"Sister Cen, if that meow last night was the appearance of the Cat-Tiger God, one of the Eight Wax Gods, then why is the granary still empty?" Ke Xun couldn't understand the reason.
Yue Cen also fell into deep thought: "I always feel that this empty Eight Wax Gods Temple is waiting for us to invite the eight gods back... As for the Cat-Tiger God last night, where did he go after appearing on the shadow puppet stage?"
The gods all come and go without a trace, but it doesn't make sense for the temple to be empty. At the very least, there should be a statue of a god in the temple to be worshipped, whether it's a golden statue or a clay statue, the people should be able to see the statue of the god they worship.
"Even if we invite the god back, shouldn't we worship him for him to appear?" Ke Xun leaned towards the temple entrance. "Those incense sticks and tinderboxes in the temple, aren't they for worshipping the gods?"
"Incense sticks? Tinderboxes?" Yue Cen hadn't noticed these at all when she was in the temple.
"These items are right under the altar used for sacrifices," Ke Xun said confidently. "There are also sacrificial plates and bowls in the corner."
Yue Cen couldn't help but admire Ke Xun's observation skills. At first, she thought he was just a strong and helpful young man, but she didn't expect him to be so meticulous.
"Little Ke, you just said there are sacrificial plates and bowls?"
"Yes, there's a tall stack of them," Ke Xun said, going back into the temple to take another look before coming out and saying, "I counted them, there are forty plates and bowls in total. Is there any significance to the number forty?"
"Eight deities, forty plates and bowls, that means that each deity needs an average of five plates and bowls as offerings," Yue Cen calculated. "It seems we need to find five kinds of offerings."
Mentioning the word "offerings," Ke Xun couldn't help but think of the indescribable offerings in "Faith." Now these offerings were categorized: "Um, Sister Cen, generally speaking… what kinds of offerings are there? Are they things like cattle and sheep?"
"I don't think so," Yue Cen disagreed. "There are conflicting accounts of the timing of the Eight Waxing Sacrifices. Some say it was in the tenth lunar month, others say the twelfth. Historical records don't explicitly mention the specific offerings for the Eight Waxing Sacrifices. However, during the Yin and Shang dynasties, the Waxing Sacrifices were called 'Qing Si,' and Emperor Shennong was primarily responsible for agriculture. I believe the offerings should mainly consist of crops."
This made a lot of sense. Ke Xun gazed at the lush green farmland in the distance: "If it's five crops, could it be 'the Five Grains'?"
Yue Cen looked at Ke Xun with renewed respect: "There's an ancient saying, 'Shennong transmitted the Five Grains,' so I think the offerings are very likely to be 'the Five Grains'!" "
Then shall we go find the Five Grains?" Ke Xun thought carefully. "But what use are those moss clues?"
"How about this, let's head towards the fields now. Besides looking for the Five Grains, we should also keep an eye out for the moss, searching as we go?" Yue Cen couldn't think of a better solution at the moment.
This seemed to be the only way at the moment.
Ke Xun then pushed Yue Cen towards the distant fields. Between the ancient temple and the fields was a small grove of trees. As they entered, they found the dense grove to be completely shaded and chillingly cool.
Birdsong and insect chirps filled the air, and a gust of wind rustled the leaves and treetops.
Moss was everywhere.
The stones beneath the trees were covered in deep green moss, the damp ground beneath their feet was emerald green, and even the tree trunks were covered in dark green moss.
Perhaps because Yue Cen's calves also had similar moss, the sight of the ubiquitous moss in the grove evoked a strange feeling in both of them.
"There's so much moss here. If moss is a clue, then this grove is full of clues," Ke Xun said, pushing Yue Cen forward slowly. The wet moss was slippery, and they could easily slip and fall.
Yue Cen secretly touched his still numb calves, suppressing his discomfort, and scraped some moss off his ankle.
"Xiao Ke, I think my moss looks a bit like the moss on the tree trunk, at least the color is the same," Yue Cen said.
Mentioning the changes in Yue Cen's legs made Ke Xun feel very uncomfortable, and she didn't know how to comfort her. But now it seemed that this person didn't need anyone's comfort at all; she could handle these things very well.
"Sister Cen, do you mean the moss we're looking for comes from the tree trunks? And the clues are also on the tree trunks?"
"I think so," Yue Cen looked up at the trees. "The light shines on the top of the trees, so there's no moss there. What we need to look for is the lower half of these trees shrouded in shade."
Ke Xun surveyed the small grove: "Luckily, this grove isn't very big. Although it's dense, there are only about a hundred trees. We can observe every single one. Besides, the moss is distributed on the lower half of the trees, so we don't need to climb them. We just need to observe what's unusual about these trees."
"You're wasting my time pushing me around," Yue Cen observed the grove, which was a horizontal strip of forest, not very long. "How about this, I'll go to the boundary between the grove and the farmland, not far ahead. You search in the grove, and I'll search along the edge of the field. I see there's a thatched hut over there, and there must be a well too. Maybe it'll be related to the god of 'Postal Boundaries'."
"Alright, then let's split up. Do what you can. We'll talk about some places when I get back," Ke Xun said.
"Don't worry," Yue Cen's voice remained steady. "You too, do what you can."
Although this was Yue Cen's first time in the painting, and Ke Xun had only known him for an hour or two, they felt like old friends who had worked together for years, sharing an unspoken understanding.
So, they split up. Yue Cen propelled his wheelchair to the edge of the field, while Ke Xun observed every moss-covered tree in the dense forest.
As Ke Xun ran through the forest, he couldn't help but recall the painting "Restart" he had just experienced, how he had exhausted himself searching for a kapok tree in the woods…
Finally, Ke Xun found a rather unremarkable tree. Its trunk was also covered in dark green moss, but within the moss was a huge, person-high hollow. Something seemed to stand inside the hollow, also covered in moss.
At first glance, it looked as if a small tree was hidden within this hollowed-out tree.
Ke Xun gently touched the moss-covered "small tree" inside; it had a familiar texture, the same feel as Yue Cen's calf—it was stone.
Ke Xun scraped away some of the moss, revealing the original form of the stone carving: a pair of stone wings, each more than half a person's length, not bird wings, but rather insect wings resembling cicada wings.
Ke Xun didn't proceed further, believing this discovery should be shared with Yue Cen first.
The tree's location was easy to remember, but Ke Xun still made some marks before running towards the edge of the field.
Yue Cen, in his wheelchair, had already arrived at the edge of the field and waved vigorously at Ke Xun.
Ke Xun hadn't expected Yue Cen to have "traveled" so far in his wheelchair; he had carefully examined the thatched huts and wells along the way, but hadn't made any special discoveries.
"Little Ke, I've discovered something," Yue Cen immediately stated his observation, "the thatched huts and wells in these farmlands are arranged in a regular pattern, or rather, at fixed intervals."
"Is there any particular reason for this arrangement?" Ke Xun hadn't noticed this before.
"We mentioned the supervisors of the postal markers earlier. Besides overseeing agricultural work, they were responsible for measuring and dividing farmland. I think these thatched huts and wells are markers for measuring and dividing farmland," Yue Cen said.
Ke Xun couldn't help but get excited: "Then is it possible that we can find the god of the postal markers in one of the thatched huts or one of the wells?"
"I think this farmland must have a center. Based on the measuring markers, we should be able to find this center," Yue Cen said, stating his idea.
The center—based on the center of this farmland determined by the measurements, we might find something.
"Great, then we can look for the five grains and this center at the same time." As Ke Xun spoke, he saw the ears of wheat in Yue Cen's hand. The farmland they were in was a wheat field, and the wheat had just sprouted green ears.
Yue Cen said, "Wheat is one of the five grains. We've found one," and then looked at Ke Xun, "Little Ke, did you rush here because you found something?"
"Yes…" Ke Xun was so focused on analyzing the postal markers that he hurriedly mentioned his discovery in the tree hole.
"A pair of insect wings?" Yue Cen asked.
"Yes, like cicada wings. Could it be an insect god?" Ke Xun scratched his head, stating his deduction. "Anyway, it's the kind of insect wings with patterns, but unfortunately, they're made of stone, so I can't see the color. I think it should belong to Lepidoptera or something."
"Lepidoptera insects are represented by butterflies or moths," Yue Cen said, already adjusting her wheelchair to go and take a closer look. "If it's like cicada wings, it should belong to Hemiptera."
Ke Xun hadn't expected insects to have so many intricacies: "Sister Cen, what do you study? How do you know so much? This is all biology knowledge, right?"
Yue Cen: "This... it should be high school biology knowledge."
Ke Xun: "Oh, really..."
The two had already entered the forest again, and Yue Cen continued to ask: "I suspect that the pair of wings you saw might belong to Orthoptera insects."
"Does an insect god have a specific appearance? Belonging to that Orthoptera?"
"Yes, the insect god is the locust god."
"Locust god? Is it a locust?" Ke Xun was surprised that he had guessed 'locust' just from the words 'locust god'.
"Yes, locusts." Yue Cen's expression gradually turned serious. "For farmers, locust plagues are no less devastating than floods or droughts. Their damage to crops is fatal, hence the saying, 'Locusts darken the sky, the sun loses its color, and old men in the fields weep blood.' The government and the people are helpless in the face of locust plagues, so they simply venerate them as the 'King of Insects,' including them among the Eight Wax Gods, and offer devout sacrifices to them in hopes of peace."
Ke Xun felt uncomfortable upon hearing this: "Eating crops is the nature of locusts. Asking them to stop is like asking a mosquito not to suck your blood—how can you…" "It works!"
Yue Cen said. "So, in the Qing Dynasty, some places changed the Locust God Temple to 'General Liu Meng Temple.' This General Liu Meng was a hero who controlled locusts in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties."
Ke Xun listened very carefully. "According to that, one of the Eight Wax Gods should be General Liu Meng."
Yue Cen said, "That's from the Qing Dynasty. What we're looking for is the more original Eight Wax Gods. The 'Suburban Temple Songs' on that stone tablet are from the Tang Dynasty. General Liu Meng didn't exist then."
As they spoke, the two arrived at the tree with the huge hollow.
Inside the hollow still stood a stone statue covered in moss. Ke Xun had just wiped the moss off the huge insect wings, and the ancient stone carvings looked magnificent and majestic amidst the ancient trees.
Yue Cen stared at the stone statue with its back to the two of them, speechless for a moment.
Ke Xun stepped into the hollow and forcefully turned the stone statue around. The front was still covered in green moss.
Yue Cen, supporting himself on his wheelchair, stood up and wiped the face of the stone statue clean with his own cloth. The revealed features were surprisingly dignified and imposing.
It was a life-sized stone statue depicting a man in armor with a pair of enormous locust wings on his back, appearing from the front like he was wearing a magnificent, fluttering cloak.
Yue Cen said, "This should be the statue of the Locust God. We need to find a way to return it to the Eight Wax Ancient Temple and let this insect god return to his rightful place." Ke
Xun stared at the Locust God, remaining silent for a moment.
Yue Cen thought for a moment and said to Ke Xun, "Whether the people are worshipping locusts or not is not important. The sacrifice itself is actually a simple expectation and hope. What the people are asking for is nothing more than no insects or disasters, a good harvest and enough food, and a peaceful and healthy family."
Ke Xun turned around and pointed to the fields in the distance, "There are hemp plants there. I saw them when I passed by earlier. I can't tell if they are ramie or flax. There are several large bundles of rope made of hemp on the edge of the field. I'll go get them. We can use the hemp rope to send the statue back."
Yue Cen looked at Ke Xun and seemed to understand now why this young man was able to overcome so many dangerous obstacles and still stand here calmly.