Daqian Night Emperor

Chapter 183 Gift
The fifty-ninth year of Tianwu, the month of Jiachen, the day of Jichou.

It is suitable for offering sacrifices, bathing and sweeping the house.

Taboo, marriage, groundbreaking, and burial.

June 25th is the "Lingyou Festival".

It is said that when the last emperor, Emperor Shengde, was about to die, he received guidance from the gods in his dream and found Emperor Tianwu who had been lost among the people. After Emperor Tianwu ascended the throne, he designated today as the "Spiritual Blessing Festival", lifted the curfew, and exempted the capital from taxes for one day.

On this day, most of the people in Kyoto would burn incense and worship the gods. All the Taoist temples near Kyoto would be crowded with people.

At night, there is also the Lantern Festival Night Market, which is very lively.

This is the tenth "Lingyou Festival" that Zhao Qi'an has spent in Kyoto City.

Early in the morning, the princess built an altar in the front yard, burned incense and worshipped the gods, and slaughtered a whole pig for sacrifice, which also served as a snack for the people in the mansion.

Although Zhao Qi'an did not believe in such things as gods and ghosts, he did not mind letting the people in the mansion enjoy the festive atmosphere. He instructed the accountant to give rewards to the servants and maids, and also allowed the people in the mansion to leave the mansion after nightfall to participate in the Lantern Festival night market.

While everyone in the mansion was immersed in the joy of the festival, Zhao Qian'an himself did not participate in the celebration.

He stayed alone in his yard all day today.

Chounu went out to burn incense and worship gods early in the morning. Zhao Qian'an had no idea what kind of gods she, a foreigner who believed in the god "Dagon", was worshipping in the Taoist temple. She went out in high spirits before dawn, and those who didn't know her would think she was very pious.

But before noon, she came back in a depressed mood.

Zhao Qi'an asked her out of curiosity, and she immediately said angrily: "Those Taoist priests are obsessed with money. Normally, they don't charge for worshipping in the temple. But today they put the donation box at the gate and won't let you in without paying!"

Today, the number of visitors who went to the Taoist temple to burn incense and worship gods can be said to have broken down the threshold of the temple, far exceeding the reception capacity of ordinary Taoist temples. It is not surprising that this has happened.

Zhao Qian'an didn't find it strange, but Chounu was a person who would rather split a penny into two to spend, so it was natural that he felt strange.

After being upset for a while in the room, she came to a conclusion: "The gods who ask for money to show their power are not good gods!"

This is a very true saying.

……

After lunch, Zhao Qi'an sat in the front hall for a rest.

The ugly slave opened the window and looked at the rainy sky outside. He couldn't help but mutter a few complaints, such as "The rain never stops", "The clothes won't dry after washing and are about to smell moldy".

She was quite resentful today. When she came back in the morning, she wanted to chop off the heads of all the Taoist priests in the world. Zhao Qi'an felt that if she was given a sword, she would make sure that the dark clouds in the sky would never cover her eyes again.

However, there has indeed been more rain in Kyoto these days.

The rain has never stopped since the day Zhao Qi'an survived the tribulation.

Although the rain has been lighter in the past two days, it is still cloudy and rainy, and the sun has not been seen for several days.

The water level on the Beijing Grand Canal rose, and many cargo ships stopped operating, including the Zhao Trading Company's fleet. Fortunately, the inventory of goods was still sufficient, and it would not affect the Kyoto Trading Company's business for the time being.

However, the branches of Zhao Bank in other prefectures were all affected to varying degrees. In recent days, a lot of news had been sent to Kyoto City, which were letters from the heads of various branch companies to the Kyoto head office apology or request for help.

Zhao Qi'an didn't care about these temporary gains and losses. If the water route was not possible, he would take the land route. Even if the cost was higher, he would still make money.

What he really cared about was why the Donghai Zhao family's transportation team had not yet arrived in Kyoto City?

Today is June 25th, and there is only less than a month and a half left until the birthday banquet on August 8th. According to the original plan, the birthday gift from the Zhao family of Donghai should have arrived in Kyoto half a month ago.

Considering that Zhao Wanjin had replaced the leader of the movement without informing him...

Is this a test to see how much control he still has over the East China Sea after being away from it for ten years?
Zhao Qi'an sat on the armchair in the lobby, leaning back, leaning against the back of the chair, and closing his eyes slightly.

His index finger kept tapping the armrest, and things kept coming to his mind.

Before leaving, Master Tie warned him to be careful of the leader of the team transporting the gangway into Beijing, as they might have bad intentions.

But in fact, Zhao Qi'an didn't care who was sent to Kyoto by Zhao Wanjin. What he cared about was what Zhao Wanjin was thinking behind doing so.

As Zhao Qi'an's mind became heavier, he heard something like an auditory hallucination:

"Qian, promise mother that you will never go that far..."

In his memory, there was a withered hand tightly grasping his wrist.

Now that I think about it, the woman on the sickbed saw the murderous intent in his eyes at that time.

Just as Zhao Qian'an was thinking of the figure of the woman whom he had not remembered for a long time, he suddenly felt someone reaching out and touching his wrist.

He suddenly opened his eyes and saw the burly body of Chou Nu standing in front of her with his back hunched.

When he looked at him like that, the ugly slave suddenly shuddered, and he stood up straight, raised his hands above his head as if to surrender, and stammered, "Master, I, I, I..."

She was really frightened by the murderous look in Zhao Qian'an's eyes when he opened his eyes.

If Zhao Qi'an usually had a good-tempered and gentle appearance, then just now he was like an enraged beast, very creepy.

Chou Nu had seen Zhao Qi'an kill people, and even saw with his own eyes when Zhao Qi'an cut off the head of the "Blood Bodhisattva", he was always calm and composed...

When have you ever seen him like this?
The ugly slave was so frightened that he kept a surrendering posture and dared not move. Zhao Qian rubbed his eyebrows and his expression finally relaxed.

He looked down at his wrist and saw a rope made of five colors of threads tied around his wrist, with a small copper coin hanging under the rope.

He raised his hand and asked, "Five lines of money?"

This is the tradition of Lingyou Festival. On this day, the people of Kyoto will wear these five-thread coins on their wrists to pray for the gods to bless them with peace.

The ugly slave immediately said: "I, I made it myself!"

She felt a little aggrieved and muttered quietly, "The copper coin on this one I made for you was blessed with magic water. I spent five copper coins to buy it!"

It was clearly only one copper coin, but I spent five copper coins to buy it.

For Chounu, a miser who believes that "if you don't make money, you lose money", this is already an extremely difficult task and requires a great determination.

Zhao Qian'an lowered his head and touched the copper coin hanging from the rope on his wrist. He did not speak for a long time, and no one knew what he was thinking.

After a while, he said, "This is the first time someone gave me this."

"Thank you."

Chou Nu's eyes gradually widened. It was the first time she heard Zhao Qian'an say thank you to her.

This made her feel a little embarrassed. She put down her raised hand, touched the back of her head and smiled shyly: "It's not something worth thanking for. It's very simple to do."

But Zhao Qi'an quickly poured cold water on her: "But don't Taoist temples hold inauguration ceremonies in the afternoon? How did you buy these inauguration copper coins in the morning?"

Although he didn't like to get involved in these things, after all, he had lived in Kyoto for so many years, so he was quite clear about the procedures in the Taoist temple on that day.

But Chounu didn't know. During the last Lingyou Festival, Yuzhen was still the one who had the final say in the princess's mansion. She didn't dare to run out of the princess's mansion without permission. She was a private slave, and even if she was beaten to death by the master of the mansion, the government would not care.

So strictly speaking, today was her first Spiritual Blessing Festival in Kyoto City, so how could she know these things?

"Ah, that bastard actually lied to me!"

When she realized she had been cheated out of money, her face turned visibly red.

Angry!

She reached out to take the five-line money from Zhao Qi'an's hand and said, "Then you give it back to me first, I'll go find that bastard and return the money!"

But when she stretched out her hand, she missed.

Zhao Qi'an dodged, his sleeves dropped, and he hid the five-line coin on his wrist into his sleeves: "No."

He looked at Chou Nu, with a faint smile between his eyebrows. He raised his hand and showed the five-line money on his wrist, and shook it gently in front of her: "How can we take back the things we gave away?"

This joking remark made Chou Nu stunned where he was. After a while, he lowered his head, as if he was thinking.

After a long while, she said shyly, "Then... can this money be reimbursed?"

Zhao Qi'an was actually a little speechless.

This miser...

……

In the afternoon, Zhao Qi'an left the princess's mansion.

However, he did not go to join in the hustle and bustle of the festival, but to the palace.

He is going to the Heavenly Book Pavilion.

The Heavenly Book Pavilion is located on the west side of the Imperial Palace. It is the only area in the Imperial City open to the public. Any martial artist who has reached a certain level can enter the Heavenly Book Pavilion and browse through martial arts from all over the world after verifying his identity and paying a sum of money upon entering.

This is also the most lively place in the entire Kyoto city.

Every day, warriors from all over Kyushu want to enter the Heavenly Book Pavilion to borrow books, but the number of people the Heavenly Book Pavilion accepts in a day is limited, so if a warrior does not have the right connections, it is common for him to wait in line for several months before he can enter the Heavenly Book Pavilion.

When Zhao Qi'an's carriage arrived at the west side of the imperial city, the entrance was already filled with warriors from all over Kyushu.

At the entrance to the imperial city, a pair of armored soldiers carrying swords were in charge of guarding the gate and maintaining order. There was also a small tent next to the gate, where a civil servant was in charge of registering visitors.

Although all those who came here were warriors, no one dared to act arrogantly here by relying on their martial arts. After all, those responsible for guarding the Heavenly Book Pavilion were the Yulin Guards among the Six Guards of Kyoto. They were the imperial guards responsible for the safety of the imperial palace and also the strongest army among the six guards.

Everyone was queuing up obediently, except Zhao Qi'an's carriage, which passed directly beside the line. Someone from the Yulin Guards personally opened a door that was usually closed.

The carriage stopped in front of the palace gate. Everyone watched with their own eyes as a nobleman got off the carriage and was politely invited in by the Yulin Guards.

"Why can that person go in directly without waiting in line?"

Some young men were dissatisfied and pointed at the carriage and questioned it.

A Yulin guard who was maintaining order glanced over there and sneered, "You spend tens of thousands of taels of silver in the Heavenly Book Pavilion every year, and you don't have to queue. And except for the upper three floors, you can go anywhere else!"

There were a few troublemakers who were unwilling to accept the result, but after hearing what the Yulin Guards said, they immediately returned to the team without saying a word.

(End of this chapter)