Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Xie Lingya now had the Seal of the City God’s Office sent by Wang Yuji. With just one thought, he summoned a messenger from the Diyang City God’s Office and asked him to escort the pot-bellied ghost away. He also told the messenger to say hello to Zhang San.
People in Yangjian didn’t know Xie Lingya’s identity, but it had been spread throughout the City God’s Division. What’s more, Xie Lingya also had the heart seal, which proved that he had been in contact with Wang Yuji.
Because Zhang San had dealt with Xie Lingya several times and seemed to have a good relationship with him – he brought back a lot of money, so now he had a lot of face in the temple. The City God even comforted him, telling him that he didn’t have to feel uneasy about taking Xie Lingya’s money, and that it was okay.
He remembered that when Xie Lingya had wanted to recruit Yin soldiers for the first time, when the City God ordered people to go there, everyone was not very active. Now many people regretted it. Why didn’t they know how to recommend themselves?
Of course, it was not too late to have a better attitude.
Xie Lingya drank too much, but he still remembered to take care of others and asked others to check if they had any paper money on them. But who would bring paper money with them when they came out? So Xie Lingya said directly: “I’m really sorry… I’ll owe it first and I’ll burn it for you later…”
How could the messenger agree?
“No, it’s not easy for you to be on duty.” Now, unlike before, everyone went to pay homage to the city god. Xie Lingya asked for the name and wrote it down on his phone.
Everyone watched with shame as he wrote down the money he owed the ghost, and then sent the messenger away. According to the words of the Phytophthora God, Xie Lingya was really so nice when he was drunk.
It was the New Year’s Eve, ghosts had to do business, and lonely ghosts had to have a good New Year. It was time to celebrate the festival, and there were all kinds of gods and goddesses around, so it was very lively.
In less than two days, Baoyang Temple would have to prepare various matters for the New Year.
During the Chinese New Year, everyone went home, but Taoist monks and other religious figures had their busiest time, receiving believers in temples.
Due to the arrangement of Baoyang Temple, there would be a New Year’s Eve prayer meeting on New Year’s Eve this year. The Taoist temple would be open all night, an altar would be set up to thank the saints from the three realms, and to pray for peace and happiness for the believers.
Yes, other people would be watching the Spring Festival Gala at home to celebrate the New Year, and their Taoist temple would also be celebrating the New Year, but they had to do it in a different way.
From the first day of the new year to the eighth day of the first lunar month, there would be a ceremony to worship Tai Sui every day.
The fifteenth day of the first lunar month was also the Shangyuan Festival. When the heavenly officials gave blessings, it was of course more important to find ways to do so.
Regardless of the type, the fee was two hundred yuan, which was mainly used to purchase incense, lamps, flowers, fruits and other offerings needed for the ceremony, as well as inscriptions.
Most Dharma rituals involved worshiping Tai Sui, who was also the God of Tai Sui. If a person’s age was the same as Tai Sui’s year and they didn’t worship Tai Sui, it would end up offending Tai Sui. In addition, there were ways to offend Tai Sui, punish Tai Sui, harm Tai Sui, etc. It was not necessarily only people whose birth year that fell in Tai Sui’s year who needed to worship Tai Sui. Other zodiac signs were also possible.
As the saying went, if Tai Sui sits on the head, there will be disasters after disasters. It was easy for things to go wrong if you offended Tai Sui this year. For example, He Zun had Tai Sui sitting on his head last year, which was very unfortunate. Therefore, you should worship Tai Sui Xingjun to pray for peace. This year had been a year of rapid development for Baoyang Temple. After announcing that it was accepting registrations from believers, the demand for places exceeded supply.
The area of Baoyang Temple was too small, and a Dharma gathering here could only accommodate dozens or hundreds of people. Not to mention the believers and fans who simply wanted to feel the atmosphere, the photography enthusiasts who wanted to take pictures even wanted to organize a show…
There were also some wealthy businessmen who had come into contact with Baoyang Temple through Mr. Gao, Tang Qi and others. They also hoped to hold a special Dharma conference. So Xie Lingya decided to hold one every day from the first to the eighth day of the lunar month.
You could worship Tai Sui after the beginning of spring. The time for each Taoist temple to hold Dharma meetings was different, but there was a saying that the best time was on the eighth day of the lunar month, because this was the day when the stars descended to the lower world. People burnt lamps and offered sacrifices to Tai Sui on this day, and asked believers to worship Tai Sui.
You worshiped Tai Sui this year, and you had to thank Tai Sui before the beginning of spring the next year for his blessing.
The Tai Sui Dharma Assembly could be held a few more times, but there was no other way to hold the blessing puja. There was a limited number of places to participate in the blessing puja, but there was no limit to the number of people who could come to offer incense. Xie Lingya had heard from many believers that they wanted to come to catch the first incense.
It was said that offering the first incense was more effective. Some people thought that it must be the first incense. In fact, broadly speaking, as long as it was between twelve o’clock and one o’clock, it could be regarded as the first incense.
Burning incense had always been a custom in Taoist temples, but over time, many Buddhist believers also felt that it made sense. They should burn incense so that the Bodhisattvas could hear them clearly. There were also some people who deliberately spread such claims in order to make money. In fact, Buddhism did not pay attention to this, and Taoism’s discussion of burning incense was also not very exaggerated.
Tang Qi held the thought of grabbing the first incense stick, and even consulted Xie Lingya: “I will definitely burn the first incense stick. Teacher Xie, do you have high incense here?”
Xie Lingya said sweating: “You have seen it, the thickest incense we have is as thick as your little finger.”
Tang Qi thought for a moment and then asked, “Do you think it is really useful to burn high incense?”
In recent years, it had become popular to make incense thicker and larger. Xie Lingya had seen people sometimes clamor to go to the largest Taoist temple and burn the thickest incense, but when believers asked him, he still had to tell the truth.
“Let me tell you a story.” Xie Lingya said, “Once upon a time, there was a rich businessman who donated a lot of money and asked the Taoist temple to open the door in the middle of the night so that he could burn incense. The temple owner agreed. At night, the rich businessman went to burn incense, but seeing a woman praying for blessings in the temple, the wealthy businessman questioned the temple owner. The temple owner said that he did only let the wealthy businessmen in, but there was a girl who was very pious and wanted to burn incense. But her home was several days away from the Taoist temple and she had to take care of her sick mother, so she asked him what to do. He said that you should burn incense at home. So the girl started walking and burning incense around the house a few days ago, but it was just like she was in the temple.”
Xie Lingya was very eloquent as he told the story. After listening to it, Tang Qi looked thoughtful.
Nowadays, it was advocated to burn incense, but as long as you were sincere, if you really wanted to burn incense, you don’t have to go to a Taoist temple or temple. The story was also the same. After Xie Lingya finished speaking, he asked: “What do you think now?”
Tang Qi came back to his senses and said: “Oh, I think I’d better order a one-meter high fragrance.”
Xie Lingya: “…”
Tang Qi rushed to him and said, “I can’t train my soul to leave the body, so I’d better use a more conventional method. Thank you, Teacher Xie.”
It was said that Hai Guanchao and Fang Zhe were both lonely, so they would also be celebrating the New Year in Baoyang Temple. Xiao Dian and his family had had a falling out. But after some persuasion from Xie Lingya, he still went back to celebrate the New Year with trepidation. As for Shi Changxuan, he had a holiday when he was young and had to return to the provincial capital.
Before leaving, the Reporting God cried so much that he almost couldn’t send crying. He didn’t care about being shy and said to Xie Lingya: “S-send me a video call…”
Xie Lingya laughed to death and agreed.
He himself had already discussed with his father that he would only go back for a New Year’s Eve dinner and then rush back to attend the New Year’s Eve prayer ceremony.
Father Xie knew that he had passed the preliminary examination, and that the temple had recruited Taoist priests and was making great progress, so he felt more at ease in this aspect and felt that he should take more care at the beginning.
Xie Lingya went home during the day on New Year’s Eve. The house had been cleaned and looked brand new. In fact, he hadn’t lived at home for a long time. He mostly worked part-time during the winter and summer vacations in college. But Song Jing still cleaned his room. She was now about four months pregnant, and her belly was already slightly bulging.
Song Jing also knew about the recent popularity of Baoyang Temple. Although Father Xie was vague, Song Jing guessed based on the rumors that Xie Lingya probably had some special abilities.
Now Song Jing looked at her stepson with more complicated eyes, and couldn’t help but ask him: “Lingya, do you know whether I’m pregnant with a boy or a girl?”
Xie Lingya looked at her, “I don’t know, I’m not a doctor.” He felt that Song Jing wanted to know the gender of the child, so he added, “You don’t favor boys over girls, right?”
Otherwise, why would you want to know the gender of the child? She couldn’t have some idea.
“No, no,” Song Jing said sheepishly, “I just want to ask if the child is healthy. Also, do you think I need to worship any god?”
Xie Lingya felt a little helpless, “If you don’t believe it, there is no need to go. Just follow the doctor’s instructions, take supplements when necessary, and exercise when necessary. There are many people during the Chinese New Year, and the incense burns brightly. In fact, I don’t recommend you to crowd in. If you are so determined, write me your birth details and I’ll pray for you on your behalf.”
Song Jing nodded repeatedly, took some paper and wrote down her birth date.
Father Xie wanted to shake his head when he saw this scene.
While watching TV and having New Year’s Eve dinner in the evening, Xie Lingya still remembered the words of the Phytophthora God and sent a video to Shi Changxuan, who quickly picked up the video call.
“Where is my little cutie?” Xie Lingya said with a smile.
“…” Shi Changxuan knew that he was calling the Phytolacca God, but he still felt a little unnatural, so he grabbed the Phytolacca God and showed his face in front of the camera.
Phytolacca God: “Happy New Year QAQ.”
Its voice was already low, and Xie Lingya couldn’t hear it even though he was leaning against his cell phone, so Shi Changxuan had no choice but to relay it.
“Happy New Year to you too, little cutie. I wish you success soon.” After Xie Lingya finished speaking, he also put Liu Lingtong in front of him, “Let him meet you too. Have you missed it?”
Liu Lingtong said: “… “
It was embarrassed and whispered: “Happy New Year.”
Phytophthora God: “Huh.”
Xie Lingya didn’t hear the sound, so he just guessed that the two little Reporting Gods should have finished speaking and moved Liu Lingtong away.
“Is your family eating too? Let me say hello to my uncle and aunt.” Xie Lingya said that he and Shi Changxuan’s parents had never met, but Shi Changxuan’s father was in the Provincial Road Association, and Shi Changxuan lived in Baoyang Temple, so it could be regarded as a divine encounter.
When Shi Changxuan turned the camera, Xie Lingya felt extremely shocked. There were all Taoist priests in his house, and they all wore Taoist robes. It seemed that they would have to do it tonight.
Xie Lingya greeted Shi Changxuan’s parents and paid New Year’s greetings. He felt that they were very enthusiastic. Maybe his son didn’t have many friends at ordinary times…
He was right. Shi Changxuan’s parents felt particularly touched. This was the first Chinese New Year where their son and his friends had a video call, he had made such a good friend while placing orders in Baoyang Temple. And this friend was also very good, even they knew about it.
Shi Changxuan went back to his room to talk without letting his parents say a few words.
Xie Lingya also introduced Father Xie and Song Jing here, and Shi Changxuan also said hello seriously. Xie Lingya thought he was too serious, so he didn’t let him say more. The two chatted casually, and Xie Lingya said, “Hey, I’ve had some soup. See you when I’m back!”
“Okay”. He didn’t know if it was his misunderstanding, but Shi Changxuan’s tone was a bit reluctant. But he still missed Shi Changxuan. After Shi Changxuan came home for the holidays, no one took such good care of him!
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