When Xiaodie reunited with Pianpian with crow and pepper.
Zhang San from Xianling Island had already settled down with Li Xiuyuan and the old woman. They had a quick dinner and the old woman went back to the house to rest.
There was only one bed in the wooden house. Li Xiuyuan let the old woman sleep on the bed. He asked Zhang San for a straw mat and slept by the door. He thought that he would make a larger recliner when he had some free time.
The autumn night is slightly cool, and the sea breeze blows, but it is not as cold as Tianshui Town.
Li Xiuyuan and Zhang Shan were making tea and chatting in the wooden shed under the old tree. It wasn't until the moon climbed into the sky that they realized that the housekeeper of Fairy Island had really found an easy job for him.
It turns out that the queen on the mountain had a dream a few days ago and suddenly had the idea to build this newly built palace into the unique Lotus Palace in the world.
It's nothing more than a Bodhisattva in the sky. She wants to become an immortal in the East China Sea, hoping that this Lotus Palace can move God and let her ascend immediately.
Therefore, Zhang San and a group of masons had already built half of the palace's bluestone before and needed to add an additional process.
Lotus flowers are carved on each piece of bluestone, and lotus flowers must be carved on the newly picked stones from the mountain before being transported up the mountain.
Hearing this, Li Xiuyuan sighed: "To be honest with Brother Zhang San, I once learned to be a stonemason from an old man, and I know how to carve patterns on bluestone..."
Zhang Sanyi patted his thigh, added some tea to Li Xiuyuan, and said with a smile: "That's good. It's rare for a little brother to be blind and still be able to carve on stones. It seems that life is not easy."
"Brother Zhang San, it's not easy for you either. Now that I'm here, I probably won't be able to leave..."
Zhang San nodded and said in a low voice: "To tell you the truth, brother, you and your mother-in-law are fine. You have no cultivation... Those coolies, monks, and even businessmen who have cultivation are all forced to take heart-breaking pills. ....."
"The housekeeper gave everyone an antidote for three months. He said that the Queen would not detoxify everyone until the palace is completed and let us leave."
Li Xiuyuan sighed after hearing this, looked at Zhang San and asked, "Is it possible that the eldest brother also took the medicine?"
"It doesn't matter whether we eat or not. Without a big boat, escaping is seeking death. Not to mention the wind and waves on the sea, a big fish could kill me if it comes over."
Zhang San sighed: "Anyone who has any cultivation among the craftsmen has to take that medicine. I guess you and your mother-in-law are firstly not cultivation, and secondly, you are the guests of the turtle manager, so the manager does not dare to force you."
After talking to this point, Li Xiuyuan could only sigh again, thinking that the queen of this island really counted a group of monks to death.
It doesn’t matter to everyone, as long as they keep an eye on the big ships, a group of monks who have taken heart-breaking medicine, facing the vast East China Sea and hundreds of miles of desolate land, where can they go?
Not to mention taking an antidote for three months... If it were Xiaodie'er and Huajiao who followed them all the way and took the poison, how would the master handle themselves?
"You know this, don't ask questions tomorrow."
At this moment, Zhang San said: "So you go to the quarry at the foot of the mountain first, and tomorrow I will teach you how to carve lotus flowers. When you can work by yourself, I have to go to the mountain..."
Li Xiuyuan smiled lightly and looked at Zhang San in front of him, as if he were looking at Old Man Zhang back then, or Old Man Zhang's son.
He took a sip of tea and said quietly: "Brother Zhang, don't worry, this matter won't trouble me."
A very simple sentence, but it has a different hidden meaning. When he said this sentence to Zhang San, it meant that he was in danger.
Or next spring, when the Queen of the Mountain wants to do something unjust, he will take action to keep the three cards safe.
Thinking of this, Li Xiuyuan couldn't help but ask: "Brother Zhang, where is your home, and why do you live on this island in the East China Sea?"
Zhang San sighed and replied: "My home is in Tianshui Town. It is here and the general manager who invites us over... After the palace is completed, we will pay our wages in one go and send us home."
After a moment of silence, Zhang San suddenly asked: "Little brother, what are you doing here with your old lady?"
Li Xiuyuan said: "My mother-in-law said that she was too old and wanted to come to the fairy island in the East China Sea to find the gods and ask how to live forever."
Zhang San shook his head and said with a wry smile: "I don't know how many people have been killed by this rumor."
This question was something Li Xiuyuan once asked the old woman in Tianshui. The old woman also replied that she came to see it. When Li Xiuyuan asked her what she was doing here that day.
The old woman was just looking for gods, although Li Xiuyuan knew that there would be no gods on this island.
The way of heaven in this world cannot allow gods to exist in the East China Sea.
However, Li Xiuyuan could not explain to Zhang San at the moment.
So I had to say: "I'm going to see my mother-in-law. Brother Zhang, you should rest early. You have to work tomorrow."
Zhang San nodded and said: "Tell my mother-in-law that there are no gods on this island. Even the elixirs are under guard. We mortals have no access to them. It would be great if we can go back alive."
Li Xiuyuan sighed, thanked him with his hands, turned and walked towards his simple wooden house.
...
On the first night when I arrived at the Fairy Island in the East China Sea, there was no moon or stars, and the sky and the earth were pitch black.
Li Xiuyuan meditated on the straw mat and silently recited the "Sutra Tibetan Sutra" for a while, not knowing whether it was for the long days to come or for the dead monks and coolies mentioned by Zhang San.
When the little Taoist priests were building palaces and statues in Penglai, many craftsmen died, not to mention that this was still an East China Sea that had no reason to explain.
Quietly, until Li Xiuyuan stopped chanting and lay on the wooden board in a daze.
The old woman said softly: "So, if I ask you to work as a mason on this island for the first half of the year, will you regret it?"
At that moment, Li Xiuyuan no longer had the picture of Datang in front of his eyes.
After thinking about it, he shook his head and said, "To others, only a madman would do this kind of thing... It's just that I want to see the last story."
The old woman smiled faintly: "You are not so idiotic that you really think you can ascend in the daytime by building a lotus palace, are you?"
Li Xiuyuan shook his head again: "I am not a monk in this world, and I don't know the prerequisites for heavenly ascension here. I just want to see that tall building..."
The old woman sighed and said: "I estimate that Peacock will come here to see you in less than ten days. You have to think about how to send that little girl away."
"They, Xiaodie'er's friends, the little princess of the East China Sea, I have given her the opportunity to be Miss Pianpian. If Peacock comes again, he can only keep the secret for me."
Li Xiuyuan said: "I'm just thinking, will next spring, after I see the scenery here, I can take Xiaodie'er and the others away?"
The old woman yawned, waved her hand and said, "I'm going to bed...well, you guess."
...
Walking on the bluestone path in the mountains, feeling the moist breath of sea water coming from all around, Li Xiuyuan followed Zhang San and moved forward.
After a night, his mood gradually calmed down and he no longer struggled with why the tall building collapsed.
It wasn't until early in the morning that he discovered that the masons here now lived in separate places. Some built a simple earth house like Zhang San, another built a bamboo shed, and some simply found a cave to live in.
Only when it comes to Chen time, everyone will arrive at the quarry on time and listen to Zhang San’s assignment of the new day’s work.
It's just distribution. In fact, the work to be done every day is the same. Those who are strong will go to the mountains to build palaces, and those who are weak will polish the collected stones at the bottom of the mountain.
Like Li Xiuyuan, he had to learn from Zhang San how to carve a lotus pattern on a piece of completed bluestone.
What Zhang San didn't expect was that he took Li Xiuyuan to a polished stone from the moment of Chen Shi, less than an hour before and after.
Li Xiuyuan followed his request and carved a lotus pattern on a piece of bluestone. Even he couldn't tell the difference between this craftsmanship and his own.
After watching it several times in silence, Zhang Sancai sighed: "Li Laosi, come and take a look. This little brother can't see, and the carved patterns are more beautiful than yours."
Li Xiuyuan felt Zhang San's emotions and explained with a gentle expression: "I just practiced for a long time and became proficient. I can't compare with the craftsmen here."
Hearing this, Li Laosi, who was not far away, laughed: "Brother Zhang, you see, this little brother can talk, but unlike me, he can only curse."
Zhang San sighed on the side and said: "Brothers, when you are fine, kowtow to the Bodhisattva a few times and ask the Bodhisattva to bless us and go home safely. I have had enough here."
Li Laosi was stunned when he heard this. After thinking for a long time, he looked at Li Xiuyuan who kept knocking and said, "That's true."
...
What satisfied Li Xiuyuan was that on Xianling Island, no monks were sent to supervise the masons at the foot of the mountain.
Perhaps the craftsmen here have already experienced the pressure of the Queen of the Mountain, which makes them not dare to be lazy. They all look forward to completing the palace and returning home soon.
Otherwise, Zhang San has replaced the supervisor on the mountain and become the leader of these craftsmen.
That's fine, even if he becomes a craftsman in these incarnations, he will be more comfortable.
The old woman who stayed in the wooden house sat in the shed under the old tree and boiled a pot of tea. She looked at the young man working seriously on the stone field with a smile in her eyes.
Looking at the high Lingshan Mountain, looking at the palace that has been built on both halves, he murmured to himself.
"No matter how smart you are, you never thought that the evil cause back then would be replaced by a strange young man, coming to ask for a result from you..."
Neither the monks nor the coolies who built the palace on the mountain could see where their missing companions had gone.
The coolies who fell to death, the coolies who were exhausted, and the monks who were tortured to death were all thrown into the sea under the high cliffs by the monks on the island and fed to the sea fish.
Under the cliff, the waves continued to surge, and there was no body or a drop of blood at all.
Those who set foot on Lingxian Island came here to seek the hope of cultivating immortals, but in the end they became the queen's coolies.
But here there is only endless work, and monks and coolies who disappear from time to time. This is not a fairy mountain but a hell on earth.
Only a handful of monks still hold on to the illusion that one day the Queen of the Mountain will appreciate their hard work and grant them some immortality.
Until this time, everyone on Lingxian Island, from the manager to the monks below, had repeatedly told these coolies and monks.
Her Majesty the Queen will ascend on the day the palace is completed, and when the time comes there will be spiritual rain from the sky, which will be the fairy fate of everyone who stays on the island.
This promise had no appeal to Zhang Sanyi and his gang of masons.
They just need to get their wages, then take a big ship back to Haiyun Town, and then go home...for the rest of their lives, they will warn future generations never to come to the East China Sea again to seek immortality.
But, in other words, not to mention the monks on the island, even many of Her Majesty the Queen’s men believe it.
When their master breaks through the realm and ascends during the day, there will definitely be spiritual rain from the sky.
After all, the queen built this lotus palace for the Bodhisattva in heaven, begging God to feel her sincerity and let her realize the opportunity to ascend.
The old woman sitting under the tree smiled faintly and said: "Don't say that you built a Lotus Palace. That guy built a Great Wall back then, but it turned into a handful of loess?"
"Ding Ding Dang Dang!" Li Xiuyuan sweaty, but he remembered that his master and apprenticeship, the world to go to the next step?
