GBP Chapter 129 Self-defeating
Chapter 129 Self-defeating
Yuanchun nodded to her with a smile: "Sister Lin, it's nice to meet you for the first time. You are indeed as graceful and detached as a delicate flower reflected in water."
This is a palace concubine, a lady of the first rank.
Daiyu stood up with a serious expression and saluted solemnly: "Your humble servant Lin pays respects to the virtuous concubine. Long live the queen."
The Lord and the Queen Mother glanced at Yuanchun.
Yuanchun smiled warmly, accepted her greeting properly, then reached out and touched Daiyu's arm: "Sister Lin, please stand up."
Daiyu stood up, but no longer looked at her. Instead, she turned to the Queen Mother, knelt on the cushion again, opened the brocade box, and explained:
"In reply to the Empress Dowager, the writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone were all given by the Yanjia Palace. Even though I was very brave, I did not dare to copy so many scriptures at random.
"If I ruin the Queen Mother's arrangement, wouldn't I be betraying her kindness? What a sin that would be.
"There is also a book called The Lotus Sutra, which consists of seven volumes and twenty-eight chapters."
The Emperor and the Empress Dowager were both stunned.
"You have such fast hands?" The Queen Mother squinted at Daiyu's fingers. They were still smooth, soft and white. Only on the joint of her right ring finger was there a little scab.
Daiyu smiled and said, "I don't have that ability."
After a pause, he explained carefully, "There is a Longcui Temple in the garden of Rongguo Mansion. The nun invited to the temple happens to be from Suzhou and is a fellow villager of mine.
"I just opened my own house a while ago, and I couldn't help but miss my family. I wanted to recite sutras for my parents, but I was afraid of breaking the rules, so I invited this master to live with me and give me some advice.
“Because this master had vowed to hand-copy a copy of the Lotus Sutra, and she learned from me that the Queen Mother wanted to do good deeds on Buddha’s birthday, how could she let it go?
"To the point that they thought my family was too large and forced me to live with them in the Bodhi Temple in the west of the city for two months. Every day, apart from copying scriptures, I listened to the nuns' morning bells and evening drums, which really refreshed my mind.
"Now the sutra has been copied. I secretly thought that her handwriting was more beautiful than mine, and she was more pious than me. She also pierced her blood to melt the ink, and she was in the same situation as me. It was caused by the Queen Mother's order. If I don't present it to the Queen Mother, it will be unacceptable.
"So today I came to the palace and brought her sutra here for the Queen Mother to read. If it is indeed worthy of worship, it will be a blessing for her."
Daiyu was talking at a leisurely pace, and the Grand Master and the Queen Mother just treated it as a story at first and listened casually. But when they heard the words "pierce the blood to melt the ink", they couldn't help but look at each other. At the same time, they looked at the scripture in Daiyu's hand.
"Zhao style. This is an expert." Taishang simply took it from Daiyu, looked at it from a distance with his eyes blurred, savored it, and couldn't help praising it:
"The Zhao style is the first among all the sutra copying works. Drawing on the Tang and Jin dynasties, it is both elegant and free-flowing, yet also rigorous in rules and regulations. Even Zhao Mengfu himself was able to achieve his mastery of small regular script because he copied many sutras.
"And I see that the ink is not too much. Many people use their blood to copy scriptures, which is very scary. It seems that this is the only way to express piety.
"In fact, ink is the purest color that Buddhas and Bodhisattvas love the most. If it is blood-colored and not mixed with cinnabar to drive away evil spirits, isn't it just waiting to attract evil spirits?
"This color is very well blended. It is pious, yet not too dark, and can also reflect a faint crimson under the sunlight and candlelight. It is exactly what I want!"
She gave Daiyu a friendly smile and said, "This nun master of yours is indeed a monk and knows a lot!"
Then he said to the Queen Mother, "If you don't like the blood-piercing pattern, I will take it away. I am worried about the Buddha's birthday, so this one is mine!"
The Queen Mother snorted at him with disdain: "You are the best at snatching things all your life! Here you go! Sister Lin said it well, in matters before the Buddha, chance and cause and effect are the most important.
“Since you have already made up your mind, if I refuse to give it to you, I am afraid that this karma will be ruined, and it will be useless even if you offer it in my name.
"Okay, take it, take it!"
The Supreme was in a very good mood. He laughed and told Dai Quan to find a box to pack the things away. He even made an appointment with Daiyu:
"Go back and tell that teacher that I love her handwriting. Tell her that she doesn't have to prick her blood, but she should copy a copy of the Ksitigarbha Sutra for me! It doesn't matter what day it is, just copy it carefully."
Daiyu hurriedly bowed and said "yes".
The Queen Mother unfolded Lin Daiyu's scripture and saw that it was full of Ouyang Xun's style, and it faintly revealed the dangerous and sharp edges that could not be concealed. She couldn't help but be very satisfied and said with a smile:
"You take yours, and I'll take mine. I like Sister Lin's more."
The Supreme Lord took a look from afar and frowned, "Why is this word so aggressive?" He looked at Daiyu again and showed his displeasure, "Women are the most docile, and you seem to be very obedient. What's wrong? Are scholars and people different?!"
Daiyu bowed her head and said, "Your Majesty, please allow me to report this: My parents have both passed away, I am weak and sickly, and my temperament is indeed not very gentle. As for the fact that I look very obedient, it is because the Grand His Majesty and the Queen Mother treat me very well, so I like to listen to the two saints.
"The Concubine Jia is here today, so you can ask her. I think my second aunt must have mentioned to the Concubine that I was very stingy when I was young, and I often quarreled with my cousins. Even in the past two years, I often made the adults angry..."
Tai Shang frowned even more as he heard this.
The Queen Mother raised her eyebrows and said, "If you were alone in this world and didn't have a temper, you would have been bullied to death! I like that you have a temper, it's good like this. Don't bow your head, raise your head!"
Tai Shang helplessly held his forehead: "I didn't say anything about you!"
"You know that I like this girl because she and I have similar life experiences, but you always find fault with her in this aspect, and you always say it in front of me. Who are you talking about if not me?"
The Queen Mother stared at the Emperor, refusing to give in.
The emperor sighed and looked around. When he saw Jia Yuanchun, he said hurriedly, "You must have come with me today because of your sister Lin. If you have anything to say, tell her right away."
Although this way of changing the subject was too abrupt, the empress dowager still let him off in front of Lin Daiyu and Jia Yuanchun, snorted and stopped talking.
Yuanchun stopped smiling, frowned as she looked at Lin Daiyu, raised her hands to her forehead, knelt on both knees, and said solemnly:
"Sister Lin, I told His Majesty that day that I would like to ask the Grand Supervisor Tao to apologize to you on my behalf. But His Majesty said that there is no such thing as an apology on behalf of others.
"So today when I heard that you were coming to Taiji Palace, I immediately rushed here just to tell you in person: It is my Jia family that has treated you badly!
"My late mother was particularly harsh to you... unreasonable. I apologize to you on her behalf. I dare not expect you to forgive me, but I ask you not to look back. With your talent, you will definitely have a bright future."
As he said this, he kowtowed to the ground.
Lin Daiyu had already stepped aside when she said the first sentence, and waited quietly for her to finish. She only said expressionlessly: "I dare not."
Then he immediately turned to the Queen Mother and said, "I have completed my mission. I hope the Queen Mother will allow me to leave."
"Okay. Go ahead." The Queen Mother agreed promptly and watched Daiyu bow to the Queen Mother and Yuanchun respectively, then nodded to Dai Quan and walked out.
Tai Shang quickly gave a look and Dai Quan followed him out.
Yuanchun stood there in a daze for a while, then stood up and said with a forced smile, "It seems that my sister is really mad at my family."
The Second Saint did not say anything, but waved his hand for her to go down as well.
Yuanchun had no choice but to leave.
The two saints watched her leave the hall, looked at each other, sneered at the same time, and said in unison: "You've done more harm than good!"