Daily Intelligence System: Don't Kill Me, Honey!

Chapter 1897: Chapter 444: Zhang Dingbian: What? Fang Guozhen Is Your Sworn Brother? (3)

"Oh, I’d like to hear the details."

Fang Guozhen looked at Chen Jie and asked.

Chen Jie said: "Brother entered the city with such fanfare today to attract the attention of the court, did I guess right?"

Fang Guozhen said: "Hehe, that’s right, but this is all on the surface. You can see it, Tuotuo can naturally see it too. What else can you perceive?"

Chen Jie said: "You and Brother didn’t act together, clearly you’ve divided your tasks on the road; now you’re in the open, so Brother must be in hiding. One in the light and one in the dark, am I right?"

Fang Guozhen said: "Right, right, but that’s not hard to guess. You know I entered the capital with Old Liu, guessing we’re working one openly and one covertly is no big deal."

"Tell me, why do we need one in the open and one in the dark?"

Fang Guozhen deliberately tested Chen Jie.

Chen Jie smiled and said: "There are only two reasons."

"Oh."

Fang Guozhen responded with an "oh" and then looked at Chen Jie and said: "Third Brother, don’t tell me you’re out of wine."

Chen Jie quickly took out a bottle, and Fang Guozhen took a sip and said: "Tell me about those two points."

"First, having one in the light and one in the dark makes things more convenient. Some things you can’t do openly, but Brother in the dark can, and you can draw the court’s attention."

"And the second?"

"The second is, if you never come out, how could Tuotuo confidently execute his plan? If he doesn’t execute his plan, how can he expose his flaw, and if there is no flaw, how can we find the Little Ming King?"

"Instead of letting him guard against us, it’s better for us to deliberately show a weakness, so that he can execute things confidently. Meanwhile, Brother Liu in the dark can seize Tuotuo’s weakness and respond accordingly, am I right?"

Fang Guozhen sipped his wine and said: "Haha, Jiu Si, Jiu Si, no wonder Old Peng recommended you so strongly, you’re indeed clever."

"Old Liu’s plan was completely seen through by you."

Fang Guozhen said, at that moment Chen Jie spoke: "Do you believe your plan is foolproof?"

Fang Guozhen said: "It may not be foolproof, but it’s considered a relatively good plan, isn’t it?"

Chen Jie said: "Do you think Tuotuo can see through your plan?"

Upon hearing this, Fang Guozhen furrowed his brows.

At this moment, at the Great Buddha Temple.

A person slowly came to a guest room, which was very small and simply furnished, with just a bed, yet it accommodated the Prime Minister of the Empire, Tuotuo.

The living and dining conditions here couldn’t be compared to those at the Prime Minister’s Mansion at all.

Not to mention the mansion itself, the house was very spacious, furnished with various precious rosewood furniture, any one of them could be traded for several thousand taels of Silver, even tens of thousands of taels.

The bed was made of Golden Rattan Wood, topped with a Heavenly Silkworm silk blanket, very soft, and every night, there would be a Warm Feet Maid to serve.

What is a Warm Feet Maid? It’s a sixteen or seventeen-year-old maiden, stripping down and entering the master’s blanket. When the master comes in, they put their cold feet into the maiden’s arms, where she uses her body heat to warm those icy feet, that’s a Warm Feet Maid.

And look at what is here for sleeping—a hard bed with just a plain cotton blanket, not even a teacup in the room, to drink water one needs to go to a distant kitchen.

If you want to drink tea, that’s even more impossible.

Yet Tuotuo dared not utter a word of complaint because this was the domain of Living Buddha Basiba, everything here followed Basiba Living Buddha’s instructions.

The house of Basiba Living Buddha is similarly furnished, all the houses in the temple are of this size. Basiba’s doctrine was: "Do not seek excess from external causes, do not overly adhere!"

Because of this command by Basiba Living Buddha, the entire temple shared this environment; not even Tuotuo, nor the current Emperor, would dare stay in any other kind of accommodation here and express any discontent.

Furthermore, the meals were even worse, Tuotuo arrived at noon and ate only one meal a day, which was cabbage stewed tofu.

You must know, at Tuotuo’s Prime Minister’s Mansion, things like Swallow’s Nest were regarded as merely mouth rinse, and all sorts of delicacies were available, but here tofu with cabbage was even a privilege considering his position as Prime Minister; others might just get cabbage soup.

No one dared to find fault because everyone in the temple, including the Living Buddha, ate this dish, no one could argue that they were superior to the Living Buddha.

Moreover, due to the temple’s stipulations, once you enter the Great Buddha Temple, any outside food is prohibited from being brought in.

So, you say you’re craving, and secretly bring in a roast chicken; once discovered, you can forget about entering the Great Buddha Temple ever again.

The conditions can be harsh, yet many still come to the Great Buddha Temple—elites and commoners alike, come in droves.

But the temple treats everyone equally, regardless of your royalty or common status, only ninety-nine people are received a day, not one more.

Even if the Emperor arrives, there’s no special treatment; such audacious temple rules, if they were elsewhere, would be overturned, but in the Great Buddha Temple, everyone agrees it’s right this way.

Not currying favor, not fearing hardship, this is what the Great Buddha Temple should embody.

This is what the Living Buddha’s place should be.

Moreover, at the Great Buddha Temple, there’s a benefit: no matter how much enmity you’ve stirred outside, once you enter the temple’s doors, as long as the temple’s monk is willing to shelter you, even if you’ve assassinated a king, no one dares to touch you within the temple.