Subsequently, on the journey following Feifei to Li Wang Temple, Li Hai keenly noticed that an increasing number of people were passing by or stopping around him.
The surroundings became livelier, with lanterns hung high and colorful flags fluttering in the streets and alleys.
Everyone wore smiles, looking joyful and festive.
There was a subtle, festive atmosphere, though he didn't know why.
However, perhaps sensing his confusion, Feifei turned her head and explained with a smile as they walked:
"You've come at a very opportune time. Today happens to be Jin Fu Town's annual Cat God Festival. Everyone goes to Li Wang Temple to participate in the ceremony, so it will be very lively. At that time—"
Under her extremely fast explanation, Li Hai gradually understood.
It turned out that the Cat God Festival in Jin Fu Town was equivalent to New Year's Day or Christmas.
On this day, the people of Jin Fu Town, even the Town Chief, would go to Li Wang Temple to pray for blessings and participate in the festival ceremony.
So, if Li Hai wanted to find Feifei's master, Zan Popo, to inquire about the Mystic Gu Workshop, he would have to wait until after the ceremony ended in the evening.
Because as the temple priestess, Popo would certainly have to preside over the ceremony.
Subsequently, it was indeed as Feifei had said.
After traveling with her through the bustling crowd to reach Li Wang Temple, Li Hai found that the temple, both inside and out, was indeed extremely lively.
First, on the street outside Li Wang Temple, stalls were already packed with vendors. These stalls were lined up along the street, stretching out like a Dragon lying on waves, and the various goods displayed on them were dazzling in both variety and quantity.
There was an old man selling cat-shaped masks, various kinds of masks, mostly loved and bought by young men and women.
There was a girl selling cat ear headbands, those headbands with soft, fine fur that looked real, which were loved and bought by maidens and young girls.
There were also craftsmen carving cat statues. As dust motes drifted, one after another, large or small wooden statues were born lifelike under his carving knife.
Even more, there was an uncle selling cat-shaped sugar figures and sugar paintings. The sugar figures he made were crystal clear in the sunlight, most beloved by children.
These children, having begged a copper coin from their parents, would buy sugar figures and sugar paintings from the uncle, then run around joyfully, their crisp laughter filling the entire street.
Besides these stalls selling ornaments and toys, the street outside Li Wang Temple was also filled with various food stalls.
There were stalls selling sweet and soft Cat Paw Cakes, stalls selling fragrant Cat Ear Biscuits, stalls selling golden crispy fried meat skewers, and stalls selling steaming hot fresh fish soup.
Above these food stalls, hot steam billowed, milky white like silk, resembling spiritual mist.
Further out from the temple, melodious music would rise, like spiritual sparrows singing sweetly.
That was folk artists playing folk tunes, with Strings and Orchestras, each note harmonious.
And amidst these threads of joyful music, there were also bursts of gong and drum sounds.
Following the sound, one could see that lion dance troupes had come to perform and add to the festivities.
The lion dancers were agile, the lion heads majestic, leaping and tumbling with the drumbeats, adding a grand and heroic spirit to the ceremony.
Under the sounds of music, gongs, and drums, throngs of people poured into Li Wang Temple, with its vermilion walls and cat statues on the eaves.
After entering the temple with the crowd, Li Hai, who was being stared at and watched intently by various young women and married women, found that in this incense-filled hall, the walls on all sides were already lined with flickering candles and lamps.
At the center of all this light was a stone carved deity statue, two zhang tall, with a cat's head and a human body.
Presumably, this deity statue was the Li Wang's effigy.
At the same time, an obese Popo, over sixty years old, wearing elaborate ceremonial robes, a round-topped ceremonial hat, and holding a copper bell and copper chime, stood beside the deity statue, her eyes closed, murmuring incantations, the chanting echoing among the temple beams.
And the townspeople who poured into Li Wang Temple came forward in an orderly fashion. The poorer ones would simply kneel on prayer mats and close their eyes in prayer, while those with better means would offer plates of delicious fish sashimi to Li Wang, and those even better off would present brocade embroidered with cat patterns.
Li Hai noticed that among these people, there was a plump woman with a large belly and luxurious clothes, accompanied by two attendants, who offered no offerings and made no prayers. She just stood there, her eyes darting around, observing the surrounding crowd, appearing very strange.
As if noticing his actions, Feifei whispered in his ear:
"This plump woman's surname is Wang. She runs a silk business and is a famous powerful figure in town. The Town Chief is her cousin, and she's also a widow. I heard she has jinxed over a dozen husbands to death, all dying mysteriously. In short, this woman is not a good person. It's even said she colludes with bandits in the desert outside of town."
Li Hai merely nodded after hearing this and no longer paid attention to the plump woman named Wang.
But after he shifted his gaze, the powerful woman named Wang happened to turn her head and saw him.
And upon seeing Li Hai's peerless beauty, Wang Widow was immediately stunned. Then, she started breathing rapidly, her eyes rolled back, and saliva flowed as she fainted backward onto the ground.
Due to her heavy build, when Wang Widow fell, her two attendants couldn't support her at all. Instead, they were pulled down with her, falling to the ground with a series of muffled thuds like breaking stone tablets.
However, this fall happened to wake the plump woman up.
As soon as she woke up, she ignored the pain. After gazing at Li Hai's back in a daze from afar, she called her attendants closer and began to whisper with them.
While whispering, she kept looking at Li Hai, not knowing what crooked ideas she was brewing.
This ceremony lasted until the moon was high in the sky, only barely ending when the firmament was completely dark.
But even after the ceremony ended, Li Wang Temple remained brightly lit and bustling with people, still extremely lively.
However, this liveliness had nothing to do with Li Hai, because Feifei had already taken him to the side room behind Li Wang Temple to find her master.
And when Feifei's master, Zan Popo, saw Li Hai, she immediately clutched her chest, taking several deep breaths before saying, "Oh dear, young man, you are truly handsome. Even an old woman like me gets dizzy just seeing you."
"Master, stop joking," Feifei said, speechless, from the side. "This Brother Li is here to ask you a question."
"Alright," Zan Popo said with a kind smile, "Ask away."
"Mm," Li Hai nodded, and asked in a deep voice, "Zan Popo, do you know—how to get to the Mystic Gu Workshop? Approximately where in the Red Soil Forest is their base located?"
"Mystic Gu Workshop?!"
Upon hearing that term, Zan Popo's expression immediately changed, and then she said in a low voice, "Young man, why do you want to go to that place?"
Li Hai was direct: "Someone told me that the Mystic Gu Workshop knows information about my enemy. I want to go and ask them for clarity."
"An enemy, huh? Ah, alright."
Zan Popo sighed, "Child, what I must tell you is—"
