Thanks for the invitation: In ancient times, people shared children

The big rabbit in Shanshang Temple is a little wary of people.

It chewed grass in its mouth, with its ears erect. It would stop from time to time, stretch its body, turn its head to look around, and run away at the slightest sign of trouble.

But the little rabbit that grew up here is not like that.

After discovering that these people were not dangerous, they dared to go anywhere, and it was common for them to jump into the front yard.

They learned to eat grass, and the big rabbit ignored them.

Little Pei took some vegetable leaves from the kitchen to feed the little rabbits. They came over and started eating, chattering with their little mouths. They tore off a piece and quickly stuffed it into their mouths with their front paws. When they felt the water on the leaves, they stuck out their pink and tender little tongues.

Cheng Tianbao held his face in his hands: "Yes, or let's forget it."

Pei Xiaohai softened his heart: "I'm a little reluctant, why don't I roast you."

This was of course a joke, but Cheng Tianbao still moved a little further away from her.

Children who can't eat meat are still the same except that they are greedy.

She had a little baby fat on her face, but she wasn't too heavy to hold. With her cleanly shaved head, she ran around without losing any weight or growing much, and she was still a sturdy little nun.

She caught a cold once but didn't have a fever. Jingneng asked Ma Yaopo for some medicine for her and she recovered within two days.

Before winter came, when little Pei went down the mountain for the last time, Jinghui bought her a basket of eggs.

Jingneng and Jingchi were a little angry and complained that she shouldn't have allowed the child to break the precepts.

"Children are always greedy. It's okay if they haven't eaten before, but after eating, they will have a craving for food, and they will be even less interested in becoming a nun. What if they really return to secular life?"

Jinghui said calmly, "The child just grew up in the nunnery. She hasn't received any vows, so she's not a real nun. She doesn't think of herself as a nun. She's never been a nun, so how can she be breaking any vows?"

Jingneng and Jingchi were extremely angry and asked her, "If she doesn't want to become a nun, why should we raise her? Have you forgotten what we agreed on? We raised her to this age with great difficulty, and now she wants to return to secular life, so we just let her? What should we do then? Do we have to find another child to raise, if that child also has to return to secular life?"

Jinghui said, "I didn't tell her to return to secular life right away. Maybe she'll be willing to become a nun when she grows up."

Jingchi lost his mind and blurted out: "How could she be willing!"

Let’s not talk about whether a three-year-old can see the old age.

How hard life is in the mountains, don’t they know?

Not to mention anything else, when Pei Xiaohai was not around, they had nothing to talk about every day except reciting scriptures. That kind of loneliness day after day was unbearable enough.

When the three old nuns started arguing, Pei Xiaohai was watching her eggs in the kitchen without knowing anything about it.

Cheng Tianbao urged her with his eyes shining: "Let's fry two, put less chopped green onions, you have half and I have half."

Pei Xiaohai protected her eggs and refused: "No, I want to hatch them, so I can have meat to eat next year."

Cheng Tianbao: "Come on, don't you see that Master Jingneng and Master Jingchi are both angry? A basket of eggs has been treated like this, not to mention the meat. If they get angry, Master Jinghui might even get beaten up."

"No way, my master is amazing. If she says it's possible, it's definitely possible."

In this nunnery, Mother Jingchi would beat her at any time. Mother Jingneng looked cheerful and easy to talk to every day, but she would never agree to anything she said. When she was happy, she would tell her stories, and when she was unhappy, she would just lie down and leave. Only the master was always so reliable. He would not beat her or scold her, and would never force her to recite scriptures.

Many times, when Pei Xiaohai got into trouble, she was not afraid that Master Jingchi would find out and beat her. Instead, she was afraid that her master would be unhappy if he found out, because her master was the one who supported her the most, liked her the most, and whom she trusted the most.

This time was no exception. I don’t know what the three old nuns said in the end, but Jingneng and Jingchi didn’t care about the matter anymore. Master Jinghui found a small clay pot, boiled an egg for Pei every day, and taught her to recite a sutra.

After eating all the eggs, she finally learned the "Diamond Sutra of the Six Paths" and the "Nirvana Mantra".

Cheng Tianbao thought the boiled eggs were too bland, so apart from sharing a few with her at the beginning, he never ate them again.

Pei Xiaohai was able to enjoy it alone. She also told Master Jinghui that she wanted to raise eggs and hatch chicks. Jinghui said that when spring came, she would take her to buy breeding eggs. When she had nothing to do, Jinghui even helped her nail the chicken coop.

All he could do was laugh at the chicken coop she had nailed because it was not strong enough, tilted inside, and could be torn apart by a weasel.

Jingchi, with a cold face, helped her reinforce the structure, cleared out a space in the backyard, and put up a fence.

They all agreed, but they asked Pei Xiaohai to clean up by himself.

She naturally agreed.

So for the whole winter, Pei Xiaohai waited for the spring after the snow melted with an extremely happy and expectant heart.

……

February 3rd is the beginning of spring, when all things begin and everything is reborn.

The snow, which was thicker than in previous years, has almost melted. It is still a bit cold in the mornings and evenings, but winter is over.

Little Pei was wearing a thick monk's robe and a warm cotton hat on his head.

The master was carrying a large backpack and holding her hand, while little Pei was carrying a small backpack and walking with his head held high.

Today, she will bring her eggs back!

In fact, they could have gone down the mountain earlier, but Pei Xiaohai still wanted to wait until today. She wanted her seed egg to have the same birthday as her.

Cheng Tianbao said, "They might not have been born today, right?"

Five-year-old Pei was smarter. She said, "Who cares what day they were born? I bought them today anyway."

Cheng Tianbao couldn't understand: "Why are you giving them a birthday? Are you going to celebrate their birthdays?"

"What are you talking about?" Little Pei frowned and said earnestly, "Tianbao, don't be confused. We bought them to eat."

Cheng Tianbao emphasized his tone and asked her again: "Then why do you want to celebrate their birthdays?"

"Let them celebrate my birthday!" Pei Xiaohai said as a matter of course, "This is such an important day, I think they should know about it. Maybe at this time next year, they will give birth to many chicks for me, and then I will have plenty of meat to eat."

Cheng Tianbao saw that she had eaten too many eggs and was choked on the egg yolk and became stupid. She wanted to eat others, but they had to thank her. How could this be logical?

And—"Why is today important? Because it's your birthday?"

Little Pei was very confident: "Of course, my birthday is so important. I broke the bowl this morning, but Master Jingchi didn't beat me. She never beats me on this day every year! No matter what I do, she won't beat me!"

Cheng Tianbao: "Okay, then go back and make two more bowls for me."

Pei Xiaohai's confident smile froze.

Cheng Tianbao added: "Since today is so important, I won't laugh."

Pei Xiaohai puffed up his lips, looked around and pretended not to hear to ease the embarrassment.

"The sky is really good, the ground is really bad, the sheep are really dirty, and these big radishes and cabbages..."

"Young Master, do you want radishes and cabbages? I'll sell them to you at a lower price..."

The villagers who took the radishes and cabbages that they had saved from their own food and took them to the town to sell heard her mumbling and asked her with a smile.

Pei was startled, afraid that he would stuff the thing into him. He stretched his arms back to try to protect the backpack, and pulled his master away, shaking his head rapidly:

"I don't want it. I don't want radish or cabbage. Our money should be saved to buy me eggs!"

Such vegetables are not valuable on ordinary days, but they are sold at an extremely high price in late winter and early spring when there are not many vegetables.

There is also a kind of cave goods, which are vegetables grown in greenhouses. They can be sold for hundreds or thousands of coins. Pei Xiaohai has heard of them but has never seen them.

She wouldn't want it even if she saw it. That much money is enough for her to buy a lot of eggs!

The villagers who were rejected by her didn't get angry. They just scratched their heads and muttered to themselves, "Why is a nun buying eggs? Are you buying them to release them?"