Chapter 33 Chapter Thirty-One The Strange Incident in the Desolate Temple

There is a temple on Wo Niu Mountain, which is small in scale and only has four halls, but the temple is surrounded by deep forests and dense trees.There used to be two monks, one old and one young, guarding the incense in the temple.When the Four Olds were destroyed, the old monk disappeared. It is said that he passed away in a cave. It is said that the young monk also returned to secular life.The buildings in the temple were empty, and the clay statues of Bodhisattvas were smashed to pieces and thrown into the weeds in front of the main hall.A huge banyan tree with dense branches and leaves covers most of the temple.Every summer, hundreds of egrets inhabit and reproduce on the banyan tree, flying and playing around the crown of the tree, which is truly spectacular.

The mass grave where Zhang Ziyin is buried is a barren grass dam behind the monastery. Except for people from Woniu Village who come to attend funerals and funerals, Huangcaoba is usually visited by absolutely no one. Although it is not covered by trees, it still looks gloomy. Zhang Ziyin's ashes were buried in the barren grass dam, and Zhang Yaoye sat down on a broken stone tablet next to him.The snow had already stopped, the sky cleared up, and the bright sunlight projected from the high tree canopy tens of meters away onto the barren grass dam, coating the snow covering the barren grass with a layer of yellow light.

Zhang Yaoye was smoking a leaf cigarette, his eyes narrowed a little due to the bright sunlight. The monastery not far away has begun to collapse, and the thick snow has not concealed its desolation.The blue-gray tile ridges and exposed beams are mottled and missing in the snow. Zhang Ziheng and a few foolish boys planted the last few shovels of soil on Zhang Ziyin's tomb, then walked to Zhang Yaoye's side and said, "Master Yao, are you going down the mountain?" Mr. Zhang Yao seemed to be immersed in some kind of memory time. He squinted his eyes and looked at the wild grass covered by snow, and said, "What good do you say about being a human being? Don't you just turn into a human being in fear all your life? A pile of dirt is a pile of ashes! Alas! I feel good about Ziyin going like this. He has no children and no daughters. He has nothing to worry about. It's a pity that he didn't burn incense and wax paper money for him today. But you remember this stone tablet, this is Mark, if there is a chance, I still have to add it to him. My Yao Ye will never treat anyone in the Zhang family badly, even the dead!"

Zhang Ziheng was not in the mood to listen to Master Zhang Yao expressing his emotions, and said: "Master Yao, I heard that you often went to this temple to play when you were young, and the old monk still wants to accept you as an apprentice, saying that you have a connection with Buddha?" Zhang Yaoye said: "That's my father and the old monk. When I'm free, I fall in love with playing chess and chatting with the old monk in this monastery. By the way, I also take me along. What kind of Buddhist relationship can I have? A naughty bastard. I even peed in front of that Bodhisattva in the temple!"

Speaking of this, Master Zhang Yao laughed... Master Zhang Yao smiled, and the atmosphere in the whole barren grass dam became much more relaxed. Suddenly, Zhang Ziheng said, "Master Yao, why does the roof of the temple seem to be smoking?" Zhang Yaoye said: "It has long been an empty temple, why is there still smoke, your eyes are blurred?" He turned his head and followed Zhang Ziheng's gaze.On a tile ridge of the temple, there really seemed to be smoke coming out thinly. Master Zhang Yao let out a light sigh, and said, "What a hell, could it be that the wandering little monk has returned?"

Hearing what Master Zhang Yao said, Zhang Ziheng became curious and said, "Let's go and have a look." Several stupid boys had the same scheming, Zhang Ziheng coaxed them all to stand up. Zhang Yaoye said: "Don't be too hasty, hold on tight to the guys in your hands." When Master Zhang Yao said this, the hearts of Zhang Ziheng and the restless boys hung up again. Zhang Ziheng said: "Master Yao, what's so weird?" Zhang Yaoye said: "It's not weird, I think it's very strange. You said that since the temple on Wo Niu Mountain was smashed, who would dare to come up alone? Besides, last night I almost I was scared to death by a person who looked like a ghost. From yesterday to today, things I don't understand one after another, I'd better be careful." He stood up while talking.

Several people passed through the barren grass dam, and walked towards the mountain gate lightly along the broken wall of the temple. With what Zhang Yaoye said earlier, Zhang Ziheng's expression and appearance really looked a bit like they were going to the bandit's lair, and they all held the hoe and shovel tightly in their hands. Arriving at the mountain gate, the original heavy mountain gate has long since disappeared, only the plaque on the top is still there, and the handwriting painted with gold powder on it looks mottled,——Jiwu Chanyuan. Zhang Yaoye and the others didn't go in right away, but hid beside the mountain gate, listening to the movement inside.

Sure enough, someone broke off a branch and threw it into the fire. The branch crackled in the fire, as if the fire was still burning. Master Zhang Yao winked at Zhang Ziheng who was behind, and then appeared from outside the mountain gate together. On the broad steps of the main hall of the temple, there was actually an old man in his fifties sitting, wearing a yellow cotton hat and an old cotton jacket that had been mended in thousands of pieces, but he was tidied up neatly. The old man was making a big fire and warming himself by himself. Zhang Ziheng said: "Master Yao, I said you are scaring yourself, right?"

Master Zhang Yao said in a low voice: "Why would you be alone in this dilapidated temple early in the morning? Could it be that big boa constrictor?" As soon as Zhang Yaoye spoke, a stunned boy shot out of the mountain gate like a rabbit, stood outside, and looked at Zhang Yaoye and the others from a distance with a pair of terrified bull's eyes. Master Zhang Yao said with a smile: "Why are you so timid? Hehe... Let's go and ask." The scalps of the other stupid boys who didn't run away were also numb at this time, and their expressions were not quite right.

Zhang Ziheng said: "Yao Ye, you can just accumulate some virtue in your mouth. Everyone still has lingering fears about what happened yesterday!" Zhang Yaoye ignored Zhang Ziheng, but walked towards the old man warming up the fire, and said hello: "Which village is my brother? Why are you warming up alone in this ruined temple!" The old man glanced at Mr. Zhang Yao and Zhang Ziheng who were walking towards him. He sat on a big cobblestone without moving a bit, but said to Mr. Zhang very coldly: "From Xingfu Village, come out to pick up shit to earn work points." .” After finishing speaking, he only cared about warming his fire.

At this time, Zhang Ziheng's nose was sniffing the air like a dog's nose. But the old man said: "Don't smell it, I roasted the sweet potato in the fire." Then he used a branch to dig out a fist-sized roasted sweet potato from the fire. Zhang Ziheng said: "I said where does the smell of roasted sweet potatoes come from?" Zhang Yaoye said: "In Xingfu Village? Xingfu Village is at least forty or fifty miles away from here. Why did you travel so far to pick up dog shit? Besides, where did the dog shit come from in this barren mountain?" The old man still said coldly: "I'm not afraid of your jokes. I am a member of the fourth category. I was scared by the fight. I sneaked out yesterday." Zhang Yaoye said: "So it is like this." He squatted by the fire and looked at the old man. The old man has obviously seen the big world, he doesn't look like a rural old man who is timid and afraid of getting into trouble, and he doesn't shy away from Zhang Yaoye's suspicious gaze at all.He picked up the roasted sweet potato and blew it in his hand.Freshly baked sweet potatoes are very hot to the touch. A few stunned young boys began to swallow their saliva. The old man said: "There are still some in the fire, if you want to eat, you can dig it yourself." Zhang Ziheng was not polite either, he picked up a branch and dug it out, and the other boys did the same. Master Zhang Yao didn't move, and said, "You roast so many sweet potatoes by yourself, can you finish them all? Food is so tight now, don't you think it's a waste?" The old man said: "Bake it for a while and eat it on the road." But Zhang Ziheng said, "You probably stole it from the sweet potato cellar in our village, right?" The old man glanced at Zhang Ziheng and said, "It was indeed stolen, but it was not stolen from your village." The old man's words made Zhang Ziheng a little furious, and he said, "Hey, you old man is a little slick. Do you believe that I will lock you up in our production team and send you to the commune?" The old man sneered and said, "Don't scare me, I've become like this now, who else should I be afraid of?" The old man's words were obviously provocative. Zhang Ziheng was about to jump up. Master Zhang Yao yelled at Zhang Ziheng: "Ziheng, you ate uncle's sweet potatoes, and you don't thank me, are you still excited?" Zhang Ziheng stared at the old man hard and fell silent. The old man stood up at this time, took the dog poop pocket and the bamboo poop clip by his side, and was about to leave. Master Zhang Yao said, "Are you leaving now?" The old man said: "If you don't leave, you should be arrested." This old man is really stubborn. Zhang Ziheng was about to explode again, Zhang Yaoye restrained him with his eyes again.Zhang Ziheng watched angrily as the old man walked out of the gate of the temple. Only then did Zhang Yaoye say to Zhang Ziheng: "What kind of hero are you pretending to be in front of an old man?" Zhang Ziheng said: "Master Yao, don't you find this old man very suspicious? Maybe he is a spy sent by Taiwan." Zhang Yaoye said: "What's suspicious? He is a member of the fourth category. He is scared! He is scared!" Zhang Ziheng said: "Fourth class! He was dressed in rags, but you didn't see that the old man cleaned up very well. The most suspicious thing is that he didn't even have a piece of dog shit in his dog poop pocket!" At this moment, Zhang Yaoye suddenly came to his senses and said, "That's true! This old man is really suspicious. Hurry up, drive this old man back and ask!" As soon as Zhang Ziheng heard what Master Zhang Yao said, he picked up the shovel and rushed out of the temple. The dumb boys didn't follow Zhang Ziheng and threw them into the fire together with the sweet potatoes they were about to chew. Master Zhang Yao knew that these boys were timid, so he said, "Why did the sweet potatoes get scared and thrown into the fire?" The dumb boy said, "Fourth Dad said he was a spy, so he was afraid he might be poisoned." Zhang Yaoye said: "How can it be so mysterious? Even the poison has been subjected to high temperature." As he spoke, he picked up a bamboo stick and dug out the sweet potato that the boy had thrown, tore off the scorched skin, and gnawed on it. After a while, Zhang Ziheng came back dejectedly with a shovel in hand. Master Zhang Yao asked, "Where are people?" Zhang Ziheng said indignantly: "There are still ghosts! They have disappeared!" When Zhang Yaoye heard this, his expression became more serious, and he said, "How can this man run faster than a rabbit? Maybe this old man really has something wrong. How could the people in Xingfu Village run so far to pick up a few dogs?" Shit? Besides, there is no dog shit in this barren mountain. There must be something wrong!" Zhang Ziheng asked Zhang Yaoye Xingshi his guilt: "Now you know there is a problem? If you didn't hold me down just now, would he have escaped?" At this time, Master Zhang Yao was really speechless. He stood up, extinguished the fire in the temple, and said: "Go, go back." He walked away with his hands behind his back. On the way, Zhang Ziheng suddenly thought of a question and said, "Yao Ye, who are you talking about today who almost scared you to death in the middle of the night?" Zhang Yaoye was walking ahead sullenly, sorting out in his mind the series of things that happened yesterday that seemed like a dream.Although these things seem a bit unbelievable, Master Zhang Yao always feels that these things are still inextricably linked in the dark.As for what these connections are, Zhang Yaoye still can't understand for a while. But he felt more and more that Xiaobai and Master Tuo did not pass by Woniu Village in the middle of the night by accident, and then lodged at his gate.This seems to be a coincidence, but in fact it is a necessity!Even an elaborate design! When Master Zhang Yao thought of this, he felt uneasy.This question was asked by Zhang Ziheng out of the blue, Zhang Yaoye didn't have the skills to react to the situation for a while, so he was stunned for a moment, and said, "A thief broke into the house in the middle of the night!" Zhang Ziheng let out an oh, and didn't ask any more questions. Only then did he think of Master Tuo and asked, "Why didn't Master Tuo come with us?" A bewildered boy said: "On the way, he went to Yinniu Pond." Master Zhang Yao said, "Why didn't you say it earlier?" The stupid boy said, "You didn't ask either." Master Zhang Yao immediately said: "Don't rush home, go directly to the Yinniu Pond, don't let anything happen there." After speaking, he quickened his pace and headed towards Yinniu Pond...