Yun Zhaozhao: "...So you're saying that when you streamed today, lots of anti-fans actually asked to buy your merit wooden fish?"
Jingting picked up a chicken wing for himself and nodded vigorously. "Mm-hmm!"
Yun Zhaozhao: "Then what happened?"
Jingting gnawed hard at the chicken wing, sounding rather unhappy, even a little fierce. "Then I sold them for an extra hundred each! Brother Chang Kong and I already agreed that once the money comes in, we'll split it fifty-fifty."
Although Yun Zhaozhao had not been online much lately, she did know about livestream selling.
But she had always thought livestream selling required a long period of preparation. For example, you might have to spend ages making videos to build up followers first, then gradually start selling things once you had enough. She had never expected Jingting to be so capable. He had only been streaming for a few days, yet he had already sold things-and at a markup, too.
She could not help praising him. "You're pretty impressive! You've already upgraded from a streamer who insults people on others' behalf to a sales streamer. But why do you call the people buying your things anti-fans? Maybe they're actually your die-hard fans?"
It would have been fine if Yun Zhaozhao had not mentioned it, but now that she had, Jingting could not help getting angry again. "I don't want to answer that question. Anyway, I've already promised to sell them those wooden fish. Once Daoist Chang Kong finishes making them, I'll go into town to ship them out."
Since Jingting did not want to discuss anti-fans and die-hard fans, Yun Zhaozhao did not insist. After thinking for a moment, she told him, "Why don't you give me the addresses and the wooden fish? I can go into town and ship them for you. I need to go there sometime soon anyway to buy fertilizer for these newly planted fruit trees."
Jingting had not wanted to make an extra trip in the first place. Since Yun Zhaozhao was willing to help, nothing could have been better, so he agreed without a second thought.
For Clear Breeze Temple as a whole, this was an unexpected windfall, but for Daoist Chang Kong, it meant another busy stretch.
After all, he needed to make another batch of merit wooden fish with his own two hands.
Fortunately, Jingting would help him.
Two people working together would certainly be faster than one, so after working as fast as they could, they finally finished this batch of merit wooden fish before Lunar New Year's Eve.
Early the next morning, Yun Zhaozhao went into town with the wooden fish and addresses Jingting had given her.
Yun Zhaozhao first went to the courier service to send the wooden fish to those netizens, then headed to the agricultural supplies market to buy fertilizer. As she passed the market entrance, a small stall caught her attention.
The stall was covered in all sorts of Chinese medicinal herbs Yun Zhaozhao could not name. Some even still had dirt on them, looking as though they had just been dug up in some remote mountain forest. Of course, Yun Zhaozhao had seen plenty of medicinal herb stalls. What made her pay particular attention to this one was that its owner was a fairly young girl, and quite pretty, too.
She just looked a little cold and aloof, with a
queenly
air.
Yun Zhaozhao was in a hurry to buy fertilizer, so she did not linger at the medicinal herb stall, leaving after a couple of glances. But when she returned with her fertilizer, she found that a crowd had surrounded the girl's stall. Everyone was making a racket, and it looked as though some sort of accident had happened.
While reminding herself, I shouldn't be so nosy. I should try to stay out of trouble, Yun Zhaozhao involuntarily slowed her steps with the fertilizer on her shoulder.
People were packed several layers deep around the aloof beauty's stall, so Yun Zhaozhao could not squeeze in. But after lingering there for a little while, she still managed to piece together what had happened from snippets of conversation among the middle-aged women watching nearby.
Apparently, the aloof beauty had been selling her herbs without any problems when, for some reason, she suddenly took a box of silver needles out of her clothes and began giving acupuncture to a patient who had come to buy herbs. No one knew exactly what had gone wrong, but blood had spurted out when the needle went in. As it happened, the patient was a little squeamish about blood, so people who did not know what was going on thought someone had died, and everyone had crowded around the girl's stall...
Before Yun Zhaozhao could pass judgment on the matter, an old man came running from the other end of the farmers' market. He looked quite elderly, with white hair and a white beard, but he was nimble and swift on his feet, looking even more energetic than Yun Zhaozhao, who had only recently graduated from college.
The moment the old man appeared, he snatched a scallion from the neighboring stall and squeezed through the crowd. Then he began chasing the aloof beauty all around the farmers' market, cursing as he ran. "You rotten girl! I only asked you to watch the stall while I went to the toilet, and you caused all this trouble! Do you think I've lived too long and want to send me off early? You're infuriating! Stop running! Get back here! I'll beat you to death..."
The aloof beauty was no longer aloof. She fled with her hands over her head, still refusing to stop talking back. "Grandpa, don't listen to their nonsense! It was just a minor problem, and I've already fixed it! Don't hit me! We can talk this out..."
Yun Zhaozhao watched with great interest, thinking, The outside world really is exciting! The people out here are pretty interesting, too.
Yet that very evening, after having that thought, Yun Zhaozhao saw the aloof beauty in her own Clear Breeze Temple, brought there by Daoist Qingxin.
At the first sight of her, all Yun Zhaozhao could think was that the world was not only exciting, but small, too.
Daoist Qingxin did not know that Yun Zhaozhao had already seen the aloof beauty during the day, and was still explaining the circumstances. "Temple Master Yun, this is the female lay practitioner I mentioned on the phone today, the one who wants to cultivate at a Taoist temple for a while without shaving her head. When I asked you over the phone, you said Clear Breeze Temple happened to be short-handed, so I brought her over..."
Daoist Qingxin had indeed called Yun Zhaozhao during the day, and she had indeed told him that Clear Breeze Temple was currently short-handed. But right now, Yun Zhaozhao really wanted to ask him, "Is it too late to take that back?" In the end, reason stopped her, so she merely smiled.
In the adult world, a smile could sometimes replace all words. Especially when you really did not know what to say, a single smile was enough.
After speaking to Yun Zhaozhao, Daoist Qingxin turned to instruct the girl. "Your grandfather has already asked me to make sure you stay at the temple for the full duration this time, until you truly understand your mistake and stop casually giving people acupuncture treatments. You must listen to Temple Master Yun while you're here. If I find out you've run off or caused trouble at Clear Breeze Temple, I'll break your legs."
The girl stiffened her neck and shouted at Qingxin, "Then go ahead and break my legs right now if you've got the guts!"
Qingxin: "Don't think I wouldn't."
Yun Zhaozhao sighed and stepped between them, stopping the farce before it could develop. "...All right, Daoist Qingxin. You've brought her here, and that's enough. Leave the rest to me. You can head back now!"
After Daoist Qingxin left in anger, Yun Zhaozhao and the aloof beauty stared at each other in silence for a while. In the end, she put the girl in Clear Breeze Temple's only remaining guest room.
Fortunately, Yun Zhaozhao had bought some winter quilts, sheets, and other bedding in advance when winter began a while back. So although the room looked a little plain and shabby once it was ready, the girl did not find fault with anything.
No one was happier than Jingting about Clear Breeze Temple gaining another newcomer.
As Yun Zhaozhao bustled about with the girl, making the bed and cleaning the room, Jingting leaned in the doorway watching, looking just like a scruffy puppy so excited by a visitor that it did not know what to do with itself.
Yun Zhaozhao, however, was not particularly happy at the moment. It was not that she did not welcome the girl, but Clear Breeze Temple already had enough crouching dragons and phoenix fledglings. It felt as though there was barely room for any more...
Of course, the newcomer did not look particularly happy either, but Yun Zhaozhao could understand her. After all, who would be happy about their family dumping them in some random Taoist temple to cultivate without shaving their head?
With an extra person at Clear Breeze Temple, Daoist Chang Kong specially prepared two additional dishes that evening. One was fish with pickled vegetables, made with the spicy pickled radish strips he had developed himself. The radish strips were crisp, tender, and delicious, pairing exceptionally well with the fresh fish slices. The whole dish was also sour and spicy, making it particularly appetizing, so much so that even the newcomer could not resist eating several bowls of rice.
When she realized she had eaten too much, the girl's face reddened a little.
Fortunately, Clear Breeze Temple had people with much bigger appetites than the newcomer, so aside from the girl herself, no one actually cared how much she had eaten.
Jingting warmed up to people easily, and as they ate, he could not resist striking up a conversation with the girl.
Only then did Yun Zhaozhao learn that the girl's surname was Lin, and that she had the rather gentle, graceful name of Lin Banxia. Apparently, banxia was a Chinese medicinal herb.
Jingting asked Lin Banxia, "Clear Breeze Temple has never kept freeloaders. Everyone has to earn their keep with their own skills. If you stay, what can you do?"
Lin Banxia looked proud. "Don't underestimate me. I'm the heir to a Traditional Chinese Medicine Family."
The heir to a Traditional Chinese Medicine Family...
That title certainly sounded impressive, and traditional Chinese medicine had indeed become very popular over the past few years, so both Daoist Chang Kong and Jingting looked a little admiring when they heard it. Only Yun Zhaozhao, who knew the truth, drank her winter bamboo shoot soup expressionlessly, feeling too weary to say another word.
Daoist Chang Kong said, "Speaking of which, I've been doing so much stir-frying these past couple of days that my arm really is a little sore. Banxia, since you're the heir to a Traditional Chinese Medicine Family, you should know how to treat a sore arm, right?"
The moment Lin Banxia heard Daoist Chang Kong volunteering to have her treat him, she was too excited to keep eating. She put down her bowl and ran to her room. Before long, she came running back out with a book in one hand and a box of long, thin silver needles of varying sizes in the other.