Chapter 22: Cousin Zhu Yan (1/2)
“Those fellow sure react fast!”
Wang Chong frowned.
The response from the Yao Clan came faster than he thought.
“Those two people had been following us ever since we left the house. I wasn’t able to confirm it back then, but I am sure that they are here for us now.
Meng Long came closer and whispered with an affirmative voice.
Wang Chong didn’t say a word, but a storm had already broken out in his mind.
In the Vast Crane Pavilion, he and his little sister had wrecked Yao Guang Yi’s plan. Wang Chong had tried his best to cover up the matter so as to not incur anyone’s suspicion.
However, Yao Guang Yi was a wily old fox and he was wary of everything. Could it be that his activities in the Vast Crane Pavilion had incurred the other party’s suspicion? That’s why he commanded Yao Feng to see what he is up to?
If that was true, then this wasn’t a good sign.
Wang Chong did not wish to attract their attention so early on!
“Masters, do you know scriptures?”
A thought flashed through Wang Chong’s mind. He abruptly turned around and asked the two Sindhi monks.
“Scriptures?”
The two monks were astonished by Wang Chong’s question. Even so, they replied his question honestly:
“We do know a little bit of it.”
What kind of joke is this? If a Sindhi monk didn’t know Buddhist scriptures, there wouldn’t be a single monk in the world who knew scriptures. Wang Chong’s question was equivalent to asking whether a hen could lay eggs.
“Great! Can I trouble the two masters to chant a line then?”
Wang Chong clapped his hands together and grinned.
The two foreign monks found the situation ludicrous, they were unable to comprehend the significance of Wang Chong’s actions. Even so, after the deal regarding the Hyderabad ores was confirmed, they felt as though a burden was lifted from their hearts.
It was only a small matter to chant a portion of the scripture for Wang Chong.
“Of course we can.”
The two answered frankly. The immediately started to chant a portion of the Sanskrit scriptures for Wang Chong.
…
“What is that lad up to?”
“Is he joking? He left home so early in the morning just to find these two monks to chant scriptures for him?”
Upon hearing the Sanskrit chanting from the streets, by the alley, the two Yao Residence guards stared at one another in shock. They felt as though they had been toyed with.
Wang Chong had left home so secretively, so the two thought that he had received some important intelligence or so. Yet, it turned out that he was just looking for two foreign monks to chant scriptures for him.
This was too ridiculous!
The two of them were completely unable to understand how the thoughts of these rich scions worked.
“What did I say? I said that this lad would never change, and gongzi had overestimated him! See, I am right! Take a look for yourself, is this lad even worth our effort? Our entire morning had been wasted on him!”
The Yao Residence guard with a scar on his face was filled with resentment. Seeing Wang Chong chuckling with joy from afar, he felt his anger surging through him.
“That may not be the case. Master and gongzi probably have their own intentions.”
The other guard said awkwardly.
“Intentions? Heh! You mean this? If I were to say, master and gongzi are simply making a big fuss out of nothing. He is just a kid, what kind of problems can he cause?”
The scarred guard scoffed:
“Besides, shouldn’t we follow his younger sister instead? Weren’t you at the Vast Crane Pavilion as well? The one that was truly impressive was his younger sister, and she should be the one we should follow. that fellow was only a sidekick then.”
The other guard opened his mouth to refute him, but he found himself unable to come up with an argument at all:
“Let’s just watch on for a little longer. Perhaps we might discover something else about him!”
“Discover? Discover what? It is enough wasting the entire morning on him, do you still want to waste an afternoon as well? If you want to wait, go ahead. In any case, I won’t be accompanying you.”
The scarred guard spouted impatiently.
The other guard opened his mouth only to close it again. He glanced into the distance and saw that the two foreign monks had already finished their chanting. Wang Chong bowed, invited the two foreign monks onto his carriage and left in the direction of the Wang Family Residence.
It looked like he was prepared to invite the two foreign monks to his home to chant!
“Sigh!”
The other guard sighed and finally gave up:
“Let’s forget it then! Gongzi had asked us to report all news to him as soon as possible, so let’s return to the residence to report this matter to him.”
As they spoke, they silently turned around and left.
“Gongzi, they have left.”
On the carriage, Meng Long released his grip on the hidden window at the back of the carriage and turned his head to say to Wang Chong. He had surveyed the surroundings for a long time and confirmed that the duo had not followed them.
“Great, let’s head to the Court of Judicial Review now!”
As though expecting this scenario, Wang Chong smiled.
Xiyuyu!
The horse neighed and pulled the carriage in a u-turn. Then, turning at a cross junction onto another path, it headed straight for the Central Plains Court of Judicial Review.
…
The Court of Judicial Review was in charge of preceding over criminal cases and settling contractual disputes in the capital.
However, the most important use of this location was to bear testimony to a contract. Any contract that was created here was extremely binding. The contracts made here were almost equivalent to being endorsed by the entire Great Tang Empire.
As such, no one dared to break the contract easily.
For many businessmen who were not well-acquainted with one another, it was the best to sign and file their contracts here. In fact, the first thing that many of the foreign merchants from Abbasid Caliphate, Western Region, Turkic Khaganate, Ü-Tsang, Silla and such countries upon reaching the capital was to head to the Court of Judicial Review to prepare their documents.
There were too many rich merchants in the capital and Wang Chong was worried that some other hiccups may occur if he were to delay the matter. Thus, he hurriedly pulled the two monks to the Court of Judicial Review to sign the contract.
To the two Sindhi monks, the Court of Judicial Review bearing witness to the contract meant an additional layer of security for them.
…
“Hu! I’m finally done!”
Wang Chong shook the contract in his hand as he walked out of the Court of Judicial Review. His heart felt a lot lighter than it did before.