A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 26 Du Shiniang

The Horse-Ti Temple was as big as a maze. Du Shiniang wandered around for a long time and didn't know where she was. Her maidservants were so anxious that they cried.

Li Yi said goodbye to Hui and came out of the kitchen, where he happened to run into them.

"Hey, do you know where the dining hall is?" The maid with two knife-shaped buns on her head stopped Li Yi and asked.

Li Yi stopped and looked at the two girls. Their hairstyles were quite unique. One had two knives on her head, and the other had two rings on her head.

"First of all, my name is not Hello, my name is Li Yi. Secondly, I don't know where the dining hall is." Li Yi replied.

At this time, the young girl with the double-ringed Wangxian bun came forward and bowed first. "I would like to apologize to Li Lang on behalf of my maid Shuying. We got lost and she was anxious and rude."

The girl was very polite and had a nice voice when she spoke.

Li Yi looked at her. She was wearing a light green shirt, a red and green skirt, and a red and yellow cape draped over her shoulders.
It is said that red and green are very tacky, but this girl's red and green outfit gives people a sense of vitality without losing the sense of luxury. The two contrasting colors are cleverly and harmoniously integrated together.

Of course, it could also be that the face is very delicate and beautiful,
With an oval face, willow-shaped eyebrows, and phoenix eyes, she looks like a dewdrop in the morning, fresh and unworldly, untainted by dust.

"I was just joking, no need to apologize. This is actually my first time at Mati Temple, so I don't know where the dining hall is. However, I know where the kitchen is. The dining hall should be nearby. I can take you there first and ask the monks to show you the way."

"Thank you so much, Li Lang."

Li Yi stepped forward to lead the way. He guessed that this polite girl must be either rich or noble. The waistband of her red and green skirt was embroidered with a parrot pattern, and the cuffs of her light green shirt also had a Qilin embroidered on them.
The saffron-colored shawl was also made of precious silk.

Li Yi led the way in front, and the little maid Shuying pouted at Li Yi from behind, so Du Shiniang hit her lightly.

The Mati Temple is very large. Fortunately, Hui Liao took him on a quick tour today, so he has some understanding of the layout of the entire Mati Temple.

The layout is as follows: mountain gate, Heavenly King Hall, Main Hall, Dharma Hall, Sutra Library, Abbot's Room, and Kitchen.

Their current location was actually near the mountain gate.

"You are now heading to the mountain gate," Li Yi said from the front.

Du Shiniang politely replied, "I've been walking around for so long that I'm completely confused."

The maid Shuying seemed to still remember Li Yi's teasing, "Why does the mountain gate have three gates?"

"Buddhism teaches that there are three gates to liberation: the Gate of Emptiness, the Gate of No-Form, and the Gate of No-Action. The large gate in the middle is the Gate of Emptiness, and the smaller gates on either side are the Gate of No-Form in the east and the Gate of No-Action in the west.

"The Horse-Shoe Temple was built by imperial decree, and its main gate was constructed in the style of a palace. The central gate was converted into the Mountain Gate Hall, within which stood two statues of Vajra warriors. The one on the left had angry eyes and an open mouth, while the one on the right had an angry face and closed lips." This was all what Hui Le had explained to him earlier.

The little girl didn't expect Li Yi to know so much, and she couldn't help but pout again, which made her master reach out and pinch her.

"Let's walk in from this side. In front of us is the temple's bell tower and drum tower. In the morning, the bell is rung first, and the drum responds to it. In the evening, the drum is beaten first, and the bell responds to it. Under the bell of Ma Ti Temple, there is also an enshrined Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. Under the drum tower is a statue of Guan Yu, the deity of the temple, with Guan Ping as his left attendant and Zhou Cang as his right attendant."

The little girl immediately asked, "Guan Yu? Is he Guan Yu from the Three Kingdoms period? Isn't he a military commander? Why is he enshrined in the drum tower of a Buddhist temple?"

Li Yi smiled and said, "I don't know why either. I just saw it when I was visiting."

Du Shiniang said, "I happen to know the story behind this. It is said that during the Kaihuang period of the previous dynasty, Master Zhikai of the Tiantai Sect resided in Jingzhou and wanted to establish a Dharma center on Yuquan Mountain. Once, he was meditating and entered a trance. Ten days later, he suddenly saw Guan Yu and Guan Ping, who were as majestic as jade. They came forward to pay their respects and claimed to be the masters of Dangyang Mountain. They heard that the master wanted to build a temple on the mountain and agreed to help. Seven days later, the master came out of his trance and saw a magnificent Buddhist temple before them. The master then led his disciples to stay in the new temple and entered another trance to give the Five Precepts to Guan Yu and others.

He told his disciples what he saw in meditation, and they recorded it. Then the divine power and virtue spread thousands of miles away. After Guan Gong received the Five Precepts, Zhikai reported it to King Yang Guang of Jin, who sealed the matter and bestowed upon him a good name. Guan Gong was then made the temple's deity, and from then on, he became the guardian deity of Buddhism.

Li Yi was a little surprised at how much this girl knew.

He brought the two of them to the Heavenly King Palace,

In the center of the Heavenly King Hall is the big-bellied Maitreya Buddha with his chest and abdomen exposed. He is the designated successor of Sakyamuni Buddha and the future Buddha. The correct name should be Maitreya Bodhisattva, and he has not yet become a Buddha.

On both sides of Maitreya Buddha are the Four Heavenly Kings: one playing the pipa, one holding a sword, one holding an umbrella, and one playing with snakes.

Behind him is Weituo Bodhisattva, also known as Weituotian, the head of the thirty-two generals under the thrones of the Four Heavenly Kings and the guardian deity.

"We were here just now. We got lost after leaving here," said the girl.

Li Yi had been here just now. Wei Tuo and Maitreya were standing back to back, facing the main hall, and he was carrying his demon-subduing pestle.

Just now, Hui Liao specifically explained the importance of this. If the Skanda Pestle in a temple is carried on the shoulders, it means it is a large temple that can provide free food and accommodation for three days to wandering monks. If it is held in the hand, it means it is a medium-sized temple that can only provide accommodation for one day.

If the pestle is placed on the ground, it means that this is a small temple and does not provide free food and accommodation to wandering monks.

In fact, there is an unspoken rule for this, which is whether the vegetarian hall will treat people who burn incense to free vegetarian meals.

Those who hold the pestle on the ground are generally not provided with free meals. Those who hold the pestle in their hands are provided with vegetarian meals as donations. For those who carry the pestle on their shoulders at the Ma Ti Temple, the vegetarian hall will provide free vegetarian meals to those who come to burn incense.

The layout of the Mati Temple actually does not conform to the teachings of the Three-Stage Sect, but the Mati Temple was formerly the Huanggu Temple of the Sui Dynasty, and the Three-Stage Sect took over later, so the layout still continues the original one.

"Now that you're here, you should know the way, right?"

"Please escort us all the way to the dining hall. This temple is so big, I'm afraid we'll get lost again." said the little girl.

"Okay, come with me."

Li Yi did not take the two people to the main hall, but went directly to the kitchen. Here he had already met the head of the store who lent money for the incense, the head of the fire who was responsible for cooking, etc.
The monk was a little confused when he saw Li Yi coming back, and he was even more confused when he saw him coming with two girls.

"These two came here with their family to burn incense. They got lost in the temple and wanted to go to the dining hall." Li Yi said.

Du Shiniang stepped forward and said, "I am Duqu Du Shiniang. I came here with my grandmother, Mrs. Guo, to burn incense, but I got lost in the temple."

When the monks heard that it was the Du family of Duqu, they did not dare to neglect him, because he was a major donor to their temple.

The moneylender quickly said he would take them to the dining hall.

Li Yi did not follow them anymore and said goodbye to them.

Du Shiniang looked at Li Yi as he was about to leave, bowed and thanked him. Li Yi waved his hand and said, "It's just a small favor. I don't need to thank you enough. Goodbye."

On the way, Du Shiniang asked the monk in the storehouse, "Who is that Li Lang?"

"That's the village chief of Luojiabao in our township. He's only sixteen years old. He used to be a Taoist priest at the Wuji Temple in the back. He recently returned to secular life. Today he's here to give us some dried bean curd sheets and tofu."

The little girl asked curiously, "What are yuba and bean curd?"

"Like vegetarian chicken, it's a soy-based vegetarian dish."

In the dining hall, Mrs. Du, the wife of Marquis of Fengxiang, didn't know that her granddaughter was lost. When she saw Shi Niang coming back, she asked her where she had been.

"I just wandered around and went to the Mountain Gate Hall and the Heavenly King Hall in front. I saw Maitreya Bodhisattva and Skanda, and then I realized that Skanda's pestle is placed differently and there are different rules for it."

Mrs. Guo pulled her granddaughter to sit next to her.

Before the vegetarian meal, Mrs. Guo made a donation to the Ma Ti Temple.

"One silver vase with gold decorations of sixteen taels, two silver plates with gold decorations of twelve taels, three silver bowls with eight taels, three dou of oil, five shi of flour, ten shi of millet, and two slaves."

As expected of the Du family of Jingzhao, Mrs. Guo was very generous and lavish in her gifts.

Sixty-four taels of silver were donated, which was worth a hundred strings of cash even at the price of silver. Add to that rice, flour, oil, and two slaves, and it was equivalent to donating more than fifty cows.

Even for a wealthy third-level temple like Mati Temple, this is a major donor.

The Mati Temple naturally prepared a sumptuous feast for the guests.

The twelve-course vegetarian meal consisted entirely of vegetarian dishes, but many were made to look like meat dishes.

Grilled vegetarian chicken legs are wrapped with gluten around fennel roots. They are round and round, with a golden and crispy skin that is almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

The ham slices made from dried tofu look very similar after being plated.

Fried meat made with eggplant, salt-fried meat made with vegetarian chicken, steamed pork with rice flour made with tofu, roasted pork elbow made with vegetarian chicken and mushroom fillings wrapped in tofu skin, sweet and sour spareribs made with tender lotus root...
These vegetarian dishes look like real meat dishes.
But today, Zhikeseng introduced several new dishes. "This is braised bean curd sheets, this is a stew with three delicacies, this is stir-fried bean sprouts with bean curd, this is stir-fried bean curd sheets with black fungus, this is bean curd soup..."

"These bean curd sheets and tofu puffs are dishes we haven't had before,"

"Yuba (bean curd sheets) is made from the essence of soy milk, which is scooped out and sun-dried. It is yellowish-white in color, shiny and translucent. It is fragrant and refreshing to eat, and it also has a unique flavor when eaten as a vegetarian."

"Tofu puffs are made by deep-frying dried tofu. They are golden in color, with shredded meat inside, delicate and airy. Once you knead them into a ball, let them rest, and store them for a month, they won't get moldy. When you chop them into pieces and use them in soup, the flavor is refreshing and fragrant. They won't become mushy even if you stew them for a long time. They are even more delicious when served cold or stir-fried."

The monk in charge of reception praised these dried bean curd sheets and tofu pudding as being the best in the world, saying that only one dou of rice could exchange for one jin, and that the price was too high to sell, and the supply was limited. In fact, only their Ma Ti Temple could offer such delicacies, and no one else could.

The most prominent point is that things are valuable because they are rare.

Mrs. Guo, the Marquis of Fengxiang, was born into a prominent family and had seen everything. She seemed very calm. However, Du Shiniang remembered the Li Lang who had led the way just now. Didn't the monk in the warehouse say that the bean curd sheets and fried tofu were all supplied by Li Lang?

She suddenly couldn't wait to try the bean curd sheets and fried tofu made by Li Lang.

"A-Zu, come and try these bean curd sheets and tofu bubbles to see if they are really that magical."

"It's just made of soy milk and tofu. It's not as magical as they say." One of Du Shiniang's aunts laughed.

The fasting feast begins,
Du Shiniang first picked up a piece of bean curd skin with chopsticks for Mrs. Guo.

The other Du family members first picked up some dishes they had never eaten, such as bean curd sheets and pickled tofu.
Although the Jingzhao Du family was a famous family in Guanzhong, and the women in the family were of noble status and had eaten all kinds of delicacies, after tasting those dishes, they could not help but be amazed and felt that what they said was true and that they were indeed extraordinary.

Mrs. Guo especially likes the bean curd sheets in the three-fresh stew, which are very soft, tender, flavorful and fresh. She is almost eighty years old, and this kind of food is just right for her.

Seeing that she liked it, Du Shiniang picked up a lot for her and said, "Grandpa, this bean curd sheet is really good. Why don't we buy some too?"

"Okay," Mrs. Guo doted on her granddaughter and immediately agreed with a smile. "I'll buy some from the temple later."

"No need. I know where these bean curd sheets are made. I can just ask someone to buy them."

Mrs. Guo didn't care. Even if the monk in charge of reception had just said that one dou of rice could only be exchanged for one jin of dried bean curd sheets, would Mrs. Du be short of money for vegetables? She had donated more than one hundred strings of cash to the temple today.

At this vegetarian feast, the five new dishes were eaten cleanly, but there were some leftovers from the other dishes.

(End of this chapter)