Shisan Lang returned from his half-day excursion with exciting news.
Xiagui County’s famous ancient temple, Lianhua Temple, would hold a grand Wuzhe Vegetarian Assembly around the three days before and after June 19th, the day of Guanyin’s enlightenment. During this time, the temple gates would open wide to offer vegetarian meals, welcoming both monks and laypeople to visit and participate.
Shisan Lang said excitedly, “Lianhua Temple’s vegetarian cuisine is famous far and wide. Usually they only host wealthy patrons, but this time they’re offering meals for three consecutive days—we can all go for free food!”
Hearing it was vegetarian food, Bao Zhu wasn’t very interested. Shisan Lang quickly added, “I heard their vegetarian dishes are extraordinary—both in taste and appearance, they’re exactly like real meat dishes. Jiu Niang must go try them. Besides, this dharma assembly is to venerate an unprecedented treasure. Even if not for the food, going to see it and broaden our knowledge would be worthwhile.”
“Oh? Is it Buddha relics or Buddha bones?” Bao Zhu asked curiously.
Shisan Lang shook his head: “I’m not sure about that. I heard it’s a treasure from Xuzhou, temporarily enshrined at Lianhua Temple before being transported to Chang’an’s imperial palace. Once it’s there, we won’t be able to see it anymore.”
The weather was so hot that Bao Zhu didn’t want to squeeze into crowds, but she was young and naturally loved good food, fun, and excitement. Unable to resist Shisan Lang’s repeated entreaties and persuasion, she decided to make the trip. Who could have imagined that such a daughter of imperial nobility would now be eagerly scheming for a free vegetarian meal? She found it both heartbreaking and amusing.
The Xiagui County gate clerks had been bribed. Early the next morning, the three checked out of their lodging, leading the donkey into the city.
The streets leading to Lianhua Temple were already much more crowded than usual. Everyone’s faces showed excitement and curiosity about this rare dharma assembly and mysterious treasure. Many had traveled great distances from the countryside—for them, the dharma assembly was no different from attending a market fair. After entering the temple gates, the crowds pressed shoulder to shoulder with voices rising like a cauldron, and some people were even pushed into the liberation pond.
Lianhua Temple was already well-established, and with generous donations from Buddhist-minded wealthy families providing support, monks from top to bottom had invested tremendous energy into this dharma assembly. The bronze incense burners before the great hall spared no expense, loaded with many incense cakes and sticks. Flames burned fiercely, and the blue smoke didn’t rise gently but shot skyward like a fire had broken out.
For some reason, maintaining order at the scene included not only temple monks but also many officials carrying water-and-fire sticks to poke and block here and there. So despite the numerous visitors, there was no trampling.
Bao Zhu had long forgotten her self-pity, looking around curiously left and right. The crowds made wearing her wide hat and veil impossible, so she removed them and had Shisan Lang carry them. When first recovering from serious illness, she had appeared haggard and pale, but along the way, the two martial brothers had consciously saved the best food for her. After more than half a month of nourishment, her qi and blood gradually recovered. Under the sunlight, her face seemed covered with a layer of glazed pearl light. When she glanced around, her spirit soared with a natural air of noble superiority that ignored everyone else.
In the harem where beauties clustered, she might not have seemed particularly outstanding. But at this folk dharma assembly resembling a temple fair and market gathering, she was quite conspicuous. These people understood no etiquette and knew no restraint—seeing a beautiful young woman, they stared fixedly with bulging eyes, completely forgetting they had come to worship Buddha and perform good deeds.
Most people, seeing her extraordinary bearing, guessed she was a young lady from a prominent family. They only stared but dared not approach to offend her.
However, there were individual marketplace rogues who “feared neither the Metropolitan Governor in life nor the King of Hell in death” who deliberately squeezed close to her, wanting to take advantage of the chaos to steal a touch of her fragrance. But before they could touch even her clothing hem, someone lightly kicked their leg bend. Then half their body became numb and sore, kneeling on the ground unable to struggle up no matter how they tried, nearly trampled to death by the surrounding crowd.
Bao Zhu was completely unaware of this, only feeling uncomfortable being stared at by everyone around her, since she had never received such treatment in the palace. In a trance, she remembered seeing such adoring, mesmerized gazes many years ago—when her mother was still alive.
With jingling ornaments and gentle fragrant breezes, when mother appeared at palace banquets, the entire hall would be illuminated by her radiant beauty. Whether old men or young, from noble families or humble origins, those high officials sophisticated in worldly affairs with crowds of concubines would still react like these ignorant country bumpkins when seeing mother—shocked, infatuated, bewildered, frenzied… their expressions exactly the same.
With her slight smile, civil officials would speak incoherently; with one pipa melody, military generals couldn’t hold their wine cups steady. Everyone lost composure, each lost their soul…
“Where exactly is that treasure?”
The impatient shouting of pilgrims dragged Bao Zhu back from those luxurious, magnificent memories to reality. She had thought the treasure should be enshrined in the great hall, but several people said the treasure was placed in the temple’s Duobao Pagoda and wouldn’t be publicly displayed.
A radiant middle-aged monk ascended the dharma platform before the great hall, arranged his silk cassock, and in a drawn-out voice began chanting “Buddha Treasure Praise”: “Buddha treasure praise is boundless, merit achieved through countless kalpas, majestic sixteen-foot purple-gold form, enlightened path on snowy mountain peak, jade hair-mark light between brows brilliant, illuminating the six realms’ darkness.” His voice was loud as a bell, immediately attracting the gazes of devout men and women.
Someone pointed and said, “That’s Lianhua Temple’s abbot, Monk Liaoru—a famous high monk.”
Bao Zhu stood on tiptoe to look from afar, seeing the monk lecturing on the high platform had a round face, thick lips, and ox-like eyes—not handsome at all. Whether he was a high monk or short monk, she wasn’t interested. Turning her head, she quietly asked Wei Xun, “See where they’re serving the vegetarian meal?”
All three had the same thought. Going against the crowd flow, they came to a two-story pavilion—Jinghua Hall. This was originally Lianhua Temple’s dining hall for entertaining major patrons. The gatekeeper monk, seeing Bao Zhu’s noble bearing, dared not neglect her and smilingly invited them in early.
Shisan Lang was a regular at temple free meals, but always bunked with many monks eating communal food. He had never entered such a bright, clean private dining room. The little novice was quite moved: “Today is thanks to Jiu Niang’s face—being beautiful really has privileges.”
Bao Zhu glanced at him, thinking that for just a free vegetarian meal, what did this child understand about beauty’s power? She had only inherited three or four-tenths of her mother’s appearance. True devastating beauty made people willingly die for her at first sight.
Jinghua Hall’s second floor had excellent scenery and avoided the hot, crowded courtyard below. The private elegant seating had furnishings no different from city restaurants.
After the three were seated, a reception monk first brought tea. Moments later, he served Lianhua Temple’s famous vegetarian dishes: whole chicken, whole fish, eight-treasure crispy duck—all made from wheat flour mixed with tofu molded into shape, with diced Kunlun melon and various mushrooms stuffed in the cavities, then deep-fried in boiling oil. The taste wasn’t particularly delicious, but the shapes were indeed realistic. The details of fish scales and chicken skin were especially delicate—quite thoughtfully made.
Bao Zhu took a few bites and wanted to laugh even more. She was about to joke with Wei Xun about these monks’ hypocrisy, but he still seemed preoccupied, barely touching his chopsticks, only staring out the window in a daze.
Was he not resting well? Even the dark circles under his eyes had deepened considerably. Despite sleeping early and rising late, could he be lying about resting and actually sneaking out to play at night?
Bao Zhu also looked outside following his gaze. Below, heads still crowded together densely, but the back courtyard separated by a wall was empty. Seven or eight people in official clerk uniforms patrolled back and forth, and behind them stood Lianhua Temple’s pagoda—Duobao Pagoda.
The pagoda had seven levels with an umbrella-like top. Each level’s eaves hung a circle of copper bells—over a thousand bells swaying gently in the breeze with pleasant tinkling sounds. Though elegant and majestic, Chang’an was filled with Buddhist temples and meditation halls, many with brilliant magnificence rivaling palaces. Among the pagodas Bao Zhu had seen, this one wasn’t particularly outstanding.
Bao Zhu had excellent eyesight and could see from afar that the great door at the pagoda’s base actually had three different large locks hanging horizontally and vertically. She was quite puzzled.
She thought to herself: What could the treasure enshrined in the pagoda be that requires such tight guarding? And why is Wei Xun so concerned about it?