The two are more than 300 kilometers apart. Even looking at the map, Xiang's family is 70 to 80 kilometers away from the seaside. At this distance, apart from suffering the damage brought by typhoons, nothing else matters.
If you don't make a living by the sea, you naturally won't care that much.
The unpredictability and danger of the ocean make belief in gods a kind of psychological sustenance for people living by the sea.
After all, the ocean environment is harsh, and natural phenomena such as storms and huge waves pose a huge threat to the lives and property of people who make a living on the coast. Without faith and spiritual sustenance, people in the past would not have been able to persist in such a difficult environment.
When Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan drove to the hotel, it was almost nine o'clock in the evening.
Although it was almost time for bed, Xiang Yuanyuan didn't seem to want to sleep. Instead, after putting their things down, she took Du Ruo out for a walk on the street.
It is said that the national parade is held in Fujian, and the Fujian parade is held in Changle. Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan came directly to Changle District.
When I was driving, I saw a lot of offerings on the streets, and it looked quite lively.
Xiang Yuanyuan originally wanted to try some of the local specialties and take a look around.
Who would have thought that when we actually got to the street, we found that there were no food stalls on the street, and many restaurants had closed and suspended business.
"It's only nine o'clock. Is there nothing to eat?"
Xiang Yuanyuan frowned. This was a little different from the food trip she had expected.
Recently she has basically been able to do without drinking, so hiking and eating have become her newest indulgences. Not only is there no eating, it looks like she'll have to go hungry.
"Don't worry, we've already opened on the sixth day of the first lunar month. Today must be a special situation. There are a lot of people on the street, so they must be busy. We'll definitely find a place to eat if we look around."
Du Ruo smiled and looked around. Most of the pedestrians on the street were outsiders like Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan. They were all walking leisurely, or there were some young couples shopping. The only thing they had in common was that everyone had a smile on their face.
"I smell the scent, follow me."
While strolling, Du Ruo suddenly twitched his nose and smelled some food.
Now Du Ruo's five senses are particularly strong, coupled with the ability to control his body, so there will be no noisy noises that make him dizzy, nor will he choke himself because of the strong stench.
Instead, it allows Du Ruo to hear what he wants to hear and smell what he wants to smell at any time.
"Really? Then let's go quick before it closes."
Xiang Yuanyuan never doubted Du Ruo's words. As soon as she heard that there was a fragrance, she immediately asked Du Ruo to lead the way.
The two did not walk along the main street. There were very few restaurants near the main street, and most of them were closed.
After crossing a street, Du Ruo followed the smell and walked into an alley. There were still many people moving around in the alley at this time, and he could smell a strong smell of burning incense and paper money.
Here, it is completely different from Duruo’s hometown. In Duruo’s hometown, people only worship their ancestors on major festivals, and not every household does that.
But here, as you walk along, you can see iron buckets for burning paper at the door of almost every household, and you can smell the scent of burning incense when you pass by.
"Hiss~ I smell the fragrance, it's right in front, don't close the door."
Xiang Yuanyuan also smelled the fragrance at this time. In fact, she not only smelled the fragrance, but also saw a few tables set up in front of an inconspicuous little shop at the end of the alley.
The lights around were a little dim. If there wasn't a sign hanging on the side and you couldn't see the stove and kitchen when you got closer, you really wouldn't have thought that this was a small shop.
"Boss, is there anything to eat?"
The two men approached, and Xiang Yuanyuan shouted to a young man in an apron who was clearing the table.
"It's closed! It's closed! Uh...outsiders?"
The young boss had slightly long hair, was in his thirties and was thin. He had a cigarette in his mouth and wore glasses. He didn't look like a chef, but rather a bit literary. He was a little impatient at first, but when he turned around and looked at the two people who walked out of the light, especially after seeing Xiang Yuanyuan, he paused for a moment and then asked back a question.
"Yes, I came here specially to watch your parade, but I arrived too late. I just walked all the way and couldn't find anything to eat."
Xiang Yuanyuan spoke Mandarin and while speaking she touched her belly pitifully.
"Then you guys have to look for it again. I have something else to do later... hm?"
The young boss took a puff of his cigarette with his free hand, waved his hand, and was about to continue clearing the table. However, before he looked away, he glanced at Xiang Yuanyuan and Du Ruo beside her. When he saw Du Ruo, he was obviously stunned for a moment, and then asked uncertainly:
"Are you Boss Du?"
"Yeah, sorry, let's go look somewhere else."
Du Ruo smiled and nodded, then planned to leave with the somewhat disappointed Xiang Yuanyuan.
"Hey~ It's Boss Du. Wait a minute. It might be hard to find food at this time. The parade will pass by here tomorrow morning, so every household needs to make some preparations.
I'm afraid all the restaurants are closed... Never mind, you guys can just eat here. After all, I'm still a fan of Boss Du."
The young man put out his cigarette and said something to the two of them.
"Really? Thank you."
Xiang Yuanyuan was somewhat delighted. She didn't expect that her pretending to be pitiful was useless. Instead, she was able to meet Du Ruo's fans. This was also a surprise.
"Then you must be the proprietress of the tavern. I didn't expect you to be prettier in real life than in the video. Please sit down. Here is the menu."
The young boss only took a real look at Xiang Yuanyuan at this time. After seeing Du Ruo's face, he praised her and then handed a greasy plastic menu to the two of them.
"Boss, we want lychee meat, pickled small intestines, shrimp cakes, and some vegetables."
Xiang Yuanyuan didn't feel disgusted at all. This kind of small shop in the alley might have been open for more than ten or twenty years, so it was normal to have some oil stains.
However, the freshness, cleanliness and taste of the dishes in this kind of small shop are generally better than those in ordinary shops, otherwise it would be difficult for the shop to stay open for so long without going bankrupt.
"Okay, there's tea here, pour it yourselves. Oh, and there's cutlery over there, get it yourselves."
The young boss nodded in response, then put on a hat beside him and went to the kitchen to start working.
Xiang Yuanyuan went to pour tea, while Du Ruo went to the kitchen to talk to the boss.
"Have a cigarette first, the cooking will be ready soon."
The boss saw Du Ruo. At this time, hot oil was burning in the pot, but it did not delay the boss to come over and hand Du Ruo a cigarette. Because of the noise from the stove, the boss's voice was quite loud.
"Thank you, boss. I'm sorry to bother you at this time."
Du Ruo took the cigarette, but did not light it immediately. Instead, he looked at the kitchen that had already been cleaned. It seemed that the boss was really planning to close the shop and go home, otherwise no chef would be willing to cook another dish in a kitchen that had already been cleaned.
Du Ruo's voice was very soft, but it was not at all covered up by the roaring sound of the stove and was clearly heard by the young man.
"Don't be polite. I'm also your fan. Your martial arts training videos are very cool. Learning martial arts and becoming a master has been my childhood dream."
The boss poured oil into the pot with his hands and did not forget to grin at Du Ruo. It seemed that if his hands were not too busy, he might even give Du Ruo a thumbs up.
"But now that I'm older, the dream is just a dream, but I still get excited when I see Boss Du's videos."
The boss was very efficient. He fried the meat and then scooped it out in one go.
"Alright then."
Du Ruo nodded to the boss and walked out.
"The dishes are ready, please eat. There is not much rice left, so please make do with what you have."
The boss served the dishes very quickly. He saw Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan start eating, and then went back to clean up.
"Boss, meeting is fate. Come and have a drink. The boss lady's medicinal wine is from the tavern."
Seeing that the boss was about to go out to get busy, Du Ruo quickly stopped him and planned to buy him a drink as a way of expressing his gratitude.
As for wine, Du Ruo drank it alone. It was Xiang Yuanyuan's habit to carry wine with her. Even if she didn't drink it now, she would bring some for Du Ruo.
"Okay, I've always heard that the wine in the pub is good, but I didn't expect to have the chance to drink it today."
The boss didn't act pretentiously. He wiped his hands, moved a stool and sat over.
"Boss, do restaurants here close so early? They're all closed at nine o'clock."
Xiang Yuanyuan was eating the dishes. Although they were not big dishes, they were all local specialties and tasted unique. She started chatting with the restaurant owner.
"Hiss... No, it's usually later, but the parade of gods will come tomorrow, so we have to prepare for the sacrifice and the banquet. Plus, it's the first month of the year, so not many people will come out to eat, so we'll close early."
The restaurant owner took a sip of the wine Du Ruo poured for him and couldn't help but take a breath. Du Ruo drank a tonic wine this time, so the alcohol content was a bit higher. The three of them drank and chatted. From the conversation, they learned that the owner was called Lin Yaodong. He was the son who inherited his father's business. His family had opened this restaurant for nearly 30 years, and he took over in recent years.
"You guys came here specifically to watch the parade, so why don't you come to our house tomorrow? We are going to invite the Virgin Mary tomorrow, and our house will be very lively tomorrow."
Lin Yaodong knew that Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan came here specifically to watch the parade, so he simply invited them.
"What does it mean to ask the Virgin Mary?"
Du Ruo's understanding of the parade of gods was still just a "dong dong dong" thing, and he didn't really know much about the details.
"To put it simply, the family wants to have a son, so on the day of the parade, they will invite the Holy Mother, who is in charge of saving and protecting the fetus, to visit the family and sit with them. At that time, they will pray for a safe birth, preferably a son."
Xiang Yuanyuan smiled and explained to Du Ruo that she had specially learned about it.
"Oh, I see. It's just like when my mother summoned the fire dragon. By the way, congratulations. I'm sure your wish will come true."
Du Ruo understood immediately after hearing this, and raised his wine glass to clink with Lin Yaodong. This was what his mother had thought at the beginning, so she invited the fire dragon as a kind of reliance and blessing.
"Hehe, there's nothing I can do. My family just wants a son. My wife has already given birth to three daughters, so I wanted to pray to the empress, hiss~~."
Lin Yaodong smiled a little embarrassedly, picked up the wine glass and clinked it with Du Ruo, and then felt a little spicy from the medicinal wine again.
"Three daughters. I just want a daughter. Can we pray together tomorrow?"
Du Ruo also became interested when he heard it. This kind of thing is not feudal superstition, it is just a spiritual sustenance. No matter what the effect is, it can be regarded as joining in the fun. There is no loss anyway.
"Sure, there's nothing wrong with that. Tomorrow when the queen comes to my house to rest, you can just come and burn some incense."
Lin Yaodong laughed and felt that his relationship with Du Ruo had become much closer. Originally, they only knew each other because of his admiration for Du Ruo's martial arts training, but now, they could be considered friends.
For men, it is not complicated to transform from a stranger to a friend. Sometimes, people who have similar tastes can become good friends just by smoking a cigarette together.
In fact, it would be better to go to the temple to worship, but considering that Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan are from other places, they might not be able to adapt to such a lively scene when they go to worship on a day like tomorrow.
Most importantly, they respect traditions but do not stick to them rigidly. Their respect for gods comes from the heart and is not limited to formalities. As long as it does not violate taboos, they are actually very willing to adapt.
"We've almost finished eating now, so do you think it would be convenient for us to go over and get to know the place?"
Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan were afraid of delaying Lin Yaodong's closing time, so they ate quickly. The food on the table was soon almost finished, so Du Ruo offered to go over and take a look.
"Okay, if you're done eating, let's go."
Lin Yaodong picked up the wine glass, clinked it with Du Ruo, and then drank it in one breath.
The three of them worked together and cleaned up quickly, then simply locked the door.
Then Lin Yaodong took the two of them for a walk in the alley, and finally stopped at the gate of a large courtyard.
This place is far away from the main road. It is an old house in the urban village. The house has a wall, but the wooden door is open and the lights are on inside.
"This is our ancestral home. We live next to it. This house was built in the late Qing Dynasty and houses our ancestors."
Lin Yaodong brought the two into the yard and pointed to a two-story self-built house next to it and introduced it.
Inside the yard was an old wooden house that looked like it was cleaned regularly. However, at this moment, various red lanterns were hung inside, and there was also a row of eight-immortal tables.
There were offerings and red candles on the Eight Immortals table, and a middle-aged couple and a woman about the same age as Lin Yaodong were there with their two children, rubbing paper money together.
"Adong, you're back, and you've brought guests with you."
The woman was a pretty girl, holding a pile of paper money in both hands. She then pinched and turned her hands, and the paper money spread out in a circle. When she saw Lin Yaodong and two men enter the room, she quickly stood up, supporting herself on the table.
Only when the woman stood up did Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan see clearly that she was pregnant and looked to be about five or six months pregnant. Her belly had just started to bulge, so it seemed that she was Lin Yaodong's wife.
“Well, bring two friends over. They know that our family will invite the goddess tomorrow, so they will come together to burn incense and pray for blessings.”
Lin Yaodong introduced Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan.
The Lin family all welcomed the arrival of Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan. Some made tea, some served pastries.
Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan also took the opportunity to learn about the local culture of the parade and some taboos, and helped to rub paper.
It is said that rolling paper in the first month of the lunar year is the nightmare of every Fujian child.
However, Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan did not stay too long. They sat for a while and then agreed to come over tomorrow. Du Ruo did not disturb them any more and slowly walked back to the hotel with Xiang Yuanyuan.
……
The next morning, Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan had breakfast at the hotel before going out.
It was still early, so the two decided to go directly to the temple to see what was going on. They could also take a leisurely stroll on the way and take in the scenery of this coastal city.
However, apart from the main roads, many places along the roadside of some residents' houses were covered with firecrackers.
Moreover, there are altars at the entrances of many streets, on which are placed steamed cakes and the like, which looks very festive. This kind of atmosphere can be said to be something Du Ruo has never seen before in his life.
Originally, Du Ruo thought that this atmosphere had reached its peak. However, when Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan came outside the temple, he realized that he was too narrow-minded.
In early February, you actually need to wear a down jacket in Fujian, but when you arrive outside the temple, you will see a sea of people.
"Wow~ It's so lively."
Xiang Yuanyuan stood on tiptoe and looked towards the temple. She couldn't see the specific situation inside, but when she looked up, she could see lanterns everywhere, and when she looked down, she could see firecrackers hanging everywhere.
You can also see many anchors leaning in with their mobile phones.
At this moment, bursts of cheers came from the temple.
Then came the sounds of gongs and drums, and then someone started lighting firecrackers.
The sound could not be described as crackling at all, the sound of firecrackers was deafening and it was extremely lively.
Then, from a distance, Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan saw a crowd of people carrying a sedan chair out of the temple.
Sitting on the sedan chair is the statue of a god that everyone respects, surrounded by people holding incense sticks, accompanied by gongs, drums, suona, and dragon and lion dances.
There were also some hollow statues that Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan could not distinguish. They walked out in the smoke after the firecrackers. Even in the daytime, they looked more mysterious.
Xiang Yuanyuan was walking with the crowd while taking pictures with her mobile phone, while Du Ruo was slightly behind and then looked at the deity sitting on the sedan chair with a "god" look.
"This……"
Du Ruo focused his eyes and looked, and what came into his sight was a fiercely burning "spiritual" fire. The scale of the fire was far beyond Du Ruo's expectations.
In the past, he looked at people with his divine power and could see the strength of each person's "essence" fire. He could then observe a person's vitality based on the burning condition of the "essence" fire. At that time, he saw that each person was a separate individual, and the "essence" fire was burning, but it seemed that they were in different time and space and did not affect each other.
But what he saw just now was a sea of red before his eyes, like a sea of fire.
This scared Du Ruo. Even though he felt that before his "three flowers" condensed, they could be as bright as the sun, but in terms of scale, it was not as big as what he saw now. After all, it was like a continuous sea, and all he could see was red.
"Is this faith?"
Du Ruo looked around and finally his sight fell on the top of the sedan chair, where there seemed to be a phantom of a golden flower.
The golden flower is similar to the golden flower representing "God" among the "three flowers" on Du Ruo's head, but it is not as condensed as Du Ruo's. Under the incense, it seems vague and unreal.
Du Ruo was a little confused, but he could vaguely understand that it was the people around him who gave the statue a soul, that is, "God", with their devout faith.
"Is this the Buddhist method of longevity?"
At this moment, a thought flashed through Du Ruo's mind.
The people around are just ordinary people, but their unified and devout belief can cause "golden flowers" to appear on a fictional statue.
What if the image on the sedan chair is not a deity? What if it is a "Buddha"? Can it condense into a real "golden flower"?
At this moment, the method of immortality that Du Ruo had talked about with Old Wang before seemed to take shape.
But after he finished reading it, the "spirit" in his eyes disappeared. He decided not to tell anyone about this matter, and he couldn't tell anyone.
If immortality is just a legend, then it doesn't matter. Once it is really possible, he doesn't know how much chaos it will cause. This is not what he wants to see. (End of this chapter)
