Durin's Diary

Chapter 1018 Embracing the Bear and Tiger

The old emperor blinked: "That's no problem. The ladies-in-waiting are born knowing how to take orders. As long as there are no communication problems, everything will be fine. But I'm quite curious, can I take a look at the head maid whom you and Madam Anta trust?"

“No problem.” Du Lin said as he opened the portal directly to Xia Li’s location. The girl’s time zone should be around noon, so Du Lin’s hand, which had reached through the portal, quickly brought back the golden kitten.

As soon as Xia Li entered, she looked around and, upon hearing that this was Chang Tang, immediately smiled and bowed to the emperor: "I am Xia Li, the head maid of Lord Du Lin."

Long Tang Mandarin with clear pronunciation.

The old lady exclaimed, "That's quite accurate! Who taught you that, little girl?"

"That's what Mrs. Anta taught me," Xia Li said, bowing to the old lady as she spoke, "Hello."

"Very proper. Is this a house-born child?" The old lady looked at Du Lin.

Du Lin introduced Xia Li's situation to the old lady. Upon hearing about her situation, the old lady sighed and said, "Well, this young girl is quite good and has enough strength. Old man, let the female officials be led by her."

"Is she alright?" the old emperor asked curiously.

"A legendary spellcaster killing a few ignorant female officials—everyone in the court and the public would say she did a good job." The old lady said, smiling and beckoning Xia Li over.

Xia Li walked over, and the old lady flipped her ears: "I never thought that there would be such a small kitten in Xilu."

“Our clan is small to begin with, and I am especially short.” Xia Li said, glancing at Du Lin, “Lord Du Lin has never looked down on me.”

"She's a good girl. Your Mr. Dulin will be living in Changtang from now on. Would you like to come?" the old emperor asked with a smile.

Xia Li's eyes widened. She didn't answer immediately, but looked at Du Lin instead.

Du Lin nodded.

"Wherever you are, that's Xia Li's home." Without the slightest doubt, Xia Li answered.

………………

The meal was clearly a pleasant affair for both host and guests. After seeing the group out of the Meridian Gate, the old lady turned to her husband and said, "I told you not to let sand seep in. If it really has to be done, there's no rush. Young Master Du Lin has done a great service to the people of Changtang. So many legends have witnessed it. Prime Minister Lin is really afraid of everything. Why don't we just make his granddaughter a lady-in-waiting?" "Who would have thought that such a tiny kitten could become a legend? Young Master Du Lin's ability to turn stone into gold is truly not an exaggeration." At this point, the emperor also sighed, "Do you think I wanted this? It's all because all the prime ministers felt that using a lady-in-waiting was the best method and would be the least likely to be opposed by Du Lin. Since he was willing to come, he must have understood this, otherwise he wouldn't have brought that little kitten along."

At this point, the old emperor sighed, "How can she be so strong? She looks like she has the potential to be a naturalist."

“In the Western Lands, they’re called Druids. Those who take spirits as their masters are no good, not even as good as a little bit of a Celestial Master in our Changtang. But this child is clearly not like that. She’s following the path of a Celestial Master. It’s possible that Lan En guided her.” The old lady analyzed for a while and then mentioned another person: “That Silver Dragon girl, did you see her?”

"I've seen her. I've never seen such a big eater before. If our children and grandchildren had her appetite when they were young, they wouldn't have made their wet nurses faint." Speaking of this, the old emperor clicked his tongue and said, "This silver dragon and our candle dragon are not of the same kind, are they?"

"No, look, Lan'en and Xiangshu both have children, but she has nothing yet. It's obvious they're not of the same dragon lineage. Our family's Zhulong and Python lineages can both produce Zhulong offspring." The old lady shook her head, but she was still quite optimistic: "But to be honest, among all those girls, she's the only one who doesn't stand on ceremony at all. That girl named Anta is a bit reserved, and the others are even less so. Knowing that you are the emperor and I am the empress, none of them dare to say much. Only she, the whole time, only said one word: eat."

Mentioning Lina, the old lady smiled happily: "We can invite this girl to dinner often in the future. If she has children, I believe her children will be easy to raise. They have such good appetites. I'll try to find a way to arrange a marriage for our grandchildren."

"It's not even close to being settled yet, and you're already eyeing other people's children. Young Master Dulin must be incredibly unlucky to have met us." The old emperor finished speaking and shook his head with a smile.

“I don’t think the young master would object either. Without the evil god, the Western Continent, given their environment, will inevitably face a bloody and protracted war after its uncontrolled expansion. As for us, we need to direct the attention of our young people eastward. They say that there is a vast land to the east of the sea. Although we are just an ecosystem, I believe that after Nuwa ascends to godhood, she will become the guardian of this land, and the ecosystem will be upgraded to a true planet. Our small, isolated world will also expand into a completely new universe.” The old lady sighed as she said this: “We have sacrificed countless lives for this day. If there is still a realm of the dead after we die, then we can tell our ancestors that all these sacrifices were not in vain.”

The old lady sighed, and her husband reached out and put his arm around her shoulder: "Speaking of this, I've always had a question."

"What's the problem?" His wife asked, her face full of confusion.

"Why did Goddess Nuwa so confidently tell Master Wufu that she had a candidate, and that as long as he was chosen, all the problems on this land could be solved?" The old emperor looked at his wife as he said this: "Goddess Nuwa should not be from the same era as Master Dulin. She is an orphan of the old era of our world. She should not know of Master Dulin's existence. Why would she personally name Master Dulin?"

“I don’t know either. Even her rational self probably doesn’t know what Her Majesty is thinking. Moreover, the astrologer has confirmed that the small spacecraft that separated from the Heavenly Palace is flying towards the star at the speed of light, and the Heavenly Palace is also moving towards the star.” At this point, the shrewd old lady fell silent for a while: “Everything should have been under our control.”

"I don't think so. There is nothing in this world that can be controlled by mortals like you and me. All we have to do is do our best and leave the rest to fate." The old emperor said, then looked up at the sky.

At this very moment in Beijing, one can see the brightest man-made object in orbit far above Earth.

It shines like a star.

(End of this chapter)