Anping once again confirmed the address in his hand, really suspecting that he had made a mistake.
“Uncle, I want to ask you something.” He stood there and hesitated for a while, and had to find someone to ask: “Do you know where No. 3 Chengxi Street is?”
“No. 3? Isn’t that the place right behind you?” The uncle pointed at the building across the street. “Why do you look so stunned? Do you have bad eyesight, young man?”
Anping was dumbfounded and blurted out: “But that’s the Town God’s Temple!”
“Yes it is! The Town God’s Temple on Chengxi Street!” The uncle glanced at him strangely and was stunned when he saw that he was wearing a school uniform: “Young man, you’re a high school student? Classes haven’t ended yet, right?”
“No, the school is on break these two days.” Anping quickly explained: “The teacher asked me to help my classmate deliver his homework. He has been sick recently and has not come to class.” He raised the bag in his hand, a bag filled with white papers with a gloomy look. It’s a stack of test papers.
Anping is a member of the student committee, so he was responsible to help his classmates deliver their homework. He requested the address online, made an appointment with that person ahead of time, and hurriedly sent it over when the time came. As a result, he looked at the door and was dumbfounded – who lives in the Town God’s Temple these days?
It is now half past six in the afternoon, and school is normally not over at this time. No wonder the uncle is looking at him strangely. He probably sees a lot of people skipping class to go to the internet cafe, but he has never seen anyone skipping class to pray.
The uncle saw the test papers in the bag, “No wonder, I thought you brought a bag of tribute.”
“What the hell.” Anping laughed dryly and imagined presenting the 53B textbook version as a tribute, fearing that even a god would have to vomit blood.
“No. 3, Chengxi Street, that’s right, it’s right here.” The uncle pointed to the gate of the Town God’s Temple, “Go quickly, it will be closed in a while.” He said a little strangely, “Your classmate lives here? Your classmate recites sutras?”
He doesn’t even know if the address is correct, let alone whether he recites sutras or not… Seeing that the topic kept getting more and more complicated, Anping rounded it off with a laugh: “Thank you, uncle, I’ll leave first!” He said and hurriedly crossed the road.
Anping looked at the door in front of him, thought about it, and was ready to go in.
Forget it, they have an appointment in advance, so he can’t break their promise. Anyway, he will go in and take a look first.
The next second a head popped up at the entrance: “Buy a ticket for the visit, fifty dollars for one.”
Anping: “…”
No way, the ticket to Lingyin Temple is only 30 ah, big brother. Anping looked at the dilapidated door in front of him in disbelief. The red paint was faded and crumbled. In the center, there were a bunch of small advertisements for “Unblocking Sewers”, “Low | Price | Opening | Locks” and “Hemorrhoids Home Remedies”. Also, why should he buy a ticket? He is only here to deliver a set of homework!
“Coming in? If you don’t, we will be closing for today.” The doorman wore a red sleeve band and crackled it loudly: “The ticket is fifty yuan. If you can’t buy it, you will suffer a loss. You will not be fooled. This temple has been around for hundreds of years. You can dig around inside. Every brick is worth more than the price of admission…”
Anping really didn’t want to listen to a doorman talking about new ways to get rich, so he had to grit his teeth and pay while asking, “Brother, what’s your name?” This eloquent doorman has a talent for marketing.
“Sigh, just doing this for a living, do you want to scan the QR code or pay by cash?” The doorman tore off a ticket and patted the work badge on his body, “Yours truly is surnamed Huang, Huang Niu*.”
*(huang niu is his name, but it can also mean ticket reseller or scalper.)
Got it. Anping thought as he held the high-priced tickets in his hand, he is a scalper.
Anping walked in confusedly. Although the Town God’s Temple has a long history, it has neither historical sites nor legends about it. It can almost be seen as an old and dilapidated building. It is only more lively during the annual temple fairs. The whole yard was quiet, and there was a big ginkgo tree planted in the middle.
There was no one around, and Anping suddenly felt like he was being fooled, and the whole situation seemed quite weird, it would be strange if he was not scammed.
He tried calling out twice: “Mu, Mu classmate?”
Sure enough, he wasn’t there.
Anping breathed a sigh of relief, he was relieved. To be honest, he really didn’t want to deliver today’s homework.
In other words, he dared not deliver it.
He is a member of the student committee and has an easy-going personality. He is used to helping out in class. Delivering homework is nothing. The key lies in the person who asked for the sick leave, that is, the Mu classmate in his mouth.
Mu Gesheng, first year school bully.
Anping heard rumors about this man: He had repeated the year three times. Even though he was endowed with good looks and abilities, his grades and body were extremely poor, and he was best at fighting and calling in sick.
Anping had heard of Mu Gesheng when he first entered the school. He was a person who couldn’t get along with anyone. Unfortunately, this man had to repeat the year so shockingly, they were assigned to the same class by fate. Three months into the school year, Anping had hardly seen Mu Gesheng. He rarely came to class and was almost always on sick leave like a traveling frog.
The No. 1 High School in the city is a provincial school with extremely strict school regulations. The head teacher is more stingy in approving sick leaves than issuing IOUs. This is the first time Anping has seen someone ask for leave for three consecutive months. During this period, he only saw Mu Gesheng twice. Once, when this man was sitting in the last row and slept, shrouded in total darkness. When he woke up in the afternoon, he was buried in a pile of papers, and any movements would cause an avalanche.
Another time, Anping saw Mu Gesheng fighting a group at the school gate.
It was raining heavily that day, and Anping went to ask the teacher some questions. He left school very late and saw Mu Gesheng standing near the school gate from a distance, with his school uniform tied around his waist and a bunch of people lying at his feet.
He was far away, and Mu Gesheng didn’t seem to notice him. He only saw the other person picking up a few school bags from the ground, opening them, looking at them, and then throwing them away. Anping thought he was looking for something, but in the end he saw him take out an umbrella and a can of Coke. The ring opened with a “pop” sound.
Anping was an honest student, and usually walked away when he saw a school bully. But that day, he stood in the rain and lost his thoughts for a while. He felt that compared to having a sadomasochistic relationship with a conic section, being able to fight was indeed more handsome.
…As long as you ignore the huge Hello Kitty on this man’s umbrella.
Anping had only seen Mu Gesheng twice, and he really didn’t know what kind of person this legendary school bully was. He didn’t dare not give the homework to him, but he also didn’t really want to give it to him, otherwise he wouldn’t have wasted time on it. He hunkered down in front of the Town God’s Temple for a long time without even calling out. In the end, He bought a rip-off ticket worth fifty yuan a piece.
This is really a thoughtful but cowardly act.
Sending homework to the school bully, or homework without reference answers, is probably more nonsense than giving the textbook directly to the Town God.
Come to think of it, Mu Gesheng probably didn’t even care, he was only teasing him on a whim. The best result that Anping could think of was if the two didn’t meet.
Seeing that the sun was about to set, there was really nothing to see in the Town God’s Temple, so he should just walk away, Anping thought to himself. Just as he was carrying his bag and preparing to leave, he heard the door to the side corridor creak open, and a worried voice came out——
“Anping?”
Anping was startled and turned to look at the person behind him, not daring to answer.
The other person seemed to have just woken up. He had a pair of flip-flops on his feet, an enamel jar in his hand, and a curved pillow stuck to his neck. He noticed Anping’s gaze, yawned and nodded.
Four major rumors circulated about Mu Gesheng when he was a high school student: appearance, skill, sick leave and repeating the year. Among them, appearance ranked first. This person stayed in the same grade for three years, he was also elected as the school grass six times in total. Anping, who has been single since his birth, doesn’t quite understand the aesthetic of girls. Yet when he saw the sleepy-eyed man in front of him, dressed like an old cadre, with his hair messed up like a chicken coop, his face alone is indeed very good-looking.
“I’m sorry, I slept too deeply and didn’t hear it…” Mu Gesheng said a few words, but Anping didn’t respond, “Student committee?”
“Ah? Ah, I’m here!” Anping came back to his senses and was a little surprised, “You know that I am part of the student committee?”
“We’re classmates. What’s so strange?” Mu Gesheng said, “I’ve also seen you cooking Malatang* in class.”
*(Malatang is a common type of Chinese street food, the word málà is composed of the Chinese characters for “numbing” (麻) and “spicy (hot)” (辣), referring to the feeling in the mouth after eating it.)
Anping’s face turned red. He lost a bet with his deskmate and helped that grandson steal food during the self-study class. The result was that he got a self-heating hotpot from nowhere and filled the classroom with fragrance. In the end, both of them were kicked out by the head teacher.
“No, no, no, stop, stop, stop.” He quickly changed the subject and handed over the bag in his hand, “The teacher asked me to bring this to you. You have a lot of homework to do these two days during the break.”
“Thank you.” Mu Gesheng took it and took a look at it, “Hey, I have more homework in two days than the number of sick leaves I have in a month.”
Anping wanted to say that there are more on your table in school… After thinking about it, he swallowed it. Then he saw Mu Gesheng walking into the Temple Hall*. His hands shook and he threw all the papers into the merit box.
*(
something like this. source: from shutterstock)
Anping was stunned, what was this man doing?
“Donating your merits.” Mu Gesheng seemed to have seen through Anping’s shock, and said in a cadence: “This is a stylish town god, the test papers when burnt can give off the fragrance of knowledge.”
Anping deflated, “But, but Mu classmate… that was homework…” He stopped mid-sentence and thought, forget about it, teaching about the importance of homework to a school bully, he might as well teach math to Thanos.
“Since you’re here, do you want to burn some incense sticks?*” Mu Gesheng looked different from his usual aloofness, loose and casual, and seemed not difficult to get along with. “It’s a century-old temple after all. Usually, you have to pay an entrance fee to come in.”
*(
source: superstock)
Anping choked: “I paid the ticket, fifty yuan.”
Mu Gesheng blinked, “Student tickets are half price.”
Anping: “…”
“You must have been deceived by Huang Niu.” Mu Gesheng looked at his expression and chuckled: “In this case, I will give you an incense stick for free. The town god here has overseen this world for hundreds of years. You can ask for anything without suffering any loss.”
Mu Gesheng brought some incense over, there was a clay statue of the Town God in the main hall. There was no joy or sadness on the face, and the paint was completely peeled off, making it take on a dilapidated appearance riddled with holes. Anping was murmuring in his heart, thinking about wishing for academic success, but he heard a “cha” sound beside his ear. Mu Gesheng had taken out a few coins from somewhere and was playing with them in his hand.
“Only when you pray with sincerity will it come true.” The other party said firmly: “I’ve just submitted so many papers, the Town God must have heard it.”
This sentence was really full of flaws. Anping closed his eyes speechlessly, but he still thought about it and made a wish sincerely.
But before he opened his eyes, he heard Mu Gesheng say: “Student Committee, whose wellbeing are you praying for?”
Anping was startled, “How do you know what I wished for?”
“I’ve calculated it.” Mu Gesheng pointed to a few coins on the table, “You originally wanted to pray for your studies, but why did it change to someone else’s well being?”
“You’ve calculated it?” With thousands of horses galloping in Anping’s mind*, how could he have calculated it? Are there any formulas for prayers?
*(filled with many thoughts)
“Don’t panic, I don’t eat children.” Mu Gesheng pointed to the three incense sticks in the incense burner. “The middle one is broken at the waist, which is a bad omen. You don’t seem to be so unlucky so you shouldn’t have gotten such a sign. Whose wellbeing did you pray for?”
“Why don’t you calculate it yourself?”
“I’m not a god.” Mu Gesheng waved his hand: “If you don’t want to say it, forget it, but I suggest you find someone to take a look at it. This temple has been around for many years. It may not be accurate, and the bad omen is definitely real.”
Anping encountered this kind of thing for the first time. His first reaction was that he didn’t believe it. He said casually: “Who should I look for? A fortune teller? Recently, the city has been undergoing changes, and the fortune tellers have long since disappeared. Do you have any recommendations?”
“Yes.” Mu Gesheng pointed to himself, “Me.”
Anping: “…”
Really, if Mu Gesheng hadn’t predicted what he prayed for so accurately just now, he would have thought that the school bully was joking; wearing a human face yet not saying a single human word.
“I don’t ask for extra money, and I’m not asking you to lend me your homework to copy.” Mu Gesheng handed him the coins in his hand, which were seven 50-cent coins. “Here, you can try tossing them a few times.”
Anping looked at the three and a half dollars in his hand, “What do you mean?”
“The wish you just made was filthy, and it will leave some stains on you. If you toss a coin now, your luck will definitely be bad.” Mu Gesheng motioned to him to toss it, “Flip it, it will definitely come up tails every time.”
Anping tried it doubtfully.
He didn’t believe in the supernatural, so he tossed it several times, and got seven tails, every time.
“Is there something wrong with your coins?”
“If any one of them is fake, I’ll give you ten more.” Mu Gesheng said, drinking tea from an enamel jar. “When you go out and turn left, you can use it to buy some spicy sticks* at the stall. The boss will definitely not say that you are using fake coins.”
*(
Latiao is spicy sticks is a popular Chinese snack. The main raw materials are wheat flour and chili. Source: Wikipedia)
No one will pay attention to whether the fifty cents are fake coins, alright?!
The two threw fire at each other for several rounds, and Mu Gesheng was surprisingly good at words. He smiled and talked Anping’s brain dizzy, and Anping finally said, “Okay, then, Mr. Mu, please help me take a look, what is going on?”
“Got it, boss. Thank you for doing business with me.” Mu Gesheng took out a piece of paper from his pocket, “The person who tied the string must untie it. Naturally, the wishes you ask for from the Town God must be returned to the Town God. You must first make offerings to the temple. This is the list of tributes, please keep them.”
Anping took the list and scanned it with a doubtful look on his face, “Why is the first tribute Sauerkraut Beef Instant Noodles?”*
*(
source: yuehwa site)
“Our Town God here is more down-to-earth, and likes this.”
“…What about the indigestion relief tablets?”*
*(
source: eyaotang site)
“Have you not seen this treasure?” Mu Gesheng pointed to the sallow and thin statue of the Town God in the main hall, and explained reasonably, “This one has a slim figure, he is afraid of indigestion from eating too much.”
___
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Update: 17th Feb~
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