Chapter 117 Chapter 117 The secret in the wind lantern is this...
At the gate of Yanping, countless black cavalrymen came galloping from afar, and the Jinwu Guards were stationed on both sides, with long spears and swords shining as cold as snow, and the sound of drums was beating on the city wall.
As the Qianqiu Festival was approaching, envoys from various countries entered the palace with their entourages. The people of Chang'an gathered around and peeked at the door secretly. Soon a team of camels covered in gold and colorful ribbons came in. The Persian envoy was handsome, with deep eyes and a high nose. He wore a red robe embroidered with golden flowers. The dancers accompanying him threw rose petals everywhere. The Arab horses were all decorated with turquoise. The leader of the team was a stunningly beautiful Hu woman who sat sideways on the horse's back and greeted the people.
All the major restaurants were packed. In addition to the foreign merchants who came here upon hearing the news, many people came from far away places such as Yangzhou and Shazhou specifically to attend this grand International Lantern Banquet.
Duan Zhiwei was too busy to handle it, so he hired someone to help with the cleaning for three months. The spring sunshine shone through the windows, blurring the fireworks and the noise. The diners were chatting and laughing, toasting each other. A Tibetan man, after a few drinks, insisted on pulling someone to arm wrestle with him.
Duan Zhiwei was so busy that he was smoking and had to come out to stop the drunken diners. He was in a state of panic when he saw Yuan Shenji coming back. He hurried to him for help: "Finally you're back. That guy is causing trouble. I rely on you."
The Tibetan man was burly and had a fierce wolf tattoo on his arm. He was carrying a pot of wine and provoking people everywhere in the restaurant. After walking around and seeing that no one was paying attention to him, he turned his attention to the door.
Yuan Shenji leaned against the door, his Jinwu Guard armor gleaming coldly in the sun. The Tibetan strode towards him: "I have heard of the bravery of Chang'an's generals. Sir, can you compete with me? Let's not compete in anything else, just arm wrestling."
Yuan Shenji raised his eyebrows slightly, but did not answer. He looked down at Duan Zhiwei, who said helplessly, "Hurry up and compete, and then kick this guy out. This is affecting other people's business."
Only then did he take off his sword and roll up his sleeves.
The entire restaurant lost interest in the roasted lamb chops being grilled in the kitchen and all came over to take a look. When they heard that Captain Yuan was arguing with a Tibetan, many residents of Xuanyangfang also came over to watch the fun.
This made Duan Zhiwei want to use a basin to collect ticket money.
The two men stood face to face at an empty table. People formed a circle around them, scrabbling to look at them.
The Tibetan man stretched out his right hand first. His hand was rough, broad, and covered with calluses, and there were various knife marks on it left by fights and disputes. He looked like a ruthless man.
Yuan Shenji was not panicked at all. He just stretched out his hand. He pondered secretly and got a rough idea of the other party's strength.
As the whistle of "start" sounded, the Tibetan man immediately roared and put all his brute force into his right hand.
Veins bulged on his arms, his face flushed red, and sweat dripped down his forehead like rain. In contrast, Yuan Shenji on the opposite side did not move at all, his arms rooted to the table like a rock, not moving at all.
Hearing the snickers of the people around him, the Tibetans became even angrier, and roared fiercely like wild beasts in the wilderness, trying to cheat and gain clever strength, but were suddenly suppressed by the opponent.
The Tibetan man's arm slammed down on the table, causing the surrounding dishes and chopsticks to jump.
The thunderous cheers surged from all around like a tide, everyone was cheering for Yuan Shenji. The Tibetan lost the game, but he was honest and laughed along with the people around him. He poured another bowl of strong liquor for Yuan Shenji: "You are worthy of being a general of Chang'an. I am convinced."
He took the lead and drank a big bowl, and Yuan Shenji took it and drank it all.
Duan Zhi smiled and leaned aside, shaking his head.
Although this competition started with provocation, it ended in a hot and lively way, so Duan Zhiwei didn't bother with this group of drunkards.
After noon, the diners gradually dispersed. Duan Zhiwei was disgusted by the strong smell of liquor on Yuan Shenji and wanted to pull him to the well to wash up, but he hesitantly grabbed his hand.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
Yuan Shenji pulled her into his room and took out a small wooden box from his arms.
"What gift have you brought back?" Duan Zhi took it with a smile.
This military commander sometimes spoke in a less charming manner, but he was generous in giving gifts, such as a mandarin duck hairpin and a gilded armlet with scroll patterns, which he brought home as if he were bringing in new goods.
Yuan Shenji saw that she had misunderstood and was about to remind her, but Duan Zhiwei had already opened the box.
Suddenly a burst of blue flames burst out from inside.
Then a little skeleton monster with a sesame leaf on its head poked its head out of the box and said timidly, "Good day, lady."
Duan Zhiwei treats cute monsters with an attitude, such as the adorable Mohele doll, the chubby panda Agun, and even the Jinhua cat that has become as fat as a gas tank.
It is another attitude to treat monsters with scary looks, such as the headless Feitouman, the child-stealing ghost car bird, and this smaller version of the White Bone Demon.
Duan Zhiwei screamed, and the wooden box in her hand slipped. The little bone monster turned 360 degrees in the air and fell on the mattress.
It lay on the mattress for a while, then struggled to stand up and turned around: "How come there are stars in the daytime?"
Then he fell back onto the mattress.
Duan Zhiwei asked: "Is this the gift you gave me?"
Yuan Shenji explained: "No...let me explain."
He was really worried about the treasures presented by the Turks. As it happened, today was the day when the Internal Affairs Bureau entered the Treasure Pavilion to count the treasures, and the Jinwu had to be accompanied. Yuan Shenji found an excuse to accompany them personally, and followed the chief steward through the three layers of black iron gates and entered the Treasure Pavilion.
The steward had no interest in the dozen or so worthless lanterns from the Turks. His focus was on taking care of the various gems sent from Persia, which were the concubine's favorites.
This just fulfilled Yuan Shenji's wish. He secretly reached his hand into the lantern and checked it inside and out.
Nothing unusual.
But it makes sense that the tributes entering the Treasure Pavilion were subject to strict inspection.
He put down the lantern, turned around and was about to leave. A dark light from the lantern took the opportunity to penetrate into the inside of the belt around his waist. Yuan Shenji did not notice it and followed the chief steward out.
After leaving the Daming Palace and returning to the office, Yuan Shenji was dragged by the Left General to the parade ground for a competition. He had no choice but to take off his official robe and sword and put them in the duty room, along with his belt, of course.
The little bone demon finally escaped from the lantern, cheered and was about to run away, but he saw the five-spice cake on the food table in the room.
It was so hungry that its joints were shaking. It crawled over and picked up the five-spice cake and started to eat it: "Three hundred years! I have been hungry for three hundred years!"
The cake was from yesterday and had dried slightly. The little bone demon held the cake and chewed it, breaking a tooth. Yuan Shenji, who was returning to his room to change clothes after the competition, caught him on the spot, and for the time being he didn't know what to do with him, so he was taken back.
The little skeleton was still lying on the mattress. Duan Zhiwei suspected that it had fainted, so he leaned over to take a careful look and heard a slight snoring sound. It turned out that it had fallen asleep.
"What is this and how do we deal with it?" Duan Zhiwei asked.
Yuan Shenji didn’t know either. He suspected that the little monster was an item lost from the Treasure Pavilion, but he could not report it openly. After all, it was difficult to explain in detail why he went to the Treasure Pavilion to check the Turkic things.
Could it be a prophecy on New Year’s Eve? Or is it that Yuan Shenji has been guarding the border for many years and has a personal grudge against the Turks?
It seemed like none of these worked, so he could only bring the little bone monster back.
Duan Zhiwei was also in a dilemma. Even if the Turks had some bad intentions, could they use this little Biga to destroy "Chang'an"?
The two looked at each other for a while, and Duan Zhiwei moved the cage where the Jinhua cat slept before, and then gently put the sleepy little bone monster in it.
"That's all we have for now." She shrugged.
Little Wolf and Pu Tao were very curious about this new little monster in their home. The little skeleton looked scary at first glance, but it was quite cute upon closer inspection.
She is small and delicate, with bones all over her body made of mutton-fat jade that has a soft luster. There is a small star-like light floating in her eye sockets.
At this moment, it was holding a small tea lid filled with osmanthus honey water and drinking it happily. The sesame leaves on its head were swaying upright, but they leaked out just after passing its mouth and all scattered in the cage.
Pu Tao asked curiously, "Can you eat enough like this?"
The sesame leaves on the little bone demon's head immediately collapsed, and it said dejectedly: "No, I can only taste it."
The two children rushed to comfort it.
Aunt Duan came over quietly and said to Duan Zhiwei: "If we really want to release this monster here, then the demon-catching officer Lu Ling always comes to eat without paying. Why don't you just send him there?"
The main thing is that the origin of this monster is hard to tell... Duan Zhiwei said: "It is very likely that it slipped out of the saint's treasure house."
Don't look back and accuse Yuan Shenji of stealing.
In short, curfew was almost here, so we could only talk about it tomorrow. After dinner, everyone went back to their rooms. Today was very busy during the day, so everyone fell asleep as soon as they lay down.
The little bone demon grabbed the cage with both hands and poked his head out secretly: "Is there anyone there?"
No one answered.
It asked again: "Are you all asleep?"
Still no one answered.
"Hehe, since there's no one here, don't blame me." Two little stars twinkled in the little bone monster's eye sockets and turned into two small blue flames.
The lock on the cage slid off, and it swaggered to the firewood pile in the backyard, and then blew a small mouthful of fire from its mouth: "I will turn Chang'an into a huge furnace!"
It stretched out its hands toward the sky like a shaman, but after waiting for a long time, the expected flame did not appear.
The flame was really small, and it had rained the previous two days, so it was impossible to light the wet pile of firewood. It looked left and right, picked up a leaf, squatted beside the firewood pile and fanned it desperately until its hands were sore, and finally the firewood pile began to burn.
Li Bo felt a little bored pretending to be a paperweight during the day, so he transformed himself into a colorful fish, floating in the air with his tail flapping. He floated to the backyard and saw some smoke coming out of the firewood pile.
Adhering to the principle of "be careful with fire when the weather is dry", Li Bo sprayed a large mouthful of water onto the firewood pile, and then it floated away.
The little bone demon had already been smoked into a burnt black sesame ball by the black smoke, and now it was sprayed with water that smelled of fish, and there were fish scales on its head.
"Ugh." It spat a few times and threw the leaves in its hand away in frustration.
The door of the kitchen was opened with a creaky sound, and the little bone demon climbed up the pillar to the beam, and gave a sinister smile to the iron pot with soaking soybeans on the stove.
"I'm going to put some in it..." it said hoarsely, and was slapped into the noodle jar by a Jinhua cat that also climbed up the pillar to steal fish.
The Jinhua cat drank Sanle juice secretly today. The whole fat cat was in a drunken state. It raised its paw and asked: "Did I step on a cockroach just now?"
"Forget it." The Jinhua cat yawned, wagged its tail, turned around and ran away.
“Damn it!” The little bone demon was made into a dough puppet by the flour paste. It crawled out with difficulty and then sprinkled an unknown powder into the iron pot: “I want all of you to drink this bone-rotting powder, and then…hahahahaha!”
It came out of the kitchen laughing wildly, choked by its own laughter, coughed a few times, and then the jade ribs on its waist fell off.
Little Bone Demon: “…”
The Jinhua cat stole the salted fish that Duan Zhiwei hid in the jar. The fish was a bit overripe and got stuck in its teeth.
There happened to be a white object on the ground, shining brightly in the moonlight.
"Ouch? Teething stick?" Jinhua picked up the rib, jumped onto the wall in a few seconds, and ran away.
"Stop!" The little bone demon held his waist and tried to chase after him, but he couldn't even climb the first step.
It jumped up and down in a hurry, and its voice was filled with tears: "Give me back my ribs!"
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