spiral

After getting out of the gate of the inn, Gu Lu subconsciously chased in one direction.

Just after running for a short distance, he stopped because he sensed something was wrong:

——It turned out that it was only a breath of time, and there was no life at all on the street that was still lively and noisy just now.

Just as he was thinking about whether to continue walking forward or back, a cool female voice sounded from the empty street:

"I don't know why this young master has been chasing the slave's house all the way?"

Gu Lu stared at the woman in white who floated from far and near without blinking, and was speechless for a while.

Seeing him like this, the woman frowned slightly on her clear face, and was about to scold the disciple who was staring at her motionless, but in the next second, she saw something and eased her expression, and said with a smile:

"I still wondered why a mortal could easily detect the existence of the slave family today, and even chased after him—but it turned out—" The woman in white stood still, bent down and gave a slight salute: "Master, the slave family is very polite. .”

Gu Lu just came back to his senses at this moment. Hearing the word 'Master', his heart was shocked, and he said in surprise: "Young lady's words are serious? What you see next, is she really a monk?"

"Why did the master say that?" The woman walked around the ancient road and said strangely: "Being able to enter this place with a dharma body and transform into a human entity proves that the master's cultivation is so deep that a little girl and a lonely soul can't reach it—— —If you want to see your true appearance, you can just look inside directly, but why do you have to ask the little girl the other way around?"

Hearing "here" mentioned in the woman's mouth, it must be because she knows a lot about this world, Gu Lu was overjoyed, and explained: "Girl, you misunderstood, I am not some high-ranking monk, but an ordinary monk in the temple. , The day before yesterday was like a dream by accident, but I didn’t want to wake up, so I came here. I have lived for more than three months. I finally woke up from the dream yesterday, but only one day later, I entered this dream world again——The little monk came out today. It was to find a way to get rid of this dream world—the reason why I chased the girl out was because when I was resting in the inn, I heard a very sad and sad song and saw a white shadow that did not look like a human being. I thought it might be a clue, so I chased after him."

The woman quietly listened to him, and said after a while: "It turned out that the little girl misunderstood, master, Fanhua is rude."

Talking about the woman bending down to salute again, Gu Lu hurriedly stretched out his hand to help him, and stopped him: "Those who don't know don't blame it, Miss Fanhua doesn't need to be too polite."

Fanhua burst into a smile when she heard the words, took a step back, and waved her hand——

Then, on the empty street, there was a very desolate female voice humming in an instant.

"Master just heard this piece of music?" Fanhua asked.

"Exactly." Gu Lu nodded hastily, "Does this song have a name?"

"Yes," Fanhua said with some nostalgia: "Siqing."

"Thinking?" Gu Lu said with a sense of loss: "This song is very sad, the rhythm is repeated and round, and the lingering sound is lingering. It is suitable for this name."

"Maybe." Fanhua said with a bright smile, "After the little girl died in the original world, her bones were buried in the wilderness, and she was only accompanied by the bright moon and the breeze in the wild every night. After the change of dynasties, the private house was turned into a brothel—the place where the little girl was located happened to be the residence of the down-and-out girl whose age had passed away in the brothel—most of them met a certain person when they were in their prime. The passing scholars who went to Beijing to rush for the exam, or the princes and grandsons who showed infatuation at the beginning, these men may come back to pick them up after promising the gold list, or promise to marry them with the ceremony of the royal family in the future. These women who are no longer there always play this song in the dead of night, year after year, day after day."

"and after?"

"Later, time continued to move forward without stopping, and dynasties changed several times. This song was passed down and adapted by posterity, and finally one day it was no longer known."

"But why?" Gu Lu asked.

"Because more than 1000 years later, the word "imperial power" no longer exists in the world, and the Qinlou Chu Pavilion has become what the world calls a high-end club. At that time, people more and more valued money first, and even women became shrewd and philistine. ——so this infatuated song is no longer popular—if it is not popular, it will naturally be lost.”

Fan Hua said that she turned around and smiled at Gu Lu, "I don't know why, when the little girl came here, she didn't have anything long, but this song followed her."

"So that's how it is," Gu Lu said, nodding his head, "I once heard some old doctors who practiced medicine say that the human body actually has its own field—the same disease, but because of the different fields of different people, it needs to be differentiated. The corresponding medicine—the reason why this song came here with Miss Fanhua is probably because the girl’s soul body was influenced by this song every night in the brothel, and gradually formed a special music field."

"The master is worthy of being a master. I explained the little girl one by one in this way, and the little girl understood—no wonder, the little girl no longer feels sad and depressed after listening to this song, but feels very kind, as if it is her own thing."

"Young monk is just guessing or two, you can't do it right, you can't do it right." Gu Lu waved his hand embarrassedly.

Fanhua just laughed and said nothing when she heard the words.

After a while, Gu Lu continued the previous question and asked: "Miss Fanhua, you seem to know a lot about this place, can you explain to me: how can I get out of here to reality?"

"This—" Fanhua pondered for a second, looked up at the ancient road and said, "Actually, the little girl only has some vague guesses about the various things in this world. Does the master know how the little girl came here?"

"how?"

"Didn't the little girl say it before? With the passage of time, the king no longer exists, and the theory of ghosts and gods no longer exists. Even the so-called eminent monks in the world are no more than researchers who study a field of knowledge—for hundreds of years, little The woman saw that the old-fashioned style was no longer around, new high-rise buildings were uprooted one after another, people came and went, life and death, but she never met a companion, let alone a person or a cultivator who could detect the existence of the little girl. " Said Fanhua sighed slightly, as if recalling the loneliness of being alone in those years.

It took her a long time before she continued: "It happened one day. The cause was that a family's youngest son died a few dozen meters away from where the little girl was staying. In the evening, several people dressed as monks came to rescue the child. Although the little girl knew that there was no theory of the soul at that time, and those monks were only chanting sutras on the surface to give the family some psychological comfort, but because there was still a trace of expectation in her heart, she still couldn't take her eyes off her. Looking at the scene not far away—at the moment when the transcendence was about to be completed, the Buddhist beads in the hands of one of the monks sitting outside suddenly scattered for some reason, and the Buddhist beads rolled away—it happened that one of them rolled down Go above the place where the little girl's bones are buried—the little girl reached out to touch the bead out of curiosity, and she fainted the next second when she touched the bead—when she woke up again, she was already here."

"So, Miss Fanhua, you came here because you came into contact with that Buddhist bead?"

"That's right," Fanhua nodded, "After getting familiar with this place, I also wondered if it might be like the Zen saying that a flower and a leaf hide a world, and I happened to enter the world of that Buddhist bead— —Later, it was discovered that this was not the case, and Yuemo here is a place similar to a mirrored space.”

"Mirror image? Why?"

"Probably, this world will change into a different world because of the origin, background and thoughts of the people who come here. If it is a person from the age without kings when I finally disappeared, then In his eyes, this place is probably similar to his world, even a future world with a relatively advanced civilization; if it is a flower essence with spiritual consciousness between heaven and earth, the world will probably look different in his eyes—— There are probably very few people who see the same scene and meet each other."

"Girl Fanhua is so sure, but who has she met before?"

"En." Fanhua replied affirmatively, "The reason why today I recognize you, Master, as a cultivator with a high level of cultivation is also because of this—a few days ago, Fanhua met a man in a secluded place. An old man who was meditating quietly, after the old man asked where the flowers came from, he said, "the female benefactor does not have hostility, and it seems that there is a chance, so it is probably God's will to come here, so the poor monk has the right to be Didn't you see it?" After saying that, he disappeared in place. It is precisely because of this that I guess that this world is not just a dream or a small world of mustard seeds in the Buddhist beads, but a transit world similar to a mirror image— —Those who have the chance can come here, and the eminent monk I just mentioned can come and go soberly.”

"A mirrored world?" Gu Lu blinked in confusion, "If everything is as Fanhua girl said, then why did I come here? And why does this mirrored world exist?"

"I think the reason why this world exists is probably to fulfill wishes."

"wish?"

"Well. Take me for example, Master, you can see Fanhua here, so Fanhua boldly assumes that you entered here because you have the same wish as Fanhua - Fanhua's wish and obsession are because you are alone Looking at the changing times, more than 1000 years later, there are no ghosts and gods in the world, and no one can hear and feel the existence of prosperity—perhaps it is this emptiness and unwillingness, attachment to life and death that brought me here. Blossoms So, what about you, Master?"

"Me?" Gu Lu looked at his empty right heart, and said confusedly: "I have no father or mother since I was a child. It is said that it is the nunnery left over from the previous dynasty. The master did not change the signboard for fear of trouble. Later, he directly named me "Gulu" - when I grew up, I occasionally followed the master down the mountain for alms. Although I have seen There are a lot of unofficial histories and travel notes, stories about gifted scholars and beauties, but I have never been to farther places, and the master has not arranged for me any path that I must take in the future-I don’t know why, but after the master left, in the dead of night, Although accompanied by my younger brother, I often have a sense of emptiness that I don’t know where I am—there is no time in the mountains. In the blink of an eye, my younger brother is already over twelve years old, and I am almost [-] years old. That day, when I was walking in the corridor At that time, I suddenly felt that there was something different in the courtyard. When I looked up, I saw that there was an extra gazebo in the deserted ancient road nunnery on weekdays. The pavilion was surrounded by lotus flowers. In the cool breeze, a young man in Tsing Yi was holding a green lotus. , holding the other hand behind his back, looking at the bright moon in the sky with a cool smile on his lips. But in a blink of an eye, the gazebo, the lotus pond, and the man in Tsing Yi will never be seen again. I thought that It was my delusion after reading too many story books. I went back to my room and wrote down the words, "Su Yingqing lotus water is clear and shallow, and the son is ruthlessly happy. The moon is slanting and the clouds are in the ancient road nunnery. Six chapters of a floating life." Put it down. When I went to the room to look at it the next day, the calligraphy and painting disappeared—I thought it was my junior brother who took it out mischievously, or it was blown away by the strong wind. Unexpectedly, I went out to the town after a few days When I was buying rice, I saw that word in a calligraphy and painting shop. What was even more incredible was that a picture was drawn on the blank space of the word. It was exactly the pavilion under the moon I saw that day, The young man in Tsing Yi holding the green lotus. I was about to rush over to see what happened, but I accidentally collided with a woman who was holding a girl. After apologizing, the woman was about to leave, but the girl in her arms pointed at the monk’s bald head and refused. Finally, during the woman's explanation, the girl gave the little monk a pearl headdress strung with red thread. After the little monk reluctantly took it, the girl left with the woman. At this time, I rushed to the calligraphy and painting shop, the painting But it’s gone—the shopkeeper explained that a son bought it. The monk couldn’t let go of the matter, but he couldn’t explain it. In desperation, he returned to the temple with the red thread pearl ornament in his hand, and the monk fell asleep that night After that, I came here. Then, I started my dream life that lasted for three months—”

Fan Hua suddenly interrupted when she heard this: "Master, living here is not happy?"

"Ah?" Gu Lu was stunned, then immediately shook his head, "No. The little monk is accompanied by someone here, and he has no worries about food and clothing, and even—"

There is even a person who looks very much like the young master in the painting who stays with him every day.

But now it is hard to say these words to Fanhua who regards him as a 'master', so he changed his mouth and said, "I don't know why Miss Fanhua asked like this?"

Fanhua smiled and said, "It's just curiosity, since it's not that living here is bad, why are you so eager to leave?"

"Probably because the little monk is not cultivated enough. I admire ghosts and gods, but I don't want to really believe in this bizarre thing. That's why I worry about gain and loss, and I can't be at peace. I really deserve it. The meaning of the little monk's dharma name 'One Heart' is stubborn and unyielding." , I don’t know how to adapt, and I have to go to the end with all my heart to know my mistakes.” Gu Lu said with a wry smile and shook his head.

"So, does the master have to wait until the world is proved to be false, or he will not be able to enter here after waking up from the dream?"

"I, I don't know, after hearing Miss Fanhua's words, especially now, I don't know what is going on in my heart."

"Then just wait." Fanhua said.

"Wait?"

"Yes, I have been here for more than 1000 years. Waiting is not just waiting for someone or something blindly, but everything in the world is changing every moment. Every present is a transition. Every moment you think The destination and the end point of life are both the origin and the transition - human beings are always trapped in time, passing through one transition point after another, so please wait at ease. Fanhua spent 1000 years here, and met the master today, Then he may go to a new place in the future, and may come back here one day in the future. The master has only experienced a short period of life now, why must he be obsessed with his own end point?"

"Amitabha." Gu Lu clasped his hands together and said ashamedly, "Listening to Miss Fanhua's words is better than a young monk knocking on a wooden fish for ten years in the meditation room. Now the little monk is enlightened, thank you girl, and please accept the little monk's worship."

"The little girl is just relying on living longer and seeing more life and death." Fanhua hurriedly moved a step to the left, hiding aside and said, "Master, please don't hurt the little girl, please hurry up."

"Miss Fanhua is kind-hearted." Gu Lu said with a smile.

Only then did Fanhua stop and laugh.

a long time.

Gu Lu looked at the sky, and said goodbye calmly, "I don't want to thank you for your kindness. I have delayed the girl for a long time, and there are still people waiting for the little monk outside. Then, the little monk will take his leave."

"Master's words are serious. Then, see you someday."

After finishing speaking, Fanhua waved her hand again, and the still space gradually became a breeze again, and human voices.

Finally, Gu Lu said "Well, see you by fate" to the disappearing figure of the flowers, and walked back without looking back.