Song Tan's Notes

Master Qingyun glanced at the young Taoist's lips and fell silent for a moment.

But soon, smelling the fresh aroma of fruits and melons in the air, and the steaming green tea beside him, his expression became unfocused again.

Then he opened his eyes, his gaze sharp as lightning, and his movements were as swift as lightning.

The small plastic fork swished and pierced directly into a bright red watermelon.

The watermelon went into my mouth.

"Well!"

The enlightened master once again disregarded his image and stood up, his eyes fixed intently on Song Tan. Then he covered his mouth and mumbled incoherently:
"My dear believer, when are we setting off?"

"I'll just... chew, chew, chew... and then I'll have time."

The young Taoist priest, his mouth still drooling, immediately panicked upon hearing this:

"Master, don't forget that tomorrow is the first day of the lunar calendar!"

On the first day of the lunar month, many devout believers came to their Taoist temple. What were they going to do if they couldn't see their master?
"Oh dear." Master Qingyun picked up another piece of melon to savor its different flavors and aromas, while also instructing the young Taoist:
"For those who cultivate the Tao, tranquility and inaction are the best practices. The first and fifteenth of the lunar month are all part of cultivation."

The young Taoist priest had a very resentful look in his eyes.

Their salaries and bonuses, the repairs and maintenance of the Taoist temple, the construction of new statues and such—how can they possibly be quiet and inactive?

Although the association does allocate funds, it's always asking higher-ups for help; nothing beats the sincere dedication of the devout believers.

But there was nothing they could do; Master Qingyun was the most famous figure in their Taoist temple, so the young Taoist could only shut his mouth in grievance.

Song Tan knew it would go smoothly, but she didn't expect it to go too smoothly, so much so that she really couldn't grasp the exact time.

However, since submitting revised design drawings also requires time for review, it's better to do this sooner rather than later.

Therefore, she replied, "Anytime is fine."

If that's the case, then what are we waiting for?
The Taoist priest looked at the tea leaves, then at the watermelon, fearing that his ethereal and otherworldly demeanor would be diminished by the cycle of grains, so he reluctantly switched to a cucumber.

In short, the more you eat, the brighter your eyes become.

"So, believer, have you bought the tickets?"

Song Tan hadn't even taken out her phone yet.

In the end, Lu Chuan entered the ID card information and handed it back before saying:

"Master, our hometown is remote. If we set off now and then travel around, it will probably be night by the time we arrive."

Those who cultivate the Tao have seen all the famous mountains and rivers; they are indifferent to these trivial external things.

"It's the rainy season, so we can't enjoy any scenery at night, which also affects our preparations for cooking lamb and slaughtering chicken."

For those who cultivate the Tao, the desires of food and drink are not important, but killing chickens and ducks in the middle of the night is indeed inappropriate.
"Why don't we wait until the master finishes presiding over the Dharma assembly on the first day of the lunar month before we set off? He can also tell us to call and have everything at home ready."

Without hesitation, Master Qingyun nodded quickly.

The young Taoist priest immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Lu Chuan pretended not to see and asked again:
"Thank you for your trust, Daoist Master. Our place is indeed a beautiful place with clear waters and beautiful mountains. Would you like to pack a couple more sets of clothes and stay for a while? We will cover your food and lodging, just like the local specialties we brought."

Little Taoist Priest:
Master Qingyun pondered for a moment:

If the fruits and vegetables are of this quality, then the land must be quite remarkable! So it's only natural for me to linger and meditate for a few more days.

Since that's the case, we can spend the first day of the lunar month at the Taoist temple, which will help delay the rest of the time.

“Alright, then please stay at our Taoist temple for a day and participate in our morning prayers.”

“On the first and fifteenth of each month, we have different rituals, which are very lively.”

Song Tan asked curiously, "Do you live in a Taoist temple?"

Looking around this ancient hall, one can see traces of subsequent renovations and additions, and it is indeed quite old.

Master Qingyun smiled slightly and said, "It's a hotel operated by our own Taoist temple."

Song Tan: ...If you don't go out and see for yourself, you won't realize how behind you are!
As they spoke, Lu Chuan had already placed the gift box he was carrying neatly on the table, politely pushed it forward, and then stood up again.

"We went straight to the Taoist temple after getting off the high-speed train, and now we'd like to go to the hotel to rest for a bit..."

They were exceptionally considerate in their actions, managing to persuade Master Qingyun to stay an extra day. The young Taoist quickly arranged a hotel for them and made an additional phone call to give them further instructions.

Meanwhile, as soon as they left, Master Qingyun picked up his plate and started munching away, determined to test his stomach by eating two more slices of watermelon. He then grimaced and took a small sip of piping hot tea before realizing what was happening:

"Was the beef they delivered also of this quality?"

"I do not know."

The young Taoist priest looked blankly. "It's already noon, there's definitely no time to cook that meat, so the chefs just put it in the refrigerator and plan to clean it up tonight."

As for beef, they can't eat it, so why would they know how it tastes?

"oops!"

Master Qingyun slapped his thigh in frustration, and his wide sleeves fluttered down in the air like butterflies. Putting aside his expression and words, he truly exuded an air of otherworldly grace.

"If it's all this delicious, why did they only send one box? Quick, tell the kitchen again that when we make meat soup tomorrow, we must chop the beef into small pieces and make two extra pots so that we can share some with our devotees."

As for the rest...

Master Qingyun hesitated, looking at the plate and then at the tea, before finally speaking:
"Such good ingredients won't stay fresh for long, so let's cook something special tonight! Let's have a good meal together."

He paused, then added, "Make room for those who aren't scheduled for work today or are on leave."

The little Taoist priest exclaimed happily, "Alright!"

But if you look closely, it's actually not that much.

Their Taoist temple has seventy or eighty Taoist priests and eighty or ninety support staff, such as ticketing and security personnel.

There are nearly 200 people in total.

There was only one large pork leg, one lamb leg, some fish, and a small amount of vegetables, just enough for a single stir-fry.

Considering the amount of meat, it's only about a small bite per person.

Therefore, he eagerly hoped that the head chef in the kitchen would add plenty of soybeans when stewing the pork leg today. Soaking the soybeans and absorbing the rich broth would make it the perfect accompaniment to rice.

Even if he has to take a day off tomorrow to fart, he can still eat two more bowls of rice!

Master Qingyun, having just finished drinking water and with his tea still warm, slowly opened the exquisite gift box.

He actually had quite a few of these things, but since everyone thought he was a sage and otherworldly figure, giving him money directly would be too blunt. So, they would either hand over a card along with some gifts, or present him with this jade or that piece of jade, just to show their attitude first.

Oh dear! Jade is something that's very difficult to sell.

It's unnecessary. Compared to local specialties like vegetables and tea fruits, this is actually not at all—

That's nothing compared to this!

How could this be?!
He held up the apple-green lotus pendant, about the size of a small egg. He'd heard it was a gift for the Taoist priest. The pendant had holes at both ends; a string could be threaded through it, so it could be worn around the neck or hung from the hem of one's robe. But that didn't matter!
The important thing is that this lotus pendant, which is not a solid white with apple green accents, seems to have a slowly surging energy within it.

But upon closer inspection, it turned out to be an illusion.

Although he had cultivated Taoism for many years without achieving anything remarkable, he could clearly sense that something was different!

Damn!

This made Master Qingyun feel embarrassed:

Their rural farm is so low-key, it's clear they're very sincere in inviting me, Old Dao!

While happily calling him "little Taoist priest":
"Is the jewelry store closed yet? I remember their office worker there knows how to braid ropes, right? Look at my jade pendant, oh dear! I need to go pick out a good rope and a nice tassel!"

Master Qingyun was overjoyed. He clasped his hands together and held the lotus pendant tightly, as if afraid it might fly away accidentally.

After thinking for a moment, he turned back and put the treasured item in the box, tucked the box into his clothes, and then held the fruit plate in one hand and the teacup in the other.

The teacup is a thermos-style cup for seniors.

Seeing this, the young Taoist priest hurriedly stopped him:

"Master! Although it's almost noon, there are still quite a few people at our temple!"

Our ethereal and otherworldly appearance is not easy to maintain, and it requires careful upkeep. We can't just carelessly destroy it like this!

Meanwhile, Song Tan and his companion had arrived at the hotel next to the Taoist temple.

The hotel under the Taoist temple was neither too big nor too small. When Song Tan went upstairs, he glanced at the room rates and they were considered moderate. It seemed that although the hotel was also a source of wealth, it wasn't done in such an obvious way.

Considering Master Qingyun's personality, she said to Lu Chuan, "This master's personality is indeed simple and honest, I quite like him."

He paused, then added, "Which day should we buy tickets for? You're not used to staying here, are you? Do you want to go back to your place?"

Lu Chuan thought for a moment: "That place isn't on the way, and it would take another one or two hours to get there by subway."

Driving is out of the question; it's already rush hour.

Besides, tomorrow is the first day of the lunar month, isn't it? Judging from the Taoist priest's impatient look, he probably wouldn't object to buying a train ticket for tomorrow afternoon.

Living in the capital is indeed not easy! Just one or two hours' journey is enough for them to make a round trip from Yuncheng.

Haha, traffic jam.

But there's something she needs to remind her family about.

After washing up and settling in, Song Tan first called Wulan.

"How was it? How was it?"

The elderly mother was very concerned, asking, "Did the master like those local specialties we sent? Has everything been settled? When can we invite the master back?"

"And you're still talking!" Song Tan frowned. "The masters and the others are very particular about what they eat; they don't touch beef at all. Mom, you brought this to the kitchen without saying a word and almost offended them."

"what?"

Taoist priests don't eat beef?!

How could Ulan know that?

She said regretfully, "I should have searched on Douyin more times. What they said is still wrong. I'm going to remove the like."

Finally, she whispered again, "What can we do? Is there any way to fix it?"

I've heard that capable people often have bad tempers and particularly dislike being treated with disrespect.

Sigh! Sigh!
But then again, it's not easy for people in the countryside to earn money. If it's really a matter of millions, then it's still not feasible.

Song Tan met her gaze seriously, which made Wu Lan even more annoyed. After a while, she relaxed and smiled again.
"Alright! We prepared a gift in advance, and it was quite expensive. The master doesn't care about money, but we showed our sincerity. The gift was farm-grown vegetables, fruits, and poultry. Although they don't eat them, they still agreed to accept it."

"We're leaving tomorrow afternoon. Mom, you can prepare everything else as usual, except for the black carp and beef."

The elderly are like children; if you don't teach them a lesson they'll never learn.

This is a minor matter now and hasn't caused any major impact. But if something serious happens next time, and it happens to be someone who pays special attention to this kind of thing, that would be truly a bad thing.

Putting everything else aside, it wouldn't be a problem for them to make a list of their belongings during the few hours they spend on the high-speed train, right?

They were secretive and unwilling to talk about it, only saying things like "it's all real stuff."

Not only did Song Tan remember this, he also instructed: "Some Taoist priests do not eat any meat at all, and they don't even eat the five pungent vegetables like onions and garlic."

Well, the Song couple really remembered that.

As soon as they hung up the phone, the couple felt a sudden sense of desolation, as if they had been abandoned by the times.

"No wonder we've never made any money farming all our lives. You see, it's because we didn't study enough. We can't do things or think as well as our daughter."

Song Sancheng was also quite frustrated, but said, "That's our daughter. Tan Tan is so amazing now, all thanks to the two of us who gritted our teeth and encouraged her to go to school."

Thinking about it that way, it's true. The couple felt more comfortable and then said:
"Next year during Qingming Festival, let's buy some good paper money, and also more US dollars and euros, the real and high-quality kind, so that our ancestors can go abroad and see the world. If the elders have a broader perspective, they will make fewer mistakes, and their children will have a smoother path."

Given Song Tan's laziness, she had no patience to watch the rituals that started early in the morning at the Taoist temple.

But summer days are long and nights are short, and the two whiled away the hours in the hotel until seven or eight o'clock before it was all over.

Looking at the Taoist temple now, it's quite different from how it was sparsely populated and deserted yesterday at noon.

All that could be seen was a scene of swirling incense smoke and bustling noise. Men, women, old and young, all sorts of people were there. When the wind blew, the smell of incense wafted over. The incense burner next to it was already full of ash, and a young Taoist priest hurriedly came with a bucket to clean it.

Then a chattering group of people emerged from the nested courtyards, praising the scenery as they went:
"What a pity, why can't one person eat two bowls of that beef soup? It felt like I was eating a ginseng fruit, it was gone before I even got to taste it."

"I'm different; I savored it carefully."

"Master Qingyun said it was a gift from a devout believer, but the person doesn't practice Taoism and doesn't understand Taoist taboos. However, he couldn't let such a kind gesture go to waste, so he cooked it for us."

"Oh, I'm so ashamed. I only spent 10 yuan on the entrance fee, and they even gave me a stick of incense. I also ate such a delicious bowl of beef soup."

Although the amount of beef used in beef soup is not large due to its characteristics, the taste is absolutely amazing!

It's obvious that someone capable of delivering such a specialty product to Master Qingyun must be no ordinary person; they might be some extremely famous private supplier or an organic farm or something similar.

Just look at how expensive any organic or green ingredient is now; it's something they can never afford, which is why they've never tasted this flavor elsewhere.

Sigh, just talking about it makes me hungry again.

As they were talking, another group of men and women poured out.

They also said regretfully, "I was thinking of donating some money or incense so I could have another bowl. It was so delicious!"

To everyone's surprise, the Taoist priest said that it was free; the beef soup was a gift from a believer, and they wanted to share this goodwill, so the amount donated depended on the believer's generosity. However, only one bowl of beef soup could be distributed; those who arrived late received none.

"Stop talking. I saw a man with a bodyguard by his side. He looked like he was very wealthy. After finishing his beef soup, he just stood there, and when he tried to talk to the Taoist priest, the priest just shook his head. Taoist Qingyun is indeed a highly accomplished master; he has principles."

But after a pause, a few people in the conversation were still unwilling to give up:

"You said one more bowl wouldn't do, then let me ask where the ingredients were bought from, can I go buy them myself?" (End of Chapter)