Ancient Temple Part 2

Tan Xiao and Tan Chunying had a strange stare-off.

Tan Chunying: "What's that sound?"

Tan Xiao: ...It's Kong Xuan's phone!

Damn, Kong Xuan left his phone outside.

Also, he never thought that with Kong Xuan blocking the group, someone would still privately message him. This had never happened before.

With a parent's keen sense, Tan Chunying flipped through Tan Xiao's bed and found an old phone under the blanket. She could still recognize that this was an old phone that had been idle at home.

Before she could flip it over to look, Tan Xiao pounced over. "Mom!"

He took the phone in a flustered manner and held back for a few seconds. "This is my spare phone and side account..."

What situation would require a spare phone and side account? Tan Xiao wasn't someone addicted to games or anything like that. Tan Chunying looked at Tan Xiao for a few seconds and suddenly realized, "You're in a relationship!"

Maybe even an online relationship!

Tan Xiao: "..."

At this moment, even Tan Xiao didn't know what to say (make up).

"Is it because the pressure in senior year is too much?" Seeing Tan Xiao at a loss for words, Tan Chunying felt her guess was pretty close.

She pondered deeply, "Sigh, I'm not an unreasonable person. I've always felt you are very sensible. I believe you can also keep a proper sense of this matter, right? For those few days at the farm, don't bring your phone first. If you tell Mom after coming back that you've thought it through, and feel this won't affect your studies, I'll support you."

Tan Xiao was afraid of getting entangled on this topic. If Tan Chunying wanted to check the phone to confirm, he closed his eyes and said, "Okay."

Tan Chunying was relieved, feeling a bit at ease in handling teenage issues. "Mm, you two think about it separately and calmly. I'll go first... Oh right, then how about you and Kong Xuan stay in the same room at that time?"

Tan Xiao: "...Okay."

......

The vacation farm Tan Chunying mentioned was run by a friend of hers, but it was also her first time here. She had only heard that the temperature here was a bit lower than in the city.

It indeed turned out to be true after arriving, with a comfortable natural breeze. The farm grew quite a lot of vegetables and fruits, and had a large lotus pond. Outdoors, there were also camping facilities, barbecue, open-air movies, open-air KTV and so on, all readily available.

His classmate Kong Xuan had come together with him on the bus early in the morning, saying there were no adults at home.

"Didn't bring your phone, right?" Tan Chunying confirmed that Tan Xiao didn't bring his online dating phone. "Not bad. You just stay well with Little Kong these few days. When you get tired of reading, you can go pick some fruit."

Tan Xiao was already numb: "Oh..."

Little Kong was in high spirits: "Great!"

Tan Chunying had already run off to play mahjong with her old friend.

The double room arranged for Tan Xiao and Kong Xuan was on the first floor. The rooms on the first floor here had glass doors leading directly to the outdoor lawn in addition to the room doors. They could be opened for ventilation during normal times, which was very comfortable.

"Come, Little Tan, don't mind the simplicity. Our countryside place, if you need anything just let me know." The staff knew it was Sister Tan's kid, so she spoke more like between friends. She stole a glance at Kong Xuan. Tan Xiao's classmate had a noble air about him. Judging from his demeanor, she always felt he was someone who would nitpick about the accommodation conditions.

Before Tan Xiao could say anything, Kong Xuan had already exclaimed in amazement, "Wow."

Tan Xiao: "..."

"?" The staff member's heart sank, thinking Kong Xuan was being sarcastic. "Wh-what's wrong? You don't like this room? Too small?"

"No, the layout is quite nice." Kong Xuan looked around with satisfaction. His bed and Tan Xiao's bed were right next to each other, with only a small bedside table in between. He couldn't help but say, "I want to decorate my room like this too."

The staff member looked at him blankly and said, "...Oh, you like the country style, right?" Oh my, how unexpectedly friendly this guest is, to the point that it feels a bit too much.

"Who puts two beds in their own bedroom when decorating?" Tan Xiao also said with amusement. He thanked the staff and put down his luggage.

Sitting by the window to do homework was indeed more pleasant than being in an air-conditioned room.

In the afternoon, the classmates Tan Xiao had invited also arrived one after another. He didn't have many close friends, so there were only six or seven people in total, including Lin Yang and Yu Zhenzhen.

When Lin Yang appeared, everyone was shocked. "What happened to you... You look like a refugee?"

Lin Yang seemed to have gotten at least three shades darker compared to before the vacation, pitch black. He smiled, revealing two rows of big white teeth. "I went to the beach to play."

He had been wildly playing at the beach for three days, shedding several layers of skin.

Except for Lin Yang, the others were pretty much the same as Tan Xiao, staying at home to do homework during the vacation. Yu Zhenzhen was even stepping out of her home for the first time. "My parents told me not to bring books and to look at more greenery before going back..."

"It seems that the class monitor has been rolling quite vigorously at home." Lin Yang chuckled mischievously, always restless as soon as he arrived. "When I got off the car, I chatted with the villagers here. They said there is a thousand-year-old ancient temple next door. Do you want to go and see?"

"A thousand-year-old ancient temple?" The other classmates asked suspiciously, "Is it real or fake?"

"Let's ask the people at the farm." Lin Yang found a staff member and asked. The staff here were basically all hired from local villagers. When asked about the ancient temple, the other party nodded.

"Definitely, it is said that in the past, scholars who went to the capital to take the imperial examination would stay in the Siming Temple. A scholar encountered a fox spirit undergoing tribulation and helped the fox spirit pass the lightning tribulation. Later, the scholar was ranked first in the imperial examination and was taken as a son-in-law by a wealthy merchant. It turned out that the bride was that fox spirit."

The staff member told a story that everyone felt was very familiar and clichéd, and then said, "Our Siming Temple is very efficacious. You can go and take a look."

Everyone looked at each other. The story was indeed a bit clichéd...

But anyway, there was nothing else to do. The ancient temple was just on the edge of the village. Lin Yang asked for directions and took the lead to rush out like a wild monkey.

"Does Siming bless people to get rich?"

"Hehe, this is choosing to burn incense between being ambitious and studying."

"Then tell me, between eight million and a key university, which one would you choose?"

The group of teenagers walked under the sun that was no longer as intense as it was past noon, chatting and walking from the holiday farm to the thousand-year-old ancient temple mentioned by the villagers.

It was indeed not far. After leaving the village for about ten minutes, an old small building could be seen, with slightly peeling walls, standing alone amidst the wild grass. If not for the upturned eaves, Lin Yang wouldn't have dared to recognize it.

"...This is a bit small." Lin Yang was speechless. This was too different from the ancient temple he had imagined. The thousand-year-old ancient temple in his imagination was naturally a magnificent building like those in scenic spots, which could be visited for at least half an hour.

And the so-called thousand-year-old ancient temple in front of them was only that small, no wonder they had never heard of it.

"You're thinking too much. Most rural ancient temples are only this big." Tan Xiao didn't find it strange. There were even more simple ones. In many places in the Chu region, every village had a temple, and a village was not complete without a temple. But it was impossible for all of them to be built into the magnificent temples Lin Yang imagined.

"So are we still going to take a look?"

"Let's take a look since we're here..."

Looking at the front, it was actually written "Stove God Temple" above the entrance. The main door was open, and naturally, no one would be guarding the temple.

In the past, people worshipped the Stove God in their own homes, so there were rarely separate temples for the Stove God, or he was worshipped together in the City God Temple. However, Tan Xiao knew that there were many Stove God Temples in the capital, and the one in the village was very likely because there were many people engaged in the food industry in the village - even now, many farmhouse restaurants and local cuisine restaurants had been opened.

"Didn't they say it was the Siming Temple? Why is it the Stove God Temple?" Yu Zhenzhen didn't understand, and everyone looked at Tan Xiao in unison.

"The Stove God's title is also the Siming of the Eastern Kitchen." Tan Xiao explained.

"Uh, then let's also go in and pay respects. May the Stove God bless me with a big appetite." Lin Yang glanced at Kong Xuan, "Haha, Kong Xuan, you also pray. You and Tan Xiao often don't eat in the cafeteria at noon. May the Stove God bless you to always have good takeout shops."

Kong Xuan raised his eyebrows without saying a word.

The group entered the small Stove God Temple one after another.

Although the place was small, it had all that was needed. It could be seen that the Stove God was not sitting alone in the temple.

Behind the offering table in the temple, there stood an old Stove God statue, with the Stove God's wife beside him, and attendants and child servants on the left and right, just like the "Great Stove God" painting hung in their school kitchen, a family portrait.

Always felt that the roof was built too cramped. Lin Yang looked up and felt that the Stove God's head was almost touching the roof beam, and there was no leeway left. Either the size of the statue was too large, or it just didn't look very coordinated.

But Lin Yang just thought about it in his mind and didn't dare to say it out loud. Although it was a small temple, he still had a bit of reverence in his heart.

"This does indeed look quite old, but I don't know if it's a thousand years old or not."

Lin Yang saw that Tan Xiao was also admiring the sculptures inside the temple. He was standing in front of the Stove God statue on the left, looking down at something.

Lin Yang also curiously stretched his neck to take a look. It turned out to be a child servant statue holding a rice spoon at the base of the Stove God's seat. Oh, quite a cute child laborer.

"Hey, wait, this child servant..."

The child servant statue was holding a spoon in one hand, and the other hand seemed to be making a hand gesture. Lin Yang took a closer look and saw that its thumb and index finger were crossed, and the other three fingers were bent... What hand gesture, isn't this making a heart?!

"My god, who is this trying to act cute to? Hahaha, I don't know if this temple is a thousand years old, but this child servant statue definitely isn't, right?"