The Domino Effect of Fifty-Nine

As the old saying goes, when livestock are starving, they’ll follow anyone who feeds them. In truth, people, when driven to the brink of hunger, are little different from beasts; thus sprang the phrase, “Whoever feeds you is as dear as your own mother.” During the waning years of the Eastern Han, the people of the Jinan Kingdom were like weaned children, bereft and famished. For years, a muddleheaded court, grasping noble clans, and the insidious cult of sorcery had drained them dry. After the toil of an entire year, their harvests, divided and seized layer by layer, left almost nothing in the hands of those who had sown and reaped. In ordinary years, they struggled to make ends meet, their grain stores insufficient even for daily bread, let alone in times of disaster.

In these dire straits, when the people teetered on the edge of survival, a new faith dawned—the Holy Mother Church—like the radiant sun warming the frozen heart of winter. Within five days of its arrival, the High Priestess Luan Yi distributed food and porridge to the starving, healed the sick, and performed countless acts of charity. In Licheng County, countless households who had been going hungry received grain and new clothes from the church. Among them were many destitute folk, skilled in carpentry or masonry, who found well-paying work in the Luan family’s factories.

Furthermore, more than two hundred gravely ill patients, too poor to seek treatment, were sent by the church’s acolytes to the main cathedral at Mount Li for free medical care. Gradually, even the gentry, landlords, and wealthy merchants who embraced the Holy Mother’s faith began to follow suit—repairing roads, building bridges, reducing rents, and, on the Sabbath prescribed by the faith, granting rest days to tenants, laborers, and household staff.

The Holy Mother Church had not even existed a full month, and already the common folk felt their lives palpably eased and brightened. What, then, would two or three months bring? Or a year? Would they not live like immortals by then?

Drawn by hope for a better life, more and more commoners declared their wish to become followers of the Holy Mother. The church’s acolytes offered them much the same instructions as at the opening ceremonies, the only difference being that most peasants were illiterate, so the requirement to read scripture was relaxed—they needed only to listen to sermons and recitations.

The acolytes explained the process: “To become a follower, you must meet certain conditions. First, you must pray before and after every meal, and attend worship at your village’s Holy Mother gathering place each Sabbath; if there is none, you must travel to the nearest village or town. Persevere in this for three months, and you may then swear your dedication to the Holy Mother. Thereafter, continue praying and worshipping for another three months, and, after learning the Holy Mother’s Scripture through sermons, you may apply for formal membership. Upon passing an oral test, you may receive baptism from the High Priestess herself at the Mount Li Cathedral, and become a full member of the church.”

As the church’s influence deepened in Licheng, tales of “miracles” among the common folk began to spread. For example: northeast of Licheng, in the Jinan Kingdom, stood the village of Wu Fort, home to the mighty Wu clan. For five generations, the Wu family line had produced only a single son each time. By Wu Tian’s generation, he was past thirty, yet his wife’s womb remained empty. The entire family was consumed with worry. The elders believed that the wife, Lady Wu Liu, was barren, and urged Wu Tian to take a concubine to ensure the family’s continuation.

Wu Tian and his wife, deeply devoted to one another, wished only for a life together and resisted the idea of bringing a concubine into their home. Yet, unable to defy the elders outright, they found ways to delay and evade. They knew that this matter could not be postponed forever; the true solution lay in Lady Wu Liu conceiving a son. They tried everything—consulting renowned physicians, visiting temples, spending money, taking medicines, making offerings, even dedicating themselves to the task of conception. Yet after more than half a year, nothing had changed.

Pressure to take a concubine mounted; soon, they would have no way out. By chance, they heard that a new temple called a “church” had opened at the foot of Mount Li, headed by the renowned wonder-worker Luan Ziqi, said to possess mysterious powers. Without delay, Wu Tian harnessed the carriage and took his wife to the Holy Mother Church’s cathedral at Mount Li.

There, they found Luan Yi and recounted their troubles. Luan Yi led them to the clinic in the inner courtyard, where a physician took their pulses. Finding no physical ailments, she smiled and said, “It is not impossible for you to have children. From today onward, you and your wife must pray to the Holy Mother before and after meals, and during intimacy, beseeching her to grant you a child. Remember, the Holy Mother of infinite compassion hears only the prayers of the devout. The more steadfast your faith, the greater your chances of conceiving. Also, perform good deeds to win her favor—this will further increase your likelihood of bearing a child. Lastly, to aid you, the entire clergy of Mount Li will fast for three days and pray together for the Holy Mother’s blessing.”

The couple, full of gratitude, learned the prayers and departed joyfully. Back home, they persuaded their family to reduce rents for their tenants, and rewarded the sharecroppers to sow good fortune. They prayed before and after every meal, and, at night, undressed before bed and prayed together before making love. After more than two months of such devotion, Lady Wu Liu miraculously became pregnant.

The couple, astonished and elated, told their family how they had learned to pray at the Holy Mother Church and received this blessing. Their kin were amazed, exclaiming, “The Holy Mother is truly divine!” They became fervent believers and spread the tale as a miracle far and wide.

What they did not realize was that Lady Wu Liu’s pregnancy was both related and unrelated to the church. Unrelated, because conception was no act of divine intervention; related, because the church’s role was significant nonetheless. Later science would prove that a couple’s mental state during intimacy greatly affects their chances of conceiving: happiness brings fertility. For Wu Tian and his wife, burdened so long with the pressure of continuing the family line, intimacy had become a duty, not a joy. Anxiety and worry crowded out pleasure, making conception unlikely. No matter their efforts, they could not succeed.

The Holy Mother Church solved this problem. With unwavering faith, the couple believed that the Holy Mother would grant them a child, and with that faith, their burdens lifted, joy returned to their union, and pregnancy followed as a matter of course.

Of course, in the Eastern Han era, only Luan Yi understood such matters. To most, Lady Wu Liu’s pregnancy was a miracle—a sign of the Holy Mother’s favor. Word spread, faith grew, and Wu Tian and his wife became the church’s most devout followers, spending their days at Mount Li Cathedral tending to chores, serving the Holy Mother through their deeds.

By coincidence, the tenant farmer Wu Biao underwent his own journey of faith. Wu Biao had a son. Last year, he arranged a match in a neighboring village. He had secretly observed the girl: tall, broad-chested, wide-hipped—strong enough for fieldwork and, with those hips, sure to bear many children. He was satisfied, but her family demanded a high bride price—fifty strings of cash, a sheep, and ten bushels of rice.

Wu Biao hesitated, thinking of abandoning the match and seeking another girl. Yet every time he considered it, he felt this girl was the best, and feared missing out. After much tossing and turning, he decided to pay the bride price. He calculated his savings: with last year’s good harvest and a frugal life, and by working harder, he could manage it.

But fate intervened. Just as he was about to gather the last of the money, his mother-in-law died in mid-September. As a son-in-law, he could not refuse to contribute to the funeral—otherwise, the village would brand him unfilial. At his brother-in-law’s insistence, they held a lavish funeral, with two days of feasting. Wu Biao wept harder than the deceased’s own son—not for grief, but for the ten strings of cash the funeral cost him. His heart bled; without that money, he couldn’t marry off his son. Without a wife, there’d be no grandchildren; and at fifty-two, he wondered if he’d ever see a grandchild in his lifetime.

As he worried over his son’s marriage, the acolytes of the Holy Mother Church arrived at Wu Fort to preach. Wu Biao attended several gatherings with his neighbors and asked, “Does the Holy Mother truly oversee everything?”

The acolyte smiled and nodded. “Of course,” he replied, and explained how to pray and ask for blessings.

At first, Wu Biao was skeptical. But since prayer cost nothing and took little effort, why not try? So from that day forth, he prayed every morning and evening about his son’s marriage. After just a week—astonishingly—the miracle came to pass: Young Master Wu Tian took pity on his tenants, reduced their rent by a tenth, and gifted each tenant twenty strings of cash.

That was more than enough to cover the bride price—and with the extra, he could build an additional room for the newlyweds.

Delighted, Wu Biao praised the power of the Holy Mother. When the stories of Wu Tian’s childless prayers and Wu Biao’s windfall are placed side by side, it’s clear to any discerning eye that they are linked: it was because Wu Tian, seeking a child, gave money to his tenants, that Wu Biao could marry off his son.

Yet in Jinan at the time, the stories spread separately, so people never connected them, taking them instead as manifestations of the Holy Mother’s grace.

Such stories played out in Jinan day after day, like dominoes falling one after another, until they formed the vivid, living image of the Holy Mother, a new Nüwa, in the hearts of the people.