darknovel Chapter 1: Afraid her husband wouldn't agree
Chapter 1: Afraid her husband wouldn't agree
"I came to your temple to burn incense and make a wish the day before yesterday, and your abbot swore that he would grant my wish that very night! Two whole days have passed, and I haven't seen a trace of my wish! Quickly call that old bald monk out and make him return my incense money!"
Jiang Feng glanced at the agitated worshippers in the main hall, gently pressed his hand down, and said calmly, "Please calm down, benefactor. May I ask what you wished for?"
"All I want is a stunningly beautiful woman to be my wife, and for the rest of my life, wealth and luxury. Is such a simple wish too much to ask?"
"Not at all, not at all. But you may not know this, but our abbot has already granted your two wishes."
"Huh? When did this happen? How come I don't even know it?"
Seeing the pilgrims' bewildered expressions, Jiang Feng explained:
"Just the night before last, our abbot absconded with all the temple's savings and eloped with the most beautiful courtesan at the brothel down the mountain. Look at this stunning beauty, and the promise of a lifetime of wealth and luxury—hasn't the abbot granted you everything?"
"No...it's him..."
"You're going to make this happen for me?!"
The pilgrim's eyes widened in disbelief, and he was momentarily speechless.
Jiang Feng said arrogantly, "Leaving aside the process and the result, just tell me whether the abbot granted your wish or not!"
Pilgrim: "@#￥#@……"
"By the way, remember to take the main road when you come down the mountain. There has been some unrest in our Zuan County recently. Five men have gone missing in the last few days."
After seeing off the grumbling worshippers, Jiang Feng looked at the empty Buddhist temple, and a "ding" sounded in his mind.
[Your compassion helped the pilgrim "Cloth Bag Li" realize that praying to gods and Buddhas was useless. Your boundless love moved Heaven, and you were rewarded with mastery of "Puppetry".]
When Jiang Feng opened his eyes in this life, he found himself transformed into an infant, placed in a wooden basin floating in a river.
An old monk who happened to be passing by rescued him from the river and took him back to the "Wishing Temple" to adopt him, naming him Jiang Liuer. When he grew up a little older, he changed his name back to his previous life's name, Jiang Feng.
Once, to prevent a young pilgrim from getting cavities, he mercifully ate the candied hawthorn from the pilgrim's hand. He then discovered that as long as he was "compassionate," he could receive generous rewards such as magic and magical power.
From then on, he made great strides on the path of "compassion," helping the nuns on the mountain find a match and helping the cats and dogs brought by female pilgrims to breed, no matter how great the difficulties!
Even the old abbot who adopted Jiang Feng, with his help, went down the mountain and eloped with the courtesan.
"Jiang Feng, Jiang Feng!"
Jiang Feng was studying his newly acquired reward, "Puppet Technique," when suddenly a loud voice rang out in the Buddhist temple, followed by a young man dressed in blue rushing in.
Seeing his beaming face and excited expression, Jiang Feng asked curiously, "Running so fast, did you find some wild silver?"
The boy's name was Zhao Ping'an, and he was one of the people whom Jiang Feng "mercifully" treated the most.
His father, Zhao Youde, was a wealthy man in Zu'an County and a devout Buddhist layman. Over the years, he would often come to the temple to burn incense and pray to Buddha, asking Buddha to bless his foolish son so that he wouldn't be swindled out of his fortune and starve to death on the streets after his death...
Zhao Ping'an had been coming to the temple to burn incense with his father since he was a child, and he was very familiar with Jiang Feng, so he spoke to him without any reservations.
"Are there any wild silver coins? I found a wild young lady... Pshaw, what nonsense! I met a beautiful young lady on my way here!"
Jiang Feng rolled his eyes and said, "It's better to find silver. There are plenty of pretty young ladies out there. You can look at them whenever you want."
After catching his breath, Zhao Ping'an leaned forward with a mysterious look and whispered, "What do you know? That young lady twisted her ankle while walking and sat down by the roadside to rest. I helped her home."
Before she left, she told me that she was always alone at home, day and night, and that she was very lonely. Do you know what that means?
She lives alone...
Jiang Feng pondered for a moment, then suddenly a thought struck him: "Does that mean she's an orphan?"
"That's right, it means she..."
Zhao Ping'an stopped mid-sentence, his eyes widening as he exclaimed, "What orphan! That young lady clearly has her eye on me; she wants to invite me to her house for a secret rendezvous tonight!"
"I've encountered the kind of romantic encounters you see in those folk tales—I've struck it lucky with love!"
Jiang Feng looked him up and down with amusement: "She's taken a liking to you? Is she attracted to your illiteracy, your ugly appearance and unrealistic dreams, or is she attracted to the muddle in your head?"
Even if we take a step back and say that she had her eye on you, why didn't she try to keep you? After all, she lives alone.
Zhao Ping'an felt a little guilty: "Who said she didn't ask me to stay? I was just a little scared being alone... What if her husband disagreed?"
Jiang Feng was stunned: "...So, that young lady is actually a married woman?!"
Zhao Ping'an quickly waved his hand: "I'm just worried about the possibility. Anyway, she doesn't look like she's already married! You've already played matchmaker quite a few times. Come with me to her house again tonight, and I'll ask her if she's married. If we can really make it work, you'll be our matchmaker."
After it's done, I'll pay to move the Buddha statues from your temple and build a gilded one for you to enshrine!
Jiang Feng: "..."
Move the Buddha statue so I can sit on it? That sounds incredibly tempting...
But soon, Jiang Feng snapped out of his reverie, raised his eyebrows, and scolded with a look of dissatisfaction: "What do you take me for? I am a proper Buddhist disciple who has never been burdened by empty fame. What do I need your golden statue for?"
I'm helping you because I'm naturally compassionate and I love seeing lovers united in marriage. Besides, we're brothers, close friends and family; why would I need you to build a golden statue for me?
Just give me the gold directly.
Zhao Ping'an: "..."
He insisted that he would never misjudge someone!
Seeing that it was getting late, Jiang Feng went to the kitchen and made a few flatbreads, giving two to Zhao Ping'an. Then he rummaged through a bunch of odds and ends and put them into his magic pouch. After thinking for a moment, he took out a talisman and handed it to Zhao Ping'an.
Zhao Ping'an took the amulet and examined it, his expression turning somewhat strange: "Isn't this the amulet from the Lou Dao Temple? Why are you, a monk, using a talisman drawn by a Taoist priest?"
Jiang Feng continued to stuff things into his treasure pouch without a care: "This is called being prepared. I not only took the talisman drawn by the Taoist priest, but also the temple's relics, a poisoned dagger, antidote pills, poisonous herbs, arsenic, wound medicine, sleeping potion and antidote, and a jar of raging oil."
Later, go before the Buddha and make a wish, asking the Buddha to bless your marriage proposal trip tonight with a safe and successful outcome.
A layer of cold sweat broke out on Zhao Ping'an's forehead: "So you still know I'm going to propose marriage? I thought you were taking me to kill someone and cover your tracks..."
He glanced at Jiang Feng with annoyance, took out a money pouch and threw it into the donation box, then walked back.
"I've brought you the incense money, but forget about making a wish. No one who comes to your temple to burn incense ever has a wish come true. I don't know how you dare to call your temple a wishing temple."
Jiang Feng looked at him with a strange expression in his eyes: "Do you think it's possible that the person who funded the construction of this temple back then was named Xu Yuan (meaning 'wishing')?"
Zhao Ping'an: "..."