Simon felt a violent tremor, like a small boat drifting in the middle of a stormy ocean.
He tried hard to open his eyes, and of course, it wasn't difficult; he succeeded. What met his gaze was half of a star and moon, and a Woman's face.
Simon could only see her chin, but this Woman had a double chin.
A man said, "Wife, let's leave him here. Just place Dezhang in the pavilion. In about half a watch, the Martial Monks will come to draw water in the dark. They'll surely see Li'er then." His Central Plains accent was strong, but his tone was neither generous nor hearty.
Simon watched the stars for a while, felt his eyelids grow heavy, and simply closed his eyes.
The Woman holding him sorrowfully said, "It's the middle of the night, won't the child catch a cold?" Her soft, lilting accent sounded a bit like a song, clear and melodious like birds chirping on a spring branch.
"It's the height of summer; the nights are still cool. Just wrap the swaddling clothes tightly around him." The man's tone was a bit hurried. "Hurry, Wife…"
Simon felt a bit tired, and sleepiness washed over him.
In a daze, the Woman, who was his mother in this life, breastfed him one last time.
Sweet liquid slid into his tender gut, and etched into his bones were wistful memories.
After sleeping for a long, drowsy time, Simon was once again woken by footsteps.
Opening his eyes, all he saw were gleaming Bald Donkey heads. These 'lightbulb' heads, even with the sparse moonlight, seemed to return ten times the brightness to the world, which was truly admirable.
"Brother Kong, look! Another child has been abandoned by his heartless parents!" An excited baritone began to babble, "If you ask me, this world is truly getting worse and worse. Back then, there was government control, and at least the people in our Mount Song region lived in peace and contentment…"
"Enough, An. As a monk, one's six senses should be pure. Don't talk about such useless things." Another monk stopped the baritone's long-winded speech.
"Oh, alright, but…"
"Hey, hey, hey! Stop, stop! No 'buts'!" A clever-sounding voice cut in.
"Why can't I even grumble a few words!"
"An, why don't you go practice silent meditation!"
"How can you bear to make me not speak…"
Simon knew whether he would live depended on these monks reaching a decision, so he forced himself to stay awake.
The more these monks chatted, the happier they became; the more they talked, the livelier it got. They started shouting loudly, arguing with each other like buzzing flies in a summer butcher shop, giving Simon a splitting headache.
Suddenly, outside the pavilion, a thunderous roar erupted: "What are you little Bald Donkeys chatting about! Hurry up and go fetch water for me! If you don't fill the kitchen water tank before dawn, all of you will copy scriptures a hundred times!"
"Oh no!"
"My goodness!"
"It's Uncle Jueguang!"
"Let's go!"
This unreliable group of monks clanged their buckets and ran off into the distance.
Simon: "…"
He barely managed to open his eyes, only to see an over-braised black egg.
"Another unfortunate child, sigh! Never mind, from now on, follow this old Bald Donkey and be a little Bald Donkey with peace of mind!" Jueguang picked up the swaddling clothes and used his qinggong to rush towards the temple.
Simon heard the wind whistling past his ears, and he felt like he was sitting on a rubber ball, bobbing up and down. He finally couldn't resist the sleepiness and fell asleep again.
…
When he woke up again, it was to begin a brand new life.
Raising an infant was quite challenging. Shaolin Temple had already adopted many abandoned babies, so they hired several wet nurses from the nearby Jianchuan Town to help care for the children.
To avoid suspicion, the infants were specifically raised in a small detached courtyard outside the temple, guarded by several young monks, which also protected them from attacks by jackals and tigers.
Simon was considered the most well-behaved child. After all, he didn't cry or fuss, and he was cute, so he was the most favored by the wet nurses. These middle-aged and elderly Women brought warmed cow or goat milk, or rice porridge cooked into a paste, taking turns in three shifts, feeding each child, and tending to their needs with great patience. In their eyes, this was accumulating virtue and doing good deeds, though they still expected payment, of course.
Although the monks built temples and Buddha statues and received incense offerings, appearing wealthy, first, Shaolin is a Chan sect, not a Pure Land sect, so it is relatively poor. Second, the money they had was mostly used to acquire medicinal materials, renovate courtyards, and gild statues, so these Bald Donkeys were quite poor. The women's compensation was actually things like consecrated prayer beads and hand-copied scriptures.
Simon listened to these chatty Women and knew they would sell these consecrated items for a good price to supplement their household income.
This tourism economy indeed has a continuous legacy.
People who visit temples in later generations always buy so-called consecrated Buddha beads and the like. Ordinary items can be sold at ridiculously high prices. It's truly unknown whether it's the devotees' piety, the monks' business acumen, or simply a case of one willing to give and the other willing to take.
…
An infant's brain is very active, yet also very immature; active in development, and immature in development.
So Simon slept a lot, occupying most of his day.
Now, without the insects of the Dream World, his dreams became ordinary dreams, and his sleep was merely for the sake of sleeping.
Everything returned to simple, ordinary days.
Sometimes he would wake up in the middle of the night, too hungry to sleep, and would just look at the moonlight filtering through the window of the side room.
The night wind in the mountains rustled, the leaves rubbed together, and the cicadas chirped. The essence of summer was fully revealed in this alone.
The small pond in the courtyard was lively. Although Simon couldn't see the pool of water with his own eyes, he could hear the whispers of duckweed colliding, the murmuring dreams of water lilies, the sound of dragonflies skimming the water, and the splash of a toad entering the water, a 'plop' that shattered the moonlight.
Simon could usually only enjoy a brief moment of tranquility, because other children would always wake up in the middle of the night too. They would cry loudly, instantly ruining all the beautiful scenery.
The Woman sleeping on the mat was startled awake by the loud crying. Holding a small oil lamp, she went around comforting each infant.
If they let all the children wake up, then there would be no sleep that night.
Simon always took the opportunity to beg for something to eat. Children couldn't go hungry; it would be embarrassing if it affected their development.
After several times, the wet nurses became familiar with Simon's nature. Even if he didn't actively cry out, they would check if he was awake in the middle of the night.
Time passed little by little, and soon, autumn arrived. The water level in the pond in the courtyard dropped, and this small world, more sensitive than the larger one, quieted down early.
As the weather turned cold, the monks brought cotton quilts they had made, the windows were covered with paper to block the cold wind, and the Women on night duty also put away their floor mats and lay on the narrow kang.
As autumn drew to a close, several more infants were added to the room where Simon was. Now, this place, less than thirty square meters, housed a total of twenty-one children.
--+--
T/N: Although I'm an inexperienced Editor, I do have a Patreon account! Although it seems like I don't have many supporters right now, my webnovel will be released in full every day, and the advanced chapters will be uploaded to Patreon.
It may not be worth it now, but who knows, it might be different in the future. Who knows!
patreon.com/Greyhounds
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