Chapter 196

Chapter 196

Two more months passed, and the wind carried a hint of dryness. A young man wiped the faint sweat from his forehead and asked loudly, "Granny, how much for this?!"

Granny Chen, who was hard of hearing, replied in her not-so-standard Mandarin, also loudly, "Three yuan for one, five yuan for two! Pick whichever you like!"

The young man exchanged a glance with his companion, looking at the exquisite handmade knots on the stall. "Really?! We can pick any? Even this 'Dragon and Phoenix Auspicious' one?"

"Yes!" Granny Chen handed the intricate Dragon and Phoenix knot to them. The young man and his companion immediately selected several knots and paid with a handful of shell coins.

To help the elderly villagers who weren't familiar with using mobile phones, Zhao Ling and her team had set up a game currency exchange point at the village entrance. Visitors had to exchange for shell coins there before buying things in the village. The denominations were simple: pink shells equaled one hundred yuan, green shells fifty yuan, cyan shells ten yuan... Since prices in the village were low, exchanging two or three hundred yuan was more than enough to spend.

Exchanging for shell coins also came with a small, ethnically styled cloth bag, convenient for carrying the shells and also nice to take home as a souvenir.

"How much for this clay figurine?"

"Five yuan each!"

...

The small village was bustling with tourists coming and going. The place, once often filled with an air of quietude, was now brimming with vitality, as if even the sky had brightened a little.

Someone suddenly shouted, 'The Mountain Lord Grandfather is coming!' The crowd instantly parted, revealing a procession approaching from the distance. Leading it were over a dozen young, beautiful girls, all wearing matching dresses. Some carried flower baskets, others held incense. Following them were over a dozen strong men carrying gongs, drums, and musical instruments. Behind them was a divine palanquin carried by eight men, inside which was a statue of a young deity.

The statue held a sword in one hand and a jade disc in the other. With sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, dressed in splendid robes, it was extraordinarily handsome. A lifelike white tiger followed by its knee.

Seeing the deity statue arrive, the villagers surged forward. Some scattered flowers, some offered incense, others threw money, and so on. Whenever a coin or a flower successfully landed inside the palanquin, the villagers would cheer, with congratulatory shouts echoing through the crowd.

The tourists seemed infected by this festive atmosphere too, joining the villagers in throwing whatever they had. If they managed to toss something into the palanquin, they would laugh happily.

"..." Xiangxiang stood in a corner of an alley, expressionless, holding a pile of things, her expression strange—a mix of helplessness, satisfaction, and some panic and awkwardness. Chen Ji watched the items, which seemed to flicker between solid and illusory, appearing out of thin air from time to time. Xiangxiang was fumbling to hold them all, making Chen Ji snort with laughter.

"So this is how offerings work." Chen Ji laughed while trying to take one. His hand only touched Xiangxiang's warm arm. Xiangxiang paused, then picked out the largest, most beautiful flower from the pile in her arms and offered it to him.

Just as Chen Ji reached for it, the flower suddenly transformed into a cheese stick.

Both of them were stunned.

"Mom, I got one in for the Mountain God Grandpa!"

They turned their heads simultaneously to see a child nearby excitedly telling his mother, "I wished for endless cheese sticks! Mountain God Grandpa will think they're delicious too!"

His mother's expression was the picture of helplessness.

Suddenly, a pile of things appeared in Xiangxiang's arms: potato chips, melon seeds, chocolate... various candies, and even two bags of durian freeze-dried fruit.

"They've started throwing snacks now..." Chen Ji said with an amused smile.

Fortunately, the divine palanquin had curtains around it, making it harder for the snacks to get inside. Otherwise, Xiangxiang would have been buried in snacks.

Chen Ji pointed mischievously at the durian freeze-dried fruit. "Does Mountain God Grandpa want to eat this?"

Xiangxiang's face went blank for a moment before she said firmly, "For you to eat."

Then she stuffed all the snacks into Chen Ji's arms. Before Chen Ji could say anything, he saw Xiangxiang pull out an extra-large plastic bag from her pocket, put the snacks inside, and then take out the durian freeze-dried fruit to hand to him.

The smell upon opening the bag gave the big cat an indescribable look.

Chen Ji ate it with great relish, even taking a photo of the packaging to buy some of the same kind later.

By the time Chen Ji finished the whole bag and looked up, he saw Chang Xu, his hair already stuck full of flowers. He had put down his bag of snacks and was now holding another plastic bag. Chen Ji peeked inside and couldn't help but let out a 'wow'.

—It was full of money!

All kinds of coins and paper bills, from one-yuan coins to hundred-yuan notes, everything was there, mixed with many of the shell coins Zhao Ling had introduced. Chen Ji, utterly without conscience, instructed Xiangxiang, "Collect all the money, leave the shells... that's fine too, we won't need to exchange later."

After all, this money was originally offered to the deity to pray for good fortune. Now that the deity was actually using it, it could be considered put to practical use—as for him, a staff member of the mountain temple... what was Xiangxiang's was his. It counted as a family benefit under special circumstances, not too excessive, right?

Xiangxiang nodded seriously and obediently took out another bag of durian freeze-dried fruit for him. Chen Ji ate while curiously asking, "How exactly does this blessing get delivered? You've received the offerings, you have to do the work, right?"

Xiangxiang thought for a moment and said, "I'll do my best."

Hearing this, Chen Ji nodded and cautioned, "Don't go overboard. Selling gold requires receipts these days. You can't just send someone a deer or a civet cat either. People don't eat wild game now, and it's illegal. Don't end up sending someone to jail instead of giving them good luck."

Xiangxiang actually seemed visibly taken aback for a moment, then nodded seriously. "...Oh."

Chen Ji could tell from her reaction that she had indeed considered doing something like that before. He was both amused and exasperated. Pulling Xiangxiang along as they walked out, he whispered, "You can give people a small boost of luck. If they have a minor misfortune coming up, you can help ward it off. That's good enough..."

Yes, that was good enough. After all, Xiangxiang was the type who knew a bit about the world but wasn't deeply familiar with it. He was really afraid she might do something rather outrageous—like, for someone praying for career success, sending multiple projects leading to endless overtime until they went bald.

Xiangxiang listened carefully, nodding from time to time. Suddenly, she noticed Chen Ji had stopped. They had paused in front of a small flower stall. Chen Ji smiled and asked, "Which one do you like?"

Xiangxiang looked down and immediately said, "The red one."

Chen Ji pulled out a handful of shell coins from his plastic bag. "Granny Wang, give me that red flower crown!"

Granny Wang immediately picked up the most ornate red flower crown and handed it to him, waving her hand. "What money?! Take it, take it! How could I take your money!"

"Please, don't be polite!" Chen Ji stuffed the handful of shell coins into Granny Wang's hand, then placed the flower crown on Xiangxiang's head.

The elegant, aloof young woman, adorned with this vibrant flower crown, seemed to become more radiant herself.

Chen Ji looked at her and smiled. "So many people gave you flowers today. I should give you some too."

Chang Xu: "..."

He lowered his head, took out the most beautiful, largest flower from his small, worn pocket, and tucked it behind Chen Ji's ear.

Although he didn't have much, he could give him the best of what he had.

They still had a long, wonderful future ahead.

Life goes on.

"End of Main Text"

Table of Contents Previous Page