Chapter 157: Chapter 157: The Rain Prayer Begins, Who is the Blessed Girl?

Before long, Shen Ningning came out, dragging a basket taller than she was.

A basket full of pork belly with distinct marbling made the tigers’ eyes go wide.

However, this wasn’t enough.

Shen Ningning went back and forth inside the Immortal Realm.

Twenty pounds of pork belly, thirty plucked chickens, and about thirty pounds of large bones.

She also threw in an entire tree’s worth of yellow pears.

The large tiger circled Shen Ningning, CHUFFING repeatedly.

It was trying to confirm: ’Is all this really for us?’

Shen Ningning wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Yes, it’s all for you. It’ll just be a lot of work for you to drag it away. If I leave it at the temple, someone might find it and steal it."

With a roar from the large tiger, the other two immediately grabbed the meat in their jaws and began to drag it away.

Shen Ningning had to leave. She still needed to go to the National Temple to have her beads restrung.

The tigers escorted her to the entrance. The little girl looked back with a grin and stroked each of their furry heads.

"Come find me on Wolf Mountain to play when you have time." With that, she skipped down the mountain.

On the way down, Shen Ningning suddenly realized something.

’The tigers just said it was that group of little monkeys that told them about me.’

’Can animals actually communicate with each other?’

’Could it all be because they drank my Spiritual Spring Water?’

’Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to understand what the tigers are saying, either.’

The little girl was pondering this as she walked down the mountain when she saw Chen Ye’s figure hastily ascending the steps.

’He’s clearly looking for me.’

"Brother Chen~!"

"Miss, I just heard that some bandits were captured at Fashan Temple, so I rushed over to see you. I’m glad you’re all right."

"Of course I’m okay! Brother Xie and I were the ones who caught those bandits."

She looked up and, on closer inspection, noticed that Chen Ye’s expression was grave.

Especially when he heard the two words "Brother Xie."

The little girl asked in her sweet voice, "Brother Chen, what’s wrong? Did something happen?"

"Miss, it’s a long story," Chen Ye said. "I think I need to lay low for a while."

Shen Ningning was startled and quickly asked why.

"Just now, while I was waiting for you at the foot of the mountain, I saw a man dragging the bandits down. I recognized him. He’s the Lieutenant General from the border, my direct superior."

As Chen Ye spoke, his face grew even more pale and grim. "When I left, the officer in charge of me was his Deputy General. The Deputy General is a good man. He knew I would die from my illness if I stayed, so he found an opportunity to drive me out of the barracks."

"But I heard a while ago that Lieutenant General Xie learned I’d contracted the plague at the border. He must have returned to the Capital City this time to investigate me! That’s why I have to leave."

Shen Ningning didn’t understand. "But you’re all better now. Even if he finds you, he can’t do anything, right?"

Chen Ye frantically shook his head. "The military code is explicit: if a soldier falls ill in the barracks, they are absolutely forbidden from leaving without authorization. It must be reported to the commander. By fleeing on my own, I have committed a serious violation of military law."

"Lieutenant General Xie is an extremely strict man. If he catches me, I won’t be able to escape death."

This was no longer just about having contracted the plague.

In Xie Mingxu’s eyes, Chen Ye was a deliberate offender.

He had brought the plague back to the Capital City. Even though it hadn’t spread, it was still a breach of discipline and showed a reckless disregard for the lives of the capital’s citizens.

If Chen Ye was caught, he would face military justice: a beating with planks and heavy rods until he was dead.

Shen Ningning hesitated. "Maybe you’re overthinking things. Brother Xie might not have returned to the capital for this reason. Shouldn’t we just wait and see?"

"Absolutely not!" Chen Ye immediately refused. "If I’m discovered, not only will my mother be implicated, but you, the young miss who took me in, will be accused of a crime as well."

Shen Ningning was his benefactor; he could not let her get dragged into this.

Since Chen Ye was insistent on leaving, the little girl didn’t try to persuade him further.

So, she had Chen Ye escort her to the National Temple, then gave him one hundred taels of silver for his journey so that he wouldn’t end up destitute.

Before he left, Chen Ye knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Shen Ningning.

For a man who had always been so tough, his eyes were now red-rimmed.

"Miss, if I haven’t returned in ten or twenty years, please look after my mother for me. Just ensuring she has food to eat is enough. If I, Chen Ye, don’t get the chance to repay your kindness in this life, I swear I will serve you as a beast of burden in the next!"

Shen Ningning quickly helped him up with her small hands.

"Brother Chen, don’t be so anxious. It’s too soon to say such things. Maybe there’s still a chance for things to turn around."

But Chen Ye just shook his head bitterly. It was clear he both respected and feared Xie Mingxu.

Shen Ningning, however, felt that Brother Xie wasn’t difficult to get along with. ’He probably isn’t an unreasonable person,’ she thought.

After Chen Ye left, the little girl went straight to the National Temple.

The National Temple was bustling with worshippers, filled with devout men and women. Shen Ningning went straight to the abbot and asked him to reconsecrate and restring her Buddha Beads.

When he learned the beads were from the Crown Prince, the abbot was astonished and treated the matter with the utmost gravity.

He summoned more than a dozen accomplished monks to chant scriptures, consecrate the beads, and imbue them with protective blessings.

Shen Ningning knelt devoutly on a prayer cushion, kowtowing to the gods.

With her small hands pressed together amidst the sound of Sanskrit chanting, she prayed, "I hope the Buddha Beads will protect Brother Mo Lingwei and grant him a smooth recovery."

「The next day.」

The Emperor, leading all the civil and military officials, proceeded to the Heavenly Temple with Crown Prince Mo Lingwei for the sacrificial rites.

Mo Lingwei had spent five days in the Sunlight Tower and successfully prayed for a downpour in Shu State.

The Emperor intended to use this opportunity, during the rain-praying ceremony, to ask the Rain Goddess to bless all of Cangyun Country with another benevolent rainfall.

On a viewing platform not far away sat the imperial concubines and the ministers’ families.

Master Gu, disguised as an attendant, stood beside Minister Wei.

Minister Wei whispered, "Master Gu, once the rain-praying ceremony begins, my daughter will be invited onto the Heavenly Temple’s altar by the Emperor. I’ll have to trouble you then."

Master Gu narrowed his eyes, his expression inscrutable. "You can rest assured."

The ceremony supervisor, seeing by the hourglass that the time had come, called out loudly, "The auspicious hour is upon us! Your Majesty, Your Highness the Crown Prince, please begin the ceremony!"

The Emperor stepped forward, about to lift the red silk covering the giant cauldron.

But Mo Lingwei stopped him.

"Wait. We are missing one person."

"Who’s missing?"

"Shen Ningning. I’ve already sent someone to fetch her. She’ll be here soon."

The ceremony supervisor looked troubled. "B-But... Your Highness, the auspicious hour for the ritual waits for no one."

The Emperor, too, began to waver. He said in a deep voice, "Ling Wei, this is the rain-praying sacrifice. You cannot be so willful. It doesn’t matter if Shen Ningning is a step behind. What’s important is that we start."

Mo Lingwei’s gaze was cold and dark. "Shen Ningning must be present. For the five days I was in the Sunlight Tower, she was the one who kept me company, giving me the strength to carry on."

"The rain in Shu State is her achievement. Without her, I would have given up long ago. So if she isn’t here, the rain-praying ceremony will be incomplete, and this auspicious hour cannot be considered truly auspicious."

Upon hearing this, the Emperor relented. "Fine, fine. We’ll wait! Everyone will wait."

Wei Yufu waited to the side, dressed in heavy ceremonial robes.

Her outfit, a fiery red robe, had been specially crafted by an embroideress to replicate the one worn by the statue of the Rain Goddess. Under the blazing sun, she was already drenched in sweat.

She had been standing for a long time and was already at her limit. The sun made her feel dizzy.

"Why haven’t we started yet?" Wei Yufu snapped impatiently.

As a "blessed girl," this was an opportunity that Minister Wei had gone to great lengths to secure for her.

Once the rain-praying ceremony started, she would ascend the Heavenly Temple’s altar as the blessed girl. If it rained, her future wealth and glory would be unimaginable!

’Then let’s see who in the Capital City still dares to call me a fake!’

Her handmaiden whispered, "Miss, please be patient. The Crown Prince refuses to begin the ceremony until Princess Funing arrives."

’Shen Ningning again?!’

Wei Yufu snorted. "It’s not like she can make it rain. What are they waiting for her for?"

Despite her complaints, she could only obey Mo Lingwei and continue to stand there waiting.

Before long, Chen Shaobei arrived, leading a company of light cavalry that escorted a horse-drawn carriage.

The carriage curtain was lifted, and Shen Ningning’s small figure came into view.