Chapter Thirty-Four: Ling Shan Temple

  Lingshan Temple is located in Lingshan Scenic Area, 50 miles south of Tianyun City, and it takes more than an hour to drive there.

  Today Jia Kai drove out the sedan in the garage as promised to be a free driver, and Xing Ye suspected that he was so excited to come together just to satisfy his car addiction.

  It wasn't until they were chatting in the car that Xing Ye found out that her grandfather and Master Huiyuan of Lingshan Temple had known each other for a long time. Master Huiyuan was a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner from a family of doctors, and before liberation he had been a student at Normal University. For some unknown reason, he had become a monk at a young age, and after becoming a monk, he not only studied Buddhism but also became a famous doctor of traditional Chinese medicine. He and her grandfather were like two gentlemen who appreciated each other's company.

  The car can only stop at the foot of the mountain, Lingshan is not too high, Lingshansi Temple is built on the waist of the mountain, and there is still a long flight of stairs to climb. It's still early, Xingye pulls his grandmother along while admiring the scenery by the road. His grandfather's footsteps are steady and not inferior to young people. Jialuo was pulled over by his brother to be a porter, carrying a large backpack behind everyone.

  The higher they walked, the cooler it felt. The temperature here was lower than in the city. Xīngyè took out a thin jacket and put it on her grandmother's shoulders. She knew that after her grandmother had surgery, her physical condition had not been very good, and she was getting older, so if she got sick, it would be more serious. Xīngyè had experience taking care of her mother, so she usually paid close attention to her grandmother's body.

  "It's still a girl's meticulous heart." Grandma said gently.

  It's a good time when the mountain is full of flowers, attracting countless butterflies to fly among the flowers, and the air is filled with a faint floral scent.

  "How beautiful! We should go out more often!" exclaimed Xīng Yè in admiration of nature's beauty.

  A flash of light flashed by, and it turned out that Jia Kai had brought a camera with him. Seeing Xing Ye standing amidst the flowers at night, he couldn't help but feel that she was even more beautiful than the flowers themselves, and he couldn't resist capturing this scene on film.

  A butterfly fluttering in flight landed on Starry Night's head.

  "Freeze!" shouted Jia Kai loudly.

  Startled by him in the middle of the night, she didn't understand what was going on and didn't dare move.

  Jia Kai seized the opportunity and took a few more photos in succession.

  "On a night like this, you're even more beautiful than flowers. Look, even butterflies are attracted to you." Jia Kai said with a smile.

  The starry night was attracted by the butterfly, but the butterfly did not fly away. It flew around Xīng Yè up and down, and when she stretched out her hand, the butterfly landed on it. After a while, another one came and landed on her hand.

  Xing Ye carefully held two butterflies to show his grandmother, and his grandmother also praised them highly. Jia Kai came over to stretch out his hand to catch them, but as a result, the two butterflies flew away.

  Xing Ye chased Jia Kai to demand compensation, but Jia Kai ran away quickly.

  Everyone chatted and laughed as they arrived at Ling Shan Temple.

  It's a holiday, and many people who come to play have arrived early. When coming to Lingshan to play, they will definitely come to Lingshan Temple to take a look.

  The temple is crowded with people, and incense smoke is swirling around.

  The old couple didn't burn incense or worship Buddha, they just told the monk who received guests and went to find Old Master Huiyuan in the backyard.

  Following his grandfather's familiar route, they arrived at a Zen room. Indeed, an old monk was drinking tea inside the room. Seeing Xing Ye and others coming in, he didn't find it strange and greeted them: "I figured you'd be here soon, I've brewed some good tea for you." As he spoke, he picked up a small clay teapot and poured two cups of tea into small tea bowls.

  His grandparents didn't stand on ceremony with him either and sat down in the chairs opposite them.

  "I know you love tea, someone gave me some aged Pu'er tea, I brought it over for you today." Grandpa asked Jia Luo to take out the prepared tea leaves from his backpack.

  "It's indeed good tea leaves." Huiyuan looked at the tea leaves and praised them.

  "Good tea leaves also need to be paired with your good tea-making skills, otherwise it would be a waste of good things." Grandfather said.

  "But today you won't be able to drink this tea, I don't have suitable water to brew Pu'er, maybe next time. First try the tea I prepared today, it's not worse than your Pu'er." Huì Yuǎn said calmly.

  Two people smiled and drank tea, while three others stood beside them on a starry night, also smelling the fragrance of tea.

  At night, he took a closer look at Master Huiyuan and found that he should be around the same age as his grandfather. He looked very ordinary, if not for wearing monk's robes, he would be no different from an old man seen on the street. In Xingye's impression, masters should all have a fairy wind and bone, or white beard and youthful face, this is too far away from his own understanding of the master image.

  "Hello Master Huiyuan." Jia Kai saw that no one was greeting the three of them, so he took the initiative to greet Huiyuan and Shang.

  "Are these your two grandsons? It's been two years since I last saw them, and now they're grown up. This one has quite the air of his uncle about him back in the day... And who is this?" Huì Yuǎn fixed his gaze on Xīng Yè.

  "This is my granddaughter, who met Master Huiyuan under the starry night," said her grandmother.

  Xing Ye hastily said: "Greetings, Master Huiyuan."

  Huiyuan smiled slightly, "What a clever child, you are blessed with both fortune and luck."

  "You praise her, she's a filial child." Grandma was delighted to hear Huiyuan's praise.

  "Let them go out and play by themselves, they're not having fun here either." The old man spoke again, and the three of Jia Kai went out of the Zen room, leaving the three elderly people to drink tea and chat.

  Three people moved to the front hall, saw many people burning incense, Jia Kai asked Xing Ye if he wanted to worship, Xing Ye shook his head and said no need. Many people also drew divination lots, then went to the side hall where monks were specially interpreting the lots, Xing Ye saw that interpreting the lots cost 50 yuan, and some people even gave more when they were told good things.

  Outside the main hall, there is a donation box with many people putting money in it. Next to it, a monk is responsible for recording large donations. The donation list is open and clearly shows other people's donations, making you feel embarrassed if you donate too little. Outside the main hall, there are special stalls selling incense, rosary beads, and peace charms that have been blessed, which are several times more expensive than those sold outside, yet many people are eager to buy them.

  Walking a bit further ahead is the liberation pool, where there are vendors selling live koi and turtles for people to release. The price of one koi is enough to buy ten fish at the market, yet many people still buy them just to put them back in the pool.

  Jia Luo sighed: "They buy fish and put them in the pool, then scoop them out at night to sell. It's too easy to make money here."

  "It doesn't matter if the tourist attractions are a bit expensive, but what I'm curious about is those girls who come to pray for marriage," Jia Kai also expressed his opinion. "These monks can't get married, and they still run to the temple to pray for a good match. Does the Buddha care about matchmaking?"

  Last night I heard them talking and remembered a segment of crosstalk from my previous life that mocked temples for collecting money, and couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  "What's gotten into you, grinning like an idiot?" Jia Kai said.

  A joke about a greedy temple I saw is very funny. Explained in a moment.

  "Let's hear it." Jia Kai became interested and Jia Luo also came over. They immediately started speaking in the tone of a crosstalk performer under the starry night.

  "It's like this, someone was passing by a temple and didn't plan to go in, but then a monk at the temple door shouted loudly: 'Passersby don't miss out, buying or not is also good'".

  Pfft, Jia Kai and his brother burst out laughing. Xing Ye glared at them, "Don't laugh, I'm not finished yet," and continued speaking.

  "As soon as the man entered, the monk asked him: 'Sir, are you here to make a donation?' The man was embarrassed and said: 'I didn't bring much cash.' Unexpectedly, the monk said: 'Credit cards are also acceptable.'"

  The two of them burst out laughing again, and Xing Ye glared at them before continuing in the tone of a crosstalk performer: "That guy said, 'Sorry, my card was swallowed by the ATM.'" The monk chimed in, "A mortgage would work too." The man got angry and said, "I don't have anything to mortgage!" As he turned to leave, the monk grabbed him and asked, "If all else fails, are you willing to donate your organs?" The man flew into a rage: "Are you sick? Why do you want everything? Is this temple under the administration of the Industrial and Commercial Bureau?"

  When mentioning organ donation on a starry night, Jia and Kai were already laughing with their waists bent.

  The "puff" sound made him turn his head back, only to find a young couple standing behind him, and they had heard everything he said. The two of them couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  This is nothing, next to them stood a young monk, whose face was like an overturned palette, with colors of cyan, green, blue and black changing in succession.

  Xīn yè gān gà de duì zhe tāmen xiào le xiào, lā zhe hái zài xiào de jiā kǎi jiā luò kuài bù liǎng kāi.

  Translation:

  The starry night awkwardly smiled at them and pulled the still laughing Jia Kai and Jia Luo to quickly leave.

  As I was leaving, I heard the woman behind me joking with the man: "I didn't know that your Administration for Industry and Commerce also managed temples?"

  "You're still laughing, didn't you see that the monks in the temple next door have already heard us?" Xing Ye spoke as he glanced around, only relaxing when he confirmed that there was indeed no one else present.

  "Thinking of that monk's face makes me laugh even more." Jia Kai said to Jia Luo: "Did you notice the color of that monk's face? It was blue and black!"

  "Yes, I should tell Grandpa and Grandma as well as Master Huiyuan the joke from earlier." Jia Luo said seriously.

  "How dare you! Aren't you afraid of being beaten out by the monks?" Xing Ye's eyes widened in anger.

  "Seems like you're right?"