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Chapter 173 Living Immortal

"Oh my god, I'll beat you to death, you damned brat! How dare you say such bad things about the gods? Your father found a good boss this year and earns 500 copper coins a month. If that's not extra money, then what is it? That's double what he made before the New Year! Otherwise, where would he get the spare money to go to the village scholar Liu to listen to his lectures?!"

The fat child scratched his head, said "Oh", and followed his mother.

In less than half a day, the news of the little immortal's return home spread throughout the streets and alleys. The government sent many people to guard the Yong'an Temple, the largest temple in the city. Dozens of yamen runners could not stop the enthusiasm of the people.

Before noon, the door of the pastry shop was crowded with people. People outside had no idea what was going on inside. When they heard that the little god was here, they gathered behind to watch.

Li Er squeezed into the crowd with a gloomy face and introduced the types of pastries to the people who came to buy pastries. The former waiter of the store stood at the front desk to collect the money, his hands shaking.

Luo Yao sat leisurely on the side and acted as a mascot.

The common people did not dare to offend the gods, nor did they dare to crowd the gods. The common people who had never seen a living god looked at Luo Yao, who was sitting on the armchair and eating a pear, with golden eyes.

"He's eating, really eating..."

"Could it be that the little fairy's favorite fruit is pear?"

"I'll go home later and pick a basket for the gods!"

Luo Yao didn't know what they were whispering about. He tilted his head to look at everyone, reached out to pick up a small kumquat beside him, peeled it skillfully and stuffed it into his mouth under the people's eager gaze.

"He also likes to eat oranges!" A wealthy businessman with a big belly nudged the clerk beside him with his elbow. "Hurry up and write it down. This guy is a walking god of wealth!"

Over the past year, several versions of the myth about the Yong'an Temple have been circulated, and even among the people there are many biographies.

Not many people have actually seen and known Luo Yao. Most people know the god of Yong'an Temple through stories passed down by word of mouth.

The sense of happiness in reality made them believe in this new god, and the fact that Yong'an Temple was a living temple was downplayed. The people no longer believed in Luo Yao as a person, but a real god, a real god who could control wind and water, reverse natural disasters and man-made disasters, and ensure they had enough food and clothing and led them to prosperity.

Seeing the real God himself, the people thought it was a manifestation of the gods, and many poor people who had been helped by the Yongan Fule Bank burst into tears.

An old woman and a child of six or seven years old squeezed into the crowd and knelt down in front of Luo Yao.

"Thank you, little god, thank you... thank you so much..." The old woman's voice was choked with sobs. She didn't say anything extra and kept repeating the word of thanks. The people were touched and were ready to kneel down and kowtow.

Luo Yao couldn't stand it, so he quickly stood up and helped the old woman up, "Grandma, please get up quickly."

The old woman shook her head and refused to get up. Luo Yao pretended to be angry and said, "If you kneel down to me at your age, I will shorten my life."

It is a serious matter for gods to shorten their lives. When the people heard what he said, they lowered their knees and began to persuade the old woman to get up.

The old woman pulled the child up, and Luo Yao understood what had happened to the old woman from her intermittent crying.

The old woman and her family were outsiders who had settled in Maling Village outside Lin'an County for seven or eight years. After the civil war, there were investigations in various places. The old woman and her family had reclaimed three acres of thin land without reporting to the government, which emptied their family's savings. In the end, they became homeless and lived on the streets.

Household registration is required in Dacheng. After the new households move in, the village will distribute land according to the number of people. There are not many wastelands in Maling Village, and the old woman's family of four only received half an acre of land. How can half an acre of land support a family?

If the village does not have enough land, it must be reported to the higher authorities. Once reported, the land of the rich households in the village will be taken away. No one wants the land they bought with their own money to be divided up.

After seeking help from the village head several times without success, the old woman and her family had no choice but to reclaim the wasteland on their own. This had always been a normal practice for outsiders, and no one cared about it on weekdays. However, after the war, when officials conducted inspections in various places, they noticed that there was such a clause in the Dacheng Law.

New land must be registered and taxed for three years.

Reclaimed land needs to be reported and registered, and to be registered, one must either pay silver on the spot or sign a three-year land deed.

The silver paid was estimated based on the output of the land in Xinjiang. Xinjiang was the granary of the world and the land was fertile. The minimum amount of grain produced per mu of land was three taels of silver.

A land deed refers to a deed that pays full tax for three years. All output from the new land in the first three years belongs to the court, and only after three years will the normal tax rate be levied.

The old woman's family was poor and could not afford the nine silver coins needed for three mu of land. They scraped together money from all sources and sold their house to an outsider who came to the countryside to raise shrimps. Only then was they able to scrape together three taels of silver to pay the tax for the one mu of thin land.

The family lived in two thatched huts. At the beginning of this year, the son found a good job and they could make ends meet.

Unexpectedly, three months ago, a fierce wind blew down the hut, and only one old man and one child survived.

Her son and daughter-in-law died, and the old widow was left alone on the streets with a five or six-year-old child.

When her son disappeared from work for a month, her employer sent someone to check on him and learned of the old woman's family's plight. Eventually, the Yong'an Fule Bank intervened, not only providing funds to help them regain their land but also hiring someone to repair their hut.

Yongan Fule Bank, with its numerous branches operating as investment banks, usually kept a low profile. However, the occasional news of its support for the common people's charity projects gave it a high profile in the hearts of the people.

Yong'an Fule Money House is the money house of the little god. The people received substantial help and they all attributed these good deeds to the little god in the Yong'an Temple.

Under such circumstances, even after a year, the deeds of the little immortal are still being praised by the people.

Luo Yao hadn't expected this. He'd assumed that a year later, not many people would remember him. He hadn't imagined that Yong'an Fule, the company he founded because he couldn't find a place to manage his money, would keep him firmly on the trending search list...

Listening to the people chattering about the miracles of the little gods, Luo Yao held his forehead and sighed.

He couldn't hold back and caused such a scene in Lin'an County. He didn't know how long it would take for him to be able to go out on the streets normally...

"There was also a family in our village that received assistance. They were in terrible shape. They all came down with some strange disease, and they died one after another, leaving only a little kid..."

"So miserable?"

"Yes, but thanks to the appearance of the little fairy, the Fule Bank in town took in the kid... It was a blessing in disguise. The kid lives in the bank. I heard he's smart, so he was sent to school to learn to read... I guess he'll follow the little fairy from now on."

What? Luo Yao listened to his own gossip, not knowing how to react.

There are too many poor people in Dacheng, and there is no standard for poverty. People all have difficulties. Helping one person cannot help everyone. Luo Yao has always been worried that Yongan Fule's charity will arouse public anger. He did not expect that the people actually regarded the help as a blessing from the gods.

The impatience that Li Er had shown in the morning was gone from his face. For the first time in his life, the powerful and cold killer patiently introduced the new pastries that had been replaced in the shop to the people.

Fule biscuits are a new pastry that Luo Yao has been researching these days. Words such as Fule and Ping An are printed on the front and back. They are very small biscuits and taste very crispy.

The three-year-old child held in the adult's arms did not understand what gods were. His grandmother bought him some fortune cookies and he just ate the cookies and watched the show.

Luo Yao had been staring at the child for a while, and his hands were itching to touch his bulging cheeks.

Long time no see, brother...

I don't know if my brother has eaten well... Unconsciously, Luo Yao's claws pulled on the child's chubby face...

The noise around him suddenly stopped. Luo Yao, who had realized what was happening, came back to his senses under the shocked gazes of everyone. He laughed foolishly and asked the old lady holding the child, "Grandma, how old is he?"

Before the old man could come to his senses, the child answered Luo Yao's question.

"Xiaobao is three years old!"

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