Chapter 299: White-robed Bodhisattva Shi Lingyuan
Chapter 299: White-robed Bodhisattva Shi Lingyuan
The setting sun spreads out, and the evening glow shines obliquely.
Four black boats were moored on the Xiangjiang River. As dusk approached, the grass market in front of the pier gradually dispersed, leaving only two or three families whose business was really bad. They were still holding on to their last hope and waiting anxiously.
"Is the Third Young Master okay?"
"It's just one cup. I've slept for a few hours. I should be fine."
"I don't know I'm drunk in the spring breeze and autumn moon, and I wake up in the building with white hair. It's true. The name of the wine is 'Years Wrong'. If you get drunk like this, you will naturally miss a lot of time in your life and many beautiful scenes in your life."
The young guard felt a little emotional, and at the same time, he felt very regretful that he had come to the South Country but did not dare to experience the "wrong time". However... when the Third Young Master was drunk, someone served him medicine and supported him. When he was drunk, it was a good thing that he was not thrown on the roadside like a dead dog.
The middle-aged guard noticed the regret in his tone and said with a smile, "That bottle of wine was barely touched, why didn't you drink it? You've practiced boxing for a few years and you're in good health. You shouldn't get drunk after just one glass, right?"
"That kind of wine is not something I can drink."
The young guard shook his head slightly, but thought of the two people drinking by the window, their heroic spirit and generosity, and he couldn't help but yearn for them.
People say that the world is free, but he can only serve others.
It is said that warriors are brave and fearless, but they themselves cannot even lift a glass of wine.
When he was young, he was noticed by a boxer, who praised him for his "strong body and great strength". Amid the envious gazes of his peers, he enrolled in the Xique Martial Arts School and was fortunate enough to receive instruction from the old boxer Sun Siwang. The boy grew up listening to stories about heroes in the martial arts world and thought he was the one chosen by fate.
Until I left the martial arts gym and stepped into the martial arts world, all my dreams were shattered silently in the face of a few pieces of silver, like a bubble that had never existed in the first place.
"Hey, the young master is awake!"
The boat was swaying and the evening breeze was cool. The man remembered that he was carried onto the boat in a daze. When he was fully awake, he was already on the river. He pressed his forehead with both hands and rubbed it tightly. He felt as if his head was hit hundreds of times with a sledgehammer, "bang bang bang", and it hurt like a needle.
"The hangover-relief soup at Linjiang Tower doesn't seem to work. I'll find a prescription from a pharmacy after we get ashore."
The two guards of Guajian Villa were worried when they saw that their young master was in a daze. They were afraid that this eldest son, who had made the ancestral graves of the Fu family smoke, and the new top scholar in the imperial examination, would ruin his brain with one glass of strong liquor.
Fu Xiaojie glared at the two of them and said in a hoarse voice, "What's the point of saying... these things now? You knew that I don't drink, so why didn't you stop me?"
The two guards looked at each other in silence and could only apologize.
The Third Young Master probably has too many beautiful articles in his mind, and he often loses his memory like this and then blames others.
There is no way, since they are making money from the "humiliation fee" from Guajian Villa.
"what!"
Fu Xiaojie suddenly laughed again.
"what happened?"
"Look."
The guard followed Fu Xiaojie's gaze and saw a boat carrying the Righteous League about five or six meters away. A woman with a sword was sitting on the bow, looking back at the Linjiang Tower with a dim look in her eyes, and it was unknown what she was thinking about. Next to her was Linghu Chong, who was still sleeping soundly.
The two guards looked at each other, really not understanding why the Third Young Master was so happy. The engaged sister would rather ride on the same boat with other men than pay attention to him who was also drunk. Is this something to be happy about?
Is he mad?
"Boom!"
The four black boats docked one after another, and the people from the Zhengqi League who stayed at the ferry drove and rode horses to greet them.
"It's heavy enough."
"Those who practice martial arts have strong muscles and bones, so it's natural."
Four big men hurriedly carried Linghu Chong out of the boat.
Fu Xiaojie walked to Qiu Daqi, looked at the drunk and sleeping man, and shook his head slightly.
"He's drunk like this, and he's still the chief disciple of Huashan Sect? How did I say it? Drinking is not about how much you can drink, but how good your drinking is. If you have a certain amount of alcohol but no good taste, no matter how much you drink, you're just drinking like a cow. This young hero Linghu Chong..."
"No wonder!"
Qiu Daqi chuckled and interrupted him.
Fu Xiaojie asked curiously, "What's the wonder?"
"Brother Shi has a good drinking habit. He gets drunk after just one glass."
The smile on Fu Xiaojie's face froze, and the sense of superiority he had for waking up earlier than Linghu Chong suddenly disappeared.
Qiu Daqi ignored him and asked the brothers of the Righteous Alliance to carry Linghu Chong into the carriage they were riding in. She then climbed onto the horse and stared blankly at the river surface under the golden sunset and the tall building overlooking the river.
Also, there is the song Linjiangxian.
"A pot of wine brings joy to our reunion... Are you talking about me?"
"The green mountains remain, the sunsets turn red... The world is far away, the years pass by, I don't know when we will meet again?"
The woman with the sword pulled the reins and turned the horse's head. When she looked back, there seemed to be countless emotions flowing in her eyes.
When Fu Xiaojie saw the drunk man sleeping in Qiu Daqi's carriage, and she would rather ride a horse than ride in the same carriage with him, he immediately felt great hostility towards Linghu Chong.
"Damn it!"
He looked at the woman's back with a cold look in his eyes and slammed the curtain down.
The Righteous Alliance's men gradually walked away, and the dock became quiet again.
"such a pity!"
The fortune teller in hemp clothes withdrew his gaze, not knowing what he was regretting. He turned to look at the fisherman who was packing up his gear. The bald-headed turtle still could not be sold. It lay on the ground, motionless, occasionally poking its head out to look at the fortune teller next to it.
"What are you regretting, sir?"
asked the old fisherman.
He originally hated this kind of talkative charlatan and deliberately opposed him and tried to cover his mouth. However, throughout the day, the fortune teller in hemp clothes repeatedly avoided him and made the fisherman feel embarrassed.
"It's a pity that your spirit turtle has not been sold, and no one is interested in my divine divination."
The fortune teller in hemp clothes answered with a smile, and stood up to tighten his loose belt a little more.
The fisherman poured the water out of the big wooden tray and shook his head, saying, "Maybe tomorrow, you and I can both have a good business tomorrow."
The fortune teller smiled and said, "Tomorrow will have its own destiny, and today will have its own guests. Let's wait and see. The destined one will come. Maybe you and I...will be able to solve our dilemma."
"It's getting dark, where are the guests coming from?"
The fisherman looked at the setting sun on the river, very skeptical, but the fortune teller acted calmly and with the demeanor of a master, as if he was serious. He looked at the giant turtle he had caught, which weighed hundreds of pounds and was slippery. It was indeed very troublesome to move it around, so he couldn't help asking, "Are you really accurate?"
The fortune teller in hemp clothes smiled lightly and said only three words.
"Believe and it will work!"
As soon as the words were spoken, a figure was seen walking along the river bank.
"Sir, you are so accurate!"
The old fisherman was overjoyed.
The fortune teller in hemp clothes smiled but said nothing.
But when the figure came closer, the old fisherman's face changed immediately. He thought to himself that it was bad luck and it seemed that someone was trying to talk nonsense again. He quickly put the big wooden basin in his hand on the back of the turtle.
"Young Master, please stay!"
The little nun was walking quietly along the river bank. When she heard the shouting, she looked towards the dock. After confirming again and again that it was her who was being called, she hesitated for a moment and finally walked over.
The old fisherman was disdainful and thought to himself, "It's shameful to cheat people out of their money."
"Old sir, are you calling me?" The fortune teller in hemp clothes raised his head and looked at her carefully.
"Little Master..."
The little nun was pretty and elegant, with a beautiful complexion. She was only sixteen or seventeen years old. She was covered in a loose white monk's robe, but it could not hide her graceful and elegant figure. When she saw the old man staring at her, she thought something was wrong and looked at herself.
The fortune teller in hemp clothes suddenly said: "You are looking for someone"
"Hey!"
Before the little nun could say anything, the old fisherman couldn't help but laugh.
"Ahem... the wind in the river is really strong, ahem..."
The old fisherman felt a little embarrassed, so he turned his face away and covered his throat with a cough.
I swear to God, I didn't mean to mess things up this time. It's just that the fortune teller's words were too monotonous. He would say the same thing to almost everyone he met, "You are looking for someone", as if everyone in this world has someone to look for.
The little nun showed surprise on her face, obviously the other party was right.
The hemp-clothed fortune-teller said proudly: "Little Master, am I right?"
"I... I was looking for my senior sister. We went to Yunmo Street in Hengyang City to buy candles and incense. On the way back to the inn, we were accidentally separated by two carriages. My senior sister and her friends probably didn't notice that I was left behind, so they got separated. Old sir, have you seen my senior sister?"
The little nun was very honest. When asked questions by others, she wished she could turn her intestines out. Only the true Buddhist Pure Land could educate such a sincere disciple.
"Little Master, do you still remember the name of the inn you stayed in?"
"Remember, it's called Duren Inn. Old sir, have you seen my senior sister?"
The little nun looked at the sky which was about to turn dark, feeling a little anxious.
"I saw...your senior sister has returned to the Du Ren Inn, but they will soon come out of the inn and are looking for you. Don't walk around. Just stand here. It won't take long for them to find you."
The little nun was delighted and asked, "Really? It's that simple?"
The hemp-clothed fortune teller smiled and said, "It's that simple."
The little nun was very trusting. After hearing what he said, she was no longer in a hurry and just stood on the dock waiting stupidly.
The old fisherman should have left long ago, but his granddaughter was only fifteen or sixteen years old. He loved the little nun so much that she was so innocent that her internal organs were as transparent as glass. He was worried that this little nun, who was so simple that her internal organs were as transparent as glass, might be abducted and bought by the old fortune teller, so he delayed his departure on purpose.
"From the looks of it, little master, besides your senior sister, you are still looking for someone."
The fortune teller in sackcloth clothes looked at the little nun with a lewd look in his eyes, which was even more unscrupulous than when he looked at the drunkard who was carried onto the carriage. The old fisherman became alert and sat down on the upside-down wooden basin, refusing to move.
When the little nun heard this, her face changed slightly. She didn't want to admit it, but her master said that the most important precept of Buddhism is that monks should not tell lies, so she nodded.
The hemp-clothed fortune teller smiled slightly and said, "Young Master, do you want to know where that person is?"
The little nun widened her eyes in disbelief: "Old man, you... you even know this?"
"It's not me who knows, it's God who knows."
The little nun was immediately disappointed and whispered, "God knows, God knows, how can he tell me?"
The hemp-clothed fortune teller smiled and said, "This is the secret of heaven."
He took out a piece of yellow paper and a brush and handed them to the silly little nun.
"Write a word on paper."
She took the brush and asked, "What...what words?"
“Don’t think too much, that’s the first word that comes to your mind.”
The little nun was very obedient. She closed her eyes, and after a moment, she opened them again and picked up a pen to write a beautiful small character on the yellow paper.
"Lin?"
The hemp-clothed fortune teller's face was slightly solemn: "This word is really interesting, and extremely rare."
The little nun felt a little hopeful: "Old man, do you know who I'm looking for? Where is she... now?"
The old fisherman sat on a large wooden basin, took out his pipe, stuffed the tobacco into the copper pot, lit it with a half-burnt charcoal left over from the snack stand, took a few puffs, and wanted to see how he would make up a lie.
The fortune teller in hemp clothes remained silent. He felt that he had studied the principles of the I Ching and understood the world, and knew a thing or two about the world, not to mention fortune-telling for others. However, the ordinary word "Lin" on the paper seemed to be shrouded in a layer of fog, and he could only grope in the fog. This was something he had never experienced before.
His fate was as strange as that of the young girl in green who changed her fate with a single leaf when he met her in Fuzhou.
"Lin means jade, or green jade."
He asked tentatively while observing the other person's expression.
"The green represents the East, and jade represents the most noble. Could it be that the person you are looking for is in the East, and his status is higher than that of thousands of people?"
The little nun shook her head slightly, thought for a while, and then said, "I don't know where she is. I haven't seen her for many years. What does she look like now? What is her identity? I don't know anything."
"Hey! This is difficult..."
The old fisherman laughed twice in a mocking tone and knocked the copper pipe on the large wooden basin, making a "dong dong" sound.
The fortune teller in hemp clothes ignored him and continued to look closely at the word "Lin" on the yellow paper.
"Wood represents vitality and gives birth to a forest."
"The person that Master is looking for, could it be your mother?"
The little nun's face suddenly changed. According to the rules, a Buddhist disciple should only have Buddha in his heart and not his parents. However... she really couldn't let go of it. She kept thinking about it but couldn't say it out loud. As time went on, she felt that she had failed to live up to her master's teachings and became a little foolish and silly.
"Old man, do you... do you know... where she is?"
The fortune teller in hemp clothes looked at it for a long time, but the fortune in his eyes was like a tangled mess and he couldn't make any sense of it. He sighed and had to give up. He deduced from the world and said a few words of comfort.
"Lin can also be Yusheng, a personal item that can be felt but not seen. The person that the little master is looking for...if you say she is far away, she is far away in the sky; if you say she is near, she is right beside you. Maybe she is always around you, but you just don't notice it."
The old fisherman nodded slightly. These words sounded like human words.
The feelings of all parents in the world are the same. Unless they are desperate, who would be willing to send their children to become a monk?
This little nun was ordained at a young age, and probably her parents had a shallow fate. What the fortune teller said about the two being far away in the sky and close at hand was probably just words that he could not bear to express.
"Far away in the sky, yet close at hand."
The little nun muttered to herself and looked around, as if she was thinking about the meaning of these two sentences.
"Master, I have spent so much effort to fulfill your wish. You should pay me for the divination, right? Three taels of silver. I won't pay you back."
The little nun woke up as if from a dream. She searched her pockets but only found seven copper coins, which were used for rituals. She could not spend money in the sect and had her master and senior sisters to take care of her outside. She seldom handled money, so she could only hand over the only copper coins she had.
The hemp-clothed fortune teller sighed: "This is not enough!"
The old fisherman was knocking his copper pipe on the wooden basin, and he stood up and said unhappily, "Sir, that's enough. You can use these seven copper coins to buy two donkey meat biscuits to fill your stomach. Why do you have to embarrass a monk?"
The fortune teller in sackcloth clothes glanced at the old fisherman, smiled slightly, and suddenly pointed at the big wooden basin.
"Little Master, I don't want the money either. There is a century-old turtle under the wooden basin. It is not easy to grow. You go and ask this kind fisherman to release the turtle. This merit will be shared by the three of us, and it will also be counted as my fortune-telling fee. What do you think?"
"Dog-foot fortune teller, stop talking nonsense. Where did this magical turtle come from..."
The old fisherman stood up and forgot about the wooden basin under his butt. Just as he was about to cover it, he saw the old turtle with black armor lift up the basin, first put out its front feet, then its head, and slowly crawled out, going straight towards the little nun in white.
The fortune teller in hemp clothes thought to himself, "The turtle senses that he really has the bones of a bodhisattva. He has great fortune and luck, and will be auspicious when in trouble. But his six senses are not pure, so it is difficult for him to see his true self. I don't know whether this is a blessing or a curse?"
I had a root canal treatment and it hurt for two days.
(End of this chapter)