Jiang Qinyu said worriedly, "We have been trapped by the heavy rain for five days, and the village's food is about to run out. I had no other choice but to think that we might be able to ask Laozi for food."
"Oh my, that's hilarious! Who do they think they are? Asking Laozi to send them grain? Our village has faced so many disasters over the years, and every time someone has come to beg Laozi to appear and save us, but has it ever worked?" the old woman mocked.
In fact, she had long been dissatisfied with the village for placing the temple here, because the temple was blocking the view in front of her house, making the rooms in front of her house very dark.
"Stop talking nonsense!" the village chief of Banpo Village shouted. "Have you all forgotten the legends passed down in our village? You must not be disrespectful to Laozi!"
The woman pursed her lips and said, "Village chief, so what if we remember the legend? No such legend has happened in the village for so many years. Don't be confused!"
Upon hearing about the legend, Jiang Qinyu immediately asked, "Village Chief Jiang, what kind of legend is it?"
“Alas,” Village Chief Jiang sighed, “Legend has it that more than two hundred years ago, there was a period of continuous torrential rain. The villagers couldn’t go out, and there was no food stored due to the drought that year. Just when everyone was in despair, the village chief at the time insisted that the people who built this temple kneel in the temple and pray for a whole night. The next day, the torrential rain still did not stop, but the village chief found a lot of food in the temple. They survived the rain disaster thanks to that food.”
Oh dear, what a coincidence! That's exactly what she was planning!
Jiang Qinyu now felt more confident, so she said seriously, "Since our predecessors have had such experience, I must pray for everyone even more!"
"What if you hadn't invited Laozi to bestow grain?" the woman asked aggressively.
Jiang Qinyu glanced at her and said, "This young lady's question is quite unreasonable. Since your village hasn't been able to get it in the past two hundred years, isn't it normal that I haven't been able to get it either?"
"Ha, then you'd better not waste your time. Our village doesn't like watching anyone perform with Laozi!" the woman retorted without any regard for the consequences.
Jiang Qinyu said calmly, "Perhaps I wasn't sincere enough in my prayers. I believe that as long as I pray sincerely, even if I don't receive food from Laozi, I can at least pray for some blessings for everyone."
Jiang Qinyu used to disbelieve in such metaphysical things, but now she has no choice but to believe them.
Moreover, she knew her own situation. She didn't know if she could get any mercy from Laozi, but she could become that god herself!
"Ah Juan, let's not waste our breath on her. If she wants to beg on her knees, let her beg. Let's hurry home! Anyway, starting today, my family will no longer give our grain to outsiders!" The old woman glared at Jiang Qinyu with dissatisfaction.
It wouldn't be so bad if she couldn't get what she wanted, but if this woman managed to get something from it, the village would be even less likely to agree to demolish the temple. Wouldn't that just cause her family trouble?
The woman and the old woman went out.
Village Chief Jiang hesitated for a moment, then stayed. "Since Madam is so sincere, I will stay and pray to Laozi with you!"
Seeing this, Liu, the clerk, was at his wit's end. He didn't want to stay, so after thinking for a moment, he said, "I'll go tell Brother Meng that I'll bring the meal over to the lady in a bit."
Clearly, he didn't believe Jiang Qinyu could actually obtain Laozi's gift of grain.
Jiang Qinyu continued kneeling on the worn-out prayer mat, her hands clasped together in devout prayer as she continued the ritual.
It was called a ceremony, but it was really just her reciting some Buddhist and Taoist scriptures that she knew.
Village Chief Jiang knelt beside her, but after a short while, someone came and called him away.
Jiang Qinyu was the only one left in the Lao Jun Temple. She opened her eyes, turned her head to look at the vast rain outside, and quickly got up and ran behind the statue.
After a few thoughts, the ground behind the statue was filled with all kinds of food and daily necessities. Everything was neatly stacked, and the height of the stack was almost higher than the statue of Laozi.
Jiang Qinyu clapped her hands in satisfaction and went back to kneeling there. However, since there was no one else around, she didn't kneel as properly. She also took out some snacks that were easy to eat one bite at a time and ate them while looking around the temple.
According to Village Chief Jiang, the temple has been built for over two hundred years. The statue of Laozi has become mottled, but you can still see what it looked like in its heyday.
The reason it looks like this now is probably because of the frequent natural disasters and man-made calamities in recent years. The villagers' lives have become increasingly difficult, and they no longer have as much reverence for the gods, which is why people don't take good care of this place anymore.
Jiang Qinyu guessed correctly. The old woman and the young woman were a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Their family was responsible for cleaning the place because it was close to the Lao Jun Temple.
Judging from their attitude just now, it's clear they really didn't take it seriously.
At this moment, the family behind Lao Jun Temple, the same family that had just been talking about, was having dinner with a torch lit.
"Mother, do you think that woman can really get Laozi's protection?" Juan always felt unsure and couldn't help but bring up the matter again.
The old woman, Lan, glared and said, "Don't you know whether we can get it or not? I think she just wants to use this to trick us into giving them, outsiders, the grain."
"What does her doing have to do with us getting food?" Juan asked, puzzled.
Lan snorted, "People of status like them always do this. Now that she's done this, she'll say they've done their best and that it's our village's gods who aren't helping them. She'll blame us for not having enough to eat. Will they use that to force us to hand over our grain?"
Juan gave a vague "Oh," and then said, "I see."
No wonder her mother told the village chief that she would never take any of their own grain out again; so that's why!
"Alright, you two shut up." The man of the house spoke up, looking at the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law with displeasure. "We can't have troublemakers in our family. We all have to listen to the village chief."
"Old man, are you stupid?" Madam Lan was furious and slammed her chopsticks on the table. "It's because of you that our family is always bullied by the village! I don't care, this time I'm not listening to you anymore!"
"you……"
"Father, Mother, please stop arguing..."
The noise from this family couldn't be heard outside in the rain, and no one knew what they were saying.
Inside the Lao Jun Temple, Jiang Qinyu refused the food offered by Meng Tianze and Liu Shuli, pushed them out, closed the door, bolted it, made a makeshift bed on the floor, lay down in her sleeping bag, and fell asleep to the sound of rain.
The next day, Jiang Qinyu was woken up by her alarm clock before dawn. She was only groggy for a moment before she remembered what she was doing. She quickly got up, tidied up the things on the ground, and then opened the gate of the Lao Jun Temple and shouted, "Everyone, come and see! Lao Jun has appeared!"
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