Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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In a few days, it would be time for Quedong College to start school, and Xie Lingya happily accompanied Shi Changxuan to report.
He was a local and had studied at Quedong College for four years. He was naturally familiar with the university. Although he did not know anyone in the philosophy department, it was always possible since the reporting and fee paying procedures were similar.
On the way, Xie Lingya also met several junior students he knew. Their first question was: “Senior, I heard that you have become a monk?”
Xie Lingya: “…That’s nonsense! I just work in a Taoist temple!” He was just interning in Baoyang Temple, but he then helped Cheng Jie exorcise ghosts. Cheng Jie told them about it, he mainly talked about Shi Changxuan who he introduced as someone who wanted to study postgraduate studies in the future, but for some reason, after the news spread, it transformed and turned him into becoming a monk.
The juniors were relieved, that’s not bad, the Taoist temple also needed finance. But they didn’t know that the finances of such places generally required religious belief, or even dealing with lay people.
“I heard that your Taoist temple sells talismans, and some people in our school bought them. Is it really very effective?” The reputation of Baoyang Temple was becoming more and more popular in Qiyang City, and even the junior students had heard about it.
Not only are we selling, but I actually painted it. Xie Lingya thought to himself, “You will know if it works or not. You can try it for yourselves and get a 20% discount by saying my name.”
“Haha, that’s good.” But everyone still had a question that concerned them: who was the handsome guy Xie Lingya was accompanying.
Xie Lingya considered that Shi Changxuan was not a lively person. During the short period of time he lived in Baoyang Temple, he usually lived a very restrained life and didn’t play much on his mobile phone, so he introduced him lightly, which made the schoolgirls who wanted Shi Changxuan’s contact information a little too embarrassed to say anything.
Shi Changxuan didn’t say anything when he saw this and acquiesced.
Saying goodbye to these junior students, Xie Lingya accompanied Shi Changxuan to complete the formalities, and then visited Quedong College and gave him a brief introduction to the place before returning.
….
When Xie Lingya returned to the Taoist temple, he didn’t see Zhang Daoting in front, so he casually asked a believer who was working as a volunteer there.
After the Ghost Festival, a total of three believers became volunteers at Baoyang Temple. They would take turns to help and do some work such as reception and registration, which relieved Zhang Daoting of a lot of burden.
The volunteer replied: “Taoist Zhang took someone to the backyard, as if to help them solve their doubts.”
Solving doubts? Were they also believers? Xie Lingya felt strange. He went to the room in the backyard with Shi Changxuan and saw Zhang Daoting sitting at the table with two men. Both of them were dressed professionally, one was in his thirties and the other was slightly older.
Seeing that both Xie Lingya and Zhang Daoting were not dressed as monks, the two of them thought they were here to get Zhang Daoting to clear their doubts as well, and said, “Classmate, can you wait outside first? We haven’t finished talking to Daozhang Zhang yet.”
“No, no, you misunderstood. These are the…persons in charge of our Taoist temple, Senior Brother Xie Lingya, and Taoist Master Shi who works for us. He is a Nomad Taoist, so he doesn’t dress like a monk.” Zhang Daoting quickly explained. After a while, he felt relieved that they were finally back.
After listening, the two people looked at Zhang Daoting’s expressions and realized that Xie Lingya’s identity was very important. Nowadays, many Taoist temples in scenic spots were contracted, but that kind of boss definitely wouldn’t understand the internal affairs of the temple. Xie Lingya was different.
Zhang Daoting called Xie Lingya senior brother in front of others because Xie Lingya taught him something, but he also discussed friendship with Xie Lingya as a peer. After hearing this, the two of them felt that Xie Lingya was also an expert.
The two of them found a sofa and sat down. Xie Lingya asked casually: “Are you here to get some rituals done?”
The older man among them, about forty years old, said: “…Absolutely. We are from Yishui Mining. We want to please ask Taoist Zhang to help us with doing a Feng Shui and a ritual.”
Queshan Province was rich in minerals, especially gold and jade. Yishui Mining belonged to the provincial capital Queshan Mining Group, a state-owned enterprise, and had several mines in Qiyang. If it was this kind of company, then there was nothing strange about the channel.
Qiyang produced gold, silver, and coal, so words like gold and jade were often mentioned in their names. Moreover, most of Qiyang’s mines were located in non-urban areas or in counties under its jurisdiction.
Xie Lingya’s father worked in the county town, and he told Xie Lingya that mining areas were quite superstitious. Many mines would not let women even go in the mines, and there were many more taboos like this. There were folk magicians there who performed rituals in the mines, and the money they charged was even higher than that of formal Taoist temples like Taihe Temple.
This was still much better. In the 1960s and 1970s, all ghosts and monsters were beaten to death. This continued to influence the 1980s and 1990s. Even when people believed that superstition was wrong, at least unspeakable, they still had to burn paper secretly during the Ghost Festival. Nowadays, some people in the mines were becoming more particular about it, but the ethos was not that serious anymore.
It was okay to do a ritual. But Xie Lingya hasn’t done much research on Feng Shui. Zhang Daoting was worried about this just now. He added: “Old… senior brother, it’s like this. They have a coal mine that has been haunted recently. Because they have built new buildings, they are suspicious that there is something wrong with its Feng Shui. They heard about the Zhongyuan Dharma Assembly from a believer and hope we can go there to do a transcendental ritual and take a look at Feng Shui.”
So that’s the case, no wonder they didn’t look for people in the county to hold the ritual. The Zhongyuan Dharma Conference was extremely effective and attracted them.
Xie Lingya didn’t know much about Feng Shui. He had only been working on talismans and miscellaneous skills recently. Logically speaking, he could only take half of this job, but he knew that Shi Changxuan knew the art of Feng Shui. When He Zun’s uncle had an accident last time, Shi Changxuan showed his hand slightly.
But it stood to reason that Shi Changxuan was just here to hang out. According to the Taoist priest from Taihe Temple, he didn’t just take jobs casually. When Xie Lingya coaxed Shi Changxuan here, he said he didn’t want him to do anything.
At this moment, Xie Lingya shamelessly looked at Shi Changxuan and called him: “Daozhang Shi…”
Shi Changxuan: “…”
Shi Changxuan said to the person from Yishui Mining: “Do you have any photos?”
Photos? They realized that they were probably asking for a photo of the building, so they quickly took out a tablet and showed Shi Changxuan a short video, “This is it, Liuhe Mine. This building is newly built. At that time, no one was asked to look at Feng Shui. Now it always doesn’t feel right.”
Xie Lingya asked: “What exactly feels wrong?”
When they came over and saw the appearance of the Taoist temple, they thought it was a bit unreliable. However, when they came in and chatted with the believers here, heard some stories and saw the scene with no mosquitoes, they changed their opinion. At this time, Xie Lingya asked questions and they answered all of them.
“Xiao Liu, you are always in the mine, you can tell them.” The leading man said to the thirty-year-old man next to him.
Mr. Liu nodded and said: “Before the building was built, something happened in the mine. Fortunately, no one died. After it was built, a worker had an accident underground and passed away. Since his death, the mine has weird things happen all the time, and there was a power outage at the mine not long ago, and there were people in the office… and damn it, they fell ill directly.”
“Before that, our mine had had zero casualties for six consecutive years! That time the chain of the coal-carrying chute suddenly broke, and the worker who was repairing it accidentally fell to the coal point and died. Alas! It was so strange, and it was haunted again afterwards, so I suspected that the feng shui has changed because of the building. I wanted to ask if there was any way to remedy it. Then, also perform a ritual to redeem the souls of the dead. “
Mining had always been very dangerous. There were safety issues for workers, and the mine was dark and closed. This was why there was a bit of superstition in the mine. There had been no safety accident in Liuhe Mine for six consecutive years. After the building was built, strange things started happening in the mines, and now even the office was haunted. Even if the feng shui was not a problem, there was still a need to do rituals. Shi Changxuan also finished watching the video at this time and said: “From the video alone, the problem is that the new building is built on the central axis and a square is built to hide the wind and gather energy. The old buildings on both sides are like hugs, which actually adds a sense of balance. The mountain behind is like a tower, and there is no conflict with the building.”
“Yes, yes, someone has said before that our mine has a very good mountain topography.” Mr. Liu nodded hurriedly and said, “But we only have changes in the building.”
Shi Changxuan shook his head slightly, “I mean just from the video. Mining is digging out mountains, and the layout of the building has not been photographed, so it is not certain.”
If there was an obvious problem, he could see it from the video. But if there was a problem with details or hiding places, he could only go to the scene to check.
The leading man said: “So I want to trouble the experts to go to Liuhe Mine to help. To solve this problem, we will reimburse the carriage and accommodation, and provide a reward of 150,000 yuan afterwards.”
Shi Changxuan didn’t look very interested, but Xie Lingya was interested in the amount, and hesitant: “Does it have to be a three-day ritual?”
“There are only a few people in our Taoist temple. If they go out for three days, wouldn’t it inconvenient to have all the laymen bear the burden?
Mr. Liu said: “This… yes, it must be three days.”
Xie Lingya looked at Shi Changxuan again. In addition to time issues, this Feng Shui also required Shi Changxuan to take action.
Shi Changxuan: “I only have two days free on the weekend.”
Xie Lingya was overjoyed and said, “That’s enough. Then Daoting will stay in the temple, and I will go with Daoist Shi.”
The three people came to invite Zhang Daoting. Seeing their internal discussion to let Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan go, they agreed. Anyway, Zhang Daoting called Xie Lingya senior brother, and Shi Changxuan also showed his hand a little bit just now.
Mr. Liu asked again: “Can Daozhang Shi’s affairs be brought forward a little earlier? It would be best if it could be done on Friday.
Shi Changxuan said calmly: “No, I have class on Friday.”
Three people: “…”
Although they had convinced themselves in their hearts that being young did not mean they were incapable, it was still a bit strange to hear Shi Changxuan talk about going to class. It turned out that Taoist priests also went to school…
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