Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
Advance chapters available for patrons on Patreon. And a chapter can be sponsored by buying me a ko-fi.
The next day, Zhang Daoting asked Xie Lingya: “Boss, it seemed to have rained last night. When did you come back? Did you get wet?”
“Yes, but luckily I didn’t get sick.” Xie Lingya said, “Hey, don’t ask me what I did last night. I can’t tell you now.”
Zhang Daoting had indeed wanted to ask. When Xie Lingya said this, he became even more curious. What could two men do in the mountains that late at night?
Xie Lingya ignored him and took out the Baoyang Notes to read again. The Phytolacca God last night made him a little interested, so he looked for it and found that a previous master had also encountered the Reporter God.
It was a Reporter God raised by a certain colleague. It was carved from willow wood and peach branches. It was only two inches in size. It also had small clothes sewn on it, making it look like a child when the clothes were put on.
He usually kept it in his clothes, and it could always tell this colleague where there may be business, and who was talking bad about the colleague behind his back. Although it did not make the colleague rich, it could be regarded as a good help. The Master thus praised it in his notes as interesting.
Xie Lingya turned over a page, and behind it was a book recording on alchemy.
Zhang Daoting happened to pass by. When he saw it, he lowered his head and asked: “Boss, are you also interested in alchemy? We don’t have a furnace.”
Xie Lingya slowly raised his head and looked at him, “Can’t I use a rice cooker?”
Zhang Daoting: “…”
“Follow me. I’m kidding you, I’m just taking a look.” Xie Lingya laughed and Zhang Daoting looked at him with a hint of horror. It wasn’t that Zhang Daoting was just thinking unnecessarily, but he really thought that the boss could do anything.
After Zhang Daoting left with suspicion, Xie Lingya took a look at the elixir recipe. He was not interested in touching the entrance to Waidan[1], but there were some secret pastry recipes at the back, which he was more interested in.
Recently, because there had been many young pilgrims, or tea drinkers, they had suggested bringing in more snacks and dried fruits. Some people would also bring some food to eat from outside, usually cakes, milk tea and the like.
In fact, Xie Lingya also wanted to sell more food, but they were a Taoist temple here, and the spicy bread was easy to sell, but it always looked so unseemly when placed here.
Now that he saw a few pastry recipes, Xie Lingya sat up straight.
Taoism paid attention to health preservation, and through cultivation, taking elixirs, and other methods advocated achieving immunity from all diseases and immortality. There were some ways to supplement it through certain foods, such as the Ginseng Good Fortune Cake, Yangchun White Ice Cream, Jiugong Wangdao Cake, etc. recorded in the notes. These were both medicinal and snacks.
If sold to tea drinkers, or added to believers’ vegetarian meals, it seemed to be very stylish…
Looking for a manufacturer to customize? Manual? The latter may sell for less but was more distinctive.
Xie Lingya lost his mother when he was young, his father had been single for a long time, and his uncle was a Taoist priest. He hung out with the two of them, so he could cook by himself from a very early age. He could not be said to be very skilled, but he could use the tools, so there should be no problem if he followed the recipes.
This era did not lack characteristics. If you are different from others, you will win. At this moment, an idea flashed in his mind, and Xie Lingya immediately went to the vegetable market to buy materials.
The Ginseng Good Fortune Cake used ginseng, so he didn’t think of making it at the moment. The raw materials of Yangchun Bai Ice Cream were white poria, yam, lotus seeds, glutinous rice, etc., which were quite easy to buy.
After Xie Lingya bought the materials, he started making them. Pastries were easy to make. The raw materials were ground into powder, the rice was also broken into pieces, steamed and mixed well, then seasoned with some sugar, divided into pieces and dried in the sun.
When dividing the pastry into pieces, Xie Lingya also scratched the words “Baoyang Temple” on the pastry. Because he wanted to speed up the process, he simply dried it by the stove instead of drying it in the sun.
While he was making pastries, Zhang Daoting came to the backyard. Seeing that the kitchen door was closed, he shouted in panic: “Boss, are you cooking at this hour? What are you doing?”
Xie Lingya said angrily: “Alchemy!”
Zhang Daoting: “…”
Xie Lingya adjusted the fire and walked out and saw Zhang Daoting standing there stupidly with a water glass in his hand.
Zhang Daoting swallowed, “Boss…”
The boss took out a black pill without saying a word and handed it to him, “Should be taken with plain water.”
“Is it??” Zhang Daoting really didn’t want to believe it, but when he thought about Xie Lingya’s examples of learning talismans in ten minutes and exorcising ghosts remotely, he felt that nothing was impossible for him.
It’s so scary, he can even perform alchemy.
Zhang Daoting lifted the pill with trembling fingers and smelled it. He was shocked: “What kind of pill is this? Why does it smell so like…”
“Chocolate.” Xie Lingya said coldly, “I went to the vegetable market to buy something as a gift from the boss. Me.”
Zhang Daoting: “…”
Zhang Daoting felt aggrieved. He saw Xie Lingya’s eyes full of contempt. He wanted to say that I’m not a fool, I just trust your talent too much!
….
After the Yangchun White ice cream was baked, Xie Lingya gave it to Zhang Daoting to try. He didn’t make much, but it was in white lumps with simple words on it, but because Xie Lingya ground the ingredients finely, it looked very delicate.
“I didn’t add a lot of sugar. I tried it while drinking tea. This can be kept for a while. If possible, I can make a batch to try and sell it.” Xie Lingya said, “It is said that Yangchun White ice cream will eat up the grain in your body after eating it. Of course this is not the case. Maybe, judging from the raw materials, it should strengthen the stomach and spleen.”
Zhang Daoting took a bite, and the texture was delicate and soft, with a light sweetness and not greasy. Xie Lingya didn’t add much sugar, but the white tuckahoe itself had a natural sweetness, so it was very natural.
“Yes, it’s quite delicious.” Zhang Daoting took a sip of tea and thought it was quite good. “And it’s handmade, boss. It’s so sincere.”
“How can you not be sincere when making money? The ancestor is watching.” Xie Lingya left some for Shi Changxuan, sent one to Taisu Clinic, and put the rest on the simple altar in Shi Changxuan’s room.
The Phytolacca God had to be worshiped for who knows how long. Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan had made an agreement that whenever Shi Changxuan had classes, Xie Lingya would help him change the offerings and incense.
“You want one too.” Xie Lingya stared at the Phytolacca God. It was only about three inches long and looked like a child. It looked like a dead thing, but according to Shi Changxuan, there was a little wood spirit inside.
Xie Lingya thought about it, took a handkerchief to cover the Phytolacca God’s butt, and muttered: “Come on, since there is a spirit, let’s cover its butt…”
Although Zhang Daoting said it was okay, Xie Lingya still asked a few more people. After receiving their opinions, he made some adjustments to improve the quality within his capabilities.
During this period, Xie Lingya also searched for the price of ginseng, and then decided not to make ginseng fortune cake for the time being, he would think about it if the Yangchun White ice cream became popular.
Also, during this period, Zhang Daoting, Shi Changxuan and others also ate pastries every day… Oh, including the Phytolacca God.
After Xie Lingya adjusted the formula, he also ordered a mold. It would be too tiring if he had to handwrite the words “Baoyang Temple” on each piece. After getting ready, Xie Lingya made thirty kilograms for trial sale.
….
On the day of the trial sale, Shi Changxuan had no classes in the afternoon and came back at noon.
Xie Lingya was sitting in the front yard, holding Yangchun White ice cream in his hand and telling the tea guests a story. Shi Changxuan listened to it and didn’t know if it was made up or if it was true.
Xie Lingya raised his hand to say hello and asked if he had eaten.
Shi Changxuan nodded and signaled that he would take a nap first. He took time to do the exercises for Phytolacca God every night, and he didn’t get enough sleep recently.
“Xiao Xie, who is that young man?” An aunt asked, “I’ve seen him twice. Is he your friend? He’s not a Taoist priest, right? He’s good-looking, but he doesn’t like to talk.”
“He…he’s just shy.” Xie Lingya avoided, “Auntie, let me tell the story of Yangchun White Ice Cream.”
….
Shi Changxuan returned to the room and took the Phytolacca God off the table. In the past two days, he had been able to hear buzzing sounds at night. This should be a sign that the Phytolacca God was about to speak, and he was almost successful.
Shi Changxuan was leaning on the bed, holding the Phytolacca God in his hand. Its light yellow body was also wrapped in a small plaid handkerchief, like a robe. This was Xie Lingya’s handkerchief.
Shi Changxuan felt a little helpless when he thought of this and continued to chant the opening spell to the Phytolacca God, hoping that this little guy would activate his aura soon.
After reciting it about six or seven times, Shi Changxuan also felt sleepy. He placed the Phytolacca God on his pillow and fell into a deep sleep.
He didn’t know whether dreams came from thinking or whether the Phytolacca God was really in his dream. Shi Changxuan dreamed that the god could really talk. He also dreamed that Xie Lingya actually asked the granddaughter of a believer for clothes for her baby and brought them to the Reporting God for divine piercing.
This really seemed like something Xie Lingya could do.
Then Shi Changxuan woke up and was lost in thought with his hands on his hands.
“…Gu Gu Gu Gu…Ling…”
Shi Changxuan heard a whisper, and the Reporting God was “adjusting” himself again. He looked sideways, and this time his voice and pronunciation were better than the previous two times. It seemed to be bigger and clearer.
The little man tried his best to make a sound: “…%￥@#”
This time it seemed to be connected into a sentence. Shi Changxuan half stood up and listened to it. He didn’t know what his Phytolacca God could say.
A thin voice shouted desperately: “Xie Lingya is coming to the backyard!”
Shi Changxuan: “??”
A trace of confusion appeared on Shi Changxuan’s face.
At this time, there were indeed footsteps outside the door, and the sound of Xie Lingya yawning.
The voice was already hoarse, but unfortunately it still reached people’s ears in a thin voice: “Xie Lingya wants to fetch water!”
Shi Changxuan: “???”
Indeed, the sound of pouring water appeared again outside.
The thin voice of the Phytolacca God broke: “Xie Lingya needs to wash his face, Xie Lingya is so white——”
Shi Changxuan: “….”
Guys, ads are my only source of revenue, so please do not turn on the AdBlock when you are accessing this website…. Thank you, this would be a great help…
You can buy me a ko-fi and sponsor a chapter on: https://ko-fi.com/midnightrambles
Or become a Patron or access advance chapters on: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=45665005
If you support me, I would be able to provide more chapters….
Previous • Table of Contents • Next
[1] Waidan, translated as ‘external alchemy’ or ‘external elixir’, is the early branch of Chinese alchemy that focuses upon compounding elixirs of immortality by heating minerals, metals, and other natural substances in a luted crucible.
