The Moon Over Tang Dynasty

Chapter 97 Secret talk in the Zen room, chance encounter at the pagoda

In the spring season, as apricot flowers and peonies bloom one after another, men, women and children in Chang'an City, regardless of whether they believe in Buddhism or not, as long as they are able to walk, always find a way to go to the Daci'en Temple - the apricot grove in the south courtyard here. The scenery of pink clouds all over the sky is certainly unforgettable, but what is even more valuable is the peony garden where countless varieties have been transplanted.

At this time, famous peonies were rare, and wealthy people usually only planted a few peonies to show off their colors. The sight of hundreds of peonies blooming together could only be seen in the Royal Forbidden Garden. However, starting two or three years ago, many peonies were planted there. The peony garden in Ci'en Temple, which has been carefully managed since the temple was built, has also ushered in a colorful scene, which naturally attracts the people of Chang'an.

On March 20th, it was the day when officials took a rest. As soon as noon arrived, the flower-viewing tourists had not left, and the opera spectators came again. In the increasingly dense flow of people, Yasaburo, who was wearing a brand new robe, escorted his mother and wife out of the main hall. Apparently they had just burned incense. The three of them walked out for a while, going against the flow of people entering the door. It was not a hard walk. , seeing a high pavilion, the three of them left the crowd and walked to the west. They turned around the high pavilion and walked along a stone road heading south for more than a stone's throw. An inconspicuous courtyard appeared on the left. Anzaburo looked back and forth a few times and estimated that he was right, then he stepped forward and knocked on the door.

The courtyard door opened halfway in response, revealing the bald head of a young novice monk, "Who is An Tanyue?" Seeing An Sanlang responded, he clasped his hands together and said with a smile, "Please come in."

 I saw a very quiet courtyard inside the wooden door. The upper room was a three-room monastery with pink walls, black tiles, and vermilion carved railings. A pool of clear water passed around the house, and there were new lotus leaf pavilions on the water. The little novice monk led Ansaburo and others to the east room, knocked twice, and a person dressed as a maid immediately opened the door. Then Liuli's figure appeared at the door, and first gave Shi a blessing ceremony, " Aunt..." Then she smiled at Anzaburo and his wife, "Brother, sister-in-law, come in and sit down."

Shi glanced at her several times and saw that Liuli was wearing the simplest light blue narrow-sleeved gauze shirt and white silk skirt. There was only a silver hairpin in her bun, but she looked refreshed, her face was bright, and she was tolerant. He couldn't help but pull her to laugh, "You are getting more and more mature, and you seem to have grown taller!" But the circles under her eyes were a little red. Liuli gently held Shi's hand and invited them to sit down in the room. Ani quietly retreated and closed the door from the outside.

Anzaburo noticed that the room was spotless, the furnishings were extremely simple, and there were no mattresses on the seats. He couldn't help but ask, "Madam, where is this?"

Liuli smiled and said, "It's the Zen room of a mage."

Mr. Shi and Mr. Kang looked at each other and were a little shocked. How respected are the masters of Daci'en Temple, that they would lend their Zen rooms to the aunt to entertain guests? But thinking that she would marry the well-born Chang'an Ling next month, it seemed reasonable. Only Anzaburo had a wry smile on his lips. This cousin was getting more and more unpredictable. The last time we made an appointment to meet at a wine shop, it was a bit strange. This time, we actually made an appointment directly to the temple. I don’t know where we will meet next time. Plant a place.

It was hard for Liuli to explain. She had been thinking about the Big Wild Goose Pagoda that had been completed last year. She had already made an appointment with Pei Xingjian to come to the Great Ci'en Temple today. Unexpectedly, she received news from Ansaburo the day before yesterday. Pei Xingjian said that it would be better to do both things together. For one thing, just let her use the meditation room.

Seeing that Mrs. Shi was probably tired from walking and still sweating on her forehead, Liuli hurriedly apologized to her, "Liuli is unfilial and has never come to visit her aunt. It's just that the situation here is a bit unclear. If it gets better, it will be better. If not, it will be better." It's good, but I'm afraid that my uncle will be implicated, so although I have to trouble my uncle and my brother to help, I can only ask my brother to meet outside. It's hard for my aunt today. "

Shi laughed and said, "You kid is too talkative. My aunt was going to burn incense today. I heard that you were there, so she forced Sanlang to bring me here. What's the trouble? We all know you." It’s for the sake of settling down your family, and you have to take care of yourself so that we can rest assured.” At this point, I couldn’t help but think of the Pei Ming Mansion again. I heard that the shopkeeper Shi had a very good character, appearance, and temperament. He is also kind, and he and his aunt have been destined for a long time, but unfortunately it is that kind of fate, I don’t know...

Ansaburo observed the words and saw that his mother was a little sad, so he quickly interrupted the conversation and said to Liuli, "The shops and manors you asked me to inquire about last month, I remembered that my uncle happened to have two spice shops in Luoyang, and they were running them. After more than ten years, the network of people is naturally deeper and wider than ours, so I asked my uncle to explain my interests. My uncle immediately asked Qi Lang of his family to take someone to Luoyang in person, and lived there for more than half a month. I have just inquired about the situation, but you also said that the most important thing is not to alarm people, so some parts are just a rough outline. Now they are all recorded here. You will know when you go back and take a look." He took it out from his sleeve. A paper roll, five or six feet long, is densely packed with memories.

Liuli hurriedly took it with both hands, knelt down and thanked him, "Thank you very much, brother. I will also ask my brother to thank uncle and Qilang on Liuli's behalf when I get back."

Anzaburo waved his hands hurriedly, "We are all one family, what does this mean?" This kind of asking for help and running errands for others is not a big deal. If Liuli was an orphan from a poor family like before, of course he would also help, but his uncle's Bian may not work so hard, but now she is about to marry the current Chang'an order. The parents and officials of Hu Shang in the West City, not to mention their own relatives, but also the wives of officials whom they have never met, if they ask them for help Who wouldn’t rush to do this?

Kang didn't speak until now, but now he smiled and said, "Madam is still so polite, what is there to thank you for? If we can help somewhere else, don't let us go outside."

Liuli thought for a while and smiled, "It sounds like there is something wrong, but it is going to trouble my uncle. Since he is engaged in human trafficking in Xizhou, he is naturally familiar with the big merchants of Xiankou in Xishi. Liuli, this Bian Zheng is short of some servants, and wants to ask his uncle to help him privately, find a reliable shopkeeper, and prepare more suitable servants according to the requirements. On the afternoon of the 25th, Shen Zheng will be brought to the Su Mansion in Changxingfang for us. Choose it once and don’t care about anything else. The most important thing is that the source is reliable.”

As she spoke, she also took out a roll of paper, which listed the gender and age requirements for more than thirty required slaves, which she and Mrs. Yu had considered several times. According to Pei Xingjian's current rank, the imperial court would allocate him 24 pavilion guards. Adding these more than 30 servants and old servants of the Pei family, the house would be almost full.

Anzaburo nodded, "This is easy to talk about." When he saw the item "maidservant of the upper chamber", he felt moved in his heart.

But Shi Shi couldn't help but said, "Didn't they get married on April 17th? Why did you buy a slave so early?"

Liuli smiled and said, "We have to warm up our house on the second day of April, but it's not too early."

Shi Shi nodded silently and couldn't help but ask Liuli about her experiences in the past two years and her plans for the future. Liuli picked up what she could talk about. Seeing that Liuli had nothing else to do, Ansaburo looked at the empty space and smiled and said, "I heard that there is a play about joining the army in this temple today. I'm afraid it will start soon. Do you want to go and see it?"

Mrs. Shi came to her senses and nodded hurriedly. Liuli couldn't keep her, so she sent them out. Standing in the corridor, she opened the roll of paper that Sanlang gave her, read it carefully, and sighed in her heart: The contracts of the nine farmlands only marked the starting landmarks on the four sides. They turned out to be large farms with more than 60 hectares to more than 200 hectares of fertile land. Most of the dozen or so shops were located in the most prosperous Nanshi and Xishi in Luoyang. Among them, they are engaged in spices, furs, jewelry and other businesses. It is not an exaggeration to estimate such an estate at several hundred thousand dollars—this is what is left after it has been embezzled by the Hedong government! Such a huge amount of wealth fell on a helpless pair of orphans and widowed mother. No wonder... this account needs to be settled slowly. Liuli made a plan in her mind, but she saw A Ni standing aside cautiously, turning her head and saying with a smile, "Put this thing away for me, don't let others see it."

A Ni was startled, and hurriedly took it, and carefully put it into her sleeve. Her face relaxed a little. Just as she was about to say something, the door of the west room creaked, and Pei Xingjian, who was wearing light blue uniform, opened the door. When he came out, he saw Liuli and Ani standing at the door. He was slightly startled, "Auntie and the others have already left?"

Liuli glanced at him in surprise, "Didn't you hear that?" Then she realized that he was too focused on playing chess, and asked with a smile, "Who won, you or the mage?"

A rather rough voice came from the room to the west, "Talk with your hands is a refined thing, but focusing on winning or losing is an inferior thing."

Liuli nodded seriously, "I know who lost!"

Pei Xingjian couldn't help laughing. Before his laughter stopped, a very tall monk stepped out of the west room and said, "It's just a glance. How about we try again?"

I saw that this monk was only in his early twenties, with a tall appearance, a pair of thick eyebrows flying sideways on his Chinese character face, and a bald head, just like the legendary protector Arhat. However, the Arhat's face was full of annoyance at this moment, and he was almost about to grab Pei Xingjian.

Pei Xingjian waved his hand and said with a smile, "I'll talk about it next time. It's getting late today. Puiji, now you have to be true to your word. It's better to take us to the pagoda to have a look."

Qiuji glanced at Liuli and frowned, "You are not believers, so what is there to see in the pagoda?"

Liuli couldn't help but cursed, even if Master Xuanzang, your old man, came to you in person, he was the powerful Sanche Master in Chang'an, his style far exceeded that of Tang Yin, and his wildness overwhelmed Jigong, he wouldn't be able to compare with so many peerless treasures in the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. The Buddha statue looks better, right? He could only smile and said, "Whether you want to see it or not, you have to see it to know."

Zhiji shook his head, "That's fine, you come with me." He turned around and strode ahead. After leaving the small courtyard, there were monks' houses all the way to the west. After walking for two cups of tea, I entered the west courtyard of Daci'en Temple through a side door. A five-story brick tower with a square base suddenly appeared. In front of several people. Liuli couldn't help but be quite surprised: the tower was about seventeen or eighty feet high, and each side of the square base was about fourteen or fifteen feet. Its shape could only be described as tall and bulky, which seemed far from the majestic appearance of later generations.

After Qiuji saluted the pagoda, he stood solemnly beside the pagoda. Pei Xingjian walked to the two stone tablets under the pagoda and looked at them carefully. Liuli was even more confused and couldn't help but said to Qiuji, "Master, why Won’t you take us up?”

Qiuji's eyes widened, "This tower is only used to enshrine sutras and relics. How do you get up there?"

Liuli was stunned for a moment: Could it be that the Big Wild Goose Pagoda that you can climb up to see far away is not the version in front of you? Pei Xingjian came over and said with a smile, "This pagoda was originally built by Master Xuanzang according to the system of the Western Regions. It is not our Chinese style. There are no stairs inside and no one is allowed to go up."

Liuli suddenly withered: he could not see those exquisite line-engraved Buddha statues and embroidered Buddha statues. Such a silly pagoda was just like Guiji said, "there is nothing to see"! She was a little frustrated when she glanced around and suddenly saw a huge picture of sutras on the screen wall in the west courtyard, so she hurriedly walked over. I saw that the content of this mural was the story of "Filial Piety and Support" in the popular scripture of repaying gratitude at that time. The young prince in the painting was raising a knife to cut flesh so that he could give it to his parents. The lines on the prince's clothes were strong and smooth, and the expression on his face was vivid and expressive. Among the murals she had seen in Daci'en Temple, it was definitely the most outstanding one.

She was looking at the scene in rapt attention when she heard a very soft voice coming from behind her: "This lady is more polite." The voice was not loud, but it woke her up immediately like magic power.

The earliest Big Wild Goose Pagoda was not accessible to people. Stairs were installed after it was rebuilt during the Wu Zetian period.

p.s. Many thanks to my dear yuying0988, Shuiyi, disordered innocence, xiemiao and classmates Wei Jianmoji

 (End of this chapter)