Wedge
The locked bell of Ci'en Temple rang three times.
It's not a morning bell or an evening drum, it's the kind that sends people in - three times, dull and short, like someone wrapping a wet cloth in a hammer and hitting the copper surface. The sound came from the direction of the mountain gate, passed through the layers of courtyard walls, and by the time it reached the Main Hall, it was as muffled as a sigh.
I was kneeling in the side hall copying scriptures. My brush paused on the paper, and the ink smeared out into a dot as big as a sesame seed.
Another person was sent in.
Half a year after the death of the first emperor, the new emperor liquidated the old party, and the fallen families were like wheat after autumn. Men were beheaded and exiled, and women came here - Ci'en Temple, a women's prison built by the royal family. There was a plaque "Gongdeyuan" hanging on the door, and hundreds of living dead were imprisoned inside.
"Excuse me," the lamplighter shouted at the door of the palace. "After you finish copying, go to the kitchen to help. A new batch of sinful women have arrived. The meals for tomorrow morning are not ready yet."
"Yes."
I put down the pen and pressed the copied scriptures with a paperweight. When I stood up, my knees were already numb. I stood holding on to the pillar for a while. The third generation Buddha is enshrined in the main hall, and his golden body glows a dark red color in the candlelight, like coagulated blood. The Bodhisattva lowered his eyes, with that everlasting smile on his lips.
Three months ago, my husband Zhao Shiyan caused a big disaster at the northwest border.
When the Beirong invaded the country, he was ordered to lead three thousand cavalry out of the border to meet the grain and grass team. The military order was clearly written - "provide food and grass, do not be reluctant to fight." He did not listen.
He saw the Beirong camp pitched on the other side of the Blackwater River, with its flags crooked and smoke falling from the cooking pots, and concluded that the main enemy force had withdrawn. If you can cross the river at night
