The Moon Over Tang Dynasty

Chapter 8 Life is unpredictable and who knows the secret?

Liuli couldn't help being secretly startled, her mind wandered several times, and she bowed with a smile: "Liuli didn't mean this. It's just that my late mother often said that the world is impermanent, and the Buddha said that there are red clouds and pink skulls, and that wealth is nothing but flowers in the mirror, so she saw it in front of the Buddhist door. Such boundless majesty can't help but be a bit touching. "In this era, although she also thought about finding a big tree to enjoy the shade, she was more afraid of being involved in the endless wind and rain. Since ancient times, wealth has always been in danger. With her personality, she is a magic stick. If you can't be there, it's better to be a spectator.

Mrs. Yang's face was suddenly full of surprise, "How can the young lady have such thoughts at such a young age?"

Liuli couldn't help but smile bitterly. Is she young? Why does she often feel that she is more than a thousand years old and cannot be older? He replied smoothly, "Liu Li lost her mother when she was twelve years old. Things are unpredictable in the world, but she still has some taste of it."

Mrs. Yang nodded and sighed, "In life, blessings and misfortunes depend on each other, but it's hard to say clearly. The young lady is young, so she shouldn't be too discouraged."

Liuli smiled and nodded, "Liuli has learned a lesson."

Mrs. Yang couldn't help but glance at Liuli again. She felt that the woman in front of her had a beautiful face, a calm expression, and an indescribable indifference. She really didn't look like a merchant's daughter, so she couldn't help but feel more and more surprised. At this time, Liu's ceremonial carriage and horses had passed by, and Shi and others also withdrew their gaze and started laughing again. Mrs. Yang calmly changed the subject, and began to inquire about the origins of the An family and Liuli, intentionally or unintentionally. When she heard that An Silang's uncle was An Chinu, whom the great ancestor personally named as the fifth-grade Sanqi minister, she nodded. , "I have heard of Minister An's name." He also heard that Liuli's surname was Kudi, and after thinking for a long time, he said, "There are several princes in the former Qi Dynasty who have this surname, I don't know..."

The matter involved an ancestor, so Liuli could only kneel down and stand up according to the ceremony, and replied respectfully, "The Duke of Huayang County is a little female ancestor."

Yang nodded slightly, then turned the topic back to the peony event at Ci'en Temple on the fifth day of March. Her tone was a little more affectionate than before: She was a person who respected her status, and she originally thought that it would be better to be in the same room with these Hu Shang women. It would be nice to sit downstairs with the common people, but I didn't expect that these barbarians all have some background. An Chinu is just a jester who is favored for his music and dance, but the Kudi family does not It is considered too low. There were three princes in the Qi Dynasty before, and Kudiswen was famous for his strict family tradition.

Mrs. Wu smiled and said, "When it comes to peonies, I have never seen anyone paint better than Auntie." She had a different temperament from her mother and was simple-minded. Instead, she found Shi and others more pleasing to the eye than those noble ladies who constantly competed with each other.

Mrs. Yang turned her head to look at Liuli, her eyes deepening a little, "Does Madam also love peonies very much?"

Liuli didn't dare to neglect, and thought for a while before replying, "It is difficult for peonies to grow and bloom slowly, but once they bloom, they will be proud of the flowers and be stunning in the world. The so-called late bloomers probably refer to peonies."

If she remembers it correctly, Mrs. Yang seems to have been born in the Sui Dynasty royal family. Due to the change of dynasties, she married into the Wu family at the age of forty and gave birth to three daughters in a row. However, mother and daughter have always been left behind by her husband's ex-wife. Son, wait patiently. Wu Zetian certainly went through many hardships before reaching the highest place in the world. Isn't this Mrs. Yang's perseverance a character that will lead her to a happy future? Sure enough, as soon as she finished speaking, the old woman was silent and thoughtful at first, and then a smile appeared on her face, "You are indeed right!"

Because Mrs. Liu had just entered the temple at this time, she didn't know when she would be able to come out. Some people couldn't wait any longer. As they were talking, more than half of the guests in the elegant room of the wine shop had already paid their bills and left. Mrs. Yang and Mrs. Wu discussed it for a while and decided to go to the Inspiration Temple instead. After lighting the incense and thanking Mrs. Shi again and again, Mrs. Wu smiled softly to Liuli and said, "I'll leave it to my aunt for the peony valerian." Liuli nodded with a smile: "Madam is too polite, Liuli will do her best. "

Since he had to kill half a day, Shi was not in a hurry, so he simply asked the shopkeeper to serve vegetarian soup cakes and some snacks, and everyone was half full. It wasn't until nearly early afternoon that Liu's guard of honor finally appeared again, and Shi paid and left. He took a car to the entrance of Daci'en Temple and walked all the way from the mountain gate to the main hall.

Liuli couldn't help but look around, and saw that the temple was paved with bluestones and lined with pine trees. Most of the buildings were double buildings and halls. The style was solemn and beautiful. She couldn't help but nod in admiration. Shi said, these are just the towers, but the scenery of the apricot forest in the south courtyard is very good. In a month, thousands of apricot flowers will be in full bloom. Looking from a distance from Qujiang River, it will look like steaming clouds.

Walking like this, talking all the way, first Aunt Shi's steps were a little slow due to her plump figure, but when she got to the back, Liuli couldn't move any more - after entering the second mountain gate, on the walls of the hall corridor and courtyard, They are all covered with murals, mostly of various Bodhisattva statues and Sutra pictures, with precise compositions and vigorous lines. Some of the particularly wonderful ones were probably painted by famous artists such as Yan Liben and Yuchi Yiseng. Although Shi, Kang, and others also knew that she could draw patterns, they all burst out laughing when they saw her eyes glowing green and intoxicated when facing the wall, and they finally managed to drag her to the front of the Great Buddha Hall. Liuli held the incense in her hand, but she was still in a daze: did these authentic works of legendary famous artists appear in front of her wall by wall like this?

However, the solemn Buddha statue in front of her and the devout praying men and women around her gradually pulled Liuli back from her obsession. She couldn't help but silently pray, "I am merciful Buddha, can you please be generous and let me go back..." Three Over the years, she had gradually learned not to remember, but now when she thought of those relatives and friends thousands of years later, and those increasingly blurred life moments, she finally couldn't help but burst into tears again. However, the Buddha statue is speechless and just stares at the living beings in front of it silently with its slender eyes.

By the time the incense was finished, it was almost noon. When her aunt saw the tears on Liuli's face, she was afraid that she would be too sad to mourn her late mother, so she hurriedly took her around the Nanchi, Xiyuan and other famous places in the temple. Not to mention cloud pavilions and flowers everywhere along the way, almost every door and two corridors have wonderful murals. After seeing this, even Liuli felt a little numb, but he noticed that the famous Big Wild Goose Pagoda has not yet been repaired. It is a treasure house that enshrines thousands of relics and has countless murals and embroideries of the highest level in the Tang Dynasty...

 In the afternoon, the number of people in the temple increased even more. When Liuli asked, she was shocked to know: Many people came to watch the show! At this time, the theaters were all concentrated in major temples, among which Daci'en Temple was the most famous. Performances started every afternoon, attracting countless believers and idlers.

Liuli really wanted to experience what it was like to watch a big show in a temple, but her aunt suddenly remembered that today was the first day of the Lunar New Year, and there were customary talks. As soon as she said this, the Kang family also became excited, and the group of people arrived at a courtyard in high spirits. The courtyard was already full of people, including men, women, old and young, whispering to each other.

After a while, surrounded by more than a dozen monks, a middle-aged mage wearing cassocks stepped onto the podium in front of him with a solemn expression, and there was a sudden silence below.

The monks first chanted together for a long time, and the tune was quite similar to the charm of later church choruses. After the chanting slowly faded away, the master then started to recite a few lines of Buddhist scriptures and then spoke some classical Chinese. Liuli was thinking about what he was talking about. But I heard him say in a clear voice, "When it comes to the generosity of Buddhism, even a strong man and a butcher can become a Buddha instantly..." He actually started telling a story! First, there is an allusion about five hundred bandits who became Buddhas, and then it tells how a family in Luoyang escaped a disaster because of their belief in Buddhism. The language is simple, the details are vivid, and the story is so **** that Liuli can easily hear it. He was stunned, and often chanted a few words, and he was very happy.

Seeing the monks in cassocks on the high platform speaking with brilliant tongues, and the male and female believers in the courtyard listening intoxicatedly, crying and laughing, Liuli couldn't help but admire him and fell to the ground: This is true education and entertainment!

It's just that she wasn't very interested in listening to the story. It didn't take long for her to start thinking about the Bodhisattva statue she had just glimpsed in the corridor not far away. When she heard that the Master had talked about the unlucky head of the family who had been released from prison, she whispered to her aunt. I have to go change clothes. My aunt was listening intently and just nodded.

Liuli left quietly, walked quickly to the corridor, and began to carefully examine the Bodhisattva statue on the wall. She only felt that the slightly looking back movement of the Bodhisattva in the picture was similar to the later painting of "Guiding the Way" from the Mogao Grottoes hidden in the British Museum. "Bodhisattva Picture" is quite similar, and the expression is also very vivid. The more she looked at it, the more fascinated she became. She couldn't help but stretch out her fingers to trace the lines of clothing in the picture. Suddenly, she heard a sneer from behind, "How strange! Today's Hu Ji doesn't go to the West City to invite guests, but she comes to the temple to copy the statue. Is it possible?" Is this world really going to change?”

The loud voice came from behind her, and the words were so harsh. Liuli was startled and couldn't help but get angry. When she looked back, she saw six or seven young men coming to the corridor at some point. Standing behind her was this man wearing a black suit. Wearing a small pink floral silk robe and wearing a gold hook on his waist, he looked to be in his twenties, fair-skinned, and full of disdain. When Liuli turned around, he raised his eyebrows and stared at her face frivolously.

Liuli felt as if she had eaten a fly, and couldn't help but said coldly, "It's strange! Today's scholars don't discuss the welfare of the people, but come to discuss women's affairs. The world has really changed!"

As soon as these words came out, the white-faced man couldn't help but be startled, and one of his companions laughed, "Ruzhuo, Ruzhuo, you too have today!"

Liuli didn't want to get into trouble, so she turned around to leave, but the man named Ruzhuo stepped forward and stood in front of her.

 (End of this chapter)