Huineng went north along the Xinjiang road.

The next day, he had walked more than 100 miles and came to a hill west of Duanzhou (now Zhaoqing). On the way, he picked up a plum branch. It has probably been abandoned for a long time, and the leaves have wilted. Huineng is particularly fond of plum blossoms. He is a firewood boy, and in winter, in the reckless mountains where the trees are withered and the flowers and plants are dry, he will often smell a faint fragrance of flowers. The fragrance of flowers would pull him to the plum blossoms that bloomed in the cold wind.

A plum branch in the mountains, lonely and alone.

Before the news of spring, the dark fragrance struck people.

Huineng has never entered the school, is not literate, and does not have the talent of a poet, but he also knows the unique natural law of plum blossoms blooming in winter: how to get the fragrance of plum blossoms without going through a cold bone?

He planted the half-withered plum blossom in the hill, poured some water out of the gourd he had brought, and poured it into the land around it.

What he didn't expect was that from then on, this barren hill was full of plum blossoms, old and dry like iron, and the flowers were fragrant for ten miles. People call it Meihuagang. Three hundred years later, a Buddhist nunnery was built here. The Buddha Nunnery of Meihuagang is naturally called the Plum Nunnery.

One day, Huineng came to Sanshui, where the Xijiang River and the Beijiang River meet, and he stood at a three-way intersection. Here, a large road leads to Guangzhou, and a trail winds along the banks of the Beijiang River. The road is wide and flat, and it is the official road from Lingnan to the Central Plains. Here, however, it turns southeast and has to go around for hundreds of miles. The trail is bumpy and difficult, with steep mountains along the way, and you need to climb peaks and wade through large rivers. Due to the deserted people on the way, they can only eat wild fruits, drink spring water thirstily, and stay in caves all night.

Huineng resolutely chose the path. The path twists and turns, stretching into the mountains of mountains. People are on the bend of the path, the road is faint in the green hills, the mountains are in the white clouds, and the clouds are in the vast world...... Huineng eats and sleeps in the open, wears the stars and wears the moon, and the wind and dust are servants, all the way to the north: straw shoes are boats, wading through the rapids and shallows; The bamboo cane is a horse, climbing over thousands of rivers and mountains. Ahead, a line of cliffs blocked the way. Huineng dragged the mountain vine and struggled to climb up.

Suddenly, he slipped and almost fell off the steep rock face. He wiped the blood from his arm and continued to climb up, finally reaching the top of the mountain, stopping to look. At the foot of the hill, a small dreamlike village is shaded by green trees. This is Caohou Village, Qujiang County, Shaozhou. Most of the villagers in Caohou Village are surnamed Cao.

It is said that they are all descendants of Cao Cao, Marquis of Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. Many years ago, it was moved south to escape the war. In order to commemorate their ancestors and cherish the township thousands of miles away, they named the village they lived in "Caohou Village".

Huineng walked down the hill and walked towards Caohou Village. The hillside outside the village is full of endless rape flowers, and the breeze blows, and the yellow rape flowers ripple like the ocean.

Suddenly, I heard a shout of "help" in the distance.

Huineng hurriedly ran away, and just walked out of the grove, he couldn't help but shout: "Ouch!"

It turned out that there was a scholar who was running towards this side without his life, and behind him, a colorful tiger was chasing, and it was getting closer and closer.

Huineng grew up in the mountains since he was a child, and he was used to seeing fierce beasts, so he didn't seem flustered. After he stood still, he thought for a moment, picked up a fist-sized stone from the side of the road, picked up a wooden stick, and shouted as he bravely met it: "Don't panic, I'll save you!"

The scholar saw that a man had come to save him, and he ran quickly towards Huineng.

Huineng said to the scholar, "Hide behind the big rock behind me, and wait for me to deal with this tiger." ”

"Okay." The scholar complied, ran behind the big boulders and hid.

The colorful tiger saw that the scholar was gone, and Huineng stopped in the middle of the road, roaring, and pounced on Huineng with teeth and claws.

Huineng didn't fight hard with the tiger, and his body was extremely flexible and dodged. The leaping tiger pounced and landed behind Huineng.

Huineng took advantage of the tiger's time to react, stepped on the ground with his right foot, and quickly turned around. Meanwhile. The right hand raised the stick. Hit the tiger hard in the ass.

The tiger couldn't pounce on it, but was hit with a stick, a somersault, rolled on the ground a few times, dried up, and stared at Huineng with a tiger's eye.

Huineng knew that at this time, he was already riding a tiger, and he must not retreat, otherwise, he would be forced to eat the tiger that came forward. So, too, his eyes widened and he stared at the tiger. The two have become a confrontation.

The tiger's forelimbs fell down, and then fluttered, opened its big mouth, bared its sharp fangs, and pounced on Huineng again.

Huineng was not afraid of danger, and looked at it, and threw the stone in his left hand towards the tiger's big mouth.

On weekdays, Huineng makes a living by collecting firewood in the deep mountains, and often throws stones to hit wild fruits hanging high on big trees, and the hit rate is quite high. Now, the two are quite close, and the tiger has a bloody mouth open.

Huineng's hard throw, the stone was thrown directly into the tiger's throat, choking the tiger to swallow, wanting to vomit and unable to spit out, very uncomfortable. It rolled on the ground several times, rolled down the hill, and fled for its life.

The scholar was shocked, walked out from behind the big rock, and stepped forward to salute Huineng: "Thank you for saving your life." ”

"It's nothing, am I going to watch you, a big living person, get eaten by a tiger?" Huineng waved his hand, he wiped the sweat from his forehead, and asked, "What is this place?"

"This is Cao Xi. It is under the jurisdiction of Shaozhou. The rescued scholar replied after taking a breath.

Huineng looked at him and asked, "Are you—"

The scholar replied: "Xiaosheng's name is Liu Zhiluo, and he lives in the nearby Caohou Village. Cao Hou, the great-great-grandson of the former Marquis of Wei Wu. The stream flows through Caohou Village, and this area is called Caoxi. You're—"

Huineng said frankly: "My surname is Lu, and my name is Huineng. ”

Liu Zhiluo looked at him: "Brother Xian, look at you with your bags, are you going to the north to do business?"

Huineng shook his head: "Definitely." I went to Huangmei Temple in Hubei Province to learn the Dharma from Master Hongren, the Fifth Patriarch. ”

"Ah, you're going to go to Buddhism?" Liu Zhi was taken aback, the light of surprise in his eyes gradually dissipated, and said, "Coincidentally, my aunt is also a monk. ”

Huineng was overjoyed: "In this way, I really have a relationship with the Buddha. ”

Liu Zhiluo pointed to the sky in the twilight clouds and said, "It's not early, you must be in a hurry." Let's take a break in our village. ”

Hui Neng thought about it and said, "That's good." ”

Back in Caohou Village, Liu Zhiluo asked his family to kill chickens and ducks, and entertained Huineng with grand courtesy.

Liu Zhiluo and Huineng hit it off at first sight, very speculative, and had a sense of hating each other, so the two immediately burned incense at the banquet, and officially worshiped as brothers with heaven and earth as evidence. Liu Zhiluo is two years older than Huineng and is respected as his elder brother.

After the bow, Liu Zhiluo said: "Brother Xian, no matter what, you saved me from the tiger's mouth, you are my savior, please accept the foolish brother." ”

Huineng hurriedly helped him up and said earnestly: "Brother Zhiluo, this is really nothing, in the world, if you don't even help your own kind, is it still a human being!" ”

Liu Zhiluo held Huineng's hand and said, "Okay, don't thank you for your great kindness." Brother Huineng, we will be brothers in the future, and I will definitely want to repay you for your great kindness. ”

At this time, Liu Zhiluo's sister Zhixiu made tea, brought it up, and gave Huineng a salute to the tea: "Benefactor, please drink tea." ”

Huineng hurriedly returned the salute: "Don't dare to work hard, Miss." ”

Liu Zhiluo laughed and said, "You two don't be polite." Since Brother Huineng and I have become good brothers, Sister Xiu, you can call Brother Huineng the eldest brother. ”

Zhixiu's face was slightly red, and he snorted, "Big brother, please take a seat." That day, if it wasn't for the eldest brother who rescued him, my brother would ......"

Huineng said humbly: "It's nothing, I happened to be passing by and happened to catch up." ”

Liu Zhiluo joked: "Yes, coincidence is providence." Otherwise, how could the eldest brother get acquainted with Brother Huineng, and the younger sister has another big brother? This is probably fate, natural fate. ”

Zhixiu and Huineng were a little embarrassed by Liu Zhiluo.

Night has come, and Caohou Village is covered by a thick night.

Liu Zhiluo and Huineng had just finished worshipping, and the two were sitting in the living room drinking camellia, when suddenly, a gust of clothes swept in, and a middle-aged nun appeared at the gate.

When Liu Zhiluo saw it, he hurriedly got up and introduced: "She is my aunt." ”

The middle-aged nun clasped her hands together: "Amitabha." I heard that the donor saved the life of my nephew Zhiluo from the tiger's mouth, which is really a great kindness, comparable to Tianqi. ”

Huineng smiled: "Accumulating virtue and doing good deeds is something that each of us should do." Master, you're—"

The nun reported to herself: "The poor nun's name is 'Endless Zang', and she deserves to live in the mountain stream temple over there." ”

Huineng asked, "Master, do you usually recite the Nirvana Sutra or the Diamond Sutra?"

Endless Hidden was surprised: "Ah, you also know the scriptures? Poor nuns often recite the Nirvana Sutra. So, she talked to Huineng about the scriptures.