Master Zhiyuan has been sending Chen Ying to the courtyard. She saw Ye Feng kneeling on the inclined bench in front of the incense burner, and Liang Jing was standing behind him holding three burning incense sticks. The two of them looked solemn and concentrated, and neither saw them coming.

"Please stay, thank you very much for today." Chen Ying nodded to the master.

"This is for you." Master Zhiyuan said as he took out two small pendants from his sleeve. One was a wooden pixiu the size of a third of a fist, maintaining a standing posture, with a hideous face, a large mouth and a round mouth, and eyes staring straight ahead. A golden-brown tassel was tied to the Pixiu's body, and a red agate bead was tied to the head of the tassel near the Pixiu, adding a bit of color to the pendant. The other is a bat carving that is not much larger than a thumb nail. The whole ornament is jadeite, dark green throughout, but the bat is black, and there is a huge copper coin in the mouth. Above the copper coin are three small white jade beads, which are strung together with a black rope to form a pendant.

"The bat is for you, and Pixiu is for Liang Jing." He told Chen Ying.

She nodded, and watched the Master leave leisurely. The hem of his robe and robe swayed lightly, and the Luohan shoes walked over the bluestone slabs, barely making a sound, and he slowly walked up to the cloister, holding a long rosary on his chest in his hand, to a green-painted door at the end of the cloister, and disappeared in a flash.

"What did Master Zhiyuan say to you?" Liang Jing inserted the incense into the furnace and walked over to Chen Ying and asked. Ye Feng was still bowing. At this time, several lay people with famous signs came to join them in the prayer procession.

"It's fine." Chen Ying said and put Pixiu into Liang Jing's hand, "This is a gift from him to you." ”

"You can't refuse to accept things that are bonded." Ye Feng stood up after speaking, walked over and looked at the two ornaments in Chen Ying's hand, and exclaimed, "It's really good." ”

"What is it for you?" Liang Jing picked up the jade bat and looked at it carefully at the sun.

"It's called 'blessing in front of you'. Cherish it, this is also a piece of the master's heart. Ye Feng said.

"Don't you think it's worth the trip?" Liang Jing said. At this time, they walked towards the temple of the Heavenly King, and the number of people who came to worship increased, and the rows of red candles in front of the temple were lit, and there was no place on the bench for worship.

"It's fine." Chen Ying lowered her head as she spoke, carefully stroking the head of the jade bat. The little ornament grew brighter in her hands.

"The master didn't say anything to you, did he?" Liang Jing looked at Chen Ying and said, "It feels like you're not very happy." ”

"Nope." Chen Ying smiled, "However, how did you think of coming here today?" Haven't you always pretended to be a firm believer in science and reject superstition? ”

"Speaking of the relationship between science and superstition, it's because I have a new understanding recently, so I remembered to ask Ye Feng to bring us here. I admit that I used to be a bit too narrow about superstition, especially religion, and always thought that only those theories that have been tested or supported by sufficient data are scientifically credible. But now that I've read a few more books—especially after I've been to some places with Ye Feng—I think science is nothing more than superstition that explains clearly, and superstition is a science that is still inconclusive. ”

"It's very dialectical, and there is some truth to this statement." Chen Ying said approvingly.

"I couldn't understand at first why anyone would like to come to a place like a monastery — it felt like it lacked the vibrancy of a university campus — it seemed so quiet that you could hear your heartbeat, and it seemed like you could have everything or nothing. Do you remember the poem we learned together in high school Chinese class? ”

"'I have a thousand mountains and rivers in my life, let you say goodbye one by one. In addition to life and death, nothing in the world is idle. ’”

"yes, that's it."

"I felt the same way when I saw that couplet in front of the bell tower. Maybe this kind of thinking is too heavy for our current age, but life has ups and downs, and it may be true to look back when the oil runs out. ”

"Life is a practice."

"So you brought me here today so that I can 'do my best and know the destiny of heaven'?"

"I don't fully believe that. The main reason for coming here is to find out where the students of the Buddhist Society in the Department of Philosophy are doing and what they are doing—and Ye Feng happens to know the master here, so he came to see it today. It's not so much that I believe in Zhou Yi's questioning, but rather that it's about searching for immortals and visiting the Tao in order to satisfy curiosity. Liang Jing said as she tied the small pendant to the pull lock on the outside of the backpack, and she straightened Pixiu's head and kissed the top of its head.

"Okay, now this little guy is completely mine." She happily announced.

Chen Ying loosened the long black rope behind the jade pendant and put it around her neck. Liang Jing helped her tighten the buckle on the back of her neck. The pendant was attached to the notch between her shoulder blades, and it was cool, and the little bat was looking up at her.

"Don't look at it." Chen Ying saw that Liang Jing had been staring at her neck, and was busy covering the pendant with a scarf, somehow, even through the scarf, she could feel the appearance of the pendant.

It was still early, and they had only spent two or three hours here, but the winter sun had already called a end early. The sky was getting cooler, and the cold wind was blowing. The three of them returned along the same path, came out of the Wuxiang Gate, and walked into the alley, which was already slightly dim. The alley was deserted, and a few small shops that had passed by before were closing their stalls. As they walked on, the street lamps lit up as if to see them off. After walking for a while, when it got dark, Chen Ying could already hear the sound of the bus on the street. Walking to an old mansion that was being renovated, they turned another corner and walked into the red dust.