Chapter 166: A Daoist Temple That Scams Money
As soon as Xuan Xia got out of bed, she felt that the atmosphere in the temple was a bit different.
She thought something had happened and probed around before figuring it out: everyone knew it was her birthday today and was considering throwing her a birthday celebration.
Several men had even planned to arrange a surprise, but before they could arrange the surprise, Xuan Xia already knew about it.
Xuan Xia appreciated everyone’s good intentions. She quickly told everyone to drop the idea of a surprise; compared to that, she preferred everyone just having dinner together in the evening.
Uncle Zhong was the least willing to give up, but after confirming Xuan Xia wasn’t joking, he could only follow her wishes.
However, Uncle Zhong said, “I’ll definitely make you a table of delicious food in the evening.”
Xuan Xia hurriedly went along with him: “Then I’ll eat less at lunch and wait for the dinner Uncle Zhong makes.”
Uncle Zhong was first very happy, but then he thought about it and immediately advised Xuan Xia: “Just taste a bit of each dish; eat more of what you like. Don’t actually starve yourself.”
As a celebrity, she already ate little to look good on camera; Uncle Zhong didn’t want her to continue being harsh on herself during her days at the temple.
Xuan Xia knew his thoughts and obediently agreed, not wanting Uncle Zhong to worry even a little.
Soon, the temple began its day’s business operations.
Although Xuan Xia wanted it simple, the temple members were very tacit; for the whole day, noodles, fortune telling, buying amulets, and purchasing incense were all discounted.
Whether old customers or new ones, upon hearing it was a discount for the temple master’s birthday, who wouldn’t offer blessings?
Not only that, while Xuan Xia was wandering around the temple in the afternoon, she even ran into a few tourists who claimed to be her fans.
The tourists said they knew it was her birthday, so they came together to try their luck; they weren’t even sure if Xuan Xia would really be at the temple and had planned to just check in at the temple and burn incense if they didn’t meet her, but unexpectedly, they actually luckily ran into her.
The fans were surprised; Xuan Xia was even more surprised than them.
This genuine feeling of being liked by fans was much more intense than reading online comments and blessings in the middle of the night.
In the end, these fans not only checked in at the temple but also took photos with Xuan Xia and received amulets personally given by her.
While the fans were burning incense, their wishes were all for Xuan Xia to become hugely famous, healthy, and joyful.
When evening came, the temple’s current members simply celebrated Xuan Xia’s birthday.
Besides them, there was one more guest at the evening table who came to celebrate Xuan Xia’s birthday.
That was the little fatty son from the supermarket family.
His full name was Ma Weijie.
But everyone called him Xiao Jie.
Xuan Xia had secretly called him Little Fatty before, but now face-to-face, she went with the flow and called him Xiao Jie too.
As the table chat got lively, Uncle Zhong even told Xuan Xia an amusing story about how this Ma Weijie, when little, had boasted to her great grandfather.
As soon as Ma Weijie heard it, he hurriedly tried to stop Uncle Zhong from continuing.
Seeing how anxious he was, Xuan Xia curiously asked, “What did he say?”
“Don’t say it, don’t say it, Grandpa Zhong, you should eat.” Ma Weijie interrupted.
Unfortunately, despite his every effort to stop it, he couldn’t prevent Uncle Zhong.
Uncle Zhong smiled and glanced at Ma Weijie before saying, “Xiao Jie told Old Mr. Xuan that when he grew up, he would marry Miss Xuan. He even thought of the betrothal gifts: he’d use his family’s supermarket.”
Ma Weijie’s face turned as red as a monkey’s butt with Uncle Zhong’s words.
He looked extremely thin-skinned.
Xuan Xia looked at Little Fatty with a mix of laughter and tears, thought for a moment, and could only say, “This betrothal gift is truly precious; I’m really moved.”
Ma Weijie, whose face was already red as a monkey’s butt, upon hearing this, became even redder, as if blood could drip out.
His line of sight kept stealing glances at Xuan Xia, as if confirming whether she really meant it.
The others caught his line of sight and immediately all burst out laughing.
“He took it seriously!”
“Xiao Jie, you really can think!”
Ma Weijie: “…”
Why couldn’t he think that?
He was a bit young, but in this day and age, was age still an issue?
But everyone was busy laughing; no one answered the question deep in Ma Weijie’s heart.
–
The day after Xuan Xia’s birthday, many repeat customers heard about the discount at Changsheng Temple and rushed over to take advantage, only to be told the discount was only for one day.
These repeat customers strongly demanded the temple to extend the birthday discount to three days for universal celebration.
Unfortunately, they were unanimously refused by everyone at Changsheng Temple from top to bottom.
Those who came specially this trip were full of regret.
While these people felt regret, Yan Wentao’s work increased.
He spent the whole day soothing the repeat customers’ emotions; only when business operations were nearly over did Yan Wentao finally find a moment to rest and catch his breath.
Xuan Xia had also drawn amulets all afternoon and came to the temple to rest a bit.
Seeing Yan Wentao’s exhausted state, she immediately switched to boss mode to care for her excellent employee.
As boss and employee were halfway through talking, their lines of sight both glanced over and saw an aunty standing not far away, staring straight at their conversation.
The aunty looked a bit tired and hesitant to come up and talk, but since the two were speaking, she thought Xuan Xia was a believer asking Yan Wentao something, so she didn’t approach.
The two exchanged a look.
Yan Wentao proactively went over, cupped his hands in greeting, and asked, “Believer, do you have any questions that need answering?”
The aunty didn’t waste words and immediately asked Yan Wentao in return, “Daoist Master, do you perform religious ceremonies at your temple?”
Upon hearing this, Yan Wentao didn’t answer yes or no but asked her, “What kind of religious ceremony does the believer need?”
“I…” The aunty hesitated, then skipped Yan Wentao’s question and said first, “I was referred by someone; my friend often comes to your temple and says it’s quite effective here, so I ran into some trouble and wanted to ask if you do religious ceremonies.”
After hearing her words, Yan Wentao already understood; the so-called “ran into some trouble” was probably something hard to explain clearly.
Moreover, this aunty held a skeptical attitude toward whether Changsheng Temple was truly effective.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have come alone.
It was just unknown if the friend she mentioned who often came to Changsheng Temple really existed.
But that wasn’t the point; Yan Wentao responded to the aunty while giving Xuan Xia a look, asking if she wanted to take over the conversation.
Xuan Xia had already walked a few steps forward while Yan Wentao was talking to the aunty and heard everything the aunty said.
At this moment, as Yan Wentao looked at her, she naturally spoke up: “It’s not suitable to talk here; why not go inside to talk.”
She pointed to the now-empty vegetarian hall.
Yan Wentao followed up: “Yes, yes; the summer heat is still strong now, so believer, why not go inside and sit down to talk slowly.”
The aunty looked at Xuan Xia, unsure who she was.
Yan Wentao noticed and quickly introduced: “This is our temple’s person in charge.”
The aunty “oh”ed, then suddenly turned to ask Yan Wentao: “Is this temple a real temple, or a scenic area attraction built to scam money?”
Yan Wentao: “…”
Xuan Xia: “…”
