PCJ – Chapter 102 Fan Tan Patriarch Temple

This shout caused quite a stir. Elementary school students love excitement, and in an instant, they swarmed over. The teachers didn’t react as quickly. The kids surrounded Chen Santou in the middle, forming several dense layers. Many people didn’t even hear what Chen Santou shouted, purely joining in the fun.

Those in the front did hear what Chen Santou said and found the hidden wall under the shrubs quite odd. The bricks on this wall were not the usual red bricks but rare blue bricks. Blue bricks were seldom seen in rural areas, usually used in very old houses. Most of the old houses in Meizi’ao were wooden. Only some of the old homes of former landlords used blue bricks. Temples and pagodas mostly used blue bricks. The Wenchang Tower in Gezhuping Town was entirely made of blue bricks, giving it an ancient look. Unexpectedly, the Meizi’ao Elementary School also had a structure built with blue bricks.

“Disperse! Don’t crowd here!” Ma Lisong saw the commotion and immediately came over to disperse the students and approached the place where the wall was found.

“Principal Ma, what’s the situation here? Wasn’t this area a deserted hill before? How come there’s a wall?” Gong Ziyuan asked as he walked over.

When Ma Lisong was involved in establishing Meizi’ao Elementary School, he became one of its several volunteer teachers. At that time, he had just graduated from high school in Gezhuping Town and returned home. Being a knowledgeable person in Meizi’ao Brigade, he naturally knew the situation when the school was first built.

“This was indeed a deserted hill, but it wasn’t always uninhabited. Initially, this place was also lush with trees and had the best scenery in Meizi’ao. There was a Daoist temple here called Meishan Temple. During the ‘Destroy the Four Olds’ campaign, this temple wasn’t spared and was destroyed by a group of Red Guards. Later, the trees were cut down to make steel, turning the place into a barren hill. In the 1960s, when we established Meizi’ao Elementary School, we chose this spot. There were many blue bricks here, which we used to build the school,” Ma Lisong explained clearly.

Gong Ziyuan had heard some of this before but hadn’t known the exact location of the old temple.

“So what do we do about this?” Gong Ziyuan asked.

“What to do? Just clean it up as usual. It’s been so many years; this place is long deserted. These bricks can be used to build the teaching building, saving some money,” Ma Lisong, always looking to save costs, replied.

Villagers wouldn’t dare to take bricks from temples for building houses due to fear of divine retribution. But Ma Lisong, building a school, had no such concerns. After all, he was one of those who had destroyed the temple back then, wearing a red armband.

“First, remove these blue bricks and move them to the playground. You all, come over,” Ma Lisong called over the students he had earlier dispersed, including Chen Santou.

Chen Santou immediately ran over, took a hoe, and struck the low wall with force. The temple was solidly built, and the hoe rebounded without loosening a brick, nearly injuring his foot.

“Be careful. Don’t use brute force,” Ma Lisong took the hoe from Chen Santou, gently struck one end of a blue brick, and easily loosened and removed it. He handed the hoe back to Chen Santou, “Take it slow. These bricks are useful.”

Zhang Jiaohua, with nothing to do, was quite interested in the temple ruins.

“Wait a moment, let me see,” Zhang Jiaohua noticed something unusual on one brick, took it from Chen Santou.

Chen Santou knew Zhang Jiaohua, as did most students in Meizi’ao Elementary School. He didn’t oppose Zhang Jiaohua, who had gained a mythical reputation in the village. Ordinary kids didn’t dare go against him.

The brick that caught Zhang Jiaohua’s attention was special, with characters stamped into it, preserved clearly: “Fan Tan Patriarch Temple.”

The Fan Tan Patriarch referred to Zhang Wulang, the founder of the Meishan Sect. Zhang Jiaohua had never heard the old Daoist mention a temple specifically for Zhang Wulang. Unexpectedly, there was one in Meizi’ao.

Many bricks in the ruined wall had stamped characters, indicating the temple’s name, construction dates, and blessings. Initially, the students were very interested, but gradually, they lost interest. All bricks were moved to the playground, revealing stone foundations beneath, which were beyond the students’ ability to handle. Ma Lisong decided to leave further clearing to the construction team.

However, the children’s curiosity was unstoppable. Chen Santou led a group to keep digging and found some items. First, someone unearthed a large coin from a crevice in the foundation, likely dropped by a past visitor.

This discovery sparked a treasure hunt among the children, who eagerly dug around.

Ma Lisong didn’t stop them, as their digging aligned with the overall goal of clearing the foundation. Initially worried about slow progress, he now had eager helpers without needing to urge them on.

Zhang Jiaohua was also intrigued. What child didn’t dream of finding buried treasure? He grabbed his hoe and randomly dug around the ruins, but found only fragments of old tiles and wooden pieces that hadn’t decayed over the years, likely due to some protective coating.

“Look! What is this?” Suddenly, someone shouted, indicating a significant find.

Everyone gathered around to see the discovered treasure.

Being shorter than the older students, Zhang Jiaohua couldn’t see even on tiptoes. Circling the crowd yielded no results, so he squatted and looked through the legs of the gathered kids. He saw someone holding a blackened object, seemingly a small Buddha statue.