Baozi Xishi's Struggle

A middle-aged woman wearing a blue and white cloth apron saw Shen Yu coming over and greeted her warmly: "Miss, what would you like to eat? I have some excellent vegetarian noodle soup here."

Shen Yu smiled and shook her head. She had eaten biscuits, pickles and grapes in the morning. She didn't feel hungry at the moment. She was just tired from walking around and just wanted to sit down and rest.

The woman saw that the guest was not here to eat, so she was not annoyed. She still smiled and asked her to sit down: "Young lady, you must be tired from shopping. Come and sit down and rest your feet. It's okay if you don't want to eat. There are not many people here right now. They are all busy in the front."

As he spoke, he warmly handed over a palm leaf fan: "It's very hot, use this to cool down."

After all the hospitality, Shen Yu felt embarrassed and had to sit down: "Thank you, Auntie, why don't you go to the main hall in front? I see many ladies are in front."

"Well, I want to go too, but who will look after this area if I go? I have to help look after the stalls next to me. They want to have some fun. I have come to sell noodles at the Sutra Drying Ceremony in recent years. I have seen it several times. I will not go this time. I have already agreed with them that they will bring me some flower cakes when they donate them."

The woman was quick-witted and eloquent. Shen Yu smiled and chatted with her while fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan: "This Dharma Assembly is held once a year. When there is no Dharma Assembly on weekdays, where do you set up your stall?"

"This is your first time to attend a Dharma Assembly at Guangning Temple, right? You may not know that I usually set up a stall at Wuliting on the official road outside the county town. Whenever there is a Dharma Assembly at this temple, I come here to set up my stall."

"The Tianfu Festival is held once a year, but there are at least a dozen large and small ceremonies in the year. Although Guangning Temple is not very big, the Bodhisattva is very effective. The abbot Huien in the temple has profound Buddhist knowledge. It is said that the prefect invited him to give a lecture. Many people from a radius of fifty miles come here to worship and pray. Every time there is a ceremonial meeting, it is so crowded that it is very lively.

The woman spoke of Guangning Temple with a look of pride, and it seemed that she was also a devout Buddhist believer.

Shen Yu looked at the empty stall and asked in confusion: "Auntie, why don't you set up a stall at the front gate? I came up from the mountain road in front. There is a big area in front of the mountain gate. People have to pass by there when going up and down the mountain."

"This is the rule set by the abbot of the temple. We all use open flames to cook. The yard in front of the mountain gate is large, but there are many people and children. It would be bad if someone bumps into something and gets burned. In addition, it is windy in front of the mountain gate, and there are colorful tents set up. If there is water, it will be no joke."

"People who often come to Guangning Temple know that food is sold at the small door at the back. It's not yet time for lunch. When that time comes, some people eat vegetarian meals in the temple, and some come here to eat. There are a lot of people. The income in one day is as much as I make from setting up a stall at Wuliting for four or five days." The woman answered with a smile.

So that's how it is. Shen Yu looked around and saw that the wall next to the open space was tall, blocking the mountain wind. It was also surrounded by a bamboo fence, which separated it from the surrounding trees at a considerable distance. It was indeed much safer to use fire.

"Girl, aren't you going to wait for the flower cakes to be distributed? Eating these flower cakes can keep you warm all summer long."

The woman saw that the little girl didn't look hungry and was sitting there leisurely. She was afraid that she would miss the time for distributing the flower cakes, so she kindly reminded her.

After hearing what the woman said, Shen Yu remembered that there was still the matter of sharing flower cakes. He wanted to go to the front to join in the fun, but when he thought of the huge crowds of people in front, he backed off.

She had no choice but to say: "There are too many people in front of me. I can't squeeze through. Forget it. I might as well walk around."

"Miss, you don't know that there won't be a crowd when distributing flower cakes. You have to line up, and the temple will arrange people to maintain order. But those who line up first will get the flower cakes offered in front of the Buddha, and those who line up behind can only get the ones on the two tables. In fact, no matter where they are offered, they are offered to the Bodhisattva, and eating them will bring you blessings. Miss, you should go and line up to get the flower cakes, and eating them will bring you the protection of the Bodhisattva."

Shen Yu couldn't resist the woman's enthusiastic advice, so he had to get up and say goodbye, then slowly walked towards the main hall in the front yard.

By the time she walked back to the front yard, the ceremony was coming to an end. Bells and chimes were ringing. Led by two monks, people lined up in two long queues. Shen Yu walked to the end of the queue and slowly moved forward with the flow of people.

It was noon and the sun was at its highest point. Even though the team was lined up under the corridor of the main hall, it still felt very stuffy.

Shen Yu looked around boredly. The fat chef Lu was at the end of the next line like her. He was holding a big cattail leaf fan and fanning himself. When she was about to greet him, Chef Lu also saw her and waved her over.

Chef Lu wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and said to Shen Yu, "I see someone I know. Those brats are nowhere to be found. Let's take turns queuing together to avoid being crowded here. It's really too hot to bear. You queue here first. I'll go over there to cool off for a while and come back to take your place later."

Having said that, without waiting for Shen Yu's consent, he turned around and squeezed out of the team, slipping towards the mountain gate. There was shade there, and there were no walls to block the mountain breeze. It was indeed a good place to cool off. There were already several people sitting on the steps at the entrance to avoid the cool air.

Shen Yu watched Chef Lu walk away from afar, smiled helplessly, and continued to queue.

After waiting in line for about a quarter of an hour, Chef Lu came over with a small bean green two-handled jar with orchid patterns and stuffed it into Shen Yu's hand: "Iced sour plum soup, it's cool and sweet. Take it and drink it under the tree over there. I'll continue in line. Don't walk too far. I'll call you when we're almost there."

As he said this, he pushed Shen Yu out of the team and took her place.

Shen Yu had no choice but to carry the small jar and walk to a flower tree beside the corridor. It was a little more ventilated here, and standing under the shade of the tree, he immediately felt cooler.

She strolled around for half a day and was really thirsty after waiting in line.

The body of the jar was still icy cold, with some tiny water droplets on it. There were two small bowls on top of it. I placed the jar on a stone bench under a tree for people to rest, and poured out a bowl of water.

After taking a sip, the iced sour plum soup was sweet and sour and refreshing, with a very light medicinal taste in the aftertaste, but the aftertaste was very sweet and refreshing, making your mouth water, and it was very delicious.

After drinking the sweet sour plum soup and resting for a while on the stone bench, Shen Yu became energetic again. Just at this moment, Chef Lu waved at her, and it seemed that it was almost her turn.

She quickly collected the jars and bowls and trotted over to Chef Lu.

As soon as they lined up, they arrived at the distribution area. There was a large plate of cut flower cakes on each of the two small tables. Shen Yu imitated Chef Lu and bowed to the monks. The monk in charge of distribution took the cut oil paper, wrapped a small piece of flower cake and handed it to him.

Shen Yu hurriedly took it with both hands, bowed her head, and donated the prepared incense money to the merit box on the side. The monk chanted a Buddhist name, and she followed Lu Chu to the corridor on the other side.