Daoist Chang Kong had, after all, seen a few more years of the world than Jingting. He knew there had to be more to this, but with so many people around, this clearly was not the time to discuss it. He could only put on an air of profundity and say, "Look not upon impropriety, speak not of impropriety, listen not to impropriety."
Jingting had never gone to college and did not understand a word. "What does that mean?"
Daoist Chang Kong said, "It means children shouldn't go poking their noses into grown-up business!"
Jingting: "..."
Since far more people than usual came to burn incense at Clear Breeze Temple that day, everyone at the temple was run off their feet. Even Comrade Lin Banxia, the descendant of a family of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners who had previously been stationed in the back courtyard to hoe the ground and spread fertilizer, was temporarily taken off her backyard duties by Yun Zhaozhao and sent to help Xiaojiu sell goods in the front courtyard.
Why not send Jingting to sell things? Naturally, it was because Yun Zhaozhao was afraid he would open his mouth and get himself beaten up again on such an auspicious day as Lunar New Year's Day.
Although Lin Banxia's words were not as likely to cause trouble as Jingting's, Yun Zhaozhao still worried that she might whip out her silver needles and casually stick someone with one. So before Lin Banxia went out, Yun Zhaozhao specifically confiscated her needles.
Without her needles, Lin Banxia did indeed obediently help Xiaojiu sell things all day.
There was no way to get a complete count of the visitors on Lunar New Year's Day, but when Yun Zhaozhao went over the accounts that evening, she discovered that the temple's income that day was its most impressive in recent days: it had actually reached five figures. Only after carefully checking the accounts did she discover that, aside from the usual revenue from sales of Clear Breeze Temple food and merchandise, the temple had also received multiple donations that day, most of them from that group of villagers from the village slated for demolition.
Even Yun Zhaozhao could not help marveling at this: when it came to demolition compensation, it really was a case of one person attaining the Dao and even their chickens and dogs ascending to heaven! Even Clear Breeze Temple was profiting along with them.
Yun Zhaozhao really did not have much experience as a leader, but she had always been generous when it came to handing out money. That had been true of the year-end bonuses, and it was true of the bonuses she gave everyone that day. Since the day's income had been substantial, she not only arranged an extra late-night meal for the staff that evening, but also gave each of them a cash bonus of one thousand yuan.
Everyone else had their own plans for the money, but Jingting alone had no idea what to do with his. In the end, after fingering the cash for a long while, he handed it back to Yun Zhaozhao. "Temple Master, how about you keep this for me for now? When I need it later, I'll ask you for it."
Yun Zhaozhao thought it over. Jingting lived at Clear Breeze Temple every day anyway, hardly had to spend anything on food, clothing, housing, or transportation, and had no other family. She might not even feel comfortable letting him hold on to all that money himself!
So Yun Zhaozhao did not refuse. She simply accepted the money and told Jingting, "All right, I'll save it for you. Maybe someday it can even help you marry..."
Yun Zhaozhao had meant to say "marry a wife," but just as the words reached her lips, she remembered that Daoist priests generally did not seem to marry. She silently swallowed the rest of the sentence and changed it to, "Maybe someday it can even pay for you to go to school!"
Jingting was genuinely interested. "What kind of school? College?"
Yun Zhaozhao said, "I hear lots of places are opening Daoist colleges now. Anyway, who knows what the future holds? Maybe you really will get to go to college someday."
Jingting propped his chin on his hand. "If I really went to college, my master's spirit in heaven would definitely be very happy for me."
Although Jingting rarely mentioned his master, whenever he did, his tone was full of gratitude and fond remembrance. It seemed he had had a good master. What a shame that good people died young.
Yun Zhaozhao had only been reflecting on this to herself, but somehow, she ended up saying that last sentence aloud.
After hearing it, Jingting said outright, "What do you mean, good people die young? My master lived to be 102! When the priests from the temple next door argued with him, they all called him a stinking old Daoist who refused to die."
Yun Zhaozhao: "..." Forget it. Pretend I didn't say anything.
Xie Yu had heard about her relatives going to Clear Breeze Temple to offer the first incense on Lunar New Year's Eve itself.
Her eldest maternal aunt simply could not keep anything to herself. On the way home, she had called Xie Yu and told her how she had led the villagers from the demolition village to Clear Breeze Temple to offer incense. She had also made a point of telling Xie Yu about Yun Zhaozhao, saying that the temple master was incredibly accurate at fortune-telling and had immediately determined that she was born destined for wealth and status. She had even said that with such a master fortune-teller at Clear Breeze Temple, it was no wonder their talisman tube blind boxes worked so well...
Although Xie Yu felt that Yun Zhaozhao did not seem much like the master fortune-tellers she had imagined, she did not give it much thought. After all, no one could have guessed that her aunt had given herself away. Besides, Clear Breeze Temple was a Daoist temple. Perhaps its temple master really could tell fortunes!
So Xie Yu did not say much. She merely humored her aunt with a few vague noises of agreement before hanging up.
Not long after hanging up, Xie Yu received a WeChat message from Xu Tingting. Unexpectedly, Xu Tingting also told her over the phone that Clear Breeze Temple's talisman tube blind boxes really were quite effective. She then recounted how her cousin's husband had taken one of the temple's talisman tube blind boxes night fishing by the river and caught an absolutely enormous fish.
Once was a coincidence, twice was a fluke, but this made three times... Even Xie Yu could not help wondering: Could Clear Breeze Temple's talisman tube blind boxes really be that effective?
On this point, Temple Master Yun personally debunked the rumor online. "It's all coincidence. We should still try to put our faith in science."
Xie Yu said, "...If it's all coincidence, what am I supposed to say when I sell talisman tube blind boxes to my classmates later?"
Yun Zhaozhao said, "What I mean is, fooling other people is one thing, but don't fool yourself too. Think about it. If our talisman tube blind boxes really worked that well, why wouldn't I get Clear Breeze Temple itself slated for demolition? Do you think I don't like demolition compensation?"
Xie Yu: "..."
Although Yun Zhaozhao had personally punctured the talisman tube blind boxes' celebrity aura, the first thing Xie Yu did upon returning to City A before the new semester was still to visit Clear Breeze Temple. She went for one reason only: to pick up a fresh batch of talisman tube blind boxes made by Daoist Chang Kong.
This time, she deliberately took a few more. Now she had both confidence and money, after all. She was still holding deposits from a group of friends and relatives!
Before coming, Xie Yu had actually worried that Yun Zhaozhao would raise the price. After all, she had made quite a bit of money from the previous batch of blind boxes. But it turned out she had been judging someone else by her own petty standards. Yun Zhaozhao never even mentioned a price increase.
Even Xiaojiu could not quite understand it. After Xie Yu left with the bamboo tube blind boxes, she specifically asked Yun Zhaozhao, "Our bamboo tube blind boxes are actually selling pretty well here at Clear Breeze Temple now. We barely make anything selling them wholesale like this. We could easily raise the wholesale price a little!"
Yun Zhaozhao shook her head and said with a smile, "There's always more money to be made. You can't expect us to make every last bit of it ourselves. Besides, Clear Breeze Temple can only reach so far in making money on its own. Only when more people can make money through Clear Breeze Temple will they be willing to spread our name, which will in turn help our temple make even more money. As the saying goes, the flames rise high when everyone adds firewood!"
Xiaojiu looked at Yun Zhaozhao admiringly. "Sister Zhaozhao, sometimes I feel like you're someone with great wisdom. Even though I don't always quite understand what you're saying, I still feel like your words make so much sense."
Yun Zhaozhao leaned back in the reclining chair behind her. "What great wisdom? Right now, I'm just a salted fish, a salted fish who loves basking in the sun. Sometimes, when the sun gets too strong, I turn over and keep basking on the other side."
Winter sunshine was precious, whether at Clear Breeze Temple or in any other corner of the city. So whenever the weather was good, Yun Zhaozhao would lie in this reclining chair and bask in the sun.
All the fruit trees in the back courtyard had now been planted, and after a period of meticulous care from Lin Banxia, their survival rate was very high. At the thought that Clear Breeze Temple might have all sorts of fruit to eat next year, Yun Zhaozhao's mood as she basked in the sun improved a little more.
Perhaps it was because Yun Zhaozhao had delivered her "salted fish theory" from her reclining chair, but that day, Daoist Chang Kong actually started making salted fish.
Unlike the smoked cured pork he had made before, these fish were simply cured with seasonings and then hung in the courtyard to dry in the sun.
Lying in her reclining chair and watching Daoist Chang Kong hang salted fish in front of her, behind her, and on either side, Yun Zhaozhao felt as if she had fallen into a heap of salted fish.
Jingting also felt as though he had fallen into a heap of salted fish.
Jingting said, "Why not just eat perfectly good fish fresh? Why do you have to dry them into salted fish! Even cats prefer fresh fish!"
As he hung the fish, Daoist Chang Kong found time to reply, "Because we bought too much to finish anytime soon. Besides, there's a stretch of rainy weather coming. It won't be as convenient to go out for groceries or have the auntie deliver them to Clear Breeze Temple then, so naturally we need to stock up a little more in case we need it."
Hearing this, Jingting stopped complaining and immediately put down his phone to help.
Only after salted fish were fluttering all over Clear Breeze Temple's courtyard did Jingting take out his phone and start his usual livestream.
Ever since Jingting had helped someone tell off a mother-in-law last time, all sorts of topics about conflicts between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law had kept coming up in his livestream. Anyone who did not know better would have thought he was a relationship streamer.
Jingting actually had no interest at all in these mothers' and mothers-in-law's affairs, so after snapping back a couple of times, he started selectively ignoring them. He was not making money from taking requests now anyway; he did it purely out of interest. So not only could the viewers not tell him what to do, even Yun Zhaozhao hardly interfered.
The proxy-scolding request Jingting received online that day was rather interesting. A young woman had made a post hoping he would help scold some sense into her best friend.
At first, Jingting thought the best friend he was supposed to scold had the legendary love brain. Only after reading for quite a while did he discover that this actually had nothing to do with romance. It was an issue concerning her family of origin.