Chapter 290: Peace and Tranquility (make up for yesterday)

Aunt Wang opened the basket, took out a chicken, a plate of white meat, and a plate of fruit and placed them on the table. Then she lit incense, knelt on the cushion and began to chant.

Seeing this, Pan Yun put down his pen, picked up a hammer and gently struck the bell hanging nearby. The sound of the bell echoed, spreading out of the mountain temple and reverberating in the valley.

Master, there’s work coming, hurry up and take it!
Aunt Wang recited her wish in a low voice, bowed and put the incense in, then knelt on the cushion and kowtowed again.

Pan Yun figured it out and realized that this was a big project.

Pan Yun was worried that her master couldn't do it, so she decided to lend a helping hand. She smiled and asked Aunt Wang, who had just finished kneeling, "Aunt Wang, is there something important going on in your family?"

Aunt Wang didn't think Pan Yun could do anything to help her, but she wanted to talk to someone, even though she had said the same thing several times in the village.

She sat on a stool opposite Pan Yun, sighed heavily, and then said, "Our village is going to have a grain chief. My family has a good harvest this year. Xiao Jing's second uncle went to learn carpentry, and Xiao Jing found a job firing a kiln. The head of the village said that my family is doing well and is the family that harvests the most grain in the village, so he let my family be the grain chief."

Pan Jun smiled and said, "This is a good thing."

"What good news is this?" Aunt Wang said worriedly, "It's not easy to be a grain manager. This year, we only collected the autumn grain once, and my family paid more than 200 kilograms of millet, which is the harvest of half an acre of land."

Pan Yun was surprised, "Why do we need to replenish the food?"

Aunt Wang looked even more distressed. "It looked like the sun was shining brightly on the day we were transporting the grain, but it started to rain halfway through. Although we immediately put up the tarpaulin, the truck overturned in our rush."

"Your uncle Wang dragged the cart up and twisted his waist. When we took it to the county government, we found that two bags were wet and weighed three or four kilograms. We cleared them out and replaced them with dry, new ones, but the grain collector still judged that our two bags were unqualified and required us to pay an additional 200 kilograms."

Pan Yun: "Then just bring back the two old bags and replace them with new ones."

Aunt Wang slapped her thigh and said, "We said the same thing, but the official disagreed. He took all the grain and forced us to pay an additional 200 kilograms. Besides, a bag of grain weighs 80 kilograms, and two bags weigh 160 kilograms, which is not enough to make 200 kilograms."

Whenever Aunt Wang thought of this, she felt heartbroken. "When the villagers gave us the grain tax, it was in full. The grain manager's job was to transport and deliver the grain. Now there is a problem and we can't share the burden with the villagers, so my family has to pay for it ourselves."

"As for me, I don't ask for anything else. I just hope that the grain payment will go smoothly next year and I don't need to make up for it. My family is a small one and we can't afford such trouble."

Seeing her worried face, Pan Yun smiled and comforted her, "This year is just an accident. Let me draw a peace charm for you to take back and put it by your bed. When you pay grain next year, if the peace charm is still intact, you can ask Uncle Wang to take it with you. With the protection of the mountain god, you will be safe and sound."

"If the talisman is broken, it's not a big deal. You can come to the mountain temple again and ask whoever is in the temple to get another one. Give it to whoever is going to escort the grain, and they will be safe."

Aunt Wang's eyes lit up, "Really?"

Pan Jun smiled and nodded, "It's true."

Aunt Wang smiled, took Pan Yun's hand and patted it gently, saying, "The Taoist priest in our temple is still the best. Listen to what Auntie said, I am not someone who can be frightened by just a little thing. Didn't I hear that something happened to the grain chief in Majia Village?"

Pan Yun immediately leaned forward and asked curiously, "What happened?"

The red fox squatting nearby also pricked up its pointed ears.

"Their family sold five acres of land. Life was tough, so they finally gave up the position of grain chief."

Pan Jun was stunned and frowned, "Don't you all like being the grain chief?"

Aunt Wang sighed heavily, "I don't like it anyway. There are too many things to do and the responsibility is too great. If anything goes wrong, my family will have to bear the consequences. But my father-in-law said that this is also considered doing things for the villagers. The villagers trust us, so this is what we should do."

"But look at the Ma family. Every year, they have to use the young and strong people in the family to pay taxes. When they are busy, they have to waste three or four days. During these three or four days, they have to eat, drink, defecate, urinate and sleep, right?"

"You have to pay for this yourself, and provide the grain," Aunt Wang frowned. "I didn't know this before, but I went to the county government office this time and found out that paying the grain is a lot of trouble."

"On the way, the grain bags may fall, leak, or drop, which will cause damage. When we arrive at the county town, we have to wait, which can take three or four days. The grain may be stolen, replaced, or leak. In short, there are all kinds of problems."

"I haven't closed my eyes in the past three days. Paying grain costs me half my life. I am now hoping that God will quickly give the position of grain chief to someone else. My family can't afford it."

Pan Jun: "...How many wishes did you make?"

"Three."

Aunt Wang said, "One is to pray for the safety and health of my family, one is to pray that someone else will be the grain chief next year, and the other is, if the grain chief is still my family, I pray that everything goes well."

Pan Jun thought about it and didn’t think her master was powerful enough to influence the decision-making of the government office. What they could influence were actually small matters.

For example, when Uncle Wang was pushing the grain cart and was about to turn it over, he might not be able to do so; or when he was pulling the cart up, he would feel that his body was full of strength and he was able to pull it up, but his waist was not twisted...

Pan Yun immediately came back to his senses and asked, "Is Uncle Wang's waist okay?"

"Much better. The day before yesterday, Fei Yin helped to massage and apply medicine on him. He was able to walk yesterday and said that it didn't hurt much anymore. When I asked him again this morning, he said that he was completely healed and didn't feel any pain."

So she came to the temple not only to pray for the coming year, but also to fulfill a vow.

Pan Yun took out a yellow talisman and cinnabar and began to light the cinnabar to draw a talisman for her.

She folded the amulet into a rectangle and handed it to her, saying with a smile, "Uncle Wang, it's done. Take it home and place it by your bedside to ward off evil spirits and keep you safe."

Aunt Wang carefully took it and put it away, then started to turn over.

After rummaging for a long time, Pan Yun finally found three cents. He pointed at the money and said, "Just give me one cent." When Aunt Wang heard this, she smiled happily and put the one cent in her palm.

The red fox tilted its head to watch, and saw her put all the offerings into the basket. Finally, she took a fruit and gave it to Pan Yun, "Little Taoist priest, this is for you to eat. It has been offered to your master, and it tastes better because it has divine power."

Pan Yun bowed and took it.

When Aunt Wang turned around and was about to leave, she saw the fox squatting beside her. She took out another fruit from the basket and handed it to the fox, saying with a smile, "I'll give you one too."

Hongyan tilted her fox head to look at her, as if she felt her kindness, and stretched out her two paws to catch the fruit.

Aunt Wang felt relieved and went home happily.

Pan Jun stood at the door holding a fruit and watched her walk away. Beside him squatted a fiery red fox, also holding a fruit.

It was not until Aunt Wang turned the corner and disappeared that the man and the fox withdrew their gaze. They lowered their heads to look at the fruit in their hands, wiped it on their clothes, and took a bite.

Seeing that the beauty was still holding the fruit, Pan Yun kindly said, "I can lend you the corner of my clothes to wipe it."

Hongyan glanced at her, lowered her head and took a bite, then asked, "Your talisman is only worth one penny?"

Pan Yun smiled and said, "One penny is very valuable to them. I sold this talisman too expensively."

It seemed that after hearing Aunt Wang say that Pan Yun had returned, the villagers came to the mountain temple to see her one after another.

The adults walked in with their hands behind their backs. After entering the temple and paying their respects, they asked Pan Yun how he had been doing outside in the past year and what he had learned.
Then he asked her to stand up and walk around, and commented: "She has grown taller."

"I just lost weight."

Knowing that Miaozhen and Miaohe had returned safely and were now on the mountain, the adults said, "Let them come down the mountain to eat fruit when they have time."

Pan Yun agreed immediately.

The villagers were satisfied and went back to chatting about their own things.

There were about ten villagers sitting or standing in the square in front of the mountain temple, both men and women, old and young. They started with the grain tax they had just paid, and soon they talked about who was going to marry a daughter-in-law, who was going to marry a daughter, and the grain seeds for next year...

You can say anything.

Pan Yun and Hong Yan squatted aside, turning their heads to look at this and that, listening with such gusto that they forgot all about the martial arts secrets that they had given to her brother.

When the school in the village was over, teenagers between the ages of seven and fourteen rushed to the mountain temple. When they saw Pan Yun, they shouted and rushed over happily, "Pan Yun, you're back! Where are Miao and Miao Zhen?"

Pan Yun also stood up happily, "They are on the mountain."

"Tell them to go down the mountain tomorrow. We haven't seen them for a long time."

"Ah, fox!"

The young men saw the beauty squatting nearby and surrounded her happily, but no one reached out to her.

Pan Jun happily introduced them: "This is Hongyan, Hongyan, this is our friend from Fenshui Village."

Seeing that they only had curiosity and joy in their eyes, Hongyan waved her paw at them, causing a group of children, both young and old, to exclaim, "It can wave its paw!"

“It understands us!”

"Bravo!"

The adults sitting nearby were disgusted by their fuss and shouted, "Don't bully the fox, don't catch it, don't touch it, don't shout, and be quiet in front of the mountain temple."

The boys covered their mouths, their eyes moved around flexibly, you bumped into me, I pushed you, we communicated with our eyes, or whispered to each other, we were very happy.

Pan Jun turned around and asked Xiaolan, who was standing nearby and covering her mouth with her hands while laughing, "Are you also studying in the academy now?"

Xiaolan nodded with sparkling eyes, "Master Wang said that the mountain god said that all living beings are equal. This school is open to the whole village. Anyone who wants to learn to read can go and study, regardless of gender, age or status."

"The first teacher didn't like us girls to go to school, so Master Wang asked him to leave and invited another old teacher."

Xiaolan said, "The old man is a very nice person. He never rushes us to study and even teaches us arithmetic. My grandmother sometimes goes to listen. My grandmother is the best. She has learned a hundred characters. In the future, she can just sign her name instead of drawing a circle."

Pan Yun praised: "Grandma Liu is really amazing, you should learn from her."

Xiaolan nodded vigorously, "I will!"

Xiaolan asked, "How are you guys doing in your studies?"

Pan Yun raised his chin and said proudly: "Not bad, the results are acceptable."

Xiaolan couldn't help but smile when she saw her proud look, "I knew you could do it."

(End of this chapter)