A Young Woman's Heart

"What do you mean by having a higher education level equates to higher quality?" The father was arranging the merchandise at the shop entrance. He rearranged the merchandise display almost every three months to create a sense of novelty for customers. "You brat, stop trying to make yourself look good, okay?"

"Tch, aren't I more civilized than you?"

"So you mean to say your mother has no manners?"

"No—Mom's case is an exception!"

"Come on, you've read a few books and you're already getting cocky. Also, next time, mind your own business. What if they get angry and beat you up?"

"He dares? This is a society governed by the rule of law, and what I'm saying makes perfect sense."

"Whether it makes sense or not is one thing." The father put down the basket and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Whether you get beaten up is another matter. If laws and morality alone could restrain everyone, what would be the point of having police and the army? Girls should protect themselves and not meddle in other people's business."

"Dad," Mo Xueyao said, picking a banana with dissatisfaction.

Her father glared at her: "You just picked and ate such an expensive Emperor banana like that? Are you asking for a beating?"

"Well, this has been sitting here for several days now." Mo Xueyao coughed and steered the conversation back on track. "It's because you're the kind of person who always thinks about minding your own business that nobody helps when something happens, because you 'don't want to meddle'!"

"Heh, don't try to lecture me. Let me tell you, your old man has eaten more salt than you've eaten rice. Helping others depends on the situation. It's not wrong to protect yourself. As the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility. You don't have any real ability, so don't take on any responsibility, understand?"

"I can't be bothered to talk to you." Mo Xueyao felt that she and her father had a disagreement, and she firmly believed that she was right.

"Sigh, are we going to have to do garbage sorting here too? It's going to be such a hassle."

"How is it troublesome? Isn't it a good thing?"

"Yes, it's not a hassle for others, which might be a good thing for people in this line of work, but it's not for us."

"It's okay if we go through a little trouble. If everyone does a little trouble for themselves, it will make things much easier for many others."

"Go away, go away—" the father waved his hand impatiently, "Why have you been talking so much lately? What do kids know!"

"Tch, adults always use that kind of excuse, as if adults are necessarily more knowledgeable than children. What makes them so?"

"I have more life experience than you!"

"Just because you have more than me doesn't mean you're right!" Mo Xueyao retorted sharply, not backing down an inch.

But there's no need to worry about them arguing. After all, this father and daughter often bicker like this, which is a sign of their good relationship.

In most families, whatever the father says goes, and the children dare not say a word.

Mo Xueyao simply couldn't imagine how oppressive that kind of family must be.

In her family, everyone, regardless of age, is open to debate.

Whenever her father used his life experience to intimidate her, Mo Xueyao knew she had won.

After all, he couldn't win the argument and didn't want to admit defeat, so he could only use this "grudges against petty people" approach to save face.

"Alright, alright, if you have nothing to do, go hiking. The weather is so nice today, it's perfect for hiking!" The father was already urging him to leave.

"Fine, I'll climb then. I was just about to do that anyway." Mo Xueyao glanced at him sideways and said with a smug smile, "Oh, right, Dad, give me the money!"

What are you doing?

"I'll buy some snacks on the way, hehe... um, three yuan will do."

"Alright, alright, here's five yuan, okay?" Her father took out a five-yuan bill from the drawer and stuffed it into her shirt pocket. "Don't spend it recklessly, don't eat too much, and remember to come home for dinner tonight."

"I know, I know!"

Going hiking occasionally to breathe in some fresh air is a great idea. The key is the hillside park, which is mainly a park with many amusement facilities. Mo Xueyao usually doesn't climb to the top of the mountain—she prefers to sit under the old locust tree next to the maze.

It would be best to buy some snacks as well, and sit there eating and chatting.

For her, it's a rare treat to pass the time like this; it's nice to occasionally clear her mind and find some peace and quiet.

"Wanyan, shall we go buy some melon seeds?"

"Buy the sunflower seeds from your Grandma Jin!" the father shouted. "They're cheaper there!"

“Those packaged ones don’t taste good. The ones from the roasted nuts shop are much better!” Mo Xueyao retorted. “I can just buy two yuan worth from the roasted nuts shop and I’ll have a big bag of them.”

"Oh, what kind of family background do you have? You've become so extravagant now!" the father teased. "It hasn't been long, and you've already learned to enjoy life so much!"

"If you have money, of course you should enjoy yourself!"

"Yes, yes, my dear lady, you'd better get out of here, no, you should leave now, you're talking too much, I can't stand it!"

Mo Xueyao ignored her father's teasing and left with Li Wanyan's arm around her.

……

Chapter 210 The Temple of the Goddess of the Half-Mountain

Banshan Niangniang Temple is located halfway up Banshan Mountain in Hangzhou.

Mo Xueyao always felt that this sentence was very awkward to read.

Today, she and Li Wanyan did not stop at the edge of the maze, but walked uphill for a while and arrived at the mountainside.

This temple is quite interesting. Mo Xueyao used to occasionally pass by it when she went hiking to visit her godfather. Recently, because her fruit shop opened here, she has been seeing it more and more often over the past year.

When I was a child, I would never go in when I passed by here, but now I stop at the entrance and look at the stone tablet and the plaque hanging high outside.

Although it is a temple, it does not enshrine gods or Buddhas, but rather a real historical figure.

The characters carved on the stone tablet were all in classical Chinese. Mo Xueyao looked at them for a long time and discussed them with Li Wanyan for a while before she was able to translate them into their general meaning.

First, it should be clear that the story takes place during the Southern Song Dynasty.

This "Empress" is also related to Emperor Gaozong of Song.

But she was not a concubine; she was just an ordinary peasant woman.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, Hangzhou was the capital. It is said that the Jin army crossed the river and invaded. Zhao Gou was separated from the main force due to an accident and hid in this farmhouse. The owner of the house was surnamed Ni.

To cover Zhao Gou's escape, the family's fifteen-year-old daughter, a girl surnamed Ni—whose name was not written down, but whoever did—came up a plan. She swung her rake, creating a cloud of dust, which made the small group of Jin soldiers think that the Song soldiers were coming to the rescue and dared not make any rash moves.

Zhao Gou later took this opportunity to escape, but the young girl died at the hands of Wanyan Zongbi.

Afterwards, Emperor Gaozong of Song rallied his forces, drove the Jin army back, and divided the river between himself and Wanyan Zongbi, thus bringing the matter to a close.

At that time, Zhao Gou was not yet the emperor. When he later ascended the throne, he still remembered this young girl, so he bestowed upon her the title of "Sand-Scattering Protector of the Country and Manifesting Response of the Half-Mountain Goddess", built a temple and statue for her, and had her worshipped by thousands of people in later generations.

In fact, there were many brave women like this in history, but the people they protected were not future emperors, so they did not make their mark in history.

However, too much time has passed. The original temple has been rebuilt and destroyed several times, and it was bombed in the later stages of the War of Resistance against Japan, leaving only the Niangniang Hall. By the 1950s, even the Niangniang Hall had collapsed due to years of disrepair.

It wasn't until ten years ago that Ni's descendants raised funds to rebuild the Niangniang Temple in front of the site. The temple is not very large, and the architectural style is still reminiscent of the 1970s, but fortunately it is sturdy enough.

"So Zhao Gou was such a coward, he actually abandoned everyone and ran away." Mo Xueyao curled her lips. "That's why the Southern Song Dynasty was no good. No one dared to fight from top to bottom, and its territory was the smallest among the legitimate dynasties."

“Only by preserving his life can he have a chance to take revenge. If he acts impulsively, no one else will remember that girl.” Li Wanyan defended Zhao Gou from another perspective.

"Tch... an excuse. A real man shouldn't be so cowardly!"

"According to Yao Yao, there are hardly any real men left in the world."

"Tsk..." Mo Xueyao glanced at her sideways, "Why is Wanyan always going against me today?"

"Yeah."

“Yeah! Okay, I admit we both have a point…” She scratched her ear. “Can we go in and take a look?”

"Look."

Ten years is not a long time, and the place has been cleaned up fairly well, but the incense is not burning much, making it seem a bit deserted.

On the altar in front of the statue, there were some fruits and incense sticks that had gone out halfway through burning.

The statue is not particularly large, and its proportions are similar to those of an ordinary person. It is covered with something red, which is unclear whether it is clothing or a robe.

"Shh." That's the sound of dust being swept away with a bamboo broom.

Mo Xueyao turned her head and saw an elderly woman sweeping the floor lazily, stopping occasionally to daydream.

She didn't seem to intend to greet them.

Mo Xueyao didn't disturb them, but just wandered around.

It doesn't look very big from the outside, but it feels quite spacious inside, and there are even some rooms that can be used for sleeping.

No wonder martial arts novels often depict characters with nowhere else to go, fleeing from pursuers, and escaping into abandoned temples – it turns out the facilities inside are quite complete.

It has a kitchen and a bedroom. If you ignore the statues in the main hall, it feels no different from an ordinary courtyard house.

To be honest, when she first came here, she didn't really think of it as a temple; it felt more like a farmhouse.

If this is a reconstruction modeled after the original, then it means that the original temple was deliberately built this way to commemorate the peasant background of that Miss Ni.

The events of thousands of years ago are too far removed from the present, so Mo Xueyao did not feel the weight of history, or to put it bluntly... she felt nothing at all.

"Let's go, there's nothing to see." She suddenly felt bored again, so she poked Li Wanyan's lower back from behind, urging her to leave.

"Okay, let's go." Li Wanyan nodded gently.

Since they were already there, the two decided to climb to the top of the mountain.

It's only when you haven't climbed in a long time that you feel refreshed when you reach the top of the mountain. If you come here often, all you'll feel is exhaustion.

A gray butterfly flew by, surprising Mo Xueyao: "Hey, Wanyan, there are butterflies in winter?"

"Perhaps some other varieties."

"Don't they think the winters in the south are cold enough?" she muttered, taking off her coat and letting the cold wind blow over her body. A few minutes later, she was so cold she pulled it back on. "Hiss—so cold—"

"Go down."

"Okay, let's go down the mountain! Ah, I bought the sunflower seeds for nothing today."

"You can eat it when you come down the mountain."

"That's right, let's eat quickly, let me touch it... it's still a little warm!"

These are sunflower seeds I bought on the way up the mountain. They were roasted and sold fresh. A big bag cost two yuan, but the flavor was a little bland.

However, I really don't have an appetite when climbing mountains. It's only when I'm going downhill that I can leisurely enjoy the scenery and eat as I walk.

"Wanyan, Wanyan, look, look! If Yinyin were to come down the mountain, this is definitely how it would look, right?" Mo Xueyao patted Li Wanyan's shoulder, and once she noticed her, she skipped and hopped down the steps.

“That’s Lele,” Li Wanyan couldn’t help but laugh.