Lady Xue fainted after seeing her daughter, shocking Xue Bozhen so much that he seed to lose half his soul.
Fortunately, Qin Liuxi had dical skills at hand. After checking her pulse, he discovered that it was a sudden upset attack of the heart, caused by long days of worry, leading to sleepless nights and an increase in liver fire. Plus, she had traveled a hundred miles in the severe cold, so both her body and mind were exhausted.
Lady Xue was suffering from a self-imposed illness. Luckily, she ca from a General’s family, had practiced martial arts, and had a strong physical foundation. As long as she recuperated carefully and eased her stress, it wouldn’t be a big problem.
For now, Qin Liuxi didn’t prescribe any dicine. He gave her a round of acupuncture to remove the cold energy from her body, lit a calming incense, and gave Xue Bozhen so ointnt.
"Madam is both physically and ntally exhausted and most needs sleep. She has taken a big hit and might be agitated if she stays awake and worried about the young lady," said Qin Liuxi. "I’ve removed the cold energy and lit calming incense. Let her sleep and relax. The ointnt is for the sores on her thighs, and I’ll write a prescription later."
Xue Bozhen was ward by this care and took the ointnt, thanking him: "Thank you, master."
Qin Liuxi said, "I’m going to get so incense ashes from the Divine Altar, and make sure to arrange the Hundred Blessings Quilt imdiately."
Xue Bozhen also knew the urgency. Finding a hundred virgin girls, though not many at other tis, was not easy to determine whether the person was genuinely kind-hearted.
As they say, you can know a person’s face but not their heart. So people appear gentle and kind but are sinister and malicious behind the scenes, adept at pretending.
Finding these genuinely kind-hearted virgin girls in just one day required resources and investigation.
Now it was moonlit and starlit, with only a few hours until dawn. Preparing before sunset was quite a tight schedule.
Xue Bozhen handed the ointnt to the maid who arrived later to apply it and went to make arrangents. To find people, he had to go to the county, ask for household registers from the governntal office, and filter out unmarried individuals for a character check.
Luckily, as a high-ranking official himself, even knocking on the governntal office’s back door for household registers, the county officials didn’t dare to make a sound and cooperated fully.
While Xue Bozhen sent people to find candidates, Qin Liuxi left Teng Zhao and Little Ginseng to watch over Xue Yuying. He also used wishing power to light a long-burning lamp for protection, and then returned to Qingping Temple via the Yin Road.
She intended to collect incense ashes from the City God Temple, but considering the tough tis in South County over the past two years, with fewer devotees and less incense, the wishing power would naturally be insufficient, so she returned to Qingping Temple.
Tonight, the incense was watched over by Sanyuan. Hearing movents in the hall, he imdiately opened his eyes from ditation and stood up as soon as he saw Qin Liuxi.
"Temple master."
Qin Liuxi walked up and said, "You’re watching the incense tonight."
Sanyuan nodded and took three incense sticks from the altar, handing them to Qin Liuxi: "These days, the temple has been distributing porridge, and with the snow disaster in the north, the south is cold too. Many holess people ca to the temple, and so refugees hid under the Grandmaster’s altar, trying to steal incense oil."
Qin Liuxi looked up and indeed saw their Grandmaster’s golden statue with a disgruntled pout, and asked, "Was the person caught?"
"The Grandmaster manifested, and a small statue inexplicably fell and knocked him out." Sanyuan smiled faintly.
Qin Liuxi offered three bows, placed the incense, and said, "If soone had snuck away the incense money under his nose, he’d be a fool."
Grandmaster: Rebellious disciple deserves a beating!
Qin Liuxi glanced at the rapidly burning incense, took a piece of yellow paper, swept so incense ashes from the incense burner into it, put it in the wallet, and patted Sanyuan’s shoulder: "Don’t forget to practice. The talisman must be practiced daily. A Daoist who can’t draw a Spirit Talisman can’t slay evil on the Righteous Path. So practice daily, and once you can draw a Spirit Talisman, you’ll truly understand the aning of cultivation."
"Yes."
Qin Liuxi left the main hall, went to the Daoist Room to gather so items, and the door was knocked on. It was Qing Yuan, having heard the movent, who ca over.
"The temple master is back?"
Qin Liuxi turned and replied, "I ca back to get so things. This year’s snow disaster has caused many refugees; is it difficult for the temple to be charitable this year?"
Qing Yuan said, "Grain is more expensive than ever; more than half of our previous stock of grain and dicine is gone, and we’ve made records with the city governntal office, building several thatched huts to shelter the refugees."
"Sanyuan said the temple nearly encountered thieves too."
Qing Yuan smiled bitterly, "Yes, this winter is much harsher than ever; it’s bitterly cold, and the people’s lives harder. Many have frozen to death."
Qin Liuxi said, "After the snow lts, there might still be minor disasters; overall, next year will be harder. Save on grain and dicine. If the temple is short-handed, hire so strong devotees to help with chores and guard against petty thieves, so they don’t disturb the temple and startle the devotees. Just provide food."
"Already done, otherwise we wouldn’t know how many would rush into the hall seeking warmth." Qing Yuan sighed.
Qin Liuxi frowned, considering the ongoing snow disaster, perhaps it would indeed be so, and said, "Natural disasters are hard to avoid; human disasters can be. Better to hire more people than let them destroy Qingping Temple."
Sotis, when people are driven to desperation, just surviving makes them disregard any gods and do anything.
Qin Liuxi gave a few more instructions, noted that dawn was breaking, bid farewell, and headed to the City God Temple.
Sha Yuanzi was busy offering incense to the City God when he heard footsteps, turned, saw her, and gave a slight nod in greeting.
Qin Liuxi walked forward and also offered a stick of pure incense to the City God Master.
The City God saw her, smiling broadly but soon pulling a face: "Weren’t you supposed to go to Shengjing? Didn’t bring any decent offerings for this City God?"
"I was in a hurry; didn’t prepare." Qin Liuxi looked at him and said softly, "City God, I’m feeling quite down."
She had lost a disciple and couldn’t find him back.
The City God was startled, then got a bit excited: "Do tell what’s disturbing you, so I can feel a bit of joy?"
Qin Liuxi’s brewing emotions instantly felt slapped, couldn’t continue.
She turned to leave.
The City God, seeing this, called out, "Why leaving, haven’t even chatted a bit? What’s the matter? Want this City God to bestow a bit of divine light? You look like you have bad luck and might get struck by lightning!"
Qin Liuxi: "!"
Claiming to leave the master isn’t feasible, better to kill!
The City God saw her grim face and said, "Really, I am, after all, a god. If I say you look unlucky, you are unlucky."
You should really just stop talking!
The City God snapped out a bit of divine light; Qin Liuxi didn’t even have ti to refuse, as it already touched her, warming her.
"Incense isn’t popular, divine power isn’t strong, just a little bit, so when you get struck, it’ll feel a tad better!" The City God smugly said, "This City God is generous, so next ti, bring sothing tasty."
Qin Liuxi felt her gloominess dissipate: "Okay."
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