Chapter 813: Goddess Mazu's Blessing, Favorable Weather

Around five the next morning, Ye Yaodong got up early and headed to the Tianhou Temple.

The entrance of the Tianhou Temple was also very lively, with two large pots set up, two big tables laid out, and a group of villagers who had come over for breakfast, all chatting and laughing about various gossip.

Everyone who came to help today would be provided with free meals for the entire day, including tomorrow and the day after—free food and drink.

The food wouldn't be anything fancy, but it would fill the belly, and that was enough. There was no pay, of course—it all relied on everyone's willingness, since after all, it was helping out at Goddess Mazu's temple.

Still, plenty of people volunteered—not only men, but also women and Misses, since Goddess Mazu's procession also needed people to dress up as maids and attendants to wait by her side. After all, Goddess Mazu was a woman, and moving the statue around required the fisherwomen.

Some people who had gone out to sea and signed up late missed out on a spot and were quite regretful—after all, it was a good deed, and everyone was very keen on worshipping the gods.

At this moment, the two big pots were still cooking porridge, bubbling away with a gurgling sound, while Fatty's father kept stirring with a big ladle.

Ye Yaodong looked around—there were plenty of familiar faces. His father and his two older brothers had all come, but he didn't see any of his friends; they were too lazy.

"Dongzi's here, come eat breakfast quick. There's still a little bit at the bottom of the basin—scrape it and you can get a small bowl." Father Ye said as he pushed the basin on the table toward him.

Ye Yaodong looked down at the basin—indeed, scraping was the only option...

Only a little soup was left, with a few grains of rice clinging to the edges of the basin; he could barely scrape out half a small bowl.

"I'll just wait for the next pot, it's still early anyway, no rush."

"No worries, I'll scrape it for you—eat a little first, and when the next pot comes out you can have more." A warm-hearted villager beside him picked up the basin with one hand, brought over his bowl, and started scraping for him.

With a clatter of sounds, he really did scrape out half a small bowl, and the man even considerately handed it to him. "Eat up, fill your stomach first. When the next pot comes out it'll be too hot to eat anyway."

The man was so enthusiastic that he couldn't spurn his good intentions, so he smiled and thanked him, then picked up his bowl and chopsticks and started eating.

It was free food anyway, and there wasn't much in the way of dishes on the table—just pickled mustard greens, dried radish, fermented tofu, and peanuts.

Ye Yaodong wasn't picky. He swept a few peanuts from the plate into his bowl, added a few strands of pickled mustard greens, and downed half a bowl of porridge. Then, just like everyone else, he sat there with his bowl and chopsticks waiting, chatting idly with the others.

Unlike the women, the men weren't so gossipy—they were all friendly, smiling and asking with concern whether he'd suffered any losses from the rain over the past two days.

After he downed another bowl of porridge, the others started arriving one after another.

With nothing to do, he wandered into the main hall. When he came out and saw it wasn't time yet, he took the chance before the fisherwomen gave Goddess Mazu her bath and wiped her down to light a stick of incense and bow a few times, then went off to find his fair-weather friends to shoot the breeze.

People from the village also gradually came out to watch the excitement, and more and more people gathered at the entrance.

As the time drew near, the person in charge began calling names. After confirming everyone was present, he reminded them of a few things to note on the road.

He also had someone wheel over a cart with several baskets of Guang Bing, giving each person a string of them to hang around their necks so they could grab one to gnaw on when hungry.

There was definitely no way to eat properly out in the fields at noon, so they could only use these as a snack to tide them over—they'd have to wait until they got back in the afternoon to eat a real meal.

This was much like General Qi Jiguang's soldiers hanging Guang Bing around their necks in battle—the same idea. That's actually how Guang Bing came to be.

The person in charge kept talking until the hour arrived, then stopped. Firecrackers were set off, the blessing ceremony began in the main hall, and the suona team at the entrance, hearing the firecrackers, also started playing. The scene looked even more lively.

The fisherwomen also began bathing and changing Goddess Mazu's clothes, and the procession started to line up—once Goddess Mazu was bathed and dressed, she could go straight into the sedan chair.

The procession was made up of the lead banner, the fire basin, the Tianhou Temple's great flag, the large standard banners, the folk suona team, the dragon dance team, Goddess Mazu's divine sedan, the maids' team, the colored flag team, and so on.

The long procession, lined up in order from beginning to end, looked incredibly magnificent. What's more, the village had been willing to spare no expense—even hiring a dragon dance team. The donations must have left quite a sum.

Ye Yaodong stood in his position, around the divine sedan, stroking his chin and pondering, thinking as follows.

By now it was almost time to set off, and basically the whole village had come out to watch. Some had squeezed into the main hall to watch the blessing ceremony, while those who couldn't get in stayed outside to enjoy the excitement.

The lively scene surpassed even New Year's and Goddess Mazu's birthday—it was even grander.

Everyone was in position, chatting in low voices, faces beaming with joy.

After the fisherwomen came out with the news, Ye Yaodong and the eight young strong men lifted the divine sedan and walked toward the entrance of Goddess Mazu's old site, waiting for the fisherwomen to carry Goddess Mazu's statue out and place it in the sedan.

Once the blessing ceremony in the main hall ended, it was time for today's main event—Goddess Mazu's procession for blessings.

Firecrackers crackled nonstop at the entrance of the main hall, with people specifically assigned to set them off along the entire procession. A-Zheng had also been assigned to set off firecrackers today.

Of all the rotten luck, he even sidled up to Ye Yaodong, holding a string of firecrackers, pretending to mime lighting them, deliberately teasing him—pretending to throw the firecrackers at his feet with a feint.

This nearly scared Ye Yaodong to death—he was still carrying the sedan.

Fair-weather friends are fair-weather friends!

He glared fiercely at A-Zheng and said, "Are you trying to get me killed?! Wait till I'm free and I'll settle the score with you!"

A-Zheng, grinning cheekily and not afraid of him at all, pulled several more strings of firecrackers from the canvas bag hanging on his wrist, and faked a few more feints, making Ye Yaodong so angry his teeth itched.

He wanted to kick him, but A-Zheng nimbly dodged.

The two were roughhousing when the procession started moving and they had to follow along, so they finally stopped.

Ye Yaodong, fuming, dropped a harsh line: "Just you wait!"

Seeing the procession start moving and having no more fun to cause, A-Zheng actually got serious and started chatting with him.

"Hey? Last night we saw there were a lot of people behind us, so after checking the weather forecast we went back first. I heard you actually kicked people out later?"

"It's not really kicking them out. Since the forecast said overcast with no rain, we had to take all those dried cuttlefish out to dry. The yard needed to be used for drying, so naturally we couldn't keep watching. After everyone left, we turned off the TV too—didn't watch it. We were busy until past nine."

"Oh, can you still get a TV that cheap?"

"I just bought a TV back, just took advantage of the deal—I'd feel a bit embarrassed to show up again asking for more. Why don't you go try it yourself?"

"Forget it then, who am I? They don't even know who I am."

"Next time then—next time I go, I'll call you along."

"Alright. Last time I went, it was a shame I didn't bring back more good stuff. When I got back and asked around, I found out we got quite a bargain. My wife also told me to buy a radio, but seeing your TV, I thought I might as well get a TV."

"Mm..."

Goddess Mazu's statue sat upright in the sedan behind him, carried by eight young strong men from the village. In front were four village gong-and-drum teams leading the way, followed closely by two people carrying a large fire basin.

Ye Yaodong happened to reach a turn in the road and stop, only then catching sight of the procession emerging ahead.

He checked the time—it was just past eight in the morning. At this point they hadn't even left the village yet, still strolling along the village's main road, stopping now and then.

At this leisurely pace, stopping every so often, it really would take a whole day to get through the villages above Dongshan Village. Luckily there were people all around, chatting and laughing so it wasn't boring—though his shoulders were definitely going to suffer.

The road leading to the village entrance was now packed with people from nearby villages who had come to watch the excitement. Entertainment was scarce in the countryside—after the big opera, it was rare to have such a big event to see. Anyone nearby who had heard about it basically came. Everyone's face was full of excitement, amazed by the grand lineup.

The procession kept heading east, stopping every so often to do a dragon dance segment. On both sides of the procession were villagers watching the excitement, spontaneously accompanying it, and the crowd kept growing, following along beside Goddess Mazu's procession.

Just as they entered the first neighboring village, a very elderly man knelt right by the road to respectfully welcome Goddess Mazu's procession, kowtowing continuously. Other elderly people and villagers, seeing this, also knelt and kowtowed in welcome.

The heads that had just bobbed up all dropped down at once, and the crowds on both sides of the village fell to their knees like a wave.

The gong-and-drum team and the suona team were startled, but they grew even more excited and worked all the harder; their faces flushed beet-red, they struck the gongs and drums with greater force, and the suona players' hands trembled with emotion as they blew.

No one in the crowd of villagers knew who shouted it first, "May Goddess Mazu protect us, may the winds and rains be timely…"

Immediately the people around them spontaneously took up the cry, "May Goddess Mazu protect us, may the winds and rains be timely…"

"May Goddess Mazu protect us, may the winds and rains be timely…"

The atmosphere of the scene gradually swelled, the chant rising higher and higher with each wave.

The other villagers who had originally just been following along on the side to watch the excitement were now all swept up in collective emotion, dropping to their knees together and joining in the loud chanting.

"May Goddess Mazu protect us, may the winds and rains be timely…"

Ye Yaodong watched as every villager, man or woman, young or old, knelt to welcome them, and he too was surprised on his face and stirred within — this was the power of the masses' faith!

Their procession and blessing team was also infected by everyone's power of faith; with excited expressions on their faces, they walked along while joining the crowd in the loud chant: "May Goddess Mazu protect us, may the winds and rains be timely…"

"May Goddess Mazu protect us, may the winds and rains be timely…"

The cries rose wave after wave, piercing the heavens; the villagers' emotions climbed higher and higher, their faces fervent and wild with excitement.

For years their faith could only be buried deep in their hearts — they did not dare vent it, did not dare worship, did not dare let anyone know, because in those years feudal superstition was being eradicated and the dregs of feudalism were not permitted to linger.

The newly completed Tianhou Temple in their village could be said to carry the hopes of all the fishermen.

After all these years, at last everyone could stop keeping their faith buried deep inside their hearts.