A soft knock on the door woke Wu Sidao, but when he got up to listen to it, there was no movement, only the wind and rain outside the window sounded rapidly. Wu Sidao thought it was a mistake, and was about to fall asleep again, when the knock on the door rang again.

"Who?"

There was no answer, but the knocker rang twice. Wu Sidao got up in his clothes, and as soon as he opened the door a crack, a dark shadow flashed in, turned around and closed the door again. Wu Sidao's eyes widened, but the room was too dark for him to see clearly. Wu Sidao secretly smiled: "What are you doing like this? I'm a long-time veteran, and I've seen everything. ”

"It's ...... me"

The man said timidly. There was a flash of blue light outside, and the lightning was shining in the sky, Wu Sidao could see it clearly, it was a woman! He suddenly felt the blood all over his body surge backwards, and he wanted to crutch over, and said viciously: "You?!" Jin Fenggu - Get out of here! ”

"I'm not Aunt Feng." The man seemed to be taken aback in secret, and only spoke for a long time, but his voice was a little choked: "I am...... Feng Gu's stepmother - you must remember Lan Cao'er, right? ”

Wu Sidao opened his mouth wide in surprise and sat back on the edge of the bed. Lan Caoer was her aunt's dowry girl, and she often came to serve her in Nanjing. Sometimes Wu Sidao and Feng Gu played the piano and chanted poems, and she often watched with needlework on the sidelines. I came to Jinfu for a day today, and I didn't see her show up, so I sneaked into the room at this hour, and I don't know why. Thinking about it, Wu Sidao said gloomily: "The young and the old are orderly, there are differences between men and women, you think about things." God knows everything today, you know I know, don't say anything, you go quickly! ”

"Mr. Wu," Lan Cao'er said, and she couldn't see her face in the dark ground, "I'm a serious person, not for ...... You're in trouble, you have to leave immediately! Wu Sidao's hair stood up, and he almost wanted to stand up in a fit of emotion, and only said after a while: "Why am I in danger?" Lan Cao'er was so anxious that she didn't know how to say it, "I don't have the time to talk about it!" I can't speak clearly! The old dead ghost and the party's plan, Tianming will send you to Shuntianfu, and you will be a prisoner of Qin......"

Wu Sidao pondered nervously, he couldn't guess why the woman did this, so he couldn't tell if her words were true or false. After a while, he gritted his teeth and smiled: "Just send it to Shuntianfu, which is also a place where there is a king's law." The Empress Dowager passed away, the court granted amnesty, and my 'sins' were forgiven long ago - I just said I would leave, why use this method to get rid of me? Lan Cao'er was stunned by him, and only sobbed for a long time before she said, "I know you can't believe it...... I'm not clean...... The road of the world is sinister, and Shuntian Mansion is the master's brother; Master Long Keduo is also a relative of the Eight Kings! Where does it make sense? You...... You don't believe me...... But how can it be ......" Before she finished speaking, Wu Sidao had already set up his crutches and said in a low voice: "Don't say it, I'll leave immediately!" ”

"Amitabha!" Lan Cao'er recited the Buddha, opened the door gently, and a burst of rain suddenly swept in, causing Wu Sidao to shiver, but Lan Cao'er sighed softly, flashed out of the door, looked up at the sky flashing with lightning, and waved his hand: "Follow me!" ”

Wu Sidao was soaked as soon as he went out, and with difficulty he set up his crutches and followed the fluttering bluegrass, bypassed the hall, tiptoed through the West Flower Hall into the garden, waded through the stagnant water on the path between the flowers, stepped past a gazebo, and saw a corner door in front of him. After a long time, Fang heard a "squeak" and the door opened. When Wu Sidao came out to see, there was a wilderness outside, lightning flashes one after another, shining like daylight, and the sound of thunder, lightning, wind and rain all around the river and the sea was overturned, stirring up the world into a chaotic world. Wu Sidao looked up to the sky and sighed, and walked away.

"Wu—Mr. Wu!"

"How?" Wu Sidao asked without looking back.

"Do you have any money?"

A sentence reminded Wu Sidao: I didn't take the blanket. After thinking about it, he said, "No." Lan Cao'er groped in her arms, handed over a bag, and said, "This is my body, the matter is too urgent, I didn't have time to prepare, you ...... Don't dislike it......" Wu Sidao took the silver in a daze, the silver was still warm, with the body heat of the blue grass, and a wave of heat like blood surged up. Just as she was about to speak, Lan Cao'er asked again, "Where are you going?" Is there a place to go? ”

"I don't know." Wu Sidao looked at the sky abruptly, shook his head and said, "Let's go and see!" ”

"Someone from the Fourth Master's Mansion has come to inquire about you, so you should go to him." Lan Cao'er said softly, "You...... With a disability and no relatives, someone in Beijing has harmed you, I'm afraid that only the fourth master can protect you thoroughly. ”

Wu Sidao glanced at Lan Cao'er in surprise, his heart moved, he remembered the steady and serious "imperial businessman" in Hongqiao Restaurant, he didn't expect him to be the emperor's brother Yinzhen, he didn't expect him to be thinking about himself all the time! Thinking about it, he muttered, "...... It's fate......" "What did you say? Lan Cao'er asked. Didn't say anything. Wu Sidao came back to his senses, stared at Lan Cao'er and asked, "I want to know, why did you save me?" ”

“……”

"Are you going to tell me to guess for the rest of my life?"

"Mr. Wu......"

"Hmm, hmm?"

"I ...... I'm the most shameless ...... in the world Bitter woman. Lan Cao'er whimpered, almost letting go, "You...... You...... You can...... Kiss me? ”

There was another heavy thunder, and the wheels swirled around over the two heads as if they had run over the stone bridge. Wu Sidao was speechless, and came to take a closer look at Lan Cao'er's face. When the lightning shines, it seems that it is still as delicate, naïve, and stupid as it was ten years ago. He didn't say anything, but kissed her deeply on the wet cheek, and whispered, "Smash this lock, go back and collect ......my coat," and then turned and disappeared into the rainy night.

Wu Sidao walked through the barren basil with one foot high and one foot low, crossed a mass grave, and went around a pond overgrown with reeds, and gradually entered the street under the official road. He wanted to calm down and think about the night, and what to do now, but the rain was too heavy, and his heart was too chaotic, and the dullness that was almost numb stuck to his heart, and he didn't know where the strength came from, and he walked as fast as he could—it seemed that it was best to go until he died.

Suddenly, there were three dull cannon shots in the rain, and Wu Sidao realized that it was Gongchentai to announce the time, and it was the middle of the night. He wiped his rain-soaked forehead and looked forward, a row of lights flickering in the rain curtain. When you get closer, it was an ancient temple, and the eaves of the mountain gate are painted with arches, which is very spectacular and magnificent. In the middle of a large plaque of Panlong mud gold, written "Ejian Dajue Temple" five big characters, under the eaves hang four huge white gauze palace lamps, desolate in the wind, but there is no voice, only the temple faintly heard the sound of drums and cymbals chanting. Wu Sidao went from the rain to the temple gate, entered the populated land, stepped on the dry brick floor, as if he had just had a nightmare, stared at the lights in a daze, felt dazzling bright, suddenly dizzy, he fell under the ring of the bun of the mountain gate, and knew nothing.

When he woke up again, Wu Sidao found himself lying in a long, narrow and dilapidated house. Because of the overcast weather, the room was very dark, and there was a row of mottled stone tablets embedded in the smoky and blackened walls—at a glance, it was a monk's house converted from a stele gallery, which had fallen into disrepair and was abandoned. The rain outside was no longer so scary, but it was still endlessly underground, and from time to time there were bursts of thunder, and the raindrops drifting in with the wind from the broken window lattices fell on the face, with a cold sweetness, very pleasant. Wu Sidao raised his head, but he still felt dizzy and unbearable, so he lay down and closed his eyes again, secretly thinking to himself: I don't know who saved him. Suddenly, I heard a rush of footsteps, and I opened my eyes again.

"Wake up! Brother Li Fu - come and see! There were two scholars and a head Tuo who came in, and at a glance they saw Wu Sidao looking at everyone suspiciously, and a square-faced scholar squatted down in surprise and greeted: "This dog meat monk is really a miracle doctor - according to the group of bald donkeys in the temple, you have already been burned to ashes in Zuojiazhuang Human Field!" Gee! Life and death are flesh and bones, and sexual sound is really a good means! The one named Li Fu approached, looked at Wu Sidao's face and said, "It's really good." I didn't look at it last night! Sir, your surname is Taifu? If it weren't for Tian Wenjing and Sexual Voice, I'm afraid it would have been useless a long time ago...... You've been in a coma for three days, you know? "Three days?" Wu Sidao shuddered, "I've slept here for three days? As he spoke, he glanced at the head called Toutuo.

Xingyin was wearing a tattered and flowing yellow monk robe, a greasy body, looking about thirty years old, with a black and heavy iron ring knife on his waist, full of thirty or forty pounds, but he had a strange hippie smile. Listening to Li Fu and Tian Wenjing, he didn't pay attention to it, pulled out a fat piece of wax goose from his arms, and bit it with a big mouthful, and said with a smile: "Mr. Wu, the poor monk won't let you go, and you don't have this appetite." You have been a human being for two lifetimes, how can you repay me as a monk? Wu Sidao's eyes widened and he was speechless, Tian Wenjing couldn't help but ask, "It turns out that you have known each other for a long time?" ”

Wu Sidao shook his head and asked in a weak voice: "Monk, where to hang up, and how do you recognize me Wu Sidao?" Sexual Yin chewed the goose meat with a big mouthful, smacking in his mouth, and said with a smile: "Are you looking for the roots?" I am the judge of the throne of the King of Jizo Bodhisattva, I don't approve the words, and your name is not in the book of life and death! The four major monks are empty, and it doesn't mean that you repay them, they can't compare to the two of them, they will write every night, eight shares every day, and they are determined to win the champion in the world, and they are planted in the red dust, not afraid of a mouth full of mud! It's a pity...... However, there is also a case of a monk who is not as good as others, has no relatives to vote for, and has no marriage to rely on. Naturally, how can a woman throw herself into her arms and kiss her in the rain and cheat on her mouth......" laughed. Wu Sidao was stunned by his crazy words. Li Fu and Tian Wenjing only smiled. Tian Wenjing said: "I have never seen such a monk, every day chicken, duck and goose meat does not leave the mouth, dead cats and dogs eat it, it is really a sudden Buddha, defiling the mountain gate!" At night, gritting your teeth, farting and snoring are all accounted for, if it weren't for the fact that you didn't have a relationship with the thief's shop on the road to Brother Julai, you could have a point, who would be squeezed together with you to suffer? After that, he pulled Li Fu and said: "Let's make a fuss according to the question we divided yesterday, don't pay attention to him!" ”

"Amitabha! The two of them are really rich and noble, and they don't know the six ancestors' health preservation methods! Seeing the two of them grinding ink and paper in front of a broken table in the north, he chased after him with a smile, "My fart is like you making a fuss, that's kung fu - it's not a child's body, I'm afraid I can't practice it!" After that, he got up and yawned lazily, sat down cross-legged beside Wu Sidao with his hands folded, and in an instant he seemed to be a different person, with a solemn look on his face, and said eloquently: "You close your eyes, don't think about things, don't use force, I will do my work to treat you." Wu Sidao was also really tired, closed his eyes and said: "Wu has read all the three tombs, five classics, eight ropes and nine hills, and the Yellow Emperor's internal scriptures are also slightly dabbled in Jinkui, and I have never heard of such a cure." Don't make trouble, I don't believe in it......" Xingyin sat upright with his palms together, and replied coldly: "My Buddha helps the world with silence and emptiness, and has 300,000 volumes of Mahayana scriptures, I'm afraid that Mr. has never read them all - Amitabha, the road is like the sea, how can there be an end to it?" ”

Wu Sidao closed his eyes and wanted to refute it, and suddenly felt that a cool and numb air flow went straight up from the Yongquan acupoint, and he was immersed in the mud pill palace, and suddenly his heart was like an autumn breeze passing through the post, and his miscellaneous worries were washed away, and his heart was clear but silent. Suddenly, I realized that this Lai Toutuo was really a stunt. Busy following the instructions to collect his mind, when he glanced slightly, the sex sound wood sat as if he had already settled, but it was also like a normal meditation, and there was no abnormality. At this time, Wu Sidao felt that the airflow was gradually warming, getting stronger and stronger, rushing and reversing in the body, and there was a sound in the five internal organs, and all kinds of depression were shaken, churned, and disintegrated by the airflow.

"Alright." After a long time, I heard the sexual voice say, "Open your eyes and sit up!" ”

Wu Sidao blinked, his eyes were immediately clear, he tried to hold his hands up, and sat up straight without difficulty, but he didn't speak, stared at the sexual voice that became grinning again. Sexuality put on a strange face and smiled: "How, don't thank Luohan?" Li Futian Wenjing had just finished a problem-solving, and was looking at the manuscript instead, and he turned his face when he saw this scene. Li Fuwu held the ink-drenched pen in his hand and exclaimed: "What a fairy method!" A few days ago, I was able to give Mr. Wu a cure, so why not use it earlier? Sex Yin laughed and said: "Shen Zhen doesn't need emergency medicine, he also needs his body to be able to withstand it!" Don't you hear that farting is easy and difficult to fart? Wu Sidao asked in a daze: "Why did you follow me all the way and save me?" ”

"I have a fate with you." "Longhua will be cultivated in the previous life!" Wu Sidao saw that he didn't want to say anything, so he had no choice but to give up, so he asked Tian Wenjing: "What topic are the two Bagu doing, can you see and teach?" "Oh," Li Fu said, "it's two problem-solving, and the title is 'Yin You Sanren'." With that, he handed over the two pieces of paper. Wu Sidao looked at Tian Wenjing first, and wrote:

There are many ways to be benevolent, and if you return to benevolence, you will be holy, or loyal or forgiving, and not obedient to the principles of heaven and man.

Wu Sidao nodded and said: "Brother Tian's break, the truth is good, but it is not very relevant, and it cannot withstand the examiner's investigation." 'Sanren' is pointed out in the title, and if you don't mention a word, how can the 'demon kings' spare you? After that, I looked at Li Fu again, but it was a color and eight points in block letters, and the writing was beautiful and charming, but it was:

The three sons are different, and Yu Ren is one. It's just benevolence, why bother?

Wu Sidao couldn't help but sigh: "It's concise and concise, it can be regarded as a subtle and subtle one, but this word is boneless and slightly flawed - but compared with the two volumes, this one naturally has a slight upper hand." After that, he sighed faintly, and he suddenly remembered himself, even if he could make a flower-like article, could he still be like Li and Tian to join the Longmen to compete with each other? Xingyin smiled on the side: "What you said is lively, I don't sound interesting at all, what is the use of this kind of stepping stone article in the world?" ”

"At the beginning of the long live ascension, he decreed the abolition of the eight shares, because it really could not benefit the world. But there is no other way to do it - you can't knock on this door without this stepping stone, and that's what it uses! Wu Sidao said, "But the text is used by others, and this article is not full of empty words. For example, the two articles just now broke the topic, talking about the way of benevolence and righteousness, both for benevolence and love for the people, there are lenient, strict, harsh, and violent - benevolence is fundamental. But when we think of the point of 'benevolence', everyone takes a different path. The world is governed, the usage is generous, and the Huairou civilization is gentle; The world is chaotic, deterred by punishment, and killed by heavy punishment, but it is still a benevolence! Sex sound, you read 300,000 volumes of Buddhist scriptures, do you understand this principle? Xingyin smiled: "Where have I read any Huangzi 300,000 volumes?" This leads to your macro theory! Everything in the world is a catastrophe, and you scholars can't figure it out, but can the bald donkeys know? Wu Sidao looked at the sky and muttered, "That's what I said." Everyone can say one thing about governing the world, but they are still ignorant about doing it - listen, this thunder in the sky, some people say it is a heavenly drum, some people say it is a heavenly sound. All in all, it is the wrath of heaven, but who has ever seen a jackal, tiger, leopard, poisonous snake and beast struck by lightning? Only pick up people, pick up cattle to beat! God, is he fair? As he spoke, there was really a burst of thunder in the sky, which shook everyone's hearts, and Wu Sidao's eyes were already full of tears.

A few people were stunned, and they heard the sound of drums and cymbals faintly coming from the meditation hall in front of them, and the wooden fish that were holding the monks chanting and hitting the chime "Toto" constantly knocked on the mountain, which was very incongruous with the atmosphere in this room. Tian Wenjing said with a smile: "Panasonic shouted, the piano side is gluttonous - it's really a bad scenery, and I want to listen to Mr. Wu's high talk again!" Whose family is doing the funeral? ”

"Zhang Shiping is dead. The third son of Zhang Tingyu, the prime minister of the dynasty. The voice said indifferently, "This is the Zhang family's practice." Didn't listen to the monks' "Mantra of Death"? "Zhang Tingyu?" Li Fu tilted his head sideways and thought for a while, "The Zhang family has been a great Confucian for generations, a disciple of Confucius, and has also converted to Buddhism?" Tian Wenjing smiled: "Julai is really stupid!" Nowadays, there are still princes and ministers who do not believe in Buddhism? Even the fourth elder brother, the noble golden branches and jade leaves of Tianhuang, are still disciples of Buddhism! Speaking of Confucianism, Zhang Tingyu's father Zhang Ying is one, Zhang Tingyu is an Enyin Jinshi, but he is just stained with the light of his ancestors. ”

Li Fu sighed: "The current thing can't just look at the imperial examination, thinking that being high in the middle is a Confucian, and Zhang Tingyu's talent is considered to be top-notch among the ministers." At the beginning of the country, Han scholars were enveloped, and the lifters had a little bit of an article, and they inevitably had a fame. Mingzhu has been in phase for 20 years, but he is just a fellow jinshi; Gao Shiqi was born as a scoundrel, and as soon as he ascended to the dragon gate as a lifter, he immediately announced his mah and worshipped the prime minister! When I'm free, I often think that this is an opportunity. At that time, there was no hero in the world who made the erector famous, but now it is reversed, it is the tigers in the mountains who walk in groups, and the monkeys dare not come down from the trees! He smiled. Tian Wenjing said: "Zhang Tingyu is still honest, which is rare. We can't catch up with that time, so we have to accept our fate. The last subject of Beifu was the main examination of Wang Hongxu and Yuxu, and the examiners in the first eighteen rooms, I heard that none of them were black rooms [1]

！ This Zhang Sangongzi, I heard that Zhang Xiang did not allow him to take the road of Enyin, his homework was tight, and he was so tired that he died of illness - if he is the prime minister can have this heart, this branch may not be left without a single household, right? ”

"You're too honest." Xingyin smiled on the side, "I believed that Steward Zhang farted!" This Zhang Shiping is angry, but it's not for homework, but for a woman, a real kind of love! The Zhang family just wants to cover up the ugliness, and let go of such a style, this is Zhang Xiang's cleverness. Li Fu's eyebrows trembled slightly, and asked, "What's going on?" ”

Xingyin glanced at Wu Sidao and said, "Last year, Zhang Xiangye went to Jinling, and Zhang Shiping also went with him, and somehow he got along with a waiter named Gui'er in Xiaoyue Tower. Xiangye returned to Beijing, Zhang Shiping ransomed her body and hid it in the deck to take it back to Beijing. I didn't want to be found out by Zhang Tingyu halfway, so I pressed the third master down in the official ship and whipped forty leather whips, beat it to a pulp, and braved the wind and cold, and died when I returned to Beijing. Li Fu didn't squeak when he heard it, and Tian Wenjing asked, "What about the woman?" ”

"The woman is very fierce." There was no expression on her face, "At that time, I was lying on Zhang Shiping's body and weeping bitterly, got up and bowed to Zhang Xiang, and said, 'I seduced the third young master. Xiangye, I took my life to resist the third master's mistake, you will forgive him! Then he fell headlong into the iron anchor...... Amitabha, sin! ”

Wu Sidao's heart sank when he heard this, and he couldn't help but think of his own family: How come such a martyr woman has no blessings to meet? was sad in his heart, and he only endured bowing his head and not saying a word. Tian Wenjing said with a smile: "It's a pity that Zhang Sangongzi died for love." When Shandong Pu Liuxian heard this, he must have written it into "Liao Zhai", and there was another good article to read. Li Fu Zhengse said: "Actually, this woman is even more pathetic. If you can't keep yourself like jade, you don't have to seek death; really from the beginning, I shouldn't have been in the Qinglou in the first place. This festival woman is not like a festival woman, and a prostitute is not like a prostitute, so it is difficult for the literati to write an epitaph. Wu Sidao listened more and more heart-wrenching, such a tragic story, just commenting, just a joke! Because he got up and said: "Taoists talk about people, they are picky and grinding, and they are not under the examiner." How many perfect people can there be in ancient times? The three words 'last resort', Confucius should really be written into "The Mean". With that, he came out with his cane and walked south along the stele corridor.

The back of this Dajue Temple is in tatters, the more you go forward, the more neat it is, Wu Sidao turned the Great Compassion Palace, and suddenly felt that the golden splendor brightened in his eyes. The bronze statue that stands in the middle of the Great Compassion Hall is five zhang high, and the two coercive Bodhisattvas are also bronze casting, and the back wall of the seat is painted with five hundred Arhats and gold statues, all of which are lifelike, and the heavenly windbreaker has a treasure **. The west side wall of the hall is a color of water and gold, painted with Buddha, companions, dolls, difficult people, ghost envoys, all dressed naked, wearing shoulder pads, headbands, flower crowns, earrings, bracelets, tassels...... The teeth and claws look weird, I don't know what the story is. On the east side, the wall is full of gold and purple, painted with canopy, pipa, demon pestle, nine tin staff, liuyun tuo, leopard tail spear, ox ear knife...... There are also treasure flags, cloud heads, grass, treasure beads, square flags, and hot wheels, but they are the images of Mulian saving the Buddha's mother, and the images of cutting meat and feeding eagles in the snowy mountains, and there is no benefit in the chaos. However, the twenty-eight heavens in front of the Buddha are kind, some are thoughtful, some are sad, some laugh, or the old dragon bell, or the literary quality is polite, or the mighty and hideous, which is quite thought-provoking. Wu Sidao was a person who had just recovered from a serious illness, and after tossing and turning for a while, he felt weak and sweaty, and his stomach seemed to be a little hungry. Because of the scarcity of tourists on rainy days, I knew that there was nowhere to buy and eat, and I thought about stepping out of the temple, but I saw the white curtain and spirit flag hanging high outside the east side of the Zhai House, and the white and watery spiritual shed, and the paper flowers and gold leaf trembled in the breeze, as if it was a cry for leaving people. Wu Sidao knew that this was where Zhang Shiping stopped, and remembered that a few people had just spoken, and he didn't feel that sadness came from it, but he couldn't shed this tear, so he walked over and stood against the pillar, looking at it with sadness and joy on his face.

The service seems to be coming to an end. Several family members at the funeral table were draped in linen shoulders, leaning against the pillars of the shed, stretching and yawning one after another, looking tired and exhausted. A man who looked like a butler came out with a large plate of fruits, laid them on one end, and rebuked the people at the other: "Do you want to die?" It's a serious day! After a while, the old lady arrived, and the prime minister might have to accompany her. This errand is done badly, so let's expose the skin carefully! Look at the paper horses placed over there, some have broken legs and some have no tails, and the paper sedan chair is also wet, so don't hurry up and put the sacrifices under the corridor in order - after all, after today, my wife will definitely have a holiday, and there is a time for you to stand up for the corpse! Everyone gathered their spirits and cleaned up. Wu Sidao was about to leave, when suddenly a person in the west cried loudly, covered his face and staggered over. Wu Sidao was stunned, and when he looked at it, he was even more surprised: it turned out to be Li Fu!

[1]

Black room: Examiners who refuse to accept bribes are called "black rooms".