Datang: Hiding private money, exposed by Xiao Sizi

Shen Lian smiled and said, "That's interesting. At the same time, various schools of thought emerged one after another. As the saying goes, it is better to believe it than not to believe it. I will just assume that these schools of thought really exist."

"Now, each family needs something to announce their return to the world, so the Dao family will be framed like this, and they may not tolerate it."

"Next, let's take a look."

When Dezhi heard Shen Lian's meaningful words, he suddenly felt goosebumps.

He was a little worried and said, "Lord Shen, what do you mean..."

Shen Lian smiled and said, "Master Abbot, rest assured. I am very interested in this matter. With me here, no one can make a big fuss. Master, you don't have to worry about me, Shen. Just send someone to follow you. Master, go and do your own thing."

Seeing that Shen Lian was unwilling to say more, Dezhi could only nod helplessly even though he was worried.

After all, with his status, he is really not good enough in front of Shen Lian.

He has no right to ask Shen Lian to do anything.

He looked at his apprentice and said, "Jiecheng, from now on, you should accompany Master Shen well. Remember, whatever Master Shen tells you to do, you must do it seriously, understand?"

Jie Cheng nodded quickly: "Disciple obeys your command."

Dezhi bowed to Shen Lian again before slowly leaving.

Shen Lian looked at Jie Cheng and saw that Jie Cheng was about twenty-four or twenty-five years old. He was a little nervous and seemed to be very afraid of him.

Shen Lian laughed and said, "Master Jiecheng is nervous, but I won't eat anyone."

Jie Cheng hurriedly said, "Master Shen, you can just call me Jie Cheng. I am not worthy of the title of Master from you, Master Shen."

Shen Lian smiled calmly.

He smiled and said, "Jiecheng, ok, enough of the nonsense, can you tell me about the situation of your temple?"

Jie Cheng nodded quickly and said, "Master Shen, we have a total of 141 monks in Huasheng Temple, including two monks of the Zhi generation, namely the abbot and the head of the Dharma Academy, Master Zhiyuan."

"Then the next generation is the Jie generation, which has a total of twenty people. After that, there are the Xiao generation, which has eighty people. After that, there is the youngest generation, the De generation."

One hundred and forty-one people, not many people.

Living in such a large and magnificent temple, the per capita land area is so large that it is even larger than the imperial palace.

Moreover, one hundred and forty-one people were able to raise five thousand taels of silver in less than three days. It must be said that they were really rich!
"Jiecheng, your Huasheng Temple should not be short of money, right?" Shen Lian asked, "I see that there are a constant stream of pilgrims, and the number of people is constant. It seems to be very lively."

Jie Cheng scratched his head and said a little embarrassedly: "Well... Generally speaking, our temple doesn't have to worry about money. Many wandering monks also like to stop by our place because our hospitality is the best."

"General situation?"

Shen Lian's eyes moved, and he said, "That means there will be special circumstances?"

Jie Cheng nodded and said, "We are a little short of money recently."

"Oh? Why is that?" Shen Lian asked curiously.

Jie Cheng said, "Mr. Shen, you may not know that in three months, the Buddhist-Taoist debate will begin. This time, the Buddhist-Taoist debate will be held for the first time in our Buddhist sect, and it will be held in our Huasheng Temple. So in order to make this event a success, the abbot decided to renovate the Huasheng Temple and prepare it for the best possible condition."

“So, we are a little tight on cash.”

The debate between Buddhism and Taoism?

When Shen Lian heard these four words, a gleam of light suddenly flashed in the depths of his eyes.

Following the clues from the merchant, they found that Beichen might be a Taoist priest.

And now there is a way...

That means, Beichen may have some connection with Taoist priests or Taoism!
Before, Shen Lian didn’t understand why the mysterious man asked him to come to Buddhism to investigate, and thought that this should have nothing to do with Beichen.

But now...

A flash of lightning suddenly flashed through Shen Lian's mind.

The original confusion and bewilderment suddenly became clear at this moment.

The corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

This might be the mysterious veil of "Beichen", and he finally found an opportunity to lift a corner of it!

Shen Lian felt somewhat happy in his heart, as he finally discovered the important reason why Beichen might have asked him to participate in this case.

But on the surface, he didn't show any sign of it.

He looked at Jie Cheng, who was still a little nervous, and said, "What's going on with this Buddhist-Taoist debate?"

Jiecheng did not dare to hide it, he said: "The Buddhist-Taoist debate is held every two years. In fact, the Buddhist sect sends a master, and the Taoist sect sends a Taoist priest. They choose a topic and debate with each other."

"And the winner will show that his or her Buddhist or Taoist teachings are more profound. If Buddhism wins, then in the next two years, Taoism must acknowledge the profundity of Buddhism."

"Similarly, if the Taoist sect wins, the Buddhist sect will also have to acknowledge the profundity of the Taoist sect."

"In short, the debate between Buddhism and Taoism is very important to both our Buddhist sect and the Taoist sect. In addition, the Taoist sect won in the previous few times, so our Buddhist sect has been preparing all the time."

Shen Lian nodded.

It is said to be a debate between Buddhism and Taoism, but in fact it is a dispute between Buddhism and Taoism.

This is a fight for the orthodox doctrine!

Both need trustees.

Naturally, there will be conflicts.

As they are considered masters in the eyes of ordinary people, they certainly cannot fight to the death to snatch believers.

Therefore, he used this relatively peaceful way, the method of discussing the Tao, to explain the profoundness of his thoughts.

Whoever wins can overshadow the other party with just a little publicity.

In this case, believers will naturally choose to believe in the winning side more.

After all, whoever wins will prove to be more advanced and more awesome!

Therefore, for the Taoist sect, to maintain the current achievements, victory is a must.

And for Buddhism, if it wants to expand its territory and have more believers in the hall, victory is even more important.

Therefore, the debate between Buddhism and Taoism is far more bloody than what Jiecheng said.

This is a war without the smoke of gunpowder between the Buddhist and Taoist worlds.

No wonder Dezhi cares so much about it just as a venue.

This Huasheng Temple is already magnificent enough, but it still feels not enough and needs to be renovated.

This is to show one's strength in front of the Taoist sect!
"What will you do if you don't have enough money?" Shen Lian asked.

Jie Cheng smiled and said, "We have already told the believers that we hope they will help us. With their support, I think it won't be a big problem. Besides, the abbot has already said that money for repairing the temple is not a problem. Let's study Buddhism well and don't worry about these things."

Shen Lian nodded, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart... He is really awesome and really rich!
The income was much better than that of his Changyuan tea shop which owned one acre and three mu of land.

In his opinion, if he wanted to renovate the palace to make it more magnificent, he would have to spend at least two thousand taels of silver.

And just like that, Dezhi waved his hand and said, don't worry, it's a small matter, it can be done for you in minutes.

Even Shen Lian admired this!

It would cost about two thousand taels of silver to repair the temple.

Then redeem the relic and get another five thousand silver taels!
This is all aimed at the two great barriers of seven thousand silver.

And they managed to do it in less than three days... Shen Lian didn't know what to say.

He could only say that running a temple was really profitable!

Those people are really willing to spend money!

This is real money, which cannot be compared with a few free evaluation tickets and monthly tickets.

Seeing that Shen Lian was silent, Jie Cheng asked cautiously, "Lord Shen, are we going to investigate somewhere?"

Shen Lian smiled and said, "No hurry, let's just stroll around first."

Upon hearing this, Jie Cheng wanted to remind Shen Lian that there was not much time left, only less than four hours.

How can I just wander around?

But he didn't dare to say it, so he could only follow Shen Lian anxiously.

As Shen Lian walked, a three-dimensional image of Huasheng Temple appeared in his mind.

As he walked around the entire temple, the three-dimensional picture of Huasheng Temple in his mind was completely completed.

He found a random place to sit down and said, "Jiecheng, can you get me some tea?"

Jie Cheng nodded quickly, asked Shen Lian to wait for a moment, and left quickly.

After Jie Cheng left, Shen Lian slowly closed his eyes and deduced in his mind the route the thief took after stealing the relic.

Even though there was a chance to take the relics from the beams later, the hall had always been the focus of attention because the relics were lost.

Moreover, the relic is quite large, so if a thief wants to take it away without being noticed by anyone, and hide it in a place where it cannot be found even if there is a thorough search again... this is not an easy task.

Although Shen Lian seemed to be strolling around just now, he was actually looking for the best place to hide the relic.

After his search, he found three places where the relics were hidden and least likely to be discovered.

Then, take those three locations as the end points and start the reverse deduction.

Deducing the route the thief took to the three locations after taking the relics from the main hall.

You will meet a lot of people on these three routes.

Moreover, the thief must have a reasonable reason to go to those three places, otherwise if he goes there rashly, he will easily arouse suspicion.

Therefore, no one who enters or leaves the Hall of Lost Relics will be suspected!
Going to those three places is very reasonable!

Combined with the particularities of those places...

Shen Lian's brain was working frantically, and he had already begun to exclude some people.

There are only a few people left, and these are the most likely ones with the same identities!

If other people knew that Shen Lian solved the case in this way, they would definitely be dumbfounded.

After all, this kind of computing power and the ability to deduce and infer is beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

Shen Lian hadn't even contacted anyone, nor had he carefully looked for evidence, but he had already narrowed down the scope of the suspect's identity.

Even in later generations, few people can achieve this ability.

"Master, I'm back."

At this time, Di Renjie suddenly came in front of Shen Lian.

Shen Lian opened his eyes and asked directly: "Renjie, how is it?"

Di Renjie said, "I have already asked. Jie Zhi does not have a very good reputation in the temple. He is a bit selfish. But because Jie Zhi and Abbot Dezhi seem to be related, he has stayed in the temple and no one dares to say anything."

"But Jie Cheng said that this time Jie Zhi offended Lord Shao Qing and caused Huasheng Temple to have a bad reputation. This has already touched the bottom line of the temple. If he makes any mistakes, even Abbot Dezhi will not be able to protect him."

"Quit success?" Shen Lian was a little surprised.

He looked at Di Renjie and said, "You even fooled Jie Cheng?"

Di Renjie scratched his head and chuckled, "I just bumped into him accidentally. He seemed to be making tea for my teacher, so I asked him a question."

"But Jie Cheng was really timid and wary, so the students took his favorite snacks and talked to him about the flavors and categories of the snacks before they made him relax."

Shen Lian smiled and nodded: "Not bad, you did a good job in approaching someone who is on guard, catering to their needs, and letting them slowly open their hearts."

Di Renjie was immediately delighted when he was praised by Shen Lian.

Then Shen Lian narrowed his eyes slightly: "Jiezhi and Dezhi are related?"

He shook his head and said with emotion: "It seems that even in this temple, one cannot avoid the ways of the world!"

Di Renjie nodded: "Who said it wasn't true? Master Dezhi looks so kind and benevolent, and at first glance he must be a high-ranking monk... But Jiezhi really brought shame to Master Dezhi!"

Shen Lian looked at Di Renjie sighing there and couldn't help but shook his head and smiled.

He said, "Okay, go help Xu Gou. Xu Gou is asking each monk for proof of his absence. You have sharp eyes, go and help keep an eye out to prevent anyone from deceiving Xu Gou."

Di Renjie nodded. He was also afraid that Xu Gou would be deceived. After all, according to his understanding, Xu Gou served as a guard among the Twelve Shadow Assassins and was the last in terms of intelligence.

"Then, Master, I will go now."

Di Renjie bowed respectfully, stood up, and left quickly.

Not long after, Jiecheng came with the brewed tea.

After Shen Lian drank for a while, he said, "Lord Shen, it's time for lunch. Let's go to the kitchen and have some vegetarian food."

…………

Shen Lian touched his stomach and found that he was indeed a little hungry.

I immediately missed the delicious meals made by my wife Changle.

But now when you go out, you obviously can’t do this, it will be considered unreasonable.

Moreover, Shen Lian had never eaten in a temple in his two lifetimes, so he was a little curious, so he smiled and nodded: "Okay."

The two went to the kitchen and saw that there were quite a lot of people there.

Pilgrims and monks were all eating their vegetarian meals in an orderly manner.

Jie Cheng said, "We have prepared a vegetarian meal for Lord Shen. Please come in."

Do you have your own small kitchen?

Shen Lian followed Jie Cheng to a separate room, and sure enough, there was a small kitchen.

I also have special treatment!
I saw that the table was already full of food.

They are all vegetarian dishes, but they look good and smell good.

Shen Lian sat down, picked up the snack and took a bite. It was filled with mung bean filling and tasted really good.

Shen Lian's eyes lit up. He looked up and saw Jie Cheng standing beside him, so he said, "Sit down and eat together."

Jie Cheng shook his head and said it was inappropriate.

But Shen Lian still forced him to sit down. He directly gave Jie Cheng a few snacks and said, "Come, try it. The taste is really amazing."

(End of this chapter)