The round monk sat upright in front of the window of the private room.

The gray and white monk's robe with many patches was still on his body, and the pair of broken straw shoes he was wearing on his feet were replaced by a pair of blue cloth shoes, which were much more decent than before, but they were not comfortable, because these cloth shoes were too small for him, and they were a bit crowded.

His eyes were gloomy, his eyes were dark, a string of black Buddha beads hung around his neck, and he was chewing the good tea that Su Qingwan gave him in his mouth, because there was no water, he was chewing so dryly.

There is no sadness or joy on his face, and he can't see an expression.

The family facing the round monk's window is doing a happy event.

The steps in front of the door are paved with bluestone slabs, the door is also painted with red paint, in addition to hanging two lanterns with the word "Xi" on the eaves, the "Hundred Sons and Thousand Grandchildren Lamp" that worships the ancestors and welcomes the gods is also very expensive, and it seems that it should be a wealthy and honest family.

The groom was dressed in a festive red dress, wearing a groom's hat, with a proud spring breeze on his face, and he was standing in front of the door to welcome the send-off, greeting the guests who came to congratulate him, and sending off the busy people who had left in advance.

Tonight is an auspicious day.

"Congratulations, congratulations, on the day of the great joy of the virtuous nephew, the uncle is late because of the worship of the ancestors, no wonder!" another guest came to congratulate.

"Uncle, where is it, it's not too late, it's not too late, it's please, it's please. ”

The bridegroom took the congratulatory gift from him, respectfully offered his hand, and invited him into the door.

"Haha, okay, add a big fat boy to our Li family next year. ”

"It's nature, it's nature. ”

The bridegroom exchanged a few more pleasantries with him, and then sent him to the door, and asked the helpers to beckon him to sit down at the table.

There are eight tables of banquets in the courtyard, chicken, duck and fish, melons, fruits and vegetables, and a few jars of old wine that have just been dug out of the ground.

The guests eat happily, the host feels decent, and the guests and hosts enjoy themselves.

The round monk looked at this "human comedy", and he still couldn't see any joy or sorrow on his face.

He spit out the tea foam in his mouth, picked up a handful of tea leaves from the cloth bag, and slowly put it in his mouth.

What Su Qingwan gave him was indeed good tea.

Suddenly, he remembered what had happened in the past six months.

......

The mundane world is a disturbing red dust cultivation dojo.

After bidding farewell to the Golden Scale Mountain in Smoke and Rain City, he plunged headlong into this red dust dojo again.

Turning into fate, fasting, chanting Buddha, asceticism, wind and sun, frost and rain, unchanged.

After late autumn, winter is coming.

In the middle of winter, the sky is overcast, the wind is howling, and the pedestrians on the road are in a hurry.

He clung to a crooked dead branch, wrapped in the tattered monk's robe, and finally walked out of the deserted woods before the sky was completely dark, and came to this small town called Qingfeng Town.

After knocking on a few doors and failing to fast, he simply stopped making a connection, and slept on the eaves of a family on the street with an empty stomach and wrapped in monk's robes.

A short time later, a young woman walked past him carrying two live fish that had just been caught.

She shuddered when she saw him curled up, and she couldn't help but stop.

The woman couldn't bear it, and after hesitating for a moment, she was ruthless, took out a few pennies from her sleeve, and put it in front of the round monk.

"Go buy something hot to eat. ”

After she had said that, she hurried away, for she had to deliver the two fish to her guests before they died.

The price of live fish and dead fish is not the same.

The round monk opened his eyes shortly after she left.

He sat up, took the few pennies she had given him, tucked them into his sleeve, got up, and quietly followed the woman's pace.

The woman did not notice that someone was following.

The woman knocked on the door of a house, and a milky baby came to open the door, and the woman smiled and handed him the fish, and he handed the fish money to the woman.

The woman grinned and touched his head again, touching him impatiently, and then left contentedly, returning to the fishing boat by the river.

When the woman left, the round monk flashed out of the corner of the street, and came to the house with the crooked branch Zen staff, and knocked softly on the door.

Xiaowa thought it was a woman who went and returned, opened the door, and said angrily, "You are so annoying!"

But after seeing that the person who came was a poor monk with a bald head and tatters, he thought he was here to turn his fate, so he shouted and called out to the adults in the house, "Ah Niang, there is a monk who has come to turn his fate, what should I do?"

The mother in the room stopped the loom in her hand and came out of the house.

The little baby A-Niang saw the round monk, worshiped reverently, and could see that she was a person who sincerely worshiped the Buddha.

"I'm going to get some food for the Zen master. Little baby A-Niang said.

"There is a giver. ”

The round monk pronounced the Buddha name for a while, handed over his rice bowl, and thanked the little baby and Auntie.

The little baby A-Niang took the rice bowl, went into the kitchen, picked up some vegetarian dishes for the round monk, and pulled up half a bowl of leftover porridge, and then came out of the kitchen and handed the rice to the round monk.

The round monk respectfully took it, but did not leave.

"This donor, the little monk still has a reluctant request, and he also asks the donor to agree. ”

"This ......"

Xiaowa A-Niang looked at the round monk in embarrassment, but finally took out a few pennies from his sleeve, he thought that the reluctant invitation of the round monk was to ask her to add some incense money to the Buddhist door.

The round monk looked at the incense money handed over by the little baby and A-Niang, but shook his head and said, "Donor, you misunderstood, the little monk didn't mean that." ”

"That Zen master ......"

"I want the two live fish that the woman sent me just now. ”

As he spoke, the Zen Master also took out a few pennies from the sleeve of the monk's robe, which was given to him by the fish seller.

"This ......"

Xiaowa A-Niang is a little embarrassed, two big live fish are more than a few pennies, and he has to stew fish soup tonight to make up for his father-in-law and baby.

The round monk saw that the little baby A-Niang's face was embarrassed, and knew that he was embarrassing, so he took out another thing from his sleeve.

It's dry and wrinkled, but it's a hundred-year-old wild ginseng!

This one tree alone is enough for an ordinary family to spend for decades.

"This is something that the little monk inadvertently picked up when he was practicing in the wild. The round monk handed the wild ginseng to the little baby A-Niang, and said, "The little monk wants to use this thing in exchange for the two live fish, I don't know if the donor is willing?"

"This ......"

The little baby A-Niang was a little stunned, and it took a while to wake up from her surprise, and she hurriedly took the wild ginseng in the hand of the round monk, and hurriedly went to the bucket in the kitchen to catch the two fish.

"Zen Master, is there anything special about these two fish?"

"Not really. ”

"Then how can the Zen master be willing to exchange this precious wild ginseng for these two live fish that can be seen everywhere?"

"Because the little monk has nothing else to change at hand, but he has to change it. ”

The round monk said, took the two live fish, said goodbye to the little baby A-Niang and the little baby, and left.

The round monk carried a Zen cane and two live fish in his arms and came to the dark Mingluo River.

He threw down his Zen staff, squatted down, and slowly lowered the two lives into the river.

When the fish saw the water, it no longer looked sick, it came to life completely, twisted its body, swung its fins, spit a few bubbles at the round monk, and swam into the deep water.

The fish escaped a catastrophe and will be able to swim freely in the river and sea in the future.

The round monk watched the two fish slowly dive into the water before standing up.

The fishing boat in the distance was lit with dim fishing lanterns, and one of them should be the boat where the fish seller was just now.

The round monk released two live fish, not for anything else, but for the sake of returning the woman's blessings in the afterlife.

She gave a few pennies to the poor, and she was blessed, and when she fished and sold fish, she killed and lost virtue.

The woman is not a Buddhist, she does not believe in this way, and she fishes and sells fish, but for her daily livelihood, she does not feel that she owes something, so naturally she cannot be regarded as a loss of virtue.

There are many things in the world, there is never a letter, and there is no belief in it, there is no absolute, and there is no right or wrong.

But the round monk believed.

So he went to the door, went to fetch the two live fish, and released them by the Mingluo River.

This is nothing more than useless work, because the woman will catch many more fish every day, and she will kill many fish, and he will be far from being able to pay them back.

But he still has to do it.

Because, this is the path he is willing to follow.

......