Start with detective Li Yuanfang

Chapter 623 Ming Zun teaches Mu Qiang, is it better to worship "Zuo Ming" than King Ming?
"The winter solstice is here!"

Following the turmoil of the Tianning Festival, after the dismal end, the whole Bianjing was once again jubilant because of the festival.

For ancient times, the winter solstice is undoubtedly an extremely important festival. The winter solstice is a yang birth, and the arrival of this day represents the gradual decline of yin qi in the world, the intensification of yang qi, and the beginning of another year's cycle.

Because of this, the imperial court arranged the Mingtang Grand Ceremony. Since the reign of Emperor Renzong, the ceremony of suburban heaven has been held every three years. It is called "three-year-old one-parent suburban system". ceremony.

The folks are even more lively, and the common people wear new clothes to the streets one after another. Even the poor and poor children will spend their meager savings, and even borrow money from others. Those who have a surplus of money celebrate their contacts and enjoy delicious food, which is as big as a new year's festival.

Seeing the acrobatic team beating gongs and drums, walking on the street, and seeing all kinds of Guanpu openings, and pedestrians pouring in, the shopkeeper Sun of the Sui'an Medical Center looked away: "Doctor Lin and Doctor An will not come today."

Several fellows also confirmed the apprentices' movements: "Others also went to the street to celebrate, we can pay homage to King Ming!"

When they said the last few words, their brows were clearly devout. Shopkeeper Sun nodded, and took out a delicate and small wooden statue from the hidden compartment of the medicine cabinet with his own hands, and put it in front of the stage.

At first glance, the wooden statue looked like an ordinary Buddha statue, two feet tall, with a dignified appearance and kindness, but the color was slightly weird, with one black and one white hands, and four strange lines on the Buddha statue.

Black and white are the opposites of the two schools of light and darkness that coincide with Manichaeism. Through the struggle from light to darkness, from darkness to light, it restores the balance of light and darkness that existed independently when the world was not opened in the beginning. Pure light, free from any evil.

The four-stripe road is the four powers of tranquility, light, strength, and wisdom bestowed by King Ming to mortals, and it is also the asylum that believers can pray for.

At this time, when other people in Bianjing were offering sacrifices to their ancestors, Mingzun disciples were also offering sacrifices to King Ming. Shopkeeper Sun brought five or six believers he had developed himself, and bowed down in front of the statue of King Ming, muttering in his mouth, saying different things. His prayer: "May the King of Ming give my family the power of light, be free from disease and disaster, and enjoy longevity forever..." "May the King of Ming grant my son the power of wisdom, be named on the gold list, and honor the ancestors..."

Compared with the leisurely "Quietness" and "Strength" who is good at martial arts, "Brightness" and "Wisdom" are more favored by ordinary people, especially shopkeeper Sun. Thinking of his youngest son, he finally begged for Songyang The number of admissions to the academies is one of the top eight academies in the world. If you can get the blessing of King Ming and pass the Jinshi exam, you will be willing to ask him to pay more money.

But when he thought of this, shopkeeper Sun couldn't help showing a gloomy look on his brows.

Recently, Dr. Lin spends less time in the medical center, and Dr. An no longer attends consultations every day. I heard that he went to another academy also named after Sui An.

And without these two, especially Dr. Lin, who sees doctors very quickly, the income of the medical center has dropped sharply, and the money enshrined in the teaching has suddenly decreased. Angry and anxious.

"Wow—"

Just as he was thinking about how to get the two doctors to do their jobs properly and restore the clinic's income to the level of the previous few months, there was a sudden noise outside.

Shopkeeper Sun hurriedly got up and put the statue of King Ming back into the cabinet, while the clerk tiptoed to the window and looked out.

After a while, they relaxed: "So it's thieves patrolling the streets!"

Shopkeeper Sun breathed a sigh of relief, thinking of the last time he patrolled the street as a thief from Wuyou Cave and was beaten to death by angry people, he said firmly: "Wuyou Cave can only be cleared if King Ming opens his eyes. This time it must be King Ming's punishment again. Let the thief be caught!"

As soon as the words fell, the faces of the guys became strange: "Did you hear the shout of the policeman?" "Listen... I heard... The one who was arrested and patrolling the street is a member of my sect!"

Shopkeeper Sun's face changed drastically, and he went to the window to listen in three steps at a time. Sure enough, he heard the fast-track archers from the Kaifeng government office shouting to the people on both sides: "Today, the thief of Mingzun Sect has been captured, patrol the streets to show the public! Show off in the street!"

"I teach my disciples, how could they be captured by the Kaifeng government office under the protection of King Ming?"

Shopkeeper Sun couldn't believe it at first, and then his facial features twisted: "Ming Wang will definitely send down divine punishment to punish these sinners!"

The faces of the guys were even more ugly, mainly because the rabbit died and the fox was sad. They didn't want to be one of the people being patrolled, and subconsciously looked at the medicine cabinet, for fear that the statue of King Ming would be found.

Shopkeeper Sun actually had fears, but the anger of being offended by the gods in his heart overwhelmed his worries about his own safety, and he said through gritted teeth, "The disciples are all brothers and sisters. They are suffering. How can we hide?"

After finishing speaking, he pushed the door open and walked towards the street under the admiring gaze of a group of guys.

Whenever there is a parade, whether it is a good Jinshi parade to celebrate or a bad prisoner to parade, there will be a huge crowd. In addition, today is the winter solstice, and the crowds on the street are crowded here.

When shopkeeper Sun joined the crowd, the team of escorting prisoners could not be seen, only the people around could hear the comments: "Why are these Mingzun disciples dressed so strangely?" "Yes, all of them have loose robes and Masks, how do you tell them apart?" "Did they also wear them like this before?"

Shopkeeper Sun was taken aback for a moment. Some members of the Mingzun sect wore toga to cover their bodies and prevent being caught, but masks were not worn. The high-ranking members of the sect would wear crowns of different colors, symbolizing King Ming's blessing.

"Could it be someone from my teaching?"

Thinking of this, he couldn't help smiling, and pushed forward.

The street patrol team walked very slowly, but was quickly overtaken by shopkeeper Sun, and then found that, as others said, the prisoners in the prison car were all wearing broad robes and cold masks. Surprisingly consistent.

The people next to him asked doubts for him: "These people can't even tell what they look like, are they Mingzun followers?" "Hmph! Judge Gongsun is gone, who knows if they will use innocent people to make up their numbers!" Hush! Watch out for the Imperial City Secretary!"

Confusion like this lasted until someone in the crowd suddenly yelled and got the answer: "Isn't this the court traitor 'Zuo Ming' who was wanted before?"

The common people, including shopkeeper Sun, were silent first, then whispered and made eye contact: "Yes!" "Yes, that's how 'Zuo Ming' is dressed!" "Why are there so many?"

When it comes to "Zuo Ming", one has to mention the rumors of mother-killing. Even though the recent Taixue fraud case is related to the justice of the imperial examination, which affects everyone's hearts even more, the memory of that incident cannot be easily forgotten.

But the strange thing is, why are "Zuo Ming" and Ming Zunjiao linked together, and there are so many people dressed in the same clothes?

The arresters who maintained order on both sides laughed and responded casually: "What's so strange about this, aren't these thieves all pretending to be whoever is stronger and more famous? Ming Zunjiao envies the strong, privately It's perfectly normal to pretend to be 'Sa Ming' underneath!"

The people around gave a groan, and showed sudden expressions: "I heard that the heroes of the rivers and lakes are also like this, whoever is famous will listen to him!" "I didn't expect that the Mingzun sect would be so fond of 'Zuo Ming'?"

Shopkeeper Sun's face froze, and he yelled in his heart: "Nonsense! Nonsense! I taught that King Youming came to the world and was blessed by the gods. What is 'Saming'? These people are not from my teaching at all, they are all pretending. !"

The loud voice questioned again: "Since this is the case, how do you know they are Mingzun followers?"

The catcher said with a smile: "Go to the front and look, the evidence of their arrest is piled up in front of the yamen!"

Hearing the words, shopkeeper Sun squeezed desperately to the other side, and saw that there were indeed a lot of boxes piled up in front of the Kaifeng government office, inside were robes and masks, and there was a tall statue of King Ming standing alone.

Before changing it, shopkeeper Sun would look at the statue with reverence, but now it is placed with those boxes, but it feels inexplicable irony.

People from the inner three floors and the outer three floors are also talking in low voices, and there are chuckles from time to time: "Today is an eye-opener, a group of cult disciples actually worship another traitor, and they all pretend to be someone else's in private." appearance?"

"Could 'Zuo Ming' be a member of Ming Zun's sect?"

"If it was true, I would have said it a long time ago! 'Zuo Ming' is a rebel who dares to shout and scold in front of the imperial city. Compared with this, Mingzun's disciples are nothing. They are hiding like the thieves in Wuyou Cave. It's just a rat, it's ridiculous!"

After all, this is Bianjing, and there are many people who go to Daxiangguo Temple to worship Buddha and people who practice faith in various avenues. Mingzun's belief, which was banned by the imperial court, is not deep-rooted, and such things happened, but they spontaneously gave birth to a kind of belief. Share pride.

Not only shopkeeper Sun, but also many Mingzun followers were attracted to this scene, staring blankly at this scene. Zhuo Wanli, under Lu Shinang's command, was also hiding in the crowd, listening to the other people's discussions with mixed expressions of shock and anger. I can't wait to tear their mouths apart.

But as there were more and more discussions and ridicules, and when he thought about the speed at which the news spread in Bianjing, his face changed drastically: "Brother, this time we are going to shoot ourselves in the foot with a rock!"

What comforted him was that not everyone believed the government's words: "These prisoners are all wearing masks, are they cult members?" "Yes, you won't catch others and pretend to be false!"

Since Judge Gongsun's incident happened, everyone's trust in the Kaifeng government office has dropped again and again, and voices of suspicion have been heard endlessly. But when the crowd had gathered enough, Ding Run walked out of the office. The local waved his hand: "Pull off their masks!"

The policemen stepped forward and took off their masks, the crowd suddenly fell silent, and the suspects immediately shut up.

Because the faces under the masks are all wrapped in cloth, but as long as they are sober people, their eyes are extremely fierce. The kind of determination that will set their bodies on fire once they regain their freedom is definitely not arresting innocent people and pretending to be a leader. Credit, but a member of a cult that was banned by the imperial court!

That's right!
Shopkeeper Sun, who was also sure, his legs went limp, and he stepped back trembling, because he even saw a few people he knew, and one of them was the envoy who accepted the enshrinement.

There is no need for the imperial court to prepare so many clothes and masks in order to slander the Mingzun Sect. Then it seems to be true. The brothers in the sect actually worship "Zuo Ming" so much because of the big headwind...

And his mind was muddled, and he seemed to hear a loud voice coming from afar: "...Yes, the murderer who killed the Tai student is very likely to be someone from the Mingzun Sect disguised as... These thieves are only afraid that the world will not be chaotic. , everyone must distinguish right from wrong... As the judge of Kaifeng Mansion, I, Ding Run, will judge the case impartially and bring these culprits to justice!"

"Clap clap clap!"

Amidst the applause from the common people, shopkeeper Sun returned to the hospital in a daze, and a group of guys surrounded him one after another: "Shopkeeper, what's the matter? Are those brothers from the sect? Or is it just random people from the government office?"

Shopkeeper Sun opened his mouth and let out a wry smile: "Those people are real, but they are not our brothers, they are not worthy of worshiping King Ming!"

Seeing that his face was as pale as paper, the guys didn't dare to speak, so they retreated to the side, and saw Shopkeeper Sun standing there in a daze for a moment, and suddenly said: "Those people are disloyal to King Ming! The statue of King Ming is not safe in the medical hall, it must be hidden ! Hide it!"

After all, he came to the medicine cabinet, picked up the statue of King Ming tremblingly, and then heard a "snap", the statue of King Ming hit the ground, and a hideous crack immediately appeared on the majestic face of the Buddha. bloom.

(End of this chapter)