Chapter 291: Blessing Rice

Because of the school, when the village children were on duty, they would sweep the Mountain God Temple as well.

Of course, what they cleaned was the plaza outside the temple.

But that was enough — no matter when people from outside the village came to worship at the Mountain God Temple, it was always clean and looked as if its incense offerings were flourishing.

Thus, the Mountain God Temple gained a fixed congregation of believers.

Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He missed their little friends too, so the very next day they used the excuse of keeping Junior Xiao Shishu company at the Mountain God Temple to go down the mountain together, spent a whole day playing wildly with their little friends, and even sneaked into the school to sit in on half a day's lessons.

Pan Yun divided up the five hundred taels of silver she had brought back, setting aside one hundred taels for the Mountain God Temple's public account as the school's regular expenses.

The remaining four hundred taels, she would use to do merit in the Mountain God's name — this was something she had promised Master from the very beginning.

The more believers there are, the more psychic power there is, and only then can the Mountain God grow stronger and better protect and bless them.

Pan Yun naturally knew that on the night she underwent Tribulation Crossing, Master had secretly lent a hand — the spiritual energy in the mountains had come so fiercely, the earth's power had favored her so much, and even when she fell off the cliff into the valley, the bottom of the Mount Sanqing valley, known for its granite, had somehow been covered in a thick layer of soft earth…

The odds of that were about the same as winning a hundred million in the lottery, and her luck had always been terrible — at one glance, it was obvious it had been rigged.

Master had been so good to her, and the New Year was almost here, so she ought to give Master something nice to eat.

So after Pan Yun finished copying out the Wu Gong secret manual, she pulled out a large sheet of paper and wrote: "Senior Martial Brother, let's hold a temple fair before the New Year."

Wang Feiyin: "What's the purpose?"

"To gather everyone's wishes, pick the ones we can fulfill, lend a hand, and accumulate merit for Master."

Wang Feiyin: "That won't be easy — it'll cost money!"

Pan Yun slapped down a four-hundred-tael banknote.

Wang Feiyin glanced down and said: "It's passable, though it's a bit on the low side."

Pan Yun smiled sweetly. "I'll still need Senior Martial Brother and Third Martial Brother to put in extra effort."

What people in the world seek is nothing more than four things: peace, health, future prospects, and marriage — everything in the world can be summed up within these.

Pan Yun immediately took the money and went to the county town to prepare for the temple fair.

Of course, four hundred taels alone wouldn't be enough — after all, once the temple fair was over, she still had to go fulfill the wishes that had been gathered.

She went straight to find Master Qian.

Master Qian's doorman was still sitting on the doorstone dozing in the sun. Wobbling as he looked up and saw Pan Yun, he couldn't help rubbing his eyes and lit up with joy. "Oh, it's Little Daoist! Little Daoist has returned from your studies?"

Pan Yun nodded. "Came back for the New Year. Is Master Qian home?"

"Yes, yes, please come in right away, Little Daoist." The doorman didn't even report her arrival — he directly pushed the door open and invited Pan Yun and her two companions in, then ran off at top speed to inform Master Qian.

Master Qian came out laughing heartily to greet Pan Yun. "Benefactor, you've returned from your studies… mm, you've grown taller."

Upon learning that Pan Yun was holding a temple fair and had come to the county town to prepare blessing rice, Master Qian waved his hand grandly and said: "The Benefactor is doing merit for the Mountain God Temple — I must support this."

He immediately had someone seal up fifty taels of silver for Pan Yun and said: "I won't compete with the Benefactor over the blessing rice. Take this bit of money to buy some medicinal herbs — I know your Sanqing Monastery always dispenses medicine at every temple fair."

Pan Yun thanked him at once. "When the time comes, I'll light a large oil lamp before Master's statue for you, Master Qian."

Master Qian smiled till his eyes narrowed and said to Pan Yun: "The Benefactor's talismans are very effective. Last year and this year, the Tian family got struck by several bolts of thunder, and my disappointing eldest niece has had a much easier time of it."

Pan Yun's eyes lit up at once. "Is she called Sun Huiniang? Has she used up her Lei Fu? Would she like another two?"

Master Qian nodded repeatedly. "I was just about to ask the Benefactor for two more Lei Fu — oh, and two Peace Talismans as well."

Pan Yun agreed in one breath. Although her cultivation had risen now and the talismans she made were better, for Master Qian she still charged the original price — twenty taels per talisman, as always.

Master Qian had someone go fetch a hundred-tael banknote. "Benefactor, do you have a Wenqu Star Talisman?"

Pan Yun asked: "Is there a child in your family about to take an exam?"

Master Qian said: "Wuyi is studying here at my house. Next year he's going down to take the Licentiate exam, so I'd like to request a Wenqu Star Talisman."

Pan Yun: "That's a Wenchang Talisman. This talisman can indeed strengthen a person's literary fortune and bless them to have a smooth exam day. However, Master Qian, this talisman, like the Peace Talisman, only blesses a person to bring out the utmost of their own talent — whether they pass or not still depends on where their ceiling lies."

Master Qian nodded repeatedly. "I understand, I understand, I get it all. Even if he doesn't pass, I won't blame the Benefactor's talisman for not working."

Pan Yun then took out four talismans and said: "I don't have a Wenchang Talisman ready-made. Wait until I go back, burn incense and pray, and then I'll draw one for you. At the latest, the day after tomorrow I'll have it delivered."

Master Qian happily agreed.

"Master Qian, actually I have a matter I'd like to entrust to you as well."

"Please speak, Benefactor."

"Do you happen to know any merchants or travelers heading to Datong? Reliable ones. I have something I need to send to Datong, but unfortunately I don't know any merchants heading that way."

Master Qian didn't ask why she didn't go through the Minxin Bureau. He thought for a moment and said: "There are some, but Benefactor, rather than entrusting it to a merchant caravan, you'd be better off entrusting it to the escort guards protecting the caravan."

Pan Yun's eyes lit up. "They've hired escort guards?"

"Yes," Master Qian said with a smile. "It's quite a coincidence. I know a merchant who's about to head toward Datong to sell tea and pick up some furs on the way back. He leaves tomorrow and has hired escort guards from the county to travel with him." Pan Yun: "Isn't it a bit late to go buy furs now?"

Master Qian said: "Well, this business — there's always something to do at any time. Furs are hottest from late autumn to early winter. He's a bit late going now, but he has plenty of money. Even if he can't sell everything this year, he can buy them in at a low price and hold them until late autumn next year to sell."

He said: "If Datong weren't so far and the road so unsafe, I'd even want to let Dahong get in on a piece of this fur business."

Pan Yun: "Are furs selling well this year?"

"Very well — better than in previous years," he said. "It's been very cold this year. Even our Jiangnan got frozen early — the weather's been awfully strange. Just the other night, didn't it thunder for a whole evening?"

"Oh, that thunder — the lightning flashing and the thunder rolling, scared a person half to death. In the latter half of the night there was even a little rain, and when I got up the next day, the raindrops on the leaves had all frozen into chips of ice."

Pan Yun fell into thought. She had only spent one winter here, so she had no basis for comparison.

She turned her head to look at Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He.

But Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He were young and not very sensitive to such things, so they could only answer from gut feeling: "Every winter is very cold, and the mountaintop is especially cold."

Oh, right — they lived on Mount Sanqing, which was several degrees colder than the foot of the mountain. Even worse — no reference value at all.

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Pan Yun asked Master Qian clearly for the escort guards' names and went to find them at once.

The escort guard looked at the box held out before him and asked: "What's in the box? What's its value?"

Pan Yun said: "It's worth a hundred taels. Don't ask what it is — just keep it waterproof and fireproof."

The escort guard: "Can it be knocked around?"

"Alright."

The escort thought it over and accepted. "Fine. How do you want to entrust it? Top tier — the escort fee is twenty percent of the value, I carry it on my person, and once we arrive I prioritize finding the recipient. If I die on the road, I'll still entrust someone trustworthy to deliver it into their hands."

"Middle tier — the escort fee is ten percent of the value, sealed in a chest, guaranteed to get it there for you. Bottom tier — the escort fee is five percent of the value, shipped together with the rest of the entrusted goods. Don't worry, it's no worse than what you'd send through the Minxin Bureau."

Pan Yun's gaze swept over the options. After a brief moment of thought, she decided to play it safe and chose middle tier.

She paid ten taels of silver, received the receipt, and watched as the escort sealed the box on the spot and locked it with a padlock.

Pan Yun took her copy of the key and went to mail the letters — two letters, two recipients.

One letter told Pan Hong the code phrase for picking up the box; the other mailed the key.

Even without the key, with the code phrase in the letter, the other party would still hand over the box, and then they could figure out a way to smash the lock open.

Pan Yun sent the letters off and let out a long breath. From here on, it depended on whether her two elder brothers could take up martial arts after receiving the letter.

Pan Yun glanced at the quiet county-town street, waved her hand, and said, "Let's go. We're buying grain."

The three of them climbed onto the ox cart and headed first for the grain shop.

Miao He: "I miss our horse and cart."

Miao Zhen: "Don't even think about it. It's been two days and it hasn't come back — clearly it has no fate with us."

Pan Yun said, "It's fine. Once the New Year is over we'll head back to Long Hushan early, and we'll take a detour to visit Master Huang on the way. He'll prepare them for us again."

Miao He thought about it and realized that was true, so she wasn't too sad anymore. She only made a wish: "I hope the lost horse meets a good owner."

Pan Yun nodded. "It will. After all, it's seen the big world with us. If the other party treats it badly, it'll definitely know to run away."

This year Yushan County's grain harvest could be called a good one, so the prices at the grain shop were quite friendly.

Pan Yun brought Miao Zhen and Miao He into the shop to pick.

Since it was being marketed as blessed rice, Pan Yun decided to mix them the most nutritious blend — naturally it couldn't be just one kind of rice.

"Let's mix them an eight-treasure rice."

Miao Zhen: "How much does Little Xiao Shishu plan to send per portion? Too little won't do — one portion isn't even enough for a family to eat. Too much and the cost is enormous, and after the temple fair fulfilling the wishes also costs money."

Pan Yun said, "Too little really won't do. One blessing bundle, then."

The three of them did some mental math, then began picking out grain. The shop assistant carried their purchases bag by bag out to the cart.

This counted as a big customer, so the Shopkeeper came to attend to them personally. Seeing Pan Yun and the other two, he couldn't help looking them up and down, and laughed: "So it's the three Daoist masters."

Pan Yun turned her head. "The Shopkeeper knows us?"

"Of course I do. The little Daoist master has bought grain from us twice — for the little beggars on the street. I remember it vividly."

The Shopkeeper said with a smile: "But later I heard that when the little Daoist master sent them grain again, it was bought directly from the villages below, and you never came back to our shop to buy grain."

Pan Yun said, "Our Daoist temple sits right above a village, so it's more convenient to buy from the village. Shopkeeper, if one day you open a branch at the foot of our mountain, I'd be happy to buy from your shop too — someone packs it, someone weighs it, someone delivers it. How convenient that would be."

There's one more update — everyone go to sleep first.

(End of chapter)