After the pear rings the bell, the time is misty, the years are long, and in the blink of an eye, I don't realize that summer is going to autumn again.

In the winter, the morning in the mountains came very early, and the frost and dew covering the grass were so crystal clear and so cold.

The began to chirp non-stop on the branches.

In the early morning of this day, the morning bell had just struck in Dongchan Temple, and the monks of the whole temple came to the kitchen one after another, and Elder Huaqing also came to the kitchen.

Today's breakfast was three pancakes per person, which is the usual breakfast food at the monastery.

The pancake was fried golden brown and crispy, and the monks devoured it and munched on it.

Zhang Shaofei picked up the pancakes, and had an abnormal feeling in his heart: On weekdays, Elder Huaqing would not come to the kitchen for breakfast. But today... He thought about it for a moment, then put the pancake to his mouth and took a bite.

Fa Ru, who had learned the lesson of "dividing pears", was wary of Elder Huaqing's arrival this morning, he looked at the three pancakes in his hand and was stunned for a while, and muttered in his heart: "Will there be another 'pancake throwing bell' this morning?" Nope!" Fa Ru knew that Elder Huaqing would not do that kind of thing repeatedly, so he kept the pancakes and didn't eat them? Faru's eyes searched around, and he looked through the moving heads to the plane tree over there.

Zhang Shaofei and Huiqing were eating pancakes, and they were holding a leftover pancake in their hands. After chewing the pancake in his mouth, Zhang Shaofei stuffed the pancake in his hand to his mouth again, took a big bite, ate too quickly, seemed to choke, stretched his neck, his eyes widened, and swallowed hard.

Seeing him like this, Huiqing smiled and said, "Look at you, you eat so wolfishly, beware of being choked to death." As he spoke, he reached out to Zhang Shaofei's back and patted him gently.

Finally, Zhang Shaofei swallowed the choked pancake, and then slowly bit the pancake in his hand. From his expression, you could tell that he was chewing with relish.

After Zhang Shaofei and Huiqing finished eating the pancakes, they patted their bellies with their hands, looking like they were full, and then patted the palms of their left and right hands, and went over there to wash their hands.

The big stone hanging in Faru's heart was put down, and at this time he felt that his stomach was rumbling with hunger, so he brought the pancakes to his mouth, "three down, five down, two", and soon sent all three pancakes to his stomach.

After a while, the monk on duty brought out several large vats of white porridge, and the steaming white smoke from the buckets could be inferred how hot these porridges were. Other monks brought out baskets of large bowls and spoons.

The little acolyte, who was usually close to him, brought a large bamboo chair with a backrest and placed it in front of the porridge bucket.

Elder Huaqing stroked his long beard and sat upright on the large bamboo chair with the backrest.

Nearly a thousand monks in Dongchan Temple looked at Elder Huaqing silently.

Elder Huaqing's eyes roamed around for a moment, and he raised his voice: "There is one more item for breakfast today, each person will eat three bowls of white porridge, but there is one requirement-" He dragged out his voice and stopped talking.

The monks said in unison: "Please make it clear to the elders." ”

Elder Huaqing slowed down the rhythm of his voice, word by word: "After eating three bowls of white porridge, no porridge water is allowed to spill on the ground in front of you." ”

Monks: "Yes." ”

Hearing Elder Huaqing say this, Fa Ru was secretly happy in his heart: "That Zhang Shaofei, with a thin physique, and the amount of food is not as big as himself, just now I have peeped that he is full of pancakes, and now, how can he eat three bowls of white porridge with his thin and narrow belly?" This time the victory was unavoidable. So, he walked in front of Elder Huaqing first.

Other monks are also interested, the second senior brother of Dongchan Temple has not yet moved, who dares to act first and take the limelight?

Fa Ru gave a salute to Elder Huaqing, and said with a heartfelt voice: "Elder, who will eat first this time?"

Elder Huaqing: "In terms of seniority, it's still your turn to be the leader." ”

"Thank you Elder for your respect, apprentice, I will definitely not disappoint your expectations." After Faru finished speaking, he bowed his head and bent down, and picked up a large bowl with his hand.

Fa Ru was just about to serve porridge when he heard Elder Huaqing's voice: "Fa Ru, you take a look at the bottom of the bowl first." ”

"Ahh After looking at the bottom of the bowl, Faru was stunned. There is a hole as big as a copper coin at the bottom of the bowl, so how can people eat hot white porridge?

Fa Ru wanted to replace it with another intact one, and at this time, Elder Hua Qing spoke: "Today, all the big bowls are drilled through a finger-sized hole with ten finger magic skills, Fa Ru, you don't have to spend any more effort to choose." ”

Faru had no choice but to pick a large bowl from the basket that he thought was a little smaller and straightened up. Looking at the hot white porridge in the bucket, Faru's slightly gray eyebrows wrinkled, like two knives hanging upside down, as if he had an understanding: "Ah, Elder Huaqing has always mentioned the word 'bitter' in his lectures, is it that today is to test our degree of hardship and hardship?" Yes, today I must use the greatest perseverance to forcibly endure and eat these three bowls of porridge. Thinking of this, Faru gritted his teeth, blocked the hole at the bottom of the bowl with the palm of his right hand, and walked to the monk on duty who was distributing porridge: "Come, divide the porridge!"

He picked up a spoon and scooped a spoonful of steaming porridge into Faru's bowl.

The hot porridge is pressed directly on the palm of the hand, and the pain is not easy to bear. And Faru made up his mind, gritted his teeth, and wanted to desperately hard top. However, the white porridge was so ruthless and scalding. Push it straight away from the palm of your hand.

As the saying goes, "ten fingers are connected to the heart", how can his fleshy palms resist the heart-tearing heat.

Faru finally couldn't help it, and as soon as he released the palm of his right hand, the white porridge fell through the hole from the bottom of the big bowl, splashing all over the ground, and even his clean monk's clothes and shoes were stained with a lot of porridge water.

Faru had no choice but to put down the big bowl and walk away in frustration.

The other monks also failed one by one.

It was the turn of the last one.

It's Zhang Shaofei who is cooking rice, grinding flour, and growing vegetables.

Zhang Shaofei's slightly thin face, his nose was slightly upturned, and the angular corners of his mouth overflowed with infinite confidence. He walked slowly to the basket, picked up the last bowl with his left hand, took out a pancake from his arms with his right hand, pasted it from the bottom to the bottom of the bowl, and walked to the dining monk: "Come, divide the porridge!"

The hot white porridge was served in a bowl, and the hole in the bottom of the bowl was blocked by pancakes.

Zhang Shaofei lowered his head and blew the hot air from the white porridge with his mouth, and slowly ate the white porridge......

Although the monks of the whole temple present had experienced their own failures, they couldn't help but applaud Zhang Shaofei's wise behavior of eating porridge.

Elder Huaqing closed his eyes and gently stroked his long white hair with his hand, as if he was thinking about something, and his face was filled with relief and joy.

It turned out that after Zhang Shaofei got three pancakes, as soon as Lingxi came, when he turned around, he quietly pulled out one, stuffed it into his arms, and then went to the plane tree with Huiqing to chew it. Fa Ru peeped from the side and saw that Zhang Shaofei had no pancakes in his hand, thinking that he had eaten all the pancakes, and he would follow suit, who knows......

When Fa Ru was jealous, the hidden shadow didn't know what to do, approached him, and said softly: "Second senior brother, I didn't expect that Zhang Shaofei, who was a handyman, had such a high level of understanding, and today he is a standout!"

Faru glared at him: "One of the best? Hmph, look at it for a long time! I am the windward bamboo in front of the temple, and he is just a lotus root piled up in the ground. He said, gesturing to the kitchen.

Hidden Shadow looked at the ground of the kitchen, where a pile of lotus root was piled up, and he was puzzled by Faru's metaphor: "Bamboo and lotus root are hollow, what do you mean by this?"

Faru's nostrils let out a "hmm", and he said proudly: "Bamboo is tough, and it is constant in the wind; Lotus root is brittle and will break if it is pinched. ”

Their words were heard by the little monk Huiqing who was not far away, and he remembered them silently.

In the evening, when he returned to the monk's room, Huiqing saw that Zhang Shaofei was lying on the bed and was about to sleep, so he whispered to him the parable of Faru.

After Zhang Shaofei heard this, he smiled slightly: "Second Senior Brother Faru is good, he is indeed bamboo, and I am a lotus root." ”

"What's the matter, you privately admit this insulting metaphor?"

Zhang Shaofei slowed down his voice at the moment, but his voice was deep and powerful:

"The bamboo is hollow, and the skin is full of branches,

Although there are many mouths of lotus root, the chest is not stained with dust. ”

Huiqing pondered Zhang Shaofei's couplet, and his heart suddenly brightened, he couldn't help but get up, walked over, tightly pulled Zhang Shaofei's shoulder, and praised sincerely: "You, you are really the second senior brother of Dongchan Temple!"

"You, don't talk nonsense." Zhang Shaofei covered Huiqing's mouth with his hand, "Although I am still a layman, I have stepped into Dongchan Temple after all. It must be known that in the Pure Land of Buddhism, the four are empty, and they have already jumped out of the Three Realms, not in the Five Elements, and should only seek painstaking cultivation, not competing for high and low. ”

"Yes!" Huiqing nodded in admiration.

These two, a monk and a layman, hit it off at first sight, and they fell in love with each other, and the more they talked about it, the more interested they became.

If it is said that "dividing pears" and "eating porridge" are the small tests of the elders of Huaqing for the apprentices, then the later "work" is the big test of the elders for the apprentices.