In the east of the outer city, there is a nunnery, the name is called "Xiangyin Nunnery", in the hundreds of temples and nunnery large and small outside the city inside and outside the city of Bianliang City, the incense of "Xiangyin Nunnery" is not prosperous, there are few pilgrims, and there is no fame.

The day had just passed, and the sky was unusually snowflaked, and it was dark early in winter, and it was estimated that there would be no more pilgrims at this time, so the little nun closed the door of the nunnery early and walked to the kitchen to help prepare for the evening fast.

The three knocks sounded rhythmically, and the little nun's ears were sharp, and she immediately heard it, and her steps about to move suddenly stopped, turned her body to the door again, and asked uncertainly, "Who knocked on the door?" ”

"Little Master, can you open the door for convenience?" A pleasant voice came from outside the door.

The little nun moved to the door, thinking that on this snowy day, who else would come to the nunnery to offer incense? She gently opened a small door, and looked out, and there were two women standing outside the door, the one in front of her wrapped in a white coat and smiling; The one in the back was dressed in plain cotton clothes, and his face was slightly cold.

"Why did the two donors knock on the door of the nunnery?" The little nun asked, clasping her palms.

"Little Master, my master and servant have just come to Bianliang, and they wanted to go into the inner city to join their relatives, but the sky is getting dark, and the snow is getting heavier and heavier, I don't know where to hire a carriage and horse, I happened to pass by Xian'an, and I came to spend the night to ask the little master to make it convenient." The woman wrapped in a white coat seemed to be the owner.

"We don't have any guests in the nunnery, so please find another home." The little nun said apologetically.

"Little Master, I won't stay in Xian'an in vain, I will definitely add more sesame oil money to Xian'an, and I ask the little master to be accommodating. You see that our master and servant are not familiar with the place, where should I go to invest in the store in this weather? The woman looked worried.

"This." The little nun was a little embarrassed, but seeing that the snow was getting heavier and heavier, and it was quite unbearable to keep the two weak women out, she came up with an idea, "Why don't you go with me and beg the master of my nunnery?" ”

"That's very good, please ask the little master to take us to the master of the Xian'an." The woman in the white coat turned happy when she heard this.

"Xiangyin Nunnery" is not big, sit in the north and face south, walk into the nunnery, a cobblestone road to the north, willow trees on both sides are in rows, at this time in winter, the willow trees stand bare branches, but the wicker branches are on the branches, and there are several branches of plum in the corner of the wall, which is very quiet. After walking a short step, I re-entered a heavy wall gate, and there was a small three-room house, which was dedicated to Venerable Wei Dao.

The pines and cypresses in the courtyard are towering to the sky, turning from behind the Buddha, and it is a horizontal road. The three of them walked forward, and saw that it was a carved gatehouse, and when they stepped in to see, there were three Buddhist halls side by side, although they were not very large, but they were also high and open. The three big Buddhas in the middle have a solemn appearance and a golden light.

The two men bowed to the Buddha and said to the little nun, "Please also inform the commander." ”

"Two donors, please take a seat, and I'll go and ask Master to come out." Little Ni replied.

Not long after, a nun who looked to be only about 20 years old came out, with a face as white as jade, a peugeot appearance, and a full of charm.

The nun saw that there were two women, a white-furred woman in front of her was about fifteen or sixteen years old, with a bright appearance, clear eyes, although she was young, with a full body, and a woman of eighteen or nineteen years old who followed behind, with a delicate appearance and a cold expression. The nun clasped her hands together, "The poor nun is because the two donors are polite, dare to ask, but do you want to stay here?" ”

The two women didn't seem to expect that the owner of the nunnery was such a young and peugeot nun, they were stunned at first, and the white-furred woman smiled and said, "The little woman's surname is Zhao, this is my personal maid, today I am really helpless to stay in the Xian'an, and I still ask the owner of the nunnery to make it convenient for my master and servant, and I will add more sesame oil to the Xian'an tomorrow." ”

"This nunnery does not accept accommodation, but today's snow is big, and the two donors are women, and it is quite inconvenient to go elsewhere, so the poor nun made an exception, quietly, and took the two donors to the backyard clean room to rest." The nun instructed the little nun leading the way.

It turned out that the little nun called Jingkong, Jingkong agreed, and then led the way to the backyard first.

When the master and servant heard this, they hurriedly saluted and thanked them, and then followed Jingkong through the Buddhist hall and continued to walk.

Walk through a few houses, turn a cloister again, then arrive at the backyard, the backyard is divided into two courtyards in the east and west, each has five or six clean rooms, the outside of the clean room is a strip, are all railings, the courtyard is planted with two sycamore trees, and repair several bamboo poles, the whole courtyard looks rigorous in structure, the layout is appropriate, everywhere is simple and elegant, exquisitely beautiful.

Jingkong took the master and servant into one of the clean rooms in the east courtyard, pointed to this clean room and said, "The two donors will rest in this room tonight, and when the time comes, I will bring the fasting meal." ”

The woman surnamed Zhao asked seemingly unintentionally, "Little Master Jingkong, how many masters are there in the Xian'an?" ”

Jingkong didn't mind, and introduced, "There are not many people in our Xiangyin'an, only more than ten masters and apprentices. ”

The woman asked curiously, "Little Master is very old, and he looks quite young. ”

That Jingkong was honest, and answered for the woman surnamed Zhao one by one, "Xiao Ni is twelve years old this year, my master is already thirty and two this year, don't underestimate my master, my master entered the empty door at the age of seven, and has been practicing for more than 20 years, and has been coming to this nunnery for seven or eight years." ”

The woman surnamed Zhao was taken aback, and secretly said that the owner of the nunnery was well-maintained, and people in their thirties looked like twenty people.

Na Jingkong explained, "The backyard is a clean place, and the two donors must not trespass, lest they collide with the cultivation of other masters." ”

The woman surnamed Zhao hurriedly said yes, and then asked, "Where does the little master of Jingkong live?" ”

"I don't live in the backyard, my residence is close to the Buddhist hall, if the donor has anything, please let me know in advance, and Xiao Ni will no longer come to the backyard after dark."

The woman surnamed Zhao knew that this little nun originally lived in the few houses she had passed by before, and did not live in the backyard. She glanced at the maid behind her, and the maid took a handkerchief from the package and handed it to Jing Kong.

The woman surnamed Zhao said with a smile, "This handkerchief was bought in Yangzhou, it looks quite exquisite, but it is not worth a few dollars, and please ask the little master of Jingkong to accept it with a smile, thanks to the little master's help today." ”

The quiet space did not refuse, thanked him, then reached out and took the handkerchief and hid it in his arms, and said goodbye with his palms together.

Before the unitary time came, Jingkong sent the fasting meal and hurriedly went to the front Buddhist hall to do evening classes. After the two of them finished dinner, they looked out, it was already dark, and the snow was still falling outside, but it was already white.

At this time, the nuns in the nunnery should be doing evening classes, and the courtyard is quiet. The two exchanged glances, quietly opened the door and walked towards the middle of the courtyard.

Walking to the courtyard, they looked around, the woman surnamed Zhao pointed to the west courtyard, the maid next to her nodded, and walked quickly towards the west courtyard, the woman surnamed Zhao did not follow, only stood at the gate of the courtyard to help look at the wind.

The door of the west courtyard was not closed, and the maid immediately flashed in. I saw that the layout of the west courtyard was similar to that of the east courtyard, but fortunately the lights in each room were not extinguished, and the maid gently pushed open the door one by one, glanced at it, and did not go in, and then closed the door and continued to the next room.

When she reached the last clean room, she pushed open the door as usual, but soon she rubbed the snow from her feet and walked inside.

I saw that this house was quite large, and in the middle of the room there was a white portrait of Tuas, in the bronze furnace, cigarettes, and a futon placed below. On the left side of the room are four vermilion cabinets, all of which are blocked.

The right side of the room is surrounded by a screen, when you enter to see, a Tongbai desk, a small chair with flowers and rattans, a spotted bamboo couch is placed against the wall, a broken guqin is hung on the wall, the pen and inkstone on the desk are fine, and the dust is not clean. There are several volumes of scriptures on the side, flip through a volume at hand, the golden book is in small letters, the year and month are noted at the end, and the disciple of the next book is Jingzhen Xun Mu to write.

The whole house is quite delicately tied, but I don't know if it is the quiet residence of the owner of this scripture

After the maid came out, she shook her head at the woman surnamed Zhao, and then looked around, but saw that there were several rows of bamboo planted on the back wall, and there was actually a small door in the shadow of the bamboo.

The two returned to the east courtyard and inspected the same, and found that only two connected clean rooms were locked and could not be entered, and the rest of the clean rooms were nowhere to be found. The woman surnamed Zhao frowned, and returned to the clean room where she lived with her maid.

This "Xiangyin An" looks elegant and pure on the surface, and there is nothing wrong with it, but there is a trace of weirdness in it, and the two of them can't say what is weird for a while.

After passing the bell again, the evening class in the nunnery ended, and when the lantern light flickered, five or six female nuns came back from the west courtyard one after another, and at a glance, they all looked good.

The maid walked out of the house, walked to the gate of the west courtyard, and asked a female nun, "Master, dare to ask where the latrine is?" As she spoke, she looked at the nun who walked in, but no one walked into the last room, and she withdrew her gaze a little disappointed.

The nun pointed to a grass hut on the back wall, "That's it." ”