Abbot Qingding didn't expect Jin Shan to come with his troops. He had a premonition that something big was going to happen. However, looking at Jin Shan's smile, it didn't look like he wanted to arrest anyone, but rather to maintain order.
Abbot Qingding was secretly proud. After the grand ceremony for the Buddha statue, he set sail and sailed down the Han River, then to Hankou, to the Yangtze River, and directly to Daxiangguo Temple in the capital. This place is a prosperous area with strong incense. With the Buddha statue, it is even more...
prosperity.
After Jin Shan presided over the grand ceremony, he gave the order to set sail for the capital.
Jin Shan walked to the front and looked at the statue. He looked at it for a long time and saw that it did not move. He looked carefully and the people were puzzled, especially Abbot Qingding. He was very anxious and wanted to set off quickly to feel relieved.
, who knows that the more anxious he is, the less he will move. It seems that he is using his brain to find a way.
Jin Shan suddenly turned around and shouted to everyone: "This Buddha statue is not good. It's not that the shape of the Buddha statue is bad, but that the craftsmanship of the sculpture is not good. It is extremely rough and cannot be used! If this Buddha statue is transported to the capital,
I’m afraid it will damage the reputation of Laohekou County! What do you think we should do?”
As soon as the words fell, the whole place was in an uproar and suddenly became quiet. Only the whistling wind blew past my ears, and the river water lapped at the shore and rolled up waves like white clouds.
Everyone suddenly became quiet. Jin Shan didn't say anything, and he didn't even look at Abbot Ding's face. He had the final say here. An abbot has no power. Jin Shan pulled out his sword, and everyone took two steps back in fright. He was going to kill someone.
Or what?
Jin Shan raised his sword and slashed at the Buddha statue hard, causing sparks to emit. After several strikes with the sword, the Buddha statue did not move at all. Only sword marks appeared on the Buddha statue one by one, but no dirt and debris fell to the ground. Instead, it became more and more...
The golden light is shining, and there are even fine gold powder flying.
When everyone saw it, the gold powder was still shining in the sun. This clearly told everyone the fact that the Buddha statue was not made of clay and made of gold powder. It was not a gold body made of clay, but made of real gold.
Jin Shan saw Abbot Qingding slumped in his chair, but put the Zen staff aside. He immediately got up and took the Zen staff with a single step. Abbot Qingding was about to take it back, but he was not as fast as Jin Shan. Jin Shan failed.
I took the Zen staff, touched the head of the staff, and then used all my strength to remove the head of the staff. It turned out to be hollow inside.
Jin Shan shouted to Abbot Qingding: "Your Zen staff actually has such a mechanism! How do you explain it? Other people's Zen staffs are solid, but yours is hollow. What's going on? If you have anything to say, just say it.
It's okay to say it here. If you don't want to say it here, just follow me and go to the county government office to say it."
"Go to the county government and talk!" Abbot Qingding said after looking at the crowd around him.
"Okay, come here, bring Abbot Qingding to the county government office and keep a good watch on him. Don't let him escape." Jin Shan ordered.
"Sir, please don't laugh at me. Look at me. You have confiscated the Zen staff. Sir, how can you let me escape? You should pay attention to this golden Buddha and don't let anyone steal it by fishing in troubled waters." Abbot Qingding said.
road.
"You can't protect yourself, so why worry about the Golden Buddha? Take care of yourself first," Jin Shan said.
Taken to the county government, Jin Shan began to interrogate Abbot Qingding.
"Qingding, you are in front of the ancient Buddha of Qingdeng, your heart is in the prosperous world, your heart is in love with the world of mortals, you are greedy and your desires are too much. How did you start your criminal career?" Jin Shan asked.
"Sir, I like gold. At Taishan Temple, I felt that life was meaningless. I wanted to do other things, but I was afraid of hardship. I had no capital to do business and became a secular official. Being an official was not a way out, so I thought of using my current status to smuggle gold.
Make a fortune. So I got in touch with foreigners, and then I started to have contact with foreigners. After they smuggled in the gold, they simply processed it and handed it over to the recipient. The purity of the gold was no problem. I liked it very much." Qingding
the abbot said.
"How is it processed?" Jin Shan asked. As soon as he asked, the method of committing the crime immediately appeared in his mind.
"I just asked them to process the gold into strips, which are about the same size and thickness as a Zen staff and can be put into the Zen staff. They are required to do this, otherwise, they will not give money. In order to get money, they have no choice but to comply." Abbot Qingding said.
"How was that deal done? How did you get Taishan Temple?" Jin Shan asked.
"This is the time to settle the money from the last time. In this way, you will not be afraid of being deceived. This time, you will deliver the gold bars without settling the account. The settlement will only settle the last payment. This can ensure the safety and smoothness of the transaction. Let the confidants go to Beidukou to buy grain and vegetables.
When I was there, I stopped by to get the gold bars, put the gold bars into the Zen staff, and then brought the Zen staff back. When I got the Zen staff, I took out the gold bars, melted the gold bars, and cast them into a golden Buddha." Abbot Qingding said.
"Where are you going to transport the Golden Buddha?" Jin Shan asked.
"It was shipped to the city, not to the Daxiangguo Temple. Instead, we found a better buyer and said it would be sent to the Daxiangguo Temple. They were using tiger skins as banners. In fact, they were bluffing," Abbot Qingding said.
"Then how did Shunliu die?" Jin Shan asked.
"Shun Liu? Which Shun Liu?"
"That's the painter."
"Oh, him? I don't know, but it was arranged by someone below." Qingding said.
"The people below? Who are they?"
"He is Lao Na's apprentice."
"What's it called?"
"My name is Yijing."
"Monk Yijing, what did he do?" Jin Shan asked.
"You have to ask him to know this," Abbot Qingding said.
"No need to ask, what did you arrange for him to do? He is just your tool." Jin Shan said.
"I asked him to remove the obstacles."
"What obstacle?"
"Someone is beginning to affect the implementation of my plan."
"What's the plan?"
"I just built the golden Buddha, brought it to the capital, found a good home to sell it, made some money, returned to secular life, and married ten or eight wives," Abbot Qingding said.
When Jin Shan heard this, he thought it was very ridiculous. A man who was half buried in the earth still thought about returning to secular life to find a wife. What a big heart! He thought he could live a hundred years!
"It turned out that I wanted to return to the secular world. If I return to the secular world, I will return to the secular world. How come I want to build a golden Buddha and sell it before returning to the secular world?" Jin Shan asked.
"I've been a monk all my life, but I haven't had a penny to return to secular life. Isn't it unfair? I still have the power to get some money. If I return to secular life, I will definitely have to spend money to marry a wife. I am already old. Without money, I can't marry a wife.
I could only make some money through corruption, and I was afraid that others would find out, so I took this opportunity to make a golden Buddha, and then transported it to the capital to sell it for cash. With money, there are women. Without money, all ghosts hate it and ignore it.
." Abbot Qingding said.
"What you said makes sense. How do you remove the obstacles? What are the obstacles?"
"It's because the former county magistrate Li Wang wanted to ruin my good deeds."
"Isn't he dead? How can a dead person ruin your good deeds?" Jin Shan asked.
"Of course his death can't ruin Lao Mon's good deeds. The problem is that while he was alive, he discovered clues to smuggling gold and began to arrange for police officers to conduct undercover investigations. It was his disciple Yijing who told Lao Mon." Abbot Qingding said.
.
"What did he find?" Jin Shan asked.
"He discovered that the agent was lying in ambush at the dock, observing the transactions at Yijing's dock. The mantis stalked the cicada and the oriole was behind him. What the agent didn't know was that Lao Na had arranged for someone to observe the transactions at the dock and the surrounding situation from a distance.
"When I learned that the police were secretly observing and wanted to take action, I was afraid of disturbing the situation, so I asked Yijing to pretend not to know about it and come back to discuss it later," Abbot Qingding said.
"What did you do after you came back?" Jin Shan asked.
"After I came back, I started to make arrangements. If I wanted to prevent the police from coming to investigate, shoot the people first, shoot the horses first, capture the thieves first, capture the king, and get rid of County Magistrate Li. To get rid of him, we must first consider how to get rid of him.
It's safe. After much deliberation, it was better to go to the scene and have a look. So I went to the county government office to have a look." Abbot Qingding said.
"Did you go?"
"I've gone. I went there with my Zen staff. If I don't enter the tiger's den, I can't catch the tiger's cubs, so I have to go and see what's going on. Sure enough, I saw that although the county government office is dilapidated, it is very strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is a good place. We need
Repair it well. Thinking of repairs, I made suggestions to County Magistrate Li. He said he had no money, so I suggested it and said that the temple had some leftover materials for repairs. It would not be good to keep them in the temple for a long time. It was better to use them to repair
The county government made some repairs, but he refused at first. Later, the old man said that those materials must be used. If they are not used, they can be returned to the merchant. The merchant will not take them because they see the packaging opened. If you can't return them, you can't.
If you want to cash in, why not do some good deeds and just accept it, but Qingshui Yamen has no money to pay for labor, so I am willing to pay for labor costs to repair the ruined house." Abbot Qingding said.
"Then did County Magistrate Li agree?"
"Yes, he later agreed and decided to accept the gift."
"He accepted this gift. It seems to be your lie. Where did you get the money to repair the temple? Besides, Taishan Temple has just been renovated, so why should it be renovated? This is obviously unreliable. Just tell the truth.
Bar!"
"Yes, I lied. In fact, the purpose was not to make the county government look new, but to find opportunities to get rid of County Magistrate Li. I borrowed the temple to have extra materials to help him. Only in this way did Magistrate Li relax his vigilance. If
Buying everything new would probably ruin Magistrate Li's reputation throughout his life. He would rather not pollute his good reputation. Then Lao Na's plan would be ruined. In order to achieve his goal, Lao Na made up this lie. Unexpectedly,
He really believes it. As long as he believes it, the next step will be easy, and I will arrange the next step." Abbot Qingding said.
"Then what's the next step?" Jin Shan asked.
"We arranged for Yijing's apprentice to find a painter to help County Magistrate Li replace the purlins and beams, and then they needed paint for protection. The painter that Monk Yijing found was actually an orphan, with only grandparents and no brothers, sisters, or parents.
If a dispute arises, no one will come to help. Lao Na needs such a person, so he arranges for Yijing to send him to do painting work, pays him a lot of money, and then properly arranges for his grandparents to have good food and housing. This moved him
What's the painter's name? Oh, yes, his name is Shunliu. I promised to finish the job and give him housing expenses. Because he hasn't married a wife yet. If a young man doesn't marry a wife, I'm afraid he won't have any children. He is an orphan.
, it is more necessary to marry and have children, and his grandparents are already old, so the hope is only for him. He thought it was reasonable and accepted the job." Abbot Qingding said.
"What specific job did you accept?"
"It is to dig a hole directly opposite the teapot on the table, then hide the arsenic, and then seal the hole with wax. This work means poisoning." Abbot Qingding said.
"It seems that you have confessed!"
"Yes, sir, I am old and have always liked women all my life. Now that my life savings have been confiscated, I cannot return to secular life and marry a woman. If I don't tell the truth at this time, I can't make up lies. It's unbearable pain!"
Abbot Qingding said.
"Lao Na asked Monk Yijing to arrange for a painter named Shunliu to do these things, and then gave him a sum of money to fly away. He couldn't bear to leave his elderly grandparents, so he didn't leave. Lao Na thought to himself
, they are all people who want to leave anyway. If he doesn’t leave, there should be no problem. No one can know this method, so it will never be exposed. With this mentality, I feel more at ease. Until the adults go to Taishan Temple to find the old monk.
, I still don’t understand the purpose of beating people to go to Taishan Temple.” Abbot Qingding said.
"When you went to the county government office to see Magistrate Li, did he ask about your Zen staff?" Jin Shan asked.
"He didn't ask, he just stared at the Zen stick for a while, and he probably guessed something. The old monk told him that he had trouble with his legs and feet, and this Zen stick can be used as a crutch. It is very convenient and can go anywhere without any effort." Abbot Qingding said.
"So, are Zen rods generally hollow or solid?"
"They are usually solid. This Zen staff was specially made by me to facilitate the smuggling of gold. I didn't expect that the master would discover the secret so quickly." Abbot Qingding said.
"I did not discover this. If I want to take the credit, it should go to County Magistrate Li." Jin Shan said.
Upon hearing this, Abbot Qingding trembled a little. He was so scared! His whole body was shaking! When Wu Zuo took a look, he stepped forward and pinched his middle. Soon he calmed down and let out a long sigh of relief.
, before he opened his mouth, Wu Zuo said: "Sir, the old monk suffered from heart failure and will die soon."
Hearing this makes me heartbroken.
However, those who commit too many unjust actions will inevitably die. Even death is worth it, because what he has done is enough to kill him a dozen times.
"Qingding, tell me, you poisoned Magistrate Li, do you feel no guilt at all? How did Magistrate Li treat you?" Jin Shan asked.
"I tell you, sir, I don't feel guilty. People die for money and birds die for food. I am addicted to money and can't help myself. I always feel that money is more important than people. With money, I can achieve many goals. Without money, I can't do anything. County Magistrate Li doesn't
I love money and am incompatible with this world. Living is also a kind of pain. I don’t love temples and don’t want to spend the rest of my life guarding the ancient Buddha. I have taken the wrong path in the past. Now I wake up and realize that cultivating Buddhism and doing good deeds are all good things.
In the void, nothing real happens. Instead of waiting for retribution in the next life, it is better to seize the time now, enjoy yourself in time, and overcome it quickly. There are people outside who are in pain, and we are too. However, we must have faith that it will get better sooner or later.
"I knew that such a day would come, but I was afraid that I couldn't wait any longer, so I wanted to end everything as soon as possible," Abbot Qingding said.