The students Yun Zhaozhao's college counselor had referred to her were from a junior college partnered with her university.
In short, they had no work experience, but they were young, useful, and only needed meals provided. There was no particular need to worry about accommodation, since all of them could stay in their school dorms.
Naturally, Yun Zhaozhao couldn't have asked for better employees at such a bargain.
So she soon contacted someone and arranged for them to start at Clear Breeze Temple.
When Lin Banxia had led the little volunteer group before, she had found it rather fun to be called "Teacher." But now that she was supervising college students, being called that left her feeling nothing but undeserving, because she didn't think she had anything to teach them.
In front of the students, however, she remained quite composed. First, she introduced the fruit trees in the orchard, then led everyone over to see the medicinal herb garden she had planted earlier.
Once she had finished introducing everything, Lin Banxia asked the students about their respective majors.
Although they were all from the Agricultural College, their fields of study weren't quite the same. For instance, one studied horticulture, another studied medicinal herb cultivation and processing technology, and another studied tea production and processing technology.
The medicinal herb cultivation student was easy to place. Lin Banxia temporarily entrusted her beloved medicinal herb garden to her to help tend. As for the student studying tea production and processing technology, that was easy too. After all, Grandpa Lin had not only a hundred mu of fertile farmland waiting for Lin Banxia to return and inherit, but also a hundred mu of tea plantations. Lin Banxia could hand this student straight over to Grandpa Lin. The student might even learn more from him than from her.
The only one who might pose a bit of a problem was the horticulture student named Xiao Yao.
Asking the temple master whenever they couldn't decide something was a habit shared by everyone at Clear Breeze Temple, so when Lin Banxia ran into this problem, she handed it straight over to Yun Zhaozhao.
Yun Zhaozhao's first reaction was, "Don't horticulture students study fruit tree cultivation and management?"
Xiao Yao explained, "Horticulture students at some schools might, but at our school, the major mainly covers floral design and growing and caring for ornamental plants. Things like fruit tree cultivation, grafting, and fruit-setting techniques aren't our specialty. Besides, I chose horticulture in the first place because I liked flowers and plants..."
Floral design and ornamental plants...
After thinking for a moment, Yun Zhaozhao asked Lin Banxia, "Is there any more land in the back courtyard we could open up? If there is, clear a new plot for this student and let her grow whatever flowers and plants she wants! Our fruit trees and medicinal herbs really do take too long to harvest anyway. It wouldn't be bad to grow some flowers and plants to sell."
Before coming to Clear Breeze Temple, Xiao Yao had actually been rather reluctant. If her school hadn't required an internship in her junior year, and if Yun Zhaozhao's counselor hadn't personally recommended this job, she really wouldn't have wanted to come. She felt that working at Clear Breeze Temple wouldn't add anything impressive to her résumé. In fact, if things went wrong, it might even become a stain on her career.
But she hadn't expected Clear Breeze Temple's master to be so supportive, entrusting her with so much as soon as she arrived. She had actually given her a plot of land outright and was even letting her grow whatever flowers and plants she liked. Students at their Agricultural College had to fight tooth and nail just to apply for a little plot of their own at school.
Moreover, she was a junior who hadn't even graduated yet, without any successful growing experience at all. Yun Zhaozhao trusted her so much that it practically amounted to placing her in an important role. How could Xiao Yao not be deeply moved?
At that thought, Xiao Yao's attitude involuntarily grew a little more respectful. "You really can give me a plot of land and let me grow whatever I want?"
"Of course," Yun Zhaozhao said. "Just don't grow anything too expensive. Clear Breeze Temple isn't exactly rolling in money right now. If every flower or little tree costs thousands or tens of thousands, we really can't afford that kind of loss."
"Don't worry," Xiao Yao said. "I'll definitely take good care of them."
The land in Clear Breeze Temple's back courtyard was limited, after all. The fruit trees and medicinal herbs had already taken up most of it, so the plot left for Xiao Yao wasn't all that spacious, perhaps only around ten square meters. Fortunately, some plants liked shade and could be tucked into the spaces near the fruit trees.
If the areas around those fruit trees were included, the amount of land Xiao Yao could use increased considerably.
Now Xiao Yao wasn't merely excited; she was practically overexcited. She immediately shared the good news with her classmates in their class group chat: [Comrades, I have land! I have land! Tons of land, and I can plant whatever I want. Life suddenly feels so rich.]
Xu Tingting and Xie Yu had always thought they would be the first batch of college students to intern at Clear Breeze Temple after graduation. To their surprise, before they, the seniors, had even arrived, their junior-year schoolmates had already gotten there ahead of them.
It had to be said that although Yun Zhaozhao's Clear Breeze Temple wasn't very large overall, it really was doing an outstanding job of tackling employment rates. Not only was it a reemployment training center for the middle-aged and elderly, but it was also an educational field-trip center for elementary school students. Now it had developed even further, upgrading into a college internship base.
Its specialty was sweeping up all three generations-the old, the middle-aged, and the young-in one net.
After hearing Xu Tingting's words, Yun Zhaozhao sounded quite modest. "You flatter us, you flatter us. Here at Clear Breeze Temple, our main principle is that everything is voluntary."
Before Xu Tingting could reply, Yun Zhaozhao continued, "But what you just said about sweeping up all three generations isn't entirely accurate, I think. Clear Breeze Temple also knows a Daoist priest who's particularly good at dealing with certain special beings. We've recently been having Daoist Priest Jingting learn from him. If he learns well, in the future it won't just be the old, the middle-aged, and the young. It'll be those three generations plus eighteen generations of ancestors and the like, all swept up in one net."
Xu Tingting: "...????"
Chapter 39
Before they could plant flowers and greenery in the back courtyard, the ground needed to be cleared and plowed, so they needed to find a professional to do it.
During those few days of transition, Xiao Yao stayed in Clear Breeze Temple's front courtyard, tending the row of climbing roses Yun Zhaozhao had planted along the wall.
Come to think of it, Yun Zhaozhao had been a plant killer ever since she was little. Pretty much anything she planted died. She had even killed several cacti, supposedly the hardest plants to kill. Now that she had come to Clear Breeze Temple, whether because the local environment and climate suited plant growth or for some other reason, the row of climbing roses she had planted was doing quite well.
But they were merely doing well. They still couldn't compare at all to rose trellises carefully pruned and designed by horticulturists.
After Xiao Yao arrived, she used wire to secure the longer rose canes to the wall so the roses could climb up it more easily later. Besides that, she pruned the branches that needed pruning in advance, leaving only one or two buds on each little branch, and trained the ones that needed training.
Xiao Yao also arranged the wire attached to the wall in the shape of the character for "wind," so that when the roses bloomed, it would look as though the character itself had blossomed.
It suited the atmosphere of Clear Breeze Temple rather well.
At any rate, Yun Zhaozhao was quite pleased when she saw it.
Xiao Yao, however, felt there was a slight flaw. "I actually wanted to shape it into the three characters for 'Clear Breeze Temple,' but the character for 'clear' is a little complicated. I was afraid it wouldn't turn out well."
Yun Zhaozhao comforted her. "It's all right. This is already great. Nothing in life is absolutely perfect. A little regret is just part of life."
While Yun Zhaozhao was still comforting Xiao Yao, Jingting came strolling over. Looking at the roses on the wall, he asked Xiao Yao, "Did you use the roses to write the character for 'wind'?"
Xiao Yao nodded.
Jingting said, "Roses and wind... roses and wind... even the roses have gone crazy. Nice. That fits Clear Breeze Temple's mental state perfectly."
Xiao Yao couldn't defend herself. "...Temple Master, I really didn't mean that..."
Looking at Xiao Yao, who seemed on the verge of falling apart, Yun Zhaozhao felt a headache coming on. She even wanted to hit Jingting a little. "Don't listen to his nonsense. He simply has no appreciation for it."
Jingting said, "The rose trellises I've seen people make before seemed to be shaped like arches or hearts. We could make something like that too, so couples and tourists visiting Clear Breeze Temple could take check-in photos."
Xiao Yao explained, "I thought about that at first too, actually. But I figured this was a Daoist temple, after all, and that sort of thing might not be appropriate, so I changed it to this. If it's allowed, I could make a floral arch at the entrance to the back courtyard later."
Jingting waved a hand. "Why wouldn't it be allowed? Here at Clear Breeze Temple, things are always allowed and almost never forbidden..."
As he spoke, Jingting suddenly corrected himself. "Ah, no, there are still some things that are forbidden. For example, you'd better keep your distance from Lin Banxia."
Xiao Yao asked in confusion, "...Why? I think Teacher Lin is very gentle."
Jingting said, "Haven't you heard of gentle needles, where every needle takes your life?"
Xiao Yao: "..." It was her first time hearing of them. They sounded like something very formidable.
That morning, Xiao Yao had just said she had never heard of "gentle needles," and that afternoon, she got to see them for herself. While taking her midday rest with Lin Banxia, she saw Lin Banxia casually pick up a long, slender silver needle and then, ever so gently, stick it into her own arm.
Xiao Yao: "..."
Xiao Yao asked, "Teacher Lin, what are you doing?"
Lin Banxia said, "Can't you tell? I'm practicing acupuncture!"
"That's amazing," Xiao Yao said. "You know acupuncture too!"
Lin Banxia said, "I haven't had lessons. I'm teaching myself, so I'm practicing on myself first. Oh, is there anywhere you're feeling unwell? I can give you a few needles too. Don't worry, it doesn't hurt at all. It just looks a little scary."
Xiao Yao hastily wrapped her little blanket tighter around herself. "No, no, I'm a little sleepy. I'm going to sleep now."