The Taoist priest urged her: "Stop inking and go quickly." After saying this, he picked up another formation stone, but without luck, he concentrated and dropped the carving knife in his right hand.
Bai Zeqing pursed his lips, then tidied up simply and followed the little novice monk down the mountain.
"Hey." The Taoist priest suddenly shouted.
"Here!" Bai Zeqing immediately turned back and looked at him eagerly.
"I didn't call you," the Taoist priest glanced at her with disgust, then turned to the little novice monk and said, "Little monk, ask Zen Master Cifa to send someone to call the people from the Xuanyu Department."
"Yes." The young monk responded quickly and ran down the mountain as if he was running away first - that Taoist priest, that look in his eyes, that aura, how could he be so scary?
After Bai Zeqing finished the boxing, he followed the monks to the dining hall as usual. When he reached the door, he was stopped by the rice monk: "Little donor, Uncle Ci Master has asked you to go back to the layman's courtyard."
Bai Zeqing blinked, looked at the vegetarian food that he didn't like to eat on weekdays, touched his growling stomach, sighed, saluted the rice-headed monk, and turned around to walk to the layman's courtyard.
As she walked up the steps step by step, although her body was not tired, for some reason she always felt very tired - she always had the illusion that she would have to work for the rest of her life without eating, drinking or sleeping.
When she stepped onto the steps and walked into the small courtyard, she felt numb all of a sudden——
The Taoist priest was still sitting in front of the round stone table, but he was holding a gourd and drinking. There was a half-torn roast chicken on the table, and the aroma filled the whole courtyard.
Is the promise of not eating or drinking only for her?
When the Taoist priest saw Bai Zeqing coming back, he pointed to the flower garden and said, "Continue painting. If you still need anything, write down an order and I'll ask them to deliver it."
Only then did Bai Zeqing notice that there was a simple wooden frame placed next to the small round table. It was made of fine mahogany and on it were placed a set of carving knives of different sizes and the extremely expensive Tianhuang stone on the market.
She felt something bad and immediately turned her head to look at the flower garden.
Next to the flower garden, a new, well-made easel made of mahogany was placed next to the simple easel she nailed with wooden strips.
Next to the easel is a slightly larger wooden stand, also made of mahogany.
The wooden shelf is filled with the brushes and paints needed for thangkas - white clay, cinnabar, azurite, stone green, orpiment, and yellow pill, all available, and they are all ground. There is even a small dish of gold powder.
In short, she understood at just one glance that this small thangka was definitely just the beginning. Ten more paintings would be more than enough.
How shameless! Bai Zeqing was almost in tears.
"Master!!!" Bai Zeqing lamented.
"how?"
"I'm hungry!"
"It's okay. I'll never die of hunger. I'll get used to it gradually."
"But it's very uncomfortable." Bai Zeqing swallowed his saliva while looking at the roasted chicken, and asked very profoundly: "Master, are you eating to live?"
"That's a good question." The Taoist priest raised his eyebrows and quickly pulled off the last chicken leg, "Of course not."
Bai Zeqing watched the Taoist take a sip of wine and meat, with tears dripping from the corners of his mouth. He walked to the small round table in a few steps, stretched out his hand and groped for the roast chicken.
The Taoist priest opened his claws before he even got close.
"Master, the donkey needs to be given grass to graze!"
The Taoist priest rolled his eyes at her: "You have just started and there are too many impurities in your body. You can drink water but not eat."
Bai Zeqing suspected that the Taoist priest was teasing her!
The Taoist priest took a bite of the roast chicken and said with a satisfied expression on his face: "Of course you don't eat to live, you eat to eat. But you haven't reached this state yet. In other words, you don't deserve it."
"..." Bai Zeqing gritted his teeth: Thank you!
…
Three days is fleeting for a Taoist priest.
But these three days were extremely torturous for Bai Zeqing.
The Taoist priest is carving formation stones, and she is drawing thangkas.
The Taoist priest and Zen Master Ci Fa were drinking tea and talking, and she was drawing thangkas.
The Taoist priest was drinking wine and eating meat, and she was also drawing Thangkas.
While the Taoist priest was observing the sky, she was still drawing Thangkas.
Three days have passed, and although I don't feel any physical discomfort other than being hungry, my heart is really tired like never before.
In three days, the Taoist priest's pocket of array stones was almost full, and the first draft of her thangka was basically completed.
She knew that the Taoist priest was leaving again.
She also knew that the Taoist priest would still not take her.
There wasn't much sadness about separation, but Bai Zeqing still felt depressed and a little blocked.
So early that morning, for the first time, she went to practice boxing without letting the little novice call her. Then she made tea for the master, and went to the kitchen to make steamed buns, crispy dumplings, and Sammo cakes. It was no different from last time.
2. The third child is the same.
Bai Zeqing doesn't know many snacks at all. Her aunt always says that cooking is the same as doing things. If you want to learn, you have to learn each one before learning the next one.
It's a pity that she only learned more than a dozen subjects including staple food and snacks. I don't know if she will have the opportunity to learn from her aunt again in the future.
She wrapped the snacks in oil paper and put them on the master's stone table. Then she stared at the master as he put the last formation stone into the bag. While she was speechless, she felt really distressed and asked: "
Master, do you have to use Tianhuang stone to carve the formation stone?" Then how much does it cost to practice the formation? No one from aristocratic families would dare to touch it, right?
"No." The Taoist priest said calmly.
"Then Master, why are you using this?" Bai Zeqing was dumbfounded, and her heart ached even more.
How much is this pack of formation stones worth? She has to be very soft when painting thangkas!
"It feels good in the hand and is quick to carve." The Taoist priest said matter-of-factly.
"Master, don't you feel bad about throwing it away? I stayed up for days and nights and drew a little Tang, but I can't exchange it for a formation stone?"
"So draw a thangka and buy formation stones."
"???"
This brain circuit!
Topic terminator!
However, the Taoist priest did not feel that the topic was over, and reminded him seriously: "By the way, the money you wasted on the formation stones this time is not too much." He shook his finger, "Three thousand taels."
Bai Zeqing was dumbfounded: Is it me who begged you to come back? If this person is so capable, just go and rob him!
The Taoist priest calculated the numbers for her in a rare and considerate way: "In total, you owe me nine thousand taels!" Then he patted her shoulder, pointed at the thangka and comforted her: "It's not a lot. If you have this skill, sooner or later
It can be paid off."
"Master, I am already your disciple!"
"Being a master and a disciple, I will settle the accounts clearly. Do you understand?"
"..."
Bai Zeqing no longer wanted to speak, and sat down in front of the easel next to the flower garden without saying a word.
Because I started by painting a small Thangka, I didn't sleep for three days, and now it was time to paint the gold. Bai Zeqing's new wolf hair was stained with gold powder that had been polished earlier, but he couldn't put down the pen for a long time.
The most important thing was to trace the gold, but her mind was unsteady and her hands were unsteady at the moment, fearing that the thangka would be ruined as soon as she started writing.
The voice of a Taoist priest rang out behind him: "Those who gain the Tao of the Mysterious Tao must gain it from the inside, and guard it from the outside. The spirit of using it and the tool of forgetting it are the key words of thinking about the Taoist Tao." Note ①
The tone was still casual and cold. Bai Zeqing was stunned when he heard it——
What do you mean? I don’t understand! Can you speak human language?
She put down her brush and was about to stand up when someone held her shoulders down.
"I told you." The faint scent of osmanthus lingered on the tip of his nose, but Master's voice was still cold and clear. His thin and slender fingers tapped in front of the thangka and said: "Recall carefully when you drew this thangka.
Thoughts and processes. Then close your eyes, listen to your ears, keep your tongue shut, listen to your heart, and then enter into visualization."
Note ①: Excerpted from "Baopuzi·Changxuan".
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