Dragon Painting Temple soon bustled with activity after daybreak, and Old Man Yu, who had been assigned to share a guest room with others, woke amid the commotion.
Others had come before the New Year to eat vegetarian meals and pray for blessings, but Old Man Yu naturally had no such intentions. Once he had put himself in order, he headed outside.
He looked at the Painted Dragon across the mountainside. In the sunlight, the various medicinal herbs and mosses on Dragon Painting Mountain stood out clearly, yet the Painted Dragon lacked the lifelike quality it had possessed in the hazy moonlight.
A passing monk noticed that the old man seemed a little lost within the sprawling Dragon Painting Temple and came over.
"Venerable patron, the Dining Hall is open now. You can reach it by following the steps over there."
"Oh, thank you, master, but I won't be going."
With that, Old Man Yu headed toward the temple's front courtyard, clearly intending to leave. The monk watched him with mild puzzlement. This must have been the elderly man his senior brother had mentioned arriving in the middle of the night.
It seemed he really had only wanted somewhere to spend the night, neither meditating nor worshipping the Buddha.
Many temples had a custom of competing to offer the first incense on New Year's Day or certain special festivals. Dragon Painting Temple was naturally no exception, and here the competition lasted for a stretch both before and after the New Year.
The temple gates had only recently opened, and Old Man Yu left just as worshippers were arriving in large numbers. Below the steps outside the gates, he saw that many fortune-tellers and even people dressed as Daoists had already set up stalls.
Hui Mian darted back onto Old Man