20demayo Chapter 177 Winning the Prize
Chapter 177 Winning the Prize
Zhou Chang didn't want to say much.
The skinny monkey showed little interest: "Well, the prince is interested in catching thieves in the palace."
After the two finished talking, they left the room again and walked along the dim corridor to the main hall of Baohua Palace.
In the main hall, a six-foot-tall golden-painted Buddha statue sits on a lotus altar. Except for a perpetual lamp on the altar in front of the Buddha, all other lamps and candles in the hall are unattended.
There was no one in the hall at this time. Most of the eunuchs who were originally guarding the inner hall were transferred to Jingming Hall, leaving only one or two eunuchs on night duty. At this moment, no one knew where they had gone to take a nap.
Zhou Chang walked around the main hall and asked, "Do you think the thing is hidden here?"
The skinny monkey also looked around but saw nothing special: "Your Highness, there are only Buddha statues and candlesticks here, but no place to hide anything."
"Where is it?" Zhou Chang pointed to the darkest spot in the main hall behind the golden-painted Buddha.
The skinny monkey was the first to jump over, bent over, looked up and down, then spread out his hands.
Zhou Chang also followed and whispered, "Then we'll hide here for a while."
"Here?" The skinny monkey was puzzled.
"There are many people in Jingming Palace, and the traffic is complicated. It is under the noses of the imperial guards, so it is the least likely. Besides Jingming Palace, there is Baohua Palace. In Baohua Palace, the meditation room that was temporarily vacated is also empty, and the traffic of people is irregular, so it is also unlikely. According to estimates over the past few days, dozens of things have been lost, which is quite a lot. So where could these things have gone?" Zhou Chang told the skinny monkey his analysis over the past few days.
"But how can Your Majesty be sure it is here? It's empty here, obviously there is nothing." The skinny monkey was still puzzled.
Zhou Chang was not entirely sure. "Let's wait and try our luck. From what I've learned in the past few days, Master Shusheng and his disciples would return to Baohua Hall at least once every night, regardless of whether he was on duty or not. In Baohua Hall, apart from the meditation rooms used for rest, this was the only place they often stayed."
"Your Highness, are you doubting Master Shusheng?" The skinny monkey opened his eyes wide.
"Didn't you say he had a motive?" Zhou Chang said dimly.
"Me?" The skinny monkey was not smart enough, "When did I ever say that?"
"Anyway, it was you who reminded me." Zhou Chang spoke while listening carefully to the movements outside.
The skinny monkey couldn't wait and peeked outside.
Zhou Chang pulled the skinny monkey into the shadow behind the Buddha statue and whispered to him, "Catch the thief and seize the stolen goods. Don't make it public until it's absolutely necessary."
This is the imperial palace, and she estimated that even if she caught him on the spot, the other party would not dare to do anything.
The skinny monkey's surprise turned into excitement, and his big white teeth swayed up and down in front of his eyes.
I don't know how long they waited, but just when the two were dozing off, they suddenly heard two footsteps outside, one after the other.
The footsteps were very light, and the person was obviously walking on tiptoe.
Zhou Chang gently pulled at the corner of Skinny Monkey's clothes.
The skinny monkey also became alert and pricked up his ears.
The two of them shrank further into the darkness.
One person's footsteps seemed to stop in front of the altar, while another person's footsteps went around the altar, approached the Buddha statue, and then went around the Buddha statue...
In the darkness, Zhou Chang and the skinny monkey looked at each other.
Zhou Chang pointed behind the skinny monkey.
The skinny monkey turned around...
"Bang..."
"Wow..."
"what……"
"Hey, don't move. You've come to me on your own and you still want to run away?" The skinny monkey pressed down on a man in the dark. Just relying on his own weight, he could easily catch him.
Zhou Chang also stood up from behind the Buddha statue: "Master Shusheng, don't worry, please come over."
A figure that was about to escape stopped.
"Don't move, the imperial guards are right outside." The skinny monkey growled again as a warning.
"Yi, Your Highness Prince Yi?" Shusheng was stunned.
Zhou Chang walked around the Buddha statue and appeared, his pair of phoenix eyes smiling like a fox: "Master Shusheng, we can be said to be 'great thinkers of the same mind'."
Shusheng was still in shock and couldn't come back to his senses: "How did you know it was..."
"Knowing it was you?" Zhou Chang helped him complete the sentence, "Except for the master, no one else would be willing to take such a big risk."
The skinny monkey's kung fu has already twisted out the disciples around Shusheng.
The moment Shusheng saw his disciple, he finally collapsed and knelt on the ground: "No, it has nothing to do with him. I was just confused for a moment..."
"Master..." The disciple exclaimed to stop him.
Compared to his disciples, Shusheng looks like an honest man.
Zhou Chang understood and glanced at the disciple who thought he was smart: "Do you want to ask the imperial guards to come in and search you now? I bet we can find something you shouldn't have on you."
The disciple was skinny and could not move because he was clamped by the skinny monkey. He had no choice but to accept his fate. He shook the right side of his cassock and a small gray cloth package fell to the ground with a "click". "This matter has nothing to do with Master. I am responsible for my own actions."
The skinny monkey kicked the bag away, then forced the disciple to kneel beside Shusheng.
"Jie Wang, don't say anymore. It was all because of Master's one thought." Shusheng was filled with regret.
"No, the idea was proposed by the disciple, and the thing was done by the disciple. It has nothing to do with the master." Jie Wang also wanted to take the blame.
Zhou Chang knew what was there without picking it up and checking it out. He also saw the master and the disciple rushing to confess their guilt, and he was not confused at all. He said to Shusheng, "You don't have to rush to take the blame. You should explain yourself first."
Shusheng had nothing to hide at this point: "We, no, I, took... the items offered by the donors, but not for our own use. In fact, we didn't take them for ourselves. We just hid them in this Baohua Hall."
"What's the purpose?" Although Zhou Chang asked, he already knew the answer, but he still wanted Shusheng to say it in person.
Shusheng took a deep breath and said, "It makes us believe that the Buddha has boundless power and can show his divine power."
"You believe that you have boundless magical powers and can show your divine powers, right?" Zhou Chang asked back.
Shusheng shook his head: "Amitabha, it doesn't matter whether His Royal Highness Prince Yi believes it or not. I am not doing this for myself. Ever since the Buddha took away the offerings from His Royal Highness last time, the reputation of Dafu Temple and my reputation have been tied to it. But in the past month, as the blessing is about to end, the Buddha has not appeared again. I don't care what the donors think of me, but if someone talks about Dafu Temple in private, doesn't believe in the Buddha, and turns to believe in Lady Yaoji, then I cannot tolerate it... Amitabha..."
Shusheng became emotional as he spoke and stopped at the appropriate time.
"Uh..." Zhou Chang remembered that he had heard many people mumbling "Niangniang Yaoji" in the crowd making wishes these days, and the frequency of her appearance was quite high. He asked again, "You said the things are hidden in Baohua Palace. Where is it?"
"Amitabha, inside the golden body of the Buddha." There is no intention to hide the extraordinary beauty.
"Ha... I won the prize." If it wasn't for the wrong occasion, Zhou Chang would have wanted to applaud, "How did you come up with this idea?" "A despicable and shameless life makes you happy, but you can't be happy all the time, because you always have to think about having a face."