Chapter 2 2. The clay sculpture Arhat in Biyun Temple predicts the fate of the unsuccessful candidates

"Xizi, you came to Xishan, why didn't you invite us?" Just as Yang Du walked down a few dozen feet away, he ran into two old friends head-on.The one who spoke was walking in front. His name was Xia Shoutian, and his courtesy name was Wuyi. He was from Guiyang, Hunan Province. His father Xia Shiguan lived in Jiangxi Province.Xia Shoutian was five years older than Yang Du. He was tall and tall, with delicate features and handsome clothes. He was a smart and handsome young man from a noble family.He hadn't passed the test this time, he also lived in the Changjun Guild Hall before, and moved to the home of a distant relative who was a Beijing official.

"Xizi, you went out of the city privately, is there a good friend waiting for you in Xishan!" The one behind laughed and laughed. This person is not an ordinary person. He is Zeng Guangjun, the eldest grandson of the well-known Zeng Wenzhenggong.He was regarded as a child prodigy when he was seven or eight years old, and now he is a bachelor poet admired by everyone in the scholarly circle in Kyoto.From the generation of the Zeng family to Guangjun, there have been three consecutive generations of successors. This is the only one seen among the famous Zhongxing generals in the Xiantong period, and it is also rare in the officialdom of all dynasties.It is precisely because of the outstanding performance of his uncle, father and himself that the "Letter from Zeng Wenzheng's Family" is even more attractive, and it has become a powerful evidence of Zeng Guofan's good family education.Whether it's face or figure, the old people say that Zeng Guangjun is cool to Xiao Wenzhenggong.It's just that his personality is quite different from Naizu's.He dresses luxuriously, likes to show off, and likes to have fun. He often appears at the flower banquets in Bada Hutong. As for the gatherings of literati in the capital, if Zeng Zhongbo is missing, it seems to be a lower grade.He is suave and suave, quick in writing, and is a typical representative of old Chinese talents.

"It turned out to be Brother Wu Yi and Uncle Chong, how did you get together?" Yang Du was very happy to meet these two friends unexpectedly in Xishan. "Brother Chong came to invite me early in the morning, saying that Mr. Lu from the Ministry of Household Affairs is married to a concubine, and that we are going to eat roast lamb at Zhengyang Building, and we want to join in the fun. I will go to the guild hall to invite you. Uncle Jing said that you have left the city to go to the west mountain. I advised Uncle Chong not to eat wedding wine, but we also go to Xishan to enjoy autumn and red leaves with Xizi."

"Xizi, in order to go to Xishan together with you, we don't even eat the roast mutton in Zhengyang Tower, it's good enough for friends!" Zeng Guangjun said, and he had already walked in front of him.Like Naizu, he also has a pair of broom eyebrows, but his broom eyebrows do not have the dull and bitter look of his grandfather, but have a bit of a funny taste. "Okay, enough friends, enough friends!" Yang Du was very happy. Forsaking Zhengyang Tower's roast mutton and coming to Xishan to find him is indeed a good friend's move.The roasted mutton of Zhengyang Building is famous in the diet of the capital for a time, and there are constant diners all year round.Now is the time when the autumn is tall and the grass is deep and the cattle and sheep are fattening. This dish in Zhengyanglou is even more prosperous.As soon as the diners go upstairs, the attentive waiter will bring a charcoal basin, in which is a pile of burning charcoal fire, covered with a barbed wire.Then he took out a large plate of fresh and tender mutton slices, which were cut as thin as paper, and came with a few small bowls of prepared mustard sauce, and then brought out a jar of old wine.Finally, give each diner a small wooden table with short legs.What is the small wood for?It turns out that this is the difference between eating roast lamb in Zhengyanglou.Diners do not sit on stools, but stand, with one foot standing on the ground and one foot on the wooden table, with chopsticks in their right hand holding a slice of mutton dipped in seasoning, and a wine glass in their left hand. It can be eaten as soon as it is released.The diners in Zhengyang Tower are all like this, standing on wooden tables, grilling, eating and drinking, their appearance is very bold and unrestrained, very popular among young people.

"Okay, I'll make up for the roast lamb in Zhengyang Tower in a few days!" Yang Du is a good friend, and he yearns for Kong Beihai very much. It's just that he is still a poor scholar relying on his uncle's support, and he can't afford this kind of luxury.He said to his two friends: "It's dusk, why don't we go down the mountain first, find a hotel to stay overnight, and then go up the mountain tomorrow for a day of sightseeing?" "You're a layman now, do you want to go down the mountain?" Zeng Guangjun has lived in Beijing for a long time and has been to Xishan many times, so he is very familiar with it. "Come with me, I will live in Biyun Temple tonight."

Yang Du said: "I went to Biyun Temple at noon. The temple does Buddhist ceremonies today and does not accept ordinary visitors." Zeng Guangjun said with a smile: "It doesn't matter, as long as I go, they will accept no matter how busy the Buddhist affairs are." "Are you familiar with them?" Yang Du became interested. "The abbot of the temple, Master Yanzhu, is my poet friend. He not only entertains me, but I also want him to be the host tonight. I invite you two to have a very good vegetarian feast." "I have known for a long time that there is something to eat when I go with Uncle Chong. If you don't come to Xishan today, you will have wedding wine, and if you come to Xishan, you will have fast wine." Xia Shoutian smiled and said to Yang Du, "Let's drink his all-night wine tonight. It is not a good thing for Yanzhu to curse Uncle Chong so distressed."

"Yanzhu is not the kind of stingy person. The more you drink, the happier he is. The more people I bring, the happier he is. He will also say that I, Zeng Guangjun, is his true friend." Zeng Guangjun said happily, " But one thing is, if a literati goes to drink, he must give him a poem before leaving. Otherwise, he will really curse. He is not distressed that the wine has been drunk, but that the wine has been poured into the stomach of a dog. " "Okay, okay." Yang Du immediately agreed, "This is not difficult, we will each give him a song." "Xizi, why did you swim the West Mountain alone today?" Xia Shoutian knew that Yang Du was not the kind of introverted and lonely person, so he didn't understand his abnormal behavior today.

"I came here today with a lot of anger." "What anger?" Xia and Zeng asked together. Yang Du said with a smile: "Do you think it's irritating or not! Articles like Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan can be circulated for thousands of years, but Wu Yi and I haven't even been admitted to Jinshi. What justice is there in this world?" Xia and Zeng were puzzled when they heard this.Yang Du repeated the exclamation that "there is no hero in the world, but Zhuzi became famous" that he sent this morning. Xia Shoutian laughed loudly: "You are so humble, Wu Chu, with nothing in your eyes! Even Han Liuzhiwen is dismissive, and you are not afraid of others saying you are arrogant."

Zeng Guangjun said: "No wonder you can't get a Jinshi! I think that even if you get a Jinshi, you won't be able to get into the Imperial Academy." "Why is that?" Yang Du asked. "Because there is Changli Temple at the gate of Hanyuan! Anyone who enters Hanlin for the first time must burn three sticks of high incense and knock three times to the old man." Zeng Guangjun said, "Look at you, you will never bow to Han Wengong. How can he allow you to go in?" Yang Du laughed loudly: "At that time, he won't let me in, so I invited a few people to demolish his temple, and make the old man homeless!"

The three young people chatted and laughed along the way, and arrived at Biyun Temple in the dark.Biyun Temple was first built in the twenty-sixth year of Yuanzhizheng. It was originally a small Buddhist temple.In the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty, Yujing was greatly expanded.In the third year of Tianqi, Wei Zhongxian rebuilt it again.Both of these eunuchs took a fancy to the good geomantic omen of this place, and wanted to be buried here after death, but in the end, neither of them got a good death, and failed to fulfill their wishes, but they left an excellent place for monks to chant scriptures and worship Buddha.Biyun Temple is the largest building complex among the many temples in Xishan.Its halls are built along the mountain, rising layer by layer with the mountain, until the top of the mountain.Every courtyard has its own characteristics, giving people a sense of endless emergence.The Vajra Throne Pagoda is exquisite and beautiful, with a unique style.The Hall of Heavenly Kings is magnificent, and the five hundred Arhats in the Hall of Arhats is one of the only four groups of Arhats in China.Abbot Yanzhu is nearly fifty years old and is known as a poet monk.Yanzhu admires Zeng Guangjun's poetic talent, and even wants to cling to his noble family status, and has always had many contacts with him.Seeing that Zeng Guangjun personally accompanied the two candidates for the examination, he was overjoyed to chant Amitabha repeatedly, as if welcoming the arrival of a golden bodhisattva.On the one hand, Yanzhu ordered to arrange a high-quality fasting banquet, on the other hand, he asked the little novice to offer the best fragrant tea, and then tidied up the room by himself, inviting the guests to sit down and rest.Knowing that Yang Du and Xia Shoutian came to Biyun Temple for the first time, Yanzhu said courteously: "After dinner, the poor monk will accompany the benefactors to the Arhat Hall to have a look."

Yang Du's mother has always worshiped Buddha, and there is a Guanyin Bodhisattva enshrined in her home.On the first and fifteenth day of the lunar new year, we eat fast.Every year on February 19th, June 19th, and September 19th, during the Avalokitesvara Festival, Yang Du and his siblings would go to the nearby Fahua Temple to burn incense and kowtow. Therefore, Yang Du had a good impression of the Bodhisattva in the temple since he was a child.He was born in a hurry, so he hurriedly said: "It will take a while to eat, the master will lead us to have a look first!" "That's good! Light the lamp first, and I'll go in a while." Yanzhu hurriedly ordered several young monks to go to Luohan Hall to light the lamps. After everyone had a couple of sips of tea, they followed Yanzhu to Luohan Hall.This is a large square hall with four small patios for lighting in the middle. The structure of the entire hall is like a square.Close to the four walls, there are a total of five hundred arhats, each with its own name.Every two arhats shared an oil lamp, and the two hundred and fifty oil lamps were lit together, just like the stars falling from the sky, very bright.In the twinkling of the stars, they may stand or sit, or squat or lie down, or handsome and kind, or hideous and terrifying, or thin as dry wood, or fat as a water tank; The things they stepped on were all strange things: there were branches, bags, snakes, and ghosts.There are really five hundred arhats, not only with different faces and shapes, but even the costumes on the whole body have no similarities, and all of them are shaped lifelike and lifelike. Under the night wind blowing, the small oil lamp kept jumping, and the empty Arhat Hall was half-lit and half-dark, appearing and disappearing from time to time.If you come here suddenly without any preparation, you will feel as if you have entered the Western Paradise if you are bold, while if you are timid, you will feel as if you have fallen into the Palace of King Yama.The Arhat Hall of Biyun Temple is really a place full of phantoms and monsters, full of excitement. Seeing that they were fascinated, Yanzhu said: "The arhats in Biyun Temple can predict people's lives, and it is very effective. You should try it!" Xia Shoutian was very interested and asked, "How to try?" Yanzhu said: "Walk in front of any arhat and think of a number in your heart, or your own age, or the age of your parents and brothers, or any other number. You can't change it after you decide. Counting down this number, which arhat you meet, that arhat is your life's destiny." "I'll try it first." Xia Shoutian walked up to an arhat with great interest and said, "I am twenty-six years old this year, so let's use the number twenty-six!" Zeng Guangjun said, "Let's count for you together." So everyone moved in front of the oil lamp, pointing their fingers at Arhat, counting incessantly: "One, two, three..." When they counted to twenty-six, they all stopped. The Arhat opposite was called Venerable Guangfu, and the lights illuminated the strange shape of this Arhat: his eyes were like copper bells, his mouth was wide enough to fit a fist, and his face was long and thin. It is narrow and pointed at the top and bottom, very much like a fish boat in a small river and a small port, with extra wide shoulders, a white-fronted tiger jumping on one shoulder, and a green dragon hovering on the other shoulder. Everyone didn't know what kind of fate this Venerable Guangfu expressed. When he was about to ask, Yanzhu said to Xia Shoutian with a smile on his face: "Benefactor Xia, you are very lucky. Dragon and tiger meet together. It's like being high on the dragon and tiger list, and taking the exam, Xia Shizhu must be the top student in high school." Everyone congratulated Xia Shoutian.Xia Shoutian said happily: "I really won the number one prize. I will donate one thousand taels of silver to Biyun Temple." Yanzhu put his palms together quickly and said repeatedly: "Thank you, thank you!" Yang Du said, "I'll try it too!" He also walked up to an arhat and said, "Mother's 40th birthday this year, let's count it as 40!" "What a filial piety!" Yanzhu praised, "Benefactor Yang, the poor monk will count for you." Yanzhu counted one, two, three, four, and everyone's footsteps moved accordingly, and when the count was in front of Venerable Gan'er, it was exactly forty, and they all stopped.I saw that this venerable was very different from the one just now: his head was as big as a bucket, his eyes were sunken like an ancient well, his nose was as high as a hill, his ears were as long as a waterfall, his face was gray and gray, and his fangs were white. is terrible.Venerable Gan'er is holding a peach tree in his left hand, and there is a bulging round eye in the palm of his right hand, leaning against a white cloud. "Benefactor Yang, your life is very good!" Yanzhu said loudly without waiting to ask. "How can you see it?" Yang Du looked at Venerable Gan'er carefully, but he didn't understand what was so good about it. "Look, benefactor." Yanzhu pointed at the strange arhat, "The peach tree in the left hand of Venerable Gan'er is a character for 'wood', and the eyes on the palm of his right hand are the characters for 'mesh', 'wood' and 'mesh' are combined. It sounds like the word 'xiang'. Benefactor Yang, you will be the prime minister in the future. The poor monk congratulates you!" "Really?" Yang Du was very excited. "It can never be wrong." Yanzhu said very seriously, "Looking at the kindness of the benefactor, he will definitely have the blessing of a prime minister in the future." Xia Shoutian said: "Xizi, if you really become a chancellor, you must rebuild the Biyun Temple to reward the Buddha." "Definitely, definitely!" Yang Du said happily. Zeng Guangjun looked at the white cloud behind Venerable Gan'er, and thought to himself: As the saying goes, there is only a mountain to rely on, and there is no such thing as a cloud.As the saying goes, when the wind blows the clouds away, if the clouds clear up, wouldn't the Venerable have nothing to rely on?Thinking of this in my heart, I feel a little unlucky. "Brother Chong, you should try it too!" Xia Shoutian urged. Zeng Guangjun said: "I have already counted, and at the end of the count, standing in front of me is a blessed venerable with a group of wives and concubines!" When everyone heard this, they all burst into laughter.A young novice came in and said that the vegetarian meal was ready, and Yanzhu invited everyone into the dining hall.A kerosene lamp was lit around the dining table, and the bright lights illuminated a sumptuous feast.This vegetarian feast also has fish, chicken and duck, but they are all made of dried tofu and bamboo shoots, but it is more refreshing and delicious than real big fish and big meat.There is also wine, which is vegetarian wine brewed from the spring water of Xishan Mountain. It is clear and sweet, and it is very appetizing for literati.Yanzhu frequently delivered food and persuaded them attentively. The three young people drank and chomped informally, and they ate a vegetarian banquet, which was much more delicious than the meat dishes in Badaju in the city. After dinner, Yanzhu sent them to the guest room, and chatted for half an hour. He had to get up early tomorrow, and after arranging a young monk to take care of them, he left.But at this moment, the conversation between these three talents has just begun.