Chapter 1164: Sister Lin pays tribute to her mother, bandits invade Shuiyue Temple

After Rongguo Mansion celebrated Su Mingzhe’s birthday.

A few days later, it was Jia Min's death anniversary.

On this day, Su Mingzhe accompanied Lin Daiyu to Shuiyue Temple, ten miles west of Chang'an City, to pay tribute to Jia Min's spirit.

Shuiyue Temple is the ancestral temple of the Rong and Ning mansions, and all the nuns there receive monthly stipends from the Rong and Ning mansions.

The daily expenses here are also paid by the Rong and Ning mansions.

So, normally speaking, such a family temple should not receive outsiders.

Unfortunately, the former abbess of Shuiyue Temple, old nun Jingxu, was so involved in worldly affairs that she turned the family temple into a brothel. Most of the twenty or so nuns who practiced there lost their chastity.

After Jingxu was beheaded and thrown into the streets, the nun, who had lost her innocence, was stripped of her ordination certificate, ordered to return to secular life, and sent to the border as a slave.

Today, there are only six young nuns and two old nuns running Shuiyue Temple.

The current abbot of Shuiyue Temple is named Zhikong. When he saw Su Mingzhe and Lin Daiyu coming, he immediately received them with great care.

Su Mingzhe, Lin Daiyu, and their maids copied a total of 100 copies of the Diamond Sutra. At this moment, they took them all out and burned them all under the supervision of Zhikong.

Afterwards, Zhikong took a few little nuns to prepare a vegetarian banquet.

Su Mingzhe took Lin Daiyu with him to travel around and enjoy the scenery.

It was already the end of April.

The farmland is crisscrossed and full of greenery.

The wheat ears have grown, and the golden glow covers the wheat awns. As the breeze ripples, the rich pastoral fragrance slowly drifts in.

Lin Daiyu's original sadness of missing her mother drifted away with the wind:
"Second brother, you are so talented in writing, can you write a poem?"

Su Mingzhe didn't have that many poems in his mind, and even if he did, he didn't want to waste them here.

So, when he met Lin Daiyu's eager eyes, he smiled and said:

"Yu'er, in this situation, I just want to paint it down with my brush!"

"Second Master, we have brought our pens, ink, paper and inkstone with us!"

Zijuan is such a thoughtful and lovely girl that she even brought some raw rice paper for painting.

Li Gui and four servants quickly brought the table over.

Wait until the pen, ink, paper and inkstone are ready.

Lin Daiyu grinds it herself.

Xiren and Sheyue held down the corners of the paper with their slender hands.

Su Mingzhe immediately picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, and began to paint.

When doing ink painting, in addition to details and painting skills, the key points are conception and momentum.

When ordinary people look out, they can only see scenery within a radius of ten miles at most.

The painter should have the world in his mind and be able to see the past and the future.

Su Mingzhe had amazing painting skills. After picking up the brush, he quickly condensed the vast landscape on a small piece of raw rice paper.

Among the crisscrossing fields, besides the old farmer carrying a hoe, there are also students on their way and young girls enjoying the spring.

In the sky, wild geese fly south and north, auspicious clouds descend, and golden light shines everywhere.

Before I knew it, a cool breeze blew.

A maidservant couldn't help but sneeze, which woke Su Mingzhe up from his brushstrokes.

Sister Lin glanced at the sneezing Qianxue, but did not blame her. She just said with regret:
"Second brother, this painting is over..."

Su Mingzhe said indifferently:

"It's just a matter of interest, and when the interest is over, it's over!"

Seeing that Su Mingzhe and Lin Daiyu had no intention of blaming Qianxue, everyone naturally kept quiet.

When everyone returned to Shuiyue Temple, they saw the abbess Zhikong leading a few little nuns and moving towards the doorpost.

Qingwen counted and found that several people had moved at least seven or eight doorposts. She asked curiously:
"Master, are there often thieves here?"

"If we get robbed, that would be good!"

Zhikong did not hide it and sighed directly: "The former Nun Jingxu had many friends. Even the bandits in the nearby mountains and villages were her lovers. When Nun Jingxu was still around, when those bandits came, Jingxu would order her young and beautiful sisters to sleep with her."

"Now that Master Jingxu is gone, we dare not interact with these people. We can only use pillars to block them from coming in every day."

"If there are too many people coming, we can only throw out a few bags of food, some gold and silver items to ensure safety!"

When everyone heard this, their faces changed.

This place is ten miles away from the capital of the Daqing Dynasty, and yet bandits have already started to appear here.

This is too crazy!

Sister Lin thought that everyone went out this time because she went out to worship her mother. She felt a little guilty and asked:
"When those bandits come, how many people are there usually, and how often do they come?"

"Usually there are seven or eight people, who come at the beginning of every month."

Zhikong saw that everyone was nervous and knew that everyone was afraid, so he quickly comforted them:
"It's the end of the month now, and it's not time for those bandits to 'collect rent' yet. Tonight should be safe. We're blocking the door just to be on the safe side!"

After hearing this, everyone looked a little better, but they were still nervous.

Qingwen calmly asked Li Gui, Mingyan and the others:
"Do you have weapons with you?"

Li Gui patted his waist and said in a deep voice:
"I brought a knife!"

Mingyan and the others turned pale, and their voices became trembling as they said:
"We only brought the Second Master's precious carved bow and a pot of arrows!"

"A pot of arrows is enough!"

Su Mingzhe ordered a few people to bring bows and arrows, and said with a smile:
"When I went out of town with my friends to hunt in the past, I could always hit a rabbit running a hundred steps away. With a pot of twenty arrows, I can definitely deal with seven or eight bandits!"

When the girls heard this, their tense mood relaxed a little.

However, everyone still hurriedly advised:
"Second Master, you can't take risks. If bandits really come, and you can give them a few bags of food to make them retreat, then just give them a few bags of food!"

Su Mingzhe shook his head slightly, laughed loudly, and then said in a stern tone:
"I am the descendant of Lords Rong and Ning. If I run into a few petty thieves and throw away my weapons and armor and beg for mercy, how will Lords Rong and Ning retain their dignity when the news gets out?"

"Today, if the bandits don't come, it's fine. But if there are really bandits who are so blind as to come to our door, I will have to use my precious carved bow to eat some meat!"

With Su Mingzhe encouraging everyone and Qingwen comforting everyone.

Although everyone's spirits were still not very high, they were not very scared either.

After eating vegetarian food, everyone was tired after a day’s work and quickly went back to their rooms to lie down and rest.

Li Gui and four servants, together with Zhikong and a few young nuns, kept watch at night.

Whatever you fear, will come to you.

It was midnight.

Li Gui, who was feeling a little sleepy, suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves coming from the field. He was so panicked that he quickly struck the gong.

Su Mingzhe, who had not slept yet, immediately came to the outer wall with the precious carved bow in his hand, and saw Li Gui had climbed up the ladder and was looking into the distance.

The awakened servant Mingyan, who was hiding at the foot of the wall, asked Li Gui tremblingly:
"Brother Gui, are they bandits?"

"Even if they are not bandits, they are definitely not good people who come here suddenly in the middle of the night!"

Li Gui frowned.

Tonight was the end of the month. He looked out and saw total darkness. He could not see his hand in front of him. He could only see some moving lights of fires in the fields. He could not even see how many people were on the other side.

After a while.

Su Mingzhe also climbed up the wall and listened to Li Gui's speech:
"Second Master, the number of bandits is not right. The sound of horse hooves is too dense. I'm afraid there are thirty or forty of them!"

Su Mingzhe expanded his spiritual sense and could hear the voices of the bandits a mile away clearly. He turned around and saw Li Gui holding the hilt of the knife stiffly with both hands, and immediately smiled:

"The number is definitely wrong! But you don't have to be afraid, bandits are also human beings. As the saying goes: shoot the horse first when shooting a person, and capture the leader first when capturing a bandit!"

Su Mingzhe said this as he sat in the corner under the eaves and told Mingyan to light a few torches.

Although Mingyan was afraid of the bandits and did not dare to climb the wall to take a look, he was still obedient. After a short while, he brought over five or six torches.

Su Mingzhe took the torch and threw it directly towards the intersection.

With the light of torches, the bandits in the distance seemed to know that Shuiyue Temple was prepared, and the sound of horse hooves gradually subsided.

"It looks like they are not a bunch of stupid thieves!"

Su Mingzhe sneered and turned over and jumped out.

(End of this chapter)