After Li Jia had eaten and drunk her fill, Winslow packed her some cookies and milk in a sealed bottle, putting them in Li Jia's custom-made Kuromi backpack.
Li Jia looked at her with gratitude written all over her face. What made a good sister?
This was what made a good sister.
She had to admit, the little cloth bag held quite a lot.
Winslow liked it too, so Li Jia drew her a design for a Cinnamoroll version and told her to take it to the goddess of weaving.
The goddess of weaving made it herself and worked incredibly fast. The design was delivered that morning, and the bag was ready by noon.
The goddess of weaving asked Li Jia if she could give her the designs, as she wanted to mass-produce them. Li Jia waved a hand and readily agreed.
The goddess of weaving was overjoyed. They were all styles she had never seen before, and she promised that any clothes she made for Li Jia in the future would be free.
Li Jia was a little embarrassed by all the praise and decided she would have to draw more modern clothing designs for her in the future.
Since the goddess was taking Li Jia out, Winslow would be terribly bored staying alone in Hot Spring Ravine, so she changed clothes and went along with them.
"Now that's unusual. It's the first time I've seen you come along to the Temple of the Goddess of Marriage."
Doreen touched the knife at her waist and gave a rare smile.
"Hmph, what's it to you? Going out for a change of scenery once in a while is nice enough."
Winslow turned her head away and leaned on Doreen's arm as she climbed into the divine chariot.
Winslow's legs weren't as long as Doreen's, so she couldn't climb in with a single step like her. She could only let Doreen bring over a small folding stool and help her up.
At the entrance to Hot Spring Ravine, Hera's personal peacock-drawn open chariot waited for them.
The peacock's magnificent tail feathers displayed her exalted status. The eye-like patterns on them hinted at the supervision of order, representing divine authority that could not be transgressed in the slightest.
The peacock served as Hera's mount, displaying her nobility and majesty.
Seeing the real thing before her was different from looking at the AI-recreated pictures in books. Li Jia was as excited as an elementary schooler on a field trip.
As expected of Hera. Everything she has has to be the flashiest.
This is way too cool.
"How much longer are you going to stare?"
Seeing Li Jia looking like she'd never seen the world before, Hera sighed and held out a hand, indicating that she should take it and climb into the chariot.
"It's my first time seeing it. Of course I'm a little curious."
Li Jia stuck out her tongue in a sweet, innocent gesture.
She could guarantee that if archaeologists saw all this with their own eyes, they would be no less astonished or excited than she was. They might have already grabbed their shovels and started digging.
"Then look all you like. Once you've seen enough, it won't seem so strange."
Hera's expression remained calm as she whispered in Li Jia's ear, then helped her into the chariot.
Li Jia's face turned red. Why did this wicked devil always like to press close to her, deliberately or otherwise, and say things that teased her and made her blush and her heart race?
What's going on?
This is nothing like the Hera I read about in the book... Wasn't she supposed to be an untouchable flower on a high mountain?!
Aloof and ascetic.
Untouched by worldly dust.
That's what the book said!
This doesn't fit her character at all.
Could she be OOC because I transmigrated into the story?
Before she could figure it out, the chariot took flight, and Winslow came over to chat with her.
The rising sun dyed the sky a vast expanse of molten gold, and the clouds and horizon blended into a piece of fine jade, setting each other off.
A gilded chariot rolled over the fluffy clouds, its turning wheels stirring up tiny specks of light like scattered fragments of the Milky Way. The peacock sculpture atop the carriage spread its blue-green wings, and its tail occasionally brushed the drifting mist, leaving a trail of magnificent, fleeting fluorescence.
Li Jia leaned over the railing, while Hera carefully held her around the waist to keep her from falling.
Below them lay a churning sea of clouds, range upon range of rolling mountains, and waves spread out like a mirror.
Li Jia stared at the beautiful scenery, entranced.
As the chariot passed, the clouds scattered to either side like a startled flock of sheep, revealing the silhouettes of distant blue-green mountains and, at their feet, a winding ribbon of light woven from countless household lamps, like a river of stars.
Beneath the clouds, farmers working early in the wheat fields recognized Hera's chariot and rose, bowing their heads in prayer.
This feels pretty good.
Li Jia understood what it meant for a fox to borrow a tiger's might.
So this is what it's like for a dog to throw its master's weight around.
No, what it's like for a person to throw another person's weight around.
"Well? Being Her Majesty Hera's attendant is impressive, isn't it?"
Winslow squeezed in beside her and whispered. She had to let Li Jia know just how formidable Her Majesty Hera was. Becoming her attendant was no loss at all.
Of course, Winslow thought Li Jia was wonderful and more than good enough for Her Majesty Hera. No one she took a liking to was ever lacking.
After a while, the open peacock chariot stopped at a palace suspended high in the sky. Four white marble pillars supported its corners, keeping it stable.
Sculptures of red-eyed silver snakes coiled around the pillars, their scales gleaming eerily beneath the glass lamps hanging from the dome, as though they might break free of their bonds the next moment and burst through the palace into the highest heavens.
Below the palace was the Temple of the Goddess of Marriage in the mortal world. The offering altar at the temple's center was built of seven-colored stone. Upon it stood a statue of the goddess, dressed in a long red-and-black robe, her stunning face hidden behind a falling veil, leaving only a pair of red eyes visible.
They seemed to hold ice and snow that had never melted since ancient times, yet also seemed to conceal the warmth that nurtured all things.
The hall was so quiet that the crackle of burning candles could be heard. Sandalwood incense rose from the burner, curling like mist around the statue's feet.
For a fleeting moment, it seemed like a current of air brushed by the statue's fingertips, carrying an inviolable majesty.
Hera and Doreen entered the palace to deal with the relationship petitions they hadn't finished the day before, while Winslow took on the role of guide.
As Li Jia understood it, the Temple of the Goddess of Marriage was the equivalent of a civil affairs bureau in modern society.
Every day, many people came to the mortal temple to seek romantic bonds, form unions, or dissolve them.
Put plainly, that meant marriage and divorce, as well as emotional problems people couldn't resolve themselves and needed Hera to handle.
If two people loved each other and wanted to marry, or couldn't stand the sight of each other and wanted a divorce, they only had to toss their contract into the Covenant Bucket. Their rights as spouses would automatically be established or dissolved in the divine register.
If one party disagreed, Hera would judge whether to dissolve the contract based on the two people's life histories. If the objecting party reacted violently, Hera could also mete out punishment directly.
Hearing this, Li Jia thought it was pretty good.
It minimized the risks. People said that even one day as husband and wife created a hundred days of affection, but some separations still turned very ugly.
Husband and wife were birds of the same forest, but when disaster struck, each flew their own way. Parting on good terms was a blessing.
It reminded Li Jia of the auntie who had been her neighbor in her previous life. Back then, Li Jia's mother was still alive, and their family of three had lived happily together.
For as long as Li Jia could remember, the sounds of a woman crying out and being beaten and cursed, mixed with a little girl's pleas for mercy, had come from the neighbors downstairs every few days.
In Li Jia's memory, the man downstairs would start beating his wife whenever he got drunk. He blamed her for not bearing him a son, saying it left him without the energy or purpose to work every day. After the abuse came the crashing of tables, chairs, and stools, shattered into a mess across the floor.
At two in the morning, the woman's cries of "Help! Help!" echoed through the entire stairwell. Li Jia's mother couldn't bear to listen and was about to call the police, but Li Jia's father stopped her. "Even an upright official can't settle a family dispute. If you call the police, he'll beat her even harder. She just has to endure it. Things will get better when the child grows up."
What Li Jia's father said was true. The neighbors had called the police dozens of times, but when the officers arrived, they only gave the couple a verbal warning. It was nothing unusual for a husband and wife to quarrel one moment and make up the next.
Then one day, Li Jia came home from school and saw the auntie hurrying downstairs with her luggage. Her face was so badly bruised and swollen that her features were unrecognizable. When she saw Li Jia, she ran out in a panic.
Later, someone asked Li Jia whether she had seen the auntie. Li Jia didn't know why, but for the first time in her life, she lied and said she hadn't.
Word soon spread that Old Zhang's wife had run off with someone, abandoning even her own flesh and blood. People denounced the woman for being irresponsible and heartless.
Later still, Li Jia's mother died, and Li Jia moved into a sanatorium.
As she grew older and gained more experience, Li Jia came to understand what the auntie had done. If the law could have protected her life, if the police could have done something, the tragedy would never have happened.
When a woman's life couldn't even be guaranteed to be safe, anything else anyone said was bullshit.
Li Jia herself also found it strange that intentional murder could be punished by death, but as long as the killer was married to the victim, the sentence could be only eleven years, or even suspended or reduced.
After getting out of prison, the perpetrator could start a new life. But what had the victim done wrong?
One person couldn't even get a divorce on their own; the other had to agree. Perhaps to make the marriage rate look better, they had now added a divorce cooling-off period.
Compared with that, Li Jia sincerely felt that the Temple of the Goddess of Marriage was accumulating great virtue and truly protecting women's rights.
Inside the palace, a tranquil power filled the air. Hera sat at her desk, her gaze passing over the relationship petitions as her fingertips brushed the pages, as though touching the stories behind every word.
The sun rose, and warm light shone in from the top of the heavens, casting a halo over the golden hair at her temples.
At that moment, Li Jia suddenly understood that justice was never about cold, impersonal provisions. It was Hera weighing the circumstances of the people in the petitions through countless days and late nights.
It was the resolve to do everything possible for the sake of what was right, even knowing it would be difficult to satisfy both sides.
Selfless and impartial, fair and unbiased.
Those words shone ever brighter in Li Jia's heart.
As she watched the goddess bent over her desk, handling the petitions, Li Jia's expression grew gentler and gentler.
Seeing Doreen and Hera absorbed in their official duties, Winslow patted Li Jia on the shoulder and said she would take her to see the mortal world.
Li Jia had stayed in Hot Spring Ravine ever since arriving and hadn't yet had a chance to see the outside world. After they asked Hera for permission, she saw the little one looking at her eagerly.
Hera said nothing more and gave her tacit permission. She only told Winslow to keep an eye on Li Jia and make sure they returned before dark.
Winslow hadn't explored the mortal world in a long time either. She quickly nodded in agreement, and the two of them left the palace one after the other, their little backpacks on their backs.
As soon as Winslow stepped out of the palace, Hera's divine message drifted into her ear: "Remember to take her to lunch."
Fine, fine, fine. Honestly, I can't with her.
Winslow rolled her eyes. She wasn't an idiot. How could she possibly let Li Jia starve?
"What's wrong?"
Seeing Winslow roll her eyes so hard she looked ready to pass out, Li Jia asked curiously.
"Nothing. Water went down the wrong way," Winslow said offhandedly.
Li Jia looked all around but hadn't seen her drink any water. Maybe nonhumans drank differently from her.
But Winslow and Doreen weren't gods, and they were immortal and indestructible, so what were they? Would she herself die?
Forget it. Li Jia had wanted to ask, but then she thought, who asked about work when they were out having fun?
She should be someone who didn't spoil the mood. When it was time to have fun, she'd have fun; when it was time to work (on her strategy), she'd work (on her strategy).