The wheat fields of Gaojia Village had a bountiful harvest.

When the villagers weighed the harvested wheat, they realized this year’s yield was astonishingly high.

In previous years, one mu of wheat yielded at most one or two dan, and that only in a year with favorable weather conditions. But this year, each mu yielded two to three dan.

Every household looked at their barns filled with wheat and were overjoyed, unable to close their mouths with joy.

“This must be due to the ‘celestial fertilizer’ provided by the Deity.”

“Yes, definitely the merit of the celestial fertilizer. Anyway, it couldn’t be because I weeded well.”

“After using the celestial fertilizer this year, not only did the crops grow well, but even the weeds in the fields grew more wildly than before. I had to weed constantly, otherwise, I couldn’t keep up with the crazy growth rate of the weeds.”

“The Deity bless us.”

“Last year, in the Dao Xuan Deity Cave, I made a wish, asking the Deity to bless us with favorable weather and abundant harvests this year. This year, we indeed had a bountiful harvest, so I must repay the vow to the Deity.”

At these words, another villager spoke up:

“Yes! Over this past half a year, we have received many benefits from the Deity, but we haven’t done anything for the Deity yet.”

“Previously, everything we ate and used was bestowed by the Deity. We shouldn’t offer back what the Deity gave us to honor the Deity. But this time, we produced grain ourselves, so we can use the grain we grew to honor the Deity.”

“Good!”

All the villagers who had grown wheat came to a consensus.

“Since we are making an offering with wheat, naturally, we should make Chengcheng County’s specialty traditional delicacy, hand-pulled noodles.”

This proposal was immediately agreed upon by everyone.

Hand-pulled noodles are a specialty delicacy of Chengcheng County. Simply put, it means not using a rolling pin, not using a knife, not using any tools—completely handmade noodle making.

By offering something that is purely hand-crafted to the Deity, they could show their sincerity to the greatest extent.

The Old Village Chief spoke up:

“The Deity is a giant divine being; when he spreads his palms, they are ten zhang long. If the hand-pulled noodles we offer are too small, the Deity won’t be able to enjoy them. Therefore, we have to make a very huge bowl of hand-pulled noodles.”

“At least as big as the red pool that the Deity lowered when giving us the happy fat water.”

Gao Chuwu’s father said:

“If each family contributes a few dou of wheat and combines them, we can make a huge bowl of noodles.”

Zheng Daniu’s father said:

“But for such a large pool-sized noodles, we don’t have a pot big enough to cook it.”

“Let’s cook them separately. Each household prepares an oversized wooden bathtub and cooks only one enormous noodle per tub. Then, each family brings their one noodle, and we put them together to form a large bowl of hand-pulled noodles.”

“Good idea!”

The villagers of Gaojia Village and Zhengjia Village immediately started taking action…

At noon…

Li Daoxuan sat in front of the computer, slurping Guangxi Luosifen. The smell of the sour beans was indescribable, but it tasted quite delicious.

He was happily slurping away when he suddenly noticed that the village seemed unusually bustling. All the villagers seemed to be busy with the same thing—setting up a large bathtub in their own courtyards and heating water.

“Why is everyone suddenly taking baths?”

Li Daoxuan sensed an unusual atmosphere. He left the computer and sat in front of the box, watching the show intently.

While the bathtubs were being heated, the villagers started kneading dough. With large bags of flour and large basins of water, they formed a huge, enormous dough ball. The villagers found it quite taxing to knead such a large dough ball.

The men of the household used all their strength to knead the dough. They kneaded while standing on stools, they jumped to knead, or they first divided it into several lumps to knead each one, and after kneading, they mixed them together and kneaded them again.

After kneading, they stretched the enormous dough by hand—lengthening, thinning and stretching it… until it formed a noodle strip at least over ten centimeters long…

Considering these little people stood barely one centimeter tall themselves, crafting noodles over ten centimeters long was astonishingly large. A single person couldn’t possibly lift it. They had to hire several laborers from Short-term Workers Village who could manage heavy tasks. Together, they hoisted the giant noodle onto their shoulders as if carrying an enormous serpent.

Chanting work songs, the crowd slowly lowered the giant noodle into a massive wooden bucket of boiling water.

This wasn’t only happening in one household. Every villager who harvested wheat was engaged in this labor. Their progress was deliberately synchronized, ensuring all families’ noodles would be cooked simultaneously.

Li Daoxuan watched, utterly bewildered, “What on earth are they trying to do?”

The enormous noodle churned inside the bucket. The Old Village Chief of Gaojia Village was in charge of timing. After some time, the old man’s white eyebrows lifted as he gave a loud command, “Time’s up! Assemble quickly!”

A large group of pre-hired short-term workers then lifted the big wooden buckets and swiftly converged on the village center.

At the heart of the village stood a large red plastic pool. That’s right—it was a mineral water bottle lid.

One by one, the villagers poured their own cooked noodle into the mineral water bottle lid. One strip, another strip, then another…

Soon, dozens of noodle strips filled the lid. The Village Chief picked up a huge basin of pre-prepared seasoning—containing salt, sugar, and some strangely unidentifiable plants—and poured it into the lid. Then Gao Chuwu stepped forward, stirring the mixture inside the mineral water bottle lid with an enormous wooden stick.

Only at this moment did Li Daoxuan understand: they were making a whole pool of noodles for him.

Could it be?

He couldn’t possibly be right?

He was correct!

After Gao Chuwu finished stirring, all the villagers from Gaojia Village and Zhengjia Village faced the sky simultaneously and declared loudly, “We thank the Deity for blessing us with a bountiful harvest. We offer this Chengcheng hand-pulled noodles to the Deity.”

“The Deity is benevolent!”

“Long life and great blessings!”

The villagers roared in unison before bowing deeply together.

Something tender welled up in Li Daoxuan’s heart. Why could these tiny beings move him so profoundly, hitting his tear ducts and stirring such deep emotion?

He reached out his hand towards the small mineral water bottle lid.

Gao Yiye, seeing this, shouted, “The Deity reaches for the hand-pulled noodles! The Deity is taking it!”

The villagers were overcome with joy, cheering ecstatically, “The Deity is accepting the offering!”

They danced wildly, roared with exhilaration, watching as the large red pool ascended into the sky, disappearing into the low clouds.

Li Daoxuan took the mineral water bottle lid out of the box and gazed at it intently.

Despite the villagers’ immense effort, the resulting noodles amounted to only half a lid’s worth.

So adorable!

He felt reluctant to eat it… but eat it he must.

Tilting his head back, he poured the noodles from the lid into his mouth. The noodles, thick like pythons to the miniature villagers, were exceedingly fine strands to Li Daoxuan. He couldn’t bear to swallow them hastily, so he chewed slowly, savoring every bit. Though lacking the rich modern array of seasonings, this bowl of noodles tasted truly delicious.