Chapter 82 Incense Master

The little girl had a pair of big eyes, a slightly dark skin, and was very brave. When she saw Feng Qingsui walking towards the window, she did not run away, but looked up at her like a curious cat.

Feng Qingsui handed over a piece of pomelo flesh.

The little girl took it with a smile: "Thank you, ma'am. Good luck to you, ma'am."

"What's your name?" Feng Qingsui asked.

"Sanya."

"Why don't you go in and listen? The academy is closed for study, so you can go inside and listen to the lectures."

Sanya shook her head and looked at the bamboo basket beside her that was filled with straw sandals and was almost as tall as her. "I still have to go to the market to sell shoes."

Feng Qingsui understood.

The girls who came to Qingquan Academy to study came from very different family backgrounds. Some of them had enough food and clothing and did not have to work in the fields, but wanted to raise their status by learning to read and write so that they could find a good husband.

Or their families are so poor that they can't even afford to eat, and they come here for the lunch provided by the academy.

Girls whose family backgrounds are between these two have to help their parents with housework at home, and even if they want to study, they have no time to do so.

San Ya is a typical example.

But she was not discouraged.

"If the straw sandals sell well, I can come and listen for a while after I finish selling them."

San Ya said excitedly.

"If I learn one character a day, I can learn more than 300 characters in a year. Then I can be considered a literate person and be sold to a wealthy family as a maid."

Feng Qingsui smiled and said, "You are quite ambitious."

San Ya sighed, "There's nothing we can do. Our whole family is dark-skinned. My eldest and second sisters are pretty, but just because they're a little dark and don't have any other skills, they're not allowed to serve the young ladies personally and are forced to do rough work."

"A first-class maid who serves the young lady can earn eight hundred coins a month, while a third-class maid who does rough work can only earn two hundred coins a month."

"I don't want to be a maid for the rest of my life. If I want to leave the mansion sooner, I'll naturally be a first-class maid so I can save enough money to redeem myself faster."

Feng Qingsui: "Is it not possible to just be a maid instead of selling yourself?"

"Of course not. I have two younger sisters and a younger brother."

San Ya curled her lips.

"We only have a few acres of land, and the little food we grow is barely enough to make ends meet, not to mention paying taxes. And my father wants to join the Ruifeng Society to raise money for the Five Blessings."

"Ruifeng Society?"

"Don't you know? It's dedicated to the Holy Mother. Many people in our village have joined. Each person has to give 15 taels of silver."

When Feng Qingsui heard about the "Ruifeng Society" and the "Holy Mother", he immediately thought of someone who had run the "Ruixiang Poetry Society" and had been a "living Bodhisattva".

Then he asked, "Have you seen the Virgin Mary? What does she look like?"

San Ya replied, "I haven't seen it, but my father has. He said the Holy Mother is a jade statue. She looks like Guanyin Bodhisattva, with a red mole between her eyebrows. She speaks very kindly. She also has a beautiful female guardian who holds a whip beside her."

Feng Qingsui also knew someone who loved playing with a whip. Although that person should have been exiled to the northwest now, but... everything is possible.

These two people might be old acquaintances.

A smile appeared on her face. "Why does your father want to join the Ruifeng Society?"

San Ya told her about the miracles performed by the Holy Mother in the next village, and added, "If you join the Ruifeng Society, not only will you receive the Holy Mother's blessing, but if your family encounters misfortune, such as a serious illness or injury, the Ruifeng Society will return the Five Blessings Money tenfold or even a hundredfold, and will also encourage everyone to come and help."

If it could really protect you, how could you still encounter such a disaster?

Isn't this a contradiction?

Unfortunately, poor people don’t think so much.

They have experienced too much hardship and just want to find a safe haven. When they meet someone who is helping the poor and the needy and promises them huge profits, they will cut back on their clothes, sell their children and throw themselves into the cause.

Little did they know that what was waiting for them was not the Pure Land, but hell.

"Is the Ruifeng Club really that good?" She said with a longing expression. "I want to join, too. Where do I pay the fee?"

San Ya asked in confusion, "Madam, you are not short of money, so why would you join the Ruifeng Society?"

"Can't we pray for blessings to avoid disaster?" Feng Qingsui smiled. "The richer people are, the more they fear death. No one can have too much blessings."

San Ya suddenly understood: "That's true. But I don't know how to join. Only my father knows."

Feng Qingsui took out a silver ingot from his purse and said with a smile, "I'll buy all your straw sandals. Can you take me to see your father?"

San Ya's eyes lit up.

Then he said in distress: "I have no money to ask you. Do you have any copper coins? This basket of straw sandals only costs thirty coins."

Feng Qingsui put the silver in her hand and said, "The rest is for the guide fee, no need for change."

Sanya: (〃'▽'〃)

She accepted it readily.

"Thank you, ma'am! Long live the ma'am!"

Feng Qingsui left the basket of straw sandals in the academy, took Wuhua and followed San Ya to Huaihua Village.

Sanya's dark-skinned, thin father learned the purpose of her visit and asked, "Where are you from?"

Feng Qingsui casually made up a household registration for a nearby town.

After hearing this, Sanya's father shook his head and said, "You have to find the incense master over there to join. The incense master here can't accept you."

Feng Qingsui raised his eyebrows.

Has it developed into zoning governance so quickly?

"Who is the incense master over there?"

Sanya's father shook his head: "I don't know either. Even the incense master here may not know. You have to find a believer over there to introduce you."

Feng Qingsui was too lazy to cross the town to investigate, so he asked, "My cousin is from this town. Can I ask you for an introduction?"

Sanya's father blushed: "I haven't joined yet..."

San Ya showed the silver that Feng Qingsui gave her: "Dad, here are ten taels of silver."

Sanya’s father: “!!!”

He said cheerfully, "No problem. I'll go find the incense master tonight and introduce him to your cousin tomorrow night."

Feng Qingsui said hello.

The next evening, she changed her clothes, put on makeup, put on a veil, and wore a disguised mask. She went to the meeting place - Qingquan Town Market, waiting for San Ya's father to arrive.

After sunset, Sanya's father appeared at the entrance of the market.

"Follow me, this way."

Feng Qingsui and the other man followed him through the streets and alleys and came to the gate of a house. He knocked on the door five times, three times hard and two times lightly, before the door opened.

This was a two-story house. Feng Qingsui entered the inner courtyard and saw the incense master that Sanya's father had mentioned, a middle-aged woman with high cheekbones and triangular eyes.

The woman looked Feng Qingsui up and down and asked coldly, "Why do you want to join the Ruifeng Society?"

Feng Qingsui lifted his veil, revealing the hand-applied red birthmark, and said, "I heard that the Holy Mother grants all prayers. I want to ask the Holy Mother to send down nectar to help me remove this birthmark on my face."

The vigilance in the woman's eyes disappeared.

"This birthmark of yours is a sin brought from your past life. It's not easy to remove. You need to accumulate a lot of merit."

Feng Qingsui said gently, "Money is not a problem. I am the only daughter my parents have. If I can remove the birthmark, they would be willing to spend all their money to do so."

She gave the woman five hundred taels of merit money on the spot.