Chapter 923 922 [Samadhi True Fire]

Also going to Zigong with Nan Huaijin was a monk named Qian Ji (who had already returned to secular life).

When Nan Huaijin first arrived in Sichuan, he couldn't even afford food. Qian Ji and his son took him in. The two hit it off and quickly became inseparable friends.

Just last year, Nan Huaijin and Qian Ji went to the Sichuan-Kangshan border and set up a "Big and Small Liangshan Reclamation Company" and appointed themselves general manager and commander-in-chief of the self-defense regiment. He recruited refugees for farming and production, and also developed a self-defense force for refugees. In half a year, he gathered tens of thousands of refugees.

Nan Huaijin probably watched too much "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", so he actually called himself the "King of the Northern Han Dynasty" and the "Commander-in-Chief".

The sudden emergence of such an armed force in a remote and wilderness place frightened the local warlord Liu Wenhui, and he quickly called the National Government to deal with it. Due to pressure from all parties, Nan Huaijin had no choice but to leave Daliang Mountain. First he went to Yibin to work as a newspaper editor, and then to Chengdu to become a martial arts instructor and political instructor at the Central Military Academy.

In terms of ability alone, Nan Huaijin is definitely an outstanding person. When he entered Sichuan at the age of 20, he had not enough to eat. Just one year later, he recruited tens of thousands of refugees from scratch. He not only set up a reclamation company, but also developed local self-defense forces.

If Nan Huaijin had been born 20 years earlier, he might have become a member of the warlords and competed in the turbulent era.

So after Nan Huaijin met Zhou Hexuan, the first question he asked was about the hermit. He was suddenly suppressed at a passionate age, and was forced to give up the tens of thousands of refugees he had personally recruited. The settlement company he had worked so hard to establish was also swallowed up. How depressing he felt.

Since leaving Daliang Mountain, Nan Huaijin has been extremely confused. He hangs out with so-called strange people and strange things all day long. In a few years, he will even go into seclusion to practice Buddhism.

…

At this time, there was no road from Chengdu to Zigong, so you had to take a car and then a boat. The salt produced in Zigong was also transported to various places by water.

Sitting in the car, Nan Huaijin sighed: "Mr. Zhou, fortunately I have your car, otherwise I would have been delayed for a long time."

"Why are you so anxious to go to Zigong?" Zhou Hexuan asked.

Nan Huaijin said with great regret: "A monk friend died. But I knew he was definitely not dead. He had entered samadhi, but his disciples thought he was dead and buried him in the ground. His disciple buried his master for several days before he wrote to me , It’s so stupid!”

Zhou Hexuan said in surprise: "Is this okay? How long will it take to enter samadhi?"

Nan Huaijin said: "I used to know an old monk named Guangqin. He once entered meditation in Gushan, Fujian, and could not come out for six or seven days. The other monks wanted to carry him and burn him. Master Hongyi happened to pass by and saved his life. He didn't come out of concentration until the ninth day."

Zhou Hexuan said speechlessly: "Aren't you hungry after being in samadhi for several days?"

The Buddhist monk Qian Ji next to him said, "I'm hungry. The longest time I stayed in meditation was two days. After I came out of meditation, I starved to death. I ate four bowls of rice in one go and almost choked me to death."

Nan Huaijin, who had just been grieving for his dead friend, suddenly laughed: "Haha, is this why you returned to secular life?"

Qian Ji leaned on his seat and said coolly: "It's boring to be a monk. It's better to be a layman. You are not made to be a monk. You have too many worries. Even if you study Buddhism, you will only become a layman with profound Buddhism."

"How do you know I can't become a great monk?" Nan Huaijin asked.

Qian Ji thought for a while and suddenly said: "I will give you a poem, please listen carefully: The chivalrous bones and tenderness are given by heaven, and the wind and jade trees are built in the middle road. Knowing the two things that you care about, all the people in the world will put a book on their shelves."

"Good poem, good poem!" Zhou Hexuan clapped his hands and praised.

This poem that blurted out was much more clever than Feng Yuxiang's, and it determined Nan Huaijin's life early.

Nan Huaijin shook his head and smiled bitterly, his thoughts were all captured by this poem.

After a long journey by car, everyone switched to taking a boat. Historically, due to lack of money, Nan Huaijin and Qian Ji walked for eight days before arriving in Zigong. After they paid homage at their friend's grave, they went for a walk around the city. Suddenly they found that they had spent all their money, so they had to go to Li Zongwu's house to enjoy the autumn breeze.

Now that we had the advantage of a boat and a carriage, we arrived at Artesian Well in one day and one night.

When Nan Huaijin came to his friend's grave, he cried loudly: "Four-eyed boy, you died so unjustly!"

Obviously visiting a grave is a very sad thing, but Zhou Hexuan wanted to laugh when he heard it. The person buried in the grave was a monk. According to Nan Huaijin, he was an old monk who was converted from Taoism to Tantric Buddhism and then to Zen Buddhism. He actually called him "Four-Eyed Boy".

Nan Huaijin bowed and said, "Four-eyed boy, if one day the Anti-Japanese War is won, when I return to Zhejiang, I will definitely burn your bones and take them back."

Qian Ji also bowed and said consolingly: "My condolences!"

Nan Huaijin stood up and said to himself: "I asked him not to eat so much white wax. He had to eat it. He is fine now. Maybe he was buried alive."

"What the hell is white wax?" Zhou Hexuan asked.

Nan Huaijin explained: "It is difficult for the old monk to enter concentration. He likes to eat white wax mixed with porridge, saying that it is easier to enter concentration."

Zhou Hexuan said: "If he ate white wax for a long time, he might have died of myocardial infarction or cerebral congestion."

Nan Huaijin was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said, "It's possible. That makes me feel better. At least he wasn't buried alive by his apprentice."

Monks seem to have taken life and death lightly for a long time, and Qian Ji, who has returned to secular life, is no exception. He traveled hundreds of miles to visit the grave. After paying his respects, he immediately returned to normal and said calmly, "Don't stay here anymore. It's boring. Let's go around."

Nan Huaijin was equally free and easy, leaving as soon as he said he wanted to, without even looking back. As he walked away, he remembered: "I met Si Yanzi in Hangzhou. At that time, he taught me Buddhism and I taught him boxing. The past events are still vivid in my mind."

Zhou Hexuan smiled and asked: "Are your boxing skills very good?"

"It's just so so, it's okay to deal with ordinary people," Nan Huaijin said with a smile, "I heard that Mr. Li Zongwu created a set of Wuji boxing. This time I want to go to him to learn from him."

Li Zongwu also knows martial arts?

Zhou Hexuan was a little speechless. These strange people from the Republic of China were really versatile.

During the Republic of China, Zigong was very small, with only Ziliujin and Gongjing facing each other across the river, but the scene was quite spectacular.

Looking around, there are densely packed cranes for collecting salt. Steam is rising everywhere, and it seems that the air is filled with the smell of salt. Well, it also smells like shit, like cow shit.

Zigong as a whole, plus Fushun, is probably the place that produces the most cattle in the country, apart from the prairie, because cattle are used in large quantities to mine salt. Cows that died of old age and illness were eaten, and cow dung could also be used as fuel. Although the killing of cows was prohibited during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, people here regarded eating beef as a common thing.

By the way, Zigong’s beef cooking is unique, and the most famous one is Huobianzi beef.

The salt merchants were rich, but there was no entertainment in ancient times, so they had to change their ways to fight for wealth and enjoy it. The most authentic way to make Huobianzi beef is to cut the tenderest meat from the veal loin, marinate it with a secret sauce, and then cut it into translucent shapes. There are dozens of steps before and after.

It was also the first time for Zhou Hexuan to visit the traditional salt production method, and he wandered around the salt field in a strange way.

Nan Huaijin quickly found something interesting. He stood in front of the salt stove, constantly lifting up the tiles and putting them down again, uncovering the fire, covering it to extinguish the fire. It was almost completely automatic. After repeating it for more than ten times, he finally put out the fire. Nan Huaijin stretched out his hand to explore, and his hands were numb from the natural gas ice. He sighed: "This is the yin fire underground. What we usually use firewood to burn is yang fire, which is burned by the sun." It’s real fire.”

Zhou Hexuan wanted to roll his eyes when he heard this. It was just ordinary underground natural gas. How could it be related to Samadhi Zhenhuo?