Once You Had Enough to Eat, Troubles Came Pouring In

A giant cabbage leaf fell from the sky!

Gao Yiye was startled at first, but quickly composed herself. This was no longer her first time being "fed" by the Heavenly Deity, and she no longer jumped at everything the way she had when she first saw that enormous egg.

Delighted, she first knelt and kowtowed toward the sky, loudly thanking him for his "divine gift." Only then did she get up and shout at the top of her lungs, "Everyone, come quickly! The Heavenly Deity has given us food again!"

The villagers, who had been carrying bamboo baskets and preparing to go out foraging, instantly crowded around.

The enormous cabbage leaf left them dumbstruck, but after their experiences with the giant egg and giant grains of rice, their bewilderment lasted only briefly. Then, at the Village Chief's command, everyone began dividing up the huge leaf.

"One piece per household. Set aside a few pieces for Chu Wu and those youngsters who went to the County Seat, too," the Village Chief instructed loudly. The villagers obediently lined up, each cutting off a generous piece of cabbage leaf to take home.

Just as Li Daoxuan had expected, once he provided food early in the morning, the villagers were no longer in a hurry to dig up wild vegetables.

When people were hungry, they had only one concern: food.

But once they had enough to eat and wear, countless worries followed.

The villagers immediately began displaying all sorts of colorful ways to spend their days.

"Sanwa, the crotch of your trousers has been torn for days. Come here and let your mother mend it."

Li Daoxuan discovered a middle-aged woman in the village who was very skilled at needlework. Despite having no advanced tools, only a pair of scissors and a needle, she actually managed to sew a lovely coarse hemp outfit for her child.

"Laba Ge, didn't you say last time that you'd teach me how to fire clay pots? I dug up a great big lump of yellow clay especially for this. Show me how to turn it into a pot."

Li Daoxuan saw two middle-aged men playing with clay. It turned out that one of them knew how to make pottery-a genuinely impressive skill. Before long, he had shaped a lump of yellow clay into a beautiful pot. The other man clumsily followed his example and actually managed to produce a crooked pot of his own.

Shifting his gaze to the other side of the village, he found that the Village Chief had a craft of his own, too. He shaved a pile of bamboo strips and soon wove a bamboo basket and two bamboo hampers. His handiwork was exceptionally fine.

"Gao Yiyi, the edge of my woodcutting knife has rolled over. Could you hammer it back into shape?"

Li Daoxuan followed the voice and discovered a blacksmith named Gao Yiyi helping a neighbor reforge a woodcutting knife. After a few ringing hammer blows, the knife was repaired and looked as good as new.

Now there was far more to watch inside the Scenery Box, and he found it all fascinating.

"Huh? Wait! Looks like something pretty incredible is about to happen."

Li Daoxuan suddenly noticed Gao Yiye drawing water.

She drew a bucket of water from the well, carried it back into her house, and poured it into a large wooden basin. Then she shut the door tightly and drew the curtains.

He suddenly realized what was happening. Wasn't this exactly what those bored people on the forum had been talking about?

The girl was about to bathe.

For some reason, Li Daoxuan's heart began pounding.

He glanced down at the magnifying glass in his hand, then at Gao Yiye's dilapidated house...

The house was full of holes, especially the roof. Perhaps because so little rain had fallen during the three-year drought, nobody cared whether the roof leaked. There was a hole visible to the naked eye through which he could see inside.

If he aimed the magnifying glass at that hole...

He would be able to see...

Li Daoxuan wrestled with himself. Should I be a decent human being, or a wolf?

While he was agonizing over the choice, he suddenly noticed a face appear in the hole.

It was Gao Yiye. She had stacked her table and stools into a very tall tower and climbed up until she could reach the hole in the roof.

She looked up at the sky through the hole, while Li Daoxuan looked down at the hole from the "sky."

And so their eyes met once again.

A strange atmosphere passed between their gazes.

After several seconds, Gao Yiye looked away. She did not dare hold the Heavenly Deity's gaze. Her grimy little face suddenly flushed so red that even the dirt could not conceal it, turning her entire face a dusky crimson.

But she was so tiny, not even a centimeter tall.

Without the magnifying glass, Li Daoxuan could not make out her complexion at all, much less the trace of shyness on her face.

Gao Yiye flung the door open with a bang and ran outside.

She hurried over to the Village Chief and lowered her voice to a volume at which she was certain the Heavenly Deity could not hear her. "Grandpa Village Chief, there's something I'd like to ask you."

The Village Chief said, "Oh? What is it?"

Gao Yiye's face was as dark red as pig's liver. "The Heavenly Deity seems to be... up in the sky... watching me all the time..."

The Village Chief said, "That's your good fortune! The Heavenly Deity favors you. He watches over you from the sky, gives us food through your hands, and conveys his divine will through your mouth. You should be grateful. Why are you making such a strange face?"

Gao Yiye said, "I... I'm always... always being watched... From now on... how am I supposed to change my clothes? How do I... bathe?"

The Village Chief said, "Pfft! So that's the silly thing you're worrying about. Think about who gave you your life. What do changing clothes and bathing matter? If the Heavenly Deity needs you to attend to him someday, you ought to obey him without complaint."

There were many strange folk beliefs in those days, and it was quite common for certain sects to require women to "serve the gods." Of course, the gods never actually enjoyed any of the benefits. The people these women served with their bodies were merely monks, Taoist priests, and charlatans who "spoke on behalf of the gods." (P.S. Don't be too quick to laugh at people from the past. Such things still happen today.)

At the Village Chief's words, Gao Yiye's heart gave a jolt. So that's how it is? The Heavenly Deity saved my life and gave me food because he needs me to... serve him?

The Heavenly Deity's young, handsome face flashed through her mind, and she immediately banished it. Oh, what am I thinking? That's terribly disrespectful.

Back home, she looked up at the hole in the roof and abandoned the idea of patching it. Just as the Village Chief said, if the Heavenly Deity wants to look, let him look. He gave me my life. What could there be that I can't let him see?

With trembling hands, she undid her clothes.

Her filthy body was exposed. It had been so long since she last bathed that the yellow sand had caked onto her skin.

Coupled with prolonged malnutrition that had left her little more than skin and bones, her body could hardly be called attractive.

She mocked herself inwardly. Even if I put this filthy, scrawny body right in front of the Heavenly Deity, he wouldn't deign to glance at it. Why am I trying so hard to hide it?

She picked up a scrap of rag, wrung it out in the bucket, and began carefully wiping herself clean...

She had no idea that Li Daoxuan had long since put aside his magnifying glass.

If the girl had not caught him at the outset, he might have chosen to be a wolf.

But once caught peeping, no normal person would have the nerve to look a second time.

He turned his gaze toward the edge of the Scenery Box and wondered, How are those little people who went to the County Seat to find the Secretary doing now? Once they leave the Scenery Box, I can't see them or look after them. What am I supposed to do if they die out there?