Yun Zhaozhao: "..."You're really good at torture!"
Chapter 60
Embracing Bamboo Temple and Clear Breeze Temple are not in the same city, so in order to arrive at Clear Breeze Temple as soon as possible, Daoist Leng and Daoist Huaijin led a group of Daoist priests from Embracing Bamboo Temple to set off from Embracing Bamboo Temple by car early in the morning.
After a long and tiring journey, we finally arrived at the entrance of Qingfeng Park before lunchtime.
Before, Qingfeng Park rarely saw visitors throughout the year. Even when people did come, they were mostly nearby villagers and hiking enthusiasts. But now, thanks to the popularity of Clear Breeze Temple online, and Yun Zhaozhao's hard work in managing the park, not only have more pilgrims come to Clear Breeze Temple, but the number of tourists camping in Qingfeng Park has also increased significantly.
Daoist Leng and Daoist Huaijin walked from the park entrance and saw many families pushing campervans. Everyone was with their families, enjoying each other's company and creating a lively atmosphere. It must be said that Clear Breeze Temple has an advantage over Embracing Bamboo Temple in terms of the sense of community, after all, Clear Breeze Temple is backed by Qingfeng Park and has a unique geographical environment.
To welcome the group of fellow disciples from Embracing Bamboo Temple, Daoist Cen and Daoist Mao had been waiting at the entrance of Clear Breeze Temple for a long time. As for why Yun Zhaozhao was not in the welcoming party, it was because Daoist Qingxin had said that the person coming was not the abbot of the temple, and that their purpose was unclear, so Yun Zhaozhao could temporarily refrain from showing herself.
Yun Zhaozhao's main approach was to listen to advice, and considering that Daoist Cen and Daoist Mao were also Daoist Huaijin's classmates, this arrangement was made.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries at the entrance, Daoist Cen and Daoist Mao led the group from Embracing Bamboo Temple inside.
Yun Zhaozhao arranged the same dormitory room for the Embracing Bamboo Temple as the one where Lawyer Wang's son and his group had stayed during their study Clear Breeze Temple. Back then, that room could accommodate about ten children, but now that only five or six Daoist priests had come to Embracing Bamboo Temple, it was still manageable even if they squeezed in.
From the moment he stepped into Clear Breeze Temple, Daoist Huaijin approached it with an attitude of inspection and comparison. He compared everything from the scale of Clear Breeze Temple Clear Breeze Temple its accommodations, and the more he compared, the more he felt deep down that he had made the right choice in choosing Embracing Bamboo Temple.
After all, asking him to spend his entire life in such a small and cramped Daoist temple as Clear Breeze Temple would be tantamount to taking his life!
Fortunately, apart from Daoist Huaijin's haughty expression, the other Daoist priests of Embracing Bamboo Temple were not picky about the accommodations. After putting down their luggage and resting for a while, they arrived at the Daoist temple canteen of Clear Breeze Temple under the guidance of Daoist Cen and Daoist Mao.
Just like when Ma Ke came to do a live broadcast before, the Embracing Bamboo Temple were also taken aback by the huge crowd when they entered the dining hall of Clear Breeze Temple.
Even during major Daoist festivals, the dining hall at their Embracing Bamboo Temple is never this crowded. Today is just an ordinary day, not a festival at all. And judging from the behavior of Daoist Cen and Daoist Mao, they are clearly used to the overcrowded dining hall.
Daoist Leng couldn't help but ask, "Does your Clear Breeze Temple's dining hall always have this many customers?"
Daoist Cen: "That's not necessarily true."
Daoist Leng: "I knew it..."
Daoist Cen added, "Sometimes it's even a little more than that."
Daoist Leng: "..." You know how to speak in a breathy manner.
Because the Clear Breeze Temple canteen was crowded and had few seats, and Embracing Bamboo Temple had a special group of guests, Yun Zhaozhao asked Daoist Chang Kong to reserve a table in advance for the Daoists from Baozhu Temple to use.
Besides the table, the food had also been arranged in advance. So as soon as Embracing Bamboo Temple sat down, Jingting and Daoist Chang Kong began serving the dishes one by one.
The Daoist priests at Embracing Bamboo Temple are different from those at Clear Breeze Temple; they are vegetarians. Therefore, Daoist Chang Kong prepared a completely vegetarian feast for them today.
There are pan-fried tofu, sea buckthorn and lotus root slices, stir-fried morel mushrooms and crab mushrooms, stir-fried asparagus knots, pickled cherry tomatoes, peanut, ginkgo and astragalus drink, spleen-strengthening eggplant soup, and jade cabbage rolls...
As for the staple food, it was an eight-treasure health porridge.
The Daoist priests of Embracing Bamboo Temple have been eating vegetarian food for many years and have tried almost every kind of vegetarian dish, so when they first saw this table of vegetarian food, everyone's expression was very calm.
However, once they started eating, they suddenly realized why Clear Breeze Temple's dining hall was so crowded.
Even the simplest vegetarian dishes are made exceptionally delicious at Clear Breeze Temple. No matter the circumstances, the taste is always the most important factor for a canteen to retain customers.
Moreover, in addition to vegetarian dishes, Clear Breeze Temple also offers various meat dishes according to guests' needs. In terms of catering to diners' tastes, Clear Breeze Temple has a slight advantage over Embracing Bamboo Temple.
It was only a narrow victory, or even a close one.
Daoist Cen and Daoist Mao were quite confident in Daoist Chang Kong's culinary skills, so while Master Embracing Bamboo Temple was eating, they proudly introduced, "The eggplants, asparagus, cabbages, and cherry tomatoes you are enjoying are all grown by villagers near our Clear Breeze Temple. As for the various astragalus and ginkgo used in these medicinal dishes, they are products from our own Clear Breeze Temple. We even have a whole acre of medicinal herb garden in the backyard of our Clear Breeze Temple, where we grow all kinds of Chinese herbs!"
Daoist Leng remained silent, but Daoist Huaijin said dismissively, "A Daoist temple is founded on the Tao. Neither the canteen nor the herbal medicine are the foundation of a temple. Even if your Clear Breeze Temple is doing well in these two areas right now, there's nothing to be happy about."
Both Daoist Cen and Daoist Mao were somewhat indignant. If Daoist Leng had said those words, they might have tolerated them, but since they came from Daoist Huaijin, they were unwilling to hold back. After all, they were classmates and peers, and there was no reason for them to act like ninja turtles when someone was attacking them so aggressively.
Thinking this, Daoist Cen directly retorted, "Although a Daoist temple is based on the Tao, the most important vehicle for spreading the Tao is people. So, while we say we are based on the Tao, ultimately we are based on people. Only when people are willing to come to our temple can the Tao we follow be spread. It is precisely because the food in our Clear Breeze Temple's canteen is delicious and our Chinese herbal medicine is renowned far and wide that the number of pilgrims coming to our Clear Breeze Temple is gradually increasing. And the more people there are, the more our Tao can be promoted and flourished. Otherwise, it's just a case of being too highbrow and only entertaining ourselves. I believe that your Embracing Bamboo Temple must share the same view as our Clear Breeze Temple. After all, your Embracing Bamboo Temple also tried live streaming online to attract customers, right?"
Even Daoist Huaijin himself was unaware that Embracing Bamboo Temple was going live, so Daoist Cen said this, Daoist Huaijin subconsciously glanced at Daoist Leng's expression first.
Daoist Leng looked embarrassed and said, "Well, we just tried it out. We later found that this new method wasn't really suitable for us, so we eventually gave up."
Daoist Cen, "If Daoist Leng is interested, we can have our Senior Brother Jingting communicate and exchange ideas with everyone later. After all, Senior Brother Jingting is doing a very good job with his live streams and is almost the second person on the Daoist ranking list."
Daoist Leng: "The second person? Then who was the first person?"
Daoist Cen: "She is our Senior Brother Jingting's junior master."
Daoist Leng: "..." (He went into battle)
Master and apprentice
Soldiers! So after all that fuss, it turns out your own people have taken up all the online buzz?
Daoist Mao added witty remarks, "Regarding online live streaming, our Clear Breeze Temple can provide free instruction, but there will be a fee."
Daoist Leng: "..."
-
The Daoist Leng felt a mix of emotions after the meal. After the meal, it was time for the discussion between Clear Breeze Temple and Embracing Bamboo Temple.
This is also the focus of this exchange activity.
For this philosophical discussion, Yun Zhaozhao specially invited Daoist Qingxin to oversee the event by serving a pot of fragrant and delicious pickled bamboo shoots and pork soup.
Of course, because of his special status, Daoist Qingxin would not favor any particular Daoist temple, but would act as a "host". However, his abilities and qualifications are undeniable, and Daoist Qingxin has also been leading Daoist Mao and Daoist Cen in cultivating their minds and discussing Daoism recently. So even if he doesn't say a word, just sitting there can give Daoist Cen and Daoist Mao enough confidence.
At this moment, Yun Zhaozhao couldn't help but feel grateful for her wise decision to recruit people offline. If she hadn't given them this opportunity to spar with their peers, Clear Breeze Temple would have had to send Jingting to hurl insults, or even Lin Banxia to stab people. Whether Clear Breeze Temple would become famous online was uncertain, but it would definitely become a sensation among other Daoist temples.
Such debates usually last for several hours, and sometimes the debates are so intense that they can even last a whole day.
So Yun Zhaozhao took this opportunity to check on the construction progress of the new Daoist temple at Clear Breeze Temple.
The construction date for the new Daoist temple was ultimately calculated with the help of Daoist Qingxin. Because the entire construction period is quite long, the foundation hasn't even been laid yet!
Fortunately, the new Daoist temple was located right next to the old one, so Yun Zhaozhao could keep track of the construction progress and communicate with the designers at any time.
There's really not much to discuss. As long as the money is in place, the construction company will arrange everything perfectly for Yun Zhaozhao. After all, this construction team was introduced to Yun Zhaozhao by Lawyer Wang, and they used to build things for various government departments and municipal units, so there's no need to worry about the technical aspects, and the materials they use are basically all high-quality.
Yun Zhaozhao only needs to watch.
To be honest, watching a new Daoist temple slowly rise from nothing gives me the same feeling as when I watched Daoist Cen and Daoist Mao lead the worshippers in practicing Tai Chi Chuan. It gives me a great sense of pride, as if I had truly built an empire with my own bare hands.
That evening, at dinner time, Yun Zhaozhao finally met the Daoist priests of Embracing Bamboo Temple in person.
Before they arrived, Daoist Leng and Daoist Huaijin already knew that the abbot of Clear Breeze Temple was a young man, but when they actually saw Yun Zhaozhao, they were still surprised because she was so young.