Sorry for the Trouble, Little Immortal

Nowadays, many city dwellers have settled in Xiushui Village.

Moreover, tourists come and go in an endless stream every day.

Therefore, the news that Lingxian Sect would distribute mosquito repellent to the Xiushui Village before sunset this afternoon spread like wildfire, quickly reaching the surrounding Ten-Li and even the county town.

So by the afternoon, in the period since the Lingxian Sect recruited new disciples, Xiushui Village, which had been relatively quiet, became unusually crowded again.

Those who lived far from Xiushui Village were merely there to join in the fun and watch the immortals perform their deeds.

Those living near Xiushui Village, however, were hoping that if the immortal had extra mosquito repellent, they might be able to get some as well.

The problem of mosquitoes is not limited to Xiushui Village.

All the villages surrounding Xiushui Village were affected.

It was nearing sunset.

Those who had been eagerly watching from a distance around Heart-Questioning Road saw long tables flying down from the Peach Blossom Mountain Path.

Then they lined up themselves at the bottom of the mountain path, aligning each one neatly.

Following closely behind, a large wooden plank flew down, and after landing, it automatically faced the crowd and propped itself up on the edge of the table.

They discovered writing on the wooden board.

Then, a literate person in the crowd kindly read it aloud.

"Mosquito repellent lamp oil can be obtained for free at the distribution point."

"It's free!"

"Hey, you obviously don't know, do you? The immortals of our Lingxian Sect are the best to us."

"That's right. Although I'm not from Xiushui Village, in previous years when our village had pests, the immortals would come and help without asking for any money!"

"Yes, that's right. So, this is the immortal's gift, and we should cherish it and not take advantage of it."

"Yes, yes, let's start with the villages where the mosquitoes are most severe!"

As they spoke, the crowd spontaneously began to organize themselves.

The surrounding villages and towns are all related in some way; even if you don't know them personally, you'll recognize some of their faces.

Therefore, the crowd quickly selected people from the surrounding villages and put them at the front of the line.

Because ten tables flew down, the crowd split into ten lines.

After the people from the most severely affected villages lined up, others who needed help lined up on their own.

In this way, the huge crowd was arranged in an orderly manner in a very short time.

Faced with the overwhelming force maintaining order, the few who harbored thoughts of taking advantage of others didn't dare to utter a sound, but simply shrank back and obediently listened to everyone's arrangements.

Occasionally, one or two people would try to pretend they were late and hadn't heard the instructions, and rush forward, but they would be immediately pulled to a stop by the people around them. Then, after being glared at by a large group of people, they would slip away without daring to utter a sound.

In reality, most people like this are idle, opportunistic scoundrels from the Ten-Li villages; they can be found everywhere.

Under normal circumstances, people would have preferred to avoid trouble and let them get away with it.

But perhaps it's because this place is at the foot of a mountain of immortals that the people queuing up have the confidence to stand united against a common enemy.

Seeing the usually arrogant and unruly shrew slink away with his tail between his legs, everyone felt somewhat incredulous.

It turns out that boycotting people like this is so simple.

All we need to do is work together with one heart and one mind, and share a common hatred of the enemy.

Once the ten teams were roughly lined up, people saw figures walking down the Peach Blossom Mountain Path.

It was Liu Yunan leading eleven new disciples.

As soon as they appeared, the people at the foot of the mountain fell silent in unison.

Everyone looked at them with respect.

After Liu Yunan, he had the first ten new disciples stand behind the table in turn, while the last eleventh new disciple was responsible for being on the side to restock the other ten at any time.

Bai Zhu stood before the first table.

Remembering Liu Yunan's words of advice on the way down the mountain, he took a deep breath and shouted loudly to the crowd:

"We are now distributing mosquito repellent lamp oil, one set per person. If you did not bring your own container or do not have a lamp cord at home, please let us know when you receive it."

After saying that, he and the other nine people each took out a large bucket from their Storage Bag, which was full of lamp oil.

The mosquito-repellent lamp oil has a faint, pleasant plant fragrance; once it's taken out, the fragrance lingers subtly around everyone's nose.

Everyone involuntarily took a deep breath.

I felt that much of the lingering dryness under the evening sun had been dispelled.

Then, each of the ten new disciples took out a basket of small bamboo tubes and a small basket of lantern rope from their Storage Bag, which were prepared for those who did not have them.

However, since it was explained to everyone today that the message was for distributing lamp oil, those who came from nearby villages brought containers specifically to hold it.

Most people didn't want the light cord either.

After all, this isn't an expensive item. If someone in the household does sewing or mending, who doesn't have some loose thread?

The immortals prepared it; that shows their thoughtfulness.

But everyone knew in their hearts that they had already received many favors from the immortals over the years, and they wouldn't take advantage of such a small thing.

Bai Zhu stood behind the table and distributed lamp oil to each person with a spoonful for quite a while.

Then he encountered a chipped earthenware bowl.

There was still some grease residue on the bowl from holding food for a long time.

He could recognize it at a glance because he himself had used the same small, dirty, broken bowl for many years.

Looking up, he saw an old man with many wrinkles and a few remaining front teeth smiling kindly at him.

"Thank you for your trouble, little immortal." The old man, dressed in patched coarse cloth, squinted at Bai Zhu.

Bai Zhu paused, holding the wooden spoon, and instead of taking the old man's bowl, took a small bamboo tube from the basket beside him and filled it with lamp oil.

"Oh dear, no, no, this old man brought his bowl..."

The old man waved his hands helplessly, trying to stop Bai Zhu, but he didn't dare to actually touch him.

Bai Zhu simply handed the old man the small bamboo tube filled with lamp oil, and also grabbed a small handful of neatly cut short lamp cords from a basket beside him and stuffed them into the old man's hand.

"Take these, we cut them ourselves, they're not worth much," he said with a smile to the old man.

Holding the items, the old man nodded and thanked him hesitantly, then, worried that he might delay the others from getting their lamp oil, he shuffled to the side.

He stood outside the crowd and watched for a while as the immortals patiently distributed lamp oil to everyone. Only after a long while did he turn and leave.

He lived in the next village and had arranged to walk together with some old friends from that village later.

Holding the things carefully in his arms, he thought to himself, "My wife can finally get a good night's sleep tonight."