After walking two miles through the forest, we reached the foot of the mountain.
Two golden ginkgo trees attracted everyone's attention. The ginkgo trees have intertwined roots and intertwined branches, supporting each other and covering the whole area.
The branches and leaves are luxuriant, ancient and vigorous.
Lin Sishi saw Gu Zhengchen looking up at the ginkgo tree and explained: "Listen to me, elders, the two duck-foot trees have existed since the time of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty. One is a female and the other is a male. They are indistinguishable."
Ginkgo tree, originally named duck foot.
Ouyang Xiuyou's poem says:
Duck's feet are born in the south of the Yangtze River, and the name is not superficial.
Jiangnang pays tribute, and Ginkgo is expensive in Zhongzhou.
Among them, duck feet refer to the ginkgo tree. In the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, people and scholars in the south of the Yangtze River still called it duck feet.
Ginkgo leaves covered the ground, golden.
The mountain breeze blows, and the ginkgo branches and leaves sway slightly, and the golden leaves fall down one by one, dancing in graceful arcs and falling slowly.
"It's a pity that such scenery is left in the mountains."
Gu Zhengchen turned around and looked at the mountain road to the side. The mountain road was dug along the mountain and led directly to the top of the mountain.
"Master!"
Lin Si was just about to step up the stone steps when he suddenly noticed something and shouted quickly.
When Gu Zhengchen came closer, his eyes suddenly became sharp.
I saw a pair of handprints appearing on the stone steps. Some of the handprints were heading towards the top of the mountain, and some were heading down the mountain. I looked at more than a dozen stone steps, but I saw only handprints, not any footprints.
"This, this can't be haunted, right?"
Sergeant Hu Er was a little scared.
When Wang Liang, Zhao Hailou, Zhang Pei and others heard this, their faces turned ugly.
Gu Zhengchen straightened up, looked at the top of the mountain, and said seriously: "Judging from the old and new fingerprints, this person should be hiding on the top of the mountain."
"Mr. Gu, are you a human?"
Zhao Hailou asked quickly.
Gu Zhengchen chuckled: "This is Rao's handprint. What else can it be if it's not a human being?"
Zhao Hailou pointed to the handprints on the steps: "But, people walk with their feet, how can they use their hands? Is it possible to go up and down the mountain upside down? How is this possible? The stone steps are all made of stones. Going up and down the mountain upside down would be slightly different. If you are careful, you will fall down and die from the collision."
Gu Zhengchen clapped his hands and walked up calmly: "There are only two reasons why there are only handprints and no footprints: first, someone is trying to make things mysterious and intimidate people who pass by, and secondly..."
"What is it?"
Wang Liang followed up and asked.
Gu Zhengchen smiled calmly: "Without feet, you can only walk with your hands, right?"
Wang Liang, Zhao Hailou and others looked at each other. Seeing that Gu Zhengchen was not afraid of any scholar, but he was actually afraid, he couldn't help but stamp his feet and followed him.
Lin Si felt uneasy, so he walked past Gu Zhengchen with a three-pronged fork in his hand and opened the way in front of him.
Although the mountain was not high, it was still a bit too much for Gu Zhengchen to bear. He rested three times on the way before reaching the top of the mountain.
The top of the mountain is relatively open, and not far away is the temple gate, which is half open.
A horrifying scene appeared on the vast ground in front of the door. Black handprints combined to form a large "ghost" character, standing in front of Gu Zhengchen and others.
"Like a word."
Zhao Hailou examined it.
"What's written?"
Wang Liang asked.
"This is a ghost word!"
Lin Sishi looked a little pale and shouted.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Pei nervously held his sword. Wang Liang took off his bow and reached for the arrow pot. Zhao Hailou pressed the compression spring and held the handle of the knife with his thumb. The other sergeants formed two teams inside and outside to guard.
Gu Zhengchen raised his hand, and a copper coin appeared between his fingers, flipping it: "There are three hundred taels of silver in the cluster."
"Sir, what do you mean?"
Yao Zhen asked warily.
Gu Zhengchen pointed to the word "ghost" on the ground and smiled: "If it is really the work of a powerful ghost, does it still need to be written with the word "ghost"? Is it possible that a thief would write the word "thief" on his face? Besides, , none of you can read, but this ghost can actually write with his palm prints, don’t you think it’s strange?”
"Uh, this..."
Zhang Pei, Yao Zhen, Zhao Hailou and others looked unconcerned. They stepped on the word "ghost" and leaned over to observe. Then they walked towards the gate of the Buddhist temple and Gu Zhengchen followed them one by one.
Zhao Hailou asked with admiration: "Mr. Gu is not afraid of ghosts?"
Gu Zhengchen walked through the temple gate, looked at the dilapidated courtyard, the crooked incense burner, and the half-upturned brick wall, and said with a smile: "In my opinion, ghosts are all disguised by people, taking advantage of people's fear to cause trouble. Take ten thousand steps back, if there are really ghosts and monsters in this world, then there will be gods to take care of them. You and I are mortals, why bother with the affairs of gods."
Zhao Hailou, Wang Liang and others think about it. The imperial court offers sacrifices to various gods every year, and mountains and rivers are sacrificed together. These benefits are given to the gods, and they have to do things.
If you are lazy and don't work, you are not a god. With the blessing of gods, who needs to be afraid of ghosts?
In the main hall, the Buddha statue fell to the ground, and the Buddha's head was broken and fell in the corner, covered with spider webs. The dust on the ground was thick and there was no trace of anyone's presence.
"Why was this temple abandoned?"
Gu Zhengchen looked at Lin Sishi.
Lin Sishi opened a broken window and looked back: "According to the elders, this temple was originally built in the Song Dynasty. It was overhauled once in the Yuan Dynasty and had some incense. The Yuan Dynasty respected Buddhism and lavished gold and silver on some eminent monks and temples. Granting fields and land, the royal family, princes and nobles spent a lot of money on Buddhism. Seeing this, some monks in the temple went north one after another. Probably from that time on, there were fewer monks in the temple. In addition, the location was remote and hidden in the mountains. , and there were no big cities around, so over time, it became deserted."
Gu Zhengchen nodded, this method was not unreasonable.
The Yuan Dynasty respected Buddhism, especially Tibetan Buddhism, to an extent that is simply unbelievable.
Well, in the name of being ordained, those eminent monks imprisoned the wives and concubines of princes and nobles in a room and indulged in sexual activities, and no one could say anything wrong.
The imperial master within the sect has a status in the palace second only to the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. The emperor only had his own harem, but others not only had the emperor's concubines, but also the wives and concubines of princes and nobles to serve him.
With its gorgeous rituals and mysterious teachings, Tibetan Buddhism enjoys the most respected treatment. It requires a lot of money to build temples and hold large-scale rituals.
The Yuan Dynasty had no money, so it could only increase tax rates and create new tax items. This could lead to the demise of the Yuan Dynasty, and these monks also contributed some firewood. Seeing that some monasteries in the north were prosperous, but the monasteries in the mountains had no incense, monks were unwilling to stay poor and went north. It was not uncommon in the environment at that time that "the poverty was extreme in the south of the Yangtze River, and the wealth was in the north".
Gu Zhengchen ordered people to search the temple carefully, but found nothing unusual.
"I searched everywhere, but no one was there, and no fingerprints were found."
Zhang Pei reported.
Gu Zhengchen was a little confused. On the top of the mountain, this temple was the only place that could stay. Judging from the old and new fingerprints, it was clear that people had indeed gone up the mountain and there was no way they could have disappeared.
Walking to the backyard of the temple and looking at the rows of Zen rooms with broken doors and windows, Gu Zhengchen always felt something was strange. He turned around and looked at the stone well on the side and walked over.
This is an octagonal well. There are fallen leaves floating in the well water, and a windlass is built on it for lifting water.
Gu Zhengchen leaned over and looked at the handle of the pulley. He blew lightly and blew away some dust on the wooden handle. He took out a handkerchief and wiped the underside of the handle. He looked at the spotless handkerchief and frowned slightly. He looked at Yao Zhen. : "Shake up the bucket from the well."
Yao Zhen agreed, grabbed the handle and turned it, the well rope was continuously wrapped around the head of the pulley, the bucket slowly rose, and half a bucket of water was pumped out.
Gu Zhengchen saw that in addition to a few sycamore leaves floating in the bucket, there was also a withered yellow ginkgo leaf. A smile appeared on his face. He looked at the surrounding Buddhist temples and loudly ordered: "This temple has been abandoned for too long and cannot be inhabited." Everyone, let’s go down the mountain while it’s not dark yet.”
Lin Sishi, Zhao Hailou and others did not know why and followed Gu Zhengchen away.
It was dark early in the mountains. The sun had not yet set and the ground was already dark. Only the high places were still bathed in the light of the sunset. From time to time, there were noises coming from the bottom of the mountain, and there were several high-pitched howls, and the sounds gradually faded away.
Night falls and the moon rises in the east.
The land was silent except for the gentle breeze blowing across the hills. The dead leaves of the ancient sycamore tree fell down outside the well mouth.
Click!
Suddenly, a slight sound came from a Zen room. A pair of hands grasped the edge of the black ceramic jar. A head slowly emerged, staring at the quiet temple outside. It did not move for a long time.
Until the birds flew across the night sky, a figure pulled out of the black vat, licked his chapped lips, moved to the well, put down the bucket, and swung the windlass with difficulty, and the rope began to wind...
"How long have you been hiding in this temple?"
A sudden sound came out, and the figure was frightened, and suddenly let go of the windlass. The windlass turned, the rope was lowered quickly, and the bucket hit the well heavily, making the sound of splashing water.
The figure looked at the courtyard wall, and several heads were staring at him. In shock, he turned over, supported the ground with his hands, and quickly returned to the Zen room.
"Is this a human being?"
Zhao Hailou couldn't believe it.
Gu Zhengchen looked at the moon and said slowly, "Let's go and ask why he is hiding in this abandoned temple!"
Zhang Pei, Zhao Hailou, Wang Liang and others turned over and jumped in. Zhang Pei looked back at Gu Zhengchen on the wall and quickly gave Yao Zhen a wink. Yao Zhen leaned against the wall and let Gu Zhengchen step on him. Enter the temple.
The lights in the Zen room were already bright.
A pair of hand prints are connected to the outside of the black vat, and the black vat is covered with a lid.
Gu Zhengchen stood at the door, glanced at the branch broom next to the black vat, and said slowly: "It's time, there's no need to hide anymore."
No one responded.
Gu Zhengchen glanced at Yao Zhen. Yao Zhen took out his waist knife and slowly opened the lid of the black tank. When he took a closer look, his eyes widened and he turned to look at Gu Zhengchen: "No one is there!"
"No way, I saw him get here with my own eyes!"
Zhao Hailou didn't believe it. When he took a closer look, he saw that it was an empty vat.
Wang Liang frowned: "It's strange. I searched during the day and this tank was also opened. No clues were found. The man just ran here, but he disappeared again. Could it be..."
Gu Zhengchen looked at it and said slowly: "Ghosts don't carry water to drink in the middle of the night. There must be a mystery at the bottom of this tank. If you still don't come out, I will order someone to break the bottom of the tank!"
No one responded.
Gu Zhengchen looked coldly: "Come here, do it!"
Zhao Hailou found a wooden stick and was about to smash the tank. At this moment, a trembling plea came from the bottom of the tank: "No, don't hit the tank..."
