Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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On her way back, Sun Fuyang’s wife met some neighbors, and everyone inevitably asked her where she went to fetch water. Sun Fuyang’s wife told the truth and asked everyone to touch the water. It was still a little cool when they reached back.
It had been dry these days, and they had heard that people living in the suburbs still went up to the mountains to get spring water. They couldn’t help it if they lived in the city center. Now that they knew there was a clean well in Baoyang Temple not far from here, they all became active, especially families with many people who were short of water, they immediately made an appointment to fetch water.
On the other side, Sun Fuyang also generously shared the good news with nearby shop owners. Xie Lingya was not familiar with these people, but he was familiar with them. Some people may not live nearby, but it was okay to bring some water and put it in the store to wash hands and flush the toilet with, since it was right next to you anyway.
But in less than half a day, people were passing the news to tens and hundreds, and the originally deserted place to watch the sun became quite lively.
This was the advantage of a good location. Once something good happened, the popularity would rise immediately.
There was a long row of containers next to the well, some large and some small. The owners were chatting next to them, and when their turn arrived, they went to fill the water, which was very orderly. If you are a business owner next to the temple, you could simply ask someone to keep an eye for you and shout from the door when it was your turn.
Although there were no big trees planted in this yard, the building had a large shade area, making it cool and comfortable.
There were more people, so Xie Lingya took out some stools for everyone to sit on.
“Troubling Xiao Xie.” Someone nearby knew Xie Lingya and thanked him.
Xie Lingya smiled, went to boil water again, made some tea for the waiting people, and brought up the cold water from the well. This time, everyone had a better impression of him and Baoyang Temple.
People sat or stood in the yard and drank tea if they wanted to. If they didn’t want to, they could also pour another cup of plain water. In fact, most people fetched water and took it home for washing vegetables, bathing, etc. Xie Lingya boiled the well water and handed it to them, and they made an unexpected discovery when they drank it.
Hey, this water seems… quite delicious?
Whether it was heated up to make tea or left cold to quench thirst, it was quite delicious. Especially the latter, drinking a glass of cold water in the summer was refreshing, cool and sweet, as soon as it entered the mouth and lower abdomen, the whole person felt refreshed.
They didn’t know if it was an illusion, but it was as if their thoughts that had become sticky due to the heat had been sorted out and refreshed, and they suddenly felt enlightened!
Many people may have lived here for a long time, but they had never stepped into Baoyang Temple. It wasn’t until they took this opportunity to come in to fetch water that they realized that the inside looked different from the outside. It was quaint, cold, and a little quiet in the midst of chaos.
Sitting here, drinking cold water, the heat accumulated over the past few days had dissipated a lot.
People who didn’t have the idea of boiling the well water for drinking were impressed after trying it. The taste was no worse than the bottled mineral water bought at home, and it even seemed to be better!
“Such clear well water is rare now. When we were young, we lived in rural areas and drank the well water directly.”
“Yeah, we don’t dare to do it now, we have to boil it.”
Everyone chatted happily, waiting in this atmosphere, and the time passed quickly.
….
Not every old man or lady liked the excitement of square dancing, such as Sun Fuyang’s mother.
After the Baoyang Temple Well opened, Mrs. Sun took over the task of queuing for water. Water restrictions continued, and more and more people went to Baoyang Temple to fetch water, especially vendors in the nearby vegetable market and residents who were short of water. So, now they had to wait in line for a long time.
After finishing her dinner early every day, Mrs. Sun would stroll to Baoyang Temple, put the bucket behind the queue, and then sit in the cool air with acquaintances and chat.
These middle-aged and elderly people had nothing to do anyway and usually went for a walk in the square. Now they just moved their location slightly and chatted while queuing in the Taoist temple. During this period, if you are thirsty, drink some cold water provided by the Taoist temple for free. When you are free, buy some melon seeds.
——The Taoist Temple had started to sell some melon seeds. Although there was a convenience store next to it, everyone basically chose to buy it here.
However, in just a few days, Mrs. Sun felt that she had developed a habit of walking to the Taoist temple to enjoy the cool air, chat and drink water.
“Our family now boils and drinks this water. It tastes great to me. It’s much better than buying it.”
“Haha, I was in such a hurry yesterday that I didn’t even boil it, but I just took two sips. It’s good, it’s okay!”
“It’s not good to drink raw water directly…”
….
Xie Lingya opened another large bag of melon seeds and placed them on the tray. In the past few days, the place where he read had been changed to the front yard, here he boiled water and sold snacks when he had nothing to do.
Although no one had gone in to burn incense yet, it was already a good start. At least now, because of the gathering of these people fetching water, it has become more popular. Passers-by were not unwilling to come in and take a look like before. After all, people had a herd mentality.
Xie Lingya even wanted to recruit a Taoist priest. Their Taoist temple had no reputation to begin with, and everyone was willing to visit but not burn incense, let alone be a believer. There wasn’t even a Taoist priest, just a fresh-faced college student like him. It was no wonder that no one burned incense and worshiped the gods.
However, recruiting Taoist priests was not that simple, and it was different from recruiting waiters in a hotel. In addition to paying wages, the other party must also have a Taoist certificate, if he was a regular practitioner.
When would he be able to recruit regular Taoist priests? Without further ado, he should sell a few more packets of melon seeds first…
People who didn’t know the inside story looked at this handsome young man selling melon seeds and just thought he was a permanent resident of the Taoist temple, or he was a businessman. Someone even said to him: “This place is quite nice to enjoy the shade. I see that many Taoist temples plant trees to welcome guests. Your temple mainly has these two big trees, you should plant more, the scenery will be even better.”
The yard was temporarily vacant…
After hearing this, Xie Lingya said: “Uncle, there is a well in our courtyard. The water in the well has five elements of yin. If a big tree is planted nearby, it is a bad omen. So I only planted some bamboos.”
The uncle said, “You are so young…”
Later he probably wanted to say that he was quite superstitious, but he thought that this was a Taoist temple so he stopped himself from saying that.
Xie Lingya smiled and said nothing. Although he was only half-experienced, he had seen this knowledge in a certain book of Baoyang Notes.
In Feng Shui, the location of the well was very important. If a well was well-dug, it would be beneficial to the home, and the water inside would be good water.
The well in Baoyang Temple was in the shape of Bagua, which meant that metal and water elements were in harmony, and its location was also in the direction of prosperity.
It was said that before the well was dug, the director of Baoyang Temple at that time personally measured the time of digging the well to the exact hour, which showed that he was cautious. After all, the best method of Feng Shui was used to get water.
Moreover, those people felt very refreshed after drinking it, and it was not an illusion or coincidence. Firstly, he specially selected the location when digging the well, and the water quality was indeed very good. Secondly, it should be due to the effect of Xie Lingya’s frantic chanting of the Taoist Mantra beside the well.
The Taoist Mantra was recorded in “Yunji Qizhu”, which was written during the Northern Song Dynasty and compiled by Zhang Junfang. It involved many classics. There was a hand-copied version belonging to Baoyang Temple, which was extremely old and had added annotations. Xie Lingya was looking at his notes and wanted to check the contents of other books from time to time. When he saw it while flipping through, he wanted to try it, and it really worked.
The function of this Taoist mantra was actually that when recited before eating, the food could enter the stomach, harmonize with the spirit, and also help blood circulation.
Xie Lingya had been taking notes these days, working hard on learning spells and some minor alchemy. After studying it, he realized that he could not always develop believers like He Zun did. The speed would be much slower, and he himself was not a Taoist priest. In the final analysis, he should think of ways to develop Baoyang Temple.
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