The Prime Minister's Darling

Chapter 311: Offering Incense (First Watch)

Fen Lin hadn’t been asleep long before he woke Lin Chengye: “Don’t sleep anymore, it’s time to go offer incense!”

Lin Chengye was still in a daze: “Offer what incense?”

Fen Lin quickly jumped off the bed, changing into his clothes as he said: “You forgot, today is the first day of the New Year, it was agreed we would go to Puji Temple to grab the first incense offering!”

Puji Temple is a very famous temple in Capital City. Unlike other temples mainly known for seeking marriage or children, Puji Temple was famous for the prayers of students hoping to pass the scholar exams.

There were rumors in Capital City that anyone who got the first incense offering in Puji Temple would eventually become a high-ranked scholar.

Fen Lin didn’t dare to hope that he could become a high-ranked scholar, he prayed to Buddha that he would pass the Provincial Exam and become a tribute scholar!

It appeared that Lin Chengye had completely forgotten about this. He pulled the blanket over his head and continued to sleep heavily.

Fen Lin pulled down the blanket and said: “Stop sleeping, get up! We still need to get Liulang!”

On hearing the mention of Liulang, Lin Chengye woke up considerably: “Hmm, alright.”

Fen Lin went to knock at the door of the east room.

Xiao Liulang was awakened, he looked at the sleeping Gu Jiao beside him and frowned impatiently. He did not want to get out of bed, but he was afraid if he did not go out, Fen Lin would keep knocking on the door.

He got out of bed and opened the door for Fen Lin. A rush of cold air poured in. He quickly went out and closed the door behind him: “What’s the matter?”

Fen Lin rubbed his hands and said: “We’re going to offer incense! Hurry up! If we don’t leave now, we won’t be reaching in time! We are going to grab the first incense offering! Even if we don’t get the first incense, any within the first one hundred will also work!”

“But, Liulang’s leg, is it okay?” Lin Chengye walked over and asked.

Fen Lin said: “It’s okay! We won’t have to walk much! The carriage can go directly to the river bank, we just have to cross a bridge to reach the temple!”

After all, Xiao Liulang’s surgery was successful, Gu Jiao said his foot was not in pain anymore, and it was just necessary to exercise more!

Last New Year’s Eve, Xiao Liulang promised Fen Lin that, if there was a chance to go to Capital City for the exam, he would definitely go to Puji Temple.

How could Xiao Liulang have anticipated that he would indeed travel to Capital City?

How did he step by step reach where he was now despite swearing never to set foot in Capital City again?

“Alright, stop making a fuss, I’m going to change clothes.” Xiao Liulang went back into the room.

He looked at the peacefully sleeping Gu Jiao, pulled up the blanket to cover her, dressed himself, then went to the backyard to wash up. After doing all this, he left with the two men.

Zhou, the house manager, knew they were going to grab the first incense offering. He was prepared early, he had even set the breakfast ready in the carriage.

The group of them got into the carriage, and under the starry sky, they hurried toward Puji Temple.

They had not gone far when Gu Jiao had a dream.

This time, she dreamt of Xiao Liulang.

The last time she saw him in her dreams was in June when he went to the Provincial City for his exam. Half a year had blurred by without any unfortunate incidents, he even thought there wouldn’t be any problems anymore.

On the first day of the New Year, Xiao Liulang and the other two went to a temple called Puji to grab the first incense offering. The concept of grabbing the first incense offering was prevalent not only in ancient times but also in her previous life.

On its own this wasn’t unusual. It was just offering incense. Achieving it was a good omen, and if not achieved, worshiping Bodhisattva was commendable as well.

Xiao Liulang himself didn’t put his hopes in gods or Buddha anyway, he accompanied Fen Lin here.

Unfortunately, amongst the people who came to offer incense on the first day of the New Year, there was a nobleman. To facilitate the nobleman, his guards had earlier taken over the Stone Arch Bridge.

Other worshippers wanting to cross the river had to take a long route and walk to another bridge called Suo Bridge, which led to the backdoor of the temple.

The Suo Bridge, which was in dire need of repair, did not receive many pedestrians on regular days and was normally safe. But on New Year’s Day, the influx of people caused the bridge to break due to the extreme weight.

The enormous weight snapped the already fraying ropes of the bridge. The worshippers on the bridge fell into the icy river.

In the biting cold of winter, everyone was wearing a lot of clothes, and there were not many who could swim up to the surface.

Most of the victims were scholars for next year’s imperial examinations. The loss of so many promising scholars was a heavy setback for the court.

This batch of examinations thus became the one with the least number of candidates since the founding of the country.

Xiao Liulang was among those who fell into the water. The bridge broke just as the person in front of him stepped onto it. He was this close, just one step! @@novelbin@@

This kind of situation was most regrettable.

Although many people fell into the water, he seemed to be the most unlucky one.

When Gu Jiao woke up and looked at the sky, dawn had broken. Xiao Liulang and the others should have reached the hill and discovered that the Stone Arch Bridge was not passable.