Chapter 6 Chapter 6 Buddha's Bathing Festival, Frog Monk and Lotus Cake Lotus Cake...
This morning, the air was fresh and moist because it had rained last night.
Duan Zhiwei skillfully pulled the rope and threw the bucket into the well. The bucket began to fill with water and made a "gurgling" sound. She had just finished washing her face by the well when she saw a small green turtle in the basin next to her, swimming leisurely in the water, creating ripples.
Duan Zhiwei looked at the turtle for a while while leaning on the bucket, then turned around and shouted into the house, "Aunt, why did you buy a turtle? I don't know how to cook this."
When the turtle heard this, its black little eyes rolled twice and it retracted its head into its shell.
Aunt Duan was painting her eyebrows into black moth pupae in the room. When she heard Duan Zhiwei's question, she replied, "That's not for you to burn. It's for you to release."
"Release them?" Duan Zhiwei was stunned for a moment and asked, "Why should we release them?"
Aunt Duan finally put on a makeup full of the characteristics of the dynasty. When she heard Duan Zhiwei say this, she was so angry that she wanted to roll her eyes on the spot: "Tomorrow is the birthday of Sakyamuni Buddha. Ask around and see which young ladies are not going to the Buddha Bathing and Release of Life Ceremony. Oh, and prepare some copper coins to donate money."
Even Aunt Duan, who has always been stingy, is asked to donate money. It seems that I have to go to this release of animals event.
Wait... Duan Zhiwei put down the bucket containing the turtle and said, "Will there be many young ladies attending the Buddha Bathing Ceremony?"
Aunt Duan told her the details of the Buddha Bathing Festival, such as the monks and nuns in the temples lighting incense, flowers and candles, fasting and praying, women competing to donate money, and believers reciting the "Nirvana Mantra" when releasing animals.
However, while Aunt Duan was chattering, Duan Zhiwei's mind had already drifted far away. She thought of the beautiful lotus flowers in the pond at Da Ci'en Temple that day. It was already past the beginning of summer, and the lotus flowers should be blooming even better.
She quickly rode her donkey cart to buy ingredients and prepared to make some beautiful lotus cakes as cultural and creative products. If the ladies of Chang'an saw these exquisite and lovely lotus cakes when they attended the Buddha Bathing Festival, they would probably like them.
Aunt Duan saw her going out again in a donkey cart and grumbled, "How come this child is even more obsessed with money than I am?"
Duan Zhiwei rolled up his sleeves and began to peel the yam, cut it into sections and steamed it in a steamer, then took it out and added sugar, cooked glutinous rice flour and an appropriate amount of milk and mixed well. Divide the dough into two different sized portions.
She took another bag of tea cakes and used natural graphite to grind them into dark green powder. This is the ancestor of matcha, "powdered tea". This powder was mixed into the dough, and soon the dough turned into a refreshing green. Another piece of dough was dyed pink with red rice water.
Brush a layer of cooked glutinous rice flour in the wooden lotus mold, put the green dough in first and then the pink dough, and a lotus cake will be formed. Duan Zhiwei tried it himself and found it to be soft and glutinous with a light aroma of yam. I can’t say it’s very delicious, but the pastry does have some lotus flavor, small and exquisite, and very cute.
Duan Zhiwei spent half a day digging in the soil in the morning and barely found two earthworms to feed the turtle, but the turtle didn't even look at them. She broke off a piece of lotus cake and threw it into the bucket, and the little turtle, who was resting with its eyes closed, actually swam over slowly and swallowed it in one gulp.
Because he had to carry a small bucket to release the animals, Duan Zhiwei didn't make many lotus cakes. After packing the food boxes, Duan Zhiwei took a donkey cart to hang out at Nanyan Temple early in the morning.
Nanyan Temple is not big and is not as crowded as Daci'en Temple. The most important thing is that there is a pond of beautiful lotus flowers in the backyard of Nanyan Temple, which echoes the lotus cakes. It's like after visiting the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan, you want to buy cherry blossom flavored ice cream in the style of the Yellow Crane Tower; after visiting the Old Summer Palace, there are even blind boxes of Twelve Bronze Beasts ice cream to choose from, and sales are extremely good.
But then again, plans cannot keep up with changes and man proposes, God disposes.
Nanyan Temple is not as majestic and solemn as the big temples, but it is also simple and ancient. The small mountain gate has a warm color after being polished by several generations.
It's just that for such a quiet temple, the number of soldiers patrolling the gate is comparable to that of the Da Ci'en Temple. It's not that stalls are not allowed, but once the stalls are set up, the soldiers with serious faces just watch. Even though Duan Zhiwei has a good psychological endurance, the ladies of Chang'an dare not come over to buy.
She had no choice but to put her plan on hold and packed her things to go into the temple to attend the Buddha Bathing Festival. But before she could even step through the gate, she was stopped unexpectedly.
Yuan Shenji had been guarding Nanyan Temple since early morning. He saw a lady wearing a lotus-colored shirt driving a donkey cart coming towards him. She looked like him, but he didn't dare to recognize her, so he had to ride a horse and slowly approach her.
In order to make it easier to work, Duan Zhiwei basically wore yellow or crow-colored coarse linen clothes every day. Today, after much persuasion from Aunt Duan, she changed into a plain lotus-colored skirt and combed her hair into a cross-heart bun, which made her look a lot more lively.
Yuan Shenji saw her turn around, and quickly dismounted and approached her to ask, "Are you here at Nanyan Temple to attend the Buddha Bathing Festival?"
Duan Zhiwei had not told him about the Luotou clan before, so he felt a little guilty. "I thought Captain Yuan should go to patrol big temples like Da Ci'en Temple and Jianfo Temple. Why did he come to Nanyan Temple?"
Yuan Shenji was still on duty and didn't say much to her. He just said, "Recently, many people who come to Nanyan Temple to burn incense always accidentally throw the balls into the nearby pond. Madam Duan, please be careful when you enter the temple." After that, he bowed, turned around and rode away on his horse. He seemed to be really busy.
Duan Zhiwei thought about it for a while before he understood what he meant. It couldn't be possible... How could a healthy person fall into the pool in broad daylight?
Maybe it rained a few days ago, so the road around the lotus pond is quite slippery.
Or maybe it was a ghost.
Today is the Buddha Bathing Festival. There is indeed curling smoke and lingering Buddhist chants in the temple. The altar is decorated with incense, flowers, and candles. The monks are wearing robes and placing the bronze Buddha in a basin of water. This is the Buddha Bathing Festival. The women began to scramble to donate copper coins. Duan Zhiwei had no choice but to open his purse, think for a long time, and reluctantly threw in a few copper coins.
The pond in front of the temple was already surrounded by ladies in various clothes. Duan Zhiwei could smell the strong scent of powder before he approached.
The animals released were also different, including fish, shrimps, and even snails. An elderly lady carried a large bucket and poured several pounds of snails directly into the release pond.
Duan Zhiwei finally squeezed in and saw the woman pouring snails and said, "It's also good to buy snails and release them. Snails are cheap."
The turtle, who was resting with his eyes closed in the bucket, rolled his eyes when he heard this.
Duan Zhiwei was taught by her aunt for half a day, but she still didn't learn how to recite the mantra. She could only squat and gently put the little turtle into the release pond and said, "Don't let others catch it again in the future. Also, if you become enlightened one day, can you bless me to make a fortune?"
The turtle ignored her and swam slowly away following the red and white school of fish.
Duan Zhiwei squatted for half a day, stood up and jumped twice to relieve the numbness in his legs, then walked quickly out, intending to sell some lotus cakes while it was still early, but he was stopped again.
This time, it was a few ladies who called her. Those ladies were standing under the murals of Nanyan Temple. The lady in the lead was wearing a peach-red shirt with colorful clouds and mist, and her skin was slightly plump. At first glance, she was a lady from a wealthy family.
The lady put her hands on her hips and asked, "Just now outside the temple, what did my cousin say to you?"
Today, Du Yourong, the eldest daughter of Minister Du, originally planned to go to Qinglong Temple to participate in the Buddha Bathing Festival, but unexpectedly learned that recently there have been men and women accidentally falling into the pond near Nanyan Temple. When asked the reason, she just said she didn't remember.
Although Nanyan Temple is not large in size, there are nearly fifty pools of various sizes nearby. The imperial court had no choice but to send the Jinwu Guards to strengthen patrols near Nanyan Temple.
Upon hearing that the Jinwu Guards were here, Du Yourong immediately followed.
"Who?" Duan Zhiwei was confused.
The maid behind reminded: "Captain Yuan."
I understand. This is a cliché love story where the man is not sure whether he has feelings for her but the woman is interested.
Du Yourong had earlier lifted the curtain and got off the carriage. She saw from afar that Yuan Shenji was riding a horse carefully following a lady in a donkey cart, and then spoke to the lady in the donkey cart. She became very angry. Then she met Duan Zhiwei in the temple and called her out in anger.
Duan Zhiwei quickly took off her satchel, revealing the beautiful lotus cake on the table, and said, "I was just selling lotus cake outside the temple, and Commandant Yuan thought it was interesting, so he came over to take a look."
The lotus cake was cute and exquisite. Duan Zhiwei saw that the ladies in front of him all showed surprised expressions, so he quickly struck while the iron was hot: "There are only a few lotus cakes left, which were freshly made this morning. Ladies, do you want to buy some?"
Du Yourong finally came to her senses and looked doubtful, "Is he really here to buy cakes?"
Yuan Shenji joined the military camp at the age of twelve, and fought hard every day on the heroic land of Liangzhou. He could eat four meat pie cakes at a meal, so how could he be interested in the small and exquisite lotus cake?
Duan Zhiwei hurriedly said, "This lotus cake is small and exquisite. Gentlemen naturally buy it to please their ladies." She gave Du Yourong a suggestive smile.
Seeing Du Yourong's face becoming increasingly gloomy, Duan Zhiwei took back the food box slightly: "I have made an appointment with Captain Yuan to keep some for him after he gets off duty."
Du Yourong shouted, "Don't sell them to him. He wants all these concubines!"
Duan Zhiwei suppressed his laughter and pretended to be embarrassed: "This is not good... After all, he is a fourth-rank captain."
Du Yourong angrily took off the purse from her skirt and stuffed it into Duan Zhiwei's hand: "So what if I'm a captain? My father is a third-rank minister." After saying that, she stuffed the food box to the maid behind her and turned away.
Duan Zhiwei touched his bulging purse and thought happily as he walked back, what a gullible woman! If only our dynasty had health care products, I could continue to sell them to her when she gets old.
It was so hot that day. It was almost noon and the Bodhi trees in the temple were all dried and yellowed by the scorching sun. Duan Zhiwei wiped the sweat off his face and looked at his heavy purse. He decided to take Aunt Duan to eat Sushan in the afternoon.
"Jade fingers cut Luo Sheng. Golden plates embellish Su Shan." Su Shan is the ice cream of this dynasty. The pastry is heated until it is almost melted, and then a thick layer of honey and rice wine is poured on it, and then it is poured into the shape of mountains and frozen in an ice cellar. The method is not complicated, but summer ice is rare and expensive, so Duan Zhiwei has never been willing to eat it.
Just as Duan Zhiwei was thinking this, he was stopped by a young monk when he was approaching the temple gate. The monk was wearing a simple gray monk's robe. He had a handsome face, but his eyes were slanted like a wasp. He stood quietly under a tree with a string of beads in his hand. The wind blew his gray monk's robe askew, and the whole person looked indescribably strange.
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