Zong Zhenlei drove a car, turned right east along the Pingyang intersection and entered South Central Street.

At this time, it coincides with the rush hour for work, and the section from Pingyang intersection to Wucheng intersection of South Central Street is crowded with cars.

When waiting for the red light, Zong Zhenlei glanced at the electronic watch on the car, and rushed to the north gate of S University at nine o'clock, and the time should still be in time.

There are many office buildings on both sides of the street, and the rising sun inlays gold edges on each high-rise building.

Zong Zhenlei looked up along the tall building and remembered the feeling of standing under the twin towers of Yongzuo Temple that day, looking at the towers with his head held high.

The twin towers of Yongzuo Temple are the Ming Dynasty buildings that they are studying, and the two towers are both octagonal and thirteen floors, which is one of the ancient eight views of the city.

His gaze seems to see through the modern cement and steel "jungle", and he sees the posture of the twin towers in ancient times: the two towers stand high on the hill in the southeast of the city against the rising summer sun, and appear proudly in the morning mist; At that time, it was the beginning of the construction of the tower, the surrounding fields and hills were all around, looking from afar, in the green field dotted with yellow and blue flowers, the twin towers stood upright, as if piercing the clouds and forcing the sky, this scene was called "the twin towers in the sky" by the ancients.

The question that has been blocking his mind has resurfaced: in the temple, the hall and the twin towers built in the Ming Dynasty seem to be simple, but the Yongzuo Temple did not follow the traditional orientation of most temples, the twin towers and the main hall of the temple are arranged diagonally, and the complex brick carving patterns decorated on each building make people feel that the temple seems to be hiding mysteries.

He has consulted various introductions to Yongzuo Temple on the Internet, and he does not believe that the main hall of Yongzuo Temple was built to sit south and face north just to follow the terrain, nor do he think that those brick carving patterns are only used for aesthetic decoration, but feel more like alluding to something; However, if there is to be an allusion to a secret, then what would that secret be?

He seemed to hear Li Ruhui's voice scolding him in his ears: "Okay, tell me, is the purpose of building this second tower to 'correct the lean' or to 'worship in the southeast'?" ”

He remembered how he saw Li Ruhui a week ago.

That day, he came back from the graduate school in Beijing, got off the train and came directly to the old gate of S University according to the agreement with her, but when he arrived, he couldn't see her left and right.

He just took out his mobile phone to call her, only to see a girl wearing a white T-shirt and a polka-dot black fishtail skirt with tourist shoes on her feet, flashing out from behind the statue at the school gate, raising her hands and shouting: "Hi! Over here! ”

He took a closer look, only to find that it was Li Ruhui, whom he hadn't seen for two months. She changed her hairstyle, from long hair to short hair, which immediately made people think that she had become much brighter.

With a faint fragrance, she jumped up and down to him like a deer, and before anyone arrived, the voice had arrived, and the speed of her speech was as fast as if she wanted to pour everything out of her head: "Do you know, what did Professor Li, who reviewed the manuscript, say after the first draft of my graduation thesis was handed in?" After reading it, he praised the paper for being unconventional, and arranged time to listen to me elaborate on the main points of the paper. ”

Zong Zhenlei smiled and praised her: "Unique!" He didn't find it abrupt about what she said about the paper, because he had helped her carefully "carve" the structure of the paper "The Four Elephants of Feng Shui Drawn from Qinglong Ancient Town".

She continued in an excited tone: "You hear me say that the point is still to come. A few days later, I received an email from Professor Li, who asked me for my opinion and asked if I would like to participate in the research of the project "Research on the Origin of the Relic Seeds of Yongzheng Temple". ”

As she spoke, she took out the email from her phone and delivered it to Zong Zhenlei; That was the first time Zong Zhenlei heard the topic of "Research on the Origin of the Relic of Yongqi Temple".

The email mentioned that the research topic of "Research on the Origin of the Relic of Yongqi Temple" comes from a university in Singapore, which is a cooperative project of sister universities, funded by individuals in Singapore, and a research team is formed by S University; Participants are required to be familiar with local history, geography, and an interest in challenging topics. The email also mentioned that if the project is successfully completed, a member of the research group can be selected as an exchange student to study at the university in Singapore for a master's degree, and the tuition and living expenses will be fully covered by the sponsor. According to the requirements of the sponsors, the relevant departments of the universities in the two countries only conduct management reviews of the project and do not intervene in specific research.

Zong Zhenlei had long known that Li Ruhui planned to apply for a master's degree after graduating from her undergraduate program this year, but she didn't expect such an opportunity to study abroad for graduate school to appear. He returned his mobile phone to Li Ruhui: "This opportunity to study abroad is good, don't you just want to go to graduate school, hurry up and agree to the invitation!" ”

Li Ruhui put on a bold look: "Of course! This 'pie' fell from the sky, and I can't afford to waste it, and I have already agreed! After saying that, he smiled and boasted that he was now like a Popeye full of wisdom and strength, and only wanted to seek the various challenges of the world.

Saying that, she approached: "However, it is not only me who wants to challenge the world, I also want to pull you!" Looking at him, a sly smile flashed in his eyes.

Zong Zhenlei thought she was joking at the time, so he smiled at her and said that he should first challenge the "vice" of not having a comma when he was excited; When she heard this, she made a gesture of reaching out to block his mouth, and said, "What? I've been thinking about you for so long, saving for so long, and still don't let people talk to you? ”

When he saw her approaching, he took out a small gift that he had bought for her and handed it to her; He would do this every time he came back from the capital, and this time the small gift was a silk scarf that she had long admired.

But at this time, she seemed to be preoccupied with what she said, and looked at the gift and did not say whether she liked it or not: "I told you, there is another thing related to you; When I was talking to Professor Li about this research topic that day, I said that because I was interested in the history of the Ming and Qing dynasties in high school, several of us formed an extracurricular reading group, and we often discussed some events together, such as the 'demon book case' of the Ming Dynasty, the literary prison of the Qing Dynasty, and so on. The professor was very interested in what I said, repeatedly asked you what you are doing now, and said that he would like to get to know you. ”

Zong Zhenlei saw that her mind was not on the gift at all, and teased her: "Hey! For the gifts carefully selected by others, you have to squeak if you like it or not! ”

As if Li Ruhui hadn't heard it, she looked directly at Zong Zhenlei and said, "Teach-teach-think-recognize-know-you!" Are you interested in this topic? ”

This topic is indeed very attractive to Zong Zhenlei. When he was in high school, he had a strong interest in the history of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and some time ago he happened to be exposed to the knowledge related to Buddha relics, which also deepened his interest in understanding Buddhism. But he also considered that he was not from her school, so he said, "I can be a supernumerary member of our team and help you." ”

"Who wants you to be a foreign aid!" Li Ruhui waved her hand and said, "If you want to do it, let's do it together, is there no time to arrange?" ”

It wasn't until this time that Zong Zhenlei realized that she was serious: "That's not the case, there is time." I think it would be very abrupt for your professor to ask him to join the project if he didn't know what he wanted to know me......

After Li Ruhui confirmed to Zong Zhenlei that he was interested in this topic, he said: "I don't want to listen to your verbosity, you are not a cabbage, and if you join, it will only add points to the research instead of subtracting points!" After saying that, he took him to see Professor Li.

A car phone rang, interrupting his train of thought, he glanced at the electronic screen, it was a strange phone, and before he could press the answer button, the phone rang off.

Zong Zhenlei's train of thought went back to just now.

On the way to Professor Li's office, Li Ruhui specifically told Zong Zhenlei that when he met the professor, he should take the initiative to introduce himself and express his interest in this topic.

Zong Zhenlei considered that if there were not many people in the team, his participation might help her get this opportunity to study for a master's degree, so he agreed to her.

Zong Zhenlei once heard Li Ruhui say that the professor is from this city, but his ancestors, like her, are all from the south of Jin, and they are fellow villagers; Zong Zhenlei knows that the villagers in Shanxi have always had a strong local complex, and the folk legend that Yan Jun is "able to speak Wutai dialect, so he will carry a foreign knife", and even the Jin merchants, who are known as the "No. 1 merchant gang in history", have the saying that "use the township without relatives" and "people from other provinces are not allowed to use it"; However, according to Li Ruhui, there is still a difference between her and Professor Li's fellow countryman, that is, she knows from her mother how to use "fermented bran" to steam all kinds of "flower buns", and the steamed buns are white, sweet, and shiny; The professor's ancestors have been out for a long time, and Professor Li only knows that he does not put alkali when steaming steamed buns in his hometown.

Seeing Professor Li, Li Ruhui enthusiastically introduced Zong Zhenlei to the "fellow villagers".

Professor Li is in his early 40s, wears glasses, and is tall and thin.

Zong Zhenlei noticed that when Professor Li listened to Li Ruhui's introduction, there was no expression on his face.

Zong Zhenlei thought of Li Ruhui's explanation on the road, and took the initiative to introduce himself without waiting for the professor to ask: he was studying in Beijing for a master's degree but had not graduated, and was preparing to write a thesis on Japan's "Golden Lily Project" during World War II and the looting of Chinese cultural treasures, and was currently in the stage of collecting materials; Finally, he also expressed to Professor Li that he was interested in the study of the history of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Professor Li seemed to be interested at this time, and asked a few questions to listen to in the conversation with Zong Zhenlei.

It may be that Li Ruhui saw that he did not take the initiative to express his interest in this topic, so he proposed to Professor Li to recommend Zong Zhenlei to join the research project; But what Ling Zong Zhenlei didn't expect was that Professor Li did not show the enthusiasm of welcome, and only replied lightly: "Well, you have to report to the school first." ”

After Professor Li finished speaking, he turned around and saw that Zong Zhenlei was silent, and asked him, "How much do you know about Yongzuo Temple?" ”

Zong Zhenlei replied: "I only went there once or twice when I was a child. ”

Professor Li nodded and said: "The twin towers of Yongzuo Temple are the city symbol of the city and are well known to people, but this does not represent the whole of this temple; Yongzuo Temple has a lot of things worth studying, but the strange thing is that it is a Buddhist temple, and the study of it is known for its architectural structure and feng shui layout, while the study of its Buddhism is rare, so it leaves a blank spot; For this blank spot, it is well worth exploring and paying attention to. ”

Zong Zhenlei asked: "Is it difficult to study its Buddhism?" ”

Professor Li paused for a moment and said, "Every study involves many factors, such as the feasibility of the research project, funding, suitable team candidates, opportunities, etc., and without one of these conditions, normal research cannot be carried out. However, if anyone is interested in this research, it is a different matter. So, the key is to have interested researchers. ”

Zong Zhenlei said: "Actually, I came to see you just to apply to join the team, and I am interested in the topic of "Yongqi Temple Relic Origin Research". ”

When Professor Li heard this, he looked at Zong Zhenlei meaningfully, raised his chin in the direction of Li Ruhui, and asked him, "Do you love her?" ”