Chapter 15 Grandpa Huaishu said you are going to have good luck in love
That afternoon, Ajiu squatted under an old locust tree in the back garden of the Imperial Master's Mansion. In front of her were a few pebbles she had picked up from the pond, and in her hand was a handful of dogtail grass she had just pulled from the corner of the wall.
Her face was serious and she was muttering to herself.
"Heaven and earth, please help me, Grandpa Sophora japonica tree! Tell me, will Aunt Wang in the kitchen secretly leave me a piece of her newly made osmanthus cake today?" She closed her eyes, threw the foxtail grass in her hand into the middle of the pebbles, then carefully opened one eye and observed the location and direction where the foxtail grass fell.
"Oh my!" She suddenly cried out in surprise, her face wrinkled into a bun. "Grandpa Huaishu said... the osmanthus cake... the osmanthus cake was snatched away by a greedy little bird! And... and it's about to fall, onto... onto the head of a vicious person!"
She suddenly raised her head, pointed her little hand in a certain direction of the capital, and said confidently, "That's the direction! That fierce brother who always has a stern face but a pink, slightly silly little flower on his head! Oh my, he's going to get hit on the head by something sweet! Grandpa Huaishu also said that he would first get angry, his face black, but... but inside he would secretly feel happy for a little while!"
An old servant, responsible for trimming the branches, happened to pass by and, upon hearing her earth-shattering "prophecy," nearly cut off his long-growth beard with a pair of scissors. What nonsense is this Miss Jiu talking about? How could His Majesty the Regent, with all his dignity, be struck by a piece of osmanthus cake? And secretly delighted? It's the most bizarre of bizarre stories!
However, the world is so wonderful.
Chu Xuanyi had finally breathed a sigh of relief these past few days because Ajiu hadn't gotten into any serious trouble. He was holding a copy of the "Mind Meditation Sutra" in an attempt to dispel the palpitations he had been feeling for days when the housekeeper walked in hurriedly with a strange look on his face.
"My Lord," the butler lowered his voice, his expression a mixture of wanting to laugh but not daring to, and it was very difficult to hold it back, "There are… there are some… uh… strange stories about His Royal Highness the Regent."
Chu Xuanyi's eyelids twitched, and a sense of foreboding suddenly rose in his heart. When he heard the word "Regent", he reflexively thought of Ah Jiu, and then his scalp tingled.
"What strange news?" He put down the scripture and tried to make his voice sound calmer.
The butler cleared his throat and, in a straightforward tone, described in detail how His Royal Highness the Regent was reading in the pavilion in his back garden when a piece of osmanthus cake, bearing the imprint of a bird's claw, fell from the sky and accurately "hit" the page of the book. Of course, this was already an "enhanced" story, relayed by servants and filled with various vivid details.
After Chu Xuanyi finished listening, the "Tranquility Sutra" in his hand fell to the ground with a "click".
He opened his mouth wide, his eyes as big as bells, and couldn't utter a word for a long time.
Oh my god… Osmanthus cakes falling from the sky… actually came true?! It came true so… so accurately and ridiculously?!
He suddenly remembered what Ah Jiu had said in a daze under the old locust tree in the back garden this morning: "The osmanthus cake was snatched away by a bird and fell on the head of a vicious person", "He would be angry, but secretly happy"...
Chu Xuanyi felt a chill rush from the soles of his feet to the top of his head! In the dog days of summer, it actually made him shiver!
This girl… could this girl really be a prophetic monster?! Is her mouth blessed?!
While he was in shock and doubt about his life, the leader of the secret guards of the Regent's Palace finally presented Xiao Yu with more detailed investigation results on Master Xuanxu and Ajiu.
"My Lord," the leader of the secret guards said with a barely perceptible hesitation, "Regarding Immortal Xuanxu... in his youth, he did serve briefly at the Imperial Observatory and was said to be gifted. But later... due to his shocking theory that 'the paths of the stars resonate with the joys and sorrows of the human world,' and his attempt to incorporate his own creation, 'One with the stars, dancing at the wind,' into a celestial ceremony, he was denounced as insane by the then-supervisor and expelled from the Imperial Observatory. He then lived in seclusion in an observatory outside the city, and his behavior became increasingly... unkempt and unruly. As for Miss Jiu, she was indeed an orphan he had picked up from the mountains after a flash flood many years ago. She had no other special background. It's just..."
The leader of the secret guards paused briefly, as if weighing his words, before continuing, "It's just that my subordinates have discovered that Master Xuanxu seems to be quite knowledgeable in a long-lost art called 'Qi-Observation Technique.' He often claims to be able to see things like the 'flowing forms of Qi' and the 'light of fate and destiny' that ordinary people can't. However, for many years, there's been no actual evidence, and most people in the capital have dismissed this as madness and laughed it off."
Xiao Yu listened quietly, his slender fingers tapping the table unconsciously, but his brows were getting tighter and tighter.
"One with the stars, dancing at the sound of the wind"? "All things have emotional resonance"? "The art of observing qi"?
This Xuanxu Zhenren really sounds like a complete and utter charlatan and madman.
Yet, it was this lunatic and charlatan who taught this insane disciple, and all those absurd nonsense he said actually...actually came true on him?!
The piece of osmanthus cake that had been gnawed by the bird seemed to still be dangling before his eyes, carrying an indescribable mockery and a hint of... weirdness.
"The art of observing qi..." Xiao Yu repeated these four words in a low voice, and a barely perceptible ripple flashed in his deep eyes.
Could it be that the "pink little flowers", "golden little suns" and "dancing little fairies" that Jiu sees every day are not entirely her wild imagination, but the so-called "art of observing qi" at work?
The idea struck him as absurd, but he couldn't help but ponder its possibility.
He waved his hand, signaling the secret guards to retreat.
The study returned to its former silence.
Xiao Yu walked to the window and looked at the sky outside which was still clear and cloudless, but his heart could no longer be as calm as the sky.
He began to wonder if he was really... destined for that so-called "romantic luck"? Furthermore, it was a kind of romantic luck... that required the bizarre "pie in the sky" to facilitate, and it had a somewhat "stupid" quality to it?
This realization made him feel inexplicably...irritated, and a hint of anticipation that he himself was unwilling to admit.
Just as Xiao Yu was feeling uneasy and trying to suppress these chaotic thoughts, Changfeng knocked on the door again and came in, reporting, "My Lord, news has just arrived from the palace. In half a month, it will be the Empress's centenary celebration. His Majesty has issued a decree that a grand banquet will be held in the palace, inviting all civil and military officials and their families to celebrate. Master Chu, the Imperial Preceptor, is naturally among those invited."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yu frowned slightly.
Palace Banquet… Imperial Master…
Doesn't that mean that he is very likely to meet the little fortune teller who gave him a headache but inexplicably started to care about him again at the banquet?
When Xiao Yu thought of Ah Jiu's innocent little face and the possibility that she would announce some shocking "latest research results" about the "stupid little pink flower" on his head in public, he felt his temples begin to throb again.
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