He Yeyun’s biography
He Yeyun was originally a Taoist named Zou Pusheng who was born in the late Yuan Dynasty and active in the early Ming Dynasty. He is proficient in metaphysics and good at divination. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, he went down to join Chen Youliang's team of the Red Scarf Army, and competed with the uprising army led by Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Bowen as military advisor for the world. When the two armies fought, Zou Pusheng advised Chen Youliang and won 99 battles. However, in the last time, the "Battle of Poyang Lake" from April to July 1363, Chen Youliang was defeated and killed by an arrow. After Zhu Yuanzhang became the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Liu Bowen strongly recommended Zou Pusheng to become an official in the court. However, after Zou Pusheng's defeat, he had long looked down on his official career and traveled around the world. He kept his name anonymous, named He Yeyun, which means Yeheyun, and made a living by using the astronomy, geography, and civil engineering skills he learned in his youth.
During the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, He Yeyun lived in Chaozhou Prefecture—mainly in Chaoyang. He built shady houses for people, guided architectural feng shui, and became a famous geotechnical master. Although He Yeyun is highly skilled and has done many good things among the people, due to his eccentric personality, the master does not follow the master's wishes, so sometimes there are not many customers, and food and clothing cannot be guaranteed. It is said that he sometimes hummed phrases such as "I am not happy in life, it affects thousands of miles of the Yangtze River...the country's mountains and rivers are..." and wandered around in poverty.
According to legend, He Yeyun once broke down a temple on the mountainside to avoid a thunderstorm. He remembered that when he came down the mountain, his master had told him: "Those who have light can help them." "Moon" (i.e. "light"); it was not until Zhu Yuanzhang raised the banner of Ming Dynasty that he realized that "Ming", when the sun and moon shine together, is the real "light". At this time, he happened to meet a fairy falling from the sky, and he confided to her his frustration that he mistakenly surrendered to Chen Youliang and was defeated, and the whole world fell for Zhu Yuanzhang. The fairy said sternly: "After Chen Youliang won the victory, he only thought about glory. As a military advisor, you failed to admonish and stop him, which is a breach of duty. How can you blame the injustice of heaven?" After saying this, she put a fairy dress on He Yeyun.
From then on, He Yeyun put on the fairy clothes and continued his Taoist business, and there were many supernatural legends. When outsiders saw the lice jumping on his clothes, they called him the "Lice Fairy". It is said that after the death of the Lice Mother Immortal, she was granted the title of Water God by the Jade Emperor and managed the Chaozhou rivers. In this way, from Zou Pusheng to He Yeyun, and then to the Lice Mother Immortal - a process from human to immortal was completely formed. This is the origin of Chaoshan folk worshiping the "Lice Mother Fairy".