Chapter 144: Had no choice but to believe it too
The Taoist temple was ready.
Shi Qingluo waited for a good opportunity to inform the villagers based on Mr Li’s advice.
Anyone was welcome to offer incense at the Taoist temple.
Xiao Hanzheng also went to the county town to invite Mr Li for the temple’s official reopening.
What surprised Shi Qingluo was that apart from Xiaxi village, almost every family from neighbouring villages came too.!!
There were quite a number of people from the county town, and also some from other places.
Third Son Shi pulled Mdm Niu along.
Before dawn, they waited at the entrance of the Taoist temple.
As soon as the door opened, they rushed in to offer the first incense stick of the day to pray for a son.
Although Mdm Niu had a grudge against her daughter Shi Qingluo, she looked more serious when she offered incense at the old priest’s memorial tablet.
Shi Qingluo saw the crowd gushing in the Taoist temple to offer incense devoutly.
The crowd made her feel like she was on an excursion during a modern holiday.
Standing at one corner of the main hall, she sighed. “I didn’t expect so many people to come.”
Xiao Hanzheng applied for leave in the county school today. “Everyone believes that your master is an old immortal, so when the Taoist temple reopened, they wanted to come and pay their respects.”
Shi Qingluo chuckled. “That’s good too. The more mysterious it is, the better it gets.”
When the corn was ready for harvest at the end of next month, her master would also be able to manifest his spirit.
Xiao Hanzheng knew what she meant.
He chuckled softly and asked, “Now, do you want to ask your master to show his spirit first?”
Shi Qingluo threw him a knowing look. “Of course, we need a good start.”
As they spoke, several village chiefs approached Shi Qingluo and her husband.
“Dalang’s wife, can you bring us to offer incense to the old immortal?”
In the past few months, the livelihood of the villagers had gradually improved because of Shi Qingluo.
Everyone was very grateful to Shi Qingluo and respectful towards the old Taoist priest who had taught her.
Just as she was thinking of how to get her master to manifest himself, the chiefs came knocking on her door. They were good people!
She nodded and smiled. “Of course.”
Hence, she took a handful of incense from the table and gave each of them three sticks and put the rest back.
She even reached out to straighten the slightly tilted incense burner while she tapped the switch.
There were nine buttons behind the incense burner like a password plate.
Shi Qingluo had set a six-digit password.
Touching those six buttons would activate the mechanism.
If she just tapped them, tapped the wrong six digits, or tapped them in the wrong order, the mechanism would not be activated.
She was very glad that Xiao Mu and his son had joined her in this.
Xiao Mu had inherited his skills from a senior craftsman.
Not only was he good at carpentry, but he was also good at all kinds of mechanisms and parts.
Therefore, she shared her ideas with Xiao Mu and his son.
She also gave them some suggestions from time to time.
The two of them really did come up with something.
After activating the mechanism, Shi Qingluo lit some incense and knelt on the futon in front of the memorial tablet.
“Master, today I have rebuilt the Taoist temple and placed your memorial tablet here.
“Everyone wants to admire your grace.
“If you are happy, kindly manifest yourself. It will be good for the Taoist temple to have more incense in the future.”
Now, there were a lot of onlookers.
Everyone was stunned by Shi Qingluo’s words.
The old immortal could show his spirit? Is this true?
Most of the onlookers did not believe it.
Fei Yuzhe also brought Fei Congjun along to join in the fun.
They had heard from the villagers that the old immortal was very mysterious.
But they were still a little doubtful and didn’t believe in it totally.
They were partially-convinced because Shi Qingluo knew too much and was too quick-witted.
She carried a kind of nimbleness that other women did not have.
As for the old immortal appearing, they felt that it was impossible.
Only Third Son Shi’s eyes revealed a hint of fanaticism. The old immortal was about to appear again?
So the old immortal must have heard his wish to ask for a son just now, right?
Then, everyone felt a gust of wind blowing above their heads.
Everyone looked up and saw a layer of golden light suddenly flashing above the hall.
Although it disappeared very quickly, everyone at the temple saw it.
“Old…old immortal. The old immortal really appeared!”
A stuttering voice broke the silence in the hall.
Many people could not help but kneel on the ground and worship.
They were all pious and excited.
They did not expect that there was really an old immortal. He had actually manifested himself.
It was their blessing to be able to see this in their lifetime.
Fei Yuzhe and his nephew widened their eyes with disbelief on their faces.
He looked at his nephew with uncertainty and asked, “Did the wind blow with a golden flash?”
Was there really such a miraculous thing in this world?
Fei Congjun also came back to her senses and nodded. “Yes, I also felt and saw it.”
“So Qingluo is really the disciple of the old Immortal!” He completely believed it now.
Fei Yuzhe had no choice but to believe it too.
After all, there were no windows on this hall roof, so it was impossible for the wind to blow from above.
Most importantly, there was a sudden flash of golden light.
If this wasn’t a manifestation, then what caused this?
At this moment, no one would have thought that Shi Qingluo made it up.
The few chiefs holding incense behind Shi Qingluo were even more dumbfounded.
Then, one by one, they knelt down in excitement. “Old immortal, please bless us. We will definitely come and offer incense to you every day!”
After kowtowing and offering incense, there was a fanatical look on their faces.
Chief Xiao could not help but ask, “Dalang’s wife, the old immortal has appeared. Is he satisfied with us?”
The other chiefs also looked at Shi Qingluo.
Shi Qingluo remained silent, how would I know if he was satisfied with all of you?
There was an unfathomable smile on her face. “He should be satisfied. Otherwise, my master would not have appeared.
“Our village and the nearby villages are getting better, and more crowds are gathering here. My old master is happy to see that.”
Master, I replied this so that more people would continue to offer you incense.
Just take it that you are satisfied and don’t mind helping us to carry more blame in the future.
Her reply made Chief Xiao and the others even more excited.
The few of them nodded with glory and excitement in their ruddy faces. “Yes, yes, we will definitely improve our village further. We won’t let you down, old immortal.”
Shi Qingluo uttered under her breath, you’re thinking too much. The old immortal did not have any expectations on all of you.
She nodded and smiled. “Not bad, keep up the good work, village chiefs.”
Using the old immortal to encourage these chiefs would spur them to continue developing the villages in the future.
And she and her little husband’s words would also become more powerful.
With the Taoist priest manifesting, a swarm of people rushed in from behind to offer incense.
Even Fei Yuzhe and his nephew standing in front weren’t immune to this and quickly went to offer incense.
Shi Qingluo and Xiao Hanzheng quietly left the main hall.
The two of them went to the backyard to look at their corn and chilli.
The people who had offered incense or planned to offer incense later and those who were currently taking a tour at the Taoist temple all went to the main hall because of the Taoist priest’s manifestation.
Xiao Hanzheng asked in a low voice since there wasn’t anyone around, “How did the golden light appear?”
Shi Qingluo replied with a smile, “It’s all thanks to the gold bars our emperor rewarded us with. I placed a few mirrors on the gold bars to reflect its glow outwards.”
She was applying the properties of light she learnt in school.
Xiao Hanzheng chuckled, “My wife, you are really too smart.”