１６

  I remember that Xile had very good culinary skills, and this talent was discovered by everyone on the second day. In the temple, although the master chef's craftsmanship was not bad, but cooking obviously lacked passion, and there was a lack of research and innovation in dishes, and we ate cabbage and tomatoes for a year. I hated eating green peppers the most, but he put green peppers in every dish. After Xile came to the temple, she felt that she couldn't help everyone with anything, asked herself what she could do, and as a result, she was assigned to the kitchen. However, on the same day, she made a plate of boiled cabbage with tomatoes and scrambled eggs that everyone had never heard of before, which led to all the dishes made by the master chef being thrown out of the temple for relief, while hundreds of us surrounded Xile's dish.

  I ate my fill and just met Xile, saying: Xile, why is there no green pepper?

  Xile said: I don't like eating green peppers.

  I said: I don't like eating green peppers either.

  I said: What do you like to eat?

  Xī yuè shuō: wǒ xǐ huān chī fān qié, nǐ ne?

  Translation:

  Xi Yue said: I like to eat tomatoes, how about you?

  I said: I like eating mantou.

  Xi Le said: Mantou brother, what's your name?

  I said: My name is Shì Rán.

  Xi Le said: Then I'll call you Shige-ge.

  I said: No way, every living thing you can see here is a brother. Call me Brother Ran.

  I asked: What do you like to do most?

  Xi Le said: I like washing dishes the most.

  I was overjoyed and said: "However, brother, my bowl..."

  Xile said: No, Master said I couldn't wash dishes for you. Master asked me what I liked the most, I said I liked washing dishes the most, Master said, good, from now on, just wash my dishes, you can like washing anyone's dishes, just don't wash a person named Shiyran's dishes, he will definitely let you wash his dishes when he sees you.

  I was shocked, Master is really a prophet. Then he said: Well, don't wash my bowl either, and in the future if you meet someone called Kong Gege, you can't wash his bowl either.

  Xī lè shuō: nǐ wèi shén me bù xǐ huān xǐ wǎn ne?

  Translation:

  Xi Le said: Why don't you like washing dishes?

  I was puzzled by this question and replied: You're also a weird person, do you like washing toilets too? From now on, the temple's toilet will be washed by you.

  He let out a loud whoop and burst into tears, rushing straight to his master's quarters.

  Soon, the master came out, followed by Xile. The master said seriously: "I heard that you let Xile go to pour the toilet as soon as you met her? Alright, you pour the toilet for a month."

  This is the first time in my life that I have collapsed. Because I dislike cleaning and eating green peppers the most. And dumping toilets is the most unhygienic project in cleaning. My master told me: This is to temper your will. Only with a strong will can you truly be strong.

  I strongly disagreed with this statement at the time. If that's the case, then the strongest person in the temple would be Brother Sheng Tong, who has been responsible for emptying the chamber pots for a long time. I think willpower is just a kind of desire, and it's the strength of one's desires that truly matters. For example, when someone punches me with extremely fast speed, I can see every single hair on their body move clearly, and I can even see the saliva droplets flying towards me as they let out a "hiss" sound. And yet, no matter how fast the punch is, it's still slower than the saliva droplets. I can see them coming, but I'm unable to dodge, and first get hit by the saliva droplets before getting punched. That's what true suffering feels like.

  I've told Master this before. Master said, "You're off topic, I don't understand at all."

  In short, I liberated the toilet bucket. From then on, every day I got up early, first sweeping the yard, then dumping the toilet bucket, and listening to the moaning outside the wall. Xi Le got up as early as I did. Wherever I went, Xi Le was always by my side - no, that's not right, it sounds like I'm a drifter, actually I was always in the yard. The fact is, wherever I swept the floor, Xi Le followed me. Everyone envied me, thinking it was a miracle to have a legitimate reason to be with a girl in Shaolin Temple.

  Two days later, I remember that the abbot presided over another meeting. The content of the meeting was that our province's grain, which had been economized on, was now only enough for two more days. What to do?

  Someone suggested sending some brothers out to find food. The relationship between Shaolin Temple and the imperial court has always been good, and all the grain was actually issued by the imperial court, but now the situation is really difficult. Even the county magistrate hasn't eaten bird's nest for three days, let alone the common people. The granary had been empty long ago, and our Zhongyuan was heavily affected, so there was no extra food. Master suggested seeking help from other temples, saying: "Nowadays, people are in a state of panic outside, diseases are rampant, and recently, Tongguang Temple, which has relatively good disaster conditions, should have some reserves. Who is willing to go on the 700-mile round trip?

  Everyone expressed their determination to live or die with the temple. The temple is our home. So, as a result of this meeting, everyone will tighten their belts again, make two days' worth of food last four days, and then discuss what to do after another two days.

  The master said: The central idea that this matter tells us is that as long as we control our desires, the things that were originally lacking can become many.

  I said: We can send word to other temples.

  The master said: It's too chaotic outside now, it's very hard to deliver letters.

  I said: Use pigeons, there are many carrier pigeons raised in the temple.

  Master said: I've eaten already.

  I was shocked, because I had been eyeing these pigeons for a long time. But I thought monks couldn't eat meat, and when I was hesitating, someone had already taken action. I asked the master who this person was?

  The master said: It is the abbot.

  I was shocked again, why didn't Fang Zhang set an example by himself.

  The master said: In the past few days, the abbot's body was weak and he ordered pigeon soup. Moreover, the rules are actually a form of entertainment after being warm and full. If you can't even be warm and full, do you still need to follow the rules?

  Two days later, the abbot convened another meeting. The content of the meeting was that the temple's food could only be used for two more days. What to do? Open half, the news came, and there was not a single person outside the temple. The abbot was shocked, personally climbed up the wall to take a look, and found that indeed there was no one left, not even a corpse in sight. The north wind blew, the earth was frozen, and the wild grass withered on the dead trees. The abbot couldn't help but shed tears, saying: "Amitabha Buddha, they died so cleanly." The deceased have gone, the living bury them, the living will go, and the deceased accompany them. But how did this last one manage to bury himself?

  I think Abbot must have eaten too much pigeon and over-supplemented, just by looking at it, I know that the city is issuing food.

  As expected, the news came again, and the imperial granary was opened to distribute grain. Do you know how much grain is stored in the national treasury? There's so much that opening it for three days would save the world, using less than half of the small storage reserve. This would be enough for the whole country to use for a week. What concept is this "whole country", with how many people? If everyone could unite as actively as they scramble for grain, the dynasty would have been changed long ago.

  I once wondered, why the granary in Chang'an did not provide relief to the masses as soon as disaster struck. Why did it have to wait until countless civilians and even monks were on the verge of starving to death before slowly opening up? Does an emperor's decision really require such a long period of hesitation?

  Actually, any decision has been made long ago, it's just that the timing is not right. The granary opened early, but the common people may not be happy yet, thinking that the grain was distributed too little, and it would be better to distribute money as well. Wait until tens of thousands of you starve to death, then release the grain, and everyone will be grateful. Human nature is actually a cheap word, why does "cheap person" sound more pleasant than "foolish person", "stupid person", or "silly person"? Because people are cheap.

  Suddenly, it seemed like there were no more problems, the famine was over, and we were happy that Shaolin had been preserved. We were sad that Wudang hadn't starved to death either. So everyone suspected they were colluding with the imperial court. The same thing done by different people doesn't even have the same wording; our Shaolin calls it cooperation, while they call it collusion. But in the end, everyone was very happy. Master was also very happy. After the happiness, I asked Master a completely off-topic question: What kind of person am I?

  Master said, we are all ordinary people, you are different, you have a special ability, you are THE ONE, you are the savior.

  I say, it's impossible. In my eyes, there isn't a single joyful and interesting thing under heaven.

  Master said: Right. You must remember that everything you can say with your mouth is always something that has happened before. Things that have happened before are things of the past. I am talking about your future affairs.