Chapter 63: Chapter 62: Building a Temple!
The Empress was stunned. Following Yu Nianzhao’s gaze, she looked down at her own belly. In an instant, a thought flashed through her mind. She covered her mouth with excitement, and her eyes reddened.
With a look of anticipation and fear, she asked Yu Nianzhao anxiously, "Is... is it true?"
Yu Nianzhao blinked her beautiful eyes, speaking mysteriously, "It’s too early to talk about these things now. Just wait for a while longer, and you’ll know."
She then pulled out a talisman and handed it to the Empress. "This is a peace charm. Empress, you can carry it with you for safety and to ward off small misfortunes."
"Thank you, Zhaozhao." The Empress quickly reached out to take it, looking at Yu Nianzhao with eyes more tender than when she looked at Emperor Anqing. "Zhaozhao, meeting you is truly wonderful. I hope your words will help fulfill my heart’s desire."
She gently stroked her abdomen, and the glow of maternal radiance filled her eyes.
Since her first child was born and died prematurely, she had never conceived again.
As the mother of the nation with no heirs, she had been criticized by the ministers, and she was anxious. Yet even the Imperial Physicians couldn’t help, and despite continuously taking prescribed medicines, if not for meeting Yu Nianzhao, she feared she would remain childless, and she couldn’t help but feel grateful.
"I said the Empress’s Children Palace is illuminated, so you will surely have your wish fulfilled." Yu Nianzhao saw the Empress had the natural fate of a phoenix woman. Her Children Palace was originally obscured by a wandering spirit, but now it gleamed brilliantly after its rebirth.
"Empress, take good care of yourself. I’ll visit you in the palace again soon."
"Alright, you can come to visit me anytime." The Empress’s nose tinged with emotion as she waved goodbye to Yu Nianzhao.
After Yu Nianzhao left, the senior maid beside her excitedly asked, "Empress, was Princess Consort Su suggesting that you are pregnant? Should the old servant call an Imperial Physician for diagnosis now?"
The Empress had calmed down and waved her hand, saying, "No need. As Zhaozhao said, it’s still early in the pregnancy. We should avoid alerting those conspiring against me, who are lurking in the shadows. I must protect this child."
"It’s good that you think carefully, Empress." The senior maid was also overjoyed.
——
Yu Nianzhao’s visit to the palace was another fruitful endeavor. Seeing people from the palace bringing boxes of gold, silver, and jewels made Dongfang Chenyuan’s eyes widen.
"Princess Consort, did you go to the palace to make money again?" Dongfang Chenyuan rubbed his hands, grinning broadly.
"Sort of, the silver is still quite easy to earn."
"...Princess Consort, with the way you said it, I have nothing to argue. I can only say that for you, it’s easy to earn."
"By the way, Dongfang Chenyuan, do you know how much silver is needed to build a temple?" Yu Nianzhao wanted to quickly gather incense offerings.
"Build a temple?" Dongfang Chenyuan was stunned, "I don’t have experience in this either. I only know that temples like the ones on Five Balance Mountain cost about a million silver taels. Wait, Princess, why are you asking about this? Are you planning to build a temple?"
He glanced at Xie Jiuxiao, who slightly frowned, evidently unaware of this matter.
"Yes, I want to build a temple. It doesn’t need to be too large, just a hall with a golden statue. A smaller scale should suffice. The temple on Five Balance Mountain should be pretty big, right? A million silver taels is rather expensive."
Yu Nianzhao only had tens of thousands of taels, which was far from enough.
"Just a small temple with a golden statue? Then it’s not expensive." Yiu Renjian scratched his head and said, "I know about this; back in the countryside, people have built small temples. The land in rural areas isn’t expensive. You don’t even need ten thousand taels, at most a thousand taels. If in Shangjing, you’d have to double that, so maybe ten thousand taels will suffice."
"Just ten thousand taels?" Yu Nianzhao’s eyes lit up. "Then find me a place to build one. I have that amount."
"Zhaozhao, why are you building a temple? To place a Buddha statue?" Xie Jiuxiao asked curiously.
"Yes... but not quite!" Yu Nianzhao pointed at her own nose, smiling broadly. "I’m going to place my own golden Buddha statue."
"What?"
Dongfang Chenyuan and the others exclaimed in unison, staring at Yu Nianzhao with bewilderment.
Dongfang Chenyuan’s forehead was full of question marks, "Princess Consort, you’re planning to sculpt a golden Buddha statue of yourself? Why?"
"Gather incense offerings, of course." Yu Nianzhao looked exasperated, "Don’t you even understand that?"
"But... none of us have sculpted a golden Buddha statue of ourselves."
"Whether you do or not is none of my concern. Does it affect my sculpting a golden Buddha statue?"
"Well, not quite..." Dongfang Chenyuan was at a loss and didn’t know what to say.
In short, it’s just peculiar.
Dongfang Chenyuan looked eagerly at Xie Jiuxiao, hoping he might intervene.
Building a temple in Shangjing with Princess Consort Su’s golden Buddha statue was undeniably strange. Won’t it be criticized and mocked by others?
Xie Jiuxiao pondered for a moment before resolutely saying, "Listen to the Princess Consort. Mu Hongxuan, find someone to sculpt the golden Buddha statue. Yiu Renjian, locate a place to build the temple."
Mu Hongxuan and Yiu Renjian exchanged glances and agreed, "Yes, Prince!"
Dongfang Chenyuan bit his sleeve, his eyes seemingly saying, ’You’re spoiling her too much, Prince!’
Xie Jiuxiao glanced at him, "This silver is earned by the Princess Consort herself, so she can spend it as she wishes."
...Well, that’s true!
Dongfang Chenyuan wouldn’t admit he was envious!
"Is this silver enough? If the temple costs ten thousand taels, how much for the golden Buddha statue?" Yu Nianzhao had little concept of money, "My goal is to build my temples everywhere. The incense offerings shouldn’t just be concentrated in one place."
"The golden Buddha statue will also cost around ten thousand taels."
"Then there’s no problem. It’s quite affordable, so sculpt away!" Yu Nianzhao said grandly, "The grander my golden Buddha statue, the better."
"Princess Consort, this silver might all be used up, especially if we also need to equip incense burners and altar stands." Yiu Renjian calculated on his fingers.
"No worries. I earn money to spend it. Just get it done, and more silver will come to me naturally." Yu Nianzhao spent money like water, but earning it was as simple as eating for her.
She waved her hand and returned to her room to paint talismans.
"Peace charm, Exorcism Talisman, Beauty Talisman, Gathering Spirit Talisman... really, there’s everything."
After drawing talismans for half a day and exhausting quite some energy, Yu Nianzhao pulled Xie Jiuxiao and spent the night together. Only then did she feel refreshed, seeing the table covered with talismans. Her heart felt elated; these were her money, her future temple and golden statue!
"Princess Consort, there’s someone from the palace." Yiu Renjian reported from outside.
"Alright, I’ll be there right away." It should be someone coming to collect Beauty Talismans. Yu Nianzhao packed the talismans and went to meet them.