Chapter 56: So we are so famous?
On the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, the spring chill was severe.

Although it was early in the morning, the people of Chang'an, whether they were from wealthy families or ordinary people, seemed to be looking forward to the arrival of night.

Because the Lantern Festival begins after midnight, there will be no curfew for three consecutive days and the whole city will be filled with lanterns. It seems that the most prosperous side of Chang'an City can only be seen at night during these few days.

The gate of West Market slowly opened, and as the flag for the opening of the market was hoisted, the convoys and camel caravans waiting outside to deliver goods immediately became noisy.

These caravans came from all over the country, including Bashu, Jianghuai, the Western Regions, and even faraway Persia. They traveled day and night just to catch the most important festival of the year in Chang'an City.

The Lantern Festival lasts for three nights, and this year the emperor is in Chang'an, so it will definitely be more lively than in previous years. No matter whether it is the Xianbei nobles or the Han family, they are willing to spend a lot of money on such a festival.

There are also many outsiders who want to see the grand spectacle, but because of the household registration system, not everyone comes to Chang'an to see the lanterns.

In order to enter the city, merchants from other places need a customs pass.

But there are two exceptions: Taoists and monks, who can enter the city with their Taoist ordination certificates.

Monk Ru Jing and several other monks were fellow disciples and were monks who came from Huainan.

Emperor Wu of Tang, Murong Yi, was a great worshipper of Taoism and once canonized Zhang Zhenren of Mount Longhu as the Heavenly Master of the Nation, so Taoism flourished during the reign of Emperor Wu.

The previous emperor was a believer in Buddhism, and basically built temples wherever wars were fought.

The temples were given tax-free land, which led to the common people who could not pay the taxes to the court donating their land to the temples.

Therefore, the largest landlords in many places are the local temples.

This also led to a reduction in taxes for the imperial court, while temples became wealthy because they did not have to pay taxes.

After Murong Ying ascended the throne, in order to curb this situation, he directly ordered that although temples in various places did not have to pay taxes, they were required to offer sacrifices to the "Guardian Heavenly King" during three festivals every year.

You ask who is the "Dharma Protector Heavenly King"? Of course it is our wise, brave, benevolent and loving Emperor Tiansheng Murong Ying.

What? You don't want to worship the "Dharma Guardian Heavenly King"? Then who will protect the Buddha's temples and property?

Therefore, before the festival arrives, temples in various places will ask monks to bring treasures and curios to offer to the guardian heavenly king.

Rujing and several fellow disciples came to Chang'an on behalf of the temple, and currently live in Yanfu Temple in Anrenfang in Chang'an City.

It was also the largest imperial temple in Chang'an. They were supposed to arrive during the Spring Festival, but because of the frequent robberies on the canal, they missed the time and could not catch up with the Spring Festival. They could only arrive in Chang'an during the Lantern Festival.

The brothers had heard that the West Market was prosperous, so they came to see it. After all, although the temple they were in was a royal temple, it was located in Huainan County. How could they have seen the prosperity of Chang'an and Luoyang?
"In Chang'an, there are a total of 108 wards and two markets. The West Market has more than 3,000 shops. The market opens at this time every day and closes at night. Both the ward and the market are surrounded by walls. Usually, the gates of the wards are closed after the first watch and before the fifth watch. If you walk outside after the gates are closed, it will be considered a violation of the Xiaojing and you will be flogged forty times."

The young monk from Yanfu Temple who was in charge of leading the group was named Hui Tong, about twelve or thirteen years old. He explained to them in detail the rules of the curfew in Chang'an.

Monk Rujing was surprised and said, "I heard that in Huainan County, people only got thirty lashes for breaking the curfew, but in the capital, they got forty lashes?" Monk Huitong said proudly, "Of course, this is Chang'an, and the capital is definitely different from the county. But you don't have to worry, there is no curfew for these three days, you can walk around freely, the lanterns at night are beautiful, but there are too many people, in front of the Vermillion Bird Gate are the lanterns of the Shaofu, and on both sides of the Tianjie are the lanterns of the royal family and nobles, it's so lively, by the way, you must be hungry, let's go buy some Hu bing."

The young monk took a few Hu bings and gave one to each of the people. Just as he was about to take money from his robe to pay the bill, he saw Ru Jing take out copper coins first.

The young monk Hui Tong was a little embarrassed and said, "Why should I let you guys settle the bill? When we get to Chang'an, it should be me who treats us."

Ru Jing smiled cheerfully: "It's okay, please take us to visit the West Market and the Lantern Festival in the evening."

Young monk Hui Tong nodded: "Then it's a deal. If you want to eat anything tonight, I must treat you. Oh, I forgot which temple in Huainan you are from, is it the Taishang Temple?"

The eight-foot-tall, imposing monk Rujing said, "Taitai Temple? No, we are called Huangjue Temple."

Senior Brother Ruhui, who was biting into a Hu Bing, said, "Brother, you don't know. Our Huangjue Temple was originally called this, Taishang Temple. I heard that the temple was flooded and collapsed. At that time, the abbot led the monks to carry the Buddha statue to the high platform. After the water receded, a temple was built here, so it was named Taishang Temple. But when the late emperor led his army to Huainan, he stayed in our temple, so it became a royal temple and was renamed Huangjue Temple."

"I see."

"Huangjue Temple? Are you from Huangjue Temple?"

Several monks were startled when they heard this. They saw a young man in front of them. He was dressed in gorgeous clothes, handsome and tall. There were several guards behind him, looking at them in surprise, which made the monks from Huainan very surprised.

Monk Ruhui said, "Sir, we are monks from Huainan Huangjue Temple. May I ask what can I do for you?"

The young man smiled awkwardly, "It's okay, it's okay. I just heard about Huangjue Temple before. It's very famous. I was speechless when I saw you today, but I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I hope you monks don't mind."

"The donor is very polite."

After nodding to each other, the two sides passed each other by.

The young monk Hui Tong lowered his head and said, "I didn't expect that there are people in Chang'an who know about your Huangjue Temple. Sorry, such words may be offensive, but if Master hadn't told me, I, a Buddhist, wouldn't have known about Huangjue Temple. I'm really ignorant. But passers-by in Chang'an know about it. It seems that I am still shallow."

The monks from Huainan laughed and said, "Don't worry. We Huainan people don't know much about Yanfu Temple either. It's just because of the geographical restrictions. It's normal that you don't know about it, little master. It may be because the young man just now is very knowledgeable."

Although he said this, there was a hint of pride on his face. The young man just now had an extraordinary bearing and it was obvious that he was from a noble family. He didn't expect that all the nobles in Chang'an knew about our Huangjue Temple. It turned out to be so famous?
Too long face
But in fact, in Chang'an, apart from the government offices that managed the temples, not many people knew about Huangjue Temple. But they happened to meet a person who was foresighted and made a fuss about it, which caused the young monk Hui Tong from Yanfu Temple and Ru Hui and Ru Jing from Huangjue Temple to have cognitive biases.

The young man was none other than Li Silang. He came to the West Market today for desserts, as there was a banquet at the King of Wu's residence tonight and he was invited to attend. It was estimated that Princess Jinyang would also go, so he came to the West Market to buy some snacks and sweets to take with him.

I think little girls all like sweets and snacks, right?

Who knew that after buying things and preparing to leave, I ran into a few monks.

And there are also people saying that they are from Huainan Huangjue Temple?

Huangjue Temple, isn’t that the place where Lao Zhu became a monk?
(End of this chapter)