Southern Qi Fenghua Record

The Zen courtyard is shaded by flowers and trees, quiet and deep, and the lights in the Zen room are like beans.

Standing at the door of the Zen room where he lived, Xia Houshu carefully wiped the fine sweat from his forehead, took a deep breath to make himself look more relaxed, and then gently pushed open the door of the Zen room.

Sure enough, Zhong Yuqing was in her room, and she was sitting in front of the short table on the right, reading scriptures.Under the dim candlelight, her complexion was not pretty.

Xia Houshu paused, and subconsciously turned his body sideways, trying to block his mother's sight as much as possible.Fortunately, she was wearing red clothes today. Even if it was stained with blood, it was not very conspicuous in the dim candlelight.However, she dared not relax at all.

Zhong Yuqing didn't seem to have untied her heart knot after meeting Master Zhikong, and she was also absent-mindedly reading the scriptures in her hand, staring at one place for a long time without responding.

Xia Houshu approached and tentatively called "Mother".

Zhong Yuqing slowly came back to her senses when she heard the sound, and moved her gaze from the scriptures to her daughter softly with a little confusion, but she didn't notice the abnormality on Xia Houshu's body, and said in a slightly reproachful tone: "You This child, it’s okay to be willful and reckless at home, and he has no rules when he goes out. I told you to go back to the Zen room to rest first, and you are not allowed to run around, but you didn’t take it to heart at all. After a while, you ran away without a trace He didn’t come back to eat the vegetarian meal, he was like a runaway wild horse. Tell me honestly, where did you go wild again?”

Xia Houshu pondered the meaning of his mother's words, as if he didn't know her real whereabouts, and then took a peek at Yunxi, who was pouring tea with a calm expression, and knew that it was nothing serious.

She breathed a sigh of relief, raised the scriptures in her hand to Zhong Yuqing as if offering a treasure, and said courteously: "I ate some pastries brought from home in the room in the afternoon, and I didn't feel hungry. I thought it was the first time. When I came to Huguo Temple, I went out for a stroll, and I happened to meet a few young masters discussing the scriptures, so I stayed for a while because it was interesting, but it was so late, which made my mother worried."

Knowing daughters is better than mothers.As a mother, Zhong Yuqing knows exactly what kind of temperament her daughter has and what she likes.She looked at her daughter sharply, and asked doubtfully, "Since when did you become interested in these scriptures?"

"I really can't hide anything from my mother's eyes!" Xia Houshu smiled awkwardly, deliberately pretending to be embarrassed after being exposed, and continued to explain calmly, "I did follow your orders in the meditation room this afternoon. I’m resting here, and I watched other people transcribe the scriptures.” As she spoke, she hurriedly returned the Buddhist scriptures in her hand to her mother again to prove that she was not lying.

Seeing her mother's complexion softened, but she was still a bit displeased and puzzled, she said, "It's just that these scriptures are too profound, and I really can't understand them. Later, I heard from the little master in the temple that the fish in the release pond and The tortoise got into a fight because of the competition for food, so I went to have a look at it out of curiosity. Unexpectedly, the tortoise moved slowly, and the fish was nimble. The two sides fought for a long time and couldn't stop, so..."

She did pass the release pond when she was going down the mountain, and found that there were many big and fat turtles and silver carp in the pond.The fish and the turtle are kept together, so they must not compete for food!

"Shut up!" Zhong Yuqing was so angry that she covered her chest. Did she raise a daughter, or a kid who only knows how to mess around all day long?

"It's fine if you don't have the rules, but you still haven't made any progress! What does a turtle fighting for food with fish have to do with you? It's worth your afternoon to see it?"

Zhong Yuqing was even more puzzled after scolding, but after thinking about it, what can she do?No matter how nonsense her own daughter is, she can't ignore it, and she has to soften her heart.Thinking of this, she breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at her daughter, and continued to reprimand sharply: "The rules I taught you are all in vain!"

"Mother, I was wrong." Xia Houshu quickly drooped his head in reflection.

"You..." Zhong Yuqing hesitated to speak, and finally sighed deeply.

Zhong Yuqing looked at Xia Houshu carefully, seeing her standing there with lowered eyebrows and waiting for the reprimand, her expression gradually softened.He probably felt that it was better for his daughter to watch those boring fish and turtle fights than to cause trouble everywhere, so Shengsheng swallowed back the latter words and left a sigh.

As a mother, Zhong Yuqing is very aware of Xia Houshu's temperament, and often worries about her.Although Xia Houshu is a daughter, she has never been a contented master, and is no less worry-free than raising a boy.On weekdays, she made a fool of herself and made a mistake, so it’s fine if she wasn’t caught. Once caught, she admits her mistake faster than anyone else, and her attitude is better than anyone else, but she will continue to make mistakes next time, but she will Just smarter.

As the matriarch of the family, Zhong Yuqing usually has to deal with the big and small affairs of the Yue State Duke's mansion, managing more than 100 people up and down, and she is exhausted physically and mentally.The death of the eldest son became a huge rock in her heart, which made her unable to let go of it for a long time, and often felt powerless.And Xia Houshu was not able to keep her by her side when she was a child, so her temperament was inevitably loose and willful. She can understand and feel very guilty, so as long as Xia Houshu's behavior is not excessive, she will turn a blind eye .

But the situation is different now, Xia Houshu is no longer a little girl.

If it wasn't for Xia Houshu's quarrel with Zhong Lufu a month ago, she would have been negligent, her daughter has already passed the age limit, and it is time to discuss marriage.But in this capital where the rich and powerful are everywhere, who can be the one who will truly love and accompany her daughter for the rest of her life?

Naturally, Xia Houshu couldn't understand her mother's worry, but she was keenly aware that her mother didn't intend to argue with her, but just scolded her in a moment of anger, so she breathed a sigh of relief.But she has injuries on her body, and her mother is here, so she is still in danger of being exposed to some extent.

She secretly thought about how to politely ask her mother to leave.

After thinking about it for a while, she suddenly remembered the unmarked Buddha lottery she had asked for in the afternoon, so she took the opportunity to change the subject and asked, "Mother, you went to see Master Zhikong this afternoon. Is he okay? I heard the monks in the temple Said, Master Zhikong has not seen many visitors in the past year."

Zhong Yuqing pretended to be troubled and did not suspect him, so she replied honestly: "Master Zhikong is old, and his physical condition is naturally not as good as before."

Seeing that his mother's attention was diverted, Xia Houshu hurriedly struck while the iron was hot, and continued, "Master Zhikong is a high-ranking monk. Presumably, he must be blessed by the Buddha, and he will live a long life. Mother often said that Master Zhikong is extremely intelligent and profound. Knowing the Dharma must be better than the monk who solved the lottery we met at noon, I wonder if Master Zhikong has already solved the unsigned lottery?"

Zhong Yuqing's face suddenly changed when he heard the words "unsigned signature", and he said in a dull voice, "Xu'er, since you don't believe this, just pretend that you never asked for any signature today, and don't ask again in the future."

"Why is that?" Xia Houshu couldn't help being curious when he saw his mother's reaction, "Is it the meaning of the Buddha's lottery?"

Xia Houshu didn't care about what that unsigned sign meant, after all, whether it is good or bad depends on other people's nonsense, but wanted to know the reason for his mother's melancholy.

Realizing that his words might be out of proportion, Xia Houshu hurriedly said with relief: "The words of gods and Buddhas are most vain. If you believe in them, you have them, and if you don't believe them, you don't have them. The same is true for Buddha's lottery. If the meaning is good, it can indeed inspire people and communicate with others. Consolation; but if the implication is not good, wouldn’t it be embarrassing for me to just write it in such a muddle? Anyway, I don’t believe it, and my mother doesn’t have to worry about it.”

"Shu'er!" Zhong Yuqing called out to her suddenly, "I told you not to mention it again!"

"Daughter knows." Xia Houshu suppressed his doubts and stopped asking.I thought that since my mother said so, the unsigned sign was indeed just like what the old monk who unwrapped the sign said before, and it must have no good meaning, otherwise my mother would not be so secretive.Fortunately, she is not superstitious at all, and she is open to this matter, so she might as well pretend it never happened.

Zhong Yuqing soon realized that her tone was inappropriate, and with Xia Houshu's character of knowing that she couldn't do it, saying this might arouse her curiosity.But she didn't know how to explain her worries and fears about the unsigned signature, and she couldn't figure out whether her daughter was really not interested or to make her happy, and she was very upset.

In the afternoon, she went to see Master Zhikong. As usual, she discussed the essentials of Buddhist scriptures and shared some thoughts about her eldest son Xia Houxuan.Under Master Zhikong's enlightenment, she gradually felt a lot more relaxed, and she also talked about the wordless marriage lottery that Xia Houshu asked for in the afternoon.Never thought Master Zhikong laughed it off, telling her that everything in the world is born of existence, existence is born of non-existence, and everything is born of non-existence.The destiny is like this, you can do it, you can not do it, it is better to follow the old monk who unwrapped the lottery, let nature take its course, and wait and see how it changes.

Zhong Yuqing understands that Master Zhikong has good intentions and wants to persuade her to let go of some obsessions and not to live so tiringly.But as a mother, Xia Houshu was the daughter she almost gave birth to with her life, and also the only daughter in her life. How could she resign herself to fate and let nature take its course?She has already lost a son, and when her daughter was young, she did not fulfill her duty as a mother, so she already felt guilty, and now she must not wait and see what happened to her daughter's marriage.

Of course, it's not convenient for her to tell Xia Houshu about these mother's worries.

After calming down a little bit, Zhong Yuqing said: "Shu'er, it's getting late, I'm a little tired today, you should settle down earlier." After finishing speaking, she especially told Yunxi, "There are many people in this monastery, you can't tell me what to say." You have to get along with the girl, don't let her gossip around and cause people to gossip. Mrs. Liu chose to pretend to be deaf and dumb today to save us face, but if she does it again and spread the word, maybe one day we will save face The lining is gone."

Xia Houshu was racking his brains to think about how to invite his mother back to his room. Now he listened to his mother's words and hurriedly nodded in agreement, promising that he would be cautious in his words and deeds so as not to embarrass his family.

Only then did Zhong Yuqing feel a little relieved and went back to her room.

Xia Houshu watched her mother go back to the room and closed the door. She hurriedly dragged Yunxi back to the meditation room where she lived, and stretched her head to look around again. She didn't find anything unusual, so she asked Yunxi to lock the door, and then Go to the table and sit down.

Yunxi vaguely felt what happened, and was about to ask, but when she turned around, Xia Houshu took out a small white porcelain bottle and smelled it, then put it on the table, and gave her orders in a low voice: "Hurry up while no one comes to help you!" !"