The person who received Li Xiuzhu in the government hall was a middle-aged monk, who first glanced at the pair of red horns on Li Xiuzhu's head with some surprise, and then took the black token in Li Xiuzhu's hand.

"Is it a disciple of Elder Chileizi?

"Green bamboo. Li Xiuzhu replied: "The road number is Qingzhu." ”

Listening to Li Xiuzhu's words, the middle-aged monk nodded, then turned over the black token in his hand, used his fingers as a knife, and wrote the word "green bamboo" directly on the back of the token.

"Take this token, and I'll have someone take you to the place where the miscellaneous disciples are, and listen to the steward's arrangements there. ”

Li Xiuzhu said yes, the middle-aged monk beckoned, and a monk in Tsing Yi who had been standing by the door stepped forward to salute, and the middle-aged monk nodded: "You take him to the miscellaneous hall, go and return quickly!"

......

Miscellaneous Hall, under the sea of clouds that Lu Tao had seen.

The thick fog had cleared in the morning, and only one layer remained halfway up the mountain, blocking out all those who wanted to peep upward.

Along the way, the monk in Tsing Yi who led the way did not say a word, so Li Xiuzhu, who was already silent, was even more silent.

When Li Xiuzhu came out, Chi Leizi was gone, and the only thing on his body that proved himself seemed to be the black token in his hand, Li Xiuzhu groped for the token in his hand, and the names on both sides crossed his fingers, bringing a rough feeling.

When he arrived near the courtyard where Li Xiuzhu had lived the day before, the monk in Tsing Yi who led the way in front turned left and took Li Xiuzhu outside a circle of larger courtyards.

The courtyard did not lock the door, and the monk in Tsing Yi took Lu Tao to walk all the way in, and walked to the middle of the building, where people kept coming and going, and the three big characters "Miscellaneous Hall" were written above the building.

"Senior Brother Shifangzi, I've brought someone here!" said the Tsing Yi monk who led the way, speaking to a middle-aged monk who was flying with a pen and writing something on a piece of paper.

The middle-aged monk named Shifangzi said without raising his head: "Let him wait there for a while, and wait for me to finish the rest of the work." ”

"Yes, Senior Brother Shifangzi. The monk in Tsing Yi who led the way replied, and then turned his head to look at Li Xiuzhu: "I'm going back first, you just wait here, don't run around." ”

With that, he left the chore.

Lu Tao never knew what the name of the monk in Tsing Yi who led the way was, or what the road name was.

The busyness of the miscellaneous hall reminded Lu Tao of the classroom office of the high school, where the teachers of the first, second, and third years of high school were all placed in a large room, and every May and June, the office would look like it is now.

Bustling with students coming and going, or holding books and stacked workbooks, or standing in a corner, enjoying the teacher's reprimand.

It's just that in this miscellaneous hall, the students have become monks, and the teachers have become stewards in charge of all aspects, and Lu Tao can even see the various levels from the color of their clothes.

The gray ones should be the monks at the bottom, they often follow the monks in blue clothes and are responsible for transporting supplies, and the red ones should be responsible for the operation of the entire miscellaneous hall, because there are only ten squares in red clothes.

…… In fact, Lu Tao was too bored, from beginning to end, no one paid attention to him, Li Xiuzhu could only stand in place, occasionally enjoying the attention from other monks, as yesterday, most people noticed the pair of red horns on Li Xiuzhu's head, and then showed curious or laughing or disgusted or hateful eyes, as for why there is hatred, Lu Tao is still like yesterday, he doesn't know the reason.

Gradually, Li Xiuzhu was slowly squeezed from the position in front of Shifangzi to the corner position, because Shifangzi was really busy, every monk who could speak would come to Shifangzi and make some reports of this or that, Shifangzi kept on his hands, and every time he would use one or two sentences to solve the problems from other monks, Li Xiuzhu couldn't interject at all, of course, he didn't mean to interject.

Finally, when the sun outside the house was slanting in the west and was about to fall into the horizon, Shifangzi finally finished writing the paper in front of him, and there were not so many people in the room.

Li Xiuzhu stepped forward, bowed deeply in the face of Shifangzi, and said, "Shifangzi senior, I'm here to report. By the way, I handed over the sign that I had been holding in my hand.

"Qingzhuzi?Is it a disciple of Chileizi?hmm...... Think about it. Glancing at the sign in Li Xiuzhu's hand, Shi Fangzi was silent for a while, and said to the blue-clothed monk standing on the other side: "Wumingzi, take him to the room, just ...... Let's chop wood, starting with the simplest. Oh yes, Qingzhuzi is a disciple of Chileizi, according to the specifications of an elder disciple. ”

The blue-clothed monk who was called Wumingzi nodded yes, and said to Li Xiuzhu, "Qingzhuzi, follow me." ”

Lu Tao breathed a sigh of relief, and was finally able to leave here.

But...... Why chopping wood?

……

The room is a place where the fire is burned, not only for cooking, but also for everything that needs to be fired, such as hot water.

Lu Tao understood why Shi Fangzi specially told Wumingzi that Li Xiuzhu was a disciple of the elder, first of all, from the place where he lived, Li Xiuzhu was different from ordinary monks, ordinary monks had two people in one room, and a monk like Li Xiuzhu, who belonged to the status of an elder's disciple, was a small courtyard for one person.

What else is different, Lu Tao doesn't know yet, but at least Li Xiuzhu is also different from ordinary monks in terms of food.

In this way, there is a monk with privileges, and there is one person, who lives next door to Li Xiuzhu.

The room has all the daily necessities, from bedding to various utensils for grooming, and even a complete set of pen, ink, paper and inkstone.

The unfamiliar environment made Lu Tao feel very uncomfortable, and he didn't know what Li Xiuzhu's mood was now, he just put out the paper, began to grind the ink silently, and then picked up the pen and wrote those familiar words on the paper.

Until late at night.

……

Early the next morning, Lu Tao was awakened by the bell ringing from outside, and after washing, the courtyard where he lived alone ushered in a visit from Wumingzi.

Wumingzi took a gray-clothed monk and said to Li Xiuzhu: "Qingzhuzi, this is Xingchenzi, you will follow him to chop wood in the future, then, just like that, if there is anything, you can go directly to the middle room to find me." ”

Saying yes, Wumingzi nodded at Li Xiuzhu and left.

Xingchenzi pointed to the other side: "Qingzhuzi, let's talk as we walk." ”

Li Xiuzhu nodded, and walked out side by side with Xingchenzi.

"Our job is very simple, every day, the woodcutter down the hill will bring the collected firewood, we will chop the firewood into almost the same size, and then provide it to the place responsible for food and hot water, it only needs enough strength to do it, and now, I will take you to the place where you get the tools, and you will need an axe. ”

Li Xiuzhu nodded, and soon, the two came to another room, which was full of various tools, and what was quite concerned was that the quality of those tools was very good, even people like Lu Tao who didn't know much could see that the iron on the tools was not ordinary iron.

After picking out the tools, Lu Tao followed Xingchenzi to the place where the firewood was stacked.

Lu Tao: "......"

This is really a big pile, about three stories high firewood piled together, it looks quite spectacular, Lu Tao is a little puzzled, this is really the firewood that two people can chop in one day?

Thinking that Li Xiuzhu also had questions, he opened his mouth and asked, "The two of us are going to finish splitting these?"

Xingchenzi nodded: "That's right, there was another person before, but he was promoted from a miscellaneous monk yesterday and has already left here." Don't worry, although these may seem like a lot, with a little more effort, you can get it done in no time. Come on, I'll teach you how to chop firewood according to the pattern of firewood, which saves more effort. ”

Saying yes, Xingchenzi took out his axe from behind him, took several pieces of wood of different sizes from the stack of firewood erected high, and placed them on the ground.

"Look!" Xingchenzi spoke, then raised his hand, and slashed down with an axe, and the firewood placed on the ground was cut off.

So, Lu Tao and Li Xiuzhu's life of chopping wood began.