Chapter 4 Encounter by Chance

  The girl glanced around at the master's room.

  "The fairy maiden has been living here for over a decade? That's truly a simple and hard life." she said.

  The host saw him walking in from outside the door, holding a piece of meat in his hand.

  "Bitterness is bitterness, but without worldly entanglements, there's joy in the midst of bitterness." she said.

  The girl suppressed her disgust and forced a faint smile.

  "This is a gift from kind people, take it and eat with your wife," said the innkeeper.

  What was given away, that cutting method is clearly a habit of the home kitchen, it turns out that this woman has taken their things.

  The girl didn't hesitate and took it over with her hand.

  "You'd better let this monk take care of you." She said with a wry smile.

  "I may be a poor monk, but I'm still better off than you." The abbot said with some sympathy.

  The girl didn't want to see her hypocrisy again, and this trip was also a way of expressing her trust in the woman.

  "Oh dear, it's getting late, I need to go accompany my wife for a walk, or she'll get angry." She said, hastily turning around and even forgetting to bid farewell.

  "What a pity, good people are forced to serve a fool." The host said from behind, seemingly muttering to himself but intentionally letting the maid hear. Then he raised his voice, "Miss Banqian, if you need anything, come and tell me yourself."

  The girl waved goodbye at the door and walked away with a slight bow.

  "Hey girl, are you tired? Take a break and rest your feet. I brought some sugar-coated hawthorn balls, want to eat one?"

  On the mountain path, Ya Tou said, stretching out her hand to support Cheng Jiao Niang.

  Jiang Yao stopped in her tracks, took the white bead from Ya Tou's fragrance pouch and put it in her mouth. From here, she could see down the mountain. At this time, it was just after dawn, and there were still not many people on the mountain road.

  "It was around noon when there were more people, and also vendors selling mountain goods and fruits. The tangerines that the mistress ate were bought from them, and they were quite cheap." said Yatou.

  Jiang Nang nodded.

  "Miss, if the hostess invites me over to talk again, should I go?" asked Yatou, "I find her smile quite uncomfortable."

  "Go," said Jingniang, "but don't stay too long and don't eat anything she gives you."

  The girl responded accordingly.

  A burst of laughter from a woman came face to face, the master and servant looked over and saw three fairy maidens coming down from the mountain road opposite, carrying baskets on their backs, chatting and laughing, seeing someone here hurriedly stopped laughing and slightly curtsied.

  "This is the Shandong Da Xuan Miao Guan." The maid whispered to Cheng Jiaoniang.

  The little girl didn't know about the mysterious and wonderful journey because she was curious.

  Ya Tou spoke in a low voice to tell her the whole story, and Cheng Jiaoniang seemed to be deep in thought.

  "Is the Grand Mystic Observatory at the foot of the mountain?" she asked, looking down.

  The girl supported her and walked a few steps forward, pointing with her hand for her to see.

  A corner of the temple is faintly visible in the lush greenery.

  "It's not, it's very big." she said.

  "It's bigger than our house," said the girl. "At first, I even thought of serving our Taoist temple together, but this woman got ahead of us."

  Jiang Yao nodded slightly.

  "What a pity," she said.

  "Yes, it's better to be clean and peaceful like a fairy. It wouldn't have ended up like this if that woman hadn't messed things up." Yatou said with a mix of anger and regret.

  Just as they were talking, someone suddenly shouted.

  "What's wrong, old man?"

  "Come quickly! Save me!"

  Save me? The young girl was startled, surely there wouldn't be any bandits causing trouble in broad daylight?

  "Go take a look." said Cheng Jiaoniang, she took the lead and walked ahead, unlike before when she could only rely on Yatou's eyes and mouth.

  This feeling is great.

  The girl hurriedly followed along, walking along the mountain road and turning a bend, the noise grew even more boisterous.

  The three fairy maidens of the Great Mysterious Peak had already surrounded them, and by the mountain rocks, an old man lay down with a pale face. Only an elderly servant was beside him, his eyes brimming with tears.

  "What's going on?"

  "Are you ill?"

  "Have you been bitten by a snake?"

  The fairy maidens asked anxiously.

  The old servant exerted himself to carry the old man on his back.

  "Where is the doctor who came recently?" he asked.

  "Oh dear, it's still quite far, we have to get to the city first." The fairy maidens said hastily as they helped to support her.

  "Wait!"

  A female voice came from above, and everyone's footsteps stopped as they looked up.

  A woman wearing a blue cloth dress hurriedly came over with a sachet in her hand.

  "She said, 'Sending him to find a doctor only delayed things.'"

  Everyone snapped back to reality, wanting to say something but unsure of what to say.

  "Is this young lady skilled in medicine?" the old servant asked tremulously.

  "Feed him slowly." The maid didn't respond, but instead said directly, "Let him lie on his side, help him calm down his chest and back, pinch his ears hard until they bleed, and he'll be fine in a while."

  The old servant and three fairy maidens all stared blankly at him in a daze.

  Is that it?

  "It's like that, after a while you'll wake up, don't rush to leave when you wake up, sit for a while, it's best to eat something before leaving." Yatou said.

  She finished speaking and handed the sachet in her hand to the old servant, turned around and left. Before everyone came back to their senses, she had already disappeared from view on the mountain road.

  "Hey? Young lady." The old servant shouted.

  "We just saw her, two people, maybe they are a family's daughter who came to play." A fairy maiden said.

  Everyone looked at the sachet in their hands.

  Have you eaten?

  The old servant looked at the old man's increasingly pale face, about to fall into a coma, and bit his teeth to take out the fragrance bag.

  Small balls as big as walnuts wrapped in icing rolled out one by one.

  "My master is a man of honor and integrity, no one would dare to harm him." The old servant said, stretching out his hand to open the old man's mouth and feed him.

  Yātóu had already walked with Chéng Jiǎo Niáng to the gate of her own Taoist temple.

  "Girl, can eating that sugar gourd really save one's life?" She endured and endured but still couldn't help asking.

  "It's nothing life-threatening, what's all this talk about saving lives?" said Cheng Jiaoniang, "It's just a minor illness."

  "Then is sugar plum also medicine?" The girl asked with a puzzled expression.

  "Is steamed bun a medicine?" Jingniang asked her.

  "Baozi is certainly not." The girl shook her head and said.

  "When you're starving to death, it's a lifesaving medicine." said Cheng Jiaoniang.

  "Girl, you're teasing me by saying that." Yatou said with a smile, supporting Cheng Jiaoniang as they entered the house. "Why didn't you just tell me straight out that it's not that the old man is ill, but rather he's starving?"

  "No," said Cheng Jiaoniang, "hunger is also an illness."

  The girl giggled and dropped the subject, looking at the firewood piled behind the door.

  "Our firewood is running out, I'll just move some over." she said, bending down to pick up the firewood.

  "Does the young lady want to move firewood? How can I let you labor, madam, I'll do it."

  A dry laugh echoed through the courtyard from a man's voice.

  Ya Tou was startled and looked over, Cheng Jiaoniang also turned her head to look.

  She now lowered her veil and revealed her face.

  What a good-looking face!

  With a loud "thud", the man's flatbread dropped to the ground, and he stared blankly at Cheng Jiaoniang.

  The girl recognized the man she had met at Guan Zhu's house that day. Although she was young, she was older than everyone in the house and knew everything about human relationships. She knew that this man had some ulterior motives with Guan Zhu, and such a person must have a bad character. He had looked at her without any restraint that day, and today he actually let him see his daughter-in-law.

  Yātóu turned around and quickly walked over to pull down Chéng Jiāo Niáng's soap curtain. Chái also didn't want to support Chéng Jiāo Niáng, and from the other side entered his own courtyard and closed the door.