Scattering wealth

The next day, the sky was overcast as it greeted the new day, and the sun was reluctant to peek out from behind the clouds.

People thronged the foot of Xingyin Temple, and no one hesitated to go in despite the sudden drop in temperature.

The stone steps leading up the mountain have been renovated three times, making them easy to walk on. As everyone walked, they urged each other not to block the way and complained about the unpredictable weather. The filial piety of the Lin family head was evident to heaven and earth, and heaven should remember his pure heart and grant him a clear autumn day on such an important day as ancestor worship.

A hundred miles up the stone steps, a street vendor, wearing a green collared coat, kept yawning and recommending incense and candles to passersby. A woman behind him muttered, "They make a scene every year. They're so filial. If you didn't know better, you'd think their own mother was buried inside."

The man looked up and saw that no one was around. He hissed softly and looked at his wife with a slightly reproachful look in his eyes. Seeing his wife pouting, her little face showing a mixture of resentment and cuteness, the reproachful words slipped out of his mouth and turned into a doting laugh: "If they don't come, how will we make money?"

As he spoke, he touched his wife's hand and rubbed it vigorously. He then took out a cotton quilt that had turned discolored from the sun from the bamboo basket behind him and wrapped it around his wife, jokingly saying, "You insisted on coming up the mountain with me. Now you know how cold it is, don't you?"

The woman said coquettishly, "The mountain road is difficult to walk on, what if you fall?"

Man: "I'm not going to rob money on the mountain, why would I fall down so easily?"

As soon as she finished speaking, the woman suddenly became serious, pulled away from the man's embrace, and lowered her head to ponder: "I always felt that Mr. Xue's death was very suspicious. Why would such a nice garden suddenly catch fire? Such a big garden was burned down in less than half an hour. Everyone died except for Lin Jianye. There's something wrong with that."

"That's not how it works. It's said that the cake at the banquet was ruined by a child. The old gentleman's garden was too far from the city. At the time, apart from his apprentice Lin Jianye, everyone else in the garden was the old gentleman's family. Lin Jianye kindly suggested that the old gentleman chat with his family more before he went to get the cake himself. It can be said that his good deeds were rewarded, and he was spared."

"No! Even if the old man's family was all gathered together and a fire broke out, preventing them from escaping, why were all the servants in the old man's house burned to death?"

The man thought for a moment: "Hmm, Lin Jianye seems to have said that? The old gentleman treated his servants like family members when he was alive. Everyone in the surrounding area knew that the old gentleman was kind. Since the incident happened so suddenly, it's normal for the servants to be grateful to the old gentleman and rush in to save people."

“There were at least dozens of people in the park that day. They were all trapped by the park’s security system and burned alive. I don’t believe it.” The woman held the man’s sleeve tightly, preventing him from moving, and instructed him: “You are not allowed to go up there to take the money Lin Jianye gave you, do you hear me? We may be poor, but taking ill-gotten gains will bring us great disaster. We absolutely cannot take it.”

Listening to his wife's repeated admonitions, the man nodded helplessly and smiled indulgently: "You're just overthinking things. Mr. Xue is Lin Jianye's mentor. Lin Jianye was a homeless child when he was 6 years old and was taken in by Mr. Xue and raised like his own son. He has never favored either of them. What reason does Lin Jianye have to harm the mentor who raised him and taught him skills?"

The woman pursed her lips: "I just find it strange."

"Do you think those people in Beicheng are pushovers? If Lin Jianye killed the Xue family, how could the Shen family possibly agree to a marriage alliance with him? Wouldn't that be pushing their own daughter into a fire pit?"

Just as the woman was about to say something more, the couple looked up and saw someone approaching, and both fell silent.

The morning dewdrops were plump and full, but without sunlight, they lacked their crystalline luster and fell into the deep valley where no one lingered.

The man forced a smile, his wrinkled face revealing his honest and simple nature: "Miss, would you like some incense and candles?"

The customer, wearing a mask, nodded slightly and was about to leave when the man handed her a bag containing incense and candles, kindly reminding her, "The forecast says there will be heavy rain this afternoon. You're alone, and the roads are slippery with the rain, so please be careful and stay safe."

A soft thank you was uttered as the gentle breeze carried away the sound of the money being credited to the account, and the guest had already climbed dozens of steps.

"This girl doesn't seem to have come for Lin Jianye."

A group of pedestrians walked by together, chatting and laughing, startling wild birds in the valley forest. They fluttered and flew to the mountaintop. At the end of the line of sight, the temple stood tall and straight into the clouds, and the bell tolled slowly.

The young bell-ringer bowed at the door, then looked up and saw the woman inside the hall. He paused, suppressing his curiosity, and said, "Abbot Uncle, Guest Lin sent someone to ask if the Wan, Lu, and Shen families will be coming to the ancestral worship ceremony this year. Could you please clean out Xiangshan Hall for them to live in?"

The abbot subconsciously turned around. The woman was kneeling in the center of the prayer mat with her back to the door, her hands clasped together, her eyes closed. Three incense sticks were held high above her forehead. Her straight spine did not sway in the slightest because of the words spoken by the newcomer.

"Yes, that's fine," said the abbot.

The young apprentice opened his mouth, hesitated while looking at the retreating figure, but ultimately didn't ask a question and turned to make arrangements.

The hem of his long robe disappeared at the end of the road. The abbot clenched his fists, closed his eyes, and silently recited a few words. He then opened his eyes, turned around, and asked, "Didn't we avoid him in previous years?"

"Come watch the fun." The woman said with her eyes closed, her voice silent.

The abbot gazed at the departing figure and sighed. As in previous years, he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue, shook his head, and went out to arrange today's lessons.

The bell-ringing boy went and returned. Seeing the abbot come out, he first reported, "Second Uncle has taken the senior brothers to Xiangshan Hall."

"good."

The words stuck in his throat, hesitating repeatedly. The young monk looked curiously towards the main hall, where a slender woman knelt upright. "She came a day later this year than in previous years."

"She's obsessed with it, let her be."

The young monk scratched his head, put his hands together and bowed: "Uncle-Master, I don't understand. We know what Lin Guike did, and we also know the background of that... Senior Sister inside. They will have a conflict sooner or later. Since our Buddhist sect is compassionate, why don't we try to prevent the next disaster?"

The abbot turned his head following his gaze, his clear eyes filled with compassion, and his wrinkled face seemed to show a struggle deep within the mortal world.

In a clear and resonant voice, he addressed the young monk or the person kneeling inside the gate: "Even after hundreds of thousands of kalpas, the deeds you have done will not perish. When the conditions are right, you will reap the consequences yourself."

“My master said it was the Maharatnakuta Sutra.”

Someone hurried over and interrupted their conversation: "Abbot Uncle, Guest Lin has arrived."

The abbot nodded and followed him to the outer gate, leaving the young monk puzzled and muttering to himself.

"Master clearly said that we should always have a compassionate heart, but knowing that the people in the main hall wished nothing more than to get rid of Lin Guike, why didn't you remind Lin Guike? How can it be considered compassion to just watch Lin Guike fall into the trap?"

He looked up at the sudden commotion outside the gate, unconsciously frowning in surprise. Lin Guike was clearly kind and generous, and everyone's love and respect for him could still be clearly heard even through three doors.

"Thank you, Patriarch Lin!"

"The Lin family head will surely live to be a hundred years old!"

May everything go smoothly for Patriarch Lin!

With flattery in his mouth and his hands busy, he emptied dozens of donation boxes in one go. Standing on the high ground, Lin Jianye laughed heartily, listening to the blessings. His disdainful gaze swept over the greed on everyone's faces, and his shrewd eyes hid an easily detectable satisfaction.

But no one bothered to look up.

"Bang!"

The one-armed woman didn't hesitate to smash her body against the donation box, and the crowd instinctively dodged, allowing her to successfully reach the front row.

The small commotion went unnoticed by everyone. The woman smiled triumphantly, gripping the table tightly with her remaining left hand, mentally calculating when the next batch of donation boxes would arrive, and plotting how she could claim the entire box for herself.

She gets a whole box every year, and this year is no exception.

Her round eyes held an almost frantic longing. Ever since Lin Jianye started distributing donations every year, she had never worked again. A box of money was enough for her to live on for the whole year.

Lin Jianye looked down at the woman, then at the crowd who were going crazy for him. Facing the main hall, his eyes were slightly narrowed, and a sense of smug satisfaction welled up inside him.

Lin Jianye spun the ring once, then drawled, "That's enough for this year. It's getting late, I should go offer incense to my master."

The one-armed woman paused for a moment, then raised her left hand and shouted, "Patriarch Lin, it's me, it's me!"

Fearing being pushed behind by others, she quickly gripped the table corner ring again when she saw Lin Jianye turn around.

"My arm is badly injured again, and I can't work at all this year. Patriarch Lin, please have pity on me and show me mercy." Greed and desire were written on his face, like an endless black hole.

He was immediately met with ridicule.

"Don't you know how you lost your arm? You deserve it."

When asked why, a kind person immediately explained: "The girl was only three years old. She deliberately hit the child in the face, making the child cry loudly. Not only did she not apologize, but she also blamed the child for being dramatic. The child's uncle had been drinking and, in a fit of anger, chopped off her right hand."

The woman glared fiercely at the speaker, her eyes seemingly poisoned, her pupils contracting violently with anger, and her overly taut cheeks contorting into wrinkles.

"Didn't I apologize? I already said it was an accident. It was their family who started it and wouldn't let it go, and there's even a mentally disturbed uncle. What do you mean? You feel sorry for that uncle going to jail? What's your relationship with him? Are you a mentally disturbed person like him?!"

The distorted facial features radiated a terrifying light.

Her gray, tight-fitting top swayed up and down with her heaving chest, and her beige trousers bore obvious finger marks along the seams.

Someone scoffed, "Who can be more perverted than you?"

"You've done more than just this one impressive thing. Do you really think no one knows how many convenience stores you've patted?"

“That right hand deserved to be chopped off; it was useless to keep it. Patriarch Lin, you must not pity this kind of person. She beats and scolds her own mother, deliberately bullies children, and never speaks rudely. This kind of person does not deserve your kindness.”

The woman's forehead veins bulged, her mouth twisted uncontrollably, and she pointed at the crowd, her cheekbones high: "What do you mean? A group of healthy people are attacking a disabled person like me. What good are you? Oh! I know, you're afraid that the Lin family head is kind, afraid that the Lin family head will help me, afraid that one day you will live worse than a disabled person like me."

The woman's anger was amplified by her rapidly flaring nostrils, and her voice was forceful and resounding. The veins on her neck seemed to twitch and throb like earthworms.

Lin Jianye clenched his fist and coughed lightly, silencing everyone instantly.

"As the saying goes, it is a great virtue to admit one's mistakes and correct them. Since she has already apologized, why can't we give her a chance to make amends?"

"Patriarch Lin, you don't know, she's not the kind of person who can reflect on her own actions. If she hadn't lost her arm, who knows who she would be harming now."

The woman hooked her short leg and hurled the donation box at the speaker, gritting her teeth and spitting out five vicious words: "You fucking want to die!"

"alright."

With a wave of his hand, Lin Jianye unleashed dozens of donation boxes from the car. Stacks of bright red banknotes filled the boxes, and when the seals were torn open, they fluttered like butterflies in the air.

Greed burst forth, soaring straight to the sky.

Everyone's eyes lit up, their bodies twisting wildly, remaining silent even as they were stepped on and bumped, their eyes filled with eagerness and excitement.

The donation boxes are decorated with grotesque yet comical faces.

Lin Dashanren was praised and his good name spread far and wide.

Lin Jianye, basking in the adulation of the crowd, turned around.

The mountain bell tolled loudly and melodiously.

The glazed tiles on the roof of the main hall looked magnificent under the sunlight.

He lowered his head, a slight smile playing on his lips, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes.

Silent sarcasm: "My dear master, your disciple has come to see you."