Chapter 33: Boldly Questioning the Deity

Chapter 33: Boldly Questioning the Deity

“Daoist priest, what were you saying to that person just now?”

“He stole my money.”

“Hmm? Ah?” The little girl immediately stopped in her tracks, not walking any further.

Judging by her expression, she seemed to be thinking of going to snatch the money back.

“I already got the money back from him.”

“Bite him to death.”

“Humans can't do that.”

“Beat him to death.”

“It's not about biting or beating to death.” Song You patted her head. Given her height, he could reach her head easily which was quite convenient. “The punishment should fit the crime. You can't just beat someone to death because they stole some money from you. That's not in line with human standards.”

“Oh.” The girl nodded, looking thoughtful.

Just as Song You thought she had understood something or perhaps gained some insight, she extended her hand towards him and asked. “Do you want to eat a pill of immortality?”

“What?”

“A pill of immortality.”

Song You was puzzled. He looked down...

A tiny little hand that was extremely beautiful held a small pill in the center of its soft fair-skinned palm which was very, very small.

The little girl looked up at him with her fair and clear face, her expression serious.

“What is this?”

“A pill of immortality!”

The girl seemed deeply convinced about this.

“Where did it come from?”

“I found it.”

“Where did you find it?”

“In my nose.”

Song You was momentarily speechless.

The little girl continued to press. “Are you eating it or not?”

“I’m not eating it.”

“Why not?”

“Don't look for this kind of pill of immortality in the future.”

“If you don't eat it, I will!”

“Smack...”

“Hey! Why did you knock away my pill of immortality?”

“Don't eat that again.”

A large figure and a small figure walked further and further away.

After searching around, they finally found the mule and horse market.

As the name suggests, this place mainly traded mules, horses, and donkeys.

As soon as they entered, there was a strong smell of dung.

It read:

“You seek fame and profit, he wants to know his fortune, pity me that I am totally heartless, how could I offer any advice?”

“The hall holds clouds of smoke and is lined with bells and cauldrons. It is laughable that people worship this clay and wood, wasting much money for nothing.”[3]

According to Constable Luo, the previous couplets didn’t used to be these. One day, the Yuewang deity had appeared in a dream and only then were they changed to the present ones. From this perspective, perhaps the deity really was from Yizhou. At the very least, this unconstrained spirit of not caring about anything was something commonly seen in people from Yizhou.

A large figure and a small figure stepped into the temple.

Inside was a deity with a tough and stocky build wearing a multi-colored divine robe. He looked righteous and sat majestically on the altar, glaring at every person who walked in.

As soon as Lady Calico stepped in, the deity's eyes flashed. She was so startled that her whole body trembled. She quickly stopped and looked at Song You, her little face looking somewhat helpless.

Fortunately, the flash had disappeared in the twinkling of an eye, and not many had seen it.

“The deity is indeed here.” Song You patted Lady Calico's head, stepped forward to pay respects, and then offered incense.

Offering incense whenever he came across a temple was his habit since there was nothing else to do anyway. It wasn’t that he had much reverence for the deities in the temples. His master often said that he was irreverent towards deities based on his exceptional innate talent and Daoist skills. Maybe so, but she also often said true ancient Daoist cultivators should view deities differently. Thus Song You wasn't disrespectful, he just respected them in a different way from ordinary people.

The incense smoke rose in spirals, and the candle flames flickered.

After offering incense, Song You turned and was about to leave when he paused suddenly and looked at the deity statue in front of him. After a moment of thought, he said, “Since the deity is here, have you seen any thieves stealing outside?”

The deity's eyes flashed again.

“I apologize for my audacity.” Song You strode out of the door, feeling endless joy in his heart.

This was the happiest thing he had done recently.

With each step away from the temple, the sky grew darker.

The temple fair was no less lively at night than during the day. There were many gifted scholars and beautiful ladies out to have fun carrying lanterns, and wandering down the lantern riddles[4] corridor. Beautiful ladies stole glances at scholars, and scholars at beautiful ladies. If fate favored them, it would be a beautiful love story like that of Yi’an Jushi.[5].

Song You only lingered around the night market snacks.

A few skewers of grilled meat, a bowl of water basin mutton[6], and a fire persimmon[7] with a molten center. They were northern delicacies that were normally hard to find and tasted as good as anything from later eras. That was that night's dinner.

Song You enjoyed this feeling.

He liked feeling that it was not inferior compared with later eras.

“Herbal remedies, effective indeed!”

“Thin people can gain weight after eating it! When urinating, pee can shoot eight zhang high!”

“How do you take it, you ask? Soak in wine if you have it, soak in urine if you don't, chew it dry if you lack both, it's still effective!”[8]

A fascinated crowd gathered around him.

Song You smiled again.

This person actually hadn’t stopped work for the day.

1. This was a way for ancient Chinese to haggle secretly and silently through touching each other’s hands while concealing them in long clothing sleeves. ☜

2. In Chinese, mules can refer to both hinnies and the offspring of male donkeys and female horses which has been translated as “horse mule” (i.e. “mule” in English) here. ☜

3. This is an actual couplet from Lingguan Temple, Mount Emei in Sichuan, China. ☜

4. Riddles written on lanterns displayed during Chinese festivals. ☜

5. Art name of Li Qingzhao, a famous Song dynasty female poet who had a happy marriage with a husband who shared her interests. ☜

6. Famous traditional mutton soup dish from Shaanxi province. Refer to /water-basin-mutton-shuipen-yangrou/ ☜

7. Type of seedless reddish-orange persimmon grown in Shaanxi province. ☜

8. Historically, there have been practices in Ancient China where herbal medicines were sometimes combined with urine. This practice was based on traditional beliefs about the medicinal properties of urine, which were thought to enhance the effectiveness of certain herbal remedies. However, it is important to note that this was a specific cultural and historical practice and is not widely recommended or practiced in modern times. ☜