【Cang Qiao】Bodhi

When Shi Yanwen and Qiao Rulai arrived in the town, they were dumbfounded.

There was no other reason, it was because Snow Mountain Silver Swallow was carrying a clouded leopard on its shoulder, and Jian Wuji beside him looked at his purse and sighed.

This leopard has a smooth coat and a vigorous figure. If you exclude its drowsy, half-dream appearance, it can indeed be called a beautiful beast.

But this leopard not only looked so dazed and drowsy, it also hiccupped.

It was actually a leopard that drank wine!

"Father, brother, let's take it back to Zhengqi Villa first, shall we?" Xueshan Yinyan carried the leopard on her shoulders, and patted Jian Wuji's shoulder with the other hand, "Jian Wuji, don't feel sorry for your silver .”

"A whole 20 taels of snowflake silver!" Jian Wuji exaggeratedly sighed, put the empty purse back into his bosom, patted it twice, turned his head, and poked the leopard with his finger once and for all On the top of his head, he said angrily: "This is the first time I have seen a leopard who went to the warehouse of a wine shop to steal wine and accidentally dropped it into the wine tank and got drunk..."

While talking and poking, his mouth and hands didn't stop.The leopard felt uncomfortable being poked in a drowsy state, it hummed twice and limply lay on Yinyan's shoulder.

"Yinyan, what's going on?" Shi Yanwen looked at Jian Wuji, then at Yinyan, and finally his eyes fell on the leopard.

Ever since Cang Yue Guming saw the "drunk leopard", he turned around Qiao Rulai, put his body on his calf, stood up his tail and ears, and stared at the "drunken leopard" without blinking. Clouded Leopard, thoughtful.

"Jian Wuji and I were drinking in a wine shop. The boss said that there was not enough wine and we needed to get it from the warehouse. Then I heard a scream from the warehouse. When Jian Wuji and I arrived, we saw this guy..." Silver Yan patted the leopard's side chest twice heavily with his hand, and made two muffled sounds, which made Cang Yue Guming subconsciously shrink back, quite a kind of "empathy".Yinyan didn't notice the big wolf's little move, and said to herself: "It seems that when I stole the wine, my whole body fell into the wine tank accidentally, and I got drunk. The boss wants to peel it off. I think this is too cruel, so I discussed it with Jian Wuji, paid for a tank of wine, and asked the boss to hand it over to me."

"I was thinking that this place is at the foot of the Buddhist temple anyway, so you can't kill, and this leopard didn't hurt anyone. Why don't you just take it back to Zhengqi Villa and let it go away on its own when it wakes up." Yinyan looked at Shi Yanwen and Qiao Tathagata in front of her, "Dad Dear, big brother, Xueshan Yinyan made her own decision, it's just..."

"Father understands what you mean." Shi Yanwen raised her hand to stop Yinyan's subsequent rebuttal, her eyes were still warm, and there was no trace of reproach.He nodded approvingly, turned his head to look at Qiao Tathagata who had been silent all this time, and asked, "Jingzhong, what do you think?"

Before Qiao Rulai could open her mouth, she heard a voice from her heart:

——Qiao Tathagata, take him back, the lonely king has something to ask him.

He froze for a moment, subconsciously turned his head and glanced at Cang Yue Guming.He caught the look of the big wolf in his eyes, then returned to his senses, looked into Shi Yanwen's eyes, nodded slightly, and said: "I agree with Yinyan's idea, it didn't hurt anyone's life, so there is no need to hurt him. It's dark now , why not bring it back to Zhengqi Villa first."

■

Righteous Villa, firewood house in the backyard.

The clouded leopard was lying on the pile of firewood, and Yuanyuan's ears moved.

It seemed to have come to its senses, its tea-brown eyes brought some vigilance, and it glanced at the narrow hut it was in, its tail habitually patted the ground, bringing out a pile of firewood and knocking it down The sound of collapse.

"..."

——Yaoshou, forgot that he is a prototype, his tail is too long!

It slowly stretched out from the pile of messy firewood, shaking the tips of its claws back and forth, and managed to pull away the messy firewood in front of it, and then it was able to get away.After getting away, he carefully walked two steps in the open space, so as not to let himself run into the mountains of obstacles around him again.

Its whole body was soaked in wine in the afternoon, and its bones were about to be soaked. Even though I like to drink alcohol on weekdays, it is too uncomfortable to be dizzy. for a while.

——Hey, it's all because the wine in the human world is so delicious, and the stock in any wine shop is so mellow.

The clouded leopard generally thought this way to comfort itself, snoring its dewy face with its furry paws.The moon rabbit was just rising, and the faint moonlight came in through the small square windows, reflecting the turtle-like patterns on its body in a layer of light.He moved his eyes, and two thin black tear stains on his cheeks flickered between light and shadow, and a pair of big eyes like glass beads rolled around, agile and vigilant.

While looking at the room, it crept towards the door silently, pressed its paws on the door panel, and pushed hard, but did not push.

—the door was actually locked!

——Are you humans so stingy!

——If you drink some wine, you will lock me up!

The leopard sighed dejectedly, and its paws slowly slid down the grain of the door panel.It opened its mouth, and didn't make the low hoarse sound that ordinary leopards would make, but:

"Yaoshou, what about the mission..."

The voice was mellow and deep, with a hint of drunken hoarseness.

It turned out to be a fine clouded leopard!

Cloud Leopard was very disturbed.It was able to leave the demon world only because it was given a task, so what happened?The task has not been completed yet, but because of being greedy for drinking, humans have been imprisoned in... the firewood room.

At the moment when it lowered its head and sighed helplessly, the leopard seemed to think of something again, moved its limbs slightly, jumped left and right, and deftly came to the place where the moonlight came in—

That's a window!

The firewood room is usually only used for stacking firewood, and the windows are only for ventilation, so the windows themselves are small.But the clouded leopard is small in size, and its movements are nimble and vigorous, and its body is thin and light. This small square is enough for it to turn over.

"Hey, there is no unparalleled road." It chanted a common saying in the human world, and climbed up the window pane with a light leap, and climbed up with its strength, and easily climbed over the window and landed safely on the ground.

There was no sound.

At this time, the sky was not so bright anymore, thin clouds flowed across the sky, covering some of the moonlight, making the already faint light even weaker.Clouded Leopard walked back and forth twice at the door of the woodshed, flicking its tail triumphantly, but did not notice the shadow of the wolf approaching in the darkness.

After expressing his inner emotions, Leopard turned around and tried to find a way out.Unexpectedly, it just turned its head, and saw a big silver-gray wolf walking towards him slowly and gracefully, step by step, step by step.Under the backlight, a pair of blue eyes like a vast sea seemed to be shining, and the fireflies were shining brightly, and it was hard to see that the clouded leopard was sweating.

The wolf stopped about three feet away from the clouded leopard, raised its head, and said to it in a disdainful and proud tone:

"Iron Army Guard Captain——Feng Xiaoyao, what are you doing in the human world?"

It was Cang Yue Guming.

"Ah——My lord—" The cloud leopard named "Feng Xiaoyao" saw the figure of Cang Yue Gu Ming, and was a little at a loss.The long tail straightened for a moment, then obediently curled up by the side, sat down on the hind legs, rested the front paws in front of the body, and took a standard "sitting posture".He lowered his eyes slightly, looking at the faint shadow under Cang Yue Guming's feet, with a serious tone, and spoke seriously:

"My lord, it was the boss who asked me to come to the human world to look for the king. There is an organization called 'Dimen' who has been active recently and has already affected the border of the demon world. Although it is not serious, the boss said that this matter needs to be discussed with the king. Discuss, so send me to ask the king to return to the demon world."

He uttered all the official Chinese that had been drafted in his stomach in one breath, with correct accent and clear logic.He thought that the King of Xi Miao in front of him would readily agree after hearing this speech and then go back with him, but unexpectedly, Cang Yue Guming only frowned slightly after listening, and lowered his head, wondering what he was thinking .Feng Xiaoyao quietly raised his eyelids, and found that the big wolf on the opposite side did not send the message of "returning to the demon world" from the tip of its ears to the tip of its nose, from the tip of its claws to the tip of its tail.

This time, Feng Xiaoyao felt a little anxious. He had left the demon world for more than a month, and the time agreed with "Boss Boy" had passed. Going out of the demon world to catch him back, and not giving him alcohol after returning is the most terrible thing.Thinking of this, the tip of Feng Xiaoyao's tail couldn't help shaking slightly, and the big round tail slapped the ground one after another, bringing up dust on the ground layer after layer, and stuck it between the tea-black hair.

"Your Majesty..." Feng Xiaoyao hesitated for a moment, then collected himself, and decided to continue, "Although the influence of the Earth Gate is not serious, it spreads very fast. Before I left, [-]% of the border has been affected by it. I have already left the demon world." There is more than one month left, and things may change, I still hope that the king will return to the demon world as soon as possible."

After he finished speaking, he stopped talking, watched Cang Yue Guming's reaction, and waited for the other party's response.

Cang Yue Guming has been silent since hearing Feng Xiaoyao's report.The message brought by the other party is too much, and it is too worrying for him.As a king, as a ruler of a country who governs tens of thousands of people, he wants to put the safety of the country above everything else. Although Feng Xiaoyao said little, the seriousness of the situation revealed in it cannot be ignored.

But what about Qiao Tathagata?

Qiao Tathagata was born as a human being in this life, and his life expectancy is less than a hundred years.If this matter is difficult, will it be a hundred years after it is resolved?

He waited so many years, thousands of years for a beautiful Tathagata.If you missed it this time, then...

What should he do with his care and concern for him?

He felt that his heart was divided into two halves at this moment, one half carried the world of the demon world with tens of millions of subjects, and the other half took care of the unique Tathagata in the sky and the world.

He wants to ask for a little more time, and then go to accompany him to see more scenery of the human world; he wants to covet a moment of time, and then accompany him to witness those Bodhisattvas attaining enlightenment; he wants to steal another day of scenery, Then accompany him to talk about those insignificant words that can be remembered in his heart.

But this time, like the sand between the fingers, flies by like an arrow in a string, without giving a trace of relaxation.He was indulging in this short-lived blissful ecstasy, but he was about to be separated from it before he could taste the warmth and fragrance on the monk's robe.

Those eyes as deep as the sea blinked hard a few times, dry and sore, but nothing flowed out.Cang Yue Guming raised his head, his voice was soft, without any emotion:

"When this matter is over, the lonely king will go back. Before that, Captain, the lonely king needs your help with one thing."

■

Qiao Rulai braided her hair, put the jeweled hair accessories on the table, picked up the mahogany comb at hand, and slowly combed her long hair like silver frost one by one.The rustling sound of mahogany and hair rubbing against each other echoed in the slightly empty room, bringing out a sense of loneliness.

After finishing combing the waist-length hair, Qiao Rulai put the comb away, opened the wooden lattice window with a gap, and watched the dim moonlight outside the window quietly.He stretched out his hand out of the window, and his fingertips touched the laurel leaves covered with night dew, which was cold and moist.

Suddenly, Qiao Rulai heard a slight sound of furs rubbing against the wooden door. Instead of turning his head back immediately, he withdrew his hand, closed the half-open window, and put the window latch on.After tidying up everything, Qiao Rulai turned her head, and the warm yellow candlelight hit her face, making that delicate face softer:

"Wolf?"

He stood up and watched the silver-gray wolf appear in the room, bringing the slightly cold frosty autumn night.Qiao Tathagata stepped forward quickly, closed the wooden door, took a dry cloth towel from the pot stand next to him, helped him wipe off the frost stuck to his fur, and said with a smile:

"Welcome back."

"En." Cang Yue Guming looked at Qiao Rulai's warm golden eyes, leaned his head over, and gently rubbed his cheek:

"The lonely king is back."

■

The clouded leopard disappeared, but it did not cause too much commotion and panic.

Originally, Yinyan and the others brought it back because they wanted it to be free after it woke up, but now that the leopard is not in the woodshed, it can only mean that it has left on its own.It didn't hurt anyone, and it didn't damage anything, so everyone didn't worry too much.

There are still four bodhi seeds in her bosom, but Qiao Tathagata is not in a hurry.People long for family affection and companionship in their hearts. He has missed his family relationship for more than ten years, and he wants to seize this rare opportunity to experience more of the warmth of his own blood.

On this day, Shi Yanwen was invited to go out as a guest, and Yin Yan and Jian Wuji went to a nearby town to buy wine.In the huge Zhengqi Villa, only Qiao Rulai, Cang Yue Guming, and those honest servants were left.

Qiao Tathagata sat reading under a banyan tree to enjoy the cool air.The banyan tree in his yard was said to have been planted by Shi Yanwen himself when he was not born. Over twenty years later, the trunk has grown thick, the branches and leaves are luxuriant, and the shade is pleasant.The autumn wind is rustling, and the August wind brings some coolness, but it is not too cold. It is indescribably refreshing when it blows over the body.The tiny air roots hanging from the branches are dense, long or short, and some of the tips are even condensed with dew. Occasionally, they fall down the root system and hit the tip of Cang Yue Guming's nose, making him shake his head frequently, looking so pretty A pair of eyebrows and eyes were bent, and a few light smiles overflowed.

It's just that this quiet leisure time was disturbed by a rush of footsteps.Qiao Rulai turned her head, looked at the servant who was hesitating at the moon gate at the entrance of the courtyard, and said:

"What's the matter?"

Those servants had always been afraid of the big wolf who was by Qiao Tathagata's side, and they all had a common understanding - if they entered his courtyard without Qiao Tathagata's permission, that wolf would not let it go.Over time, even if the servants at home wanted to find Qiao Tathagata, they would only stop at the gate of the small courtyard, and refused to take half a step inside.

"Someone came to the gate to announce that there was an acquaintance of the young master visiting, named Feng Xiaoyao. Now he is waiting outside the gate, young master, you..."

"Feng Xiaoyao...?"

Qiao Tathagata repeated it, feeling puzzled.He didn't refuse immediately, but lowered his eyes halfway, thinking carefully whether he really knew such a person.But he sorted out those memories over and over again, and he never remembered half of them.Qiao Rulai blinked, before she wanted to reply "Qiao Rulai has never seen this person before", she felt her sleeves being pulled gently, and looked down to see Cang Yue's lonely eyes.

There was no heart sound, no unnecessary movements, Qiao Tathagata could understand what Cang Yue Gu Ming was thinking just by looking at him, he swallowed the words he was going to say, and then told the servant waiting at the door:

"Bring him in."

One kind of footsteps go away, in exchange for another kind of footsteps approaching.

Qiao Rulai put down the scroll in her hand, stood up, smoothed the creases on the cassock, and looked at Feng Xiaoyao who claimed to be her "acquaintance".

The visitor was about the age of Erli, with sword eyebrows and star eyes, tall brunette hair, slender figure, a long and bright ponytail, which swayed left and right with the movement of walking, faintly glowing pale gold in the sun.He was dressed mainly in brown and black clothes, with a cloak hanging behind his back, and a gourd-shaped wine jug pinned to his waist.

The young man walks briskly, but with the calmness and solidity unique to warriors.He walked in front of Qiao Tathagata, clasped his fists in both hands, nodded to Qiao Tathagata, then turned half of his body, knelt down to Cang Yue Guming who was standing beside him, and made a standard courtier's salute:

"Chen Feng Xiaoyao, pay homage to the king."