Yun Zhaozhao nodded vigorously as she bit into a radish fritter, so touched she almost cried.
In the end, however, her tears of gratitude never fell. Instead, they all turned into a look of shock, because Daoist Chang Kong ate an entire huge pot of rice, accompanied by the radishes and greens in the cooking pot.
Yun Zhaozhao seriously suspected that he had been kicked out of the other temples not because he compromised the image of pure Daoist cultivation, as he claimed, but simply because he ate too much for the other temples to afford to keep him.
But whatever the case, with Daoist Chang Kong joining her, Yun Zhaozhao finally received another round of project funding from Lawyer Wang. This time, perhaps because she had finally recruited someone, Lawyer Wang gave her a full 900 yuan more than the initial 100, for a total of 1,000 yuan.
Before Yun Zhaozhao had even decided how to spend the 1,000 yuan, Lawyer Wang had already set her next project objective. "Now that you've recruited someone, you can start thinking about developing the temple's services. After all, as long as you don't get those services up and running, the temple will only have money going out and none coming in. That's certainly no long-term solution."
Thinking of Daoist Chang Kong, who could eat half a kilo of rice in a single meal, Yun Zhaozhao wholeheartedly agreed with Lawyer Wang.
Yun Zhaozhao said, "I'll do my best to see if I can get fortune-telling with divination sticks up and running first. I'll treat it as an internship. It's at least vaguely related to my major, anyway."
For once, Lawyer Wang was curious. "Fortune-telling with divination sticks is related to your major? What did you study?"
Yun Zhaozhao said, "Philosophy! Studying that stuff is even more mystical than mysticism."
Lawyer Wang said, "..." It did sound pretty mystical.
Chapter 3
Yun Zhaozhao had attended an ordinary university, and philosophy was hardly a sought-after major in the job market. As a result, only a tiny handful of her classmates had found jobs since graduation.
Far more were unemployed young people like Yun Zhaozhao, who had spent over six months searching without finding suitable work.
With the prevailing approach of "find a job first, choose a career later," Yun Zhaozhao no longer saw anything wrong with a proper university graduate with a philosophy degree setting up a fortune-telling stall. The real problem was that she didn't know how to tell fortunes at all!
Unwilling to give up, she asked Daoist Chang Kong, "Daoist, do you really not know how to tell fortunes?"
Smiling as he carved a flower into a radish, Daoist Chang Kong said without looking up, "If you ask me to carve you a boyfriend out of a radish, I really can do that. But if you ask me to tell fortunes, I really can't."
Yun Zhaozhao said, "..."
Later, Yun Zhaozhao thought that if all else failed, she could buy a fortune-telling book from a bookstore and learn on the fly! After all, for today's university students, there was nothing in the world that couldn't be solved with a book. If there was, they could just buy two more.
No sooner said than done, Yun Zhaozhao took a bus into town that very day.
The legitimate books in the bookstore were simply too expensive. After a long, painstaking search, the thrifty Temple Master Yun finally picked the book that best suited her current needs, Fortune-Telling Crash Course in 30 Days, then paid and left.
While waiting outside the bookstore for the bus back to Clear Breeze Temple, Yun Zhaozhao unexpectedly ran into her university classmate, Xu Ping.
As mentioned before, most of Yun Zhaozhao's classmates were unemployed and living at home after graduation. Compared with those classmates, Xu Ping undoubtedly counted as one of the luckier ones, because she had found a job as soon as she graduated. Yun Zhaozhao had seen her posts on Moments before, and recalled that Xu Ping seemed to work in HR at a private company. Apparently, the pay was decent-she had taken home 4,000 yuan right from the start.
Xu Ping was friendly. On seeing Yun Zhaozhao, she kept holding her there to ask how she had been lately and whether she had found a job. Yun Zhaozhao was too embarrassed to say that she was the temple master at Clear Breeze Temple and would soon be moonlighting as a fortune-teller, so she ultimately gave a vague answer about working at Qingfeng Park.
Although Xu Ping was a little surprised and wondered what Yun Zhaozhao could do at a park, she didn't dwell on it, only saying she would visit her at Qingfeng Park sometime. Just then, Yun Zhaozhao's bus arrived, so she casually agreed and boarded with her book.
Yun Zhaozhao didn't think much of running into Xu Ping on the street that day. As for Xu Ping saying she would visit her at Qingfeng Park sometime, Yun Zhaozhao took that even more as a polite remark exchanged between acquaintances.
Until a week later.
Yun Zhaozhao was lying in a recliner at Clear Breeze Temple, scrolling through job listings, when she suddenly received a call from Xu Ping.
Over the phone, Xu Ping excitedly told Yun Zhaozhao that she was organizing a team-building outing to Qingfeng Park for her colleagues the next day. She also asked whether there were any particularly good restaurants near Qingfeng Park that could accommodate all ten or so of them for a group meal.
Yun Zhaozhao instinctively asked, "There is, but does your company pay on the spot for meals?"
The question made Xu Ping laugh. "Obviously! Do you eat out on credit? Let me tell you, our boss is being pretty generous this time. We have a meal allowance of 200 yuan per person! In other words, our budget for this meal is 2,000..."
The instant she heard the 2,000-yuan budget, Yun Zhaozhao completely forgot that she didn't want acquaintances to know she was at Clear Breeze Temple, and readily agreed. "All right, leave the meal to me. I'll arrange it for you."
Only after hanging up did Yun Zhaozhao remember to discuss it with Daoist Chang Kong. "Daoist, you're such a good cook. Cooking for ten people tomorrow shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Daoist Chang Kong was clearly rather reluctant. "Ten people? That's a bit too many..."
Yun Zhaozhao said, "How about this? If you do a good job tomorrow, I'll treat you to a big feast in the city."
Daoist Chang Kong said, "Really?"
Yun Zhaozhao said, "Of course."
Daoist Chang Kong said, "All right, then. I'll reluctantly make a meal for you tomorrow. But let's get this straight first: they eat whatever I make. No picking and choosing."
Yun Zhaozhao said, "Of course, of course. But I have a condition too. Tomorrow will be the first time our temple dining hall has hosted so many guests, after all. You have to promise to give it your best and make sure they enjoy their meal. As for the ingredient budget, let's set it at... 1,000 yuan."
Yun Zhaozhao had never run a business and didn't know what a reasonable balance between costs and profits should be, so she casually named a cost figure she thought was acceptable.
After settling things with Daoist Chang Kong, Yun Zhaozhao called Xu Ping again to confirm their exact arrival time and headcount for the next day, and also asked whether anyone had any particular dietary restrictions.
When Xu Ping first heard that they would be eating at a Daoist temple, she was a little surprised. "We're eating right inside their temple? Doesn't that mean we can only eat vegetarian food? And will the temple master agree?"
Yun Zhaozhao said, "Yes, yes, I've already checked. Don't worry about that! As for whether it'll be an all-vegetarian banquet, that depends on what the temple cook makes tomorrow. Anyway, rest assured-even if it's entirely vegetarian, it'll definitely be the best vegetarian banquet you've ever had."
Xu Ping was actually rather skeptical, but since she and her colleagues had already agreed to go to Qingfeng Park for team-building the next day, it wouldn't be good to change their plans at the last minute. Besides, she had looked it up online before and knew that the area around Qingfeng Park really was desolate, with very little good food available, so she said nothing more.
However, when she announced in the company group chat that the next day's group meal would be at Clear Breeze Temple, quite a few colleagues voiced the same doubts she had:
[Clear Breeze Temple? Is this how restaurants name themselves these days?]
[Hey, wait a second. I looked it up online, and this doesn't seem to be a restaurant. It's a Daoist temple!]
[Are we sure we're eating at a Daoist temple? Aren't there any other restaurants near Qingfeng Park?]
[Can you only eat vegetarian food at a Daoist temple? We're climbing Clear Breeze Mountain tomorrow too. I won't have the strength to climb if all we eat is vegetarian food...]
Of course, some colleagues were quite interested:
[A temple dining hall? Honestly, I've never eaten in a Daoist temple in my entire life! Sounds pretty interesting.]
[Vegetarian food is good. It's healthy and helps you lose weight!]
Everyone chimed in, but no one raised any particular objections, so the matter was settled.
The next morning, Xu Ping and her colleagues gathered at the entrance to Qingfeng Park at the agreed time. Their itinerary for the day was as follows: in the morning, everyone would stroll around Qingfeng Park and play a few icebreaker games on the park lawn. After all, theirs was a newly established company, and most of the colleagues, like Xu Ping, had only recently joined, so they didn't know one another particularly well. Getting everyone acquainted as quickly as possible was also the main purpose of this team-building outing.
While Xu Ping led her colleagues through icebreaker games on the park lawn, things also began bustling at Clear Breeze Temple.
The day before, Yun Zhaozhao had spoken to the older woman who delivered vegetables, asking her to bring more fresh vegetables from her plot early that day. The woman came through: as soon as the park opened at eight thirty, she delivered the vegetables bright and early. Yun Zhaozhao then paid her 100 yuan to stay and temporarily lend Daoist Chang Kong a hand.
With two capable hands like Daoist Chang Kong and the older woman in the kitchen, Yun Zhaozhao was free to spruce up Clear Breeze Temple's dining hall.
Clear Breeze Temple's dining hall wasn't large, but it had good natural lighting, with windows on all four sides. There was also an ancient ginkgo tree not far outside the windows. While sitting in the dining hall eating, one only had to look up to see its leaves dancing in the sunlight with the wind.
The only problem was that the dining hall
was
rather old. Not only were the wooden windows etched with the scratches of passing years, but even the few remaining tables and chairs in the dining hall had a timeworn, rustic air.
For now, Yun Zhaozhao had no money to buy new dining tables and chairs, so she could only do everything she could to wipe every table and chair spotless, not neglecting even the crevices. After cleaning the dining hall, she picked some wildflowers and snapped off a few tree branches on the temple grounds, then found several oddly shaped bottles and jars to give the dining hall a little decoration.