CHAPTER 410: CHAPTER 406: OBSERVING THE MYRIAD FORMS OF LIFE

The almsgiving at Qingping Daoist Temple was already announced prior to the date, and the word was spread by the believers, so in the early morning, many poorly dressed and distressed beggars had already gathered at the foot of the mountain.

Of course, human nature is inherently selfish, and there were also those who love to take advantage, mingling among the crowd, waiting for an opportunity to sneak in and grab what they can.

This year, Qin Liuxi made arrangements in advance with Yu Qiucai, enlisting some city guards to help maintain order at the almsgiving site to prevent any stampede incidents from occurring as the poor flocked to receive charity food.

At the second quarter of the hour of Chen, the bell of Qingping Daoist Temple rang out. People at the foot of the mountain had already started to line up the beggars, while the Daoist priests and believers walked out in a line, carrying down porridge and steamed buns.

Seeing this, the waiting populace began to get excited. Among them, some had been hungry for a long time and had waited in the cold wind, already both cold and hungry. The younger children even started crying, comforted by gentle voices around them.

The queue of poor people was divided into several lines, and as soon as the Daoists and believers set up, they began distributing porridge and steamed buns without delay.

Some people held containers for the porridge, which were nothing but old or even broken pottery and bowls. As distribution began, they pushed the person in front forward, causing some to grumble and curse under their breath.

"Don’t push. Anyone pushing will be kicked out of the line and not given food," a city guard armed with a long stick shouted, "If you cause someone to topple over, no one will get any charity food."

At this warning, the queued individuals indeed stopped shoving.

So the ones at the front received a ladle of medicinal porridge and a coarse flour steamed bun.

The porridge was made of coarse grains, with warming millet and some medicinal herbs, making it a medicinal porridge that gave more of a feeling of fullness compared to fine grain white porridge.

In the opinion of Qin Liuxi, when it came to the Daoist Temple’s almsgiving, regardless of whether it looked good, the most important thing was to fill the belly and to provide as many people as possible with meals. Hence, the ingredients used were all coarse grains and flour, which were cheap and could be exchanged for more food.

Some people received their porridge and steamed buns and immediately squatted on the ground, devouring their food hungrily.

There were others who took a small taste and then quickly hid the steamed bun close to their chest, hurrying away, perhaps to take the food to someone more in need.

"The porridge this year is thicker than last year, really delicious, and the steamed buns have risen well too," someone happily remarked.

"Yes, indeed. With one bite, it warms you right up."

"Eat quickly, I still have to drink ginger soup later. They say that the ginger soup has medicinal herbs added to it too."

"The fortune of Qingping Daoist Temple must be thriving for them to be so generous."

"Well, I hope the Grandmaster bestows blessings so that it will always be this prosperous, the most prosperous under heaven. That way we’ll always have such good food."

"But I still hope the Grandmaster blesses me to earn more wages, so I don’t have to come here for meals next year."

Some people slowed down their eating upon hearing this, nodding in agreement. Depending on others’ charity can’t last forever; if the mountain falls, the one relying on it is left helpless. In the end, one must rely on oneself.

If they earned Silver Coin, they wouldn’t need to come and receive charity food.

"Eat quickly, after I finish I’ll go upstairs to kowtow to the Grandmaster."

"Wait for me."

Qin Liuxi, without knowing when, had descended the mountain with two young disciples, and overhearing this conversation from a distance, she walked away to another spot.

"Calling it almsgiving, but a bowl of porridge and a steamed bun isn’t even enough to fill the gaps in my teeth, not generous at all," a man with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks, with a pointed forehead and narrow brow, complained disdainfully.

"You’re right. It’s also made with coarse flour, very hard on the stomach. The rich families and officials in the city, when they give out porridge and steamed buns, they use fine flour," another person chimed in, though their swallowing pace didn’t slow down a bit.

Wang Chuan, hearing this, clenched her little fists in anger. If it weren’t for Qin Liuxi holding her back, she probably would’ve charged over to argue.

Teng Zhao swept a cold glance at the two of them.

"Pick up your bowl to eat, put it down to curse your mother. If you’re so disgusted, why not wait for the wealthy officials to give out porridge? Coming here to compete with us for this coarse food, it really must be so hard on you two lords!"

Not far away, a man with a stern face wearing patched clothes, holding a broken bowl and staring at the two with a steamed bun in hand, started cursing.

"Who are you cursing with your insinuations? Are you eating your family’s rice?"

"I’m cursing you ungrateful, conscienceless scoundrels. What’s the matter, want to fight?" The man’s eyes fierce, he said loudly, "Qingping Temple gives alms and does good year after year, when has the porridge not been coarse grain? But it fills the stomach much more than fine rice, and this year they’ve added a lot of medicinal herbs. One bowl and you feel warm all over, yet you even disdain it?"

"That’s right, you have food to eat yet you can’t shut your mouths. Why don’t you just ascend to the heavens?"

"Indeed, one ought to not act like this, ungrateful wolf, you’re losing yin de."

"The Grandmaster might just contain his wrath to strike thunder upon them."

Seeing more and more people joining the ranks of criticism, the two muttered a few curses and scurried away disgracefully.

"See that? Justice resides in the human heart." Qin Liuxi said with a smile to his two disciples.

Wang Chuan said quietly, "I thought Master would teach them a lesson."

"To learn skills is to make oneself better and stronger, to have a craft that one can rely on, but not to bully others with that strength. To give a lesson to them, just because of a temporary satisfaction of the tongue, would be to overestimate them, and that would be going too far," Qin Liuxi said. "The saying goes that desires are insatiable; it’s about people just like them we just saw. Not everyone is grateful like those few we heard earlier; some take everything for granted and are full of complaints and greed."

"Although it’s unpleasant to hear, giving alms and doing good deeds isn’t just for the sake of gaining a good reputation, but truly to help those in need, without quibbling over temporary gains and losses; that’s the true meaning of doing good deeds. As for those two people, look at their faces, how could they be kind and gentle? They’re shameless individuals who love taking small advantages and deceiving others; how many of them end up well? There is no need for us to dirty our hands, with their character, misfortune is bound to happen sooner or later."

The two recalled the appearance of the person just now, deep in thought.

Qin Liuxi tousled the two disciples’ heads and said, "Heavenly Dao can sometimes be quite that way, but Heavenly Dao is supremely just. People do their part, Heaven watches over; it keeps count in its heart."

Wang Chuan naively asked, "What if it suddenly loses count?"

Qin Liuxi replied without hesitation, "Then it must be sleeping."

"Heavenly Dao sleeps too?"

"Otherwise, how would you explain ’Heaven turns a blind eye?’"

"Master makes so much sense."

Teng Zhao: "..."

Truly one daring to ask, another daring to answer.

He looked up into the sky, where dark clouds were gathering, not sure if they were amassing snow water or brewing thunder.

"Give me that, why should a little girl eat a steamed bun, you’re getting too bold!"

"My good man, give me the bun back, Nannan is starving."

"She dies, her life is cheap, a loss-making wench could just die."

Several people looked over, where a shabbily dressed man was shoving a steamed bun into his mouth, not forgetting to kick the scruffy-looking woman clinging to his leg.

Qin Liuxi’s face turned icy, he strode over in big steps, deftly used his technique to seize the man’s arm and with a clever force, yanked him away and threw him to the ground.