From the Carp that Brings Children to the Celestial Officials

Chapter 175 This literary gathering must be held!
On this day, as dawn broke.

From the hour of Chen (7-9 AM), gongs were struck repeatedly and incense smoke rose everywhere in the streets of Changning County.

The people came out of their houses and gathered on the street, unaware of what had happened.

But generally speaking, such a lively atmosphere is a good thing.

At the entrance of the county government office, the county magistrate personally supervised the ceremony, with local gentry carrying their tables in attendance. Then, a procession of "Imperial Decree Sending Off the Gods" filed out of the county government office and proceeded toward the City God Temple.

The procession was led by drums and followed by a band playing celebratory tunes, a spectacle unseen for years.

At the center of the ceremonial procession, a gilded plaque is held high, with six large vermilion characters written on it.

Following behind was a colorful palanquin, upon which rested a golden and jade tablet and a newly carved statue of a deity. The deity was draped in a robe of rosy clouds, holding a moon-light mirror, and every eyebrow and eye was sculpted with extreme gentleness, yet also with dignified majesty.

"Who is this? What is written on that plaque?"

Most of the people were illiterate, but they were excited by the spectacle and shouted out their questions.

"What is it... Zhaoyue... Madam Siyuan..."

"What does it mean?"

Someone read the words on the plaque aloud, but others still didn't quite understand them, as the characters were still a bit too profound for most people.

"She seems to be the goddess in charge of bestowing children."

Among the crowd were some highly learned individuals who deduced the approximate position of the deity from these few words.

"Shouldn't it be Bixia Niangniang? When did she change her name?"

In Changning County, when it comes to granting children, no other deity is effective; only the Bixia Goddess of Yuanling Mountain is the most efficacious.

But that Lady Bixia is strange; she seems to only bless the area around Yuanling Mountain. Don't you see, in the villages near Yuanling Mountain, several babies are born every month, and those babies are all chubby and fair-skinned, making many families extremely envious.

These days, nothing beats having a healthy, chubby baby boy.

"It's not that the name was changed, no, it is that the name was changed."

"What nonsense are you spouting, you old fogey? Did you change your name or not?"

"Yes, the name has been changed, but it wasn't Lady Bixia who changed her name. It was the Lady Sitai in our city who changed her name. I suppose she got a promotion, so she changed her name."

The crowd was noisy, and everyone was talking about it.

Many people are unfamiliar with the title "Lady Sitai," and only those living nearby or some elderly people have heard of it.

The main problem is that this deity has a very low profile, and almost no one goes to her temple to burn incense.

Often, people go directly to the City God Temple to pray for children, since they all know that the City God is in charge of everything in the city, and they tell the City God everything.

Later, Yuanling Mountain became even more efficacious, and people seeking children turned to You Ming.

The procession, with its music and fanfare, arrived at the entrance of the City God Temple in the blink of an eye.

People gathered around to watch, and pilgrims flocked to the area.

The temple keeper hurriedly knelt to welcome them, setting up three incense tables and offering the plaque, the statue of the deity, and the imperial edict in order.

The accompanying officials chanted the etiquette:

"The deity who manifests power governs the netherworld and senses life; the spirit who accumulates wishes governs prenatal dreams and protects the soul of the newborn. Now there is the Lady of Pregnancy, whose incense offerings are widely received and whose dreams are clearly manifest. Now she is hereby bestowed the title of Lady of Pregnancy."

"By imperial decree, our county has specially established a side hall to commemorate the flourishing of the temple's incense offerings and to erect a statue in order to demonstrate the grace of Heaven!"

After the announcement, the bronze drum sounded three times, and the paper talisman of the Heavenly Official rose into the sky and burned out, accompanied by loud fireworks.

Only then did everyone realize that the Lady of the Fetal Department had indeed been promoted, but the promotion was quite peculiar. How could someone who was previously unknown suddenly be promoted?

But they couldn't ask about the affairs of the gods; they just kowtowed and worshipped.

Some people looked in the direction of Yuanling Mountain with puzzlement. If this lady is in charge of granting children in the future, will Yuanling Mountain still be effective?
Because Yuanling Mountain was not far from Changning County to begin with, after its sudden increase in height, it can now be seen with just a glance.

Viewed from a distance of ten or twenty miles, the entire mountain has gentle lines, like a jade peak lying in the distance. It is soft but not weak, and the mountain is not dangerous, but it inspires awe. The three layers of flowing clouds around the mountain reflect rays of light, which is dreamlike and makes it hard to look away.

In fact, many ordinary people dare not say it out loud; no matter how you look at it, Yuanling Mountain is clearly superior.

So what was Yuanling Mountain doing at this time?

……

"Hang them all up properly, make sure nothing is missed."

As the Shangsi Festival approaches, the air on Yuanling Mountain is filled with the fragrance of flowers and the vibrant colors of blossoms. The entire sacred mountain is quietly donning its festive attire.

Wu Mo was leading a group of gods and spirits, decorating the temple.

In the rear hall of the main temple of Lingshan, one after another, lithe figures quietly swept past the eaves.

The ladies in magpie robes lightly touched the floor tiles with their toes and leaped onto the roof like birds. With a stretch of their arms, colorful festive ribbons cascaded down from their sleeves, as if drawing rays of rosy light from the sky.

The porcelain-faced spirit maidens stood in neat rows, their expressions gentle yet not stiff. They wiped the altar, arranged the incense burners, and replaced the offerings, silently transforming the temple's interior.

At the top of the main hall's roof, the hanging origami cranes transformed into misty crane maidens, carrying various flowers from the mountains to decorate every part of the temple...

You Ming stood in front of the steps, looking up at everything.

Even though he lived in Yuanling Mountain every day, he still found the beautiful scenery there to be breathtaking.

Unfortunately, although there are immortals and white dragons in the mountains, they are not well-known throughout the world.

Those famous mountains and rivers, regardless of their scenery, have all been praised in poems and depicted in paintings by literati throughout history. If one or two of their poems are ever-famous and spread throughout the world, that is even more remarkable.

In modern terms, this is called: deepening the development of spiritual civilization and empowering regional development with culture...

cough cough.

Previously, Yuanling Mountain was just a small, low mountain. If someone were to praise it, You Ming himself would blush with embarrassment.

But now, Yuanling Mountain has both beautiful scenery and delicious products; it's time to strengthen its cultural attributes.

"Wu Mo, how's everything going?"

You Ming summoned the busy Wu Mo and asked directly.

"My lord, speaking of this matter, I happen to have something to report to you."

"As you instructed, I ordered people in the prefectural city to promote the scenery of our Yuanling Mountain. But by chance, I ran into a classmate from back then..."

"Back then, my classmate and I both passed the imperial examination and became scholars. Later, my classmate died in a fire, while my classmate failed the examination repeatedly because of his overly strong personality. However, he was quite famous for his talent in Bingzhou."

"The little god missed his old friend, so he appeared in his dream and chatted with him. Unexpectedly, after hearing about the scenery of Yuanling Mountain, my classmate planned to invite many literary friends to hold a literary gathering there..."

Wu Mo explained the matter in detail.

Upon hearing this, You Ming was first taken aback, then overjoyed.

I always thought Wu Mo was a talented person; he could handle anything I asked him to do perfectly.

Good, good! This literary gathering must be held.

(End of this chapter)