"Every peddler and foot soldier has the air of a six-dynasties noble", a city that can make Mr. Zhu Ziqing say this, is only Nanjing, the ancient capital of the six dynasties.

  Heavy rain poured down, with a majestic momentum, dark clouds pressed down on the city, causing Chen Ergou to frown as he set out from a small hotel that cost 70 yuan per night, having picked up a map from Nanjing Railway Station yesterday. He borrowed an umbrella from the hotel owner and rushed towards Jiming Temple. By the time he arrived at Jigong Mountain, he was soaked to the bone like a drowned chicken. He had thought that a temple with such a poetic name would be located in a secluded mountain area, but instead found himself surrounded by bustling streets, causing Chen Ergou to curse loudly using Wang Hu's phrase: "Damn it, what kind of Jiming Temple is this? It's all just a scam!"

  Chen Ergou crouched on the ground, hiding under an umbrella, refusing to go up the mountain because the ticket required five yuan, which he was unwilling to spend. He had originally agreed with Wang Hu that they would meet at Jiming Temple the day after tomorrow, but the small hotel cost 70 yuan per day, which made Chen Ergou heartache. So he hoped that Wang Hu could come early to Jiming Temple and join him, so as to help him save two days of accommodation fees. Fortunately, the packet of cheap hard-shell cigarettes he had just bought last night in his pocket was not affected, otherwise he would have scolded Wang Hu's ancestors for eight generations.

  "Look up three feet and there is a divine being. On a rainy day, you dare to scold the number one ancient temple of the Southern Dynasty like this, aren't you afraid that a thunderbolt will come down and strike you dead?"

  The speaker's words were full of playful meaning, which made Chen Ergou, who was already annoyed and couldn't even smoke a cigarette, even more angry. Moreover, Chen Ergou believed in fate, and this sentence happened to hit his weak spot. Chen Ergou, squatting on the ground, slightly lifted up his umbrella with a hint of guilt, but could only see a pair of small legs, along with a pair of embroidered flower shoes, hemp pants that were elegant and refined, making Chen Ergou, who had never seen the world, secretly admire how this fabric, which was not considered elegant in the countryside, could be made into such beautiful pants. The rain-soaked pants accentuated the curves of her legs, making them stand out even more. Chen Ergou, who had just shed his bachelor status, liked to look at women's faces first, then their chests, and finally their buttocks, often neglecting their legs. But if Chen Ergou were to develop a foot or leg fetish in the future, it would definitely be because of this woman standing in front of him. She wore a pair of cloth shoes, sky blue with embroidered lotus flowers, which was completely different from Chen Ergou's only requirement for warmth and not style. Beautiful and elegant, they complemented her small feet perfectly. She stood like that in the rain, with wet pants legs and damp shoes, without caring about anything else.

  Chen Ergou didn't dare to look up, fearing that she wouldn't be as beautiful as he had imagined, and thus ruining the atmosphere. Chen Ergou's language scores were indeed very poor, but this thing called atmosphere is something that everyone understands a little bit about. When a slender and elegant stranger stands in front of you on a rainy night outside Chicken Temple, holding an umbrella and wearing embroidered shoes, who wouldn't be moved? Throughout his reading career, Chen Ergou had always stubbornly believed that Zhang Ji's ability to write the famous poem "Maple Bridge Night Mooring" was not entirely due to Zhang Ji himself, but rather to the atmosphere of that night at Hanshan Temple.

  "I've been following you for two hours," the woman said in a serious tone, her voice lacking the melancholy of a mature woman like Yanzi who had experienced many hardships, nor was it as shallow and plebeian as that of Boss Ami; it was as if she had three parts of the elegance of bamboo leaves, three parts of the simplicity of Cao Cao's poetry, and the remaining four parts were her own unique character.

  "I'm broke, if you want to rob me, please find someone with money. If it's not for the money, then you must be sick." Chen Ergou said irritably, the lighter had sparks but refused to light up, as if it was going to die along with Chen Ergou's desire to smoke. That broken thing was hovering between working and not working, seemingly intent on tormenting Chen Ergou. When playing chess, Mrs. Cao would say that strange things happen for a reason, Chen Ergou had just been bitten by Zhao Kunpeng, the snakehead in SH, and people said that once you're bitten by a snake, you'll be afraid of the rope used to draw water from a well for ten years. It's only been two days since then, so he naturally had to be on guard everywhere.

  "I'm not sick." She said slowly and word by word.

  "Fine, I'm sick." Chen Ergou rolled his eyes and glanced sideways at Jikong Mountain, trying to withdraw his gaze from those shoes and that calf.

  The woman crouched down, gently took the lighter from Chen Ergou's hand, and with a whoosh, it was lit. She held her chin, her eyes fixed intently on Chen Ergou, who was staring at her in stunned silence. "When I first followed you," she said, "I guessed that you were going to Fuzi Temple, or Yanzi Rock, or Moyu Lake, or Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, or the Presidential Palace. If it was Fuzi Temple, I thought you were a stubborn and pedantic guardian of the faith. If it was Yanzi Rock, you would be someone with a strong sense of justice. If it was Moyu Lake, you would be someone who likes to indulge in sorrow and melancholy. If it was Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, I would think that you have a belly full of sinister intentions. And if it was the Presidential Palace, I would pretend not to have seen such a vulgar person."

  Chen Ergou was stunned for half a day and finally couldn't help but say: "You're really sick, have you read too many books?"

  "I'm not sick," she retorted again.

  She doesn't have a stunning appearance, not like Zhu Ye Qing who can make people stunned at first sight, nor like Wang Yu Yan who makes people want to scoop out their eyeballs. But she has a clean face, clean eyes, and clean skin, that head of green silk also makes people feel clean. The Cao family woman is also easy to forget, but her eyes have a deep sense of nobility that Chen Er Gou can't understand or see through, making him involuntarily respectful. However, this little woman won't, saying she's small because she looks very delicate, which is the charm of a Jiangnan woman from a small bridge and flowing water family. She's also young, looking 15 or 16 years old, not shallow nor profound, without pretending to be deep, nor forcing herself to say melancholic words. Even after saying something that makes Chen Er Gou very headache, seeing her face still makes him feel comfortable talking to her.

  "In the end you unexpectedly came to Chicken Temple, so I think you are a woman."

  When she smiled, there were two dimples on her cheeks. "At least in the past life, because this Chicken Temple is now a nunnery, you know what a nun is?"

  Although she was said to be a woman, Chen Ergou, who had always thought of herself as quite manly, didn't get angry with her. Her face could make people want to hate the world, but he got angry with Wang Hu's remaining anger, picking on where it wasn't good and couldn't help but burst out in coarse language: "Fuck your grandfather."

  Chen Ergou was not scolding her, but she didn't know that. She looked shocked and surprised, with a hint of sadness and pitifulness.

  Chen Ergou panicked and awkwardly explained: "I didn't mean to scold you, it's just that the words came out too smoothly, and before I knew it, they slipped out of my mouth."

  She nodded and said: "Right, you didn't scold me, you scolded my dad."

  Chen Ergou held an umbrella in one hand and a map in the other, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. He didn't know how to explain himself and could only remain silent.

  The girl held the umbrella handles with both hands, just wrapping around the handle, and the two umbrellas overlapped each other. Although the rain was heavy, at this moment, the small place sheltered by the two umbrellas had a kind of refreshing taste. Finally, the girl who appeared out of nowhere, looking more innocent than ordinary people, but always making Chen Ergou and Zhang Yizhi scratch their heads, came up with a plan: he would give her five yuan to invite her into the Chicken Temple, and she could pretend not to have heard that dirty talk.

  Chen Ergou liked to compare women to snakes, colorful and striped, but for the first time he thought there might be a small white snake as clean as snow, so he willingly spent 10 yuan on a ticket. If he really got bitten to death by this little white snake, Chen Ergou wouldn't have any complaints. It would be worth it if God had put in such great effort to harm him, a lowly commoner.

  The Ji Ming Temple has black tiles and yellow walls, with a pearl-inlaid roof. Under the dark clouds and heavy rain, it takes on a different charm. A girl whose name Chen Er Gou didn't even know became his tour guide. "In the past, the Ji Ming Temple had a statue of Guanyin facing north. On the pillars of the Buddhist shrine, there was a couplet that read: 'Ask the Bodhisattva why she sits upside down, sighing that sentient beings refuse to turn their heads.' Isn't it interesting? Actually, there are many more interesting stories about this temple. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, an emperor liked to come here to become a monk, then let his ministers ransom him back, allowing the Ji Ming Temple to gain tens of millions of copper coins. That emperor became a monk four times. You say I'm sick? I think he's the one who's sick! If you have Buddha in your heart, why bother with such pretenses?"

  Chen Ergou hesitantly said: "It's Emperor Wu of Liang, I suppose."

  She chirped: "You all know this?"

  Chen Ergou seemed to have been deeply hurt, "Although I don't have much culture, at least I've studied high school history."

  "You've actually read books? And even high school ones? I thought you'd only graduated from elementary school at most."

  “……”

  ——————————

  Chen Ergou saw the nuns doing their homework and reciting scriptures for the first time. Among them, several young ones were quite delicate, but when they recited scriptures, it seemed to make Chen Ergou, a thorough and utter commoner, feel that they wanted to raise their eyes and look at him with disdain. This Chicken Temple was not a remote ancient temple in the deep mountains, but rather just a stone's throw away from the bustling city. How could these young nuns maintain even a little bit of purity in their hearts? Chen Ergou didn't understand Buddhism, and his understanding of Buddhist teachings only stopped at the literal meaning of a few obscure scriptures. As the little girl said, "There are gods three feet above our heads," he didn't dare to make any reckless guesses. Originally, he wouldn't have been able to enter the side hall and see these nuns reciting scriptures, but an old nun with a kind face saw the girl behind Chen Ergou and smiled, smiling with a profound and ancient air, like the wall inscribed with the "Heart Sutra". The old nun didn't stop them, so Chen Ergou was able to enter the side hall and listen to the scriptures.

  The temple had a place to drink tea, but Chen Ergou was unwilling to go in. The little girl who followed him initially had some intention, but ultimately gave up. After all, she didn't want to make Chen Ergou spend money again. However, Chen Ergou went into the Huomeng Pavilion and ordered two portions of vegetarian noodles, one for each of them. She ate with relish, and after finishing, she looked at Chen Ergou's portion with a pitiful expression, making him think that she was also from a poor family. So he ordered a third bowl of snow vegetable noodles. After it was served, she divided half of it to Chen Ergou, who didn't refuse. Outside the window were Xuanwu Lake and the Ming City Wall, and the heavy rain continued to pour down, but Chen Ergou felt carefree and joyful.

  "I originally wanted to go find the Rouge Well, to see where Emperor Chen's wife and concubine took refuge, but you deliberately made things difficult for me, making me recite the Heart Sutra on the wall, burn incense, worship Buddha, and make a wish. I also listened to the nun reciting sutras, and finally got to eat this fragrant snow vegetable noodles. My parents always taught me that even if someone is being unreasonable, I should only drink seven or eight parts of tea and wine, so I decided to leave Rouge Well for next time."

  The girl smacked her lips, seemingly savoring the flavor of that half bowl of snow vegetable noodles. Then she lifted her cheek and looked at Chen Ergou, who was so ugly that it was impossible to fall in love with him at first sight, and said contentedly: "Want to know my name, Chen Fusheng?"

  Chen Ergou narrowed his eyes without turning his head and continued to gaze at the hazy scenery of Xuanwu Lake, saying: "Think."

  "Don't be surprised why I know your name, I just came back from XC, it was a sister with the surname Cao who told me."

  "It's all fate."

  "What else did she say?"

  "It's gone, I knew there was such a person in China, named Chen Fusheng. But I think it's worth me running all the way to Nanjing to see that kind of woman who is thinking about Buddha statues and lamas."

  Chen Ergou did not pursue the matter, his face as calm as a still lake, it was impossible for outsiders to know whether there were storms or ripples beneath the surface.

  As she walked out of the Ji Ming Temple, she smiled and revealed two small dimples, saying: "I won't tell you my name, but you can find it in the Ji Ming Temple. If you're really interested, guess for yourself. If you hadn't come to the Ji Ming Temple, I wouldn't have appeared before you. My parents always say that fate is determined by heaven and human effort, and Aunt Dan Tai also likes to say that a single drink and a single bite are not coincidental, so eating your bowl of half vegetarian noodles was also fate."

  The girl walked away, holding an umbrella, wearing cloth shoes, jumping and skipping, softly singing a little tune called "The Bug Flies".

  "The dark sky hangs low, bright stars follow one another. Insects fly, insects fly, who are you thinking of."

  The stars in the sky are crying, the roses on earth are withering, the cold wind is blowing, as long as you're by my side.

  "Insects fly and flowers sleep, a pair is beautiful, don't fear the darkness but fear heartbreak, no matter how tired or not, nor care about east south west north..."