Chapter 1

After cultivating for three hundred years, I became the City Goddess enshrined in Luojing’s City God Temple.

The previous City God instructed me to protect the people, remain compassionate, and never neglect my duties.

I hurriedly agreed, though I felt rather uncertain inside.

I had always cultivated in the mountains. This was my first time in such a lively mortal world.

The City God Temple teemed with worshippers coming and going. Even the new kneeling cushion before the City Goddess already showed cracks.

A young lady made an earnest wish. “May I find a loving husband.” She bowed three times before rising.

Her elder beamed beside her. Surely today’s matchmaking meeting would bring her a fine young man.

The moment they stepped outside, the matchmaker bustled over. “This way, miss. Young Master Qin has been waiting for ages.”

She introduced him with great satisfaction. “The Qin family’s young master is eighteen years old—”

The young lady endured it for as long as she could, then turned and glared furiously at my clay statue.

I was still wondering what strange accent she had used when making her wish.

I listened to the next scholar. “I only pray that I place high in this examination!”

On his way home, he encountered his sister-in-law, who had come especially to see him.

She greeted him warmly. “Little Brother, I made rice cakes and rice dumplings for you. Take them for the road!”

His hand froze halfway to the treats. Trapped between accepting and refusing, he finally burst into angry tears. “I didn’t ask for cakes and dumplings!”

Then a lazy fellow came in grinning. “City Goddess, all I want is to lie around and still get rich! If you’re truly all-powerful, let me wake from a nap with my money pouch full!”

That was a difficult wish. I pondered it for quite a while.

As he crossed Zhuque Avenue, I let a falling brick strike him on the head.

Golden Crown Teahouse was being renovated. Its wealthy owner saw the man unconscious and immediately had him taken to a clinic.

That way, he got to lie down and recover—and received a sum for his medical expenses.

I felt extremely pleased with myself. Being a deity was not hard at all.

Last came another half-grown boy.

“City Goddess, my father has gone mad! He makes me study every day before the rooster even crows. I’m going to turn into a complete bookworm.”

His cheeks still held some baby fat. He looked eleven or twelve, bright-eyed and mischievous, yet he made his wish with great sincerity.

“My father was never made for studying, and my brother has followed him in business since childhood. Why am I the only one in the family who has to study? Please, City Goddess, make my father meddle in my life less!”

I considered it. This one was simple enough.

His father owned a cloth shop in Kangping Ward. I split one major business deal into three smaller ones. As his father grew busier by the day, naturally he no longer had time to supervise the boy’s studies.

His father stopped interfering—but then came his father’s father.

Word had it that Shen Shiqi, the young master of the Shen Cloth Shop, had skipped class to wander the market. His grandfather chased him all the way from Zhuque Avenue to Xuanwu Gate with a huge red sandalwood ruler.

I thought about it.

His father truly had not meddled with him.

So I cheerfully drew a circle beneath his wish to mark it complete.

A few days later, Shen Shiqi limped into the City God Temple.

I stepped down from the City Goddess statue and took human form at an age matching his.

Wearing a short-sleeved jacket over a ruqun skirt, with ribbons and bells dangling from my twin buns, I hid behind a pillar and studied him.

“What a lousy deity!”

He bared his teeth and waved a fist as if in protest. “I burned premium aged sandalwood for you. Give it back!”

I sucked in a startled breath.

I had already devoured every last trace of that delicious incense. How could I possibly return it?

But his ears were sharp. He turned, and our eyes met.

“Hey,” he said. “Are you here to offer incense too?”

I hesitated and said nothing.

He dragged me over and poured out his grievances. “I’m warning you, never burn incense and make wishes here. It doesn’t work!”

I glared indignantly. “You’re lying!”

He shook his head. “Why would I lie? Look how few worshippers are in this hall. People used to line up outside to worship the City Goddess. Now that kneeling cushion has been here for three days and still looks new.”

I bit my lip. “That’s not true. The market is about to close, so of course there are fewer people. It has nothing to do with the City Goddess being ineffective!”

Shen Shiqi looked surprised. “Why do you care whether the City Goddess works miracles?”

I puffed out my cheeks. “The more people who offer incense, the more I get to eat.”

Understanding dawned on him. “So you’re an incense attendant here! Right—the more visitors there are, the more incense money you earn.”

Close enough.

We sat together on the steps outside. He sighed heavily. “It was so hard to get out. I don’t want to go home yet.” I looked at him curiously. “Where do you usually go for fun?”

His eyes lit up. “All sorts of places. First Treasure Pavilion, then Curio Gallery—”

He rattled off a long list and concluded, “Every shop has to be visited.”

I was puzzled. “What is fun about visiting the same shops every day?”

He smiled mysteriously. “How could they ever be the same?”

He pulled me to my feet. “Come on. The night market will open soon. I’ll show you around.”

Before I could think of a refusal, I had already been swept into the cheerful bustle.

“Young miss, would you like candied hawthorns? If they’re not sweet, you don’t pay!” a vendor called enthusiastically.

The clear sugar shells sparkled. I nodded without thinking, then hurriedly added, “Give me the ones that aren’t sweet. I have no money.”

The vendor’s eager hands froze. He looked at me, then at Shen Shiqi. Shen Shiqi burst out laughing. “She has no money, but I do. Pick us two of the biggest, reddest skewers!”

I accepted one, and he chuckled. “I’ve never seen anyone bargain like that.”

We walked together through the river of lantern light. “But he was the one who said I wouldn’t have to pay if they weren’t sweet.”

Shen Shiqi shook his head. “When you listen to people, you can’t hear only what they say. What is in their hearts may not come out of their mouths. Grown-ups are always saying one thing and meaning another.”

“Everyone becomes like that when they grow up,” he said. “How old are you?”

I held my candied hawthorn solemnly and answered offhandedly, “Three hundred.”

Shen Shiqi roared with laughter. “You’re hilarious. Then I’ll live to be three hundred too!”