Emperor of the Red Chamber

Chapter 138 The Golden Hairpin Scene: Miaoyu Appreciating the Plum Blossoms

Miaoyu is one of the Twelve Beauties in the main volume of A Dream of Red Mansions.

She is from Suzhou and her ancestors were scholars and officials.

She had been sick since childhood, and bought many substitutes but all were of no use, so she became a nun and practiced Buddhism with her hair uncut at Xuanmu Panxiang Temple in Suzhou.

More than ten years passed in a flash. Now she is nineteen years old and her parents have passed away.

More than two years ago, having heard that there were relics of Guanyin and palm leaf manuscripts in the capital, she followed her master from Suzhou to Beijing and lived in the Muni Temple in the western suburbs. Her master passed away in the winter of that year.

Her master was very good at interpreting the innate divine numbers, and left her some last words before his death, saying that she should not return home, but should stay quietly in the Muni Temple, and that she would naturally have her results in the future, so she did not return home.

According to the original story, because Mrs. Wang was a Buddhist, the Rongguo Mansion built the Grand View Garden and let nuns and Taoist nuns live there. Lin Zhixiao's wife recommended Miaoyu, so Mrs. Wang sent an invitation to Miaoyu, and Miaoyu moved into the Rongcui Temple in the Grand View Garden.

According to the sequel to A Dream of Red Mansions written by an anonymous author, Miaoyu's ending is tragic. She was kidnapped and killed by thieves who broke into her house, which proves her verdict: "How can one be pure if he wants to be pure? The sky is not always empty. It's a pity that gold and jade will eventually fall into the mud."

In this world of Red Mansions, the appearance of Yuan Qingbai indirectly affected Miaoyu's fate.

Since the Rongguo Mansion did not build the Grand View Garden, Miaoyu naturally could not live in the Rongcui Temple.

If Yuan Qingbai did not interfere with Miaoyu's fate, it is not difficult to imagine that given Miaoyu's appearance and temperament, her fate would probably not be good, and would most likely still confirm the verdict in the original work.

Yuan Qingbai had not forgotten Miaoyu, the golden hairpin, and had long ago sent people to secretly keep an eye on Miaoyu. Therefore, he knew that Miaoyu was still living in the Muni Temple in the western suburbs of the capital.

He has been considering how to deal with Miaoyu recently. However, although he is the current emperor and holds the highest position in society, this is not an easy task for him.

This is because Miaoyu is a Buddhist nun, a beautiful nun.

He needed a proper reason to place Miaoyu in his place, otherwise it would cause controversy and damage his image as the emperor.

it's good now.

He didn't expect that Empress Dowager He suddenly wanted to find a group of nuns to live in the "Ritian Linyu" in Yuanzhao Garden because of a dream.

This gave him a good opportunity to settle Miaoyu.

……

……

There are many temples and monasteries in the capital. Among them is a nunnery that is neither big nor small, named Muniyuan, which is located in the western suburbs outside the west gate.

On the night of the sixth day of December, a heavy snow covered the capital, and white snowflakes swirled in the dark night.

On the next morning, the capital was dyed all in silver, wrapped in silver, but the snow continued to fall, like flying catkins and rolling like a sea of ​​clouds. The city inside and outside became a chaotic and vast scene.

The heavy snow didn't stop until the morning.

Western suburbs, Muni Temple.

A young woman, accompanied by an old maid and a little maid, came out from the backyard and walked out of the yard in a graceful and elegant manner.

This woman has a beautiful appearance and a temperament like orchid, but she is a nun who practices with her hair uncut. She wears a moon-white cloak, a Miaochang bun on her head, and holds a dust-tail rosary in her hand.

She is Miaoyu.

Miaoyu arrived outside the Muni Courtyard and walked towards a plum grove. Even though she was more than ten meters away, she could already smell the cool fragrance.

There are more than a dozen red plum trees in this plum forest. They were planted by an old nun in the Muni Temple many years ago. As time goes by, the old nun has passed away for several years, but her things remain. The dozen or so red plum trees she left behind are in full bloom again.

Miaoyu has always loved plum blossoms. When she was practicing in Xuanmu Panxiang Temple in Suzhou, she not only liked to admire the plum blossoms in the temple, but also liked to collect the snow on the plum blossoms to make tea. She also named her maid Xuemei.

She has been living in the Muni Temple for more than two years now. Although it is considered stable, there are still some unhappy things.

One of the things she was not satisfied with was that there were no plum blossoms in the courtyard. Whenever she wanted to appreciate the plum blossoms, she had to go outside the courtyard. However, during the day, the courtyard was bustling with pilgrims and passers-by. As a nun who practiced Buddhism with her hair uncut, she was beautiful, came from a family of scholars and officials, and was aloof and arrogant, so it was quite inconvenient for her.

This is a good time for her to appreciate the plum blossoms.

Outside the Muni Temple, it was a world of ice and snow, and the heavy snow had just stopped. There were not many pilgrims and passers-by, and the plum blossoms that bloomed proudly in the snow and frost were particularly pleasing to the eye.

She walked gracefully to the plum grove and admired the plum blossoms leisurely. She saw red plum blossoms blooming in the snow, their color like rouge, and against the snow, their charm was even more obvious.

As she was admiring it, she suddenly felt sad.

She missed her hometown Suzhou, the Xuanmu Panxiang Temple, the red plum blossoms in the Panxiang Temple, and her deceased parents and master...

As she thought about it, she made up her mind.

She turned to the old nanny who had served her for many years and said, "Mother Meng, I want to go back to Suzhou."

Madam Meng was surprised: "Why do you suddenly want to go back?"

Miaoyu said: "It's not sudden. Ever since my master passed away here, I have often wanted to go back to Suzhou."

Yes, this thought did not arise suddenly, but the red plum blossoms in front of her today aroused her longing, making her finally make up her mind.

Madam Meng said, "But Master's last words said that you should not return home." Miaoyu said, "It has been two years since Master passed away. What's the point of me staying here any longer? It's better to go home."

The maid Xuemei couldn't help but interrupt and said, "That's right, it's better to go back."

Madam Meng said, "Then let's go back, but I don't know when you will leave?"

Miaoyu said, "Since we have decided to go back, we will leave tomorrow. We will go back to the courtyard in a while and say goodbye to the abbot and the nuns."

Madam Meng advised, "There's no need to be so anxious. It's hard to travel in the heavy snow, and the Chinese New Year is only twenty days away. It's not cheap to travel during the Chinese New Year. I think we should wait until after the Chinese New Year. We've lived here for more than two years, so it doesn't matter if we stay a little longer."

Miaoyu frowned when she heard this.

She was aloof and proud, and since she had decided to leave today, she wanted to leave quickly. Even though she knew that Nanny Meng's words made sense, she was unwilling to listen, so she said, "There is no need to wait until after the New Year. Just do as I say and leave tomorrow."

Nanny Meng knew Miaoyu's temper very well, and she knew she couldn't change it, so she nodded and said, "Then I'll listen to you."

Miaoyu changed the subject: "Give me the flower jar, I want to collect the snow."

Nanny Meng understood and handed a flower jar to Miaoyu.

Miaoyu has a hobby of collecting snow from plum blossoms and using it to make tea.

More than two years ago, when she came to Beijing from Suzhou, she brought with her a jar of snow water collected from plum blossoms in the Xuanmu Panxiang Temple. During the more than two years she lived in the Muni Temple, she was reluctant to use the jar of snow water and kept it buried underground.

Today, she came to the outside of Muni Temple. Admiring the plum blossoms was only one of her purposes. Another purpose was to collect the snow on the red plum blossoms in front of her.

"It just so happens that although I don't like this Muni Temple, I have lived here for more than two years. I will leave tomorrow and may never come back in this life. I will bring a jar of plum blossoms from here back to Suzhou as a souvenir."

After Miaoyu finished speaking, she personally picked up the snow on the red plum blossoms.

Nanny Meng and the maid Xuemei both wanted to help, but were rejected by Miaoyu.

Miaoyu is aloof, aloof and has a mysophobia. Not to mention the elderly Nanny Meng, she would even dislike the little maid Xuemei who tried to collect the Mei Shangxue.

Just as Miaoyu was collecting snow from the plum blossoms, she suddenly heard footsteps.

A young man came over, escorted by several servants.

This young man is twenty-five years old this year. He has an ugly appearance, but his clothes are gorgeous, showing his noble air.

His name is Yuan Qingsang!
He is the eldest son of the old Prince Zhongzhi (formerly the ninth prince). When he was young, he went to the Beijing camp with Yuan Qingbai for training. He also teamed up with Yuan Qingzhe to target Yuan Qingbai during the autumn hunt.

In the first year of Chengtai, although Emperor Chengtai knew that Yuan Qingsang had behaved badly, he conferred a title on Yuan Qingsang out of consideration for his friendship with the old loyal prince.

After that, Yuan Qingsang committed a crime and Emperor Chengtai said that he was "stupid by nature and never knew how to lead others", so he was confined at home.

In the eighth year of Chengtai, Prince Lao Zhongzhi died of overwork, and Emperor Chengtai released Yuan Qingsang and restored his title.

After Yuan Qingbai ascended the throne, out of custom and also to win the hearts of the royal family, he promoted Yuan Qingsang to the title of Duke of Chu.

Today, Yuan Qingsang was riding in a sedan chair passing by the plum forest outside the Muni Temple. As he was opening the curtain to admire the scenery, he accidentally saw Miaoyu and his eyes suddenly lit up.

He had always been fond of sensual pleasures. Although he had seen countless beauties and had many beautiful concubines and maids at home, Miaoyu still made his heart beat fast at first sight. Not only because Miaoyu was a beauty, but also because he felt that Miaoyu had a unique charm in her attire as a nun.

At this moment, Miaoyu found that Yuan Qingsang was walking towards her with his servants, and she immediately felt unhappy. She wanted to hide in the plum forest and did not want to meet Yuan Qingsang up close.

Yuan Qingsang smiled and shouted, "Young lady, please stay."

Miaoyu pretended not to hear and signaled to Nanny Meng with her eyes. Nanny Meng understood and said to Yuan Qingsang, "What can I do for you, young master?"

Yuan Qingsang pointed at Miaoyu and asked in a pretentious tone, "Who is this girl?"

Madam Meng said, "This is my master, who practices in the Muni Temple with his hair uncut."

Yuan Qingsang said with a smile: "How come such a beautiful girl chose to become a nun?"

In Miaoyu's opinion, this was frivolous and rude, and was a serious offense to her. She was on guard and whispered to Nanny Meng and Xuemei, "Let's go back to the courtyard."

After saying this, she walked quickly towards the Muni Courtyard, followed closely by Nanny Meng and Xuemei.

"Young lady, please stay! Young lady, please stay!"

Yuan Qingsang called out twice, but Miaoyu didn't even turn her head.

Yuan Qingsang snorted coldly, secretly laughing in his heart: "A nun who has left home is so noble in front of me. Now that I have met you today, it is our fate. From now on, you are mine!"

Immediately, Yuan Qingsang, along with several servants, followed Miaoyu towards the Muni Temple.

Miaoyu, who was walking in front, heard the chaotic footsteps behind her and could not help but glance back. She found Yuan Qingsang following her. She became even more alert and thought to herself, "Could this annoying young man have evil intentions towards me?"

Thinking of this, she quickened her pace even more, as if she was running in the snow, which was in stark contrast to her fluttering and unruly pace when she came out of the Muni Temple before. She looked a little embarrassed, which was also in stark contrast to her usual noble and calm demeanor.

At this time, the imperial guard Su Yin, following Yuan Qingbai's order, was riding a horse and leading a group of guards and eunuchs towards the Muni Courtyard...

(End of this chapter)