Arrival at Puxian Temple
As December approaches, the fallen leaves on both sides of the mountain path turn from dark green to withered yellow, and are either crushed by passers-by or turned into fertilizer to nourish the soil.
Puxian Temple is located on a cliff in the western suburbs. There is a very wide platform on the cliff, and there is a small pond, which is now fenced off and is home to carp and lotus flowers.
Behind the platform, close to the hillside, is the back mountain of Puxian Temple. The back mountain is planted with maple trees, and when the maple leaves turn red, it is the busiest time for tourists.
There are farmers setting up stalls at the foot of the mountain. Most of them live in nearby villages, and the rest are on their way here.
They just want to take advantage of the fact that there are many people visiting at this time to earn some money to supplement their lives.
Shi Yanqing and the other two got off the carriage at the foot of the mountain. Although the mountain road was not rugged, it was winding.
People can go up, but carriages cannot.
Fortunately, the mountain is not high, and when I climbed to the entrance of the temple, I was just panting and sweating.
But the carriage needs to be guarded, otherwise the things in the carriage will be stolen.
Shi Yanqing looked at Qingping and the other two who were moving the gifts, thought for a moment, and decided, "Qingping, you stay here and guard the carriage."
Qingping had no objection when he heard this. He was a dull person and didn't care about such things.
After arranging the people who stayed behind, Shi Yanqing took Danye, Qingjiu and Qingbai to the banyan tree not far away to wait for people.
Just now, Liu Anan saw someone selling pheasants. She thought that Lu Tong was busy in the county government office all day and his body would not be able to bear it, so she planned to buy the pheasant to nourish him.
Bai Fenghua didn't intend to go at first, but there was someone selling other wild game from the mountains next to the pheasants.
These were things that were not likely to be late, and since she was greedy for them, she went with Liu Anan.
As for why Shi Yanqing didn't go, it was because when she and Zhou Hanzhang were in the village, people often gave them these things.
Almost everyone she treated received gifts of this medicine. If they couldn't catch wild pheasants or rabbits, she would give them some wild vegetables and fruits.
There are quite a lot of them, scattered here and there.
In the end, I didn’t finish it and brought it back.
The vegetables in the seafood noodles that Liu Niang made yesterday were wild vegetables from the mountains.
"Yanqing, we have finished shopping. Let's get ready to go up the mountain now." Liu Anan put the pheasants he bought into the carriage, and told the servant who stayed behind to keep an eye on the carriage and not let anyone get close to steal things.
Bai Fenghua came here in Shi Yanqing's carriage. She didn't prepare anything and only brought some dry food on her back.
After they were ready, they walked up the mountain road.
Shi Yanqing used to travel around frequently, climbing mountains and swimming in the water.
At this moment, the hill seemed to be of little pressure to her and was very relaxing.
But for Liu Anan, who has been staying in the city and rarely goes out, this short distance is almost a death sentence for her.
Halfway up the climb, Liu Anan was already panting from exhaustion.
Tao Ye helped her sit on a large rock by the roadside to rest. "I can't do it anymore. I need to relax for a while. Otherwise, when I get to the temple gate, I will be so tired that I will sit on the ground."
Shi Yanqing looked at the sky. The sun was still in the east and it was still early.
"Okay, then let's rest here for a while."
"Qingjiu, go ahead and scout the road to see how far it is. Qingbai, take out the water from the package and share it with everyone."
After receiving the order, Sake quickly left to ask someone for directions.
Upon hearing this, Qingbai walked towards the side of the mountain road, placed the two packages in his hands on the clean grass, then opened one of the packages and took out a water bag from it.
Liu Anan waved her hand and said, "Yanqing, I brought some water here, you can give it to Phoenix Flower."
After drinking some water and taking a short rest, Sake returned.
He told everything he had just heard.
"Madam, Puxian Temple is not far away, just around the corner. I also heard that a group of scholars are holding a maple viewing party at the temple today. They have cordoned off half of the maple forest on the back mountain, and no one else can enter."
"Oh? Then have you found out the identities of those scholars?"
Qingjiu hesitated, "I don't know the details, I just know that the young master of the Lin family is there."
Lin family, Shi Yanqing found the memories about them from his mind.
The last time I heard about them was from Liu Anan. The eldest and youngest sons of the Lin family were competing for the position of head of the family.
Later, the eldest son of the Lin family, Lin Shufeng, was driven out of the Lin family by the younger son, Lin Shuyu. Since then, Lin Shufeng has never appeared in Yunshui County.
Lin Shuyu is now over 30 years old and has never participated in the imperial examination, so it is impossible for him to be among this group of scholars.
The previous head of the family, Lin Mao, had only two sons and three daughters, and there were no other brothers from the legitimate lineage. So the young master of the Lin family among this group of scholars should be from a branch lineage.
"Could it be that Lin Jian?"
Liu Anan's words attracted everyone's attention.
She sat on the rock, looked up and saw everyone was looking at her, then told them everything she knew.
"Lin Jian is the son of Lin Sheng, and Lin Sheng is the younger brother of the previous head of the family, Lin Mao."
"After Lin Jian was born, Lin Sheng had high hopes for him. When he was starting out, he invited a teacher from the prefectural capital to teach him at home. Later, he sent Lin Jian to study at the academy in the state capital. Last year, Lin Jian took the exam and passed the exam as a scholar."
"Lin Sheng was incredibly happy and threw a grand seven-day banquet. This incident is known to everyone in Yunshui County. However, since you've only been here for a short time, it's understandable that you haven't heard of it."
"I see." Shi Yanqing didn't comment much after hearing this.
She glanced at Liu Anan, whose face had become rosy again, and said, "Let's go, let's continue up the mountain."
After walking for another quarter of an hour, they arrived at the gate of Puxian Temple.
There are two stone statues in front of the temple gate. After years of erosion by wind and rain, it is now impossible to tell what they are, but they are definitely not human statues.
A young monk was sweeping the fallen leaves and dirt at the door with a broom. When he saw Shi Yanqing and the others, he stopped sweeping and bowed to them.
"Amitabha, Shanshui greets all the donors."
"Young master, we are here to enjoy the maple leaves. How do we get to the back mountain?" This was also Liu Anan's first time at Puxian Temple, and he was as unfamiliar with it as Shi Yanqing and the others.
Shanshui lowered his eyes slightly, raised his arm and pointed in a direction.
"If you want to enjoy the maple leaves, please go over there. However, there is a group of scholars in the maple forest having a maple leaf viewing party today. They don't want to be disturbed, so they used a cloth to divide the forest into two parts."
"Thank you for the reminder, Master."
After asking for directions, they headed towards the back mountain.
The closer you get to the back mountain, the more maple trees there are on the roadside, and the more red maple leaves there are on the ground, until all you see is red leaves, as gorgeous as flames.
After walking inside for a while, an ancient octagonal pavilion appeared in everyone's sight.
Inside, there was a round stone table and four stone benches. At the railing below the pavilion, there was a bench with wooden planks extending into the pavilion.
"Let's sit down and take a rest, and enjoy the scenery at the same time." Liu Anan suggested. After she said that, she took the lead and entered the octagonal pavilion.
Sit down on one of the stone benches.
"Fortunately there is no dust on the stool, otherwise your skirt would be dirty and you would have to change into a clean one later." Bai Fenghua followed him into the octagonal pavilion.
She stretched out her hand and gently brushed it across the stone bench, then raised her fingertips, which were white and tender, without any dust on them.
"This place is not far from the temple, someone should be cleaning it."
Shi Yanqing sat down with the two of them.
After she sat down, Dan Ye took out a water bag and snacks from the package and put them on the table.
At this time, several people wearing blue-white robes and looking like scholars walked out of the woods. They had angry looks on their faces and seemed to be arguing about something.
The two groups were not close to each other, but they were within each other's sight.
After seeing the faces of those scholars clearly, Shi Yanqing let out a soft "hmm".
"Hmm? What's wrong, dear? Did you see someone you know?" Bai Fenghua noticed her movement and asked while turning her head to look in the direction she was looking.
"I did see someone I knew. I was just a little curious as to why he appeared here."
Shi Yanqing withdrew his gaze and stopped looking at those scholars.
Hearing their conversation, Liu Anan also looked over curiously.
But she didn't like going out much and didn't know those scholars at all.
Noticing Liu Anan's curiosity, Shi Yanqing continued, "One of them is the son of the Qian family, the one who refused to take the imperial examination and decided to venture into the martial arts world."
"Oh, it's him." Although Liu Anan doesn't like to go out, she has Tao Ye.
Tao Ye would find all the gossip in the county for her and tell her about it one by one.
She had heard gossip about Qian Yueshu before, and now she understood why Shi Yanqing was curious.
"Maybe Master Qian forced him to come. After all, Master Qian hoped that he would change his mind and continue studying for the imperial examinations." Liu Anan guessed.
However, Shi Yanqing felt that this was not the case.
If Qian Yueshu was forced by Master Qian to attend the maple leaf viewing party, he would not have prepared medicine in advance as a precaution and would have succumbed to Master Qian's majesty and returned to study long ago.
At this time, the scholars also saw people sitting in the octagonal pavilion.
The sound of their argument gradually died down, and the anger on their faces faded a lot.
However, they had no intention of coming over, but turned and left in another direction.
Qian Yueshu, who was mixed in, recognized Shi Yanqing, but he did not step forward to say hello. Instead, he left with his companions.
After sitting in the octagonal pavilion for a while, Liu Anan ran outside full of energy to pick up maple leaves.
Shi Yanqing just drank tea and looked at her with a smile.
"Feng Hua, why don't you come with us? I remember you used to like picking up leaves, especially beautiful ones."
At that time, when Bai Fenghua picked up beautiful leaves, she would put them between books and would not bury them in the soil until the leaves were completely dry.
When Bai Fenghua heard her mention the past, she smiled.
She shook her head. "That was all when I was a kid. I haven't picked up leaves in ages. It's better to sweep them together after they fall and let them wither slowly."
"Besides, I'm wearing a new dress today, I don't want it to get dirty."
Liu Anan picked up a dozen maple leaves and then stopped.
She used a handkerchief to wipe the dust and dirt off the leaves, placing them on the table as she wiped. After wiping the last maple leaf, the small stone table was filled with fiery red maple leaves.
"Look how beautiful these leaves are! You can even take them home and make them into bookmarks. Yanqing, Phoenix Flower, you two should pick some too. I can't use up all these."
Shi Yanqing did not refuse, but did not pick and choose. Instead, she randomly picked a few maple leaves in front of her and handed them to Danye, asking her to keep them.
After we get back, we will make these maple leaves into bookmarks and give one to Hanzhang and one to Hangui.
Seeing Shi Yanqing put it away, Liu Anan looked at Bai Fenghua with anticipation again.
Bai Fenghua sighed slightly helplessly, but she didn't realize that she had a smile on her lips and looked particularly happy.
This was the first genuine smile she showed since she came to Puxian Temple.
…
In the forest, there was an open space with several low tables, each one arm long. There were no books on the tables, only pens, ink, paper and inkstone.
In front of these desks, a group of scholars in blue clothes gathered together. Some of them were calm, some were excited, and some were boastful. They all centered around one person.
The man was thin, with a pale complexion, and the dark circles under his eyes gave him a sense of fatigue.
He was holding a piece of paper with ink writing on it, with a smile on his lips and a hint of complacency and disdain in his eyes.
"Brother Lin, it seems that you are the winner of this maple leaf viewing party." The speaker was a scholar with ordinary appearance.
As soon as he said this, several people echoed him.
At this time, several people walked out from behind the tree and just heard these words.
"These people are becoming more and more capable of lying with their eyes open. They claim to be the leader, but they are just a scholar."
"Brother Liu, please be careful with your words. A gentleman does not conceal others' strengths, nor does he speak of others' faults. Although Lin Jian is keen on fame and fortune, he also has some real talents and knowledge." Qian Yueshu said.
He hasn't attended such gatherings for a long time since he announced that he would suspend his studies and venture into the world.
There are reasons and reasons why I have to participate this time.
A month and a half ago, he had another argument with his father about studying, and was beaten out of the house by his father with a feather duster.
While wandering the streets, he saw a man lying on the ground with a wheelchair lying on its side next to him.
Seeing this scene, he naturally stepped forward to help enthusiastically and helped the man from the ground to sit in the wheelchair.
However, the person was helped up, but the wheelchair was broken for some unknown reason and could not be moved.
Qingfeng was passing by at that time. He had learned a little carpentry when he was traveling abroad, and he could tell what was wrong at a glance.
So he helped to fix the wheelchair and left in a hurry.
Because of this encounter, when Qian Yueshu met Qingfeng again later, he greeted and chatted with him in a natural and familiar manner.
The two gradually became familiar with each other and became good friends.
Later, he accidentally discovered that Qingfeng was investigating the witch doctor's affairs. After learning the truth, he decided to investigate with Qingfeng.
They traced it back to the past and found that there was a witch doctor hiding in Puxian Temple.
That person hid himself very well, usually never leaving the temple and never seeing outsiders. If nothing unexpected happened, his identity would never be exposed in his lifetime.
But not long ago, when Qian Yueshu accompanied Madam Qian here to burn incense, he saw that man being threatened.
From their conversation, Qian Yueshu learned the identity of the novice monk.
"Brother Qian is right, but Brother Liu was just angry at the time."
"Yes, yes."
The others tried to ease the atmosphere.
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