The seventh year of Hongzhi (1494), fifth month. Great Ming, Ningbo Harbor.
Blue bricks joined white tiles, and layers of shops and houses spread along the harbor, laying out three hundred dazzling storefronts. Three rivers gathered at the river mouth, and wealthy "Mingzhou" stretched beside river and sea into thirty li of bustling human smoke and fire. And at the end of this flourishing age's prosperity stood King Ashoka Temple, over a thousand years old, quietly rising in Ningbo's eastern suburbs. At this moment, the morning bell was echoing through the secluded woods.
Clang! Clang!...
Shi Wende knelt before the Buddha statue, lowered his head, and worshiped for a while, silently murmuring something. Then he rose to his feet. The servant beside him placed the black gauze cap of a juren on his head, while another servant presented the abbot with a weighty token of devout sincerity. After that, amid the abbot's "earnest" chanting of scripture, the three left the temple and walked straight toward the wooden post where the horses were tied at the gate.
"Master? Would you like some refreshments?..."
"No need. I've just paid homage to the Buddha. Borrowing this trace of Zen and Buddhist aura, it's just right to go meet the Provincial Administration Commissioner. His detached residence is near this Buddhist temple; he's one who delights in bodhi. When we meet, if I mention a thing or two about what I saw and heard at the Buddhist temple this morning, it should add at least a little closeness, and make it easier to bring up that matter..."
"Ah! Master sees clearly! Your wisdom has all been consecrated by Mazu!..."
"Haaha!..."
Just that one neither-fish-nor-fowl piece of flattery exposed the true color of the Chongming Shi Clan. Shi Wende smiled and mounted his horse, keeping an