Li Ruhui took Zong Zhenlei's arm and walked towards the tower courtyard. She quietly watched her surroundings as she walked, but found no particular gaze staring at them; She wanted to tell Zong Zhenlei several times about feeling strange eyes in the temple, but when she saw Zong Zhenlei walking on the road, the camera in her hand was still busy taking pictures of the scenery, so she swallowed back the words that came to her mouth.

When the two arrived at the tower courtyard, Zong Zhenlei saw the twin towers, and suddenly thought of another question that he didn't notice the twin towers when he came here last time: since the southeast direction of the connection of the two towers has a meaning, will the northwest direction of the connection of the two towers also have a special meaning?

He turned around the Xuanwen Pagoda to the northwest of the pagoda to observe, only to see that under the sun, the Xuanwen Pagoda left a tall shadow on the east wall of the Three Sacred Pavilions; He looked at the building that was once called Guanyin Pavilion, because of the nine lotus logo inside and outside, he called it "Nine Lotus Guanyin Pavilion", and silently thought, the combination of the shadow of Xuanwen Pagoda and the "Nine Lotus Guanyin Pavilion", does this represent the northwest direction of the tower? But it seems too simplistic.

At this time, he noticed that the carved picture of the mountain flower brick on the side of the Sansheng Pavilion was half covered by the shadow of the Xuanwen Pagoda. In traditional Chinese architecture, a kind of decorative pattern formed by the triangular wall on both sides of the gable on both sides of the gable of the mountain roof is called the mountain flower; The last time he came, he noticed this carved picture of mountain flower bricks, and he thought it was very beautiful at that time. Now standing at the base of the tower to look at the Sansheng Pavilion in the temple, this mountain flower brick carving is the largest brick carving in the line of sight, the climbing curvy lines in the picture, the compact structure, make people feel that in the beauty and contains a different kind of charm.

Zong Zhenlei took a few photos of the brick carving that was half blocked by the shadow of the tower, and then stopped and looked at it; Under the shadow of the tower, the brick carving is half-obscured, which adds to the mystery. He imagined that whenever the sun rose, the shadow of the tower gradually covered this brick pattern from south to north, as if covering it with a black veil; As the sun moves, the veil slowly lifts again, allowing the pattern to return to its truth.

This scene must have existed since the temple was built, and he did not know whether it was unintentional or intentional.

His mind became active: could this scene obscured by the shadow of the tower be deliberately done by the builder to draw attention to this brick carving? If so, then why should people pay attention to this carved picture of mountain flower bricks? He stared at the brick carving for a while, not knowing where to start.

At this time, he suddenly thought that although the shadow of the Xuanwen Pagoda played a role in prompting attention to the mountain flower brick carving, it was not the shadow of the twin pagodas, because the shadow of the twin pagodas could not be moved, and could only be fixed towards the northwest; He shook his head, deciding to give up reading the brick carvings for the time being, and his mind returned to the northwest direction of the line connecting the two towers.

He looked to the northwest, the heart of the city, and beyond that the western hills; He withdrew his gaze, feeling that he had not grasped the substance, but had expanded a little out of bounds.

Li Ruhui took a picture around the tower and returned to Zong Zhenlei's side, interrupting his thoughts: "What are you looking at?" So fascinating! ”

Zong Zhenlei said: "I am looking at the northwest direction of the twin towers, and I think that this direction should be the same as the southeast direction of the connection between the two towers, and it also has an important meaning; However, I haven't seen it yet. ”

Li Ruhui patted the camera and said: "I finished taking pictures, just now I was taking pictures of Xuanwen Pagoda, and I thought of the first video briefing. ”

Zong Zhenlei glanced at her, nodded and said, "I know what you want to say, you mean our opinion on the first inspection of Yongzuo Temple, right?" He was referring to what happened during the first video conference on the progress of the project.

At that meeting, Zong Zhenlei synthesized their opinions and expounded his understanding of the inspection of Yongzuo Temple in three points:

First, from the "Book of Jin, Zhengdan Assembly Salute Song" "Baozi Yongzuo, and the heavens are more than worship", the meaning of "Yongzuo" is related to the emperor's industry or national fortune, so Yongzuo Temple should not be a Buddhist temple in a simple sense, or related to the royal family.

Second, according to the then Shanxi superintendent of the imperial history Su Weilin wrote the "Ejian Yongzuo Temple Xuanwen Pagoda Relic Tablet", the title of the stele in the word "Ejian" usually refers to the construction of this building reported to the emperor, the emperor dictated to allow the construction, the construction cost is self-raised, therefore, the emperor should know about the construction of the city's royal family, can be considered to be "related to the emperor".

The third is the Xuanwen pagoda built by Miaofeng Zen master, from the main entrance of the tower and the direction of the twin towers are pointing to the southeast, and the southeast direction has the "right place" of the ancestral tomb of the Jin king, the possibility of building the second tower to "worship in the southeast" is greater than the "correction", therefore, the intention of building the Xuanwen pagoda should have the meaning of worshiping the royal ancestors and praying for the blessing of the national fortune and the blessing of the ethnic group. In addition, judging from the brick carvings containing the Nine Lotus, this temple should be related to the Empress Dowager Li, who is known as the Nine Lotus Guanyin.

It is concluded from this that although the Yongzuo Temple was built by King Jin, judging from the brick carvings in the temple, this temple seems to be closely related to the Empress Dowager Li.

Professor Li listened very carefully, and after listening to Zong Zhenlei, he asked: "Does the content of the inscription written by Su Weilin mention 'Ejian'?" ”

Zong Zhenlei replied: "The inscription, the entire original text has not yet been found, and for the time being, it can only be interpreted from the title of the inscription and part of the text. ”

After listening to Zong Zhenlei's report, the sponsor Hong Xitai was very excited: "You can discover the key points of this temple in such a short time, which is different from ordinary temples, which is very worthy of praise!" Then he put forward another idea, "Since this Xuanwen stupa involves 'edict construction', and to borrow your words, the building here may be 'related to the emperor', so will the source of the relics of Yongzuo Temple be related to the royal family?" ”

Professor Li reacted coldly to Zong Zhenlei's report: "As for 'rectifying the skew' or 'southeast worship', each statement will have its own reasons, and I hope to conclude it with research in the end; as for whether it is 'Ejian', we must first find Su Weilin's inscription, and the conclusive written record shall prevail." As for whether or not architecture is 'emperor-related', I think it can be put aside as long as it is not part of the current goal of this topic. ”

Zong Zhenlei felt that Professor Li did not understand that their purpose in speculating on the relationship between the temple and the royal family and the Empress Dowager Li was to lay the foundation for further research on the origin of the Buddhist treasures hidden in the temple. "Our speculation is the first step in the study of the origin of the relics," he explains.......

He was just about to say that the "correction of skew" might be a secret speculation, but he heard Professor Li respond to Hong Xitai in an indifferent tone: "We will pay attention to the ideas put forward by Mr. Hong; However, an investigation that is beyond the scope of the study will undoubtedly take more time. ”

Hong Xitai seemed to hear what Professor Li said, so he proposed to go to Yongzuo Temple for a field trip. Professor Li lowered his head and took notes, as if he hadn't heard, and was completely unresponsive. After a while, Hong Seok-tae once again suggested that he wanted to do a field visit.

Zong Zhenlei didn't expect Professor Li to reply: "The school is organizing the review before the graduation thesis defense, and I am very busy and have no time to accompany Mr. Hong." ”

Hong Xitai thought for a while, raised his head and said, "I don't need to be accompanied, I may be able to join their research directly." ”

Professor Li turned the pen in his hand and said: "This is not good, the establishment of this research team has been reported to the school leaders, and one more person cannot be added without reporting, which will delay the time for the results because of the submission of approvals." ”

Professor Li may have found that his words were too blunt, and added: "Sir, this is the case, we have a plan to complete the task, and it is easy to affect the progress of the project if we are distracted; You can grasp the general direction for us, and leave the details to the young people. ”

Hong Xitai was silent for a while and said: "Since this is the case, then I will not be embarrassed, I hope you can guarantee that the research results will be reported on time." ”

Professor Li turned the pen in his hand: "This must be adhered to, and we have carefully signed a contract with the university. ”

Hong Seok-tae nodded and said, "Okay, then so be it." ”

The video will go unhappily.

After the video conference, Li Ruhui said privately to Zong Zhenlei that she felt that Professor Li seemed to be deliberately preventing Mr. Hong from coming to the city. Zong Zhenlei considered that Li Ruhui had always had a good impression of Professor Li, and did not make in-depth comments on Professor Li's approach at that time, mainly because he didn't want her to feel embarrassed.

At this time, what Li Ruhui wanted to say was not actually her opinion of Professor Li, but another thing, she wanted Zong Zhenlei to know the origin of the difference between Professor Li and Mr. Hong.

Before Li Ruhui could speak, she suddenly touched Zong Zhenlei with a nervous expression, lowered her head and stretched out her finger to the side under the hem of her clothes.

She had just caught a glimpse of a man in a dark blue baseball cap and sunglasses not far away, standing motionless, as if looking at them.

Zong Zhenlei turned his head to look in the direction she pointed, but saw nothing; Looking back, he asked her with a puzzled expression, "What are you asking me to see?" ”

Li Ruhui raised her eyes and looked, and suddenly said: "That ......." The target that had made her nervous was gone, and she didn't know what to say.

She stood beside Zong Zhenlei for a while, and decided to act separately from him first; She remembered that the last time she came, she saw the peony flower and leaf brick carving under the eaves of the Wenfeng Pagoda, which was in contrast to the lotus leaf brick carvings around the eaves of the Xuanwen Pagoda.

She came back from taking pictures from Wenfeng Tower, stood in the distance of Zong Zhenlei, and first observed his surroundings; At this time, she found that the person wearing a dark blue hat and sunglasses had been secretly following Zong Zhenlei; When Zong Zhenlei took pictures around the eaves of the Xuanwen Pagoda, the person was under the steps and circled around the pagoda in the opposite direction; When Zong Zhenlei took pictures of the hall of the tower courtyard, the man went to the inconspicuous corner of the field to stare at it; Li Ruhui felt that she should take a photo of that person to show Zong Zhenlei, and when she found a good angle and just wanted to take a picture of that person quietly, she was blocked by several tourists, and then looked, the person was nowhere to be seen.

Li Ruhui suspected that this person was the same person as the strange gaze that looked at her just now, but because the person in front of her had been wearing sunglasses, she couldn't be sure. Li Ruhui looked around, there was no longer that person, and when she saw that it was almost noon, she returned to Zong Zhenlei's side.

Zong Zhenlei sat in the shade of a tree next to the tower, chatting with an old man; Li Ruhui recognized it as the one Zong Zhenlei met here last time.

The old man was talking about the secrets he knew; It is said that the Xuanwen pagoda is pressed with a Buddha treasure, which is a Buddhist scripture copied by the monk Zhencheng; When asked by Zong Zhenlei whether there were Buddha treasure relics hidden in the underground palace of Xuanwen Pagoda, the old man shook his head and said that he knew that when he repaired the pagoda in the eighties and nineties, he dug deep under the pagoda, but did not find the underground palace; The old man turned the subject and continued to tell his secret, pointing to the northwest and saying that in that direction there were two small pagodas outside the temple walls, and under the eaves of the towers were carved orchids, which were said to be Japanese monks.

Zong Zhenlei heard him say the direction, so he asked, last time he said that the divine vein going to the southeast was guarded by Master Guan with a knife, what can be used to prove it?

It is estimated that the old man thinks that someone has taken him seriously, and he is even more energetic, his eyes are shining and he said loudly, do you want to prove it? Yes! There are many Catholic and Christian believers in the city, there are more than 120 Catholic churches in the city alone, and there are Catholic churches in seven of the eight directions of the city, east, west, north, west, northeast, southeast, southwest, and southwest.

Zong Zhenlei asked, why? Is it true that foreign religions are not allowed to appear under this line? The old man smiled incomprehensibly, and first said that he didn't know the reason, but it just showed that there was such a situation; After the old man stopped and drank the tea he brought, he said in a low voice mysteriously, he thought that it was not a restriction on faith, but a height limit, most of the Catholic churches were higher than the Christian churches, and Master Guan brought a knife to prevent the high spire of the Catholic church from touching the divine vein, so there was no Catholic church under this divine vein.

Zong Zhenlei pointed to the tall building in the distance for the old man to see, saying that the old man was talking nonsense; The old man insisted that there was a divine vein, saying that the height limit was a thing of the past and had nothing to do with today's buildings; When the people around listened to this, they also had their own opinions and fought with each other.

Li Ruhui listened to their discussion for a while, and felt that what they said was too illusory for her to join, so she stood aside alone; When she took out her camera and was about to take some re-photos, she caught a glimpse of the man in a dark blue hat and sunglasses standing on the base of the Tuyen Pagoda and looking this way.

Li Ruhui hurriedly interrupted Zong Zhenlei and the old man's chat, pulled Zong Zhenlei up, and was about to point it out to him when he found that the person was missing again.

Zong Zhenlei smiled, as if he couldn't say anything in front of the old man, and made a suspicious gesture to her.

Li Ruhui didn't care so much, dragged Zong Zhenlei out of the crowd, and told him about the strange gaze he felt this morning and the person who seemed to be following; But she was silent when she spoke, and she could see from the expression on the corner of Zong Zhenlei's mouth that Zong Zhenlei almost said "no picture and no truth".

She was angry, wanted to get angry, felt that she was being misunderstood; At the same time, they are very confused, why are they being followed?