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墨書 Inktalez
The next day, the Loyalty Prince's Residence was awakened by a piercing scream, followed by similar cries from the residences of the prince and princess.
The servants stared in shock at their three masters, who had all turned bald overnight, each sporting nine distinct scars on their heads. Was this a manifestation of Buddha?
No one believed it was a prank. Who would be so bored as to sneak into the royal residence and shave the heads of the prince, princess, and County Princess? Those scars—didn’t they hurt? Yet, the prince, princess, and County Princess showed no signs of waking up; clearly, it wasn’t human interference. Otherwise, they would have screamed in pain long ago.
Suddenly, one servant pointed outside to the courtyard and exclaimed, “There are words! There are words!”
Including Loyalty and Obedience Prince, everyone turned to look in the direction he indicated. Beneath the largest tree in the courtyard were two lines written: “Bullying others and taking lives will cost you your own. However, out of compassion, I grant you a chance. From now on, you must sincerely turn to Buddha and do good deeds. Li Xuelan shall convert to the Buddhist Sect and must not meddle in worldly affairs again.”
If Li Yishu, Wen Ziyu, and Wen Zixue had seen this, they would surely find it familiar: wasn’t this a trick played by Sun Wukong on the king and queen of Chěchí Kingdom?
The people in Loyalty Prince's Residence: “…”
One servant timidly said, “I didn’t see those words when I passed through the garden just now.”
“Me neither,” another servant chimed in. “These words appeared out of nowhere.”
“It must be Buddha showing his presence.”
“…”
The murmurs grew louder. Although the servants feared Loyalty and Obedience Prince and his daughter, they held greater reverence for the deity Buddha. Right now, it seemed that Buddha had descended to punish the three of them. If Loyalty and Obedience Prince vented his anger on them, it might provoke Buddha further. They certainly wouldn’t dare do that. With these thoughts in mind, the servants found their courage.
“No! I don’t want to become a monk!” Li Xuelan screamed while clutching her head. To hide her baldness, she had wrapped her head with a pink scarf. At that moment, as she pressed down with both hands and twisted her head, the scarf slipped off, revealing her shiny bald head.
Everyone: “…”
The servants found it amusing but dared not laugh; however, several of the lesser daughters of the royal house did not spare Li Xuelan any mercy and burst into laughter. Serves you right! Who told you to always bully us? Now our lord has avenged us.
Although the heir of the royal house was Li Xuelan’s biological brother, he had no fondness for his troublemaking sister. He spoke up at that moment: “If becoming a monk is what Buddha intends for you, we cannot go against it.”
"No, I don't want to—" Li Xuelan continued to scream, "If you force me to become a nun, I will die."
The Princess felt a pang of sympathy. Although she was somewhat annoyed with Li Xuelan for causing her this punishment, Li Xuelan was still her most beloved daughter. Seeing her in such a pitiful state softened her heart: "If you don't want to become a nun, then let's go plead with Buddha. We can donate more money to Buddha and ask for some leniency."
The Heir sighed. It was the Princess's unrestrained indulgence that had turned Li Xuelan into this way, ultimately leading to Buddha's punishment. Moreover, wasn't Buddha already aware? It was precisely because the Princess and the Loyalty and Obedience Prince had spoiled Li Xuelan that Buddha had also imposed punishment on them.
"Mother, what does Buddha need money from the Mortal Realm for?" the Heir asked quietly.
The Princess stiffened. Indeed, if a deity like Buddha could be bought with money from the Mortal Realm, then he wouldn't truly be a deity.
The Loyalty and Obedience Prince slapped the Princess across the face: "Fool! If it weren't for your indulgence of this beast, how could I also be punished by Buddha? Do you still foolishly hope to bribe him? Or do you want Buddha to continue punishing us?"
The Princess burst into tears: "Isn't it because I can't bear to part with Xuelan? She is our own daughter! How can you bear to see her become a nun at such a young age?"
The Loyalty and Obedience Prince snorted: "I would rather not have such a woman."
"If I had known it would come to this, why did we bother in the first place?" Consort muttered from the side. "Initially, we were blamed by the Emperor and demoted because of her. Now we only want her to become a nun alone; isn't that enough mercy for our Loyalty Prince's Residence? Should our entire household suffer because of her and accompany her in death?"
The Loyalty and Obedience Prince and the Heir felt a jolt in their hearts as any shred of pity they had for the Princess vanished at her cries.
"Bring her! Take the County Princess to the Imperial Enlightenment Temple. Tell the abbot to do whatever is necessary; the County Princess is not allowed to leave the Imperial Enlightenment Temple again," the Loyalty and Obedience Prince ordered sternly.
The servants dared not delay and immediately sent two burly maids forward. Ignoring Li Xuelan's tantrums and protests, they dragged her out the door. The Princess couldn't bear it and ran a few steps to follow, but the Loyalty and Obedience Prince coldly said, "If you can't bear it, then go accompany her at the Imperial Enlightenment Temple. This prince doesn't care if there's one less princess."
The Princess paused: Daughter, I can't bear to part with you, but I cannot let our household and your father fall into another woman's hands.
Thus, what the Princess truly loved more was her status and power.
The Imperial Enlightenment Temple belonged to the royal family; it was where childless concubines went to become nuns. Life there was extremely austere; relying on status would be futile as everyone there held a higher status than Li Xuelan. Once she was sent to the Imperial Enlightenment Temple, life would undoubtedly be difficult for her. The possibility of leaving would be even more impossible. Her life was destined to be spent in quiet contemplation, unable to harm others again.
Loyalty Prince's Residence
This matter could not be kept under wraps, especially with the commotion caused by Li Xuelan being sent to the Imperial Enlightenment Temple. By afternoon, everyone in the capital knew about it.
"Punishment?" The Emperor chuckled and tossed the matter aside, continuing to read the memorials. He felt that he was doing quite well as an emperor and was not afraid of any so-called "punishment."
After hearing this news, he felt relieved. Thankfully, he had not arranged a marriage for Li Xuelan; otherwise, would he also face punishment from the Buddha?
Geng Shi'an, Yue Yunfei, and Mo Yan, the Princess, surrounded Elder Brother Li, their eyes wide with anticipation.
"Wei Feng, did you cause the incident at the Loyalty Prince's Residence?" Geng Shi'an asked. Elder Brother Li had just resolved the issue at its source, and that night, the Loyalty and Obedience Prince and his companions were shaved bald. They couldn't believe it was unrelated to Elder Brother Li.
Since all three were his friends, he trusted their character and readily admitted, "That's right."
The other three gasped in unison and then burst into hearty laughter.
"Wei Feng, what were you thinking to make both the Loyalty and Obedience Prince and Li Xuelan bald?" Yue Yunfei grinned widely, showing off his throat.
Mo Yan, the Princess, laughed but not as exaggeratedly as Yue Yunfei; her demeanor was bold yet unlike that of an ordinary girl. "Li Wei Feng, well done. You’ve avenged all the young men and women in the capital."
Geng Shi'an couldn't stop laughing. "I thought you were a calm and serious person; I didn't expect you to have such a playful side."
Elder Brother Li smiled slightly but remained silent.
The other three gradually stopped laughing. Geng Shi'an voiced his curiosity: "Wei Feng, how did those two lines of text appear out of nowhere?"
This question piqued the curiosity of the other two as well; they stared intently at Elder Brother Li.
Elder Brother Li replied, "I'm not sure about that either. Wait until I show you what helped me."
With that, Elder Brother Li stepped out of the room and returned shortly after, spreading his hands to reveal: "This is what helped me."
The three of them leaned in to take a look. "A leaf???"
Elder Brother Li smiled and poked at something in his right palm with his left index finger. Suddenly, the "leaf" began to move and flew out of Elder Brother Li's palm. With a quick motion of his right hand, he caught the "leaf," preventing it from escaping.
"Take another look."
Curiosity piqued, the three of them bent down to examine the "leaf" closely. One side was a velvety black-blue, shimmering with a glossy sheen, dotted with a few white specks. The other side was a bronze color, resembling a withered leaf: a dark brown vein running through the center of the wings looked like the midrib of a leaf; other wing veins resembled the lateral veins; several black spots on the wings resembled mold on a dead leaf; and at the end of the hindwings, there was a tail that looked like a leaf stem.
"Is this a butterfly?!" Mo Yan, the Princess, exclaimed. This strange butterfly was something she had never seen before.
"This is the Dead Leaf Butterfly," Elder Brother Li explained to them. "It is a type of butterfly whose wing patterns serve as camouflage, making it look like a dead leaf, hence its name."
Elder Brother Li had not expected to find a Dead Leaf Butterfly near the capital. However, it was precisely because he encountered this butterfly that he devised the method of hiding words in the courtyard of the Loyalty Prince's Residence. This idea came from a detective comic from the Mudong Kingdom that his fiancée enjoyed reading. He couldn't recall the specific plot but remembered that the murderer boldly placed a body in the courtyard and then covered it with a layer of unconscious Dead Leaf Butterflies. By the next day, when the effects of the drug wore off, all the Dead Leaf Butterflies would fly away, revealing the body underneath. Before that moment, everyone thought it was just a pile of dead leaves in the courtyard and paid no attention.
"I made these Dead Leaf Butterflies faint (thanks to my Inner Power), wrote words in the courtyard, and then placed the Dead Leaf Butterflies on top to cover them. When others saw it, they would think it was just a heap of dried leaves. Once the Dead Leaf Butterflies woke up and took flight, people from the Loyalty Prince's Residence would see those two lines of text. They wouldn't notice whether there were fewer or more dead leaves in the yard and would assume those words appeared out of nowhere," Elder Brother Li said.
"Wei Feng, you're amazing," Geng Shi'an and the other two praised him with thumbs up.
Elder Brother Li smiled lightly. "I hope this will encourage people from the Loyalty Prince's Residence to do more good deeds from now on."
"The Emperor is happiest now; Loyalty Prince's Uncle is so scared he doesn't dare to raise his voice in front of him anymore—it's like he's become a different person altogether. The Emperor has taken this opportunity to undermine Loyalty Prince's Residence," Mo Yan, the Princess, said happily. "Li Wei Feng, you should be prepared; the Emperor wants to see you."
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