Early the next morning, Bai Zeqing was awakened by the novice monk's knocking on the door.
The young novice monk was very polite: "Almsgiver, the morning exercises have begun. Uncle Master, please come quickly."
"Morning exercise?" Bai Zeqing sat up in a daze. She read until late at night last night, and couldn't bear it anymore, so she leaned on the edge of the bed and fell asleep. When she woke up, she still held the book "Puppetry" in her arms.
, mumbling inarticulately: "I'm not a monk, why do I need to do morning exercises?"
The young novice knocked on the door again, raised his voice a little, and shouted: "Donor, my uncle said that before leaving, the Immortal Master ordered me to ask the benefactor to do morning exercises and evening classes without delay!"
"???"
Bai Zeqing yelled "Why!" in his heart, but he still stood up obediently.
She hesitated and opened the door. The morning light was dim, and she didn't know where the sun was hidden. She felt even more broken. She had no way to vent her anger after getting up, so she could only digest it by herself. She wandered to the water tank next to the garden in the small courtyard.
He took some water and slapped it on his face. He felt so cold that he shivered, and then he followed the little novice monk to the martial arts training ground by the release pond.
Bai Zeqing followed the monks in a daze and boxed for a full hour. Her hands and feet were sore from exhaustion, and she secretly complained in her heart: This is even more tiring than riding a horse and shooting arrows with Brother Qi.
Will it be like this in the future? It seems that it is better to prepare as soon as possible and then go to Yuanzhou City to complete the tasks assigned by Master, rather than getting up before dawn every day to do morning exercises.
She followed the team of monks to the vegetarian hall with a numb look on her face. She took a few bites of vegetarian food and then lost her appetite. As soon as she put down her chopsticks, she remembered that her mother and aunt had seriously taught her in previous years when they took her to pray for blessings and worship Buddha and eat vegetarian food: there should be no leftovers of vegetarian food.
.
She sighed long and sadly, but silently picked up the bamboo chopsticks, insisted on eating until every grain was left, cleaned the wooden bowl, and then returned to the layman's room listlessly.
After cleaning up the cleaning room in the small courtyard, her head was groggy and she wanted to catch up on some sleep. As soon as she lay down, her mind was filled with thoughts about "Puppetry" that she had watched all night long.
There is not much content in this book, and the text is not too obscure. She read it several times last night and almost memorized it, but she cannot fully understand its meaning.
In other words: She knows every word, but the meaning of the words together seems to be understood, but she cannot understand them all.
This feeling was so overwhelming that she was so flustered that she couldn't sleep at all.
She opened her eyes, looked at the roof, took a deep breath, and sat up.
Otherwise, just read it again. The Master said that if you read it a hundred times, the meaning will become apparent. Maybe you will understand it after reading it a few more times.
Thinking about it, she casually touched the book on the desk, dragged the bamboo chair under the eaves, and slowly moved to the flower garden. She was stunned for a moment before opening the title page.
After reading a few lines, Bai Zeqing realized something was wrong. She closed the page again, and the three big words "Yanshu Collection" on the cover were clearly visible to her eyes - she had taken the wrong book, this was another book thrown to her by the Taoist priest.
Bai Zeqing sighed, complaining that she was confused. She stood up to change, but after taking two steps, she stopped again. Many questions flashed through her mind: Why did the master give her two books? Why wasn't it other than these two books?
? Could it be that this Yan Shu is closely related to the Puppet Spirit Technique itself?
She turned around and sat back on the bamboo chair, opened the pages of the book again, and read carefully.
I fell in love with it after reading it.
Sure enough, as she expected, with the combination of Yan Shu and Puppet Spirit Technique, many things that had been previously unfathomable suddenly became clear.
As the sun set, the little novice monk ran up the steps to call her for evening lessons. He walked up the steps, turned around the flower garden, and then froze on the spot, forgetting what he wanted to say for a moment.
The afterglow of the setting sun slanted into the small courtyard, illuminating Bai Zeqing's body, which was transparent and flawless, and her whole body seemed to be wrapped in a layer of faint glow.
The little novice monk suddenly felt that he did not dare to look directly. So he closed his eyes and chanted the Buddha's name.
Bai Zeqing was startled, and then he looked up from the book in confusion.
The little novice closed his eyes and said loudly: "Donor, my uncle asked me to invite you to evening classes." After saying this, he turned to leave.
She stood up a little eagerly and called to the little novice monk: "Little Master, where is Zen Master Cifa?"
"Da, Professor Bodhidharma teaches evening classes."
"Wait for me! I have many questions to ask the Zen Master!"
The young novice led Bai Zeqing into the Bodhidharma Hall, where all the monks sat quietly listening to the Buddha meditating. Except for a few young novices who looked at her slightly, the others turned a blind eye to her arrival.
Bai Zeqing had no choice but to suppress all the questions in his head. He sat cross-legged in the corner and listened to the Buddhist scriptures. As he listened, his head became heavier and heavier, and he fell asleep unconsciously.
The little novice monk tugged on his sleeves for a long time before waking her up. He whispered anxiously: "Donor, believers must not be disrespectful to the Buddha."
"Believer?" Bai Zeqing murmured, "I don't deserve to be a believer." Her mother and aunt worshiped Buddha all the year round, and her uncle drew Thangkas devoutly, but when Ningzhou city was destroyed, Buddha did not bless them.
She would not say these words to outsiders. She calmed down, sat up straight, listened to Zen Master Cifa's sermon, and slowly fell into a trance again.
After staying up for a whole hour, after the evening class was over, Bai Zeqing hurriedly got up to look for Zen Master Cifa. But he had no choice but to sit cross-legged for a long time and his feet were numb. Before he could stand up, he fell down again and fell to his knees in the lobby of Bodhidharma Hall, which was just passing by.
At the feet of senior brother.
The senior brother hurriedly took a step away and said with a smile: "Little donor, you and I are not from the same sect, so we don't dare to accept such a big gift." His eyes signaled the young novice monk to help him.
The surrounding monks couldn't help laughing, and hurriedly left. Only whispers and laughter could be heard after leaving.
Bai Zeqing was so embarrassed that he didn't want to raise his head. With the help of the little novice monk, he stood up and rubbed his legs. After bowing, he limped to find Zen Master Cifa.
At this time, Zen Master Cifa had returned to the Zen room and was sitting cross-legged on the Arhat couch by the window, flipping through a very thick book. The newly brewed Zen tea on the charcoal stove next to him was steaming.
After the little novice monk made the announcement, Bai Zeqing first bowed politely to meet him, and then asked impatiently: "Zen Master, do you know the art of Yan?"
Zen Master Cifa always likes to be direct, so he did not feel surprised when he heard this sudden question. Instead, he thought seriously for a moment, nodded slightly, and said: "I have heard a little bit." As he spoke, he pointed to the futon opposite.
Bai Zeqing sat cross-legged on the futon and asked, "Zen Master, do you know the art of puppetry?"
Zen Master Ci Fa took the Zen tea, heated the firewood beaker, poured half of the cup for Bai Zeqing, and then said slowly: "I have only heard of it, but I have never seen it in person."
Bai Zeqing nodded slightly, bent the index and middle fingers of his right hand, tapped the table to express his gratitude, and continued: "Zen Master, what do you think will happen if Yan Shu is combined with Puppet Spirit Technique?"
Zen Master Cifa saw that she clearly had a cheerful and free-spirited temperament, but the etiquette in the details was not lost, so he nodded slightly. After hearing Bai Zeqing's question, the copper pot for himself to add tea hung in the air, and he thought of some bad things.
, his expression changed slightly, and he said: "I don't know, but..."
He gently put the copper pot back into the small charcoal stove and stopped talking, as if he was thinking about where to start.
Bai Zeqing had not had much contact with Zen Master Cifa, and knew that he was a straight talker. Seeing his expression of not knowing how to speak, he couldn't help but put the tea cup back on the low table and sit upright.