In recent years, bustling Longshan Temple has become the spot for many to come in search of a husband or wife. The "Yuexia Shenjun," located in the right rear court of the temple, has long been a focal point for young men and women hoping for marriage. Now, its fame has spread beyond Taiwans borders to Japan, as young Japanese head to Taipei to worship, throw the divination blocks and hope for a good spouse.

Although Longshan is a Buddhist temple, it also houses Taoist deities. Yuexia Shenjuns spot is near the West Garden gate. Both on the Western Valentines Day in February and the Chinese Valentines day by the lunar calendar, the spot attracts a large number of worshippers.

If we take a closer look at the worshippers gathered near the Yuexia Shenjun, most are between 15 and 40 years of age. Many young women are here in search of a life partner. There are also some mothers bringing their daughters here to worship, as well as elderly parents performing rituals on behalf of their children, in hopes of attracting a good husband or wife.

Over the past few years, Longshan Temple has become a destination of choice among Japanese tourists as well. When guides introduce Yuexia Shenjuns compound to Japanese visitors, many unmarried tourists are surprised, and even though this deity is tucked away in the back corner of the temple compound, he has become the highlight of the visit for Japanese tourists. Often a group of Japanese girls can be seen here with hands together in prayer or casting the Taiwanese divination blocks in hopes of obtaining a husband to their taste.

However, many people are not quite clear on how one goes about worshiping this god. But the temples head of temple affairs, Chang Hsueh-ling, says that theres no big secret to it. One must only pray sincerely. People can offer incense first, or place their palms together and pray about the matter in their hearts. They can also use divination blocks, and those who get the "sheng jiao" （one block face up and the other face down） three times can get a "marriage line" from the front of the temple.

So what do you do with the marriage line once you have it? Chang explains that the marriage line represents the tying together of destinies by the god. Worshippers who ask for a spouse can place the marriage line on themselves, or place it on their home altar. As long as the individual is sincere, the god will send down his blessing.

The "Yuexia Laoren" story comes from a classical work by Tang dynasty author Li Fu-yan. In it, the author records the story of a man named Wei-ku, who went to traveled to a city and saw an elderly man lying on a cloth bag sitting under the moonlight reading a book. Curious, he asked the old man what was in the bag. The old man replied that the bag held the red threads of matrimony. If feet were bound together with one of these red threads, even if the parties came from warring households, they would contract marriage.

Wei-ku asked who his own future wife would be, and the old man flipped the pages of his book and said that his wife would be a three-year-old girl living at the vegetable sellers next to his inn. Wei-ku was very angry upon hearing this, and secretly sought a person to kill the little girl. But the assassin could not bear to complete his commission when the time came, and simply nicked the girl with his knife and left.

Fourteen years later, Wei-ku had notched up military honors and was ready to marry. On his wedding night, he found that his wife had a scar between her eyebrows. He asked her how she had gotten the mark, and the girl said that she was the daughter of a vegetable seller, and that she had been adopted by a powerful man. It was only then that Wei-ku realized that the elderly man he had met years before was the spirit responsible for marriages.

After the story became known, the people of the city named the inn where Wei-ku stayed that year the "Engagement Inn," and dubbed the deity the "Yuexia Laoren" （the Old Man under the Moonlight.） They built a temple in his honor, and the story of the gods powers was handed down to the present day.