sbdcsierra Chapter 243: One stick of incense
Chapter 243: One stick of incense
Everyone agreed one by one, and no one said anything about Zong Yanli's decision.
Zong Yanli took off his armor briefly, touched his hair which had grown a lot longer, and skillfully cut it short. While handling military affairs in the army, he accidentally read the article about pregnant women that Zong Yanli asked Wei Songhe to write.
Only then did she begin to feel a little concerned and longing for her young son who was far away in Daqian.
The thought made her lose interest in dealing with military affairs. She simply called Gao Feilin to bring Chi Feng and planned to go out for a ride.
"General, why don't you go to the Luzhang Temple behind Pofu Pass?" Zhan Haoyue saw Zong Yanli was about to go out, and immediately raised his head and said, "It's in the direction of the back mountain, a small temple located halfway up the mountain."
"Luzhang Temple?" Zong Yanli raised his eyebrows slightly and showed some interest.
Just as I walked out of the gate, I saw Wen Nian coming back.
Wen Nian stopped his horse and looked at Zong Yanli: "General, are you going out?"
Zong Yanli nodded: "Let's go out for a walk, do you want to come with us?"
"General, please wait for me for a moment." Wen Nian rushed into Guanzhong, changed his armor, washed his face and came back.
"Let's go." Zong Yanli followed the direction that Zhan Haoyue said and went around to the back. After walking for quite a distance, he saw the temple located halfway up the mountain. The temple was really small. On the way up the mountain, you could see many footprints and even traces of people lying there.
Zong Yanli tied the horse at the foot of the mountain and walked slowly up the muddy mountain road.
When I got closer, I could smell the scent of incense and candles, and just as I reached the gate of the temple, I heard the ringing of the temple bells.
She reached out and pushed the door open. The temple was very clean. There was a pillar picked up from somewhere supporting the wooden door beam. It seemed that the temple might collapse at any time. Perhaps their arrival had alarmed the little monk in the meditation room.
The round head poked out to take a look, but when it saw Zong Yanli and Wen Nian, it shrank its head in fear and ran away immediately.
But after a while, Zong Yanli saw an old monk coming out of the door. He walked up to Zong Yanli, chanted a Buddhist name, and bowed, saying, "I greet the general."
"..." Zong Yanli raised his eyebrows, but did not ask why he recognized him. Instead, he said calmly, "I passed by your temple and came to ask for a bowl of water to drink."
"Please come in, General." The old monk smiled gently and without saying much, led Zong Yanli into the meditation room.
The old monk skillfully brewed tea for Zong Yanli and Wen Nian. The tea foam was so little that it was pitiful.
The old monk said apologetically, "There is nothing valuable in the temple. I hope the two generals will not blame me for giving you a cup of tea."
Zong Yanli took a look at the tea but didn't drink it. Instead, he looked around the Zen room. Finally, his eyes fell on the young monk who was following the old monk closely. It seemed that the young monk had just had his hair shaved.
"Where are his parents?" Zong Yanli asked casually.
"We have already left this place." The old monk replied with his eyebrows lowered.
"But he died in Pofu Pass?" Zong Yanli spoke calmly. She didn't seem to have any intention of concealing her identity, and she took the initiative to mention Pofu Pass.
The old monk opened his mouth and said with some helplessness and fear: "General, I don't have any sword or any other threat. I just want to guard this small temple and die here. This child is the one I chose to inherit the temple."
Zong Yanli listened and nodded, as if it was just a casual question.
She stood up and said, "Since we are here, we should burn some incense."
The old monk was stunned for a moment, and led Zong Yanli to the main hall. Seeing Zong Yanli stepping into the Buddhist hall, he seemed to be hesitant to speak. His eyes fell on the weapons of Zong Yanli and Wen Nian, and he silently recited the Buddha's name in his heart countless times.
"Perhaps in your view, how can I believe in Buddhism when I am covered in blood?" Zong Yanli gently stroked the long sword at his waist and looked up at the Buddha statue in the hall.
"But you all say that Buddha saves all living beings."
"I should consider myself a member of the living beings..."
Zong Yanli lowered her eyes and lit a stick of incense. A smile was on her lips. She closed her eyes and respectfully lit a stick of incense for the Buddha statue under the smoke and said, "Although the path I seek is full of killing, but... the place where my heart is directed should be the place where the Buddha's light shines."
The old monk looked at Zong Yanli's back, seeming to be somewhat confused about this enemy general.
Although Wen Nian, who was standing next to him, didn't know why Zong Yanli wanted to light a stick of incense, he still obediently followed the general and lit a stick of incense without even thinking about anything.
He didn't ask for anything, he just wanted to stay in the present moment.
Zong Yanli walked out of the hall, looked at the gradually clearing sky, squinted his eyes and said: "Master, this place is very quiet and peaceful, I think there will be a day when it will be popular."
Zong Yanli left this sentence and left with Wen Nian.
The old monk led the young monk to see the two off at the temple gate with their hands folded. The young monk looked up and asked, "Master, are they bad people?"
"No." The old monk touched the young monk's head and said with a smile: "There are many different kinds of people in the world. In our eyes, they are just pilgrims who come to burn incense."
"Oh..." The little monk responded, seemingly not quite understanding.
Zong Yanli got on her horse again and took Wen Nian back slowly. After returning, she completely devoted herself to various military affairs and even stepped up the pace of training. Zhan Haoyue came to ask Wen Nian what the general did in the temple.
Wen Nian said this casually and lit a stick of incense.
"That's it?" Zhan Haoyue, who was about to pick up a pen to write, was stunned.
"Yeah." Wen Nian nodded.
"..."
Zhan Haoyue couldn't hold it in any longer, and he forced Wen Nian to ask about various specific things, insisting that Wen Nian tell him every word that Zong Yanli had said.
Wen Nian was a little annoyed by him: "Sir, why don't you go with him?"
Besides, aren’t you writing your own travel notes?
Why do you keep staring at what the general says and does all day long?
I'm afraid other people would also like to say this...
After the rainy season is completely over, summer arrives.
They finally took off their heavy cotton clothes, and their frostbite wounds from winter were healing. There were more green leaves outside, and Monk and others couldn't sit still, so they started going out to hunt game, and occasionally brought back some wild fruits.
Zong Yanli was lucky enough to have such a good meal, as her brothers below were always thinking of giving her any good things they had.
Monk and his companions have learned Wen Nian's hunting skills completely. Today, when Zong Yanli was practicing with Wen Nian, he saw Monk coming back with a group of people. Everyone was holding prey in their hands and looked very excited.