Chapter 1: Inheritance, A Daoist Temple
“Miss Xuan, this is the scenic area where your Daoist Temple is located.”
Lawyer Fang pointed to the scenic area entrance ahead and introduced it to Xuan Xia with a smiling face.
Xuan Xia followed the direction of his finger, lifted her head, and looked with bleary eyes.
Ningzhou’s sunlight was truly brilliant, shining dazzlingly on the scenic area entrance, illuminating the words [Ningzhou Ancient Architecture Cultural Site Scenic Area] with thousands of rays of golden light.
After silently reciting the full name of the scenic area in her heart, Xuan Xia lowered her head, her expression listless and shrinking.
Sleepy.
Didn’t sleep well last night either.
It seemed that ever since her great grandfather passed away three months ago, she had begun to have frequent nightmares as if her seal had been broken.
The dreams were all snapshots of her short life.
Sadly, her short life at its end couldn’t even be described as dying young, which made her seem somewhat shameless.
She died stupidly!
“Miss Xuan, are you okay?”
Seeing that the beautiful young client’s face looked even worse than when they first met, Lawyer Fang quickly expressed concern.
Xuan Xia gathered her thoughts and mustered some energy. “I’m fine. Are we going in now?”
After the nightmares, there was always a voice urging her to quickly come and take over the inheritance left by her great grandfather.
So today she had specially come from Jiangshi all the way to Ningzhou to inherit this scenic area… a Daoist Temple within it.
Lawyer Fang wanted to express more concern for this client, but Xuan Xia had already walked toward the entrance, so he held back his words and hurriedly handed her one of the entrance tickets he had bought in advance.
“Miss Xuan, entrance ticket.”
Xuan Xia pinched the paper entrance ticket and couldn’t help but choke a bit. She saw “Ticket Value: 10 yuan” printed on the ticket face.
After hesitating, she couldn’t hold back and asked, “Lawyer Fang, will I need to buy a ticket every time I come in the future?”
Lawyer Fang smiled and waved his hand. “No need. Once the documents are signed, the scenic area will issue you an internal pass. Next time you can just swipe the pass to enter.”
“Oh.”
Then this entrance ticket today could be considered a meeting gift to the scenic area.
After passing the ticket check and entering the scenic area, the first thing that caught the eye was the large scenic area map.
The large map was carved on a stone wall.
The stone wall was wide and huge, engraved with ruins of architectural clusters in the east, west, south, and north.
Lawyer Fang thoughtfully pointed to a spot for Xuan Xia to see. “This is the location of Changsheng Temple.”
The center C-position of the entire map was her Daoist Temple—Changsheng Temple.
Xuan Xia let out an admiring “oh,” and her energy improved a bit.
“Come this way.” Lawyer Fang led the way familiarly.
The entire scenic area covered about a thousand mu of land, vast and with long roads, so to arrive quickly, they still needed to rely on the scenic area’s tour bus.
After getting on the bus, the listless feeling wrapped around Xuan Xia again, along with a restless unease in her heart.
Xuan Xia sighed uncomfortably.
Lawyer Fang was constantly paying attention to the client beside him. He had been entrusted to handle the inheritance matter, but it had dragged on for nearly three months without completion. He thought it would continue to drag, but unexpectedly, the heir contacted him the day before yesterday, saying she wanted to complete the inheritance procedures as soon as possible.
That was certainly good.
The two quickly communicated and settled the itinerary, and today he was accompanying the client to receive the Daoist Temple.
It was just that after meeting, this heir looked like a sickly beauty, which made Lawyer Fang somewhat worried.
He could only try to say more to prevent the person beside him from suddenly falling silent.
Xuan Xia responded sporadically.
If she knew what Lawyer Fang was thinking, she would definitely reassure him: Don’t worry, although she had a short life, she didn’t die from illness, and she wouldn’t die suddenly.
The tour bus wound around, and Xuan Xia was almost dizzy.
Until the scent of incense faintly drifted over with the breeze.
Xuan Xia unintentionally sniffed a few times and surprisingly felt better. The restlessness was soothed, like the sleepiness suddenly passing, and she instantly became clear-headed.
Lawyer Fang was chattering on.
“See those flying eaves and upturned corners? That’s the main hall in the temple. The main hall enshrines the Three Pure Ones, so it’s also called Sanqing Hall.”
“There are also side halls on the left and right, but only one is in use now, enshrining Wang Lingguan.”
Xuan Xia deeply inhaled the scent of incense and offerings in the wind, her listlessness gradually fading.
……
The tour bus stopped on the main road to the right side of Changsheng Temple, and the people at the stop got off.
After getting off, the overall view of Changsheng Temple was right before their eyes.
Changsheng Temple was a Tang-style imitation building, with a square stone brick plaza in front of the temple gate, and a live water clear canal in front of the plaza, flanked by several ancient trees.
Incense smoke wafted gracefully from within the temple, enveloping the entire Changsheng Temple and forming another world.
Daoists emphasize Feng Shui. Even though Xuan Xia didn’t understand Feng Shui, just looking at the entrance, she could feel that the Feng Shui here was very good.
Most importantly, standing here, she felt open and comfortable, her mind clear, sweeping away all the negative emotions from the past three months.
A sense of satisfaction seemed to say: She should have come long ago!
***
Changsheng Temple couldn’t compare to those famous large palace temples, but being in a scenic area, it still had to maintain some prestige.
So the temple gate had three doors of different sizes, and a couplet was hung on either side of the main gate.
Upper line: How fortunate to rest briefly in a Blessed Land
Lower line: At the summit, ascending to view the sunrise
All three doors were open now, with tourists leisurely entering and exiting.
People used any of the doors without any particular rules.
Xuan Xia was examining the couplet beside the main gate when she unexpectedly noticed two signs hanging by the left and right small doors.
The right one read: Limited plain noodles, 200 bowls per day.
The left one read: Limited fortune telling, 100 per day.
Compared to the vigor of the couplet, these two signs were very modern and commercialized.
The corner of Xuan Xia’s mouth twitched slightly.
If nothing unexpected, these were the revenue generating projects that Lawyer Fang knew like the back of his hand.
Before coming, Lawyer Fang had praised them greatly to her, saying that Changsheng Temple could still operate normally without a temple master and with the property owner not yet handed over, all thanks to a pillar in the temple supporting revenue generation.
Now that she was formally inheriting the Daoist Temple, she naturally couldn’t avoid this pillar; the finances had to be handed over clearly.
Don’t think that just because Changsheng Temple was private property, it wasn’t a formal unit approved by the Daoist Association, complete with official seal and financial seal.
……
Lawyer Fang had been paying attention to her and knew what she was looking at. If not for her sickly appearance being worrisome, Lawyer Fang would have spent at least half an hour explaining these two revenue generating projects to her.
But now, Lawyer Fang could only hurry her into the temple, afraid she would get tired from standing.
“Miss Xuan, let’s go in.”
Xuan Xia responded and took the lead, striding ahead as if she were the host.
Lawyer Fang: “???”
Slow down, you’re walking so fast, I’m scared!
Unable to hear Lawyer Fang’s inner voice, Xuan Xia chose the main gate to enter the temple. Once inside, she immediately saw the large copper incense burner in front of Sanqing Hall.
The source of the lingering incense smoke outside the temple was this large incense burner.
What she had smelled on the bus earlier was probably also this incense.
After all, one incense stick could reach the heavens.
Moreover, the incense sticks used in Changsheng Temple were not the same as ordinary ones commonly used outside.
A line from the Zhengyi Wei Yi Jing suddenly popped into her mind: “The divine path is formless, entrusted to incense to communicate.”
Whether it truly communicated with deities was unknown, but it made her feel inspired, her fatigue eased.
