Aunt Chen is back from the world of cultivation

When Old Madam Yuan returned to the Censorate from Cihang Temple, she still held on to a glimmer of hope, and immediately sent people out to inquire about the devout believers of Cihang Temple, hoping to find a more capable devout believer than Yan Tongzhi to introduce her to him.

However, the Censorate is now in decline and has few connections outside, so it is difficult to get information.

Two days passed, and apart from finding out that the Qin family went to Cihang Temple frequently, there was no other useful information.

Thinking of her previous experience of being lied to by Madam Yan, Old Madam Yuan finally understood:

All devout believers will keep their connection with Cihang Temple strictly confidential and will never tell anyone except their closest relatives.

Therefore, let alone finding an introducer with sufficient influence, it would be difficult for her to even find an ordinary devout believer.

It seems that she has no choice but to follow the path of old lady Zeng.

Having made up her mind, she immediately handed a visiting card to Old Madam Zeng who lived in the east of the city.

*

"Madam, the censor's wife sent a note saying that she would like to visit you tomorrow."

Although Madam Zeng has delegated the power of foreign travel to her daughter-in-law in recent years, she is still sharp-eyed and sharp-eared, and knows all the high-ranking officials in the southern capital.

"Madam Censor? Is she the wife of Lord Guan, the Right Deputy Chief Censor of the Inspection Office?"

In the Supervisory Office today, the Right Censor-in-Chief does not take care of government affairs, and the Deputy Censor-in-Chief, who is of the third rank, is the real person in charge.

When people in the Southern Capital talk about the Censor, they usually refer to Lord Guan.

Aunt Cuiyu said:

"No, she is the wife of Lord Yuan, the Right Censor-in-Chief."

Old Madam Zeng was very surprised.

If the other party had not come to her on his own initiative, she would have almost forgotten that there was such a person in Nandu City.

Why would someone you have never interacted with suddenly come to your house?

But after all, they were the family of a second-rank official, so she couldn't deny them face and had to agree.

The next morning, Mrs. Yuan came to visit on time as expected.

After a few polite greetings, he got straight to the point:

"May I ask Madam Zeng, do you often go to Cihang Temple to pay homage?"

Cihang Temple!

Old Madam Zeng's heart suddenly started to ring with alarm bells. Where did she hear this? Could it be that they wanted her to be the introducer?

That won’t work. Her influence on the temple master’s side is not enough.

Even if we ask the temple master to take action, it can only be for our own family members, not for outsiders.

Besides, the two new teeth she recently got are so useful!

With these two teeth, she could eat whatever she wanted and gained several pounds.

Once she has accumulated enough favor in front of the abbot, she wants to ask him to give her two more!

"Not really, I just went there once in a while." Old Madam Zeng evaded the question.

Seeing her hiding her thoughts, Old Madam Yuan immediately understood what she was thinking, but she did not blame her.

"Old lady, don't hide it from me. I have heard from others that you are also a devout believer of Cihang Temple, and the temple master has given you two new teeth."

Madam Zeng's expression suddenly became awkward:

"This... seems to be true. Alas! As we get older, we tend to forget things..."

Old Madam Yuan did not expose her clumsy lie, but continued:

"Don't worry, old lady. I know the opportunity of introduction is precious. I am here for no other reason than to ask, how much silver did you offer and how many times did you go before you asked the temple master to help?"

Old Madam Zeng heaved a sigh of relief.

It seems that this old lady Yuan, like her, is unable to find anyone to introduce her, and plans to become a devout believer on her own.

I felt a sense of sympathy and didn't hide it. I said the truth:

"I went there about seven or eight times. Together with the 3,000 taels I donated to the Salesian Church, I spent a total of more than 5,500 taels."

Old Madam Yuan's heart suddenly sank.

She had thought about it before, the Zeng family is a wealthy family after all, and the money she donated might not be as much as theirs.

But this is still far from enough.

Censor Yuan was born in a peasant family, and her family was just a poor Hanlin, and her dowry was only 900 taels.

Censor Yuan was an honest official, and the salary he received from the court was not high. Even when he was the Prime Minister, his salary was only more than three hundred taels a year.

With the rewards from the palace and her years of hard work, her family had accumulated a fortune of 30,000 taels.

However, the expenses were also high. The time when Censor Yuan was imprisoned cost 20,000 taels.

Over the past few decades, the total amount of property that came in and out of the mansion was no more than 6,000 taels.

But this includes the dowry prepared for Mo Niang, the property to be left to the illegitimate son, and the daily expenses of the mansion.

All she could use were the approximately three hundred taels of cash and jewelry she had in her hands.

When she got home, she was always frowning.

After pondering it all night, he still didn't give up. He used one-third of his private property to purchase a set of offerings with all five elements, and went to Cihang Temple early the next morning.

She didn't arrive too late, but when she arrived outside the temple, there were already several carriages parked in the parking space.

After entering Cihang Temple and paying homage all the way to the outside of the main hall, I saw two middle-aged women in rich clothes surrounding Taoist Huiyun and showing their courtesy.

"Master, this is my VIP ID card for Taibai Tower. I can order three tables of high-quality meals every month without paying a penny!"

"It's not worth much, but you must accept it. I heard that you can go into the city during your monthly holiday. Then you can bring the other Taoist priests to our Taibai Tower, have a feast, and listen to some music to relax!"

Another noble lady was not to be outdone:

"Master, my family sells cloth. We don't have much of anything else but cloth. These cloths are not worth much, so I'll give them to you masters to make some new clothes!"

Old Madam Yuan looked at the man and saw that the so-called worthless cloth included five pieces of high-quality Hangzhou silk, each weighing more than thirty taels, in addition to the fine cotton cloth.

There were more than twenty pieces of cloth in total, carried on shoulder poles by four strong maids, two people in a group.

What these two people provided was a VIP card for Taibai Tower, which required spending more than three thousand taels of silver at Taibai Tower every year.

The cloth given by another noble lady was also worth at least one or two hundred taels.

Taoist Master Huiyun refused without hesitation:

"This is against the rules. Please take it back. We will not accept anything other than the prescribed offerings."

The two of them couldn't help but look a little depressed.

One of them couldn't help but said quickly:

"Then the Qin family sent it..."

Huiyun smiled slightly and said:

"The Qin family has won the favor of the master, so they are naturally incomparable with other families."

There was envy in the eyes of the two men, but they had to give up and said that they would send more valuable offerings next time.

Huiyun saw Old Madam Yuan nearby, so she sent the two wives of wealthy merchants away.

"Mrs. Yuan!"

Huiyun bowed politely.

"Master Huiyun, I come here to pay my respects and offer my tribute."

Mrs. Yuan said.

"plz follow me."

Under the guidance of Taoist Master Huiyun, Old Madam Yuan entered the main hall.

At a glance, you can see that several tables have been added next to the table where the offerings are placed.

It is said that the offerings made by the believers should be placed in front of the statue for three days.

Today, there are a total of twelve trays of offerings placed on it.

The items on each plate included several ten-liang gold ingots, top-quality jade carvings, and fine tea. The total value was no less than five hundred liang.

In comparison, Old Madam Yuan suddenly felt that the more than one hundred taels of precious offerings she had spent so much effort to purchase were totally worthy of presentation.

"This……"

She looked a little embarrassed.

Huiyun, who was standing by, seemed not to notice and said in annoyance:

"Alas, I don't know who spread the news about the master's ability. In recent days, many ladies have come to the temple, saying that they want to become devout believers in the temple."

Of course, this “unknown person” can only be a member of the Qin family.

It was not until a number of noble ladies suddenly came to the temple that Huiyun realized that the abbot had another purpose for suddenly using so much divine power on Madam Qin's face.

The temple master has laid such a thorough groundwork, so naturally she will do her best to provoke Old Madam Yuan.

"The master's divine power is so precious. There are so many people, and everyone wants the master to help. I can't arrange for all of them. It will be difficult in the future."

Madam Yuan suddenly felt a strong sense of crisis.

The number of believers in Cihang Temple is increasing.

The master's divine power is precious, and it will become increasingly difficult to ask her to take action in the future.

Although Taoist Priest Huiyun said last time that the abbot looked at their sincerity, she had never seen any ordinary pilgrims in the two times she came to Cihang Temple. All of them were either rich or noble.

It can be seen that this opportunity for the master of the temple to take action is also available to those who are capable.

Faced with the absolute disparity in the value of offerings, how could she demonstrate her sincerity and outdo those followers of wealthy businessmen?