Being-Towards-Death

In 1999, Taoxian City, early spring.

Shower breaks.

The bell of Ci'en Temple rang, and it rang far away to the other side of the sky.This year's buildings are very short, making it appear that the sky is high, and the setting sun that is about to fall in the distance can be seen clearly.

Master Dele, the host of Ci En Temple, has been in retreat for more than two months. The originally scheduled three-month retreat period ended early because of the arrival of an old friend.

Master Dele is a master whose age cannot be discerned, but he has served as the host for many years.He has an amiable face, acts moderately, and has the same smile on his face as the Buddha statue, but today he was a little too excited, and hurried all the way to the main hall. When the little novice who was sweeping the floor in the front yard saw him, he didn't have time to say hello. See the host is gone.

The man who kowtowed to the Buddha statue three times in the main hall heard footsteps, stood up slowly, and looked back towards the door.He has a handsome appearance, a refined temperament, a thin figure, and a tall and straight posture.Looking at the face, it seems to have passed away. In the Buddhist hall in early spring, he was wearing a thin black windbreaker. The belt of the windbreaker was tied tightly, which outlined a slightly thinner waist than ordinary men.

When Master Dele entered the hall, the man put his hands together and called out, "Master."

Dele returned the gift with a smile and said, "Benefactor Shi came to visit in the rain, please go to the side room to rest and have a cup of hot tea. Don't blame the poor monk for not taking good care of him."

"How could it be?" He smiled lowly, "But I don't want to bother Master, I still have something to do and I have to leave right away. This time I came here to ask for something."

De Le said: "Amitabha, please tell me, the almsgiver."

"My adoptive father passed away, and he just had his funeral this morning. Please ask Master to set up a tablet for him and enshrine it in front of the Buddha."

"The benefactor also asks for condolences."

The man lowered his eyes, seemed to be in a daze for a moment, and immediately regained his clarity, and said, "His name is Zheng Zhongtian. I have written the date of birth and death in the notebook in the temple. On the last page, you can see it when you turn it over." gone."

Dele sighed: "Life and death are fate, and rebirth is also a relief. Don't be too sad, benefactor. I will personally save benefactor Zheng."

"Thank you, Master." He bowed again, without further words, took the wet umbrella, and bid farewell to Dele.

There is a narrow alley outside Ci'en Temple. The alley is full of water and is very muddy.Crossing the alley is a main road, and there is a black Lexus sedan parked near the intersection, with a fat man sitting in the driver's seat.

The fat man was on the phone, as if something had happened, and he was yelling.Shi Guyuan waited outside the car door for a while, after smoking a cigarette, the fat man scolded endlessly, he was a little impatient, and knocked on the car window.

The fat man in the car was startled, put away his phone, hurriedly rolled down the window, and smiled all over his face: "Mr. Shi, you're out, get in the car, get in the car, it's cold outside."

Shi Guyuan opened the driver's door: "Come out."

"Hey." Fatty wiped the sweat from his brow, arched out from the narrow car door, and said, "You want to drive by yourself, where are you going?"

"You go back first," Shi Guyuan closed the car door, started the car, and rolled up the window, "I have some private business to do, so you don't need to take care of it."

After finishing speaking, he dropped the fat man, stepped on the car door, set off a splash of water, and left without a trace.

The fat man patted his wet trousers, and waited for the car to drive a long way before he said, "Who are you!"

..............................

Chunsheng Kindergarten is a public kindergarten in Chengxi District, Taoxian City.At 04:30 in the afternoon, it was the time for the kindergarten to leave school. As soon as the bell rang, rows of little beans, like sprouts that had just broken through the ground, walked out of the gate under the leadership of the teacher, and let the parents take them away one by one.

A boy with a thick head and a thick brain ran out, looking around for a long time, his eyes lit up, he jumped up and down, waving his hands and ran to Shi Guyuan: "Uncle Shi, you are here to pick me up today, where is my father?"

Shi Guyuan picked him up, and the five-year-old boy was very important: "There is a task in the bureau today, your father may not be back at what time, and your mother is on a temporary business trip, so you have to stay with me tonight."

The little boy cheered happily: "Yeah! I want to fight Contra!"

"Your father specifically told me not to let you play games," Shi Guyuan pretended to be serious, and when he saw the little boy's face collapsed, he only showed the tip of his tail, "But..."

The little boy looked at him with bright eyes, shaking his face coquettishly: "Uncle——"

"It's not impossible to play games. Write your homework first. Anyway, you have to go to bed on time at nine o'clock. The sooner you finish writing, the sooner you can play."

"I have a lot of homework today, and there are two new words..."

"If you can't finish writing, you can't play." This time, he was really decisive. Before the little boy could utter a word, he forcibly changed the subject, "We have to go shopping first, what do you want to eat?"

The sky gradually darkened, and the parents and children left all over the place.After hugging for such a long time, Shi Guyuan couldn't hold him anymore, so he put the little boy down and tucked the cuffs for himself.

When she lowered her eyebrows and raised her eyebrows, a young female teacher held a little girl's hand, walked over hesitantly, and said, "Hey, are you Chi Xiaoyu's father?"

Shi Guyuan put down his arm, said "no", followed the teacher's arm, looked at the little girl, and couldn't help being taken aback, only then did he understand why the teacher had such rash questions.

This little girl was carved out of the same mold as him, and she is a beauty at first glance: narrow oval face, clear red phoenix eyes, straight high nose bridge, ruddy cherry mouth, this little face that is worthy of blooming On the face, except for the eyebrows, there is nothing like him.

The female teacher looked at her watch frequently, as if she was in a hurry. Shi Guyuan looked at the little girl, a little surprised, and continued the conversation following the female teacher's words: "Are you in a hurry to get off work?"

The female teacher is just a young student who has just graduated. She was a teacher for the first time, and she almost cried when she heard the call: "Just now I called, my mother is hospitalized, I have to go there quickly..."

Shi Guyuan grabbed the little boy, pressed it against his legs, pointed his chin towards him, and said, "I am Song Jianghan's parent. If you are in a hurry, go first. I will accompany this child and wait for the parents. You have called her parents." ?"

The teacher said: "It's not long after school, and I haven't had time to play."

Shi Guyuan took out his mobile phone, pressed the dial page, and said, "What is the phone number of her parents, you can contact her parents first, and then I will wait with the child."

The teacher answered the phone thankfully, took out the number book, and pressed the numbers one by one. The phone was picked up before it rang twice: "Hi, hello, emergency room, who are you looking for?"

"Excuse me, is Dr. Ike Yuchi here?"

"He's in the emergency room right now. He's undergoing a major operation. What's your name? Let him call you when he comes out."

"I'm his daughter's teacher... May I ask when he can pick up the child?"

"Oh, that's not sure. It's a major accident. It might be a busy night."

"This……"

Seeing the teacher's embarrassed expression, Shi Guyuan answered the phone and said, "Hello, please write down this mobile phone number. I am the parent of Dr. Chi's daughter's classmate. The child is very tired. I will take it home for dinner first. Do you think it is convenient to call Dr. Chi when he is free?"

The other side said: "How can I make decisions about children..."

Shi Guyuan said: "That's it. Just remember, my surname is Shi. When Dr. Chi comes out, don't forget to tell him."

"Eh-"

Shi Guyuan hung up the phone, and smiled politely at the teacher: "You go first, let the child go to my house first, and the two children can be a companion."

The teacher is still hesitant.

Song Jianghan said: "Teacher, I am Song Jianghan from the big class. If you don't believe me, you can ask Teacher Liu. This is really my uncle. Don't worry, he is not a liar."

Shi Guyuan knocked on his head.

"Then... I'm sorry to trouble you, I'm really in a hurry..."

Shi Guyuan watched the teacher take a taxi away with a smile, then squatted down, and asked the reprinted "Little Shi Guyuan" who had changed his gender: "Is your name Chi Xiaoyu? Your father is Dr. Chi."

Chi Xiaoyu nodded, not afraid of strangers, she smelled the faint fragrance of Buddha on this man, which smelled so good that she couldn't help but lean forward.

Shi Guyuan welcomed the little beauty's "throwing into his arms" and held Song Jianghan with the other hand, asking them, "What do you two want to eat tonight?"

Song Jianghan first said: "I want to eat KFC!"

"Your dad says no. Neither does McDonald's."

Chi Xiaoyu whispered, "I want to eat sweet and sour pork..."

Shi Guyuan was delighted: "You really know how to order food, this time will be a bit long, can you two hold it back?"

Both said, "Yes."

For the three of them, Shi Guyuan prepared a recipe of four dishes and one soup in his heart, drove around to the market to buy a night's ration, and bought two boards of Robust AD calcium milk for the two children, and had to watch them eat You can only drink after eating.

When Chi Xiaoyu entered the house, he obediently went to the study to write Chinese pinyin. Shi Guyuan was cooking in the kitchen. Song Jianghan saw that no one was paying attention to him, and felt quite boring, so he followed Chi Xiaoyu to do homework.Shi Guyuan took a moment to look into the study room, the two children were head to head, and Song Jianghan was like a big brother, explaining math problems to Chi Xiaoyu.

After finishing the meal, Song Jianghan finally couldn't bear the evil hand that was about to move, and reached out to the Xiaobawang game console.

While washing the dishes, Shi Guyuan asked, "Xiaohan, have you finished your homework?"

Song Jianghan said, "It's finished."

Shi Guyuan put the bowl back into the cupboard, dried his hands, and came out and said, "Here, let me check it."

Song Jianghan made the sound longer: "Uncle—uncle—"

"It's useless, you are not allowed to play until you finish writing," Shi Guyuan said with a straight face, and then asked Chi Xiaoyu, "Have you finished writing?"

Chi Xiaoyu said, "It's finished."

Shi Guyuan touched the top of her head, and was worried about messing up her braid, so he handled it lightly, like treating a porcelain doll: "Come, Uncle Shi will take you to play games."

"uncle--!"

After bargaining, Shi Guyuan and Chi Xiaoyu agreed to wait for Song Jianghan to play together.The two children messed around until nine o'clock, Shi Guyuan checked his phone, but there was still no call, so he had to ask Chi Xiaoyu to stay at home for the night.

He bathed the children separately. Song Jianghan was like a monkey, howling like a pig while washing his hair, very uncooperative; when it was Chi Xiaoyu's turn, he was very well-behaved, just as scared, He closed his eyes tightly, and frowned tightly.

Shi Guyuan lovingly gave her a quick fix. When he was applying shower gel on his body, Chi Xiaoyu suddenly grabbed his hand, turned out his palm, and pushed the foam away. There was a little red mole there.

Chi Xiaoyu pointed to the red mole, raised his eyes and said, "My father also has a little red spot here."

"Really?" Shi Guyuan flushed her, wiped her dry, then wrapped her in a big bath towel, scraped her little nose, and said with a smile, "Maybe you were really my daughter in your previous life."

Dry the children's hair and read story books to bed.After tossing until almost ten o'clock, Shi Guyuan finally escaped, and gently closed the door, instead of going to sleep in the room, he went to the study.

After a while, the phone rang, but it was still not Dr. Chi.

Shi Guyuan stood in front of the wide floor-to-ceiling windows of the study, closed the curtains, and answered the phone at the same time: "Speak."

A panting male voice came from over there: "Mr. Shi, I just got the news that tomorrow the Bureau may investigate the Dongling Mountain Villa, so I asked people to temporarily evacuate the chips and gambling tables to other places, and then The dealer was given two days off."

Shi Guyuan closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose wearily: "Well, be careful, don't leave anything dirty."

"Don't worry, I'm watching."

Shi Guyuan sneered and said, "It's such a big commotion just after the new term..."

The other side said: "Just put on a show, the new official took office three fires, drinking twice will reveal his true colors."

"Liu Mian, don't take it lightly," Shi Guyuan opened his eyes, "Zheng Zhongtian still has the last batch of goods to enter the customs in these two days, you should let people watch him, once he dies, how many pairs of eyes will stare at us. "

"Hey, I got it," Liu Mian replied bluntly, "Speaking of Director Zheng, there is really a trouble that requires you to come forward in person."

Shi Guyuan frowned, obviously a little annoyed by all the topics about Zheng Zhongtian: "What's the trouble?"

"His little son seems... seems to have some opinions on you."

This is too conservative. Ever since this Young Master Zheng broke the unbearable relationship between Zheng Zhongtian and him one night nine years ago, he has been treating him coldly.

But there are also advantages, since then, Zheng Zhongtian never asked him to do that thing again.

Liu Mian continued: "In Zheng Dong's will, it is clearly stated that you will take over the position of president of his company, but this young man seems not convinced..."

"He thinks I like to take over the mess they vacated?" Shi Guyuan snorted coldly, "If it wasn't for Zheng Zhongtian's sake of raising me and my sister, hum..."

"Hey, Mr. Shi, you can persuade him. Who doesn't know what Chairman Zheng means? It's for you to teach his son how to run the company!"

He advised?Asking him to persuade him would undoubtedly add fuel to the flames and make the situation worse.

Shi Guyuan said: "I see, you have to work harder these two days—"

Before he could finish speaking, the door of the study was suddenly pushed open.

Shi Guyuan looked over, felt distressed all of a sudden, and said to the phone: "Okay, that's it." Then he hung up the phone, quickly picked up Chi Xiaoyu who was teary-eyed, and patted her on the back lightly.

"What's the matter, tell uncle, what's the matter."

Chi Xiaoyu wrapped his arms around his neck very reliantly, crying in a milky voice: "Uncle, I miss Dad..."

Shi Guyuan paced back and forth with her in his arms, and said to her like coaxing a baby: "I can see my father tomorrow, can I sleep with you in my uncle's arms tonight?"

Chi Xiaoyu nodded, Shi Guyuan opened another bottle of Robust for her, and she stopped crying.

Shi Guyuan glanced at the hut, Song Jianghan was sleeping on his back, occupying all the beds domineeringly, even the pillows and quilts were squeezed out of the bed.

Shi Guyuan stuffed him with a pillow and covered him with a quilt again, he was not willing to let his delicate daughter in the previous life be tortured by the brat, so he carried Chi Xiaoyu back to his room.

Chi Xiaoyu got into his arms and whispered, "Uncle, can you kiss my forehead? Dad said that after kissing, I will go to bed and I won't have nightmares."

Shi Guyuan's heart melted into a puddle of water, he bent his neck and kissed Chi Xiaoyu's forehead, hugged her small body, and sang a lullaby while being patted and coaxed.

At this moment, he felt his heart was full.