Kaifeng Bistro

The next day, Tan Zhifeng got up early and put up a sign that the tavern was not open today.He was cleaning and wiping seriously in front of the tavern, when he saw Xu Gan coming out of the yard fully dressed.He asked Xu Gan, "Are you going to Tianqing Temple so early?"

Xu Gan nodded: "Go together?"

Tan Zhifeng hummed, and went back to the tavern to explain to Yi Yi, asking him to sort out the accounts at home today, and then went out with Xu Yan.

Yesterday was the Cold Food Festival, and today is Qingming.Tan Zhifeng and Xu Yan walked side by side in the empty streets and alleys of Kaifeng. The air in the morning was a bit humid, as if shrouded in a layer of mist. The sleeping capital seemed more peaceful and quiet.

The two came to the gate of Tianqing Temple again, and climbed up the long steps. At the gate of the temple, a young monk in green robes was cleaning the dust in front of the gate.As soon as they got close, the monk suddenly raised his head and smiled at them: "It's finally here, I've been waiting for you all night."

Tan Zhifeng was a little surprised, it turned out that the monk was Wen Hui.He led them into the temple, handed the broom to a young novice, and said to him: "Go prepare tea, and use the Beiyuan Xianchun I brought back from the palace yesterday to entertain the distinguished guests."

The little novice went away in response, and Wen Hui led the two of them into the meditation room behind.Tan Zhifeng and Xu Gan sat down face to face with him, and when the tea was ready to be served, Wen Hui took a sip from the teacup and sighed, "I recited Buddhist scriptures for most of the night in the palace last night to save those soldiers who died in battle in the northwest. .Zhao Zhen is in a hurry, and the paperwork to hold Han Qi and Fan Zhongyan accountable is already on the way this morning."

"How did you lose the battle?" Tan Zhifeng asked, "Is there no more news from the palace?"

"There's a lot of news, I don't know if it's true or not." Wen Hui said: "Try the new tea. A few days ago, my apprentice came to me and said that you plan to go out of the city to the northwest. Once this happens, do we have to leave early? gone?"

"Are you planning to go?" Xu Gan asked.

"Didn't you come to invite me?" Wen Hui smiled at him: "We are comrades in arms who fought side by side thousands of years ago. This time I don't practice any more. Isn't it because I came to fight this monster with you? Tell me." , when are you going to leave?"

Xu Gan repeated what he said to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang last night. After listening to it, Wen Hui pondered for a while, and said, "Although the news from last night is not accurate, I can be sure of one thing——Xixia this time In the war, they neither attacked the city nor plundered the land, they just tricked the Song army out of the city many times and massacred them. It seems that they hoped that as many people would die as possible, but they didn’t know what benefit it would have for Xixia?”

"I'm afraid his ambition is not in the northwest," Xu Gan said, "Zhan Zhao said yesterday that he has already released the news that he will go directly to Guanzhong."

"I've also heard about this." Wen Hui added some tea to Xu Gan and Tan Zhifeng, and then continued: "It seems that he has assembled enough troops...not ordinary soldiers, but..."

"Tens of thousands of dead souls." Xu Gan put down the teacup and said in a deep voice, "This is not a small sum."

"So, what are you going to do with you guys?" Wen Hui asked, "Are you going to die with him?"

"I don't know." Xu Gan said lightly.He spread his palms in front of Wen Hui, letting him see the darkening black lines and blazing red lines running along his palm lines: "My strength will recover soon, but this is not the case. Not necessarily a good thing."

Wen Hui frowned, looking at Xu Gan's palm seriously.He recited softly: "Like the heart of the earth, it can hold and grow the good roots of all sentient beings; like the heart of the sea, it flows into the water of immeasurable, boundless, great wisdom and dharma of all Buddhas; like the heart of Mount Sumeru... like the heart of Mani King Like the diamond heart, it is determined to go deep into all dharmas... It is like the heart of the diamond surrounding the mountain, because all demons and outsiders cannot move it; it is like the lotus flower heart, because it cannot be contaminated by all the world's dharmas; it is like the utan bowl Huaxin, all difficulties in kalpas are met; like the heart of the pure sun, it breaks through darkness; like the heart of emptiness, it is immeasurable. It is ten..." After he finished reciting, a dazzling golden light suddenly flashed in the air, Wen Hui raised his hand and pointed towards the golden light. The golden light moved gently like the sun and landed in Xu Gan's palm. The red and black mist lingering in Xu Gan's palm gradually disappeared in all directions under the golden light. A small ball of golden light kept flickering in Xu Gan's palm lines, and finally turned into a golden Buddha seal.

"Hey." Wen Hui sighed and said, "I only have this level of cultivation right now, which can help you temporarily suppress it. There is a power around you that can induce the evil spirit in your body to become stronger. Do you know where it comes from?"

"I know." Xu Yan said calmly: "But the evil spirit and my divine power, they complement each other. When one comes back, the other will come back. Girl, this is the curse left to you and me by the great war thousands of years ago. We There is no way to purify the power."

Wen Hui sat there and looked at Xu Gan quietly for a while, then smiled and reached out to pat Tan Zhifeng's face: "Are you scared by him?"

"That day..." Tan Zhifeng first thought of the night when he went to save Lu Yang: "I was really... shocked."

"That's him." Wen Hui stood up, stretched her robe sleeves, and said to Tan Zhifeng with a smile: "The real him will definitely scare you when the time comes."

"I'm not so easily frightened." Tan Zhifeng also smiled: "Didn't you just say that even ordinary people can cultivate ten kinds of hearts, generate good roots, abandon all demons, break through dark barriers, and be reborn in calamities... ... let alone you gods who have cultivated for thousands of years?"

"Oh, Ying Long." Wen Hui smiled even more happily: "I said earlier that Zhifeng has a connection with Buddha. After this incident is over, let him practice with me for a while. It won't take long, just a few hundred years..."

"No." Xu Gan flatly refused.Wen Hui still looked at Tan Zhifeng with a smile on her face: "Then, let's meet tomorrow in Wheatstraw Lane."

Tan Zhifeng and Xu Gan walked out of the fasting room, and they happened to walk to the small road beside the side wall of the main hall that they passed after the fierce battle that night.The few peach trees that were still bare at that time are now blooming with delicate flowers.Tan Zhifeng's heart moved, he took Xu Gan's hand and walked under the tree, and asked him: "I... When my flowering period is over, what will the flowers look like?"

"It's beautiful." Xu Gan said calmly, "I've never seen such a beautiful flower, but it's been so long that I can't remember it, and I can't describe it in words."

"How long?" Tan Zhifeng asked wonderingly: "Could it be that I...could it be that the flowering period is here, shouldn't it be blooming?"

Xu Gan said: "When I was reincarnated, after your flowering period, I sometimes saw it in my dreams, but it was very vague, and I would forget it when I woke up. I only knew that I had a beautiful dream."

"Then..." Tan Zhifeng finally asked a question he had always wanted to ask: "What kind of flower am I?"

Xu Gan was silent for a while, and replied: "I brought you back from the top of the mountain. There are few records in the books of the Central Plains, and I didn't bother to look it up. However, if you want to know, I will find a way to help you in the future." Find out."

"Forget it, I'm not in a hurry to find out." Tan Zhifeng stood still under the tree, took Xu Gan's hand and said to him: "Ying Long, no matter what, thank you for taking me to this world. "

Xu Gan raised his hand and lightly touched Tan Zhifeng's cheek: "Wen Hui said you have Buddha nature. If you practice with him, maybe you can really ascend to bliss. You...do you want to practice in the future?"

Tan Zhifeng shook his head and smiled and replied: "Bliss? What is bliss? Is it immortal? Is there no worries? If someone told me that there is a world of bliss before leaving Longxi, then I might think that Longxi is bliss. But after leaving Longxi, after going through the reincarnation of the world, I think it is more interesting to have sorrow and joy, suffering and joy. Yinglong, if we can choose to go back to Longxi, I will not go back. I would rather be with you Live an ordinary life, listen to Yi Yi Zhuo Zhuo and they quarrel every day, then teach Shang Shang and Ling Er to read, and make them swings with you, I hope to watch them grow up, even if you and I will grow old and die , Just like this peach tree grows young leaves in spring, blooms beautiful flowers, bears fruit in summer, harvests in autumn, and waits until winter... the leaves fall one by one... in the second year, there will be new ones When the leaves grow out, you can see the beauty of spring, summer, autumn and winter, isn’t it good?”

Tan Zhifeng watched Xu Gan say these words, and for a moment, he seemed to feel that the corners of Xu Gan's eyes were moist.Just when he wanted to take a closer look, Xu Gan stretched out his hand and hugged him tightly. Tan Zhifeng listened to Xu Gan's chest rising and falling. The two stood quietly for a while before Xu Gan said, "Let's go."

That night, Tan Zhifeng was about to go to sleep, but Yi Yi stopped him and said to him, "Tan Zhifeng, should we have a meeting?"

Tan Zhifeng called Xu Yan and Zhuo Zhuo who were still awake, and everyone sat around the table. After a while, Yi Yi pulled an iron box from behind the counter, and took out the bags of things inside.

"What is this?" Zhuo Zhuo asked in bewilderment.

"Money." Yi Yi glanced at her and replied in a low voice.

"Oh my god! We actually have so much money?!" Zhuo Zhuo shouted dumbfounded looking at the heavy bags.

"What's your name?!" Yi Yi checked the tightly closed door again: "Tell you, it's not 'us', the money, which was left by Brother Bai, I haven't had it since he left I took it, left it untouched, and put it here. Also, these belong to Xu Gan, and the remaining few bags have nothing to do with you, because your income from labor has been paid to you every month It's..."

"What? Monthly money?! Why don't I remember what monthly money I have!" Zhuo Zhuo said angrily.

"Because every time you pay the monthly money, you use it to buy makeup, clothes and jewelry, so there is nothing left." Yi Yi replied unceremoniously: "Do you want to see my account book? I think You can't read it, and you don't bother to read it, but if you can also learn to keep accounts..."

"Oh, it's over," Zhuo Zhuo waved his hand impatiently: "We're going out of the city, so much money has no place to put it, and it's useless, what should we do?"

Xu Yan glanced at it, and said, "Leave a part for Zhou Yanjing's family, and the rest, count the expenses on the road, and exchange what you need for Jiaozi to take with you."

"I've figured it out." Yi Yi said: "Although the road is far away, the food and clothing outside will not be as expensive as Kaifeng. I have already made sufficient preparations, and I have done my best. In the end, I still have three or four hundred guan left." , what are you going to do with the money?"

"This money..." Tan Zhifeng glanced at Yi Yi's hand tightly holding the money bag, and asked carefully, "Can I really use it?"

"If you have a legitimate purpose," Yi Yi nodded, "Yes."

"I...I want to go to Killing Pig Alley." Tan Zhifeng thought for a while, then turned his head and said to Xu Gan.