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

This tradition is probably inherited from Emperor Xiao's generation, because Emperor Xiao is friendly with Autumn Leaves, and has a friendship with the old master of the Taoist sect and the dustless real person, and he has to use the momentum of the Taoist Gate to compete in the world, so he is close to the Taoist Gate, which can be seen from the name he named his son Xiao Xuan.

As for the woman's belief in Buddhism, it is because of Queen Lin, she was born in the grassland royal court, has believed in Buddhism for generations, and later became friendly with Murong Xuan, Murong Xuan had practiced in Buddhism in her early years, and under the influence of Murong Xuan, Queen 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, Xiao Zhinan, as a woman of the Xiao family, also began to contact 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 she usually wrapped a string of purple-eyed jade Buddha beads around her wrist.

Although the Buddha beads are still Bodhi as good, but this string of purple-eyed Buddha beads is a great origin, since ancient times jadeite is mostly green, other colors of jadeite are quite rare, and the purple jadeite without impurities is even rarer, after the founding of the country's lord Wanyan Beiyue had collected two pieces of purple jadeite, after the alliance of the Liang City, he ordered skilled craftsmen to carve these two pieces of purple jade into eighteen Buddha beads, each Buddha bead is carved with four Bodhisattvas, strung up with ice silk thread, and finally given to Lin Yinping, who was still the princess at that time.

After Lin Yinping's death, this string of Buddhist beads was passed to Xiao Zhinan's hands along with many other relics, among the many relics, Xiao Zhinan's favorite objects are three, namely the white cat colorful, the peony and this string of Buddhist beads.

On August 15, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, Xu Beiyou spent time in Hanoi Province, while the imperial capital was in a celebratory atmosphere, and in the rain of fireworks and fireworks, a woman dressed in a jade white auspicious dress slowly drove out of the palace in a horse-drawn carriage alone, and then walked to her mansion.

Mid-Autumn Festival, the festival of family reunion, even if it is the royal family is no exception, on this day Xiao Zhinan entered the palace early, followed his parents, first went to the Taimiao Shuo Wangzu to worship the ancestors, and gave the moon cakes to the Manchu Dynasty civil and military and honorable clans, and the Mid-Autumn Festival has the gift of worshiping the moon, setting up a platform to burn incense, displaying flowers and fruits moon cakes for the moon, according to the etiquette, men are not allowed to worship the moon, so after nightfall, Xiao Zhinan also has to go to the incense and bow with his mother Queen Xu and other clan daughters, and the ladies of the Imperial Order, and then set up a banquet inside and outside to admire the moon.

All the female dependents are in the inner court, most of them are married women, except for Xiao Yuanying and a few other young county lords and county lords, only Xiao Zhinan is an unmarried adult woman, although because of her noble status, no one dares to say anything, but the heavy eyes on her body still make her quite unhappy, coupled with her discord with her biological mother Queen Xu, this reunion banquet is really the same as chewing wax, and she didn't eat half of the festive taste.

This Mid-Autumn Festival banquet lasted until the end of the day, Xiao Zhinan only felt physically and mentally exhausted, since her mother did not stay, she did not take the initiative to ask to stay in the palace, after saying goodbye to the emperor and queen couple, she went straight out of the palace and went to her princess's mansion.

The carriage carriage was wide, because Her Royal Highness the princess was "recovering from a serious illness", and even gave birth to a charcoal stove, which made the carriage warm and warm, and people couldn't help but feel a sense of fatigue, but Xiao Zhinan, who had just been stirred by the cool breeze outside, didn't feel sleepy, curled up in the corner of the carriage, subconsciously gently flicked the Buddha beads in his hand, and looked at the flickering charcoal fire in a daze.

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She felt that she should not belong to this dreary city, she yearned for the outside world, free, she recalled that she had walked through the northwest, set foot in the northeast, went to southern Xinjiang, and went to the south of the Yangtze River, saw the green river rushing, saw the waves of the river, once took a boat to watch the sunset on the sea, also climbed the mountain at night to watch the dawn and sunrise, saw the ten thousand acres of bamboo forest, looked at the 100,000 mountains, walked across the small bridge and flowing water, rode on the grassland, and looked up to see a good scene of stars hanging down the plains.

All kinds of scenery and all kinds of people, isn't it ten million times better than this boring city.

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

Xiao Zhinan sighed, a little melancholy for no reason.

Every woman will have a colorful dream when she is a teenager, where there are colorful clouds, heroes of the world, and a gorgeous wedding dress as red as the horizon.

It's just that as you get older, this dream will soon fall apart or even go up in smoke.

The carriage shook suddenly, and Xiao Zhinan leaned forward slightly because of inertia, interrupting his thoughts as he drifted farther and farther.

A moment later, the voice of the silver candle came from outside the carriage, "Your Highness, it's here." ”

Xiao Zhinan snorted, wrapped his cloak, and walked out of the carriage.

Back to the princess's mansion, Xiao Zhinan did not mean to rest, but went to a Buddhist hall, in which a statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva holding a clean bottle was enshrined, she took off her cloak, knelt on the futon in front of the statue of Guanyin, twisted the Buddhist beads on her wrist, closed her eyes and recited Buddhist scriptures silently, extremely pious.

The Buddha hall is brightly lit, reflected in the statue of Guanyin and the face of the woman, shining, the Guanyin in the hall, the woman in the hall is like Guanyin, the two phases are reflected, the beauty is picturesque.

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

Although she does not believe in Buddhism, she found that reciting Buddhist scriptures for a long time can make her mind peaceful, so whenever she is in turmoil, she comes to this Buddhist hall to chant sutras.

Xiao Zhinan still knelt on the futon and did not get up, and murmured softly: "Although the Buddhism is pure and does not talk about marriage, and I am not a sincere believer, it is difficult to feel the Bodhisattva, but I still want to tell a thing or two today, please listen to the Bodhisattva." ”

The woman's voice grew smaller and smaller, inaudible.

No one knew what she was saying except herself and the Bodhisattva, who didn't know if she could hear it.

The reason why Xiao Zhinan is restless today and physically and mentally exhausted is not all because of the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet tonight, but because during the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, her father, who reigned over the world, called her alone, and there was a conversation between father and daughter.

Xiao Xuan, the second emperor of Great Qi, personally told his only daughter that he had chosen a good son-in-law for her, who was the adopted son of Han Xuan, the second assistant of the dynasty, and Xu Beiyou, the first disciple of the Sword Sect.

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

Although Xiao Zhinan had expected it a long time ago and had been seeking it, when he really heard that this matter was decided, he still had mixed feelings, and even a little panicked.

I remember that my aunt once said to herself that when the first emperor set a family affair for her, she was also panicked, and most of what she saw and knew before marriage was unreliable, and only after marriage could she see the true temperament of this person, but at this time, what if she knew the details of the person next to her pillow?

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

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 who were sitting and standing, and their figures were dragged by the lights.

There was a bang, and it was four quarters.

Xiao Zhinan nodded.