Chapter 219: Chen Family Head: Bring The Talisman!
After glancing through the comments teasing him, Chen Han put down his mobile phone and looked again at the AQI value on the air detector.
It had already dropped below
This figure could impact the top five among current human activity areas.
He just did not know what level it would ultimately reach.
Thinking of this, he took out a primary spirit stone and began cultivation.
With cultivation over this period, after consuming two more primary spirit stones, he should be almost able to open the fifth of the eight extraordinary meridians.
Fortunately, the game system had previously dropped a few spirit stones.
Online, the video that everyone thought Chen Han had made just to brush things off was becoming more and more popular over time, and more and more people were watching it.
In a hotel room, Chu Hao, wrapped in a bath towel, also watched this video of the Chen Family Head, and thought that this time the Matchmaker God Statue Consecration Ceremony held by the Chen Clan would be extremely lively.
There should be many couples attending, but he did not know how many of them would end up breaking up.
He subconsciously glanced toward the bathroom; the graceful silhouette of Lin Wanwan was still faintly visible through the frosted bathroom partition.
Thinking of his fiancée’s enticing body, his emotions stirred inexplicably.
This was a high-stakes gamble…
At this moment Lin Wanwan came out of the bathroom wrapped in a bath towel, and he said, “The Matchmaker God Statue Consecration Ceremony at the Chen Clan is the day after tomorrow. I have already booked the tickets.”
“Mm!” Lin Wanwan nodded, walked up to him, and untied the bath towel on her body. “Let’s get the serious matter done first!”
…
Time passed.
The next day soon arrived, and news about the Matchmaker God Statue Consecration Ceremony of the Chen Clan was also at peak popularity online, with many people discussing it.
Many people wanted to go with their other half to the Chen Clan to see the situation.
Unfortunately, by midday today, tickets at the Chen Clan side could not be bought at all. This was even after the Chen Clan had increased the tickets twice. The initial 1,500 tickets had sold out in a very short time.
Afterward, in response to netizens’ calls, another 500 tickets were added, but still not enough. In the end, another 2,000 tickets were added, for a total of 4,000 tickets sold.
Of course, this was only the tickets, not including the sea of flowers, the Qionghua Tree Forest, or meal packages. It only granted the right to participate in the Matchmaker God Statue Consecration Ceremony.
In other words, people could only enter the Chen Clan; food, drink, and accommodation were all at their own expense, and they could not view other projects.
Yet even so, these tickets were instantly sold out, and they were all in pairs, obviously for couples.
For these people, visiting the projects was not the most important thing; receiving the blessing of the Matchmaker God was. They all believed that with the Matchmaker God’s blessing, their feelings would be harmonious and lasting, together until old age.
Even many couples who did not really believe in such things did not mind joining in the excitement to seek good fortune.
Chen Han’s purpose was simpler: it was for the task involving fifty flawless couples.
On the Chen Clan’s side, Chen Lin had already led the people from the work hall to almost finish setting up the scene at the martial arts field.
Because the side hall of the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall was very small, the consecration ceremony could not possibly accommodate so many tourists to watch. So they could only choose the martial arts field, and afterward they would move the Matchmaker God back to the Marriage Hall.
Since the martial arts field already had the 《Ancient Quiet Heart Art》 daily chanting area set up, this time’s stage construction had to avoid clashing with the chanting space.
However, this was only a temporarily constructed consecration ceremony site and would be dismantled afterward, so there was no need to pay too much attention to many details.
But they still had to set up cordons and distinguish areas to prevent overcrowding and stampedes.
Chen Han was in the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall drawing the talismans needed for the consecration ceremony.
Consecration rituals for different deities were different. For example, in the Matchmaker God Statue Consecration Ceremony, after the ceremony began, they needed to use three 《purification talismans》, igniting them and circling the statue to cleanse it, driving away defilement.
There was also the arrangement of the statue during the ritual. The face of the statue had to be oriented so that it could be directly illuminated by sunlight; auspicious times were generally in the morning.
In addition, the scripture chanters would recite the water purification mantra, body purification mantra, mouth purification mantra, heart purification mantra, and so on.
Finally, as with the Statue of the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation, they would consecrate the brush with cinnabar, dot the eyes to open the light, guide the spirit into the statue, and thus complete the consecration ceremony.
Chen Han quickly completed the three purification talismans. These purification talismans were naturally ordinary runes, without any special effect.
Even so, since the ritual required it, he definitely had to prepare the three purification talismans.
Looking at the three talismans on the table, he lifted a finger. Under the sword control technique, the three purification talismans floated up one after another, and with a wave of his palm they circled twice around the Matchmaker God Statue.
During the official ceremony, he would use the wooden sword to flick up these three talismans, and then they would fly on their own, ignite from the candles, and circle around the Matchmaker God Statue as they burned. The scene would certainly be very striking.
With the Chen Clan suddenly selling 4,000 tickets, the county authorities naturally took notice. Especially since those who only had tickets and could not return the same day would have to stay in the county, and much of their eating and drinking would also be in the county.
County Magistrate Chu and Chen Kai naturally paid close attention to this matter; Linhe County was about to be lifted up by the Chen Clan once again.
Chen Kai reported, “County Magistrate Chu, the two big hotels and several guesthouses in the county are already fully booked. We must get the hotels in the ancient city area ready as soon as possible, so that next time this happens, people staying in the ancient city area will naturally become tourists there.”
“In addition, this time our culture and tourism department will send people to the Chen Clan to distribute free tickets to the ancient city area to the arriving tourists. I believe this will attract a wave of visitors to come and try it out and help us collect feedback.”
“Mm!” County Magistrate Chu nodded, very satisfied with Chen Kai’s arrangements. However, he solemnly reminded him of one matter. “Recently, our county has received complaints about taxi drivers, including forced ride-sharing, refusing passengers, and picking passengers.”
“You must communicate with the relevant departments about this, strengthen management, and establish a team to handle reports immediately. For such behavior, punish where punishment is due and revoke licenses where necessary. We cannot allow such nonsense right after we have had only a couple of good days.”
“Got it, I will contact them shortly.” Chen Kai nodded at once, accepting the task.
At the same time, he felt some frustration with these taxi drivers. Many times, people’s dislike of taxi drivers was not without reason. The fact that online ride-hailing could account for more than 60 percent of the market share, even up to 75 percent in some places, was not without cause.
Problems in the taxi industry were truly serious: refusing long-distance trips, refusing short trips, not taking passengers during meal times, shift changes, or when in a bad mood. For all kinds of reasons they did not take passengers, acting as if they were doing everyone a favor.
Yet when they refused too many passengers, people simply stopped taking taxis; it was much more convenient to order a car online.
Then when they had no business, these taxi drivers were unhappy again and would band together to cause trouble.
Later, because of these taxi protests and after official negotiation, taxis were also included in the ride-hailing systems, which eased drivers’ pressure.
But in the end, forced ride-sharing, refusing passengers, and choosing passengers by taxi drivers still happened frequently. Many local culture and tourism programs were actually troubled by such taxi behavior.
They had not expected that after things had just improved for a short while in Linhe County, such problems would appear as well.
These people simply did not understand the principle of not draining the pond to catch the fish. They only cared about immediate profit, and by damaging the local tourism reputation, they were destroying not only their own future benefits but everyone’s.
So, with such signs appearing, they had to crack down from the start.
In Shangyuan Village, the village chief, Guo Zhen, was also very busy discussing with Ming Di how the Chen Clan would welcome more than 4,000 tourists tomorrow. Since Shangyuan Village knew, they naturally had to prepare.
Accommodation in the village was already full, but the produce from villagers’ fields and even specialty products dug from the mountain could have a very good return.
There would also be stalls in the cultivation market, with people from all villages coming. It would be another lively fair.
Shangyuan Village also planned to spontaneously organize a security team to maintain order the next day, to avoid any trouble.
“Cousin, you will be in charge of the village security team,” Ming Di ultimately entrusted this matter to his cousin, who was a retired special forces soldier and had the capability.
After the previous Chen Clan national style event, he and Shangyuan Village had to improve as well. This time, they naturally had to do better than last time.
The benefits brought by the Chen Clan’s tourist traffic were enjoyed most by him and the villagers of Shangyuan Village, so they naturally had to protect it.
Amid all these preparations, the Matchmaker God Statue Consecration Ceremony event at the Chen Clan finally arrived.
Early in the morning, Chu Hao set off from Qingmin City, taking a car arranged to pick him up to the Chen Clan.
He had set up an office in Qingmin City, arranged one person there, and hired two employees. Their work was to arrange vehicles for his visits, and to handle transport vehicles and other issues when coordinating Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea shipments with the Chen Clan.
The salary was naturally not low, but not extremely high either. It was an easy and comfortable job, and those who did their work well would receive bonuses, so many people were eager to do it.
According to his original plan, he should have checked in at the Chen Clan last night. But just before departure, some matters at home required his return, which delayed his flight. He took a very late flight over, was already very tired, and simply stayed in the city.
However, going over early in the morning was still in time. The Matchmaker God Statue Consecration Ceremony would not start until ten o’clock.
He had not been here for some time, and now he found that a section of the road to the Chen Clan had been widened. It should be open to traffic soon.
Very soon, the car reached the vicinity of the Chen Clan, where traffic police were already maintaining order.
The deeper they entered the Chen Clan area, the clearer the reason became. It was obvious that the number of vehicles going in and out was huge, and there were even signs of congestion.
The driver worked quite hard to finally park the car inside the Chen Clan Parking Lot.
When Chu Hao and his fiancée, Lin Wanwan, got out of the car, he was clearly a bit nervous. After all, they had stepped into the Chen Clan Territory; the high-stakes gamble had begun.
He pretended to be calm as he walked to Lin Wanwan’s side, then took her hand and walked into the Chen Clan together.
It truly was a gamble.
In such family alliances, where they hoped to rise to the next level together, feelings were often not the most important issue. As long as the child was their own, many couples in such alliances lived their own separate lives.
As for those brainless things in TV series where people fled from home to pursue so-called true love and reject arranged marriages, such cases were very rare.
Previously, many people online had seen the story of a love-brained second-generation rich kid running away from marriage. He was from a large group, believed he was an only child and very tough, and ran away from an arranged marriage for the sake of a university campus belle junior, thinking it was deep love.
Unexpectedly, his father promptly kicked him out of the successor position, and he was shocked to discover that his father had an illegitimate son outside.
In the end, it was the illegitimate son who married into the other family, entered the company, got development opportunities, and became the president.
Most crucially, after he lost the successor position, he could not even hold onto the love of the campus belle junior. He truly became a laughingstock in the second-generation rich circle.
So, for him and his fiancée, Lin Wanwan, this was a gamble. If they won, they would get the marriage certificate smoothly; if they lost, they would discuss it again. Although they would still have to register the marriage, all the clauses and boundaries would have to be clearly signed and defined.
At home, they could be together, but outside, whomever they were with would not be each other’s concern, along with many other such agreements.
After they entered the Chen Clan, they saw a couple in front of them pulling each other’s hair and fighting. There were visible injuries on the man’s knees; clearly he had been unlucky and something had been exposed.
This made him instinctively look at Lin Wanwan, only to find Lin Wanwan also looking at him, asking, “What? Seeing if I am unlucky?”
Chu Hao teased, “Aren’t you?”
Then, both of them fell silent. There was no need to cover it up, because that was indeed the situation.
Inside the Chen Clan, they walked cautiously. When they heard birds chirping overhead, they both subconsciously looked up.
They had heard of the Chen Clan bird-dropping legends.
However, they were stunned to see that, in front of them, a lump of bird droppings landed on a man’s forehead. His girlfriend immediately exploded in anger, but right after that, three lumps of bird droppings landed on her forehead.
The man, who had been intimidated by her outburst at first, directly kicked her after this happened.
This scene made Chu Hao and Lin Wanwan exchange a glance.
The Matchmaker God consecration ceremony at the Chen Clan had indeed attracted many tourists, but in the end, many people might really break up.
However, the farther they walked into the Chen Clan, the brighter the smiles on their faces became, because neither of them had any mishaps.
They even went to see the sea of flowers and then the Qionghua Trees. When the Qionghua Trees bloomed in large numbers, the blossoms were truly beautiful.
Finally, when they came out of the Qionghua Tree Forest, they both let out a breath of relief at the same time.
Because they had both won the bet.
“I did not expect that despite all the rumors about you out there, I could still win this gamble,” Lin Wanwan said, her face full of a proud expression.
“Aren’t you the same?” Chu Hao responded without any sign of weakness.
As they walked, they also saw many men and women coming out from the Chen Clan, many of whom had clearly been fighting or even brawling, their faces marked with scratches.
These were obviously the unlucky ones who had lost the bet.
Just then, they heard the sound of gongs and drums from within the Chen Clan, along with firecrackers. They both knew this meant the Matchmaker God Statue Consecration Ceremony had begun.
“Let’s go!” Chu Hao pulled Lin Wanwan and quickly headed inside. Sure enough, they saw that all the tourists at the Chen Clan were heading in pairs toward the martial arts field.
They followed along. When they squeezed to the front at the martial arts field, they saw that a consecration altar had been set up, and the Matchmaker God Statue had been placed on an altar.
The scripture chanters of the Chen Clan were seated cross-legged in front of the altar, looking solemn. The elderly Daoist priest from the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall was holding a fly whisk and, leading a few members of the Chen Clan, began a special Daoist dance.
They knew the ceremony had begun.
Many people had already taken out their mobile phones to film the statue, but there were also members of the Chen Clan using small loudspeakers to call out to the surrounding tourists:
“During the consecration of the statue, the deity bestows blessings. We ask all devotees to put away their mobile phones. Filming the deity during the ceremony is disrespectful. Instead of receiving blessings, it may bring calamity!”
In Daoist culture, reverence for deities was one of the core concepts, and the solemnity and sanctity of many rituals were especially important.
Generally speaking, filming statues or rituals had to follow traditional taboos. In many Daoist venues or solemn ceremonial occasions, out of respect for the deities, filming was not allowed, especially during the rituals themselves.
Many people did not know this, so the Chen Clan had long arranged people to remind them there. Hearing this, those tourists were clearly stunned.
However, thinking of the Chen Clan legends, and those quarrelling couples who had left in disgrace, at least some basic awe remained among the surrounding tourists, and they all hurriedly put away their mobile phones.
Only a few who ignored the advice still secretly used their phones to take pictures.
The crowd around them grew thicker and thicker. The tourists who had come for the Matchmaker God consecration ceremony all gathered around once the ritual began.
One after another, they nervously looked toward the Matchmaker God Statue. After all, everyone had come today for the blessing of the Matchmaker God.
But Chu Hao clearly noticed that there were not as many people around as he had imagined, definitely far fewer than the “over 4,000” tourists mentioned. Could it be that many people had gotten the time wrong, or did not know the time and had not come?
Even he did not believe this thought.
Obviously, many people had lost the bet.
Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly heard the elderly Daoist priest call out with great confidence, “Heaven is round, earth is square, and the deities are revered. Enter the divine womb and connect to divine qi. At this auspicious time, the deity descends to protect the disciples and eliminate calamities… Please, Chen Family Head Daxuan, purify the statue!”
At this moment, he saw the Chen Family Head step onto the altar, and the members of the Chen Clan began to recite scripture texts.
As the scriptures were chanted, Chen Han took up a wooden sword and began to move, performing a Daoist ritual dance that served as the prelude to purifying the statue.
When the prelude ended, he suddenly stood firm and shouted, “Purification talisman, come!”
This shout drew the attention of all the tourists, including Chu Hao. They instantly looked at his raised finger and then saw a scene that left them dumbfounded.
The three talismans on the altar table seemed to respond to a summons and flew straight toward the Chen Family Head.
This…
