Chapter 26: Our Village is Blessed with Wonders
Gao Yiye lifted her head, poised to ask the Heavenly Lord for his thoughts.
Li Daoxuan spoke before she could, his voice cutting in. "Yiye," he instructed, "a family was tragically wiped out by bandits, and their house stands empty. Take San Shier's wife and daughter there, and settle them into that dwelling."
Gao Yiye promptly agreed, then approached San Shier’s wife and daughter. "Please, follow me," she said gently.
The servants and maidservants were too intimidated to speak, and the ten-year-old girl, shy and reserved, simply clutched her mother's hand. Mrs. San, however, possessed a bolder spirit. Noticing Gao Yiye’s kind and gentle demeanor, she gathered her courage and asked as they walked, "Young woman, what is the story of your Gao Family Village? How does it possess such formidable walls? They are far more impressive than anything in the county seat!"
Gao Yiye replied, "Those walls are a blessing from the Heavenly Lord. Our Gao Family Village lives under the Heavenly Lord's protection and is blessed with many divine wonders. Now that you are here, you will soon witness them for yourself."
Mrs. San looked utterly bewildered. "Heavenly Lord's protection? Divine wonders?"
She didn't quite grasp it.
In truth, she had been silently cursing her husband the entire journey. She had initially imagined that escaping the city meant simply taking refuge in a nearby village. Instead, Gao Chuwu had led them over thirty *li*.
Over thirty *li*!
Now that they had finally arrived, it was merely a tiny village, no bigger than a hand. Had it not been for its strange, colorful walls, she would have seen nothing noteworthy about it.
Mrs. San was still inwardly lambasting her husband when she suddenly looked up and saw a row of racks standing in the open space ahead. They were laden with strips of salted chicken meat, left out to air-dry...
Ordinarily, this would not be unusual. However, if there were countless such racks, packed densely together and stretching as far as the eye could see, covering a vast expanse—then it was indeed extraordinary.
A massive operation for air-drying chicken strips!
Mrs. San was completely dumbfounded. *Isn't there a severe drought? Aren't people struggling to survive? Haven't farmers been driven to rebellion by starvation?* What was the meaning of these countless dried chicken strips? And they even had this much salt for curing? This was utterly preposterous!
Mrs. San's maidservants and servants were similarly wide-eyed with disbelief, their gazes fixed on the chicken strips. Each of them wore an expression that screamed, "Am I dreaming?"
Gao Yiye led them to a dilapidated house. "You can stay here for now," she told them.
The house before them was indeed quite rundown, and Mrs. San felt a pang of disdain. However, she rationalized that it was merely a "temporary refuge until the rebels dispersed, after which they would return to the county seat," so she held her tongue.
Gao Yiye heard the Heavenly Lord's voice again in her ear. "This place is not like the county seat," he instructed. "Even if they have money, they won't find food here. Give them two grains of Divine Rice, a small piece of vegetable, a few chicken strips, and a handful of salt. Let them fill their stomachs first."
Gao Yiye acknowledged his words and went home to fetch the provisions.
When she placed these items before Mrs. San, the latter was scared half to death. "This... what... what is this... rice?" she stammered. "Why... why is it so enormous? And this salt, these enormous crystals, they look like chunks of pure white crystal!"
Gao Yiye said, "Didn't I just tell you? Our Gao Family Village has many divine wonders. This rice and salt are Divine Rice and divine salt bestowed by the Heavenly Lord. Simply accept them with gratitude."
Mrs. San now truly understood what "divine wonders" meant. She quickly clasped her hands together in prayer, bowing twice towards the sky, before accepting the food.
Li Daoxuan had no further instructions for the moment, so Gao Yiye no longer lingered with Mrs. San and her party. She left the house and headed towards the city gate.
Mrs. San instructed her servants and maidservants to clean the room and arrange the bedding. With nothing for herself to do, she simply took her daughter's hand and slipped out of the house again, wandering freely around the village.
The entire village was encircled by colorful, gigantic walls, which instilled in her a profound sense of security.
The expanse of chicken strips on the open ground beside the house once again astonished her, but that was nothing. She soon spotted an enormous pond, brimming with clean water—a truly astounding discovery. It was a time of severe drought, rivers everywhere running dry, and plants withering. *Yet here, there's such a massive pond?* It was simply inconceivable.
"Heave!"
"One, two, three..."
From the direction of the distant city gate, the shouts of villagers echoed. Mrs. San turned her head and saw four or five villagers strenuously pushing up a massive gate, which they had just finished binding together, intending to install it into the gate archway.
The gate, bound entirely from solid wood, was incredibly heavy. One villager slipped and fell, and with a creaking groan, the massive gate began to topple sideways, threatening to crush the elderly Village Chief.
The villagers cried out in alarm!
Mrs. San and her daughter both jumped in fright.
Just then, the half-fallen gate suddenly froze in mid-air, suspended as if by an invisible force. It did not fall and crush anyone...
The villagers, caught in their various strange poses, froze in astonishment.
After several breaths, Gao Yiye's loud voice finally broke through. "The Heavenly Lord has reached out and seized the gate!" she exclaimed. "What are you gaping at? Quickly, help support the gate again!"
Gao Chuwu ran over from the side and extended his hands to support the gate. Having eaten well recently, his body had grown rapidly, and muscles were now visible on his arms. The moment he joined, those supporting the gate immediately felt the pressure lighten considerably.
Several other young men also joined in. Together, they carefully raised the gate again, installed it into the archway, and secured it with Divine Ropes. Only then did they breathe a sigh of relief.
Watching this scene from a distance, Mrs. San frantically rubbed her eyes. "Just now, was that... an invisible hand that caught the falling gate?" she gasped. "My Heavens! Oh, my good Heavens!"
Mrs. San was, in fact, a devout follower of Daoism. In her spare time, she would visit Daoist temples, burn incense for the Heavenly Worthies, donate a bit of money, and make small wishes. She had several Daoist scriptures memorized by heart, and could recite incantations like "Laozi, act with urgency as commanded!" as proficiently as any Daoist priest.
However, her "fortune was insufficient"; despite half a lifetime of devout faith, she had never once witnessed a divine miracle.
This time, she finally witnessed one with her own eyes.
Without a moment's hesitation, Mrs. San dropped to her knees with a thud, her forehead striking the ground and stirring up a cloud of dust. She paid it no mind, crying out loudly, "The Heavenly Worthy has manifested! This disciple is blessed to witness it; I am lucky for three lifetimes! I would die without regret!"
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