Thanks for the invitation: In ancient times, people shared children

Chapter 286

The child and Yundou went to the back hall hand in hand to take a look.

I saw several nuns busy fetching water, mopping the floor, and clearing out the broken tiles in the hall. Several other nuns climbed up the ladder to the roof, took the tiles off, put them in baskets, and hung them down.

"What is this doing?"

The child approached the little nun who was muttering, "Slow down, slow down, be careful," and asked.

She was startled, turned around, and said seriously, "Hello, benefactor, I am honored to meet you.

They're demolishing the house. The tree is getting taller and taller, and no matter how we patch up the roof, it's useless. So the abbot asked us to demolish the rear hall and make some modifications."

"For a tree?" Yundou asked in surprise. "Why not just cut it down? How much would it cost to tear it down and rebuild it?"

"That's what everyone says," she said, stroking her bald head, "but the abbot said that every blade of grass and every tree has its own spirit, and it's not easy for them to grow to this size, so we're not allowed to touch it.

Fortunately, the stones are already available, so we can dismantle them ourselves and just spend some money to hire craftsmen.

It's a pity that the pagoda has not been completed after three years of construction."

"What pagoda?" the child asked.

The little nun replied, "There are at least dozens of temples and Taoist temples in and around the imperial capital, and every large temple has a pagoda. If there's not enough space for the gods and Buddhas in the temple, they can use portraits and reliefs to worship them in the pagoda. It can also be used to place tablets for those who need to chant sutras to pray for their souls. Because of the secrets hidden inside, when incense is burned in the pagoda, the smoke reaches the sky, and the pagoda is filled with smoke, as if you are in a fairyland. If a precious pearl is added to the top of the pagoda to focus the light, it will be even more beautiful.

It is one of the wonders of Buddhism. If we had such a pagoda, we would never have to worry about offerings in the future. Our temple could have been called a great temple long ago, and we should have built a pagoda. However, successive abbots have always refused. Now that they have finally agreed, it will be delayed again because of this tree."

She looked a little sad.

Yundou said the same thing: "Why not just cut it down? Besides, this tree is such a nuisance. If you don't want to climb it, why don't you go around it when building the back hall?"

The young nun explained, “It’s not that we don’t want to go around it. It’s just that when the temple was built, there was no such tree. This tree grew out from the cracks in the bricks more than ten years ago. The nuns in the temple thought it was interesting, so they watered it from time to time. Unknowingly, it grew to this big.

I wanted to move it elsewhere a few years ago, but there were too many flowers, plants and trees in the temple, and the roots were tangled underground. I was afraid that if I moved it, it would not survive and would harm other trees, so I had to put it aside.

The little nun was also one of the nuns who watered the trees. She was very young at that time.

If she said that, the child and Yundou would understand a little. There was nothing they could do, and they had developed some feelings for each other after so long.

"But in a dozen years... this tree will be too big."

Those fruit trees behind the temple on the mountain must be several dozen years old, but they haven't grown this big.

If she hadn't said it, the children and Yundou would have thought it was a hundred-year-old or thousand-year-old tree.

The treetops covered most of the temple roof.

"Who says it's not?" the little nun sighed, "But it's not surprising. This temple was originally the imperial garden of the previous dynasty. There are countless exotic flowers and plants. It's not surprising that such a strange tree would grow there.

While I was weeding, I found a packet of seeds in the temple. I planted them and they grew into beautiful flowers. Would you two benefactors be interested in going and seeing them?"

Her eyes lit up and she suddenly became energetic!

Child: “Okay!”

Kidney Bean: “But aren’t you busy?”

"No, I'm not busy. Master, uncles, and sisters all think we kids are in the way and don't let us come near. There's no point for me to stand here.

Besides, since you two donors have come here, it means you have a connection with me, the Buddha. As a nun in the temple, I should show you around!"

Zhiyuan, who is about the same height as the children, feels that she is already a grown-up and can help, so she refuses to leave. She stands there reminding this and nagging that, and everyone finds her annoying.

After finally finding some "real work" to do, Zhiyuan didn't want to let them get away easily, so he patted his chest and said that it was his responsibility.

If the child had never been in a nunnery, he would have believed her lies.

This is a temple for worshipping Buddha, not a place like an inn. The nuns will not warmly welcome a donor.

Most people come in on their own and walk around. If they have any questions, they will ask someone.

Those who receive such treatment must be rich and powerful, or familiar pilgrims, or look very extraordinary.

Children and kidney beans are none of the three.

Zhiyuan is just imitating other nuns.

But the children just happened to need someone to lead the way, so they decided to put the two of them aside and go look at the flowers and plants first.

Zhiyuan's flowers are planted in the small path behind the Zen room, near the wall.

There are not many of them, but they are very beautiful. They are small balls with tassels, sparkling and emitting soft, pink-purple light.

Like a charming girl.

The child was mesmerized at first sight and couldn't help but exclaim: "They are so beautiful."

"Yes, I have never seen such a beautiful person, she is a fairy." Yundou squatted there, her arms supporting her face were almost twisted into a knot due to shyness.

Zhiyuan twisted her body happily: "I knew you would like them."

The three of them watched for a long time until the light dimmed, and then they came back to their senses.

Child:……

Kidney beans: ...

Zhiyuan: "Oh, I forgot to tell you, ancient books say this flower is called Beauty Grass. When someone gets close, the ball of pollen will spray out, and when you smell it, you will see a beautiful woman, and you will not be able to bear to harm it until the smell has almost dissipated, and then you will come back to your senses. But if you smell it too much, it won't work very well."

So Zhiyuan woke up quickly. The child and Yundou's eyes blocked his view a little, otherwise he would not have woken up for a while.

This is also the reason why Zhiyuan planted them in such a remote place.

I'm just afraid of being seen.

There is no need to worry about it behind the Zen room. No matter how idle a person is, he cannot squeeze into the gap between the two walls for no reason.

Zhiyuan’s idea is quite good.

However, this kind of flower is somewhat dangerous in the eyes of ordinary people. How could those nuns agree to let her plant it?

"I planted the flowers here because I disagreed..." Zhiyuan's mouth corners turned down, and he wished it would droop to the center of the earth in sadness. "At that time, I just wanted to see what the beauty grass looked like. I thought that after growing it, I could just pull it out. But you also saw how beautiful this flower is. The flowers that bloom in different seasons have different characteristics. How could I bear to give it up?

Every blade of grass and every tree has a soul. They live so hard. How can I bear to abandon and destroy them?

I had to take good care of it, and it even produced seeds last year."