After drinking a bellyful of congee with preserved egg and lean pork, Granny Wang felt warm all over. When Xu Milu took her back to the mountain, they heard someone crying and calling "Mother" from afar.

Upon closer inspection, they saw Ding Si Niang with tears streaming down her face. She was carrying a torch and stumbling up the hillside when she saw Wang Po standing in front of the stone temple.

Ding Si Niang glanced over and saw that the rope Wang Po had brought to hang herself was still tied to the tree branch!

She was so frightened that she almost fainted, and she rushed over and burst into tears:

"Mother! How could you be so foolish? How could you not want to live like this? If I had known that my three brothers would bully you like this, I would have come back no matter what. Mother, if you were gone, I would be a child without father or mother, and my heart would be filled with bitterness!"

It turned out that Wang Po had gone out of town today, and her aunt, who was familiar with Ding Si Niang, had seen her. Someone then informed Ding Si Niang, who was both shocked and frightened. She immediately asked the village head to come forward and find someone to go into the mountains to search for her.

Perhaps it was a mother's heart that guided her daughter, and Ding Si Niang indeed followed the trail and found Wang Po at this small stone temple.

When everyone saw that the person had been found, they all breathed a sigh of relief. Those who came out to help search for someone late at night were all kind-hearted people. Now that they saw that Granny Wang was alright, they started to offer their consolation.

The village head stroked his beard and earnestly said:

"Wang Po, how come you can't make ends meet? Your Ding Si Niang is such a filial daughter. Knowing that you came to this mountain, she went from house to house begging for your help!"

"Aunt Wang, your three sons are really outrageous. How can they not support their own mother?"

"Hey! Luckily we arrived in time, this really saved a life!"

Anyone with eyes can see the belt hanging on the tree; what else is there to misunderstand?

Everyone knows that this old woman, Wang Po, has probably gone to a dead end and is here to commit suicide!

"Huh? When did a small temple appear here?"

"That's strange. I passed by here a month ago and didn't see this little temple—'Xu Niangzi Temple'. What kind of deity does she worship here?"

Seeing that Wang Po was carrying a cloth bag and wearing a flowered jacket of unknown origin, someone couldn't help but ask:

"Aunt Wang, why have you been staying on this mountain all night!"

Everyone felt something was amiss. The mountain path was steep at night, and wild animals roamed the mountains. How could Wang Po, an old woman, have stood there unharmed for half the night without even getting her clothes wet?

A few timid people shivered and tremblingly used their torches to shine on Wang Po. They breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that there was a shadow.

"My son, I'm so sorry, I was bewitched and thought that death would end everything—"

Granny Wang touched her daughter's bruised forehead, which was swollen from kowtowing to others, and felt extremely distressed. However, thinking of the "deity's" advice earlier, she regained the will to live.

Upon hearing the question, she immediately pointed to the stone statue and shouted:

"I was freezing and starving, and I was thinking of hanging myself here, but I never expected to meet a real immortal in the Xu Niangzi Temple. The immortal took me on a tour of Chang'an, and gave me three big bowls of meat porridge made from rice that immortals eat, and three bowls of tea made from tea that immortals drink. The immortal also gave me a warm coat, and now I don't feel cold at all, I even feel a little warm!"

—Actually, it was just her imagination. Xu Milu was afraid the old lady would be cold, so she put her own down jacket on her.

"immortal?"

"What kind of deity?"

"Wang Po, have you gone mad from the cold? Chang'an is a thousand miles away from Qiantang. You could never get to Chang'an even in your dreams!"

What kind of deity is Lady Xu?

"Wang Po must be terrified—"

Everyone started talking at once, and Ding Si Niang, though still somewhat doubtful, hugged Wang Po and kept crying.

"Mother, it is your unfilial daughter who will go to find my three brothers tomorrow. There is no reason for your own mother to suffer outside while her own son enjoys a life of luxury—"

Seeing that no one believed her, Wang Po showed them the cloth bag in her arms:

"I really met immortals! The place where those immortals lived was more comfortable than we can imagine. The walls and tiles were as white as paper, and a large patch of red spiritual fruit grew on them. The lights on the roof were beads the size of pigeon eggs. The immortals' clothes were sewn by celestial maidens, and there wasn't a single seam in them. The floor was so bright that it could illuminate a person's face. The immortals had baskets and baskets of ginseng as thick as an arm in their hands. The immortals' teacups were made of crystal."

The fairy maiden, worried I'd go hungry, even told me to bring back half a bag of rice. Look at it, look closely! Who has ever seen such pure white rice before?!

By the firelight, everyone saw that the cloth bag was half full of rice, each grain the size of a little finger, and each grain had a warm glow and an indescribable fragrance.

"Wow! There's such beautiful rice in the world! I've lived most of my life and never seen anything like it!"

"Is this really rice? How can it grow so big!"

"The rice smells so good, could it really be a gift from the gods?"

The crowd was buzzing with discussion.

The village head, emboldened, pinched a grain of rice, put it in his mouth, and bit into it—

Everyone waited for his answer, and Ding Si Niang held her breath.

"It's rice! It's rice!!"

The village head's eyes lit up, and he almost immediately believed Wang Po's story, bowing repeatedly to the stone statue:

"This must be the work of a kind-hearted deity!"

A buzz of discussion erupted from the crowd. Some were skeptical, some bowed repeatedly to the stone statue, and others cautiously examined the bag of rice, all forgetting their original purpose.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!