms, the physical body must exist.”

That was true. To ensure the success of reforms, living a long life was the most important factor. Otherwise, no matter how well it started, once the person was gone, the reforms would be gone too.

Great Master Jingchen was not only well-versed in Buddhist principles, but she also understood people and reforms. “Those with vested interests will not allow the reforms to succeed. What they fear most is reform and change. They wish the world would never change, but what about the common people?”

“The Fuma acts for the country and its people; that is great righteousness. This old monk possesses only small righteousness.”

“But there is too much rotten flesh, and the poison is too strong. Not everyone can bear the pain of scraping the bone to heal the wound.”

Chi Wan pondered for a moment before asking, “In the Great Master’s opinion, who, as the new emperor, could continue to support the reforms?”

“No one.”

Chi Wan smiled. “Actually, there is one person.”

Jingchen was puzzled. After thinking for a long while, her gaze suddenly swept over to Yu Jiuzhou, who was bowing her head, enduring her pain. A sudden realization dawned on her. “It is this old monk who was too limited in my thinking.”

Reforms would naturally infringe upon the interests of the gentry, so they required a strong emperor who offered one hundred percent support. On this point, they both thought of one person, and only one person: Yu Jiuzhou.

It was just like a phrase she had studied, loved, and written in her books: “Use the wealth of the rich to enrich the poor.”

It meant that the court should control and guide the operation of the economy.

Chi Wan’s reforms were actually a combination of three figures: Wang Anshi, Zhang Juzheng, and the Yongzheng Emperor. The reforms of these three were absolutely formidable in the history of feudal dynasties.

“Since ancient times, reformers have not met with good ends.” Jingchen pressed her palms together. “This old monk hopes that Your Highness and the Fuma will succeed and see your work through to a good end.”

Chi Wan returned a smile, then took Yu Jiuzhou’s hand and led her out of the room. As she stepped through the door, she turned back and said, “If the Great Master doesn’t mind, for the next two days, Her Highness and I will come to visit every day.”

“No, no. This old monk is going to accompany my master. Your Highness and the Fuma need not come again.”

For years, Jingchen had stayed in this courtyard, at most going to the back mountain to farm and water her plants. She rarely went anywhere else.

“Alright, then we will see you tomorrow.”

On the day of the blessing ceremony, Jingchen would still need to preside.

As they were leaving, Jingchen added, “This old monk has a disciple, Huishen. This child is too intelligent, and extreme intelligence can be self-destructive. I ask Your Highness and the Fuma to look after him.”

Clearly, she was arranging her affairs and entrusting an important person to their care.

Yu Jiuzhou, who had been immersed in sorrow, finally spoke. “I will.”

They left Jingchen’s courtyard. Worried about Yu Jiuzhou, Chi Wan did not let go of her hand the entire way.

She didn’t know if this could give Yu Jiuzhou strength.

“Chi Wan,” Yu Jiuzhou suddenly called her name. “Do you think my return has changed fate?”

“What is change? The grand tide of events cannot be reversed, but minor currents can be altered. But there is one person who can change the grand tide.”

“Who?”

“The Emperor.”

As long as one ascended to that supreme position, whether a wise ruler or a foolish one, they had the power to change the grand tide of the world.

A single word from the emperor could spread from the capital until it encompassed the entire realm.

If the emperor is wise, the court will be clean. If the court is clean, the people will be prosperous.

If the emperor is foolish, the court will be corrupt. If the court is corrupt, the people will suffer.

Chi Wan stood before Yu Jiuzhou and tightened her cloak, still speaking. “Every reform will inevitably touch upon the interests of a certain class or certain people. As long as His Majesty and the Grand Secretariat are supportive, and the common people are made aware of the benefits of the reforms, even the gentry will be unable to stop it.”

“His Majesty and the Grand Secretariat need Your Highness to maintain them. The fate of all people rests on Your Highness.”

Just as she said, if Yu Jiuzhou were to become emperor, she would surely be a wise ruler. With such a ruler, the people would always have hope.

“Great Master Jingchen nurtured the śarīra with her life’s work to shield Your Highness from calamity. Great Master Jingchen said that the physical body can decay, but the spirit cannot be extinguished. Great Master Jingchen’s Buddhist principles and spirit will be passed down and spoken of for generations by Xuanyang Temple.”

“Your Highness, our new laws have just begun, and only in Yanbei. Great Master Jingchen probably feels that you, being alive, can do more for the people than she can. That is why she wants you to live.”

Chi Wan’s divination was not for Yu Jiuzhou, but for Jingchen.

Divining for a high monk was not easy. She felt her own spirit was quite weak now, but she had managed to get a result.

“I performed a divination for Great Master Jingchen and was surprised to find that she had two fatal calamities: one just after her first month of life, and another at age twenty. She should have lived to be eighty.”

Only then did Yu Jiuzhou raise her eyes, looking at her as if seeking confirmation.

Chi Wan then said, “Great Master Jingchen has held on until now in order to change Your Highness’s fate.”

She was not speaking nonsense and held Great Master Jingchen in equally high esteem.

After a long pause, Yu Jiuzhou finally said, “I know. Jingchen has long had a death wish. Since I was young, she told me that her greatest wish in this life was for the country to be prosperous and the people at peace, and for her master to be in good health.”

“Later, she told me she had one more wish: for me to be healthy and live a peaceful life.”

Yu Jiuzhou held up her hand. “I am not sad because of Jingchen’s death. I know that for her, escaping the physical body is a release. I am sad because there is one less person in this world whom I care about, and who cares about me.”

In her past life, she had been constantly losing people. She had thought that in this life, she could prevent many things from happening, but she was still losing. That was why she had been immersed in grief for a little longer.

As they walked, Yu Jiuzhou suddenly smiled. “Chi Wan, in the future, I am to be buried in the imperial mausoleum. How about we move the old nun’s tomb into the imperial mausoleum? That way, after I die, I can annoy her every day.”

Chi Wan: “…” Your Highness, weren’t you just grieving Great Master Jingchen’s impending death? Why the sudden thought about tombs?

Seeing her silence, Yu Jiuzhou continued on her own, “You are right. The reforms will inevitably provoke resistance. The schemes and plots will be endless.”

“So what? I do not fear death. I only worry that I have not done enough for this world, for the people of this world.”

“Chi Wan, what I learned since childhood was not how to be a princess. What I learned was the way of a ruler. A ruler takes the needs of the people, the thoughts of the people, and the hearts of the people as their own responsibility.”

“When have I ever failed? I merely misplaced my trust in the new emperor’s heart for the people.”

Ever since Yu Jiuzhou discovered Emperor Shengyuan’s scheme—that her beloved father had used her and everyone in the realm—her faith had changed. She began to understand that one’s faith should not be in a person, but in the country and its people.

The two of them stood in the hall of Xuanyang Temple where the ancestral tablets of Great Zhou’s emperors were enshrined. Yu Jiuzhou looked at her ancestors.

“The Grand Ancestor said that a ruler should fulfill the wishes of all people. Chi Wan, I feel my methods have been too gentle before. So gentle that they thought I was easy to bully.”

Jingchen’s impending death made Yu Jiuzhou understand that acting cautiously could not change the grand tide of the world. Only by becoming the grand tide herself could she control it.

Then she would contend. Rather than a small contest, it would be a great one.

The emperor was old. In this time of great contention, not to contend was to admit defeat.

Under the watch of the emperors of Great Zhou, Yu Jiuzhou took Chi Wan’s hand and walked to the foot of the ancestral tablets. She looked up at the highest tablet, that of the Grand Ancestor Emperor of Great Zhou.

She became ever more resolute about what she had to do now and in the future.

She turned to look at Chi Wan. Thankfully, she had someone by her side with a common goal.

Sensing her gaze, Chi Wan met it with a smile. “Your Highness, a gentleman does not stand beneath a crumbling wall.”

“Your Highness put yourself in harm’s way. I hope such a thing will not happen again in the future.”

Yu Jiuzhou nodded heavily. “I know.”

Jingchen’s actions had taught her that using herself as bait was a foolish thing to do. Others were trying so hard to keep her alive, yet she herself did not cherish it.

It wasn’t that Yu Jiuzhou didn’t cherish her life; she had simply thought that by not becoming a cripple, she had already changed many things. Those foreign tribes hiding in the shadows, attempting to destroy Great Zhou and harm its people, had to be rooted out.

She did not regret this trip, but she felt that using herself as bait was an injustice to Jingchen’s sacrifice.

And to Chi Wan’s worry.

Though she thought this, Yu Jiuzhou said nothing aloud. She looked at their joined hands, then shyly let go and pulled her hand back.

“Let’s go back.”

“Alright.”

Chi Wan was happy in her heart. Yu Jiuzhou was not a stubborn monarch; she was a ruler who knew how to reflect on her actions and correct them.

She didn’t become obstinate just because she had lived a second life, thinking she understood the course of events and only trusting what she had experienced.

The grand tide could not be reversed, but many minor currents had changed. The convergence of thousands of minor changes would eventually alter the grand tide.

Much of the time, neither Yu Jiuzhou nor she could completely rely on the contents of the novel; it could only be used as a reference.

Chi Wan fiddled with the corner of her clothes. After holding Yu Jiuzhou’s hand for so long, her hand suddenly felt empty, and it was a little strange.

Yu Jiuzhou noticed her movement and deliberately put her hands behind her back, as if inviting Chi Wan: Go on, come and take it.

Chi Wan resisted the urge and also put her hands behind her back: I can hold back.

The two of them walked away with their hands behind their backs. Their small actions reminded the guards following them of their own grandparents.

When they returned to the small courtyard, the temple’s evening meal had already been delivered. The temple served its meals—morning, noon, and night—rather early. It was just the You hour, and it was already time to eat.

The room was filled with braziers, making it so warm that Chi Wan took off her outer coat. The small kitchen had already prepared hot water for the two to wash up and bathe.

By the time they finished, the You hour had not yet passed. It was still quite early.

Chi Wan, still thinking about sleeping in the same room as Yu Jiuzhou tonight, hugged her pillow and went to her room.

Seeing Chi Wan in a simple white under-robe, hugging a gray pillow with a look of innocent obedience, Yu Jiuzhou was stunned.

“What are you doing?”

Chi Wan said as if it were the most natural thing in the world, “Sleeping in the same room as Your Highness, of course.”

“Why sleep in the same room?” Were they going to consummate their marriage in a temple? Wouldn’t that be sacrilegious?

Yu Jiuzhou’s thoughts ran wild, feeling as if Chi Wan was about to pounce on her at any second.

But to her surprise, Chi Wan lay down on the wooden floorboards beside the bed. “I’ll just sleep here and protect Your Highness.”

Alright, so she had been overthinking things again.

She thought Chi Wan was going to do something, but this was it?

“Your Highness, you should get to bed and rest early. We have to wake up early tomorrow.”

They had to wake up at the hour of Yin tomorrow morning, around four o’clock. They did indeed need to rise early.

Yu Jiuzhou walked over to Chi Wan. How was she supposed to get into bed?

Chi Wan had no intention of moving, instead gesturing for her to step over her body.

Was that something one could just do? Between ordinary partners, unless they were exceptionally in love, it was not something they would do.

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