Almost none of the people of Zhenyang who had come to watch the rain-summoning ceremony had thought to bring rain gear. After so many days of drought, getting drenched had become an extravagance beyond their reach. Thus, when rain began falling from the heavens, every one of them stood soaked beneath it. Yet almost every rain-streaming face shone with a smile that could not be hidden.
At that moment, all the adults of Zhenyang County seemed to have regained their childhood, running about and laughing like heedless children in the slanting wind and fine rain.
As the rain-bearing spring breeze swept past, countless snowflakes resembling jade buds and pearly blossoms drifted and danced in the gentle wind within a dozen yards of the rain-summoning platform. At this miraculous sight, another great swath of devout villagers fell to their knees, calling out to immortals and heavenly maidens. Even the scholars who had never believed in ghosts or gods found their steadfast convictions wavering before this marvel that defied the natural order.
One man, however, had a different thought upon seeing this:
Those three on the platform... could they be the Shangqing disciples from the Origin Celebration at Luofu?
It was the wandering Daoist Zhi Mu. The spectacle before him suddenly reminded him of a rumor recently circulating among the Daoist schools, and his imagination began to roam.
The youth on the platform had no idea he had already acquired some fame. He merely laughed and chatted with Xueyi:
"Ha! Xueyi, did you hear? They're all calling you a goddess who scatters flowers!"
The woman standing before him amid swirling winds and drifting snow looked especially delicate and lovely. Admiring her wondrous powers as well, the somewhat literary master of Four Seas Hall could not resist improvising a verse:
"Xueyi, the way