The disciple of Yue Lao

Chapter 1 The Messy Marriage Tree
Xia Yu, with a fairy-like appearance, is 520 years old, with long flowing hair, and is about 1.75 meters tall. She is wearing a red dress, which is slightly lighter in color than Yue Lao's robe.

……

【Marriage Palace】

The marriage tree in front of the door is hung with red strings, one red string connecting the marriage of two destined people. Under the tree is the marriage pond, which manages the marriage of small animals.

On this day, when the Wind Fairy was ordered to let out the wind, she let out the wind too hard. A gust of wind blew into the small courtyard, causing many leaves on the Marriage Tree to fall off.

Some red threads were tangled together when the wind blew them. Without Yue Lao, Xia Yu did not dare to act rashly, for fear of ruining other people's marriages.

Coincidentally, at this time Yue Lao went to the Tushita Palace to have a drink and talk with Taishang Laojun, and ordered Xia Yu to take good care of the marriage tree.

There was no point in being anxious. Xia Yu held a glimmer of hope in his heart, hoping that a certain senior brother in the human world would find out that there was something wrong with the mortal's marriage and would correct it...

Thinking of this, Xia Yu felt relieved. She pushed aside a few white clouds and lay under the marriage tree to look at the world full of flowers.

There are many Yue Lao Temples in the world, where mortals offer incense to Yue Lao. Believers will draw lots at Yue Lao Temples, and everyone wants to find a good marriage.

From the human world in ancient times to the modern world, people's evaluation of Yue Lao has gradually changed.

"With all my heart, I bow down to you, reuniting under the moon, under the acacia tree, in the engagement hall. In charge of all marriages in the world, maintaining marriages thousands of miles apart. With a kind look, lovers finally get married. With a red string, they cannot escape the fate of three lives. With a walking stick and a handkerchief, I rush through the clouds. With a childlike face and white hair, I transcend love, hate, and vengeance. Great saint, great mercy, great benevolence, great wishes. Leading the way, the old man under the moon. Matching marriages, the right god."

The above is the evaluation of Yue Lao by mortals in ancient times.

After reading it, Xia Yu couldn't help but sigh inwardly: It turns out that mortals respect the Master so much!

Modern mortals have mixed opinions on Yue Lao, some praise him, some complain...

Some mortals even openly call out to Yue Lao in the human world...

"Matchmaker, what's wrong with you? I'm 25 or 26 and still single. Is it because my red thread is of poor quality or did you use it to knit a sweater? If you don't have enough red thread, let me know and I'll send you some."

After reading it, Xia Yu smiled: The marriage thread used by the master is not an ordinary red thread. Mortals are too naive!

"Matchmaker, you must have drunk too much. Why would I fall in love with such an ugly person? The key is that she doesn't like me. Please quickly remove my red string. I beg you!"

Xia Yu suddenly covered his mouth, startled: Master seems to get drunk often, I wonder which time he was talking about...

"Matchmaker, just tell me directly, did someone give you a gift? Why does everyone have a partner, but I am the only one who has no one chasing me? Tell me what they gave me, and I will give you a few gifts too."

……

About gift giving?

Xia Yu seemed to really start to recall the past, but she had never seen her master accept gifts from others. Yes, that's right! Master is fair and selfless, and it is impossible for her to accept gifts. Otherwise, Master is in charge of the marriages between heaven and earth, and there are so many gods in heaven, wouldn't they all come to give gifts?
Alas! Poor Cowherd and Weaver Girl, only with the efforts of their master can they meet on the Magpie Bridge on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month every year.

The rules of heaven at that time were too strict, and they just didn't meet the right opportunity. Look at the seven princesses and Dong Yong later, even the seven princesses found their own happiness.

The master once again pleaded for the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, but the Queen Mother, because of what she had said herself, was determined to only allow the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl to see each other once a year. (That was in the past, now they can't even see each other...)
Obviously the master has done his best, but there are still many people in the mortal world who blame the master for not fulfilling his duties. Alas! The job of the matchmaker is indeed not easy!

No wonder the master later accepted so many apprentices to help. If he hadn't been reported for being lazy, she wouldn't have been the last apprentice of Yue Lao. (The first ninety-eight apprentices were all male. Later, because they were careless and often matched the wrong couples, Yue Lao decided to accept female apprentices.)
"Girl, lying there...what are you thinking about?"

Before anyone entered the [Marriage Palace], Yue Lao's voice came in first.

"Master is back?" Xia Yu quickly stood up and shook off the dust that was not on her dress.

"Laojun's wine tastes better every year!" Yue Lao said as his body swayed uncontrollably from side to side, and he even saw double when he looked at Xia Yu.

"Master..." Xia Yu hurried forward to support Yue Lao and said helplessly, "You drank too much again?"

"Tsk... Nonsense." Yue Lao wanted to prove that he was not drunk. He broke away from Xia Yu's hand and said, "No... I didn't drink too much."

It's over now!

Xia Yu sighed and forced Yue Lao to sit down in the [Marriage Palace]. As soon as Yue Lao sat down, he began to snore... Xia Yu walked to the bottom of the Marriage Tree helplessly, walked around the Marriage Tree, and found that the tangled red lines were still tangled, without any changes. She counted the places where the red lines were tangled the most, and wanted to untie them, but she didn't dare.

The red threads on the marriage tree have been tangled together for a while. It must be because all the senior brothers were too busy in the human world, so they didn’t notice it yet.

The spell of "Thousand Miles Sound Transmission" is simple, but it cannot escape Erlang Shen's fiery eyes.

no no no...

but……

The marriage line is in disarray and the master is so drunk, what should I do?
One day in heaven is one year on earth. If the master wakes up tomorrow, one year on earth will have passed...

"How about... I go down and take a look?" Xia Yu reached out and touched the tangled red lines, and remembered their names.

Just as he was about to leave, Xia Yu suddenly hesitated again, "It is against the rules of heaven to go down to the mortal world without permission. How can I, a small immortal disciple, escape the test of clairvoyance and superb hearing? Besides, I can't even get out of the South Heaven Gate. Yang Jian and his dog will never be lazy for a moment."

Just when Xia Yu was at a loss, she suddenly remembered something. In the past, when the brothers went to the human world to perform tasks, the master would pull out a white string from his whisk to give them a pass.

Where is Master's whisk?

Oh! That's right! On him.

Xia Yu returned to the room happily, approached Yue Lao carefully, and searched carefully on his body.

"Found it!" Xia Yu whispered, and her hand touched the whisk behind Yue Lao.

Because Xia Yu was wearing a marriage bracelet on his right hand, which symbolized that he was Yue Lao's direct disciple, he could easily grab Yue Lao's whisk without waking him up.

Xia Yu grabbed a white string from the whisk and pulled it off. The string turned into a small pass token and hung around her waist.

Xia Yu nervously straightened Yue Lao's wrinkled clothes, clasped his hands together, closed his eyes and prayed: "Master, I had no choice but to do this. Please don't blame me when you wake up!"

So, Xia Yu took a few red strings from the place on the marriage tree where spare marriage strings were hung, and left the [Marriage Palace] in a flash.

……

【South Tianmen】

The sun was high in the sky, and there were no clouds in the sky. Yang Jian and his dog were standing at the gate of Nantianmen, like pillars, motionless.

Xia Yu had just arrived at the South Gate of Heaven and hadn't even stood firmly when he was frightened by Roaring Sky Dog.

"Woof...Woof woof!" Xiaotian Dog was the first to jump out to stop Xia Yu, and then the two heavenly soldiers at the door also stood up.

"Stop!" Yang Jian also stopped in front of Xia Yu, pointed the three-pointed knife in his hand at Xia Yu, and asked, "Where is the token?"

Xia Yu's heart was beating very fast, but he couldn't show it on his face. He tried to stay calm. "Ah! It's Erlang Shen? Hello! I'm Xia Yu, a disciple of Yue Lao. Today, my master ordered me to come down to earth to help a few mortals find love."

Hearing this, Yang Jian looked at Xia Yu suspiciously and stretched out his hand, saying, "Token."

"Oh...token..." Xia Yu hurriedly took out the pass token from her waist and gave it to Yang Jian.

Others who wanted to descend to the mortal world needed a token from the Queen Mother and the Jade Emperor. Only Yue Lao, because of his busy official duties, got the Jade Emperor's special permission to "use a whisk as a token".

Yang Jian carefully checked Xia Yu's pass, and after confirming that it was a genuine token, he took back the three-pointed knife and ordered the two heavenly soldiers to let Xia Yu pass.

"Let's go!" Yang Jian returned the token to Xia Yu and said expressionlessly.

"Thank you, Erlang Shen." Xia Yu took the pass token with both hands, then smiled stiffly, transformed and left the heaven.

(End of this chapter)