Chapter 218: Craftsmen who can't go home for the New Year
Jiang Li came to Duochi Country and found that there were lights and decorations everywhere, firecrackers were blasting, red lanterns were hung, and there was a festive atmosphere. People's faces were filled with joyful smiles.
"It's almost the New Year."
Only then did he realize that the Chinese New Year was approaching without him noticing.
Low- and middle-level monks and mortals will choose to rush back home to celebrate the New Year, but most high-level monks seldom celebrate the New Year on purpose. They often go into seclusion for years or even decades at a time, and the annual festival means little to them.
If you encounter it, pass it. If you don’t, forget it.
Jiang Li also seldom celebrated the New Year. He had no feelings for the Jiang family and even avoided them on purpose, resulting in his most common New Year activities being to sit in the Human Emperor Palace, take a walk in Dao Sect, and talk to old friends.
It feels like the New Year, but also like something we do every day.
Jiang Li was infected by the surrounding atmosphere and stopped rushing. Instead, he slowed down his pace and walked casually on the street.
When he saw the chubby little children in red cotton-padded jackets chasing and playing with each other, he broke off a branch, squatted down, and used magic to turn the branch into a small sparkling firework, which he handed to the children, who cheered.
He saw someone writing Spring Festival couplets on the street, with his waist and horse united, his energy concentrated in his dantian, his pen moving like a dragon, and his writing full of energy. Jiang Li took the initiative to step forward, and after obtaining the other party's consent, he also wrote a pair of Spring Festival couplets, and the onlookers cheered.
When he saw someone selling firecrackers, he bought a few strings of firecrackers, hung them on the tree and lit them. When he heard the crackling sound of the firecrackers, a smile unconsciously appeared on his face.
The people of Duochi like to be lively and bustling, so every city sets up a booth to perform opera, dance, song, music, crosstalk, sketches and so on.
Originally, there was no concept of skits in Jiuzhou. It was a new form of performance proposed by Jiang Li after he became the Human Emperor.
Jiang Li watched with the others, smiled knowingly, and was amused by the crosstalk and skit.
The third candidate for leadership was King Lupin of Duochi, who founded Duochi in the eastern part of Kyushu a thousand years ago.
There are many large and small countries in Jiuzhou established by cultivators in the Fusion Stage or the God Transformation Stage. The large ones are comparable to half a dynasty, while the small ones have only a few cities.
The Duochi Kingdom is between the largest and the smallest, with an area as large as a prefecture of an imperial dynasty and dozens of cities.
The information given by Commander Liu stated that the King of Duochi had already been confirmed as the Crown Prince and he could give up the throne above millions of people at any time.
Perhaps influenced by the atmosphere, Jiang Li had a good impression of Duochi Kingdom and felt that the King of Duochi was also a decent monarch.
"The people of Duochi are still working now?" Jiang Li was quite surprised to see many mortals repairing the official road. These mortals who were repairing the road were all from other places. They were the group of people who wanted to go home for the New Year the most. They would go home a few days before the New Year. Why didn't they go home now and were still repairing the road?
And it was at night, with lights on, that they were repairing the road.
"Does it seem that the people of Duochi are more hardworking than other ordinary people in Jiuzhou?" Jiang Li said to himself.
"Why are you still working? Why haven't you gone home yet?" Jiang Li walked up and asked casually.
A craftsman wiped his sweat with a towel hanging around his neck, stood up, patted his back which was stiff and painful due to long-term bending, and spat: "Go home? Go home!"
"I was ready to go home a few days ago and had packed my luggage, but I was stopped by my boss' words."
"The boss said that someone from above might come to inspect, so he asked us to work overtime to repair the road before the New Year. If we can't repair it, don't even think about going home!"
"In order to go home for the New Year, I take a three-hour break a day just to finish the work quickly. Now it seems that even after working so hard, I still can't finish the work. Damn it, is there any justice? Is this what you call the New Year?" These craftsmen who could not go home cursed and were very resentful.
Seeing that someone finally spoke to them, they all complained to Jiang Li.
If monks were allowed to build roads, the efficiency would of course be much higher. However, the cost of monks is much higher than that of mortals, which is not cost-effective, so the government will let mortals build roads.
"It's New Year's Day, and there are people coming from upstairs?" Jiang Li was curious.
"Who knows, maybe some official doesn't like to go home and likes to inspect everywhere, not even taking a break during the New Year!" A craftsman said unkindly.
"Let me help you." Out of sympathy, Jiang Li took action. Under the stunned gaze of the craftsmen, he witnessed the miraculous skills of the high-level cultivators. The soil was like life, spreading itself on the road and compacting itself automatically.
A brand new official road appeared before everyone.
"Are you... Master Monk?" The craftsmen thought that this might be a great monk in the Jindan or even Yuanying stage, so their attitude became extremely respectful and they stopped swearing.
"We can still catch up with the New Year now, let's all go home." Jiang Li said with a smile.
The craftsmen expressed their gratitude one after another, and would have started to kowtow if Jiang Li had not stopped them.
After the official road was repaired, the craftsmen could not go home directly. They needed to inspect and accept it before they could leave.
The head craftsman was also very surprised when he heard the craftsmen report that some kind-hearted monks helped them build the road and that they would finally be able to complete the official road before the deadline.
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The head craftsman found that the quality of the road built by the kind-hearted monks far exceeded expectations, and the task was completed ahead of schedule.
Jiang Li waved his hand and called the head craftsman over: "Let me ask you, which official didn't even take a break during the New Year and asked you to repair the road quickly?"
The head craftsman hesitated for a moment, but still told the truth: "Your Excellency, it's not a certain official. I heard from the higher-ups that maybe the Emperor Jiang will come to Duochi Country, so we should repair the road before the Emperor Jiang comes. Even if it can't be repaired, we have to repair it to look good so that the Emperor Jiang will have a good impression of us. As for the reason, I don't know."
Jiang Li was silent for a long time.
He scanned with his spiritual sense and found that similar situations were happening everywhere. Some people were planting trees on the roadside, some were repairing buildings, and some were posting propaganda slogans, such as Jiuzhou is our common home, Duochi Country strictly implements the requirements of the Human Emperor Palace, and severely breaks the means left behind by the extraterritorial demons, etc.
These people all have one thing in common.
They are all ordinary people who wanted to go home for the New Year but did not go home.
After the King of Duochi Kingdom became the candidate for the leader of the Human Emperor Palace, he asked mortals to work overtime to complete the task without knowing when Jiang Li would arrive, and welcomed Jiang Li's inspection.
Moreover, whether it was road construction or tree planting, Jiang Li would not necessarily look at it, or would just take a quick look and leave.
Even so, the King of Duochi still asked these mortals not to go home but to work quickly.
"This makes it impossible for me to spend a peaceful New Year." Jiang Li sighed.
He wanted to help these mortals complete their tasks and go home for the New Year, but he found that there were too many mortals, and by the time he finished helping them, the year would be over.
So he came to the city of King Dochi.
Compared with other cities, the Kingdom of Duochi is naturally more prosperous and lively, with countless Spring Festival couplets, lanterns and blessing characters.
But Jiang Li no longer enjoyed the New Year atmosphere as before.
(End of this chapter)