The Runan Palace's middle door was opened to welcome guests, and there were not many people who could get this courtesy.

Seeing that Liu Tugou and Gongxi Xiaobai entered the door unceremoniously, the old housekeeper only narrowed his old eyes slightly, and then bowed down again and said: "Two adults, please come with the old man, my king is already waiting in Longxiangtang." ”

Liu Tugou said curiously: "Dragon Xiangtang?

The old butler smiled slightly: "Exactly." This palace is a Buddhist temple reconstruction, the dragon hall is dedicated to the dragon Bodhisattva, the prince likes its quiet, used as a study, but the name has not changed. ”

Gongxi Xiaobai looked around at the traces of Buddhist temples everywhere in the house, and smiled playfully: "It's a good broken temple for home, I heard that His Royal Highness Runan is extremely disgusted with Buddhism, and he has no less trouble looking for Buddhism after the domain. ”

The old housekeeper is very deep in the city, even if Gongxi Xiaobai seems to have ridicule in his words, he never showed the slightest displeasure, but smiled, and said: "The young master of Gongxi said that he laughed, my prince has always treated the world's sects equally, why do you hate Buddhism." For example, today's son seems to have the meaning of re-embracing the Buddha, and the prince of my family is pure and filial by nature, and he will not make a disobedient act against the monarch. ”

He paused, glanced at Liu Tugou as if intentionally or unintentionally, and continued: "Back then, when the deserted temple was changed into a royal palace, the king had a clear order that it was not allowed to build a large amount of construction and spend too much. It is to remove several important places including the main hall, because of the restrictions of the imperial court regulations, the original Buddha seat had to be demolished, and most of the rest of the places were only slightly repaired, basically maintaining the old view. Later, when they arrived at Longxiangtang, the two of them would know at a glance. ”

Gongxi Xiaobai just chuckled when he heard this, and did not answer.

Liu Tugou was glanced at by the old housekeeper, first a little inexplicable, and then remembered that his current backer was the marquis of the town of Buddhism, and recently the twelve Buddhas of the law went north, and the push behind them faintly pointed to the Son of Heaven and Ao Mang, and his heart moved.

He glanced down at the edict black jade token, and said secretly: "I don't want the identity of this edict to be so bluffing, so even the butler of the prince's family has to be careful when he sees it, for fear of causing trouble to his own prince." ”

At that moment, Liu Erye smiled and said: "Xiaobai, you said that you were invited to come, but you were still rejected by the palace guards, but I came uninvited under the banner of the edict prison, wouldn't it be even more annoying? ”

Gongxi Xiaobai sneered and teased: "Liu Dutong is majestic and famous, not to mention wearing this black skin, the world can go, I'm afraid there are really few people who don't have the courage to drive you out." ”

Liu Erye shook his head: "Others don't dare, but the prince naturally dares." ”

Gongxi Xiaobai also shook his head: "That's not necessarily, do you know that the Buddhist temple in the predecessor of Runan Wangfu is called Rongwang Temple, and this Rongwang is the one who later failed to rebel and got a vicious Xianger King." The most critical battle to quell the rebellion that year was that the right battalion of Xiuchunwei followed Yan Tieyi to cross the river and fight to the death, breaking the rebels of King Rong in one fell swoop, and finally sending the anti-king to the west. ”

He pointed at Liu Tugou and said with a smile: "It is said that your black crow guard likes to use embroidered spring knives the most, and in the same way as Xiuchun Wei, most of the soldiers are death row prisoners, and they are also from the northern border army. The fief of the king of Runan is close to Xiangzhou, and he lives in this Rongwang Temple, and when he sees you coming to the door in a bad way, even though he is disgusted and jealous in his heart, he will never drive you away, otherwise wouldn't it seem that he has a ghost in his heart?"

Liu Tugou squinted his eyes and sneered: "Your skills are sparse, and your far-fetched and hard-nosed skills are not small, and your face is thicker." No wonder he kept saying that he wanted to avenge Tianshui, but in the end he swallowed almost the entire Ganzhou. Gongxi Xiaobai, didn't you take the initiative to fall for other people's calculations, so you could find an excuse to make trouble, right?"

The young master of Gongxi laughed loudly: "At the beginning, everyone knew that my Gongxi Xiaobai was lustful, and he was the most sloppy, but he let me get away with it carelessly." If I took the initiative to join the court, how could I be so embarrassed, and I still have to rely on you to save my life?"

His complexion suddenly changed, and he glared: "Didn't you deliberately show up to save me at the beginning, so that I could take the opportunity to make trouble?" Yes, you are such a young talent, rare in the world, how can you really be reckless, and you can't say that you have been the secret son of the edict since you were a child. I also asked Brother Liu to thank the marquis of the town prison on my behalf, and everyone said that there would be opportunities for cooperation in the future. ”

Liu Tugou knew that they were all talking, but he still nodded thoughtfully: "It's easy to say." ”

As soon as these words came out, both of them laughed.

The old housekeeper saw that the two uninvited guests were talking and laughing freely, and he was disrespectful to his own king, and his face was deliberately showing some sorrow, and he stopped talking.

Second Master Liu was quite understanding, and said with a smile: "If the old man has something to say, he will talk about it!"

The old housekeeper bowed slightly sideways, and said in a low voice: "Both inside and outside the government and the opposition say that my king has a city in his chest, a soft temperament, and acts in the style of His Majesty, in fact, otherwise, my king is soft and rigid on the outside, and he doesn't care about small things. ”

He turned around and took a deep look: "It's like offending two people with a thought, it's really a mistake, and the gains outweigh the losses." The prince is the most strong, but today he can endure the humiliation of the young master of Gongxi besieging the gate of the mansion, and he also opened the middle gate to welcome the two into the mansion, which shows the sincerity of his heart. The old decay is here, first for the prince to accompany the two, there will be a good reward in the future, just ask the two of them to restrain one or two today, make a good fate, don't let outsiders see the excitement. ”

Gongxi Xiaobai smiled silently, while Liu Tugou grinned, but the meaning of the two smiles was completely different from before.

I heard the second master speak: "Since your prince doesn't believe in Buddhism, where did the good karma come from? Just send a house slave out to make compensation, I just want to expose the previous Liangzi, how do I not know that there are such good things in this world?"

Hearing this, the old butler's eyes revealed a coldness, and he straightened up and said lightly: "The old man's previous words were self-made, and he was a little self-defeating, and he lost the face of the king, and he will go to receive the family law later." The two of them came with old age. ”

He turned around and walked silently.

Liu Tugou and Gongxi Xiaobai glanced at each other and stepped to follow.

The three of them walked for a while, and they didn't see half of the guards and servants along the way, and walked into the courtyard in three turns and two turns.

The courtyard is quiet, at the end of the two rows of ancient trees is a Buddha pavilion that is not too big, and there is a Bodhisattva statue standing in the main hall door, which is the dragon Bodhisattva who has a wide range of believers under Zhou Tian.

This bodhisattva has a peculiar appearance, with two heads in front and back, which are human faces and dragon faces. Among them, the human face is compassionate and smiling, and the dragon face is a dragon's head with a green face, long eyebrows and one eye, making an angry shape.

In the Buddhist scriptures, the dragon Bodhisattva has always been a person facing forward, in order to guide people to goodness, the dragon's head is facing backwards, and the statue in the temple of Zhou Tian is also arranged in this way.

However, here it is the opposite, this statue of the Bodhisattva is actually facing away from the pavilion door, and the dragon's head is facing outward, greeting visitors with a hideous countenance.

Gongxi Xiaobai has a wide range of knowledge, and when he saw it, he smiled: "Isn't the Bodhisattva happy to see this jungle ruined and occupied by the king of Runan?"

As soon as his voice fell, he heard someone in the dragon hall reply: "Isn't it hypocritical that the Bodhisattva is named after the dragon and always shows people in human faces? ”

A young man in his early thirties walked to the door of the Buddhist pavilion, with a silver crown and a black jade brocade robe, with handsome facial features and soft lines.

He was shone by the sunlight outside the door, diluting a touch of yin in his temperament, and the Bodhisattva statue behind him standing in the darker Buddha pavilion and showing more robustness in the viciousness contrasted with each other, which inexplicably made people feel that they complemented each other.

When Liu Tugou saw it, his heart moved, and he couldn't help grinning: "On that day, the twelve monks carried the Buddha into Beijing, and they once said that I had the heaviest karma and the deepest Buddha nature, and I also mistook me for the protector of the Great Compassion Jungle. ”

"Oh?"

Runan Wang Ji Tianyang looked at Liu Tugou in surprise, looked up and down, and then said: "You have good eyesight, no wonder you can get the blue eyes of the Hou Hou in prison." ”

With that, he waved the sleeves of his robe and turned around: "Please come in, two of you." ”

Liu Tugou and Gongxi Xiaobai were not polite, and followed them into the hall.

In addition to the statue of the Bodhisattva in the Longxiang Hall, the rest of the place is completely unrecognizable as the Buddha Hall, the west chamber is placed with a table and a circle chair, the case is full of pen, ink, paper, inkstone, etc., and along the wall is full of bookcases, it is obvious that it is a study.

The east chamber is a quiet room, at this time the guest and host put three tables, and a sword stand is placed on the side of the main seat, and a dull unsheathed long sword is placed on the shelf.

Ji Tianyang walked to the main seat, knelt on the ground, raised his hand and said, "Please sit!"

He reached out and took the long sword in his hand, and flicked his fingers on the sword, and the sword body trembled, making a clear sword sound.

"Everyone knows that if it weren't for the uncle of Zhending King to give him the Langya Divine Sword, there would be no lonely king today. ”

Ji Tianyang smiled, looked at Liu Tugou who was seated and said, "I don't know that the gods are easy to obtain, and the cause and effect are difficult to bear. On that day, the prince of Zhending used this sword to slash the lotus seat of the Ming King under the Eight Ming King Fu Demon Tower of the Zhending Palace, and was killed by the suppressed earth qi under the tower. In the eyes of some insiders, this is a fierce sword that is entangled in resentment, and it is ominous to use. People in Buddhism regard it as a sword of karma and a sword of the devil's path that may cause Buddha's suffering. ”

King Runan's fingers slid lightly over the sword: "On that day, Uncle Zhending Wang took pity on me being lonely and helpless in the palace, so he gave this sword as a gift, saying that with this sword in the future, the worst will be the title of the king of the county, but the blessing and the life and death are unpredictable, ask me if I dare to ask for it." ”

He looked at Gongxi Xiaobai again, and said with a smile: "If the young master of Gongxi and the lonely king change places, I don't know if you want it or not?"