C138 (1/2)
Su Mu called Lu Qi over and whispered a few words into her ear.
After speaking, Lu Qi nodded her head and walked up to the abbot to whisper in his ear, passing on Su Mu's words to him. ”Grand Master, Esteemed Empress Hui feels that it's rather strange. Why is the rice they eat different from the one the Empress eats?”
He finally stood up and walked over to Su Mu, saying, ”Esteemed wangfei, you don't need to worry too much. The harvest this year was poor, and the crops in our backyard are all poor, this is also a matter of helplessness. Just these coarse rice alone is enough for the people in the city to support our Jade Dragon Temple.”
It was just that, how could such a grand national temple like Jade Dragon Temple cause such a ruckus?
”Aren't you just kidding me?” Zhuo Qingfeng stood up and said.
Hearing Zhuo Qingfeng speak, and looking at her clothes, he came to a realization that she must be a maid in the palace who had changed into little Shamei's clothes out of fear that her movements might become inconvenient. Otherwise, if she spoke so arrogantly, why would Huifei not care about it?
The abbot could only sigh. He did not say anything else. Su Mu knew that this world was difficult and that no one could protect themselves. This was the last resort …
Su Mu could only tell him, ”Master, I came here to bother you because I was too preoccupied with my own matters today. These silver notes can be considered as a token of my appreciation.”
Su Mu placed a stack of banknotes on the table. These banknotes were worth quite a bit of money, and Su Mu had already added a lot of money to the banknotes. ”Esteemed wangfei, you don't need to do this. You've already done enough meritorious deeds …”
”Looks like Master, you're not here today. Do you have something to say to our Empress?” After saying this, the Master fell to his knees. Ever since Su Mu entered the temple, this Master had always held the dignity of a family member, and had never lowered his dignity by even a little. Now, he was actually disregarding his reputation, which surprised Su Mu quite a bit.
Su Mu hurriedly stood up and said to him, ”Master, what are you doing?”
The abbot then said, ”Your Highness, the poor harvest is one thing, but our Jade Dragon Temple should not be like this. The Ju Long Temple should not be like this, as the Ju Li Palace was originally new and was built just this year, but the Ju Li Palace was set on fire for a group of bandits. It was fortunate that they managed to pounce on the fire in time, and the temple did not lose their lives!”
”Master, such a big thing has happened, why didn't you tell the Emperor?” Su Mu frowned and said.
”His Majesty has so many things to do every day, how could he possibly take this matter to heart?” Besides, this isn't the right time to do so. In our temple … ”Sigh!” This abbot still sighed. In the end, there were some things that were inconvenient for him to say.
”Esteemed wangfei, what happened was like this. The ones that were placed in the courtyard were all old rice, and the ones that were approved by the Ministry of Revenue were new rice. Reverend Misery Fang was kind as he distributed the new rice to the victims nearby, leaving only this old rice for our own use. If we were to report this to the emperor, we probably won't be able to hide it anymore!”
When Su Mu heard this, he finally understood what was going on. This man must have been a kind person, and seeing that the victims had no food, he decided to be merciful. However, how could he bear the consequences of his actions?
In the end, he could only take this bitter fruit. This could originally be considered a good thing, but now …
Su Mu shook her head slightly, and said to the Master, ”Master, you have placed all your hopes on me, so I should be doing my duty, but now, I am too busy to take care of myself, so I do not know if you want me to contribute to the disaster relief effort, or just to build a temple?”