Last night, he and Yu Pu drank until dawn. Xie Xiangcai, who was so drunk that he was confused day and night, slept in the bedroom until the afternoon before waking up. When he woke up, Yu Pu could no longer be found.
He straightened his clothes in the mirror in the room, only to realize that the clothes on his body had been changed by Yu Pu at some point. Now the young man was wearing a set of simple monk's clothes. There was no sense of disobedience and it was considered fresh and natural.
After Xie Xiangcai washed up properly, he softly opened the door and walked out, walked through the narrow corridor, and came to the main courtyard of Ankang Temple.
As the only temple in the Anqing Imperial City besides the imperial palace, Ankang Temple enjoys the city's incense. No matter it is hot summer, plum rain, or today's cold winter, the place is always crowded.
Xie Xiangcai spent these days living in the backyard of Puwu's house, which was isolated from the temple by a natural barrier. He had never heard or seen such a lively scene in the temple.
The young man took some incense from the crowd, walked to the incense burner, lit the incense in his hand as thick as his little finger, bowed to the Sifang Hall, and then inserted the incense into the giant cauldron in the center of the temple.
He looked around, trying to find Yu Pu's location. When he finally turned around, he noticed a girl wearing a feather satin chrysanthemum patterned flower jacket. She put her hands under her armpits to keep warm and kept breathing white air from her mouth.
The girl's eyes were fixed on Xie Xiangcai. When she saw the other person's gaze, her cheeks suddenly turned red, and then she started coughing uncontrollably.
As soon as she coughed, a personal maid squeezed out from the crowd. The maid supported the girl, kept stroking her back with her palms, and stretched out her hands to tighten her cotton-padded jacket.
The girl whispered something into the maid's ear, and the maid looked up at Xie Xiangcai in the crowd.
Xie Xiangcai didn't know why, so he could only smile and nod at the two of them.
"Miss, is this the young man you saw on the street that day? Why is he wearing monk's clothes?"
"I don't know...but this look is unmistakable."
The girl's pale cheeks were slightly red. She shyly grabbed a corner of the maid's sleeve and hurriedly led her towards a main hall.
The maid led the girl to kneel in front of the Buddha statue of Medicine King Bodhisattva. They kowtowed together and murmured some words.
"The Medicine King Bodhisattva, please bless my young lady to recover from tuberculosis as soon as possible. My young lady must be safe... And Bodhisattva, please bless my young lady to find a suitable husband. The little monk that the young lady pointed out to me today is quite handsome. , it’s a pity that he is a monk. Bodhisattva, if my lady likes it, can you let the young monk return to secular life..."
The girl listened to the nonsense of the maid next to her and said softly, "Ming Liu, what are you talking about?"
The maid named Ming Liu smiled and helped her young lady to stand up, "Miss, our Liu family pays a lot of incense money every month. These little wishes will surely come true, right?"
Miss Liu Jiasan, who has always been weak in body, covered her mouth and chuckled. After a moment, she looked a little lonely again and murmured to herself, "It would be great if there really was a Bodhisattva..."
Ming Liu quickly reached out to cover the third lady's mouth, and said with a little fear, "Miss, how can you say these words in the temple?"
Outside the main hall, Xie Xiangcai looked at the two people whispering in front of the Buddha statue with some curiosity. He glanced at the Medicine King Bodhisattva statue enshrined in the hall and understood.
"Eight Young Master, are you awake?"
While Xie Xiangcai was deep in thought, a big hand patted his shoulder.
He turned his head, and Yu Pu was standing behind him.
The young man smiled slightly, cupped his hands towards Yu Pu, then pointed at the girl and the maid in the hall, and asked each other, "Master Yu Pu, who is this girl?"
Yu Pu identified her and said, "That's the third young lady of the Liu family in Anqing City. What's her name... oh oh oh, her name is Liu Wanxiang. What, do you know her?"
Xie Xiangcai shook his head, "Never seen it?"
Yu Pu chuckled, "Is it possible that it was love at first sight?"
The young man blushed slightly, "What are you talking about? I have a girl I like!"
Yu Pu laughed loudly, then calmed down and sighed, "The third young lady of the Liu family has a serious lung disease. The family has spent nearly a million taels of silver praying to Buddha for treatment, but there is still no progress."
Xie Xiangcai's face froze when he heard this and nodded slightly.
It makes sense to sprinkle silver when curing a disease, or to make offerings to the Buddha, but it has no effect.
Yu Pu continued, "When I checked Miss Liu Jiasan's pulse, her pulse was extremely weird, as cold as an ice cellar. The blood in her body was on the verge of being completely frozen, and the time before being frozen was getting shorter and shorter. Her condition has become worse in the past few years. It seems to be getting worse, and the number of times I go out is getting less and less.”
Xie Xiangcai sighed and had no choice but to pray for him in his heart, hoping that his condition would improve.
People often offer incense, and they all ask for the Buddha statue on the table, and they also believe in their hearts that there are gods three feet above their heads.
The young man clenched his fists and couldn't help but wonder.
Where is the spirit?
Master Yu Pu said that if there is a Buddha in the human heart, then there will be Buddhas in the world; if a person has a Zen mind, then all things will be saved.
If this is the case, what about practice?
If you have good intentions and face suffering, how can you make progress and how can you retreat?
The young man thought again.
Why do you care about people who have nothing to do with you? Why do you care when there is nothing involved?
Yu Pu, who was standing by, seemed to notice the young man's distress. He patted the young man on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Young man, why bother asking for trouble? Take action when you can. When you can't do anything, you might as well leave it alone. In your heart, you should first have a clear breeze, a bright moon, and a beautiful woman, and then worry about the rise and fall of honor and disgrace. Relax your brows, frowning too much will make you look ugly!"
Xie Xiangcai nodded, but the knot in his heart was not yet untied.
There is a lot of blood in my chest, and I can't bear to see the coldness of the world.
Yu Pu sighed softly and said nothing.
After offering incense in front of Medicine King Bodhisattva, Liu Wanxiang and Ming Liu walked out of the hall holding each other's arms, passing by the young man sweeping the floor silently.
Liu Wanxiang paused and turned to look at the young man.
The boy also stopped and looked up at the girl.
The girl stretched out her hand to stop the maid beside her, bent slightly towards the young man, and said a blessing.
The young man dropped his broom and bowed, clasping his fists.
"My little daughter Liu Wanxiang has met my little master."
Liu Wanxiang, whose pale cheeks were extremely red and whose voice sounded like a mosquito, added something after thinking for a moment.
"I'm so lucky to have met my little master."
Seeing that Liu Wanxiang mistook him for the master in the temple, the young man scratched his head in embarrassment. After thinking for a moment, he said, "I just heard Master Yu Pu talking about you. I thank you, Xiangcai, from... Qianquzhou."
Liu Wanxiang curiously looked at Xie Xiangcai's case. When a pair of autumn eyes glanced at the other party's face, he dodged intentionally or unintentionally.
She nodded slightly, her bun slightly disheveled.
The maid beside him remained silent knowingly.
Xie Xiangcai once again cupped his hands, took a long breath, and spoke slowly, with a soft tone.
"Miss Wanxiang, the weather is getting cooler, so put on more clothes. The world is beautiful, and in a few months the warblers will fly and the grass will grow again. If you stick to it, it will be spring."
The young man's gentle voice reached Liu Wanxiang's ears, like fairy music, and his ears were clear and clear.
On the side, Yu Pu put his hands together and said "Amitabha".
The world is bustling and passing by.
The word "care" means thinking about someone.
Even if we meet some people by chance, a word can turn into thousands of rivers and mountains. When we think of them from time to time, our eyebrows will be clear, and our ears and eyes will be clear.
