Records of the Lost Cases of Helaitang in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 223 Abbot
The morning bells turned silent, and the monastery that had been silent all night regained its voice.

The people of the Liu family in the other courtyard gradually became noisy, and they began to prepare things for the master's family for today's release ceremony.

Zhang Xiru and three others in the west wing seemed to have slept poorly last night, so going to bed early and getting up early was still an empty talk.

They just came to stay in the mountains for a short time. They were not members of the Liu family, so they didn't need to pay attention to these secular affairs.

In a blink of an eye, the cloud board rang, and the monks were eating. Soon the bell rang again, and the monks meditated.

Guang Liang, the intellectual monk in Jubao Temple, was too plump. The short few hundred steps from Jubao Temple to the other courtyard made him sweat on his forehead.

Wang Heng had heard the knock on the door for a while. He was waiting in a daze for the concierge to report. Suddenly, he was so blessed that he realized that he was not in the house. He lived in the monastery with Mr. Zhang yesterday. He didn't know what time it was or who it was. Knocking on the door?

At a glance, Xiaocai was sleeping on his back, still mumbling in his sleep. Wang Heng had no choice but to put on his coat, push the door latch, and saw a fat monk standing outside the door.

Wang Heng hurriedly walked out and closed the door behind him. The fat monk put his hands together and saluted, and said: "Donor, the young monk is Zhike Guangliang. Is Zhang Xiru, Zhang Huishou, resting here? The abbot of our temple, Zen Master Zhihai, wants to see Zhang." Meeting head."

Wang Heng returned the courtesy and said: "Mr. Zhang rested late last night, please let me inform you."

When Mr. Zhang heard that Abbot Zhihai had come to visit him, the sleepyheads were frightened and flew away, complaining: "This old monk stays up so early in the morning. He neither sleeps nor lets others sleep." He looked in the mirror and his face looked bleary. Waxy and unsightly, he whispered several times in Wang Heng's ear.

Wang Heng went out of the room again and said to the monk Guangliang: "Mr. Zhang was a little tired from traveling yesterday and is feeling a little uncomfortable now. After he takes a rest, he will go back to pay homage to Abbot Zhihai."

Guang Liang was not displeased with the rejection, except that Zen Master Zhihai was at the abbot all day today.

After this experience, the three of them couldn't sleep, so they had to get up.

Brown rice porridge was left for the three of them in the dining hall. After all, the food in the monastery was still cold and hard. Although Xiaocai was a little disgusted, he just ate pickles and finished two bowls in a row. He was very hungry.

Wang Heng looked a little absent-minded, and when he saw Xiaocai staring at him, he said: "The vegetarian food in the temple is not very good, but the monk Guangliang who knocked on the door in the morning ate so well. It's incredible."

Xiaocai smiled and said, "Some people will gain weight just by drinking cold water."

Mr. Zhang had breakfast, washed up, changed into good clothes, and transformed from a gray-headed man into a handsome and elegant young man. He set out to visit Abbot Zhihai. Seeing that Wang Heng and Xiaocai did not follow, he smiled and said, "You two don't want to Would you like to go to the abbot to broaden your horizons?”

Wang Heng and Xiaocai both shook their heads and said, "No, there's nothing good about an old monk."

The young man, who knows how to behave, glanced at Mr. Zhang and said: "Let's send Mr. Zhang to the mountain gate. Fang is a book boy, and the abbot will not enter. The old monk may not like people to make trouble."

A group of three people climbed up the steps and climbed to the gate of Jubao Temple. A novice had already come to guide the way. Seeing Mr. Zhang follow the novice into the temple, Wang Heng and Xiaocai looked at each other with joy.

"Seventh brother, let's go to the back mountain for a walk first. We have to do something about the release pond later, and it will definitely be noisy."

"When I went up the mountain yesterday, I saw a bamboo forest in the back of the mountain, which was deep and shaded. Let's go now."

The servants of the Liu family had gathered around the release pond. Xiaocai wondered: "This deceased Liu Biejia was a local official somewhere during his lifetime. How could he be so wealthy? The man in charge of their family has died, and he can still call his slaves." Make dozens of maids."

Wang Heng echoed: "Let's spend one thousand taels of silver to ask Mr. Zhang to write an epitaph. Such a generous gesture is because Qingliu literati, the leader of the Xingshe Party, is trying to make him famous. Who is this Liu Biejia?" Xiao Cai's eyes rolled. Turning around, he said: "Is it possible that Liu Biejia is a corrupt official who is corrupt and perverts the law?"

Wang Heng shook his head and said: "It's hard to talk about things that have no basis."

They looked at the mountain and ran to death. The bamboo forest in the back mountain seemed to be right in front of them. The mountain road was winding and they had not reached it after going around for a long time.

"We have to take a rest in the pavilion ahead." Xiaocai breathed heavily.

The two of them walked into the pavilion one after another, stood in the pavilion, and looked around. The sight was very broad, and they had a panoramic view of the scenery of Tsinghua University in the mountains.

The unexpected joy is that the east side of the pavilion is facing a hanging spring waterfall. It is Mengxia and it is a flood season. It rained yesterday, and the waterfall splashes jade and sprays beads with a sound like thunder.

Xiaocai's eyesight was very good, and while he was enjoying the scenery of the mountains and waters, he discovered a figure in a red shirt lying on the bank of the stone path at the west end of the waterfall. He might have been injured, but he was still struggling to move.

"Help." The two of them stepped out of the pavilion at the same time and rushed towards the waterfall.

The person lying beside the road was a young maid who claimed to be Liu Mansion's maid Xiaodie. Xiaocai recognized it at a glance as the maid who followed the little girl in the dining hall of the Vimal Villa last night.

Xiaodie's life is not in danger for the time being. Her right foot is sprained and swollen so much that she can't walk at all. The bones in her right hand seem to be damaged and she can't exert any strength. There are some bruises on her face.

According to Xiaodie, she was walking down the stone steps early in the morning. At the corner of the mountain path, her eyesight dazzled for some reason. She was top-heavy. She stumbled and fell into a coma. When she woke up, she found that she had injured her right leg. She shouted I stayed there for at least more than an hour, my voice was hoarse, but no one passed by.

Wang Heng saw that the mountain path here was a bit dilapidated. He thought it was because it was in the back mountain and was not as neat as the front mountain.

Xiaodie's leg injury is serious and must be treated as soon as possible, otherwise she may become disabled.

The three of them agreed that they should go back to the other courtyard first, find Ade, the housekeeper of the Liu Mansion, and ask him to invite the doctor of bone bruises.

After discussion, Xiaodie couldn't walk, so Wang Heng and Xiaocai took turns carrying her to the front mountain. When they came, they seemed to remember that there was an archway a few hundred steps west of the release pond. When the time came, they would place Xiaodie under the archway, and they would Go and ask the old woman from the Liu Mansion to help Xiaodie.

Although Xiaodie was thin and small, Wang Heng and Xiaocai couldn't carry it on their shoulders or hands. It took them more than half an hour to walk half the distance.

Wang Cai was so exhausted that he was sweating profusely, and his stomach was thundering with hunger. The maid Xiaodie had steamed buns in her backpack, and she took them out to share with everyone. Xiao Cai was not as polite as her, so he sat on the rock and ate them.

While resting, Wang Cai asked Xiaodie: "You went down the mountain from here early in the morning. Where are you going?"

Xiaodie was still a little embarrassed and said: "I am a slave born in the Liu family. My father is in poor health and did not follow me up the mountain. I took advantage of the early morning when no one noticed me, so I wanted to go back to the house to see how my father was doing."

Wang Cai was surprised: "Your Liu Mansion is at the foot of the mountain behind Jubao Mountain?"

Xiaodie nodded and said, "Our family lives in Cuihua Village at the foot of the mountain behind Jubao Mountain."

"Cuihua Village." Wang Heng was silent for a moment and said, "I seem to have heard this name somewhere."