That year, that cicada, that sword

Chapter 513

The Xiao family has a very strange tradition, men follow Taoism and women believe in Buddhism.

This tradition was probably passed down from Xiao Huang's generation, because Xiao Huang had a good relationship with Qiu Ye, and also had a mentoring friendship with the old head teacher of the Taoist school and the Daoist Wuchen, and he wanted to use the power of the Taoist school to compete in the world, so Being close to Taoism, one can tell from the fact that he named his son Xiao Xuan.

As for the woman who believed in Buddhism, it was because of Empress Lin. She was born in the royal court of the grassland and had believed in Buddhism for generations. Later, she became friends with Murong Xuan. , Empress Lin began to believe in Mahayana Buddhism, that is, Buddhism.

Since the two of them, this tradition has been passed down, even the current emperor Xiao Xuan is no exception. As a daughter of the Xiao family, Xiao Zhinan also started to learn about Buddhism at a very young age.

It's just that she didn't believe in Buddhism since she was a child, but in order not to make herself look different, she had to pretend to believe in Buddhism sincerely, and usually wrapped a string of purple-eyed emerald beads around her wrist.

Although the Buddha beads are better than bodhi seeds, this string of purple-eyed beads has a lot of origin. Since ancient times, most jadeites have been green, and jadeites of other colors are quite rare, and purple jadeites without impurities are even rarer. Wanyan Beiyue once collected two pieces of purple jadeite as a whole. After the alliance of Daliang City, he ordered skilled craftsmen to carve these two pieces of purple jadeite into eighteen Buddhist beads. Each Buddhist bead is carved with four Bodhisattvas. Strings were strung together, and finally presented to Lin Yinping, who was still a princess at the time.

After Lin Yinping's death, this string of Buddhist beads was handed down to Xiao Zhinan along with many other relics. Among the many relics, Xiao Zhinan's favorite items were three, namely the white cat Banlan, the peony and this string of Buddhist beads.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival on August [-]th, Xu Beiyou spent the Mid-Autumn Festival in Hanoi, while the imperial capital was in a festive atmosphere. Amidst the rain of silver flowers, fire trees and fireworks, a woman in a jade-white auspicious dress was sitting alone in a carriage. Slowly drove out of the palace, and then went to his mansion.

Mid-Autumn Festival, the festival of family reunion, even the royal family is no exception. On this day, Xiao Zhinan entered the palace early and followed his parents. There is also the ceremony of worshiping the moon, setting up a platform to burn incense, and displaying flower and fruit moon cakes for the moon. According to etiquette, men are not allowed to worship the moon. Therefore, after nightfall, Xiao Zhinan will go to the temple with his mother, Empress Xu, other family members, and wives. Kowtow with incense, and then set up a feast inside and outside to appreciate the moon.

All the female relatives were in the inner court, and most of them were married women. Except for Xiao Yuanying and other young princesses and county lords, only Xiao Zhinan was an unmarried adult woman. People dared to say more, but the heavy eyes on her still made her quite displeased. In addition, she was at odds with her biological mother, Empress Xu.

The Mid-Autumn Festival lasted until Xu time, Xiao Zhinan felt exhausted physically and mentally. Since her mother did not persuade her to stay, she did not take the initiative to ask to stay overnight in the palace. After saying goodbye to the empress couple, she went straight out of the palace and went to her princess. Go to the government.

The carriage compartment is spacious, and because Her Royal Highness is "recovering from a serious illness", there is even a charcoal stove, which makes the interior of the carriage warm and comfortable, making people feel a heavy tiredness, but it was just a little bit excited by the cool wind outside Xiao Zhinan didn't feel sleepy at all, curled up in the corner of the carriage, subconsciously flicking the Buddhist beads in his hand, staring at the flickering charcoal fire in a daze.

She felt that she should not belong to this dreary city, and she yearned for the outside world more, to be free. She recalled that she had walked through the northwest, set foot in the northeast, went to the southern border, and went to the south of the Yangtze River. Jiang Taotao once took a boat to watch the sunset on the sea, and climbed the top of the mountain at night to watch the sunrise at dawn. He has seen ten thousand acres of bamboo forests, overlooked one hundred thousand mountains, walked across small bridges and flowing water, and rode horses on the grassland. It is flat and wild.

All kinds of scenery and people, wouldn't it be tens of millions of times better than this boring city.

It's a pity that this city is a cage, people can't escape, and they can't be at ease in the end.

Xiao Zhinan sighed, feeling a little melancholy for no reason.

Every girl will have a colorful dream when she was a teenager, where there are colorful clouds, unrivaled heroes, and a wedding dress as gorgeous and gorgeous as the red clouds in the sky.

It's just that as I grow older, this dream will soon be fragmented, or even wiped out.

The carriage suddenly shook, and Xiao Zhinan leaned forward slightly due to inertia, interrupting his thoughts of drifting farther and farther.

After a while, Yinzhu's voice came from outside the carriage, "Your Highness, we're here."

Xiao Zhinan hummed, wrapped his cape around, and stepped out of the carriage.

Back at the Princess Mansion, Xiao Zhinan had no intention of resting, but went to a Buddhist hall, where a Guanyin Bodhisattva holding a clean bottle was enshrined. She removed her cloak, knelt on the futon in front of the Guanyin statue, and twisted her wrists Buddha beads, eyes closed silently reciting Buddhist scriptures, very pious.

The lights in the Buddhist hall are brightly lit, reflecting on the statue of Guanyin and the face of the woman, shining brightly.

About half an hour later, Xiao Zhinan finished chanting and regained his calm.

Although she doesn't believe in Buddhism, she found that reciting Buddhist scriptures for a long time can calm her mind, so she would come to this Buddhist hall to chant scriptures whenever her heart was disturbed.

Xiao Zhinan still knelt on the futon and didn't get up, muttering softly: "Although Buddhism is pure and doesn't talk about marriage, and I'm not a sincere believer, it's hard to appreciate Bodhisattva, but I still want to say something today, please Bodhisattva Listen."

The woman's voice became smaller and smaller, so small that it was inaudible.

Except for herself and the Bodhisattva who didn't know whether she could hear it, no one knew exactly what she said.

The reason why Xiao Zhinan was restless today, and the reason why he was physically and mentally exhausted, was not all because of the Mid-Autumn Festival tonight, but because during the interval between the Mid-Autumn Festival, her father, who ruled the world, called her away alone. There was a conversation between them.

Xiao Xuan, the second emperor of Daqi, told his only daughter that he had chosen a good son-in-law for her, Xu Beiyou, the adopted son of Han Xuan, the second assistant of the current dynasty, and the head disciple of Jianzong.

Xiao Xuan gave this only daughter great respect, and asked her if she had any objections?If there is no objection, after Xu Beiyou arrives in the imperial capital, he will issue an imperial edict to announce it to the world.

Although Xiao Zhinan had expected it a long time ago and had been pursuing it all the time, when he actually heard that this matter was settled, he still had mixed feelings and even felt a little anxious.

I remember that my aunt once said to herself that when the late emperor arranged a marriage for her, she was also panicked. What about the details?It has already been overwhelmed.

Xiao Zhinan knew that the rest of her life would be decided between these few words, and after she nodded, there was no room for regrets.

For a woman, there is nothing more important than this.

Xiao Zhinan was silent for a long time.

The Great Qi Emperor also waited patiently for a long time.

In the huge hall, there was no sound, only the father and daughter sitting and standing, their figures dragged by the lights.

There is a loud sound, the four quarters of the unitary time.

Xiao Zhinan nodded.

(End of this chapter)