dragon pen

The shadow of the lamp flickered, and there was no one else in the huge Buddhist hall.

"I just said that if you drive me away like this, you will suffer sooner or later, but you just don't believe it—look, if I'm still here, how can the monster hurt your master at all..."

"Master is unconscious now, even Senior Brother Huineng--" Shikong said hesitantly, then suddenly paused again, grabbed Zhu Jiuyin's sleeve as if remembering something, and said, "The lovesickness tree demon The way is deep, and even Master's staff seems to only hurt his body, but when I stepped on his branches and leaves with bare feet that day, he seemed to be in extreme pain, and the brand you left on his waist seemed to be burning get up..."

Zhu Jiuyin raised the corners of her lips: "Is it amazing?"

Under the Buddha lamp, the little monk's eyes widened slightly: "Could it be that the weight of my body has the power to exorcise demons—ouch!"

As soon as the words fell on the forehead, he was slapped lightly.

"What kind of power to exorcise demons? If you have that kind of ability, do you still need to be an ordinary little monk here?" Zhu Jiuyin said lazily, "Is the plum wine delicious?"

Shi Kong was stunned for a moment, then suddenly remembered that he had indeed smelled a faint smell of plums that day—then his eyes that were already staring suddenly widened and rounded: "You mean you gave me a drink?" In the wine..."

"Just one bite."

"Which one?"

"In the hot spring, I condescend to feed you personally."

"..."

Shi Kong thought for a while, and then suddenly seemed to remember which "that mouthful" the person in front of him was talking about, and the face that was still a little pale from the cold in the Buddhist hall suddenly became the same as his. The corners of his eyes were as red, and he jumped up from the futon he was kneeling on with a "bass": "You you you you you——"

"You didn't resist at the time."

"That's because—"

"Because you like me?"

"..."

Shi Kong seemed completely taken aback by Zhu Jiuyin's shocking words, he shut his mouth suddenly, his whole body was stiff, and he stared at the man swaggeringly sitting on the futon next to him with a tense expression. Looking up at him, the smile on the corner of his lips became clearer...

"you said before……"

"what?"

Shi Kong swallowed his saliva, the flush on his face faded, and he turned back to his original paleness: "You said that you don't like looking up at others like this."

"..." Zhu Jiuyin was taken aback for a moment, and then he laughed. Amidst his laughter, the little monk's face became more and more ugly—until the man stood up from the futon, bent slightly and picked it up with one finger. Lifting his jaw, "Because you know exactly what I am."

Shi Kong seemed to be able to feel his heart falling rapidly—it seemed to have fallen from the clouds after being suspended high in the air for the last second. He looked at the lifelike handsome face in front of him, raised his hand, and nodded Once he took the initiative to hold the man's hand with the courage, he was still unwilling to let go.

"You are my madness."

Zhu Jiuyin smiled and said nothing.

"You are mine, you are crazy... Anxiety comes from pity, guilt comes from restlessness, and guilt makes you approach easily, because you are too close to fear, look forward to, panic, rejoice, pray for blessings..."

A gust of cold wind blew by, blowing goose bumps on the back of the little monk's hands—the strange thing was that he didn't wake up even though he knew it was a dream, and the cold wind was so real, as if it was about to blow the Frostbite...

"Is it because of these emotions that you found a reason to send me away?"

"I won't answer." Shi Kong lowered his eyes.

The man seemed not surprised and chuckled: "What a wayward child."

As he spoke, he looked out of the window—the sound of footsteps came from outside the Buddhist hall, the man paused, and said lightly, "Wake up, it's not good to fall asleep in such cold weather and catch the wind and cold"... the next moment , when the outsider of the Buddhist hall pushed the door of the Buddhist hall "squeaky" from the outside, the person who was standing in front of Shikong disappeared out of thin air, leaving only a faint fragrance of plums in the air...

"Release?"

"Release!"

A slight cry woke up the little monk sitting on the futon. His eyelashes trembled slightly, but he opened his eyes, and then saw a familiar face full of curiosity... The little monk lowered his eyes, but He was not frightened by the visitor, but he was a little surprised that he fell asleep on his knees like this. He rubbed his stiff knees and stood up. He looked outside the Buddhist hall——

The sky was dark, probably late at night just after Choushi.

"Brother Huineng, you don't sleep most of the night, what are you doing in the Buddhist hall?"

While talking, Shi Kong walked around the Buddha statue, took a thick padded jacket and put it on the person in front of him—it wasn’t that he was willing to take care of people, but the person in front of him was too pale and out of shape to speak. There was panting, as if he might faint at any time...

In his memory, Huineng was not what he is now. His eyes were sunken, his shape was like a dry lamp, and he was full of lifelessness... He took the padded jacket, coughed twice, and said in a calm tone, "I apologize to you."

"?"

"That day, in front of the pagoda, heck, senior brother shouldn't have talked to you like that... Senior brother knew you were worried about me, but he didn't listen to your words like a white-eyed wolf, and even questioned your Buddhist principles with rude words, I'm sorry. "

"..." Shi Kong was stunned for a moment, as if he didn't expect Hui Neng to mention this issue, and after thinking about it, he smiled, "It's okay, I didn't take it to heart, why—"

"Later, Master suddenly contracted a serious illness. Senior Brother Shi Yuan served as the temporary host. The temple was in chaos. I always wanted to find an opportunity to apologize to you, but I couldn't help it. Later, Senior Brother himself fell ill." Hui Neng took the wooden fish and lightly Tapped lightly, "I accidentally contracted a cold evil when winter entered, and it was always on and off, but I couldn't get better. This winter is almost over, cough cough, but I still feel like a sick child. Huddled in the room with the heater in my arms, I can only copy the scriptures "Heart Sutra" every day, and I am too tired to pick up the pen. I feel cold when I open the window a little, unless Shiyuan Shidi comes..."

He stopped.

"I know, I also know, Master was injured by Shi Yuan." Shi Kong didn't seem to want to discuss what Shi Yuan went to do with Hui Neng, but said, "Shi Yuan is a monster, I saw it with my own eyes."

Hui Neng didn't seem surprised, but calmly cast Shi Kong a glance: "I've heard similar sayings in the meditation room these days. They all said that Shi Kong's junior brother has changed, he's crazy, and he's talking nonsense all the time—Shi Kong Yuan is a demon, Master was hurt by him, and so on..."

"Then do you believe it?" Shi Kong turned his head and looked at him.

"Shikong..."

"Ok?"

"As a monk, have you ever thought that there will be such a person in this life that you will look up to, respect, and even love in your heart-his emotions always touch your nerves, and your eyes follow him during the day , he appeared in your dream at night, you admire someone so much, your eyes are blurred, and the concept of good and evil in the world is also blurred..."

The little monk heard the person beside him slowly approaching, and his heart moved.

For some reason, he suddenly thought of that night under the moonlight, sitting on a pine branch with a smile and leaning over to look at his red pupils...

"Are you willing? You betrayed the gods and Buddhas all over the sky for him, reversed your beliefs all your life, and fell into the Buddhist way he told you."

"..." Shi Kong looked at Huineng, as if he had said something shocking.

"Junior Brother Shi Yuan is like this to me."

"……what?!"

Shi Kong was really shocked this time, he opened his mouth slightly and stared at Huineng, as if wanting to remind him if you know what you are talking about... But Huineng didn't stop, just continued in a calm tone : "Whether he is a demon, or whether he harms the common people, I don't care at all, as long as he is good." Hui Neng smiled wryly, "Speaking such things in the Buddhist hall always makes people feel that they have done something terrible——"

"..."

"Don't talk about me," Huineng stood up, respectfully burned a stick of incense and stood on top of the wiped incense cauldron, "Shikong, ahem...you looked like you were having a nightmare when I came , in the dream you were laughing for a while, looking very happy, and crying for a while."

"Eating fast and chanting Buddha in the temple all day, what is there to be happy about, and what is there to be sad about?"

Shi Kong thought of the phrase Cai Hui Neng said earlier, "Your eyes follow him during the day, and he appears in your dreams at night", his heart trembled slightly, and suddenly he felt panic, so he lowered his eyes and said in a somewhat indifferent voice: "You must have read it wrong."

Huineng stared at the little monk beside him who suddenly lowered his head, a short smile appeared on his face: "Let's take it for granted."

After finishing speaking, there was another burst of coughing and panting, just said these few words and put on the incense stick, but at this moment Huineng showed a tired look - Shi Kong couldn't stand it anymore and stretched out his hand to help him pull the clothes on his body. Cotton jacket: "It's cool at night, senior brother is not in the room to recuperate, why did he come out, if you really want to apologize, you can wait for a senior brother to talk to me during the day..."

"How can an apology be entrusted to someone else to bring the message?"

"I don't blame you."

The two were silent for a moment.

Hui Neng suddenly said again: "Shi Kong, Chinese New Year is coming soon."

"Ah."

"Every year when winter comes, there will always be a large number of old people or dying patients in the mortal world, just like the old people or the sick are always prone to die suddenly around the New Year... People say that this is because nature wants to get rid of the old at this time, Fortunately, the new year welcomes new souls." Huineng said lightly, "Shi Kong, you say that if a person like me dies like this, will he definitely not be able to become a Buddha?"

"...what nonsense you say, it's just a cold, and it will be cured by drinking a few more medicines."

Hui Neng sat upright, looking up at the tall Buddha statue in front of them: "I want to see the Buddha statue in the Buddhist hall. I have read the scriptures for half my life and worshiped the Buddha all my life. All of a sudden, my life is disrupted, like falling into the Buddha statue." There are also regrets in the way of magic, but the joy in the bones subverts the burden in my heart..."

Buddha lanterns flicker.

It looked like it was going to go out.

So Shi Kong stood up to look at the Buddha lamp, and when the Buddha lamp was hanging high, he stood on tiptoe and carefully cut off the candle wick with scissors. At the same time, he heard Huineng sigh behind him——

"When you meet that person, you know that your heart can also become so happy, speculative, and lost..."

The little monk stretched out his hand to support the Buddha lamp that was shaking because of his touch, and the Buddha lamp stabilized, and the candlelight no longer flickered.

"Release."

"Ok?"

"Look, the Buddha doesn't seem to smile at me anymore, Amitabha."

"Brother, what are you talking about? In fact, the Buddha statue in this Buddhist hall has long been—"

While talking, the little monk put down the scissors in his hand, and turned around. Before he finished speaking, he found that the person in the padded jacket behind him was still kneeling and sitting on the futon. His eyes were gently closed, and the shadow cast by his eyelashes covered the black eyes under his eyes, and his whole person looked calm and peaceful.

"Brother Huineng?"

"...Brother Huineng?"

The little monk yelled twice, seeing that the person sitting on the futon didn't respond at all, his mind was a little dazed for a while—his stomach seemed to sink to the bottom of his feet, and he came up to the young monk cautiously.He stretched out his hand that was trembling slightly and couldn't control it, and probed between his breaths...

No snort.

There was no movement.

nothing left.

Shi Kong withdrew his hand, clasped his palms together and sighed "Amitabha", then turned and left the Buddhist hall——

After a cup of tea, the monks who were sleeping soundly in the temple were all awakened by the sound of a bell ringing through the mountains. They sat up from the bed in a daze, all with inexplicable faces——

"What happened?"

"Who rings the bell at midnight?"

"Ah, this is the death knell! Who knocked this thing, who died? Ahhh, it can't be Master..."

"Bah, bah, don't talk nonsense!"

……

On the back hill.

In the icy cold wind, the little monk bumped into the bronze bell that seemed to be stronger because of the ice and snow, until his tiger's mouth was shaken and hurt, and his ears hummed slightly due to the sound of the bell——

[As a monk, have you ever imagined that there will be such a person in this life that you will look up to, respect, and even love in your heart—his emotions always touch your nerves, and your eyes follow him during the day, He appeared in your dream at night...]

【You admire someone so much. 】

[You betrayed the gods and Buddhas all over the sky for him, reversed your beliefs all your life, and fell into the Buddhist way he told you. 】

【……Do you want to? 】

The shaking copper bell hit the little monk's stiff body, shaking him a bit, the little monk threw away the bell stake, and subconsciously opened his arms to hug the big bell——

In the end, he was knocked to the ground.

He got up from the ground in embarrassment, staggered, raised his numb eyes to look at the dim yellow moon in the sky, and muttered to himself in a voice that was about to be torn apart by the howling wind and only he could hear: "I ... unwilling."