Heaven is fearless

Yan Wujiao.

Fanxing tossed the name over and over in his mind for a moment, and picked out a small fragment from his scattered memory.

In the old days of Shaowei, because Crown Prince Tianheng loved chess, local officials would intentionally or unintentionally choose chess-related items to enter the East Palace when they paid tribute. There were two sets of chess in the East Palace, which were carefully carved by craftsmen from the previous dynasty with the best jade. The masterpieces produced were once collected in the palace of the former dynasty, such as Jiaowei in Qizhong and Suihou in Zhuzhong.

The two sets of chess, one Zhao Cuo, was given to Dingnan Gong Chuzhang at that time; the other set was named Wujiu, and was sent to the Yan family as a gift from the East Palace when the second son of the Yan family was born.

Does this Yan Wujiao have anything to do with that Wujiao?

He didn't poke the law to ask questions, but took a closer look at the child's eyebrows and eyes.

The boy named Yan Wujiu in front of him had a dirty face, thin cheeks, no baby fat, and was slightly sunken, which made his already big eyes even bigger. His thin body was wrapped in rough linen Made of unlined clothes, an authentic poor kid who blends in with the surrounding environment.

Yan Wujiu pursed his lips tightly, his heart was in a state of confusion. At this time, a hand was gently pressed up to wrap around his dry little hand, and the soft cloth fell on the back of his hand along with his movements, like a child wandering in the market. Thinking vaguely, in the past, I saw those noble people wearing soft and comfortable clothes, so this is how it feels... really soft.

Yan Wujiu raised his eyes, and the black-clothed monk was lowering his eyelids, his expression was like that of the Buddha watching the world on the lotus platform, he stuffed the money bag back into Yan Wujiu's palm, and softly recited the Buddha's name: "Amitabha, the poor The monk took a lot of trouble to find this female benefactor, not to recover property."

Feeling the heavy weight in his palm, Yan Wujiu stared blankly at Brahma, before curling his lips for a while: "Monk, are you stupid? You don't ask for money, why did you come back with me? Did you come to see our joke?"

The child in front of him stood up with spikes all over his body, staring at Fanxing with vigilance and alertness, his small body moved intentionally or unintentionally to block Yan Duotang behind him, his back was arched, and his thin muscles were ready to wait. There is a tendency for Fanxing to explode if he answers wrong.

Fanxing sighed slightly, and scratched the back of his head with his hands in embarrassment: "That's not what the poor monk meant..."

He frowned and tried to organize his words, but finally heaved a long sigh, gave up using those literary explanations of Buddhism, and turned to plain words: "It's wrong to steal things. If what was stolen today was money used to save lives, then the woman The sin karma of the benefactor is serious. The poor monk just wanted to persuade the female benefactor not to do this again. As for the money, people in the Buddhist sect, money is all outside the body. .”

Yan Wujiu looked at Fanxing's face cautiously, assessing the credibility of his words, but Yan Duotang, who was standing by the table, didn't think much of it, she stepped forward, pulled her brother aside, and said Without saying a word, he knelt down towards Fanxing.

Three rings were made, and they were actually knocked to the ground.

Her movements were smooth and smooth, without even a moment's hesitation, and when she finally raised her head, there were still bloodshot eyes on her forehead.

She doesn't care whether it's the sympathy of Fanxing on a whim or the mercy and charity from above. When she is about to die, it's an inappropriate joke to talk about integrity and consider other people's life and death. , but she didn't take it seriously, if she was guilty, then let her go to the oil pan after death, she just wanted to live with her brother and mother.

"Master's kindness, Yan Duotang dare not forget it in this life. Whenever the master needs it in the future, Yan Duotang will be a cow or a horse to repay the master's kindness. Stealing is indeed a shameless thing, but I want to raise my younger brother and cure my mother's illness. I can't sell myself , if I sell myself, who will take care of them..."

The girl stopped talking, tears flashed in her eyes, she swallowed, as if she could swallow all the heartache and pain into her stomach together with the tears.

"Yan Wujiao, come here and kowtow!" She turned her head and shouted ferociously to her younger brother.

Fan Xing shook his head, flicked his sleeves and used a strong wind to roll up Yan Duotang to make her stand firm, and then he clasped his hands together and saluted: "The poor monk doesn't want to take kindness in return, and the female benefactor doesn't need to take it to heart."

Yan Wuzheng dawdled for a while, then handed the money bag to Yan Duotang, the girl took it, and was about to open it, but hesitated for a while, she was embarrassed to look in front of Fanxing, and turned around behind the cloth curtain.

When the blue-and-white-flowered cloth curtain fell, Fan Xing vaguely saw a small bed propped up behind it, and a small corner of the quilt on it flashed through the gap in the curtain.

Fanxing thought for a while and asked Yan Wujiu: "The one in the room is your mother? What disease does she suffer from?"

Yan Wujiu's attitude towards Fanxing was much calmer, probably because of the bag of money that could tide his family over: "It's my mother. My mother has been ill for three or four years and has taken a lot of medicine." It’s not good, we look down on the sitting doctor, we can only go to the doctor to see a doctor, those guys with half a bottle of water, say that the mother is full of fire, dry and not dry, and then say that the mother is yin deficiency and yang short, Qi stagnation , and said that heart disease is difficult to cure. The illness has become more and more severe these days, and I can't even get out of bed, and I can't feed water and rice. Yan Duotang made up his mind to ask the doctor to come to see him.

Fanxing listened, thought for a while, and then said: "The poor monk also knows a little about the art of Qihuang, can you let the poor monk see Lingtang's illness?"

"Ling..." Yan Wuzhen wrinkled his face, "Ling what?"

Fanxing blinked and blinked: "Oh... it's your mother, your father means your father, and your son and daughter mean your children... but you don't need it now."

Yan Wujiao recited these words a few times, cleared his throat: "Ahem, if you know medical skills, it's okay to let you see Lingtang..."

Fanxing bent his eyes and taught him patiently: "Lingtang is a respectful name, and it is used to refer to the person you are talking to. If you want to mention your parents, you should use 'family', such as family father and mother, family gentleman and family kindness." such as."

Yan Wuzheng's face turned red, and he stared at Fanxing angrily for a while, then shook his hand: "Jiuye doesn't want to know this! These are learned by poor people! The one at the intersection is fifty years old and hasn't taken the exam yet. That's what the poor, scholar-officials say all day long!"

Fan Xing looked at him, and didn't say anything about his speech, if Yan Wujiu wasn't the person he was looking for, then no matter how he lived, it had nothing to do with him.

The Buddha with compassionate and gentle eyes said softly: "Amitabha."

Seeing that he didn't say anything else, Yan Wujiu's expression showed a little disappointment, he turned his head and muttered: "Don't you want to see my mother, come here."

Yan Wujiu raised the curtain and got in, Fanxing stopped outside the curtain, confessed his crime softly, and then walked in.

The space inside was getting narrower and narrower, Yan Wujiu and Yan Duotang almost occupied the space, seeing him coming in, Yan Duotang lowered his eyes and said: "I'm going out to buy some food, master stay for a meal."

She went out, and Fan Xing stood where she was originally standing, looking at the woman on the bed.

It was just a bed made of several wooden boards, and the quilt was too mended and mended. It pressed on the shriveled and thin woman, pushing the woman who was only in her 30s out of her almost old age.

Among the poor people, there is no particular saying that men and women are incompatible. Fan Xing stretched out his hand to check his pulse, and Yan Wujiu just stood aside and looked at him.

He thought this monk was extremely weird.

He grew up in Changpingfang since he was a child, and when he was younger, his memory was blurred and fragmented. Since he was able to remember things continuously, his life was full of noisy noise and never enough hunger. Cheng's elder sister had to travel around, and a girl who had no protection and no support had to go through a lot of hardships to find something to eat and come back. Most of the time, she was bullied and had no way to talk about it.

Yan Wujiu is familiar with those dirty routines, and he has a good command of all kinds of speech. He is young, and he seldom gets beaten and scolded when he secretly follows the adults. Met many people and learned a lot.

In Changpingfang’s Flower Street and Willow Lane, there are many dignitaries who come to find fun, and there are also many literati who come to look for poetesses. He has also seen many monks who come to alms from the Fanyin Temple outside the city, but whether they are high-ranking or not Han Si, there is no one like this monk.

His movements, tone of voice, way of speaking and even the way he looks at people...

Yan Wujiu lowered his head, seeing his own dirty hands.

The other party is like a snow-white flower that he dare not touch, growing in clean water, with a compassionate heart and a pair of Guanyin eyes, telling him things that no one has ever been willing to say to him, teaching him that no one will Teach him something.

Yan Wujiao rubbed his dirty hands on his clothes again and again.

In such clean and gentle eyes, he felt ashamed of himself.

Brahma finished checking the pulse on his right hand, then opened the woman's eyelids, checked her tongue coating, and said softly: "It's not a serious illness caused by medicine and stones, it's mainly due to stagnation in the heart, excessive deficiency in the body, and Long-term malnutrition, the poor monk prescribes a prescription, and it will be cured after taking a few medicines, but it will take a long time to support it."

The woman on the bed suddenly let out a few hoarse gasps from her throat. After a long time, she opened her cloudy and dull eyes wearily. Her pupils were out of focus and her eyesight was weak. A weak voice called out: "Tangtang...Tangtang..."

Yan Wujiu skillfully squeezed Fanxing away and grabbed the hand: "Mother, sister went grocery shopping, do you want some water? Is it convenient?"

Hearing this, Fanxing wanted to go out. The woman paused for a moment, raised her voice slightly, and asked with mixed feelings of sorrow and joy: "Is it Jiujiu? Is it Mother's Jiujiu?"

Yan Wujiu looked down at the woman's face, and replied obediently: "It's Jiujiu."

The woman grabbed the small hand with her thin and weak hand, held it on her chest, and let out a sigh of relief: "Mother's Chirp...don't lose it..."

Yan Duotang, who happened to come back with a vegetable basket, heard this, and answered, "Mother, are you sleepy? When did Jiujiu get lost?"

The woman stared blankly for a while with her mouth open, and her expression was a bit puzzled: "Yeah... Jiujiu is not lost..."

She muttered to herself something only she could hear, then closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep, still holding Yan Wujiu's hand when she fell asleep.

Yan Duotang glanced at Fanxing quickly, and greeted his younger brother: "Come out, let mother sleep, you go and get the firewood."

Yan Wujiu carefully took his hand out of the woman's hand, and Fan Xing noticed that he still rubbed the woman's fingers with nostalgia.

"Hey, I got it." Responding to Yan Duotang's words in a low voice, he pulled Fanxing's sleeve to let him sit on the only two stools by the table, "You wait here, Yan Duotang's fried dishes It's delicious."

He trotted all the way out the door, the girl sat down beside Fanxing with a basket and began to choose vegetables, and she sorted out the vegetable leaves that had been eaten by insects and put them in the vegetable pile. She said she was going to buy vegetables, but in fact it was nothing He picked some cabbages that others didn't want and came back, but there were two small eggs.

"Mother has been ill for several years, and her mind is not clear," Yan Duotang suddenly said with her head down, and the movements of her hands continued, "If she said something weird, don't take it to heart, she is just confused. gone."

Fan Xing was trying to help her with his sleeves rolled up, but the girl shook his head and pushed him away: "A young master like you, how could you do this."

Fan Xing opened his eyes blankly: "Master?"

Yan Duotang glanced at him, pursed her lips and smiled, she was not very similar to Yan Wujiu, but this time her smile was a little smart and gentle: "Although you are a monk, you can tell at a glance They came from a good family, clean and without any thorns, and those born here are all like Jiujiu."

The smile on her face faded a little, and she closed her mouth again.

Fanxing was pushed away by her, and he didn't rush to work any more. He twisted the prayer beads and remembered what she said just now: "Your brother, didn't say that your mother has a mental illness."

Yan Duotang pursed her lips, and after a while said calmly: "He doesn't know. He is still young, so he doesn't know what kind of mother was like before. He only thinks that the mother who is like this now is normal."

Fanxing thought for a while: "Since the symptoms are not right, the poor monk needs to get another pulse diagnosis—"

"No need." Yan Duotang abruptly interrupted Fanxing. She mentioned the packed dishes and stood up, staring straight at Fanxing with her dark and bright eyes. Regarding this matter, we already have our own regulations, so we don’t need to bother Master. Master sit down for a while, and I’ll go cook.”

She walked out in a hurry, and soon there was the sound of the stove outside.

Fan Xing sat there, pinched a Buddhist bead with his fingers, smiled slightly, his eyes fell on the blue curtain with white flowers, and he heard the steady breathing of the woman inside, who was disturbed for a moment, and there were ravings from a dream, clearly It fell into his ear: "...so fat little baby... Jiujiu... Erlang... mother..."

******

The Buddha skipped some of the parts, and didn't ask about the details, holding the teacup in his little hand, watching Fanxing lift the pot warmed on the tea stove, and poured him a cup of clear tea.

There was only tea, not even a tea leaf in it.

Busheng asked, "So the venerable accepted brother Wujiu as his disciple?"

Brahmaputra put down the teapot, turned the beads, and smiled. There was a little shyness in that smile: "Hey... the poor monk was just a wandering monk to the outside world, so he was not qualified to accept any disciples. That kid is talented. I feel sorry for him. Eagerness is nothing more than teaching him some knowledge that can be found anywhere."

Busheng tilted his head and asked, "Teach three hundred thousand?"

Busheng has never learned these things, but he has also heard the famous enlightenment books of mortals.

Fanxing wrote lightly: "I have taught a little bit."

There was not much to say about that meal, a plate of fried cabbage, a plate of scrambled eggs with wild vegetables, and a mushy barley soup with cloudy flour in it. This was probably the best hospitality meal they could come up with.

Yan Wujiu sent Fanxing out, walked through the long and winding alleyways he came in, walked in front of him silently, stopped at an intersection, and pointed ahead: "Where are you going? There is an inn ahead. The kind that is innocent and innocent, this way is the way out of the city, and you can go to the place where the nobles live..."

His words stopped abruptly, because the white-clothed monk who had been smiling suddenly squatted down and hugged him gently.

This embrace is warm and soft, with sandalwood and a quiet and bitter herbal aroma, Yan Wujiu racked his brains but couldn't figure out what it was like, he just thought it was better than all the expensive incense in Huajie and Liuxiang.

"You, you, you, what are you doing!" His voice was flustered, but he didn't push Brahma away from beginning to end.

Fanxing listened to the sound of the law's announcement in his mind, and a sincere smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. Looking at the stubborn child in front of him, there was sincere joy in his eyes.

"The Buddha said that you and I are predestined, without entanglement. Would you like to be my student?"

This strange monk suddenly asked such a sentence, Yan Wuzhen was dumbfounded: "Huh?!"

He was in a hurry, his eyes fluttered: "What, what? Be your disciple? I don't want to become a monk!"

Fanxing corrected him: "It's a student."

The monk's eyebrows and eyes are quiet: "I will teach you to read and write, teach you to behave in the world, teach you the world to be broad, and teach you to have a small heart..."

In the middle of his words, he put some shocking things in his mouth and melted them into the compassionate smile of Buddha.

"You... you are so kind to me, what do you want to do?" Yan Wujiu deliberately ignored the loss in his heart when he heard Fanxing's negation of the word "disciple", cheered up, and his clever and beautiful eyes rolled around, I don't know what I'm thinking.

His full attention was on Fan Xing, catching the other's every move, watching the other party tilt his head in meditation, watching him frown slightly, watching him sigh a little.

"Because," Fanxing lowered his eyebrows, like a god and Buddha on a lotus, and cast a compassionate look at the billowing red dust, "The Buddha said that we are destined."

In the past, Yan Wujiu would only snort when he heard such mystifying words, but when this nonsense was uttered by Fanxing, it was as if the Buddha's voice had fallen from the sky.

——He vaguely sensed that with his answer, his life in the mud would undergo some drastic changes.

If there really was a Buddha who said such things, Yan Wujiao thought in his heart, please let him watch me for a while longer, so that this fate can last a little longer.

From then on, I would like to be a believer under the lotus.