“If you can’t obtain what you want, benefactor will destroy Daming Temple—aren’t you afraid Buddha will punish you? Your grandmother is currently seeking dharma instruction in the Great Buddha Hall. Such a person who acts one way outside and another inside still seeks Buddha’s protection. Marquis Yun, aren’t you worried about what the world will say?”
Yun Ye felt quite embarrassed being questioned by the dark-faced monk. He rubbed his nose and said: “My grandmother believes in Buddha, so she worships sincerely. Yun Ye doesn’t believe, so I act recklessly. Moreover, this doesn’t really count as acting recklessly. A temple with flourishing incense is actually a gathering place for pirates. The largest pirate force in the South Seas also has deep connections with Daming Temple. Monk, this marquis serves as commander of the water forces—protecting home and defending the people is my heavenly duty. Right now, I’m only asking for sea charts—this is already out of consideration for my grandmother. Otherwise, what would come would be a large army.”
Han Zhe looked at Yun Ye strangely and said in a low voice: “Aren’t we also going to be pirates? Why are you invoking the court? I knew you were shameless, but I didn’t expect you to be shameless to this extent.”
The dark-faced monk’s calm face finally showed some movement. He sighed and said: “This poor monk has long known this was improper. Good and evil naturally have their retribution. Though Monk Kuangyue came from this temple, he has already been expelled from the sect. Whatever he does now has nothing to do with this temple. In Daming Temple, there truly are no sea charts that the benefactor seeks.”
Yun Ye walked two steps in the Sutra Repository, put down the star chart in his hand, and said to the old monk: “Fortune and misfortune have no gate—common people bring them upon themselves. Destroying temples and exterminating sects—Yun Ye truly cannot do such things. Since you say there aren’t any, I’ll believe you for now. Coming this time was also trying my luck. I clearly and plainly reasoned with you, yet you think I’m committing evil. Old monk, though my methods are somewhat hateful, don’t you know I’m actually saving your Daming Temple?”
Having said this, he left the Sutra Repository with a laugh. Han Zhe and Gou Zi exchanged glances and also walked out, leaving only an old monk whose expression alternated between light and dark.
Leaving the Sutra Repository, Yun Ye seemed to have forgotten his purpose for coming. Laughing and chatting with Han Zhe and Gou Zi, he strolled leisurely through the temple. Not far away was a small pavilion. Inside the pavilion was a spring. The spring wasn’t large—gurgling water flowed from stone crevices. After filling the well opening, it flowed down the cliff along the stone wall. Yun Ye knew this was the famous Fifth Spring. Anyone who loved drinking tea—how could they not brew tea upon arriving here?
Liu Jinbao had been following at Yun Ye’s side all along. When leaving this morning, Yun Ye had prepared tea utensils. Though Han Zhe and the others didn’t know about this spring, how could Yun Ye, who loved drinking tea in his previous life, not know the benefits here?
Baotu Spring was the world’s first spring, Wuxi’s Huishan Huiquan was the world’s second spring, Hangzhou’s Hupao Spring was the world’s third spring, Shangrao’s Guangjiao Temple Lu Yu Spring was the world’s fourth spring, and Yangzhou’s Pingshantang Daming Temple Spring was the world’s fifth spring. Legend said these were the springs most suitable for brewing tea. Now with good water and good tea leaves, not brewing a pot of tea would be letting himself down.
The servants quickly set up a small stove. The fire opening above was only about fist-sized. Gou Zi gathered several dried-out pine cones, which Yun Ye threw into the furnace. Before long, pale blue flames emerged from the fire opening. A peculiarly-styled copper kettle was placed over the fire opening. Yun Ye said to Han Zhe: “I’ve heard people say before that this spring at Daming Temple is very suitable for brewing tea. Now let’s try it. It’s just a pity that we have good water and good tea but no good tea drinkers—truly wasteful.”
Han Zhe plopped down across from him and said: “You do things in such an anticlimactic way that it makes people’s teeth cold. Now taking out tea to trick people—who told you the spring water here is very suitable for brewing tea? Does water even have differences?”
Yun Ye helplessly shook his head and said: “Now when I do things, I rarely take them to extremes. In my youth I was frivolous, thinking I was right and everyone else was wrong. Now I gradually think that whatever anyone does has its reasoning, so I’ve lost that youthful arrogance. Having matured, I’ve learned to look at problems from others’ perspectives, so being a bit fussy and naggy is also inevitable.”
The dark-faced monk walked over from behind the pavilion and said: “I’ve long heard that Marquis Yun excels at brewing tea. I wonder if this old monk could be fortunate enough to beg a cup of fragrant tea to moisten my parched heart?”
“Hahaha! Just now I said we have good tea and good water but lack a good tea drinker. Master, quickly take a seat. The water is already on the stove—fragrant tea is right before us. I definitely won’t disappoint the Master.”
The dark-faced monk calmly took a seat, pulled out several green tangerines from his sleeve, placed them on the low table, and after clasping his hands said: “This mountain temple is cold and bare with nothing to treat guests. Just now passing by the tangerine grove, I picked a few tangerines at random. Please, Marquis Yun, appreciate them.”
Yun Ye looked at the green tangerines—only baby-fist-sized. How could such tangerines be edible? He sighed and said: “Master, please stop testing me. Yun Ye came this time with two wishes. First, to accompany my grandmother in offering incense—Master Daofa personally conducting the ceremony is naturally supreme glory. Second, I truly came for sea charts. Daming Temple harbors heavy treasures—various groups will definitely come to covet them. For now it’s still fine—the temple’s warrior monks can handle those who come. But once it attracts the attention of the dynasty’s powerful departments, I’m afraid Daming Temple wanting to preserve itself unharmed will be difficult.”
“Yun Ye can’t understand—sea charts bring Daming Temple a hundred harms without a single benefit. Why guard these useless wastes so stubbornly?”
The dark-faced monk smiled without speaking, but this time he didn’t deny the sea charts’ existence. Just now taking a few sour tangerines was warning Yun Ye that trying to swallow Daming Temple would probably sour all his teeth. Seeing that Yun Ye already knew, he became even more confident.
Though people beyond the mundane world, they knew no less about court affairs than anyone else. Though Yun Ye’s hasty departure from the capital was full of doubts, Yun Ye’s struggle ending in failure was an ironclad fact. He bet that Yun Ye wouldn’t dare act recklessly.
When the water showed fish eyes, it was time to brew tea. Yun Ye scalded and rinsed the teacups, roasted the tea leaves, skimmed off the first brewing, and light green tea filled the pure white porcelain cups with overflowing fragrance. Yun Ye used bamboo tongs to distribute the tea, indicating everyone should drink.
The dark-faced monk lifted his tea, brought it to his nose for a gentle sniff, his whole face showing admiration. He slowly drank a mouthful of tea, then returned the cup and clasped his hands saying: “Truly an incomparable wonderful product.”
Three cups of tea was good—any more would be what people called “drinking like a cow.” Servants carried the tea utensils to rinse in the spring water. Only then did Yun Ye say: “Since the temple already has thoughts of crossing east or west to transmit dharma, Yun Ye truly has nothing to say. But navigation routes are something that needs constant correction and constant improvement. Rashly crossing the sea after only traveling once—that’s tying your life to heaven’s crotch with no guarantee at all. Since Daming Temple has its own ideas, then I wish you smooth sailing.”
Originally Yun Ye didn’t understand what significance sea charts had for Daming Temple. Just now while distributing tea, he suddenly remembered—whom did Daming Temple enshrine in later generations? Only then did he suddenly understand. They enshrined the famous Monk Jianzhen. This monk’s greatest achievement was crossing the sea to transmit dharma, spreading the Buddhist faith to Japan.
He attempted the crossing once without success—attempted it a full six times. The last time, despite being blind in both eyes and already sixty-six years old, he still put to sea and finally succeeded. Such an intense desire to transmit dharma—Yun Ye couldn’t help but admire it. Daming Temple was clearly already making preparations now, because a hundred years later, Monk Jianzhen would be Daming Temple’s abbot.
Terror appeared on the dark-faced monk’s face for the first time. But Yun Ye had lost interest. Paying such a great price not to conquer the oceans or open navigation routes, but to promote Buddhist dharma—yet later generations greatly praised this behavior. The magnificent Daming Temple of later generations was proof. Meanwhile, maritime merchants appearing in the same period were chased by officials with nowhere to go in heaven or on earth. Having their heads chopped off was called “eliminating harm for the people.”
Living on the yellow earth, they’d grown accustomed to it and were filled with fear toward the azure sea, always feeling that only with feet on solid ground could they feel secure. They weren’t the strong man from ancient Greek legend—why did they have to keep their heels planted on the earth?
“Does Marquis Yun think this is improper?” The dark-faced monk carefully asked the visibly unhappy Yun Ye.
“Whatever. Taking such great risks to spread Buddhist dharma—that’s your aspiration. People with aspirations are all respectable, regardless of the aspiration. Monk, your crossing the sea doesn’t conflict with my going to sea. Give me a copy of the sea charts. Regarding the open seas, the Lingnan water forces know nothing. When we blaze new navigation routes in the future, we’ll also leave you a copy.”
The dark-faced monk nodded helplessly. This was Yun Ye’s bottom line. If they still didn’t understand the situation, Bai Qi Si personnel would take over—this he knew very clearly.
Old Grandmother finished worshiping Buddha and prepared to return to the city completely satisfied. After Yun Ye and Monk Daofa clapped hands three times, he also left Daming Temple. In ten days, Yun Ye would possess Daming Temple’s sea charts. However, in his view, those sea charts must be extremely imperfect. For Monk Jianzhen to go to Japan, he made a full six trips over decades before succeeding—who knew what kind of rubbish they would be?
Returning to the residence Zheng Shuang had prepared for him, Xinyue and the others surprisingly hadn’t returned yet. All along the way Han Zhe really wanted to ask Yun Ye how he guessed those monks wanted to cross the sea to transmit dharma, but seeing Yun Ye’s face gloomy as water, he never asked.
Only after returning to the residence and lying on a bamboo chair with Yun Ye did he quietly ask: “I haven’t discovered that you’re smarter than me by any measure. Why could you figure out what scheme the Daming Temple monks were planning when I couldn’t?”
Yun Ye turned his back and said randomly: “Han Zhe, intelligence is something that can’t be measured. What I consider intelligence is probably the sum of learning, experience, and life experience. I don’t doubt your learning, I don’t doubt your experience—what you lack is experience dealing with people. Take it slowly. I’ve heard the ocean is most temperamental. When you’ve mastered the ocean, you’ll probably be able to master the human heart.”
“I’ve heard people say before that broader than the continent is the ocean, broader than the ocean is the sky, and broader than the sky is the human heart. This saying can also be reversed—when your heart encompasses the world, you’ll be invincible under heaven.”
Han Zhe didn’t understand. Yun Ye himself didn’t even know what he was trying to express—how could he understand? Han Zhe just felt these words made great sense. Words that made sense he always wanted to understand—this was the foolish aspect of clever people.