Chapter 36: Beijing Delicacies, the Beginning of the Star Chart Incident
The Zhou Dynasty has lasted for three hundred years. During this period, the Zhou ancestors founded the dynasty, followed by three generations of wise rulers who focused on recuperation, vigorously developed people's livelihoods, and innovated systems. The first emperor, Zhou Wen, was a ruler who maintained the status quo and promoted benevolence and virtue, winning the hearts of the people through his policies.
By the time of his ascension to the throne, the Great Zhou Dynasty was prosperous and the people were happy. After more than ten years of development, night markets flourished in various places, and the capital, Shengjing, was even more prosperous and wealthy, where everyone lived in peace and contentment.
Shengjing, a place of exquisite cuisine and fine dining, with private rooms.
It was already late afternoon, and the group, led by Zhang Xuan and Lin Fanxiang, arrived at the largest and most expensive restaurant in Shengjing.
It was already the tenth day of the eighth lunar month, and the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching. Along the way, people could see that many restaurants and shops were decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, and everyone was busy selling goods and tidying up. What a beautiful night scene in Shengjing!
After hearing that they had been busy all day, Zhang Xuan decisively ordered all the classic and famous dishes of Shengjing.
Salted duck, duck blood and vermicelli soup, Shengjing roast duck, crab roe soup dumplings, dried shrimp and shredded tofu, shrimp with spiced tea, stewed vegetables, osmanthus-flavored lotus root...
The table was piled high with food; it looked delicious and smelled wonderful, it was incredibly tempting.
Zhang Xuan: "How is it? Is it delicious?"
Qingyu nodded, "It's delicious, but it feels like the chefs in Shengjing have a grudge against ducks."
This table has five or six main dishes, four of which are duck.
Zhang Xuan made a sound of dismay and laughed, "Shengjing is located by the river, so naturally there are many of these things. Moreover, people here used to like raising ducks, so it's normal that they like to eat them."
Lin Fanxiang sat down next to Qingyu and said, "On Mid-Autumn Festival night, there will be a special lantern festival and flower fair in Shengjing, and the Yunlan River will be even more lively. We can go and see it together."
The Yunlan River in Shengjing is a place of beautiful dreams and long history. Legend has it that the ancestors of the Zhou Dynasty once started their uprising on the banks of this river, and later, when they established their country, they chose this place as their capital.
Qingyu thought for a moment. It wasn't even Mid-Autumn Festival yet, and Shengjing was already filled with joy and decorated with lanterns. What if it was Mid-Autumn Festival? What if it was New Year's Day? She calculated the time and the place she would eventually go. Soon, the girl made up her mind.
Qingyu: "Okay, then we'll go see it in a few days!"
Wen Chuan and Qin Tianshu beside her were also smiling. After all, when you come to a place, you should take the time to explore and have some fun.
After eating and drinking his fill, Zhang Xuan sat comfortably, looking at the vegetables on the ground as he ate, and said, "I didn't expect that when I came back this time, my father didn't blame me at all. He just kept sighing when I wasn't paying attention."
Wen Chuan said, "Perhaps your father is just too worried about you."
Qin Tianshu chimed in, "Why don't you talk to your father more? Otherwise, why is he always sighing?"
Zhang Xuan shook his head. The young man smiled, having his own thoughts. "I don't think so. He should just say what he wants to say. Why should I force him if he can't? I'm not a smart person, but I won't create trouble for myself."
"He cares about me, and I care about him too."
He didn't understand the unspoken meaning behind his father's words, which had been going on since he was a child. He was used to it. Life is only a hundred years long. Even if you cultivate yourself, you still have to leave in the end. He always wanted to do more of what he liked and enjoy every day as it came.
Qingyu listened with a smile on her lips. She found it amazing. She used to not understand why there were so many fun and novel things in the world, but now she was beginning to understand.
Although demons have emotions, they mostly value cause and effect and morality, and respect strength. Even if they are sometimes conflicted and hesitant, they will eventually choose to resolve many things decisively. Humans are different. They have too many powerless mortals who plan for survival every day, consider their families, and struggle with emotions. They will struggle, hesitate, and suffer. They are complicated because of this, and therefore weaker and stronger than demons.
No wonder demons and humans often can't get along; they are similar but different.
Wen Chuan seemed to sense Qing Yu's silence. The young man looked at her, his eyes filled with tenderness and concern.
Qingyu smiled at him gently. Under the table, the girl quietly tapped his hand twice, then quickly withdrew it and ran off to chat with Lin Fanxiang.
The boys ate their meal, laughing and saying, "Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and so on."
...
Before they knew it, it was getting late. The group walked out of the restaurant. It was the night market in full swing. They had wanted to stroll around a bit longer, but after a busy day and a big meal, they were all a little tired.
The group discussed it casually and decided to come back in a few days; going home and getting some sleep was the most important thing right now.
The Prime Minister's residence and Qin Tianshu's house were on the same route, so Zhang Xuan followed them, and the group gradually arrived home.
In this area, the Demon Suppression Pavilion has virtually no night market business, and there are even fewer people around at this time.
A cool autumn breeze swept by, making everyone feel more awake. Suddenly, stars twinkled in the distance.
The boys seemed to sense something. They looked up and saw a sudden, beautiful, and even somewhat mysterious star map appear in the distant sky. The stars were connected by points, and the night seemed to have become a map, shining brightly on earth in an instant.
In an instant, the world was brightly lit, illuminating everything.
Wen Chuan frowned. The pattern on the star map was extremely strange, as if something bad was about to happen.
Looking at the star map, Qingyu frowned for a moment. She unconsciously opened her mouth slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but then she saw that the Demon Suppression Pavilion had suddenly mobilized, with dozens of cultivators rushing towards the place below the star map.
Everything happened too fast. After sensing the auras of various cultivators, Qin Tianshu quickly led them into the courtyard.
Qingyu pulled Lin Fanxiang along, and Zhang Xuan followed them in, stunned. A strange star map unveiled the turmoil in Shengjing that night.
Inside the courtyard, the boys remained silent.
Qin Tianshu looked at the sky. "That star map is gone."
In a mere instant, a fleeting moment of light and shadow, the scene was so obscured that it could not even be seen from afar.
Qingyu glanced at Lin Fanxiang, who had seemed somewhat unsettled since earlier, and took her hand. "Fanxiang, Fanxiang?"
Upon seeing this, Zhang Xuan seemed to suddenly remember something, "That star map, is it... Jianmu Platform?"
Beneath the star map lies the residence of the Grand Preceptors of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the place where they ascended to heaven to pray for human fortune and to divine the will of Heaven—the Jianmu Platform.
Each generation of Jianmu Platform owners was a highly skilled Word Spirit cultivator from the ancient Lin clan.
Today's Grand Preceptor of the Great Zhou Dynasty is none other than Lin Fanxiang's father, Lin Fengzhi.
Zhang Xuan's voice was filled with confusion, but beneath that confusion lay concern for Lin Fanxiang.
Upon hearing this, Qingyu immediately looked at Lin Fanxiang. Before she could speak, Lin Fanxiang grabbed her wrist. The girl had never been so helpless before. She looked at Qingyu but couldn't say anything.
The people from the Demon Suppression Pavilion went to Jianmu Platform; she couldn't let Qingyu be implicated.
Lin Fanxiang paused for a moment, then looked at Qingyu and his group. "The master of Jianmu Platform is my father. I must go there."
Throughout history, there have been instances where imperial advisors have predicted all sorts of strange and unpredictable things, only to be met with backlash. As a daughter, she had to go to Jianmu Terrace.
Zhang Xuan: "I'll go with you to avoid any accidents."
Qin Tianshu and Wen Chuan were momentarily confused about the reason behind this. Seeing Zhang Xuan preparing to leave with Lin Fanxiang, Qin Tianshu immediately asked, "Is there anything we can do?"
Zhang Xuan and Lin Fanxiang exchanged a glance. Lin Fanxiang frowned and hesitated before saying, "Go to Princess Jinning's residence and tell Her Highness that something happened at Jianmu Terrace."
After saying that, the girl looked up at them, and the usually gentle and aloof healer hesitated for once, "Your Highness, the Princess, is my mother."
To Lin Fanxiang's surprise, the boys quickly accepted this fact, after all, they were not unaware of the hidden sentries around the courtyard.
Wen Chuan said, "Although this star map is silent, the Demon Suppression Pavilion has made such a big commotion that those of us following us cannot have failed to sense it."
Qin Tianshu also frowned. More than anything else, he was curious about what the star chart represented, or rather, what the imperial advisor was calculating.
Lin Fanxiang: "My mother won't care... She won't care about these things unless I'm in front of her. Only when I'm also building the wooden platform will she take this matter seriously."
Qingyu grasped her hand, her eyes filled with reassurance and strength. "As you said, you and Zhang Xuan will go to Jianmutai, and we will go to the Princess's residence."
...
In a short while, they got busy again. Lin Fanxiang and Zhang Xuan went to Jianmu Terrace, Qingyu and Wen Chuan went to the Princess's Mansion, while Qin Tianshu went to the Demon Suppression Pavilion alone.
Build a wooden platform.
Jianmu is a tree that connects to the heavens, but after thousands of years, there are no gods or immortals in the world. The human race's heavenly ladder is now a legendary object. Only the ancient cultivators of the Word Spirit can still calculate the past and future within a very limited scope in order to seek the will of the heavens.
Inside the attic, there were never any candles, only a small yet seemingly endless starry sky—where each generation of Word Spirit practitioners would cultivate and calculate daily.
At this moment, the Jianmu Platform was surrounded by people, mostly cultivators from the Demon Suppression Pavilion and people from the palace.
Inside the Jianmu Platform, Lin Fengzhi closed his eyes and regulated his breathing. The man was dressed in an ancient Taoist robe, and there were scattered bloodstains on the wide, clean clothes. Strangely, this national teacher, who was not yet forty, already had a full head of white hair and was extremely thin.
He remained silent, facing the ruthlessness of the Demon Suppression Pavilion and the Second Prince Yan Xuanci, who had hurriedly emerged from the palace.
They weren't in a hurry. The second prince, dressed in a red robe, smiled and said to the aloof woman beside him, "The deputy head of the Demon Suppression Pavilion has come in person, so this star map must be quite significant."
Everyone knows that the three deputy leaders of the Demon Suppression Pavilion headquarters, Wuxin, Wuqing, and Wuming, are replaced every hundred years. Each generation is stronger than the Heavenly level and manages the Demon Suppression Pavilion on a daily basis. As for the so-called Pavilion Master, everyone believes that he is a fabricated figure created by the three deputy leaders to maintain balance, since no one has ever seen this Pavilion Master in all these years.
The ruthless voice said calmly, "The Second Prince has come in person because he values this matter."
Her tone was cold and her words were barbed, but the Second Prince smiled and said, "The star chart is floating in the sky. It may be some important matter concerning the people's livelihood. Father Emperor values it and sent me here."
Ruthless: "The Demon Suppression Pavilion also has this idea."
The second prince continued listening, but Wuqing simply stood there indifferently. What a cold woman! He flicked his sleeve and snorted, without saying a word.
Hmm, even the Imperial Advisor isn't saying anything; he looks very weak.
They waited quietly, hoping the Imperial Advisor would recover some of his strength.
The Lin clan has a glimpse into the will of Heaven, and each generation will only have one Word Spirit cultivator. This person is generally very weak. Therefore, the remaining members of each generation of the Lin clan will serve as medical cultivators to assist this Word Spirit cultivator. This generation of Lin brothers is no exception.
Lin Fengzhi became a Word Spirit cultivator, while Lin Fengdu became a medical cultivator. However, Lin Fengdu did something wrong a few years ago and forcibly switched from the path of medicine to the path of spirit cultivation despite having no talent. From then on, he no longer believed in the path of medicine and became a hybrid of two halves.
The star chart tonight is strange. Lin Fengzhi is not feeling well, so it's normal for him to need some rest.
It was late at night, the moon was high in the sky, and the Jianmu Platform was brightly lit with starlight.
While Wuqing waited patiently, the Second Prince grew impatient. Yan Xuanci frowned slightly, a faint smile playing on his lips, and spoke to Lin Fengzhi with a gentle concern, his tone quite "kind."
"It seems that the calculation of this star chart is too difficult, which has troubled the Grand Preceptor."
"How about letting my cousin, who is a highly skilled doctor, take a look... Ah, I heard she left the capital alone a few days ago, what a pity."
As he spoke, the Second Prince glanced at Wuqing, who slightly raised his chin and replied in a calm tone.
“Princess Ling’an comes from the Lin family, so her medical skills are naturally trustworthy.”
What a joke! In Shengjing, everyone knows that Princess Ling'an is the daughter of the Eldest Princess, but how many people know that Princess Ling'an's biological father is the revered Imperial Preceptor of Jianmu Terrace?
Princess Ling'an is said to be a healer, but how many people has she actually treated?
With an unknown father and a promiscuous mother, the princess in the eyes of the world was nothing more than a pitiful little girl whose father was unknown and whose mother did not love her—that was the truth, and one could not blame them for thinking that way.
Under the starry sky, their words broke the silence.
After saying this, Lin Fengzhi's expression remained unchanged, but he was momentarily stunned.
After not seeing her for two or three months, he had assumed that Fan Xiang had returned to the princess's residence...
He slowly opened his eyes in an instant, but was stunned when he was about to speak.
Just then, a commotion came from outside the door, and there were even faint sounds of fighting.
Wuqing and the Second Prince turned around to look, and amidst the chaos, a clear, smiling girl's voice rang out—
"I had no idea my cousin cared about me so much. Luckily I came back in time, otherwise, how could I repay his kindness?"
Under the chaotic moonlight, a crowd gathered, and amidst the swirling spiritual energy, a young man wielding a sword cleared a path, red spiritual energy faintly visible—
Lin Fanxiang walked slowly over. The girl looked up. Under the moonlight, her face was cold and aloof, her lips slightly curved, but her eyes held no smile.
"The Lord of the Ruthless Pavilion is cold-hearted by nature and can't speak properly, which is one thing. But since my cousin wanted me to come, why is he so cold to me as well?"
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