Chapter 29029 Hexian Temple
Paper boats used for rituals typically consist of bamboo strips for the bottom, bamboo strips for the sides, and fine bamboo strips woven into a grid for the deck. Finally, paper paper is glued to the hull. This creates the boat's skeleton. More sophisticated families may even build pavilions and house Buddhist statues.
But my brother said we didn't need to go through all that trouble. We could just fold a paper boat out of watch paper. He demonstrated and folded one, and I copied him. I followed the steps perfectly, but the finished product was a little crooked. For some reason, the angle of the fold kept getting off, making it hard to control.
Lotus looked at the paper boat and commented, "This doesn't look like sending away the Plague God, but rather welcoming him." I wanted to refute, but staring at my unformed work, I couldn't even muster the courage to argue.
"Let me do it."
The lotus stretched out two lotus stems and manipulated them deftly. A piece of watch paper fluttered in its hands, and in the blink of an eye it turned into an exquisite boat.
"I'll understand it after reading it once." Lotus said in a calm tone, as if she was just stating a very ordinary matter.
I:"……"
What should you do if someone shows off their skills in front of you?
I remained silent and just pushed a stack of watch papers in front of it.
"Come on, come on, it's all yours, don't be polite."
The lotus stem tapped my brow lightly, and I let out a barely audible sigh. Then I resigned myself to my fate and folded the remaining paper into a paper boat.
"What's next? They can't be released one by one, right?" I tried to imagine the scene, but it didn't seem right. The Yunshui River is already filthy, and adding a bunch of paper boats would only make it worse.
Lotus said: "Glue them together and make a lotus boat."
I couldn't help but sigh: "You are really familiar with these things."
This "expert" urged me to quickly prepare the paste. When I got to the kitchen, I found my brother had already prepared it, sitting by the stove. I took the bowl back to my room. Then, following Lotus's instructions, I glued the paper boats together one by one...
The Lotus Boat is finally complete. Looking at my work, I feel a strange sense of accomplishment. To be frank, this offering is actually quite beautiful.
"Is it because of the dead fish in the river and the corpses that were salvaged?" I murmured.
"Corpse? Come to think of it, why did your brother suddenly want to fold paper boats for sacrifice?" Lianhua suddenly asked.
Then I remembered that I had not explained the whole story to it, so I sorted out my thoughts and told it about the dead fish and corpses floating in the Yunshui River in recent days.
Lotus was silent for a moment before she said, "The fish have turned over, revealing their corpses. The evil spirit of the Yunshui River is already reaching the sky. A simple sacrifice will probably be of no use. I'm afraid there are other reasons."
I glanced at the freshly made lotus boat on the table and couldn't help but agree. This small gesture might not appease the river god's wrath.
"But why? Why is the Yunshui River so filled with evil spirits? Doesn't Yunshui Town enshrine Yunshui Goddess?" Yunshui Goddess is the protector of Yunshui Town. Now that something has happened in the Yunshui River, what about Yunshui Goddess?
"Who knows?" Lotus said nonchalantly, then looked at me again, "Don't you feel anything special when you hear the name Yunshui Niangniang?"
I looked at it blankly and asked silently: What does it feel like?
Lotus sighed in resignation, "Forget it..."
I feel like it's hiding something from me, but I have no proof.
After thinking for a while, I asked it, "Are you trying to say that we knew each other before?"
It asked in return: "Isn't it similar?"
I stared at him, "How can they be similar? When I see a lotus, I only think of its lotus roots and seeds. How can I think of making friends with it?"
lotus:……
The lotus ignored me and I didn’t know how I had offended it again.
Thinking about the Yunshui River incident, I thought my brother might know something, so I decided to ask him.
As I raised my foot, Lianhua called me.
"Actually... you don't have to get involved in this." His tone was a little complicated.
I was puzzled: "I didn't say I wanted to intervene, I just wanted to know the reason."
Lotus says: "Knowledge and action are often separated by a fine line."
After thinking about it, it does make some sense. But I still need to ask my brother.
"At least, I have to understand why I'm offering sacrifices. I can't spend money and sincerity, but the purpose of the sacrifice is still unclear."
…
I went to my brother's room first, but found nothing there. Then I remembered that he had mentioned the direction of the fish pond, so I followed my memory and went there.
After walking about a mile or two, I should have seen the fish pond, but all I saw were the shadows of trees. Just as I was thinking I had taken the wrong path and was about to turn back, I heard my brother's voice.
"Ayu? How did you get here?" My brother appeared from the woods, coming out of nowhere. Although I found it strange, I didn't ask any further questions.
"I wanted to go to the fish pond to find you, but I got lost. Luckily you came." I scratched my cheek.
My brother smiled and pointed in one direction: "Our fish pond is over there. Don't get lost next time." I nodded embarrassedly and went home with him.
On the way, my brother turned his head and asked me, "Tell me, what do you want from me?"
Seeing that he looked serious, I told him all my questions about Yunshuihe.
After hearing this, my brother pondered for a moment and said, "Sacrifice is certainly not enough, but Yunshui River also has an extremely important ceremony."
My brother didn't tell me what important ceremony it was, but instead asked me:
"Ayu, do you know how this Lady Yunshui came to be?"
Um?
What is the origin of Lady Yunshui?
This question really stumped me. To be honest, I know very little about the goddess who protects Yunshui Town and the Yunshui River. I imagine ancient villages always had some niche beliefs. As a tributary of the Yellow River, it's not uncommon for the Yunshui River to have fostered river deity cults. Yunshui Niangniang, perhaps, is similar to Hebo?
I tentatively asked, "Could it be... a river spirit that has achieved enlightenment?"
Upon hearing this, my brother's lips curled up in a strange arc, and there seemed to be a bit of indiscernible malice in his smile.
"At first... yes."
Ultimately, I still couldn't get the truth about Yunshui River from my brother. But that "in the beginning, yes" was like a stone dropped into a lake of my heart, stirring up ripples. My experience reading endless novels has taught me that intrigues like these involving river gods and rituals often hinge on the "deity" itself. Furthermore, my brother confirmed that Yunshui Niangniang was indeed, in the beginning, a spirit.
What happened next?
Wait, this statement... is there more than one Goddess Yunshui?
God, please don't scare me!
After returning home and taking inventory with Lianhua, Lianhua suggested that I go to Hexian Temple to look for clues.
I refused decisively: "I know something is wrong with Goddess Yunshui. If I go to her temple now, I think I will die very quickly."
"That's not what you said before you left." Lotus said jokingly.
I retorted, "How can they be the same? An answer you can get directly from asking and the truth you can only discover by taking risks are two completely different things! Besides, the latter may not even lead to your desired outcome."
Just because I love watching horror infinite flow copies doesn’t mean I want to experience them myself!
"You make sense. Then take me with you. I will never let anything happen to you." Lotus' tone was calm and firm.
Huh? Bring it with me? How? How can I prevent anything from happening to me?
I took the lotus out of the vase and held it in my palm. "Like this?"
"What else?" Its voice sounded quite helpless.
I've noticed that Lotus' temper has calmed down quite a bit lately. Initially, it would spit fire and choke people, but now its words are much calmer. Of course, I only dare to think about this in my mind, never saying it out loud, for fear of angering it and causing it to spit fire and choke again.
The next day, I told my brother that I was going to the Hexian Temple to burn incense.
My brother's face turned pale. "Why do you suddenly want to go to Hexian Temple? You almost lost your life the last time you came back from there."
I said seriously, "That's why I'm going to fulfill my vow. I'm only alive thanks to the blessing of Goddess Yunshui."
My brother stared at me for a moment before he said, "Do you want me to go with you?"
I quickly waved my hands: "You go about your business, I'll go alone!" If my brother goes with me, how can I investigate?
The brother said, "Okay, I'll go hire a carriage for you."
"No, no! I can just walk there!" I was still scared when I remembered that the last time I came here was because of a carriage accident.
My brother probably also remembered this incident and did not insist.
I went back to my room, took the lotus, and said goodbye to my brother.
My brother saw me holding the lotus and raised his eyebrows slightly: "You're even carrying it with you when you burn incense?"
I hid the lotus in my arms and said confidently, "The lotus is a holy thing, it wards off evil!"
My brother didn't say anything, just chuckled, and then under his gaze, I turned around and left with the lotus in my arms.
"Your brother is still looking at you." Lianhua's voice came muffled from her arms.
"My only sister has to go to burn incense alone, and she almost lost her life on the way... Well, I can understand." I whispered.
Lianhua suddenly asked, "You seem... to have never doubted your brother?"
I couldn't help but be stunned. "What are you suspicious of? Do you think my brother poisoned the Yunshui River and threw bones in to fake the river god's anger?"
lotus:"……"
"Give up! My brother would never do such a thing!"
lotus:"……"
——
After passing through the small town, I finally set foot on the path to Ha Tien Temple, lotus in my arms. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows on the ground. The countryside, which should have been peaceful, seemed unusually quiet, now filled with anxiety about the Yunshui River's unusual behavior and the nervousness of entering the temple.
"Your heart is beating fast." It said muffledly in my arms.
"Nonsense," I muttered quietly. "How can you not be nervous if you go there knowing there's a tiger in the mountain? I'm just trying to satisfy your curiosity!"
"It was to satisfy your own curiosity and your brother's riddle," Lotus corrected, her tone calm. "Don't be afraid, I'm here."
Come on, who on earth instigated me to come to Hexian Temple?
Hexian Temple sits on a relatively secluded bend in the upper reaches of the Yunshui River. To get there from my home, I have to cross the small town. From a distance, it's a modest but rather ancient temple, with green tiles, white walls, and arched eaves. It's shrouded in an indescribable gloom. Dead leaves have fallen on the stone steps in front of the temple, untouched.
As we approached, the silence became even more pronounced. With such a major incident happening in Yunshui River and the town in a state of panic, it stands to reason that many people would come to the temple to pray or gather information. But at this moment, the temple was completely deserted; not even a keeper could be seen.
"I feel something is wrong." I whispered, and my steps unconsciously became lighter.
"This is a deserted temple," Lotus said simply. "This place is very strange."
Pushing open the half-open temple door, a whiff of stale incense and a faint fishy aroma hit me. The main hall was dimly lit, with only a few rays of sunlight slanting through the high window lattices, illuminating the tiny particles dancing in the air. In the center, a painted clay statue of the goddess Yunshui was enshrined.
The statue has a human body and a fish tail, a dignified and kind face, and the fish tail is lifelike, shimmering with a fine silver light. Could it be carved from silver? I wondered unconsciously.
Yet, looking at it now, those kind features, in the dim light, seemed inexplicably stiff and strange. Furthermore, the altar before the statue was bare of offerings, and the incense burner held only cold ashes. This perfectly matched Lotus' description of a deserted temple.
"Is this Goddess Yunshui?" I looked at the statue, trying to find some clues.
"Just a clay puppet." Lotus seemed to scoff in my arms. "Look at her eyes."
I followed his instructions and looked closely at the statue's eyes. The pigment in the pupils, which should have been the finishing touch, seemed to have peeled off, revealing the grayish base underneath. At first glance, they looked like two empty black spots, devoid of any spirit.
"And there's the tablet." Lianhua reminded.
Only then did I notice that there should have been a tablet dedicated to Yunshui Niangniang in front of the statue, but now this place was empty, leaving only a rectangular, dusty mark.
"Where's the tablet?" My heart tightened. The tablet is the proof that the gods accept incense and offerings, and it is the "name" of the gods in the mortal world. The disappearance of the tablet means...
A chill ran down my spine. The atmosphere inside the temple was even more oppressive than outside, dead and gloomy, as if even time had stood still.
"Lotus, let's..." I was just about to say "Let's go quickly" when suddenly, I heard a soft "creaking" sound behind me.
The temple door was pushed open completely.
The blinding sunlight suddenly poured in, stretching a figure on the ground. I turned around abruptly, my heart almost jumping out of my throat.
Nezha?!
He stood at the doorway, his backlit figure blocking most of the light. His facial expression was unclear, but his outline remained distinct. How could he be here? I hadn't seen him along the way, and Lotus hadn't noticed him either... When exactly did he catch up with me?
Nezha didn't answer. He walked in slowly. His footsteps were particularly clear in the empty and silent temple. He glanced at me, finally landing on the lotus in my arms, and said helplessly:
"Hasn't she remembered yet?"
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