Beijing, Dong'an Gate outside the Bingzhan Hutong, green tiles, cornices, red walls, mountain gates, inlaid with gold on the wooden plaque on the three big characters: "Xianliang Temple", or said that the Yongzheng Emperor's handwriting, or the Qianlong Emperor's handwriting.

Xianliang Temple used to be in Dong'anmen outside the Shuaifu Hutong, Yongzheng 12 years (1734) built, the temple location was originally Yongzheng's younger brother Prince Yi's mansion. After the death of Prince Yi, it was rebuilt into a Buddhist temple. In the twelfth year of Qianlong (1747), Xianliang Temple was relocated to Bingzhan Hutong and retained to this day.

At about 3 o'clock in the afternoon of 15 September, the military and police were all over the temple and inside the temple, as if they were facing a great enemy, and at 3 o'clock, five very ordinary-looking Western light carriages arrived under the escort of a small group of mounted police.

The leader and the back of the carriage each jumped out of four bodyguards in black suits and sunglasses, the coachman moved neatly to lower the steps for the middle three carriages, the second carriage walked down a couple of about thirty or forty years old, with an extraordinary bearing, followed by the third carriage down a young woman with a baby in her arms, and the last car down a middle-aged man wearing a pair of huge black-rimmed glasses, four adults dressed in Western-style black, and the baby wrapped in white swaddling clothes—now sleeping peacefully in the arms of a piglet.

The old abbot with a snow-white beard greeted him peacefully, folded his hands and saluted: "It's been a long time, a few donors here, please." ”

The middle-aged couple and the man with glasses also folded their hands and said, "There is an abbot." ”

The young woman holding the child was inconvenient to return the salute, so she only bent down slightly.

Through the hall and through the courtyard, several people have no intention to stay in front of the Buddha's golden body, nor can they listen to the sound of the monks singing the scriptures, the Tibetan scripture hall has nothing to do with them, the east and west two towers are meaningless to them, the footsteps are heavy, each has its own thoughts, and it is completely impossible to compare with the detachment of the old monk who walks in the clouds.

The old abbot stopped in a solemn courtyard of pine and cypress: "A few donors, this is it, please take care of yourself." ”

I saw that the courtyard leaned against the side of the glazed temple wall, a lonely protruding tomb, covered with green grass, the left pine and the right cypress, surrounded by a circle of half-person-high white marble stone wall, a one-person-high stone tablet was set up in the front, and the book was written: the tomb of Zhide Gongwenyi.

In front of the grave, there was already a person standing on the monument, and judging from the incense burned halfway in front of the grave, it seemed that he had stopped for a long time.

Hearing the old abbot speak, the man turned around, and the new arrivals hurriedly saluted according to the Emperor's custom—men knelt down on one knee, women bowed their heads.

"See the emperor, long live my emperor, long live long live."

In the presence of outsiders, even the core executives within the group must salute according to the routine, and no one can be careless when it comes to the dignity of the country.

The early arrival was naturally Emperor Liu Yun, and the few who arrived later, the middle-aged couple was the Prime Minister Zhang Zhigao and the Minister of Culture and Education Luo Sulan, the glasses man was the Foreign Minister Mo Ning, the young woman holding the child, was the maid Xiao Ye of the Wen Yi family, although she failed to obtain the status of a wife before Wen Yi's death, but she was awarded the title of Duchess after giving birth to Wen Yi's widow, and the child in her arms, Wen Punan, was born to inherit the duke's position.

"Come and offer incense." Liu Yun gave up his seat in front of the tomb.

Zhang Zhigao, Luo Sulan, and Mo Ning took the incense stick from the hands of the little monk on the side in turn, inserted it into the incense burner in front of the stele, and put their hands together, knelt down in front of the tomb, closed their eyes and prayed.

When it was Xiao Ye's mother and son's turn, Xiao Ye burst into tears, and the child in her arms was probably smoked by incense, and suddenly burst into tears.

"Kid...... Don't cry, come and see your daddy......"

Xiao Ye choked up, and knelt in front of the child's father's grave a little staggeringly, yes, the child's father, not a husband in the real sense, because until that person died, her identity was still only a maid, wasn't she already very satisfied at that time? But at this time, that fact became a flood of sorrow, breaking all the embankments, rushing and flooding in the form of tears on the young and beautiful faces, and nothing could stop it, no excuses, no compensation after the fact—it was impossible not to think that it was just a tale of humiliation and cliché of the maid and the bastard child who was played with, and the disgusting ending of the dead for the benefit of the dead.

seems to be infected by this sadness, Luo Sulan, who is also a woman, can't help but have tears in her eyes, she respects the teacher, but she can't help but sympathize with the poor woman who has lost her dignity in a sense.

The men carefully exchanged glances, guessing or tentative, while carefully concealing their emotions, and at this moment, everyone had feelings they wanted to express, as well as small attempts to play on the subject.

It's not a way to keep the sad woman crying endlessly, probably out of the same thought, Liu Yun and Zhang Zhigao stepped forward at the same time to pick up Xiaoye's mother and son.

"Su Lan, you send the Duchess home first."

At this time, only Russell Lan can take on this kind of troublesome task that requires great tenderness and patience.

Drove away the women—to be exact, the women—and the atmosphere finally became suitable for a conversation between men.

"This Xianliang Temple, remember that in the history of our time and space, it was the desperate place of Li Hongzhang, a famous minister of Tongguang." Liu Yun suddenly sighed.

Zhang Zhigao nodded: "I remember which book says that those who lived after the first day of the afternoon were specifically in the West Cross Courtyard on the right side of the temple, and the old Beijingers had a saying: 'I'd rather live in front of the temple than behind the temple; It is better to live on the left side of the temple than to live on the right side of the temple. On the day of his death, he was entangled by the Russian minister, repeatedly threatened and oppressed, and finally vomited blood and died......

"Perhaps, in our hands, he died a happier death." Mourning wasn't joking.

"You say, why did Wen Yiwei choose this place as his hundred-year-old place?" Liu Yun put his hands behind his back, his expression was a little melancholy.

Zhang Zhigao and Mo Ning looked at each other and chose to shake their heads at the same time.

"He must have special feelings for Li Hongzhang and the history in which Li Hongzhang participated."

Liu Yun raised his eyes to look at the sky, the sky was gray and yellow, the clouds were not seen, several birds flew by from time to time, the autumn wind was cold, the sun was hazy, and the glazed tiles on the top of the temple wall were also dim.

"Teacher Wen said that people always have limits, Li Hongzhang has achieved the limit of what he can do in his historical position, and it is unkind and meaningless to ask the ancients to meet the standards of today's people." Zhang Zhigao was surprised that he was able to memorize word for word what Wen Yi said fifteen years ago.

"Yes, the limit, where are our limits? In another 100 years, what will our children and grandchildren say about us? These questions, if Wen Yi was still there, what would he say? How would I argue with him? And what conclusions will we take? Do you know what it means to me? Do you know the way? Liu Yun clenched his fists, emotional—now he needed to vent his feelings more than to start a topic.

"We feel the same way you do." Mourning said.

"We lost the most reliable teacher." Zhang Zhigao emphasized.

Liu Yun nodded nervously: "I know that you are like me, you are missing an irreplaceable pillar, and some places are crumbling, this is not good, I also know that you have something to say to me, if you hold it for a long time, it must be very uncomfortable, how about it, sit down and have a cup of tea?" ”

Although Zhang Mo and the others were a little apprehensive, they only had to nod.

"There are many people in the temple, it's not a place to talk, come to the palace."

As soon as the emperor's Chrysostom opened, the three of them hurriedly gave cash and silk to the temple and then rode west, but did not enter the imperial city from Guang'anmen, and followed more than ten carriages and automobiles and hundreds of mounted policemen to the south, bypassing in front of Tiananmen Square, and driving straight to the Xinhua Gate in the South China Sea.

Xinhua Gate was originally built in the Qianlong period of Baoyue Building, two floors up and down, seven rooms wide, three rooms in the center of the lower floor are door openings. The roll shed rests on the top of the mountain, with green cut edges and yellow glazed tiles. After the turmoil in Beijing and the change of the royal family, the building was changed to the door in May of that year, the shadow wall was built inside the door, and the mosque outside the door was demolished, and a pair of newly made 10,000-pound stone lions were placed.

"Has the emperor ever considered inscribed 'Serve the people' on that shadow wall?" Zhang Zhigao watched the shadow wall pass by with a spoof mentality.

In their time and space, the five big characters "Serve the People" inscribed by * should be restored and stay in place.

After entering the gate, the convoy drove along the east bank road to Fengze Garden, which is located in the north of the South China Sea, and stopped in front of the main building of the garden, the Hall of the Elderly.

Fengze Garden was built in the Kangxi period, which was originally a place for raising silkworms, and the emperor performed here before holding a pro-ploughing ceremony during the Yongzheng period. Before Guangxu ascended the throne, the Yi Nian Hall was originally known as the Dunxu Palace, and it was also called the Yi Nian Hall in another time and space, and it was the meeting place of the high-level State Council in that time and space - at this time, it was only a larger hall in the royal garden.

The emperor had no intention of staying here, and the three of them got out of the car to change sedan chairs, bypassed the Hall of the Elderly and headed west, and entered a chic pavilion by the lake.

"The lotus wind and the dew pavilion are really as good as the name." Zhang Zhigao looked at the plaque on the front of the pavilion and sighed.

Zhang Mo and the others entered Fengze Garden for the first time, if it weren't for Liu Yun becoming the emperor, they probably wouldn't have had the opportunity to see this royal forbidden garden in their lives.

Looking south from the lotus wind and dew pavilion, a long stone bridge connects the north shore of the South China Sea and the Yingtai in the center of the lake, only to see the pavilions and halls on the island are vertical and horizontal, the red wall and tiles are hidden in the shade of the green willow and acacia, the lake is rippling with the wind, but the lotus leaves along the coast have gradually withered, and it is a little fly in the ointment.

"If you want to come here to see the scenery and drink tea or something in the future, you can tell me at any time." Liu Yun smiled very much.

No comrade would not believe in Liu Yun's promise, he never promised easily, but he must do what he promised, and all small favors and small favors can make him perform boldly and naturally.

"After I retire, can I run this fishing every day?" Zhang Zhi is very high.

Liu Yun stroked his palms and smiled: "Welcome, I'm afraid that I won't have time to accompany you at that time-I'm busy making the rebellion of Lord Yama." ”

"How can we, the scholars who are powerless, compare our bodies with special forces? I've been dizzy and anemic lately, and it seems that I will have to work for another two or three years, so I started to think about retiring from fishing. ”

The speaker was unintentional, the listener was intentional, the corners of Mo Ning's mouth twitched slightly, and then he pushed his glasses again in disguise—almost with the palm of his hand.

"By the way, it's Yingtai over there, I think if it weren't for our appearance, that Changle Hou should be locked up in it now, living a day and night fiddling with the clock, waiting for the spirit of the old witch to be humiliated by Cixi's spirit at any time." Zhang Zhigao pointed to Yingtai, and there was a lot of emotion in his tone.

"Now he's being locked up by us, too." Mo Ning sneered, "Living a miserable life of being abused by beautiful women, humiliated by fine wine, and mutilated by opium ecstasy. Which kind of life is less miserable for him? ”