Yun Zhaozhao: "Remember now? You actually paid to see it back then. You're lucky today, it's the New Year, so we won't charge you for the performance. We'll give you a free show. Let me tell you, this kind of opportunity to see a free performance from Clear Breeze Temple only comes once a year at most. Not only you, but even I think we should cherish it!"
Wen Xu: I don't know why, although I always felt that something was a little off, after thinking about it carefully, I actually felt that what Yun Zhaozhao said about the lamp did make some sense.
-
Regardless, celebrating the Lunar New Year is indeed a joyful occasion.
Especially when a group of people celebrate the New Year together, even if they don't do anything, just sitting together by the fire, chatting and Wen Xu, Wenxu finds it quite enjoyable.
Yun Zhaozhao loved roasting charcoal fires during the Lunar New Year when she was a child, and she specially had charcoal prepared for her now. Wen Xu sat next to Yun Zhaozhao, listening to the other Daoist priests chat while watching Yun Zhaozhao roast horseshoes over the charcoal fire.
He had seen others roast sweet potatoes and corn before, but roasting water chestnuts was a first for him. In fact, Yun Zhaozhao roasted more than just water chestnuts; she also roasted apples and oranges.
Jingting wasn't interested in these things, so he watched Daoist Chang Kong fry the meatballs. After Daoist Chang Kong finished frying the meatballs, he thoughtfully brought two over to share with Yun Zhaozhao and Wen Xu.
Wen Xu hesitated for a moment as he looked at the meatballs Jingting handed him. "They haven't even been served yet, and you're already eating them?"
Jingting, "Eat up, eat up. We don't have as many rules as your wealthy families here. Besides, look, everyone's eating."
Wen Xu looked around and found that everyone was indeed secretly eating. Some were stealing meatballs like Jingting, while others were stealing drinks and fruit.
It has to be said that Wen Xu was quite envious of the relaxed atmosphere at Clear Breeze Temple.
Wen Xu didn't refuse this time and took the meatball Jingting handed him, ready to eat. Just as he put it to his mouth, he saw Jingting take out another one and prepare to feed it to Yun Zhaozhao.
Wen Xu quickly stopped him. "What are you doing?"
Jingting: "Can't you tell? I'm feeding our abbot!"
Wen Xu: "Give it to me, I'll feed it."
Jingting: "Why...?"
Wen Xu: "..."
Martial Uncle Chuli, who had been watching the Jingting for a while, finally couldn't help but Wen Xu and say, "Little Jingting, come here, come to me."
Jingting his Martial Uncle Chuli calling him, he didn't think much of it, handed the meatballs to Wen Xu, and went over.
After being called over by his Martial Uncle Chuli, Jingting couldn't hold back any longer. " Martial Uncle Chuli, why did you call me over?"
Martial Uncle Chuli raised his chin and pointed at Yun Zhaozhao and Wen Xu opposite him. Jingting followed Martial Uncle Chuli's gesture and saw that Yun Zhaozhao was still focused on grilling something, just as he had been when he left. As for Wen Xu, he was feeding Yun Zhaozhao the meatballs that Jingting had given him earlier, one bite at a time.
Martial Uncle Chuli: "Do you understand now?"
Jingting: "I understand now."
Martial Uncle Chuli: "What do you understand?"
Jingting, "These meatballs look delicious. Look, the abbot has almost finished them. I want to get one to try too."
Martial Uncle Chuli: "...???"
There are reasons why some men can't find girlfriends.
-
Clear Breeze Temple starts serving meals quite early; before 5 a. m., Daoist Chang Kong announced that it was time to eat.
Wen Xu had been eating non-stop before dinner. He ate not only meatballs but also water chestnuts, oranges, and apples roasted by Yun Zhaozhao. He originally thought he wouldn't have much of an appetite when he officially ate the New Year's Eve dinner, but it turned out that he had underestimated both his appetite and Daoist Chang Kong's cooking skills.
Because he ate the same amount the whole time.
However, in order to eat a few more bites of food, he deliberately didn't ask for more rice, and he didn't even dare to drink much of a beverage. But even so, he was still stuffed.
He thought everyone would start performing while they were eating, but in fact everyone was focused on eating, and it wasn't until they were almost finished that people started going on stage to perform one after another.
Since it was all a self-entertaining occasion, no one went up to announce the program or anything; anyone who wanted to go up just went up and showed off their skills.
Although it looked rather chaotic, the quality of the performances was very high. Wen Xu's favorite was the sword dance. Perhaps because the Daoist priest performing had drunk some wine, he wielded the sword with great freedom and Wen Xu, which Wen Xu greatly admired.
Wen Xu said to Yun Zhaozhao, "When I was little, my parents also considered sending me to learn martial arts, but I couldn't handle it and gave up after only a couple of days. If I had persisted, I might have a skill now."
Yun Zhaozhao: "It's not too late for you to learn now. Our Clear Breeze Temple guarantees you'll learn..."
Wen Xu smiled and replied, "It only costs ten thousand yuan, right?"
Yun Zhaozhao couldn't help but laugh too, "Ten thousand yuan probably isn't enough; it's just the entry fee at most..."
Wen Xu: "Forget it. Money is secondary; the main thing is that I want to live two more years."
The two chatted for a while, then watched a short program, then talked a few more times. They didn't seem to be discussing anything particularly insightful; it was mostly just casual conversation like the one described above, but both of them felt quite relaxed.
I don't know if it's the person next to me who makes me feel relaxed, or the festive atmosphere of the New Year.
-
The young Daoist priests were also interested in watching the show, but what they were most interested in was setting off fireworks. So as soon as the performance ended, a group of children rushed over and dragged Wen Xu to set off fireworks for them.
Wen Xu was being pulled along by a group of children, but he didn't forget to turn back and remind Yun Zhaozhao, "Come and see too, I've prepared a little surprise for you."
Yun Zhaozhao thought of Wen Xu's ugly handmade vase and felt that Wen Xu's so-called surprise was probably nothing to look forward to. But then she thought of the thick red envelope that Wen Xu had stuffed into the vase, and felt that although Wen Xu was indeed a little weak in terms of hands-on skills, Wen Xu really knew how to spend money on her in a way that touched her heart every time.
So thinking about it this way, it's actually quite something to look forward to.
So Yun Zhaozhao went back to her room to get a shawl that Wen Xu's mother had given her, and then followed the others to the square in front of Clear Breeze Temple.
In the square, Wen Xu had already had boxes and boxes of fireworks arranged for him. They were all different sizes and shapes, and at first glance, they didn't look very different. But based on Yun Zhaozhao's knowledge of fireworks, she figured that with so many of them scattered around, they probably wouldn't be cheap.
Knowing her personality, she definitely wouldn't buy it like that. Even if she did, she would definitely buy it by the case and store it slowly.
But Wen Xu is clearly not that kind of person.
He simply had the Daoist priests each hold a lighter and guard a box of fireworks, then said, "On the count of three, light them all at once!"
One of the Daoist priests raised the same question as Yun Zhaozhao: "Isn't this a bit too extravagant?"
Wen Xu: "What's so extravagant about it? How much are fireworks worth? Besides, isn't the point of setting off fireworks to have some fun?"
The people buying the fireworks had no objections, so the group watching them obviously couldn't say much either. Besides, the thought of it all being set off was quite exciting.
With Wen Xu's command, fireworks exploded in the sky with a series of "bangs," illuminating almost the entire Clear Breeze Temple.
At this moment, Yun Zhaozhao couldn't help but feel fortunate that Clear Breeze Temple was located in a relatively remote area. If the temple had been in a more Wen Xu location, it wouldn't have been able to withstand Wen Xu's antics.
The ground was covered with fireworks; even when they were all set off at once, it took quite a while for the explosions to completely stop.
Just when everyone thought Wen Xu had finished setting off all the fireworks he bought, Wen Xu suddenly produced another box of fireworks from somewhere. Then he shouted to Yun Zhaozhao, " Yun Zhaozhao, this box of fireworks is a special gift for you. Happy New Year!"
Yun Zhaozhao thought to herself: If it was specially given to me, it must be quite special. Could it be my name? Or is it shaped like Cloud, since my name contains the character for cloud?
When the fireworks were set off, not only Yun Zhaozhao, but everyone in Clear Breeze Temple fell silent for a moment.
The fireworks displayed patterns of round gold ingots in the sky, with two occasionally drifting out.
A fairy scatters flowers, Wen Xu showers down money!
Yun Zhaozhao:... My feelings are a bit complicated. I don't know whether I'm happy or unhappy.
Jingting, who was standing nearby, whispered, "This is custom-made, and I heard it's especially expensive. So Young President Wen really extravagant. Abbot, if you really take him in, you must make him hand over his money to you to manage."
Chapter 141
After the fireworks were set off, the ten young Daoist priests were led by Daoist Mao and Daoist Zhu to wash up and go to bed.
The rest of the people returned to Clear Breeze Temple. Some continued eating and drinking, while others volunteered to help with cleaning and tidying. For Yun Zhaozhao, there were practically no lazy people in Clear Breeze Temple. If she had to name one, the laziest one would probably be herself.
Yun Zhaozhao neither ate and drank with everyone nor helped with cleaning. Just like every year during the Spring Festival, she moved a small table and stool to a quiet place to sit down and started taking stock of the accounts.
This is her favorite thing to do.
In the past, Clear Breeze Temple had little income, so she would do the accounting every few days. Later, as the income increased, she gradually started doing it once a month, and then every three months... But no matter how frequently she did the accounting on weekdays, the accounting during the Lunar New Year was always a must.
The Clear Breeze Temple were also most looking forward to Yun Zhaozhao's accounting review this time, because after the review, it would be Yun Zhaozhao's turn to distribute year-end bonuses to everyone.
Yun Zhaozhao's year-end bonus wasn't just in cash. After all, many Daoist priests at Clear Breeze Temple didn't really care about money. They probably cared about other things. For example, one Daoist priest once volunteered to go to True Yang Temple for a month of exchange and learning.