This is the second nunnery that Yang Qiuchi has come to. I wondered a little in my heart, how could these nuns like to run to the top of the mountain to cultivate? It would take two or three hours to climb from the foot of the mountain to the top of this Yin Spirit Mountain.

However, the top of this Yin Spirit Mountain is shrouded in clouds and mist, like a fairyland, the bamboo sea is continuous, the mountain wind blows, and it is indeed a good place to practice. It's just that this mountain is too high, and it is inconvenient to go up and down, and it is even more difficult for pilgrims to come up.

Those who can stick to this mountaintop away from the hustle and bustle of the world are probably the real cultivators, Yang Qiuchi couldn't help but feel admiration, and he had a little more respect for that Wukong teacher.

The scale of this Yinling Mountain Guanyin Nunnery is not large, only slightly larger than the One Finger Nunnery. However, the Bodhisattva statue sculpture inside is very majestic, it looks relatively new, and it is still well maintained, much neater than the tattered appearance of the finger hermitage.

The abbot Wukong Shitai took Yang Qiuchi to turn the Guanyin Nunnery all over, and then came to the backyard to serve tea.

This backyard has a pergola, on top of this peak, looking forward to the scenery of the sea of clouds under the mountain, it is also very pleasant.

Master Wukong served the best fragrant tea, Yang Qiuchi took a sip, closed his eyes and shook his head for a long time, but he didn't taste anything. He has no hobby for drinking tea, no matter what kind of tea is good, it is bitter in his mouth.

The two sisters, Song Qing and Song Yun'er, were both official eunuchs, and they had a lot of research on the tea ceremony, and they praised the fruit as a good tea, which was praised by the earl's young grandmothers, and Master Wukong was so laughing that he couldn't drink it.

At this moment, a little nun came into the front hall and reported to Wukong Shi Taiheshi: "The shopkeeper of the dragon under the mountain sent a guy to ask if the bamboo utensils ordered last time have been done, and they have sold out of stock." ”

Master Wukong said with great joy: "It's done, you go and tell him that there are distinguished guests in the nunnery now, and let them pick them up later." ”

The little nun agreed, and turned away.

Yang Qiuchi said strangely: "Bamboo? Do the teachers and wives in the nunnery still make bamboo utensils? ”

"Yes," Wukong Master said with a smile, "Our Guanyin Nunnery is located at the top of Yinling Mountain, there are very few pilgrims, and there is no way to reclaim on the top of this mountain, it takes almost a day to go up and down the mountain, but on the top of the mountain, the bamboo sea is all over the slope, boundless, in order to maintain the normal living expenses in the nunnery, we use these bamboos to make some mats, bamboo chairs and other bamboo utensils in our spare time, and sell them to the merchants under the mountain, so as to make a living." ”

Yang Qiuchi praised: "Yes, you practice in this high mountain and dense forest, how to survive is the first thing to face, you can adapt to local conditions, and do some side jobs to make a living while concentrating on cultivation, it is also a last resort, but it is really difficult for you." ”

Master Wukong smiled so much that his eyes narrowed into a slit: "Thank you Lord for your understanding, these vendors under the mountain are also very reasonable, and the price given is also very fair, I heard that it is woven by the masters of Guanyin Nunnery on our Yin Ling Mountain, everyone does not dislike the poor craftsmanship, and they are committed to goodness, competing to buy, and this sales are not bad." ”

Song Qing smiled and said, "Then you have made a lot of money." ”

Master Wukong hurriedly smiled and said: "Grandma's words are too heavy, originally we are monks, money is something outside the body, but people eat grains, just rely on going down the mountain to turn the fate, this Yin Ling Mountain is too high and too dangerous, it is not easy to go up and down, and I came up with this method in desperation, this money from selling bamboo, we don't dare to spend it indiscriminately, in addition to spending life, it is used in the maintenance of the temple." ”

Song Qing said with a smile: "Look at your urgency, the Bodhisattva statues in this nunnery are all renovated, just rely on you to go down the mountain to make fate, when will you be able to get this renovated silver two." In this way, you earn some money by your own crafts and repair the temple, which is also a manifestation of your dedication to worshiping the Buddha. Our lord is also a person who eats fasting and recites Buddha, and before we go down the mountain tomorrow, our lord will also donate some incense money. ”

"Thank you! Thank you grandma for the compliment, thank you for the donation. Master Wukong hurriedly got up and thanked him, smiling even more happily.

Yang Qiuchi glanced at Song Qing with a smile, and thought: You praised me so much that it was so useless, when did I eat fasting and chant Buddha? Without meat, I can't eat a single grain of rice. This donation is deserved, and it is difficult for them to practice in this steep mountain with a pious heart.

I remembered that the nuns made bamboo utensils, which I had never seen before, so I said, "Mrs. Shi, what about the bamboo utensils you make?" Can you let the official take a look? ”

"Okay!" Master Wukong smiled and Mimi stood up, "Please come with the poor nuns." ”

Wukong Shitai took Yang Qiuchi and others to a big house in the nunnery, this house is surrounded by bright windows, the room is bright, there are five or six nuns are sitting on a small stool to make bamboo, some are holding a knife in their hands to draw bamboo, some are busy weaving mats, now the weather is hot, mats are particularly easy to sell.

When several nuns saw the eldest master come in to inspect, they hurriedly put down their work and got up to give salutes.

Yang Qiuchi nodded, walked up to a little nun, and asked kindly, "What kind of bamboo are you doing?" ”

"Back to the lord, I'm making bamboo baskets."

"Bamboo baskets? Hehe, don't you know that the bamboo basket is empty? You work so hard, and it's just a cup of loess, so what are you working for? ”

The little nun was only fifteen or sixteen years old, she had been a monk since she was a child, there were few pilgrims in this nunnery, and it was rare to talk about it in a day, not to mention that there was a super-grade earl in front of her, and she suddenly blushed and didn't know what to do, so she secretly glanced at Wukong Shitai and didn't dare to answer.

Yang Qiuchi smiled: "Don't be afraid, I'm just two ears and one mouth, just like you, there's nothing special, what's so scary?" Answer whatever you want. ”

"Yes," the so-called newborn calf is not afraid of tigers, the little nun heard Yang Qiuchi say this, smiled with a blushing face, and bowed down and replied, "What the donor said is very true. Buddha Cloud: The color is not different from the emptiness, and the emptiness is not different from the color. Color is emptiness, and emptiness is color. It is precisely because all the hues in the mortal dust are empty and the world is impermanent, and everything we are doing today is like a bamboo basket drawing water in the end, and it is still empty, so we have to become a monk and practice, and only by practicing asceticism and realizing the right path can we get rid of the suffering of samsara. ”

"Good! Very good! Yang Qiuchi couldn't help but admire, turned to Wukong Shitai and said: "The official was a little worried that you would weave bamboo and sell it, although it was helpless, I was afraid of committing a 'greedy' word, greed, hatred and obsession are the three poisons of the monks, but I didn't expect this little master to delay this duty, good, very good." ”

Yang Qiuchi turned to Song Qing and said, "Wait a while, you can donate a sum of incense money to the nunnery, donate a little more, so that the teachers and wives have no worries as much as possible, devote more to the Buddha, and achieve positive results as soon as possible." Song Qing agreed.

With Yang Qiuchi's current financial resources, there is no problem in providing more than ten nuns in this small Guanyin Nunnery to eat and drink for hundreds of years.

Yang Qiuchi said to Wukong Shitai: "If there is anything difficult in the nunnery in the future, just come to the yamen to find the official." It must be solved first. ”

Master Wukong and the nuns were overjoyed and hurriedly bowed down to thank them.

Yang Qiuchi sat down, picked up a delicate small bamboo basket, looked left and right, and said, "This hand is so skillful, the embroidered dowry must be ...... Ahem...... It also takes such a skillful hand to worship the Buddha. ”

Yang Qiuchi's head was short-circuited, and he almost said something wrong, where did the monk get the dowry embroidery, so he quickly picked up a short bamboo on the ground in disguise, looked at it, and asked, "This bamboo weaving is quite troublesome, right?" ”

"It's not troublesome, and it's fast when you're proficient." The little nun replied.

Yang Qiuchi stood up, waved the bamboo pole, and said, "Okay, you leave me alone, and continue weaving." ”

The nuns looked at Teacher Wukong, saw her smile and nodded, then agreed, sat down, and continued to weave.

Yang Qiuchi smiled and watched them go about their work, only to see one nun in charge of pruning the long bamboo and cutting it to the required length with a knife, the other two nuns using a knife to cut the bamboo from the head and trim it into bamboo strips, and the other nuns each weaving their own bamboo utensils. Division of labor and cooperation, cooperation is very skilled.

Suddenly, Yang Qiuchi sighed, stared at the knife in the hand of the nun who was trimming the bamboo, walked over and said, "Wait, show me your knife." ”

The nun quickly stood up, turned the knife in her hand upside down, the handle of the knife was facing forward, and bowed down and handed it to Yang Qiuchi.

Yang Qiuchi took it and looked at it carefully, the shape of the knife that the craftsman drew bamboo was very similar to a kitchen knife, but the width of the knife body was narrower than that of the kitchen knife, and the front and back were iron, which was completely integrated, because the handle of the knife was also iron, and the back of the knife was relatively thick, so it was much heavier than the kitchen knife, and it was heavy in the hand.

Yang Qiuchi's eyes lit up, he threw down the bamboo he was holding in his left hand, picked up a bamboo strip with the thickness of chopsticks from the ground, walked to the door with a knife, put the bamboo strip in his left hand flat on the grass outside, raised the knife and cut it down, and the bamboo strip was broken in two.

Since the handle of this knife is in the middle and upper part of the knife body, the blade part is the same as that of a kitchen knife, and it will not be sloppy when cutting flat.

Song Yun'er immediately understood Yang Qiuchi's intentions, and said to Yang Qiuchi in surprise: "The knife that cut the iron chain is not an axe, but a knife?" ”

"Quite possibly!" Yang Qiuchi said, "Do you remember?" At that time, we only thought of common knives such as kitchen knives, axes and firewood knives, but we forgot that there were also carpenters' knives! ”

Song Yun'er said: "What should I do? Shall we go down the mountain at once, and put away all the knives of the carpenter? ”

"Yes, we must be in a hurry, maybe our previous search may have alarmed this craftsman, so he may have absconded."

Song Yun'er hurriedly said, "Then let's go quickly." ”

Song Qing hurriedly took Yang Qiuchi's hand: "Master, it's almost evening now, it's dark in less than half of the day, this mountain is so steep, what if you fall?" ”

This is the truth, the mountain road of this Yin Ling Mountain is very steep and steep, and it is downhill, as the saying goes, it is easy to go uphill and difficult to go downhill, and it is really possible to fall down the mountain if you are not careful.

(To be continued)