12dz Chapter 23 Jiang Ziya
Chapter 23 Jiang Ziya
One second ago, the River God was crying and begging Xiao Yangjiao to accept those things.
Now, the tables have turned.
Little Yang Jiao clung to the river god and refused to get down, shouting:
"Please tell me quickly, where is the riverbank where someone dropped something? I'm begging you."
At this moment, she was truly on the verge of tears. She had really exhausted herself trying to make offerings to the Great Sage with merit.
The river god stared blankly at the little girl with suspicion.
So, they're here to steal my business?
Three thousand merits are enough to become an immortal, but he has only accumulated a few years' worth of merit in the past hundred years, and he is still wandering around in the local area!
He immediately tried to pull the little girl off him, but the more he tried, the more pressure he felt on his body.
The little brat was gripping his clothes so tightly that he couldn't be pulled away!
The river god, refusing to believe in evil, took a deep breath and pulled with all his might. With a 'ripping' sound, his chest was suddenly exposed.
Her fair skin revealed a large expanse of skin.
"what!"
He cried out in alarm, as if he had been bullied, and hurriedly gathered the torn piece of cloth to his chest.
Xiao Yangjiao felt very apologetic and jumped off him, embarrassed.
The river god's rank was even lower than that of the land god, and besides, he was just an apprentice, without even the magical power to change clothes in a second.
He can only be considered a mortal who won't drown and lives a long life.
At this moment, he awkwardly squatted down in the water, pitifully only his head sticking out.
Seeing this, Xiao Yangjiao slowly sank down, peeking out her head and turning to look at him.
After curiously blowing a bubble out of its nose, it asked:
"and then?"
And then? The river god, seeing that the little girl had actually stuck to him, immediately ran away, thinking to himself, "In the water, how could you possibly catch up with the river god?"
He turned and left without hesitation.
A ripple appeared on the surface of the water.
After running for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the river god finally stopped after running into another river. Surely he could shake off that leech now?
He squinted again, and the smile that had just appeared on his lips froze on his lips.
"How could that be?! How can you keep up with me?"
At this moment, Xiao Yangjiao was holding a few peaches, stepping on the jade branch, and her speed was no less than that of the river god. In fact, she even controlled the jade branch to prevent it from flying too fast in order to match his speed.
The river god, now stuck to the spot, was devastated.
It took her a while to calm down, and she resigned herself to letting Xiao Yangjiao stay by her side.
Two heads appeared in the middle of the wide river, staring intently at the pedestrians on the bank.
Time passed second by second, and still no one dropped anything into the river. Little Yang Jiao couldn't help but begin to doubt whether the river god was somewhat unreliable, and asked leisurely:
"So this is how you slack off, like a god?"
"What do you mean by 'catching fish by catching fish'? I've never caught fish by catching fish. The fish in this river don't taste good."
The river god, however, did not find waiting this way boring; over the long years, he had long since grown accustomed to it.
River gods hold low positions and are only in charge of the flood season and dry season. Moreover, most river gods cannot even control the raging torrents during the flood season, so rising to a higher position is the obsession of every river god.
Xiao Yangjiao had lost count of how many fish had nibbled at her toes, and just as she was getting restless and thinking of going home to find another way to get around to things, she realized that...
A gasp suddenly came from the shore.
My fishing rod fell into the water!
Upon hearing the sound, the river god's eyes lit up immediately. Just as he was about to dive into the water to look for her, he saw a wave surging beside him. When he turned around, the little girl was nowhere to be seen!
He was so angry that he slapped the water's surface wildly.
"Mine, mine!"
They then hurriedly gave chase.
At this moment, Xiao Yangjiao used the strength of Qiongzhi to scoop up the very simple fishing rod from the bottom of the water.
Then, imitating the river god, he slowly rose from the river surface, stood on it, and asked, holding up his fishing rod:
"Young... no, middle-aged, uh..."
Xiao Yangjiao stared at the person in front of her, somewhat troubled. This person looked to be in his fifties, but had a full head of white hair, making her unsure how to address him. After thinking for a long time, she slowly said:
"You're a bit of an old middle-aged man, you've dropped this golden rod..."
Oh no, she can't turn into gold!
Having no lines to speak, Xiao Yangjiao turned to the River God for help, but the River God was already angry because his business had been stolen, and waved his hand, watching her make a scene.
She pouted, "If there are no lines, then there are none!"
Humph.
Xiao Yangjiao picked up the bamboo fishing rod in her hand and smiled with her eyes narrowed.
"Did you drop this bamboo fishing rod?"
The man on the shore stroked his beard, looked at the little girl in front of him, raised an eyebrow, and then nodded, his voice warm and pleasant.
"It was the falling bamboo pole."
"Wow!" Little Yang Jiao clapped her hands and said happily, "You honest person, here's your fishing rod back."
"Hmph, you can't even imitate her properly!" The squinty-eyed river god laughed from behind, occasionally saying to her back, "With your talent, even the heavens won't give you any merit."
Xiao Yangjiao went through this process, with the jade branches beneath her feet rising up and supporting her.
She opened a crack in her eyes, looked the person in the eye, and respectfully handed over the bamboo pole.
It was only then that I noticed that the man not only had prematurely gray hair, but was also somewhat hunchbacked.
The man took it, not startled by her sudden flight, but instead, with interest, he cupped his hands and asked:
"The loss of this fishing rod was Heaven's way of telling me that what I was about to do was wrong. Now that my young friend has picked it up and returned it, do you know what Heaven means by this?"
The man was speaking in a language that Xiao Yangjiao couldn't understand at all, but seeing his pitiful state, she could only offer words of comfort:
"To lose something and then find it again is the will of Heaven; though there may be obstacles in the things you want to do, you will eventually succeed."
Upon hearing this, the man paused in stroking his beard, then suddenly burst into laughter.
Just as Xiao Yangjiao was wondering why no merit had appeared yet, the person in front of her suddenly became serious and said politely:
"I am Jiang Ziya. Thank you, young friend, for bringing me the fishing rod."
What?
What's the old man's name?
"Jiang, Jiang Ziya?!"
Upon hearing this name, Xiao Yangjiao was so shocked that she staggered backward and almost fell off the jade branch!
I feel my legs are weak and an endless itch spreading from my feet all over my body.
Good heavens! This is Jiang Ziya, the prime minister of the Western Zhou Dynasty, who holds the Investiture of the Gods! From now on, he will be the one to announce my second brother's divine duties.
Jiang Ziya is only in his fifties now, so what he's talking about doing must be...
Oh my god, oh my god.
Xiao Yangjiao felt extremely dizzy at that moment.
Could that fishing rod that was just taken out be the one from the thousand-year-old story of Jiang Taigong fishing—who caught King Wen of Zhou by fishing—and whoever was willing to take the bait?
Yang Jian was only eighteen or nineteen years old when he was ordered to go and assist the Zhou dynasty.
Going back along this timeline, Jiang Ziya at this point hasn't yet obtained the Investiture of the Gods list and is still learning his skills. He's frustrated and unfulfilled because he hasn't been able to cultivate immortality.
Moreover, it was only recently, when Yuanshi Tianzun had told him what he needed to do, and he was still feeling lost, that he encountered her. Her words had reassured Jiang Ziya.
Could it be that, because of him, he's going to go fishing in the Western Zhou Dynasty for sixteen years?
"belch!"
Xiao Yangjiao hiccuped, her eyes rolled back, and she was about to lose consciousness.
Her small body slumped backward.
"Young friend, young friend, what's wrong?"
Jiang Ziya hurriedly reached out to pull, but couldn't even grab a piece of clothing.
She was still in a daze until the river god caught her in time.
"Hey, why are you so excited about returning a fishing rod? You haven't even earned any merit yet!"
As soon as the River God finished speaking, a bright pearl flew out from Jiang Ziya and landed steadily behind Xiao Yangjiao's head.
"This level of merit?"
The river god muttered something, then, as if venting his anger, he slammed Yang Jiao into the water with a loud 'thump' without hesitation, pointing at the person still sinking to the bottom and cursing:
"How come you're so lucky!"