Reborn as Murong Fu: This time I am the protagonist

Chapter 450 Xu Zhu recognizes his relatives

Under the dim light, the scars on Ye Erniang's face were as hideous as bamboo branches, and Xu Zhu was a little nervous at first when such a pale-faced woman of unknown origin suddenly appeared in the middle of the night. However, after a brief moment of fear, for some reason, under the misty eyes of the woman, Xu Zhu felt a little sad, a little compassionate, and a little close to her.

Xu Zhu couldn't help but be stunned: he was very sure that this was the first time he saw this woman, but for some reason it seemed as if he had known her for a long time.

Xu Zhu said, "Female donor, you are visiting Shaolin Temple late at night, but what is the important matter that you want to see me about?"

Ye Erniang's nose felt sore, tears welled up in her eyes, she bent her knees slightly and bowed, "Master, please forgive me. I disturbed you so late at night with no ill intentions, but I have a puzzle that has been lingering in my heart for many years and I still can't figure it out. I hope Master will be merciful and help me solve this puzzle."

The woman's origin was strange, and her words were even stranger. Xu Zhu's suspicion deepened: "I am still a novice monk, and my understanding of Buddhism is far inferior to that of my uncles and uncles. How can I solve the confusion of the female donor? I'm afraid the female donor will return disappointed."

Ye Erniang repeatedly shook her head: "No, little master. You are the only one in the world who can solve my confusion. It has nothing to do with how profound the Buddhist teachings are. Please don't refuse." At the end, Ye Erniang's voice was already filled with tears.

Xu Zhu recalled how Master Huilun had repeatedly taught him about the principle of compassion for monks. The Buddha gave his body to feed tigers and cut his flesh to feed eagles. If he could use this useless body to relieve the suffering of all living beings, what would it matter if he gave it away?

Xu Zhu hesitated for a moment, then nodded firmly: "Go ahead, lady, I will do my best."

Ye Erniang bowed and said, "Thank you, little master."

Ye Erniang said, "My story is very long. Little Master, please listen to me slowly. Once upon a time, there was a farm girl who lived at the foot of the mountain. At that time, she was 28 years old and depended on her parents for life. Although she was a poor girl from a small family, she was regarded as a jewel in the palm of her parents' hands and was ignorant of worldly affairs. One year, a plague broke out and many people in the village fell ill and died. Unfortunately, the girl's parents were also infected with the plague. After spending all the family savings, they still could not save her mother. After the girl's mother was buried, the girl's father was also seriously ill in bed and dying. In a short period of time, she faced the tragic situation of the death of both her flesh and blood relatives. The girl felt that the sky was dark and the earth was dark. In despair, the girl came up with an idea, which was to sell this body given birth by her parents in exchange for a few taels of silver. Even if she had to become a slave to others, she would save her father anyway."

Xu Zhu sighed repeatedly after hearing this: "This woman's life is so miserable."

Ye Erniang said: "Yes, this woman's life is too hard."

Xu Zhu asked with concern: "What happened next? How did that woman become?"

Ye Erniang wiped the tears from her face, swallowed her sobs, and continued, "That day, the woman changed into her last bright clothes and took her old father to a rattan chair. She put a straw tag on her head and knelt on the long street waiting for a buyer. However, in the year of the disaster, every household had a sick person, and how many people had extra money? Although some people sympathized and gave a few copper coins, no one could help the woman save her father."

"The woman knelt for two days, watching her father's breath getting weaker and weaker, but she was powerless to do anything. On the third day, a group of people came and wanted to kidnap the woman and sell her to a brothel."

Xu Zhu was furious and cursed: "How can there be such a heartless evil person in the world? Not only does he not sympathize with the suffering of others, but he pushes them into the fire pit? This is simply unreasonable and has no conscience at all."

"Oh, what a sin, what a sin, it was an unintentional mistake, I hope the Buddha will not blame me."

After realizing that he had violated the precept of not speaking harshly, Xu Zhu quickly recited a few Buddhist mantras and repented to the Buddha.

After reciting a few sentences, he realized that he had interrupted the woman in front of him and apologized hurriedly: "I'm sorry, I interrupted the female donor without checking. What happened next? What happened to the woman? Why did that group of people make things so difficult for her?"

Ye Erniang smiled and shook her head: "It's okay. That group of people are loan sharks from the local gambling house. In order to treat the girl's mother, the girl's father borrowed money from the local gambling house after spending all the family savings. The group tried to collect the debt several times but failed, so they came up with this idea."

Xu Zhu said: "It's a sin, a sin. What happened next?"

Ye Erniang said: "The woman argued with the group of people for a few words, but they were unreasonable. They came up and robbed people without saying a few words."

Xu Zhu said, "How can this be possible? Isn't there anyone on the long street who can take care of something like this happening in broad daylight?"

Ye Erniang said: "That group of people are used to being tyrannical in the local area, and they have colluded with the government. Who dares to stop them?"

Xu Zhu was silent.

Ye Erniang continued, "Just when the woman was desperate, a man of great status appeared. He paid off the debts for the woman's family, cured the woman's father's illness with his medical skills, and left a sum of money, asking the woman to take good care of her father. Later, he often visited the woman's father until the old man fully recovered."

Xu Zhu put his hands together and chanted a Buddhist name: "This donor really has a heart of compassion and is willing to save all living beings. We should emulate this for the Buddhists."

Ye Erniang was startled, then slowly said: "Yes, if it weren't for the virtuous monks in Buddhism, how could they have such a compassionate heart?"

Xu Zhu said: "So it was the senior master. What happened later?"

Ye Erniang blushed slightly when she said this: "Later, the woman was grateful to the benefactor for saving her. As a poor girl, she had nothing to repay him with. All she had was this innocent body, so she gave her body to the master."

When Xu Zhu heard this, he couldn't help but exclaimed "Ah".

Ye Erniang asked, "Little Master, do you think that woman is guilty?"

Xu Zhu hesitated for a moment and said, "That woman was also grateful and wanted to repay the favor, but her method was a little wrong. It's not a big mistake. But that monk, as a Buddhist, violated the precepts of lust, which is a serious sin."

Ye Erniang smiled bitterly and continued, "It was a one-night stand. I didn't expect that the woman would get pregnant. After ten months of pregnancy, she gave birth to a baby boy in a cave."

Xu Zhu sighed, feeling mixed emotions.

"The woman treated her child as a treasure, taking great care of him and never leaving his side. But one night, she put the child in a cradle beside her to sleep. When she woke up, the child was gone."

Xu Zhu's heart was lifted, as if he had touched something in the dark, but he couldn't describe the feeling.

"The woman lost her child and went everywhere like a madman. She even suspected that the child's father took the child away from her for fear of being exposed, so she went to the child's father in private to cry and complain. But the child's father repeatedly assured that it was not him who took the child away. After that, the woman went everywhere like a madman to look for her own flesh and blood. For ten years, she searched all over the Song Dynasty, the Liao Dynasty, the Western Xia Dynasty, Dali, and Tubo, but found nothing."

"After that, the woman went mad. She missed her child so much that she went crazy. Gradually, her mind became twisted. Whenever she saw other couples holding their children and enjoying the happiness of family life, she would think of her own child and her heart would ache like a knife. So, wherever she went, she would steal the local children and raise them as her own. After a while, when she got tired of them, she would kill them. After doing this and that for more than ten years, she got a nickname for doing all kinds of evil."

Xu Zhu let out an "ah" and sat up suddenly: "You are a perpetrator of all kinds of evil, Ye Erniang?"

Ye Erniang smiled and had tears in her eyes: "Yes, you are evil, Ye Erniang."

Xu Zhu chanted in a low voice: "What a sin, what a sin. Those babies you killed were so innocent. How could you, how could you, ah!"

Ye Erniang cried, "Little Master, have I done so many bad things that my sins are unforgivable?"

Xu Zhu hesitated for a moment and sighed, "Buddha said, if you put down your butcher knife, you will become a Buddha right away. Even if someone is a wicked person, monks should persuade him to be good with compassionate Buddhist teachings. The donor has committed sins in the past. From now on, as long as you sincerely correct your mistakes and do good deeds, the Buddha will forgive you."

Ye Erniang burst into tears: "Thank you, little master. Ye Erniang will do her best to change her past mistakes from now on."

"But, after listening to what the female donor said, I really don't know how I can help her. I am just a junior disciple of Shaolin Temple, with low skills. I am not allowed to go down the mountain without the order of my elder uncles and uncles. Even if I want to help the female donor find her lost child, I am powerless."

Ye Erniang's eyes were full of tears as she stared at Xu Zhu. "May I ask, little master, I became a monk at Shaolin Temple when I was young. When I was still an infant, I was picked up in the vegetable garden by a Shaolin monk. I am twenty-four this year, and my Buddhist name is Xu Zhu."

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Xu Zhu said: "That's right, how did the donor know about this?"

"what!?"

No matter how slow Xu Zhu's reaction was, he couldn't help but think of a possibility at this moment.

"You mean, you, you, you"

It was as if a thunderclap rang out in his mind. Panic, excitement, uneasiness, hesitation, all kinds of emotions hit Xu Zhu's heart like waves.

Ye Erniang was already sobbing and choking, "You have nine incense scars on your back. There are three rows in total, three in each row. They were branded on your back by your mother using incense when you were born."

Xu Zhu's hands began to tremble like a sieve. Only a few of his close fellow apprentices and uncles knew about the nine incense scars on his back. He had also privately asked his master, who had brought him up, about the origin of the scars. Hui Lun only said that he had them when he was picked up, and he could not tell him anything else.

"You, you, me, me"

After seeing Xu Zhu's reaction, Ye Erniang was already 90% convinced and only waited for the final confirmation. She reached out her hand tremblingly to untie Xu Zhu's monk robe.

Under normal circumstances, Xu Zhu would have retreated with a red face, but at this moment he was completely stunned and allowed Ye Erniang to untie his monk robe and expose his upper body.

The oil lamp was dim, but the nine striking incense scars were clearly visible.

Ye Erniang stroked the scars with shaking hands, and suddenly she cried out "Ah!" like a wounded she-wolf, tears streaming down her cheeks as she cried bitterly, "My son, my poor son. I have been looking for you for twenty-four years!"

At this moment, Xu Zhu also burst into tears. In the past, there were countless sleepless nights with green lamps and ancient Buddhas. Xu Zhu thought hard, thinking about his biological parents whom he had never met, and he didn't expect to meet them today: "Mom, are you really my mother? Mom, I miss you so much."

The mother and son hugged each other and cried, as if they wanted to cry out all the pain of separation for more than twenty years.

With a clang, the door was pushed open and Gong Yeqian strode in. "Hurry up, the Shaolin monks on night duty have been alarmed. The old monk Xuan Ji and his group of Shaolin disciples are coming here."

As he said this, he came over and took Ye Erniang's hand.

Ye Erniang shouted, "No, don't take my child away!" and struggled desperately.

Xu Zhu went forward to pull his mother, but Gong Yeqian used his strength to push Xu Zhu away: "Do you want to kill your mother?"

Xu Zhu couldn't help but be stunned.

Ye Erniang struggled violently. Gong Yeqian snorted coldly, pressed the acupoints of the other party with two fingers to make her fall asleep, and then helped Ye Erniang climb over the wall.

"Mother, mother!"

When Xuan Ji and his group of monks arrived, only Xu Zhu was left crying silently, staring blankly in the direction the two men left.