Chapter 21

Zhizhou shouted in front of him and hugged him in the back. He took the first place with big strides and flicked his wide sleeves.

As soon as he sat down, he raised his hand to stop the enthusiastic greetings of the students, with a serious expression on his face.

There was no smile on the faces of the followers on both sides behind him.

The last time I came to Suqian, I just found a place to sit behind. Although my gestures were still so free and easy, I didn’t have the leisurely feeling when I came last time.

Only then did the students realize that something was wrong.

“I heard that you have been studying here for more than two months, have you made any progress in your studies?”

The student who was with Pang Yu last time took a step forward, showing a decent smile, neither humble nor overbearing, and was about to talk to Zhizhou about their learning progress, but was stopped by raising his hand.

The student frowned puzzled.

Zhizhou didn’t seem very happy and didn’t like to see him, so why did he agree to come to the rally?

Soon he knew the answer.

“Hmph! Needless to say, I know it too. Impetuous and jumping, greedy for shortcuts, blindly listening and blindly believing, and reading sage books in vain!”

“I’m here this time to give you a wake-up call! You are all the most talented and talented people in your generation, and the most hopeful people in my family who will go on to official careers, but you are blindly superstitious and put the cart before the horse!”

After he finished speaking, there was a dead silence.

The students were a little caught off guard, and they also realized that Zhizhou was not here to have fun with the students and visit famous temples, but to wake them up, wake up these patients who in his opinion have been deeply poisoned!

They didn’t know what to say for a while.

After all, Zhizhou didn’t say it clearly, but took a few hats off, so that juniors like them, students without official positions, couldn’t refute such “teachings” at all!

Who dares to talk back without knowing good or bad? Zhizhou is the examiner for the next township examination.

“Zhizhou’s words are wrong.” At this time, no one expected that Lin Zhao would stand up.

“Students follow the morning bell and evening drum to review their homework and improve their knowledge. They also light up the lamp to read at night, and they don’t forget to exchange what they have learned with each other when they go out at night with candles.”

Zhizhou looked at the rather young-looking abbot.

Suddenly he sneered.

“The abbot has a deep connection with Buddhism. There are dozens of temples I have visited in the past. There is not a single abbot who has devoted himself to penance for decades, and only an old man with gray hair dares to run a temple. You are born with wisdom. Buddhism is transparent and natural.”

Facing the obvious praise and derogation, Lin Zhao smiled lightly, but was interrupted by the other party when he was about to speak.

“After all, it is a high-level temple. Instead of grandstanding, doing some heresy, defrauding some incense money, and ruining your own connections, you should concentrate on studying Buddhism, and the incense will naturally flow continuously.”

This person is really arbitrary, interrupting others time and time again, even if you are a powerful official, you must learn to respect others!

Casually buckling down one hat after another, their family must be running a hat factory.

It doesn’t matter, Lin Zhao took a deep breath and smiled lightly.

“What Zhizhou said is that some temples should indeed be taken as a warning.” Who are you talking about? It’s not me anyway.

Zhizhou snorted coldly when he heard the words, Lin Zhao continued as if he had never heard of it.

“The poor monk is trying to figure out the meaning of Zen. There is a line in a poem that I don’t understand. I wonder if Zhizhou can understand it?”

Zhizhou snorted again, expressing his willingness to hear the details.

“This line of poetry is – when you walk to the water poor and sit and watch the clouds rise.”

The corner of Zhizhou’s mouth curled up with a hint of sarcasm, as if he was mocking Lin Zhao for being a fake monk who was not good at learning.

Seeing so many students around, I just took this opportunity to let them see the true face of this person, stop listening to and believing, and regain their original aspirations! Thinking so, he condescended and said:

“The idea is to let nature take its course. Walk to a place where there is water to see water, and where there are clouds to see clouds. You can find fun everywhere. Wouldn’t it be nice?”

After finishing speaking, Lin Zhao said: “The benefactor is wanton and open-minded, and he has the demeanor of a celebrity.”

A smug look appeared on Zhizhou’s face.

Lin Zhao took out another green leaf from his hand to block Zhizhou’s eyes and said, “Can Zhizhou still watch the clouds leisurely at this time?”

Zhizhou immediately recalled it, and his face changed.

“One leaf blocks the eyes, and if you don’t see the whole picture, I’m afraid it will hinder you from finding the fun.”

Immediately afterwards, Lin Zhao asked someone to bring a plate of carambola on the table.

“A few days ago, my little monk picked carambola, and I had the leisure to paint with it. One person drew the star, and the other painted the star fruit. Everyone said that it was wrong to draw the star. Why did Zhizhou think?”

Although he knew that there was a trap in it, but he was a person with fixed thinking. He couldn’t think of how carambola could be painted into stars for a while, so he said: “The one who painted the stars made a mistake.”

Suqian, who was sitting in the corner below, let out an inaudible laugh when he heard the words.

Lin Zhao also smiled lightly on the stage, “No, please see if you know the state.”

He put the carambola in front of Zhizhou from a different angle, and Zhizhou’s face changed again when he saw it.

Lin Zhao showed this angle to other confused students and subordinates, and everyone suddenly realized.

It is very refreshing to tell people in this dynasty who have never heard of this kind of story that the modern elementary school textbooks teach a small story about looking at things from different angles.

Explain the profound in simple terms, see the big from the small, and explain the truth with things that can be seen everywhere in life.

Everyone immediately felt that this abbot was not easy.

A person like Zhizhou who likes to talk about the truth, when others use the truth as a weapon to fight back, he has nothing to say.

Lin Zhao’s behavior is quite clever, and Zhizhou can only swallow it silently when he is accused of being blind and prejudiced.

The hats that were pinned to others before were buckled back one by one by the other party.

Zhizhou’s complexion turned red and pale, and he was very stiff. He knew that he should smile at this time, but he couldn’t hold back his face.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the atmosphere became more and more deadlocked.

Lin Zhao smiled again, his lips were about to move.

Zhizhou noticed it, and was a little worried about what he would say again.

Unexpectedly, the other party pointed to the water and said, “I don’t know what you think about this waterfall?”

The student leader noticed something and cooperated very well: “Humans are like ants. Under such a creation of nature, we are all as small as ants, and we should be in awe.”

Lin Zhao said “hmm” on his face, neither saying yes nor bad.

But in my heart, I praised this student for being so interesting.

In fact, this Zhizhou has no bad intentions. He is like those parents in the previous life who were afraid that their children would go astray.

He was able to take the time to come, which just proved his love of talent. Even if there is something wrong, it doesn’t hurt too much.

Lin Zhao just wanted to let him learn some lessons, and didn’t want to make any enemies, so he deliberately raised questions and asked Zhizhou to show off to save face.

Unexpectedly, the student saw what he meant immediately, and cooperated with him to “throw bricks to attract jade”.

This person’s future is boundless, with such a plan, he must be able to jump through the ups and downs of the officialdom in the future.

He turned to Zhizhou: “What do you think, my lord?”

In fact, Zhizhou already had the answer in his mind as soon as he heard the question, and he felt that his answer would be much more generous than that of the student below.

Seeing that there was no trap, and his answer was as perfect as he thought, he calmly said: “Life should be magnificent. Looking at this waterfall, one can only feel that it should be as magnificent as a waterfall, and it should be more dazzling so that this life is not in vain.”

Lin Zhao nodded and said, “My lord has great ambitions.”

Zhizhou’s expression returned to calm and natural upon hearing this. However, Lin Zhao’s next sentence made his eyes suddenly sharper.

“Just don’t let ambition become a burden. Even when you are mediocre, you should have a normal mind so that you will not be disturbed.”

Did this monk really see through something, and he meant something or took the opportunity to ridicule him. Zhizhou pondered for a while.

Lin Zhao saw him like this, and said again: “This temple is quite effective in asking for a lottery. You can try it, sir.”

Zhizhou failed to teach people a lesson, and the purpose of coming was not achieved. Instead, he was ridiculed by a monk several times, and he was not in the mood to stay longer in the assembly.

He just wanted to make a quick cutscene and leave, so he agreed.

When he came to the Palace of Heavenly Kings, he wanted to shake the lottery at will, but he was stopped by Lin Zhao again.

“My lord, if you think about what you want in your heart, the lottery you get will be accurate.”

Zhizhou didn’t feel anything when he stopped others, but he was very depressed when he was stopped, but what Lin Zhao did was the duty of an abbot, and he reminded him that he couldn’t find a flaw to criticize, so he just let it go.

When I shook the stick in my hand, for some reason, all distracting thoughts faded away, and I remembered that there was indeed something that bothered me recently.

“Pa-ta-” the bamboo stick fell.

Zhizhou picked it up, looked at it, and signed it.

He handed it to Lin Zhao with an ugly expression, and Lin Zhao opened the manual to respond.

“The seventh lottery – Su Niang is in trouble. Traveling around to block numerous dangers, dragging water and dragging mud to cross the mountain. I look to other places for help, and I have not returned from thousands of miles away.”①

“Why?”

“The donor needs to pay 4 taels of silver and 296 Wen to release the sign.”

When Zhizhou heard the words, his face froze again, he untied the purse from his waist and threw it into the merit box.

Seeing this, the other subordinates who followed also took out their purses and threw them into the merit box.

Listening to the system’s prompt “+100 silver, +100 silver, +50 silver…”, Lin Zhao curled his mouth.

“This is a sign of muddy water, and keeping things old will bring good luck.”

“It’s easy to get back, but it’s hard to make progress. Just keep the old and don’t hope to be high. If what you want is a career, don’t force it. You can get everything if you take a step back, but it will be difficult if you want to move forward. You should maintain the status quo and never aim too high. ”

After saying that, Lin Zhao raised his eyes to look at Zhizhou meaningfully.

Zhizhou’s heart jumped, he felt that he had been seen through, he actually knew what he was asking for!

The resentment and anger in his chest were swept away at this moment.

Could it be that this temple is so spiritual?

He was skeptical in his heart, and he believed it seven or eight percent. Recently, there are dark waves in the court, and the confrontation between the two forces is fierce. It is indeed not appropriate to rush forward. Let’s defend the city first.

When Lord Zhizhou came, he was aggressive, and when he left, he had the same posture with his hands behind his back, but his aura became humble and restrained.

Lin Zhao happily counted the small money and kept an account book, estimating how much money would be left after the completion of the Daxiong Palace.

All the subordinate officials followed, but Su Qian stayed behind.

He knocked on the table, interrupting Lin Zhao’s act of flipping through the book and actually counting the money.

“Abbot, I have heard that many pilgrims from the Central Plains went to Yiling Mountain in the Western Region to learn scriptures. I wonder what the abbot thinks?”

Lin Zhao was startled by his going back and forth, keeping a smile on his face.

“Buddhas can’t seek far from Lingshan, Lingshan is only in your heart. Everyone has a Lingshan pagoda, so it’s good to build it under the Lingshan pagoda.”②

When Su Qian heard this, the smile on his face deepened, “The abbot is good at self-cultivation.”

“It’s getting late, does the benefactor want to stay overnight?”

“Your Majesty has asked for a few days off to get away from disturbing official duties. I just came here to seek a few days of peace.”

“The benefactor is free to do so. The hut is empty for the benefactor.”

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①②Internet search.

Let me tell you guys, I still decided to listen to the opinions of my friends and follow the list. There have been no daily updates in the past few days~