When Old Chen borrowed from Master Fox, he thought about what he witnessed firsthand and couldn’t help but mumble to himself.
But Old Chen would never have imagined that his internal mumblings would appear as wishes in Ansheng’s mental wish list.
Ansheng glanced at the freshly updated wish list in his mind and almost cursed aloud.
[Ah—now that science is advanced, the green mountains and rivers project is well underway, and even the little fox has become an immortal, Mazu above! May Master Fox bless the people of Changxi Town with good fortune and a bountiful harvest all year round—Chen Fengshui recalled the two-tailed fox incident and couldn’t help but mock his own magical experiences in his heart: these days, Master Fox is mingling on the streets, grabbing guns to make a living.]
[Wish fulfilled: Show him how to withstand a typhoon.]
"What the hell does it mean to withstand a typhoon? I weigh less than fifteen pounds including hair."
"You beast! Making me go head to head with a typhoon! Are you playing mahjong in front of Master Fox?"
Ansheng saw the refreshed wish and almost couldn’t help but kick Old Chen.
Damn mingling on the streets, damn blocking a typhoon.
I’ll smash your pants shrine!
"Sob sob sob!"
’Master, master~ don’t stop me, I want to go! I want to help the old village chief!’
"Oh? Xiaolan wants to sit on the divine altar?" Holding her cute little fox, Yu Xueqing’s ears perked up, hearing Xiaolan’s playful words, she couldn’t help but giggle inside.
"Follow me!"
Seeing Master Fox agree to the suggestion, Old Chen secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, leading Ansheng and Yu Xueqing past the tables and chairs still set up in the square and into the historic and atmosphere-rich shrine that had stood there for countless years.
The blue-brick stone walls on the wall were mottled, and behind the shadow wall was a courtyard. Going further inside, there was a table four to five meters long, with layers upon layers of the Chen family ancestor tablets displayed on it.
The door to the room offering the ancestral tablets was already fully open.
On either side of the courtyard, there were middle-aged men and women changing clothes. Saying they were changing clothes wasn’t accurate, as they were all neatly dressed; they were merely putting on a historically-styled vest.
"Good morning, great uncle!"
Holding the fox as she entered the shrine, Yu Xueqing strolled on the wax-like blue brick floor, smiling broadly as she greeted those she recognized.
The bear children in the square exploded cow dung, which wasn’t a big deal by itself, but the firecrackers they used to explode cow dung were as thick as a child’s arm.
After the cow dung flew into the air, it landed on the shrine floor, right in front of the Chen patriarchs.
In front of the ancestral tablets was a scene resembling a cow dung spray, extremely dramatic.
Old Chen could only endure so much.
But when the Chen patriarchs were game-flying sword-wielding, playing chicken in the battlefield, and taking five kills in the canyon...
After Old Chen learned of this, he was shocked.
"Ah Qing, sit here for a while."
After inviting Master Fox, Old Chen went to get his vest, instructing someone to move a giant bronze incense burner in front of the patriarchs.
After changing clothes, Old Chen’s expression was serious, holding a tray lined with red velvet fabric.
With a look, Old Chen signaled, and Yu Xueqing understood, patting the little fox’s head and placing it on the tray.
Old Chen walked steadily, under the curious gaze of some Chen family elders in the courtyard, and placed the tray holding Master Fox on the table behind the incense burner.
Master Fox was in a high position, able to see all the Chen clansmen standing in the courtyard.
Behind him were the ancestors who had contributed to the country, the Chen family, and the local community.
Those able to receive incense offerings in the shrine are not ordinary beings.
Just like the Xia Dong people don’t worship idle gods, not everyone can reside in the shrine and receive incense from their descendants.
"The time has come! There’s a change in the shrine today due to the failure of the Chen descendants, inviting the patriarchs!"
Once Master Fox was placed on the table, Old Chen, holding a lit piece of sandalwood incense, walked to the door and addressed the courtyard crowd solemnly.
The ancestral ritual is actually straightforward — based on achievements and generational rank in the family tree, lining up to offer incense to the Chen family ancestors at the shrine’s incense burner.
After Old Chen announced the reason for the ancestral worship, he was the first to step forward and insert his incense stick into the burner.
Yu Xueqing also helped distribute the lit incense sticks to the uncles and elders in the courtyard.
The Chen uncles and elders stood firm, facing the ancestral tablets, ready to commence worship and incense offering.
However.
At this point, Old Chen seemed to recall something, stepped forward to block the door, and warned:
"The Master Fox behind me is the benefactor who saved the Skinny Dog Creek Tea Garden a few days ago. Treat him with respect and don’t make random wishes in front of Master Fox!"
"Also, don’t wish to the patriarchs, our current ancestral worship is to apologize to the patriarchs!"
Old Chen’s vigilant gaze scanned all the Chen family members.
Whether the patriarchs are supernatural is another matter, but the Master Fox sitting above is genuinely a white fox immortal, don’t mess up on my watch!
Some Chen family members’ eyes flickered as they lowered their heads with awkward expressions.
They saw the village chief treat the fox so reverently, placing it on the ancestral tablet table.
They all thought the fox now on the table might be the fox immortal master the village chief invited back.
The very effective kind, many were just discussing going to make wishes.
"Hey! Little fox says no! What’s wrong with the villagers making wishes to me? How can you, the village chief, hinder the villagers’ freedom of ancestral worship!" Ansheng, full of indignation, complained to Old Chen.
But Old Chen seemed adamant, not allowing the villagers to disturb Master Fox and the Chen family ancestors.
Old Chen stubbornly stood by the incense burner, supervising the Chen family members as they offered incense to the patriarchs.
After the family members finished offering incense, anyone lingering or intending to make a wish received a pointed glare from Old Chen.
The Chen ancestral shrine is an "H" shaped structure. After the descendants offered incense to their ancestors, rather than directly exiting the shrine, they stood in the outer circle with a full-on spectator expression.
Offering incense is just one step.
What’s next is the real spectacle.
"Whew..."
Once the last person had finished offering incense, Old Chen discreetly glanced at Master Fox, confirming that no family member had made a sneaky wish to him, and exhaled a breath of relief.
Making wishes to other deities and their effectiveness doesn’t matter much, usually just for psychological comfort.
But!
The Master Fox on the table!
Could pull out firearms!
Rumored to be closely associated with smuggling gangs, even possibly acquainted with some Treasure Island syndicates!
Old Chen wasn’t afraid of other issues; he feared Master Fox hearing the family’s wishes and taking out a heavy machine gun that night to assist those business-owning Chen family members in sweeping past their commercial rivals to fulfill those wishes!
Now seeing Master Fox calmly sitting, Old Chen felt relieved and walked to the door, taking out a smartphone from his pocket to open the recording.
However, Old Chen found the video footage from his phone a bit blurry, with focus issues.
"Ah Qing, can your phone record in that 4K HD video? Help Uncle Chen record it. Later, I’ll take it back to broadcast in the village."
Fumbling with it for a while, Old Chen was completely helpless with this years-old smartphone and turned to Yu Xueqing, asking.
"Uh..... it should be able to."
Yu Xueqing went to her backpack, pulling out two live-streaming fruits and a personal rice device.
"Village chief, do you want 4K recording?"
"Can it record in 8K?"
"Uh.... I don’t think so, right?"
"Then it’s just 4K!"
Once Yu Xueqing set up the phone, Old Chen addressed all the Chen family members loudly:
"Bring the disobedient descendants: Chen Zhi! Chen Liang! Chen Nianshao to the shrine!"