Chapter 176: Ghost Festival Ceremony
Zhou Shiqing looked at Xuan Xia with an expression that couldn’t quite be called disdainful, “You’re tone deaf?”
Xuan Xia had a black line on her forehead, “That’s not it.”
“As long as you’re not, that’s fine.” Zhou Shiqing’s tone was light and airy.
But even if Xuan Xia really were tone deaf, Zhou Shiqing wouldn’t let her off the hook.
The song he wrote for Xuan Xia was one he had stayed up three nights straight to compose.
Once the work is released, as the creator, what he most wants to see is naturally for the work to be known by more people.
What’s more, this song was custom-made for her.
Of course Zhou Shiqing hoped that Xuan Xia could perform it.
Xuan Xia looked at the sheet of musical notation and hurriedly tried to negotiate: “I’ll go back and frame it right away, put it in the most prominent spot in the house. As for the recording and all that you mentioned, Teacher Zhou, let’s just forget about it.”
Zhou Shiqing thought for a moment and said, quite pleased: “Got a pen? I’ll sign it, that’ll make it even better for display.”
This narcissistic guy.
“But I’ve already booked the recording studio, we can go next week.” Zhou Shiqing didn’t give Xuan Xia any chance to refuse.
Taking advantage of his words, Xuan Xia subconsciously recalled PD Hong’s beaming smile before recording started, and suddenly understood.
These two must have reached an agreement; the recording studio is probably the location for next week’s recording!
Looking at the musical score in her hand now, Xuan Xia suddenly felt emotional: without having all eighteen kinds of skills, could you really navigate the entertainment industry properly?
Seeing that Xuan Xia wasn’t trying to refuse anymore, Zhou Shiqing was in an even better mood. In the time that followed, he even used the musical score to first clear his throat and teach Xuan Xia to sing a segment.
Zhou Shiqing’s singing voice was completely different from his usual speaking voice, especially when a cappella, his timbre could make one’s ears pregnant.
PD Hong, watching the monitor screen, couldn’t help but reveal an auntie smile.
These two are really getting into the groove. If every session had this kind of atmosphere, how much easier would the work be?
……
Today’s recording content also had a set theme. Once the two had chatted enough about the song, the staff brought over this session’s mission.
This mission was to enrich their little home together.
Although the program group provided the house, and it was finely renovated, it wasn’t personally built by the two after all, so it always lacked some genuine traces of them.
That’s why the program group set this mission, requiring the two to add what they liked into the house.
Since the theme was set early, both had already made lists early on of what to add to the house and handed them to the program group for purchasing.
Right now, the purchased things were all in express packaging, piled up in the foyer of the house.
All they had to do was unbox the packages and arrange them according to preference.
Few people can resist the joy of unboxing packages.
Today, Xuan Xia got her fill of that thrill.
Even after recording ended, Xuan Xia was still not quite satisfied.
After recording ended, the work team started packing up equipment to leave.
After removing the mic, Zhou Shiqing came to Xuan Xia’s side and brought up what she had said earlier again.
“The gift I gave you, remember to go back and frame it right away, then put it in the most prominent spot in the house. Once it’s placed, take a photo and show me, I’ll inspect it.”
Xuan Xia was speechless.
After a moment of silence, she asked irritably: “In the future, when guests come to my house, do I have to bring it out and specially introduce it to everyone, saying this is the song Teacher Zhou wrote for me?”
“Yes. Do exactly that.” Regardless of whether Xuan Xia was joking, Zhou Shiqing thought her idea was great.
Xuan Xia: “…”
She really couldn’t verbally spar with this person, because he took everything seriously.
Fortunately, PD Hong came over to interject, timely rescuing Xuan Xia.
PD Hong was there to ask about the recording studio, so he could make arrangements, and also to give the two early notice: “Teacher Zhou, Teacher Xuan, our program has just a few episodes left. The last two episodes will arrange an island trip for all guests; we’ll follow up in detail later.”
“The island we chose this time is absolutely amazing, you two teachers can look forward to it.”
Pinching her fingers to calculate, next week would be the recording for the third-to-last episode.
In other words, about half a month later, it would be time for the final two episodes’ recording.
It hadn’t felt like it before, but now that PD Hong mentioned it, she realized time had passed pretty quickly; it felt like the first live broadcast was just yesterday.
Because of this, Xuan Xia and Zhou Shiqing suddenly lost the interest to keep chatting. After briefly learning about the island for the last two episodes, everyone bid farewell and successively left the newly decorated house.
For the final few episodes of recording, who knows if it would get a chance to appear on camera.
Ji Ziyao had been curious all day about Zhou Shiqing writing a song for Xuan Xia. On the way back to the hotel, he couldn’t hold back anymore and proactively asked Xuan Xia to let him see it.
“I didn’t expect him to be so thoughtful, even writing a song for you.”
Ji Ziyao didn’t usually deal with music theory, but he knew creation wasn’t easy. Now looking at the sheet of musical notation and lyrics, he just tsked a few times, a change from his usual Yin and Yang attitude.
A few seconds later, he added: “Pretty considerate. Going to the recording studio next week to record isn’t bad; you can give it a try.”
From Ji Ziyao’s tone, he actually seemed very supportive of her attempting to perform Zhou Shiqing’s creation.
Xuan Xia couldn’t help but fretfully reiterate: “But I really can’t sing.”
Ji Ziyao’s expression was just like Zhou Shiqing’s after hearing her say that, “Don’t worry about that. Just learn. Otherwise, what use is Zhou Shiqing?”
The way this sounded, it seemed like he was just waiting to watch the drama?
Looking closely at Ji Ziyao’s face, Xuan Xia confirmed it: he was indeed waiting to watch the drama.
When they returned to the hotel, Xuan Xia unexpectedly ran into Xie Yun again, but this time Xuan Xia didn’t yield and got on the elevator first.
Before the elevator doors closed, Xuan Xia took another careful look at Xie Yun’s facial features, already having an idea in her mind.
After staying one more night, the next day, Xuan Xia and the others checked out and left Jiangshi.
Because Xuan Xia was still returning to Ningzhou, she got a good scolding from Ji Ziyao.
Ji Ziyao even called her: “Not staying home.”
Xuan Xia: “…”
Li Xinze: “…”
If Ningzhou didn’t count as Miss Xuan’s home, Li Xinze didn’t think anywhere else could.
–
“Boss, you’re back.”
As soon as she returned to Changsheng Temple, Xuan Xia was the first to receive Yan Wentao’s enthusiastic welcome.
Yan Wentao even said: “Boss, you worked hard making money on your trip.”
“No such thing as courtesy without a reason; it’s either adultery or robbery.” Xuan Xia waved her hand.
Yan Wentao had a black line, “How am I without reason? I have a reason, boss.”
“What is it?”
“We have repeat customers for the talismans we sell.”
Before, Xuan Xia had them promote selling talismans, but the business had only been going a few days when Ren Yaozhe appeared in Ningzhou. With Ren Yaozhe’s intentions unclear, Xuan Xia worried they might run out of stock if they needed talismans themselves, so she had Yan Wentao pause the talisman selling business.
Then, in the two days Xuan Xia wasn’t there, repeat customers came, saying they wanted to buy a few more amulets. Upon learning they weren’t selling for now, they soft-soaped and haggled with Yan Wentao, saying they could buy fewer or pay a higher price.
Of course, Yan Wentao didn’t loosen up on his own despite the high price, sticking strictly to saying to wait for notification.
Now, he came to discuss with Xuan Xia whether to do business with this repeat customer.
Xuan Xia thought for a moment and immediately decided: “Do it. Repeat customers need to be maintained well. But not too many.”
Yan Wentao nodded, knowing what to do.
After finishing about the repeat customer business, Yan Wentao added: “Auntie Feng came to the temple yesterday.”
After adjusting her mood, Auntie Feng had specially come to Changsheng Temple yesterday, partly to give thanks and also to pay the money from before for the religious ceremony Yan Wentao and the others performed.
Additionally, Auntie Feng specifically asked Yan Wentao about the Ghost Festival ceremony he had mentioned before.
Mainly inquiring about deliverance matters.
Auntie Feng hoped Yan Wentao could properly deliver her daughter-in-law Li Qiaozhen, also hoping Li Qiaozhen could reincarnate soon.
Yan Wentao reassured Auntie Feng that even without her instructions, he would properly deliver Li Qiaozhen, letting her go to reincarnation clean and untainted.
Auntie Feng even wanted to personally attend the Ghost Festival ceremony, but Changsheng Temple was different from other Daoist temples; in terms of location and transportation, it wasn’t suitable for opening to the public, so this Ghost Festival ceremony would still not be open to the public.
At the time, Daoist Master Qin and Yan Wentao could just simply perform the religious ceremony.
After hearing Yan Wentao’s report, Xuan Xia asked him: “How large is the scale of Qinghui Temple’s Ghost Festival ceremony?”
Yan Wentao said matter-of-factly: “That scale is of course huge. On Ghost Festival day, believer lay Buddhists arrive at Qinghui Temple in the evening, and the ceremony lasts all night, with the temple full of people.”
It could be called extremely lively.
“Oh.” Xuan Xia could imagine; last time at the prayer for blessings ceremony, it was packed with people.
Looking at Changsheng Temple again, aside from the location issue, Changsheng Temple was also quite a bit smaller than Qinghui Temple. If they really held a ceremony, they couldn’t accommodate many people.
Expanding Changsheng Temple, who knows when that would make it onto the agenda.
But to really expand, they’d still need to talk to Daoist Master Qin, since aside from Changsheng Temple, the other land was his.
Thinking of this, Xuan Xia turned her line of sight to Daoist Master Qin at the fortune telling area.
Daoist Master Qin was talking to a pilgrim and seemed to sense Xuan Xia’s gaze, looking back from afar and giving Xuan Xia a slight smile.
Xuan Xia smiled back, withdrew her gaze, and continued asking Yan Wentao about the temple’s situation these past two days.
Two days later, it was Ghost Festival, and Changsheng Temple began preparing for the Ghost Festival ceremony.
The fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month is Ghost Festival.
Ghost Festival is Taoism’s name; Buddhism calls it the Ullambana Festival.
Besides Ghost Festival, there are also Lantern Festival and Water Festival; Lantern Festival is the fifteenth of the first month, Water Festival the tenth of the tenth month.
These three festivals together are called the Three Yuan Festivals.
The so-called Three Yuan Festivals are actually also aliases for the Heavenly Official, Earthly Official, and Water Official.
Heavenly Official grants blessings, Earthly Official pardons sins, Water Official resolves calamities. These three officials are also the earliest deities venerated in Taoism.
On Ghost Festival day, the Earthly Official comes to the mortal world to examine sins and merits, pardoning sins for people. It also releases spirits whose karma is fulfilled from the underworld, so some say this day is when the ghost gate opens.
But mainly it’s for ancestral sacrifices, praying for blessings, and worshiping departed souls.
After Changsheng Temple ended the day’s business operations, Yan Wentao took charge and set up the ceremony altar.
Beforehand, some believer pilgrims in the temple had already entrusted their ancestral sacrifice and prayer for blessings ceremonies to the temple.
Because Yan Wentao had recently worked hard to build relationships with tourists, this year the number of people entrusting these matters to the temple was quite a bit more than last year.
