The stone statue was so crudely carved that Xu Milu squinted and tried to identify it for a long time, but she couldn't find any trace of herself in it.
"Coo coo—coo—"
"Coo-coo—coo-coo—"
As night falls, a thin layer of mist rises from the deep mountains, enveloping them in a gray haze. Night owls nimbly flit across the branches, emitting mournful howls.
“Grandma, I am not some kind of deity. It’s just that I don’t know who built this temple—it’s a long story. It’s late and the dew is heavy. Why don’t you come with me to a nice place? I’ll make you a bowl of hot porridge, okay?”
Xu Milu helped Granny Wang up from the ground. She had understood a bit of what Granny Wang had been crying and wailing about, but she didn't readily agree to let her teach those three "unfilial sons" a lesson.
—The first lesson Sun Wukong taught her was to pay attention to cause and effect, so she wouldn't make any promises lightly before understanding the specific circumstances.
When Wang Po heard the young woman speak so gently and sweetly, her heart warmed a little. Then, when she heard that the woman was going to take her somewhere, she was so happy that she burst into tears.
"Great! Great! Thank you, God! Thank you, God! This old woman will kowtow to you right now! God, please help me! God, please help me!"
Seeing that the other party remained stubborn despite repeated explanations, Xu Milu stopped trying to explain, supported Wang Po with one hand, and directly chose to teleport back to the Mountain and Sea Restaurant.
She left on a cloud only this morning, and there were hardly any customers in the shop at the moment. Only Mo Xuan was guarding the shop, with a towel draped over his shoulder, and he was crunching away at half a radish.
Even Pigsy joked that she had raised a perfectly good dragon to be like a rabbit.
In front of the shop is a black sunken wood signboard with the words "Shan Hai Shi Si" written on it, and a blue banner with white characters on it, featuring the unrestrained character "酒" (wine).
It looks like an inconspicuous little shop from the outside, but once you step inside, it's a completely different world.
The doors and windows inside the house are all meticulously carved with auspicious cloud and bird patterns. The birds on them are so lifelike that they seem about to leap out of the window at any moment. The white stone steps are carved with patterns of fragrant herbs and orchids. The interior walls are snow-white and shiny, covered with a large patch of ivy, strawberry vines, and large green leaves that climb along the beams of the house. Bright red fruits hang down from the walls, emitting an enticing fragrance.
Inside the restaurant, a ring of luminous pearls, each the size of a fist, emitted a gentle light that filled the entire shop, reflecting off the glass counter at the front desk and making it sparkle. The curtains used for privacy reflected a colorful light under the lamplight—if anyone recognized them, they would surely be amazed to find that they were made of extremely precious mermaid silk.
Inside the counter were several glass-like jars, their colors beautifully illuminated by the pearly sheen. Behind them, an unattended flame flickered on the stove, as if it had come to life.
The tables and chairs in the restaurant were made of some kind of wood, and if you smelled them closely, you could smell the fragrance of wood. There were also a few bunches of out-of-season plum blossoms in the glass vases on the tables. The pink and white blossoms were pleasing to the eye just by being placed there.
The faint fragrance in the shop almost made Granny Wang freeze in place, wondering if she had entered some kind of fairy cave.
So this is what the dwellings of immortals look like?
That crystal bottle must contain some kind of elixir that can prolong life!
—That's pickled vegetables made by Xu Milu. They're in a glass jar so they're easy to pick up.
That bright pearl on its head, could it be the dragon pearl held in the mouth of the Dragon King?
—That was the luminous pearl that Donghai brought to buy ingredients from Xu Milu. She installed it in the roof as a light bulb, adhering to the principle of not wasting anything.
Those vast expanses of translucent glazed tiles, could they be from heaven, skillfully crafted by celestial beings!
—Industrialized glass from Earth, made in China, quality you can trust.
Those bright red fruits, could they be some kind of magical fruit?
—Climbing ivy and strawberry vines are perfect home companions, adding a lot of color to the home environment.
Outside, the night was deep, but inside, it was as bright as day. When Wang Po saw this, she dared not move. She felt ashamed and disgusted, and hid the smelly cloth bag she was carrying under her feet again and again.
Don't defile the immortal's celestial abode!
Who would have thought that someone half-buried in the earth could encounter a true immortal!
Wang Po couldn't help but look at it again and again, and the thought of suicide no longer came to mind.
...
...
"My lady went to find Nezha, the Third Prince, so why did she bring back an old woman?"
Mo Xuan stood up to greet him, swallowing the radish he was holding in his mouth in a few quick bites. Luckily, he had thick skin and a tough body; otherwise, a normal person would have had diarrhea from eating radishes like that.
Xu Milu reached down to take an apron from the wall, put it on, and went into the kitchen without looking back, tying the apron while gathering her hair behind her.
“I was riding the clouds just now, and before I even got to Nezha’s place, I heard someone calling me. I looked and saw that someone had built a temple for me in Qiantang. I saw that this old woman was so hungry that she was dizzy and her eyes were blurry. I’m afraid she won’t be able to ask her anything for a while. Please take good care of her. I’ll make her a bowl of congee with preserved egg and lean pork to warm her up.”
"Establish a temple?"
Mo Xuan was startled: "Where is that temple? Is there a golden statue? But Qiantang is the Third Prince's territory. If they make such a big fuss—could it be that someone wants to harm my wife?!"
"It's not the kind of big temple you're thinking of. It's a small temple in the mountains. They even carved my name and erected a stone statue. The statue's head is covered by a tile, and it's properly enshrined. It looks like it was only recently erected."
Xu Milu grabbed a piece of lean meat and started cutting it on the cutting board, completely baffled by what she was doing.
Most deities have their own place of residence. Some deities live in seclusion and cultivate themselves in peace, refusing incense offerings from the mortal world, such as Sun Wukong. However, some deities and Buddhas are concerned about the world and often manifest their power in the mortal world to protect believers, such as Guanyin and Nezha.
—There are “yang temples”, which enshrine righteous gods with names and demons who walk the good path, but there are also “yin temples”, which are mostly set up by deluded mortals or evil spirits. If mortals pray to the wrong god or worship at the wrong temple, it will be very bad.
Establishing a temple is a major event. Generally, only those who have made significant achievements or performed great deeds are qualified to establish a temple. It is even rarer for a living person to establish a temple. She has neither been granted an official title by the Heavenly Court nor has she intended to protect believers. Suddenly establishing a temple in Qiantang would easily offend people.
"It must be someone you helped, who doesn't understand the intricacies of this matter, who built a temple. Living people don't receive incense offerings. After all, since ancient times, only those who have done great good deeds deserve to be enshrined in a living shrine. Since you are still alive, we will build a temple for you. If some evil spirits take advantage of the situation and occupy the temple, causing any trouble, it will inevitably implicate you."
Mo Xuan poured Wang Po a cup of hot tea, intending to force a smile to comfort her and get some information out of her, but he saw that she looked terrified and kept saying "You mustn't."
"Oh dear, how can I ask a deity to pour me tea? I'm afraid it will shorten this old woman's lifespan!"
Granny Wang was still in a daze, feeling that the room was dazzlingly bright and the "fairy fruits" on the wall looked incredibly tempting. Before she could even come to her senses, a bowl of hot soup and rice was already placed on the table.
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