"Quiet, quiet..."
Secretary Xiao and the other seven council members were shouting, but no one listened.
Some people even criticized them, saying they were lackeys of the officials and didn't care about the island at all.
Everyone was indignant, feeling that they were being fooled.
Jiang Dequan was extremely anxious.
If we can't appease these people, things will likely not end well today, and we won't be able to take the cultural relics from the temple.
Secretary Xiao saw this and was anxious, but these people wouldn't give him a chance to communicate, so he was helpless and could only worry.
Suddenly, he spotted Feng Ye in the crowd, his eyes lit up, and he quickly shouted, "Ah Ye, Ah Ye, it was your idea, come over and explain to them."
His shout immediately drew everyone's attention to Feng Ye, and their eyes all turned towards him.
"who is he?"
Someone they didn't know asked the person next to them in a low voice.
"You don't know him? The huge Mazu statue in the temple was brought back from the bottom of the sea by him."
"Oh, it was him!"
"He used to be a good-for-nothing, lazy and good-for-nothing. It is said that ever since Feng Laosan bought him a small wooden boat, he has changed for the better. He goes out to sea every day and is very diligent. I heard that he has made a lot of money."
There are quite a few people whispering like this.
Most of the people at the scene were from Lujia Village, and Feng Ye was young, so it was normal that they didn't recognize him.
Feng Ye felt somewhat uncomfortable under the sudden gaze of everyone.
But he quickly adjusted his mindset, took a deep breath, and stood in front of the Mazu Temple.
"The idea of placing an advertisement in the newspaper was indeed my suggestion..."
Before he could finish speaking, someone interrupted loudly, "You're Feng Laosan's youngest son from Dongtou Village, right? How could you come up with such a terrible idea? What good will it do? Others..."
"stop."
Feng Ye quickly interrupted him, saying, "Either you listen to me until I finish speaking and don't interrupt me, and then we'll see if what I said makes sense; or you can argue with them and I'm going home now."
He only has one mouth, and he doesn't want to waste time arguing with so many mouths, otherwise he might not be able to explain himself clearly even by noon.
"Okay, go ahead."
Seeing that Feng Ye said this, everyone stopped interrupting and waited for him to continue, also curious about what reasoning he could come up with.
Feng Ye looked at everyone, took a deep breath, and began to speak slowly: "First of all, I want to tell you all that I hope more than any of you that the Mazu Temple can be expanded, or even expanded into the largest Mazu temple within a radius of a hundred miles."
"Some of you must have been to the ancestral temple. In my imagination, our Mazu temple on Baishi Island should be just as grand, attracting believers from all over to come and worship."
"But this is not something that can be done overnight. It requires money, time, and everyone's concerted efforts."
“Our current resources are limited, and we cannot come up with enough money all at once to expand the Mazu Temple. However, this does not mean that we have no way out.”
"Publicizing the news in the newspaper is a good way to let more people know that there is a Mazu temple on Baishi Island that urgently needs to be expanded and that believers need to lend a helping hand."
“People may think that the expansion of our Mazu Temple on the island has nothing to do with outsiders, and why they should donate money to us.”
"That shows your narrow-mindedness. As the guardian deity of the sea, Mazu's faith is spread all over the world, and there will always be people willing to donate money."
"Moreover, our Mazu Temple is not entirely unknown; it has some reputation in the county and town."
"On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, your Lujia Village's wharf was packed with people coming to worship, and even the fishing boats couldn't get out."
"These people are willing to travel thousands of miles to worship, and when they learn that the Mazu Temple is going to be expanded, they will definitely be happy to donate some money."
"And that's the purpose of newspaper advertising. You have to let people know that the Mazu Temple is about to be expanded, right?"
Feng Ye rattled off a long string of words until his throat was dry, but he finally finished speaking.
A brief silence fell over the room as everyone seemed to be processing Feng Ye's words.
"That makes sense!" Ah-Can suddenly shouted from the crowd.
His voice broke the silence.
“That makes sense. Mazu is our guardian deity at sea. People are willing to come and worship. If they know that the Mazu Temple is going to be expanded, they will definitely be happy to donate money.”
"Yes, yes, that's what I was thinking too. If you don't let people know you're expanding, how are they going to donate?"
"That's right. It's only through word of mouth that it can spread far and wide. But once it's advertised in the newspaper, it's a completely different story, and many more people will know about it."
"Such a great idea, we're really stupid that not a single person could figure it out."
"..."
The doubts of the crowd were dispelled, and they began to discuss it excitedly again.
But this time it's different from before; this excitement is a good thing.
Seeing this, Party Secretary Xiao quickly chimed in: "Fellow villagers, what A-Ye said makes sense. The purpose of publishing the notice in the newspaper is to let more people know that our island's Mazu Temple is going to be expanded so that more people can come to worship and so that the belief in Mazu can spread further."
Jiang Dequan finally had a chance to speak, and quickly said, "The county's donation is 5,000 yuan, and our cultural relics bureau will also donate another 1,000 yuan. Including the donation bonus, these three sums of money will be settled shortly and will be handed over to the council for safekeeping."
"That's more like it."
When everyone heard that there was a donation of real money, and a considerable amount at that, they cheered with joy.
At this point, Secretary Xiao dropped another bombshell: "In addition, to thank the believers who have donated generously, our council has discussed and decided to make some small statues of Mazu to be enshrined in the current temple."
"Once the expansion of the Mazu Temple is completed, these smaller Mazu statues can be taken back for personal worship. Of course, there will be certain requirements; we are still discussing how much donation is required to qualify."
Upon hearing this, the eyes of those who owned boats immediately lit up.
Even Feng Ye was quite surprised, not expecting that the council had also taken some initiative and come up with such a plan.
This will undoubtedly attract more people to donate.
Actually, it's not unusual to have a small statue of Mazu on a boat; many fishermen have one on their boats.
However, acquiring such a statue is not easy; it requires a stroke of luck and costs a considerable amount of money.
At that time, the local customs were still quite simple and honest, unlike in later generations when many Mazu temples turned it into a business.
Using it as a benefit to reward donors is indeed a good idea.
As long as the threshold isn't set too high, I believe that people in the surrounding areas, and even in more distant villages and towns, who own boats, would be happy to bring one back.
After all, the sea is ruthless and the risks are too high; having Mazu (the goddess of the sea) to protect people brings them peace of mind.
Feng Ye was happy to invite a statue of a deity to be enshrined on the ship, even if the requirements were a bit high.
In his past life, there was a small statue of Mazu enshrined on his boat.
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