All the evil beasts in the world, I feed on demons and monsters

Chapter 54: Eating in the Vegetarian Temple

Misty rain arises in the south, and the south of the Yangtze River is so charming.

This place is close to the abundant water vapor. Not only are the people there lively and beautiful, but the mountains and rivers also exude a kind of spiritual energy.

Liu Yu'an was wearing a green shirt and holding a folding fan, walking slowly on the mountain road.

Behind him, a little servant boy with missing teeth, no eyebrows and a large bald head was carrying a huge box on his back and following him closely.

"Hey, Qingzhu, look, what a beautiful field of crops!"

Liu Yu'an bent over with tiredness, but he was still grinning as he looked at the terraced fields at the foot of the mountain.

The little boy behind him pouted and said, "Master, I've heard that in Hai'an County, all the farmland belongs to the Buddha. The common people don't have any land at all."

"Not that much."

Liu Yu'an scratched his head and said, "I think everything is peaceful around the capital. The people don't have land, but they can't just starve, right?"

"Look, a few days ago we ran into bandits in Haidong Mountain, but we managed to get out alive, didn't we?"

Liu Yu'an patted the child, shook himself, and said, "Look, he left us clothes, boxes, and books."

The little boy wanted to cry but had no tears. He said, "Why did you make me like this?"

Liu Yu'an just shook his head and said, "You have to thank me, young master!"

"If I hadn't knocked out your teeth, shaved off your eyebrows, and shaved your head, you would have been snatched away by those bandits and taken to the bridal chamber with your pretty face!"

"Sir, you're talking nonsense!"

The little boy didn't believe it and pouted, "My mother said that only women can enter the bridal chamber!"

"Hey, when you grow up, I will open your eyes."

Liu Yu'an waved his hand and touched the seal on his waist.

He came here to take up the post of magistrate of Hai'an County. Given his status and family background, he should have at least become an official in Beijing.

Unfortunately, there was chaos in the court.

I can't forget that I spent my days traveling around the mountains and rivers and listening to music in brothels, but I was forced to take the imperial examination together with my cousin who studied hard every day.

I failed the exam, and when I got home, my father whipped me and punched me with a fist as big as a bun!
I heard that my cousin had won the third place in the high school entrance examination, and the family was celebrating. My father, as the head of the family, was ridiculed by others for a long time. He didn't eat much and came back with a lot of anger.

The next evening, I couldn't go out, so I asked Qingyuan'er from Tianshui Lane to come to my house to sing and play the flute. Unexpectedly, my father barged in without saying hello!
At that time, I was lying in Sister Yuan's legs, drinking wine from a leather cup, and seeing my father rushing in with red eyes, I felt like the sky was falling!

Disaster!

If my father, an old antique, sees me behaving in such a dissolute manner, I'm afraid he will be taken to the ancestral hall and have his legs broken!
At that time, I had already started thinking about which stepmother I should ask to plead with me and ask her to give me two cowhide cushions when I kneel in the ancestral hall.

But he didn't expect that his father would push Qing Yuan'er away and hug him directly, and roared so loudly that he almost deafened himself!

"Son!"

"My dear son! My dear son! It's good that you didn't pass the exam! It's good that you didn't pass the exam!"

"It's a shame you didn't pass the exam!"

"Otherwise, our Liu family will be extinct!"

He was in a daze, and after crying bitterly in his father's arms, the old man directly handed him a stack of silver notes, which he used to redeem Qing Yuan'er and keep her by his side.

After asking around, I found out that my cousin was appreciated by the higher-ups and entered the palace that same day.

When he came back the next day, he was as if he had lost his soul.

Upon inquiry, hey, isn't he lost?

The people returned home, but their children and grandchildren did not come back with them - they stayed in the palace.

People are leaking urine on the road!

When I retire and return home, I will take that thing back with me so that I can sew it up and bury it together when I die.

That night, when my uncle heard the news, he was completely stunned. Guess what? He kicked his legs and died.

Dad just drank other people’s red wine and was busy drinking white wine.

I wiped my tears when I went out, and ate three or two more pounds of food when I got home.

From then on, his father was only worried about what would happen to him that day and no longer cared about his promiscuity. He told him to redeem any girl in Tianshui Lane he liked.

Until this year, some unscrupulous person in the imperial court appointed famous families such as the Xiao, Liu, and Wang families to serve as officials in the court.

His own father spent a huge amount of money to send him out of the palace. Officials who were sent out of the palace could still have descendants, but officials in Beijing had to castrate themselves before entering the palace.

What?
If I appoint you, don’t you want to be an official?

Then you can only keep the roots but not the heads.

Liu Yu'an was walking when he saw a stone tablet standing on the side of the road.

There is a short poem engraved on the stone tablet.

"After the rain, the sky becomes moist, and the green walls become wet; when the wind blows, the pines fold and the green screen spreads out."

"The towering mountains are piled up in a dark green, and the majestic mountains are surrounded by green and play with the mist."

“Hey, great poem!”

At this moment, Liu Yu'an looked at the poem and nodded. As for what was good about it, it didn't matter.

Anyway, Qingzhu next to me doesn’t understand either.

"Young Master!" At this moment, Qingzhu was standing behind the stone tablet, carrying a box on his back, and said, "It says here that there is a temple on the mountain!"

"Oh?"

Liu Yu'an immediately walked around, but saw that there were only five big characters engraved on the back of the stone tablet: Poems Left in the Mountain Temple.

Behind the stone tablet is a quiet path. The moss-covered path looks poetic and picturesque under the sunlight at this moment.

"Hey, go!"

Liu Yu'an patted Qingzhu's head and said, "We haven't had anything to eat or drink for a day and a half since we came here from the bandits."

"Go, go, go and ask for some vegetarian food."

……

Liu Yu'an never thought that this mountain temple was very high and it would take half a day to walk there. When he saw the temple gate, the sky had already dimmed.

I only saw a red line across the distant mountain horizon, and then it suddenly disappeared. It was as if the red-eyed giant had closed its eyes, draining away all the heat of the world.

Only the dim dusk fell, covering the hilltop with sparse vegetation.

But it finally arrived.

Liu Yu'an came up panting, leaning on a wooden stick he picked up from the mountain.

Qingzhu was full of energy and immediately ran over and knocked on the door.

Liu Yu'an only saw that the temple was not large in scale. It was just a four-courtyard structure with black walls and green tiles. There was a plaque hanging on the door - "Chi Vegetarian Temple".

Hey, what a nice name! Just looking at the name, you can make a living.

creak-

After a while, a burly monk showed his head.

However, this monk was wearing a tight cassock and a large Sakya Dharma King hat, with the two sides folded in a human shape, but covering his face tightly.

It was dark at the moment, and I couldn't see clearly. I just felt that the figure was really tall, like a great man!

Liu Yu'an immediately took two steps forward and said, "I am Liu Yu'an. I encountered bandits on the road and was robbed. I am passing by your temple. Could you please give me a vegetarian meal?"

In the shadows behind the door frame, the tall monk grinned and said in a low voice, "Please."

"Thank you!"

Liu Yu'an immediately walked over the threshold with Qingzhu, but he did not notice that the inside of the door frame was covered with densely packed talismans made of yellow paper and cinnabar.

The sky was dark and the night wind was blowing.

This small temple was dark and strangely quiet. Liu Yu'an walked along the road, only hearing the heavy footsteps of the monks ahead.

Although this temple is strange, it provides plenty of vegetarian meals.

The monk brought the two of them to a kitchen, opened the lid of the pot, poured out a bowl of bamboo shoot soup, and took out a few black flour steamed buns.

Normally at home, even dogs wouldn’t eat this stuff.

Qingzhu had a bitter face, but saw that her master was eating happily.

Liu Yu'an has been a bohemian since childhood, visiting beggars in beggars' dens during the day and seeking out older sisters in Tianshui Alley at night. He's also handsome and wealthy, so when it comes to spending, he only looks at what's in his pocket.

Apart from being weak and powerless, he behaves like a chivalrous hero.

At this moment, Liu Yu'an licked the edge of the bowl and said with a smile, "Another bowl, please."

Ding, ding!

Suddenly, there was another knock on the door.

The monk turned his head suddenly, but was a little nervous.

He looked at Liu Yu'an's empty bowl and said, "You two, take a bath first."

Liu Yu'an blinked.

"?"

Taking a shower in the middle of a meal, is that really that particular?

The monk ignored their opinions and picked up one in each hand and walked to a huge jar.

Boom!

Liu Yu'an and Qingzhu were picked up and thrown in.

This big jar is more than a person's height, and when he stood in it, he was half a head shorter than him. The water was up to his chest, and Qingzhu had to stand on tiptoe to stick his head out.

"Hey, Qingzhu, look at this temple, it's really exquisite."

"At home, we're halfway through a meal, and we just have ginger tea to wipe our hands. But here, it's better, they give us a bath straight away."

Qingzhu's little face looked left and right, but it became deflated.

"Master, this doesn't look like a bathing place to me, but more like a stew... woo woo!"

Liu Yu'an suddenly covered Qingzhu's mouth.

Above my head, the monk had half of his face revealed beside the jar at some point.

(End of this chapter)