Li Changsheng stood up and left without bothering with the beauty he had just imagined, nor did he ask his master about the meaning.

Feeling my belly, I climbed the mountain back to the temple early in the morning. I missed breakfast. It was almost noon. It was time to go to the dining hall to queue up and wait for my senior brother to prepare the meal.

There is no sun or moon in the mountains, time is passing by, and it is easy to feel sleepy in spring.

Li Changsheng left home early in the morning and returned to the mountain. He walked over the mountains and ridges back to the temple. He returned to the Buddhist temple to chant sutras without being able to eat, and then fell into meditation again, but he was already very tired.

I had lunch in the meditation hall and said hello to the master, but then I returned to the meditation room and fell on the bed, falling asleep within a short while...

In the dream, he returned to the lotus pond, but the scenery changed to the midsummer season, and the lotus flowers in the lake were blooming quietly.

There was the sound of a piano floating from the pavilion in the middle of the lake, and Li Changsheng recognized the same music as the one he had heard in his imagination, which was "Autumn Moon over a Flat Lake".

Although it is summer at this time, there is a hint of cool autumn in the faint sound of the piano, which makes people see the swaying lotus pods in the autumn wind and the deep autumn atmosphere.

Just like when he was visualizing in the Buddhist temple, Li Changsheng wanted to step on the stone bridge with nine windings to meet the beautiful woman, but his feet were like lead and he couldn't move forward no matter what.

I can only see from a distance the lake covered with green lotus leaves, and the woman with long hair and white dress playing the piano alone in the pavilion facing the scenery.

A gust of wind blew her long hair, flying on both sides of her face; her delicate hands played the piano, like a fairy who could not eat the fireworks of the world.

Just when Li Changsheng was struggling with how to step on the stone bridge, the beauty in the pavilion stopped playing the piano, looked down at the green lotus blooming in the lake, and faintly chanted:

Shiliping Lake is covered with frost

Every inch of blue hair worries about the old age

No regrets in this life, no mistakes in this life

We are destined to move in the next life.

...

Another gust of wind passed by, and the pavilion in the lake disappeared, and the last sight was still the golden apricot blossom.

Li Changsheng was stunned for a moment, looking at the gradually disappearing pavilion and the woman with long hair and white dress, and murmured in his mouth: "I have no regrets about my mistakes in this life, and I will be destined to change in the next life..."

Li Changsheng entered Mount Sumeru to practice Buddhism at the age of nine. After studying under Master Jingdao, he stopped listening to what was going on outside the window and only recited the Sutra of Sages.

He was calm and looked down on favors and humiliations, but because he was forced to get married by his family when he went down the mountain, he went back to the mountain to meditate and met a woman with long hair and a white dress. He even met her again in his dream when he returned to the Zen room.

A chance encounter twice in one day is no longer a sudden encounter.

Am I guilty of inner demons?

He muttered something in his dream, turned over, and continued to sleep.

...

Just when Li Changsheng on Mount Xumi was secretly amazed by the long-haired girl in a white dress in his dream, the Li Mansion in Baiyun Town at the foot of the mountain welcomed the mother and daughter of the Song family from Qingfeng County.

The time was about to end, and just as Mrs. Li was accompanying Mr. Liu to enjoy flowers in the garden of the mansion after taking a lunch break, a message came

Notice from the servants.

A visitor came from Qingfeng County, driving two carriages drawn by four horned horses, and accompanied by eight knights in black.

Mrs. Li led Mrs. Liu to greet her outside the gate, but she only greeted Mrs. Ma, the blinged-out wife of the Song family, walking in front.

Behind them were two maids holding gift boxes and a girl in a white dress with shoulder-length black hair and a silk scarf on her face.

Mrs. Liu and Mrs. Ma were old acquaintances. When they met, they held hands and talked about family matters. Mrs. Ma asked Song Yu'er, who was wearing a veil, to give a gift to Mrs. Liu.

Ms. Liu looked at Song Yu'er for a moment, then wrote: "It's really a woman's transformation. I haven't seen her for a few years, and I didn't expect that the little girl would have to cover her face when going out.

Mrs. Li coughed from behind. Mrs. Liu was startled, and hurriedly took Mrs. Liu's hand and walked inside.

Song Yu'er and two maids followed, and Mrs. Li ordered the housekeeper to take eight black-clothed guards to the backyard to rest.

"Where is my son-in-law, whom I haven't seen for many years? Ask him to show up to meet his mother-in-law."

Mr. Ma sat in the flower hall and greeted Mr. Liu carelessly.

Miss Song, who was sitting nearby, lowered her head, unable to see the expression on her face.

When Mrs. Li heard this, he leaned on his chair and looked at Mrs. Liu in a daze, meaning that your son has run back to the mountain, and the in-laws can't see anyone when they come, so you should send them away.

Mrs. Liu glared at Old Mrs. Li, thinking that it was better for you to indulge him, otherwise he would not dare to go against my wishes even if he had ten courages.

However, no matter what, she had to reply to the Ma family and Miss Song family in front of her.

"My in-laws, my son came back the day before yesterday... I don't know what happened yesterday, but he ran back to Kongwu Temple on the mountain without saying a word. What do you think should be done? I'll tell him

Dad is as anxious as an ant on a hot pot."

Mrs. Liu took the tea brought by the maid, handed it to Mrs. Ma herself, and said with a blushing face.

Ma was stunned and looked back at Song Yu'er, who was holding her scarf with her head lowered.

His voice suddenly became louder and he said: "Did this kid study Buddhism in the mountains for several years and become stupid? He knew clearly that Yu'er and I were going on a blind date, but he actually hid in the temple in Mount Xumi. It was possible to hide.

Can the monk hide in the temple?"

Miss Song, who was playing with her silk scarf with her head lowered, couldn't help but let out a "puff" when her mother said it, covering her mouth and burst into laughter.

Seeing Miss Song's appearance, Madam Ma and Madam Liu suddenly felt much more relaxed.

Mrs. Liu took Mr. Ma's hand and said, "I also scolded this boy, but now it's up to you to decide what to do."

Ma took a few sips of tea, raised her head and looked at Mrs. Li, and then at her daughter.

He patted the table and said, "What's not easy to do? I'll take Yu'er to Kongwu Temple to burn incense tomorrow and see where that kid hides!"

After hearing this, Mrs. Li and Mrs. Liu were shocked and thought that the mother-in-law was unwilling to see her son-in-law and was going to Mount Sumeru.

"That's fine, let's see where the boy hides this time! Do you want me and the master to accompany you up the mountain?" Mrs. Liu asked thoughtfully.

Ma looked at Miss Song with questioning eyes, and saw the girl wearing a veil nodded gently.

"No need, the guard I brought will stay at your house first, and my daughter and I will go there with the two attendants."

Ma waved her hand and rejected Liu's kindness.

...

"Mom, you will take Xiaohong to the temple to meet Li Changsheng later, and Xiaocao and I will go to the temple to walk around. If he is willing to see Xiaohong, bring him to see me, otherwise we will go down the mountain and return to Qingfeng County.

"

Outside the mountain gate of Kongwu Temple, Song Yu'er, wearing a veil, suddenly said to Ma.

Ma was startled and turned to look at her and said, "My daughter, are you still testing this kid? What if you scare him away?"

Looking at the round-faced maid Xiao Hong, she felt inexplicably confused.

Xiao Hong is about the same age as Song Yu'er, but because of family genes, she is round and plump from face to waist. In secular terms, Xiao Hong is a little fat girl.

"Miss, aren't you afraid of scaring my uncle?" Xiaohong said with a grin.

"If he judges people by their appearance, I, Song Yu'er, don't want such a husband. Besides, he was the one who avoided me in the first place."

Song Yuer looked at Ma and Xiaohong and said softly, "Xiaocao, let's go for a walk and let mother and Xiaohong go find that guy. After saying that, she walked to the temple on her own with broken steps.

...

"Senior Brother Changsheng, there is a lady from Qingfeng County with a young lady outside the main hall looking for you, saying that she is your fiancée!"

The junior disciple in the temple ran to the Sutra Collection Pavilion and said loudly to Li Changsheng.

Li Changsheng's hand that was grinding ink shook and almost knocked the inkstone off the table.

He didn't expect that he would hide back on Mount Sumeru, but the powerful Ma family still chased him with his daughter. This sudden visit made him feel a little scared.

"Junior brother, have you seen the appearance of that lady and young lady?"

Li Changsheng put away the scriptures on the table. He was so confused that he could no longer copy them.

"Senior brother, my wife is a kind-hearted woman of about forty, and the young lady is a girl with a round face and a red skirt. I guess the monk in the temple has invited them to the dining hall for lunch."

The junior brother looked at him and smiled.

"Let's go, let's go eat too."

Li Changsheng thought about it and realized that he couldn't hide. He had to meet the other person, otherwise he would not be able to explain to his parents when he returned home one day.

...

"Senior brother, look, the girl in the red dress next to the person in front is said to be your fiancée. Senior brother, haven't you already become a monk?"

The junior brother who was following Li Changsheng said softly.

Li Changsheng, who was at the end of the queue, looked up and saw a beautiful woman outside the dining hall with a twenty-eight-year-old girl wearing a red dress and looking pretty and beady, who was talking with her head down.

His heart felt cold, and he thought of the young woman in a white dress and long hair in his dream, and suddenly his heart felt as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water on her in the middle of winter.

He was originally resistant to the idea of ​​getting married, but when he saw that his fiancée turned out to be a little fat man, he couldn't help but suddenly wanted to quit.

After struggling for a moment, he looked at the junior brother behind him, leaned into his ear and whispered softly: "Junior brother, I don't want to have lunch. After I leave, you tell the lady that I wholeheartedly worship Buddha.

I don’t want to return to secular life and get married.”

Before he finished speaking, he had already left the crowd waiting in line for food.

The younger junior brother looked at Li Changsheng who left quietly and was dumbfounded. He thought to himself that it seemed that the senior brother was really devoted to Buddhism and did not want to return to secular life.
To be continued...