Chapter 3262 Roasting the Dragon King
The two men talked about calling the wind and rain, but for the next half month, there was not even a cloud in the entire northwest sky, let alone a drop of rain.
Of course, this is a very common thing in the entire northwest, so the people of Handongwei don’t think there is anything wrong with it.
However, looking at the blazing red sun in the sky with no clouds every day, Nan Yan's mood couldn't help but become more and more anxious.
And she wasn't the only one who was anxious.
These days, even Zhu Feng, who was usually very calm, couldn't help but reveal a hint of gloom between his eyes and eyebrows.
Every morning, when he opened the window and looked at the clear sky outside without even a trace of clouds, the gloom in his eyes grew deeper.
This emotion gradually spread to Nan Yan.
That afternoon, she sat idly by the window again, watching the fiery red sun outside, which seemed to be scorching the entire earth. The air also exuded a smell of dry earth, making people feel particularly hot. She felt a little uncomfortable sitting there, so she got up and went out for a walk, and Ruoshui followed her.
The two of them walked around the Duwei Mansion for a while. When Nan Yan was about to go out to take a look, she smelled a burnt odor.
Ruoshui rubbed her nose and asked, "Is someone burning something?"
Nan Yan also frowned. This place was far from the kitchen. Who would burn something here? She sniffed and found that the air not only had a burnt smell, but also seemed to have the smell of incense and candles.
It is forbidden to burn incense and candles in the palace. Anyone who does so will be punished, so she is very sensitive to this smell.
Nan Yan immediately said, "Let's look for it."
Ruoshui ran around and immediately pointed to a corner of the wall not far from the gate. Nanyan walked over and saw a man kneeling in the corner, guarding a brazier with something burning in it, and there were a few incense sticks in front of him.
Looking closely, it was the middle-aged man named Ashu who had been leading the way for them.
Ruoshui immediately asked, "What kind of witchcraft are you using?!"
Upon hearing her voice, Ashu was so frightened that he almost fell to the ground. Turning around, he saw that it was the Imperial Concubine, and immediately fell to his knees in fear: "Your Majesty..."
Nan Yan walked over and saw some paper burning in the brazier and incense sticks on the ground. She couldn't help but frown and said, "How dare you perform witchcraft here? Are you trying to curse the emperor?"
Hearing her say this, Ah Shu was so frightened that he kowtowed and said, "Your Majesty, you have misunderstood. How dare I practice witchcraft? And I dare not curse the emperor."
"So what are you doing?"
Nan Yan winked at Ruoshui, who immediately stepped forward, pulled out the incense and candles from the ground, and put out the fire in the basin. She said, "If anyone dared to do this in the palace, they would be killed immediately. Tell the Empress the truth about what you are doing, or else if the Emperor finds out, you won't be able to survive!"
Ah Shu kowtowed and said, "I am not practicing witchcraft. I am just roasting the Dragon King."
"Roasted Dragon King?"
Nan Yan frowned: "What roasted dragon king?"
Ruoshui picked up a piece of unburned paper from the brazier and placed it before Nanyan. Nanyan took it and looked carefully. It turned out to be the image of the Dragon King made of colorful paper.
Nan Yan had experienced a jinx in the palace before, so she took this matter very seriously. She asked, "What's the story behind roasting the Dragon King?"
Ah Shu's face turned pale as he replied, "Your Majesty, the Emperor once asked me about the weather in the northwest. I told you that it was supposed to rain recently—"
"Is it raining?"
When Nan Yan heard these two words, her eyes suddenly lit up.
But then she looked up at the sky again and said with a sullen face, "Where is the rain coming from? The emperor and I have been here for such a long time, and we haven't seen even a drop of rain. Are you deceiving the emperor?"
Ashu kowtowed and said, "I dare not, I dare not! I have lived in this northwest land for decades and I know the weather here very well. Here, here it is clearly supposed to rain, but for some reason, the rain has not come. It's as if - as if the rain clouds can't get through."
Nan Yan frowned.
Ah Shu said with a bitter face: "This rain has not come for a long time. I am afraid of the emperor's reprimand, so I came here to secretly roast the Dragon King."
"What's going on with the Roasted Dragon King?"
"This is the way we pray for rain here. We take the Dragon King to the fire and roast him. When the Dragon King can't bear it, it will rain."
Hearing his words, and looking at the burnt "Dragon King" in her hand, Nan Yan felt both angry and amused. She rolled up the half-burned "Dragon King" and threw it aside, saying, "You can pray for rain by burning a few pieces of paper? You're such a fool!"
Ashu had nothing to say and could only kowtow and beg the imperial concubine to spare his life.
Nan Yan glared at him again and said, "Don't do this kind of magic around the emperor. No matter if you're praying for rain or anything else, anyone who sees you will be killed immediately. This time, I'll let you go because it's your first offense, but if you do it again, I won't let you off lightly!"
"yes."
Ashu seemed to have been saved from death. He kowtowed to Nan Yan again, stood up and was about to leave trembling. Nan Yan suddenly said, "Wait a moment."
Ashu turned around quickly and asked, "What else do you want, Your Majesty?"
Nan Yan frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and asked, "You just said there was a rain in the northwest. Is that true or false?"
Ashu said hurriedly, "It's true, it's true. Before the Emperor and the Empress came here, I looked at the sky. There was a cloud coming from the northwest, and it looked like it meant there would be a heavy rain. I don't know why, but it hasn't appeared in the past few days. I'm afraid it's..."
"What are you afraid of?"
"I'm afraid I don't know where it has drifted to."
Nan Yan frowned when she heard this.
Seeing her gloomy face, Ashu didn't even dare to breathe, fearing that he would be in great trouble if he wasn't careful. But after waiting for a while, although the imperial concubine's face was gloomy, she didn't blame him. She just waved her hand and said, "You can go down."
Only then did Ashu leave cautiously.
Nan Yan stood there, looking at the remaining ashes in the brazier and the "Dragon King" that she had just crumpled into a ball. The gloom in her eyes deepened.
Although she didn't believe in roasting the Dragon King or anything like that, she still had faith in observing the celestial phenomena, especially since Ashu had been their guide here before. He could immediately predict the weather for the next few days by observing the wind and clouds along the way, which saved them a lot of suffering on the road. It was obvious that he had some skills.
If it was really as he said, that cloud disappeared, and that rain stopped falling, then Zhu Feng's plan—
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