Inheriting a Taoist temple, the story begins with Wu Zetian offering incense.

Chapter 126 Inspecting the Resentment in the Foundation Piles! [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

At noon, Zhou Yi made a bowl of cold noodles inside the Hunyuan Palace.

Cook the noodles, then rinse them in cold water to cool them down. Add the seasonings, some shredded cucumber, roasted peanuts, chili oil, and a handful of perilla leaves, mix well, and enjoy a bite on a hot summer day – it's incredibly refreshing.

While we were eating, Li Yongkang, the owner of the home appliance store, called:

"Xiao Yi, the walkie-talkie and drone you ordered have arrived. Do you want to come down and get them, or should I bring them to you up the mountain?"

Zhou Yi needs to look after the incense and candles in Zhongtian Temple and cannot leave.

"Bring it up here, I'm not going down the mountain today."

An hour later, Li Yongkang drove up the mountain and delivered the drone and walkie-talkie that Zhou Yi had ordered. Wu Aimin from the substation also came with him. He was there to deliver foldable solar panels. He met Li Yongkang and the two of them came together.

After unloading the truck, Wu Aimin ran to the vegetable garden, picked a cucumber, washed it with water, and crunched away.

"Xiao Yi, does the Sanqing Hall have a donation box? I kowtowed to Grand Master Xuandu last time, and now that I'm no longer single, I'm planning to express my gratitude."

Zhou Yi shook his head:

"Only the Temple of the God of Wealth has a donation box. If you really care, you could also get me some cheap solar panels and a high-capacity outdoor power supply. The Ancestral Master will thank you."

Wu Aimin really does have connections:

"I heard that several substations have failed to meet their targets and will be penalized. Let me inquire for you. If possible, let them sell to you at cost price. I'm not looking to make a profit, I just want to avoid being penalized."

"Okay, you can help me contact them."

Li Yongkang, who was standing to the side, asked:
"Aimin, when did you get out of being single? Wasn't your dad arranging blind dates for you everywhere last month?"

Wu Aimin chuckled:
"Last time I came to Xiao Yi's place, I bought a peach blossom talisman and kowtowed in front of the statue of the Grand Master Xuandu. On the same day, I was hit by a young lady from a new energy vehicle company as soon as I came down the mountain. She was fine, but my Yadea was smashed to pieces. She paid for the damage and took me to the hospital. Then, we hit it off."

Li Yongkang clicked his tongue and said:
"Hearing this makes me want to get a peach blossom charm, but I'm afraid my wife won't agree."

Zhouyi: "..."

Mr. Li, what you're saying doesn't quite align with the values ​​of Yunwu Town.

After seeing the two off, Zhou Yi returned to his room, laid out yellow paper, placed cinnabar, and began drawing talismans.

We've been using up a lot of talismans lately, so we need to replenish them to avoid running out of talismans in case of an emergency.

By evening, Zhou Yi had drawn more than twenty talismans, and he was completely exhausted, feeling that it was even harder than carrying bricks.

He was just about to prepare some dinner when a paper bird floated down to the kitchen doorway. He picked it up, opened it, and saw a message from the blind man:

“I’m going back to the city. You can take some time to test the strength of the pile foundation.”

With a casual toss, Zhou Yi sent the paper bird flying into flames.

Chairman Xie's resentment is related to the safety of a town more than ten kilometers away, so it is indeed necessary to go and see for ourselves. If the resentment is not enough, we will have to think of other ways.

After sunset, Zhou Yi took back the offerings from Zhongtian Temple, removed the incense and candles, and rode his motorcycle down the mountain.

He first ate a hot tofu and vegetable pancake in town, and then rode his motorcycle all the way to the construction site of the bridge.

Now all the pile foundations have been poured, and the workers are waiting in the dormitory for the final solidification and acceptance. Zhou Yi put on an inconspicuous Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams talisman and walked into the construction site. From a distance, he could sense that a pile foundation contained a lot of resentment.

He walked over, and as soon as he placed his hand on the steel bar, a torrent of resentment surged forth along the steel bar, but it could not harm anyone; it could only exist within the reinforced concrete.

To be honest, the blind man played his trick brilliantly, letting Xie Yukun know the truth at the very last moment, and then letting him die inside the foundation pile... This resentment will last for at least a hundred years.

From this perspective, Xie Yukun can be considered to have made a contribution to Yunwu Town.

After confirming the resentment, Zhou Yi was about to leave when he suddenly realized that the foundation seemed to have been tampered with on a metaphysical level. He took a retrospective talisman, covered his eyes, and looked down at the foundation. He discovered that a day after the concrete was poured, the blind man had come here and placed a petrification talisman on the foundation.

The so-called petrification talisman is a talisman that turns other substances into stone. It is extremely difficult to make, and after use, one must bear all the consequences of altering the land. It is one of the talismans that Grandpa strictly forbids from being used.

Unexpectedly, the blind man was used on Xie Yukun's pile foundation. Was he worried that the pile foundation would fail the instrument test and be scrapped?

After seeing the changes, Zhou Yi quietly left the construction site and rode his motorcycle back home.

Once the bridge is completed, the feng shui arrangement brought about by the highway will create a tug-of-war with Xie Yukun's resentment, eventually reaching a state of equilibrium.

The lifespan of this condition depends on the traffic volume and maintenance status of the highway.

Under normal circumstances, maintaining it for a hundred years is not a problem. As for how the feng shui arrangement will change after a hundred years, that's a question for future generations to answer.

The Zhouyi Society would write down similar matters in a notebook and let the descendants of Hunyuan Palace handle them.

Of course, there is another possibility: decades later, when the highway is no longer in use, the feng shui arrangement will dissipate, leaving only the resentment within the bridge's foundation piles.

However, such resentment generally does not cause any harm. After all, it is dozens of meters underground. Unless the entire pile becomes sentient and jumps out from underground, it will not affect anyone.

At the same time, in the world of the Zhenguan era of the Tang Dynasty, Xiao Sizi held a white steamed bun, dipped it in the chili oil brought by Wu Meiniang, and eagerly put it into his mouth, making "hissing" sounds as he chewed.

The little girl couldn't handle chili oil the first time she tried it. After finishing a piece of steamed bun, she couldn't resist wanting another bite.

Li Shimin tenderly wiped the sweat from his daughter's face.

"Eat less, your father won't take it from you."

Little Si chuckled:
"It smells so good, I can't stop eating it, I keep taking bites."

Li Shimin asked:
"Sizi, are you really going to stay in Yiyuan Palace with Meiniang tonight? It's not as comfortable as Ganlu Palace or Wude Palace."

Xiao Sizi nodded seriously:

"I want to pray for my father at the Yiyuan Hall. I won't be able to get up in the morning if I don't stay there. Also, I have many questions I want to ask Wu Cairen in order to prepare for my future trip to Hunyuan Palace."

While the father and daughter were chatting, Li Zhi hurriedly walked in:
"Father, I've given all the medicine to Third Brother. He'll be setting off for Jiaozhi soon... Will we ever see each other again?"

Li Shimin handed his son a steamed bun and said:
"As long as we cherish each other in our hearts, what does it matter whether we meet or not?"

He had experienced fratricide himself, so he desperately didn't want his son to go through the same thing.

Then he gave the following instructions:
"All the merits of this attack on Goguryeo will be awarded in the territory of Goguryeo. In principle, no more land within the territory of the Tang Dynasty will be granted. The fiefdoms of the princes will either be downgraded or moved outside the Tang Dynasty. Once they have established a foothold, the people of the Tang Dynasty will be moved there to cultivate the land and increase the territory of the Tang Dynasty."

Li Zhi took the steamed bun, but didn't eat it. Instead, he asked:

"How should we decide regarding the locals?"

“Destroy their history, destroy their writings, change their clothes, and alter their customs. Then, through education and propaganda, make them believe that they are subjects of the Great Tang. In the future, the court will gradually send teachers to various countries to promote the rule of the Tang dynasty.”

This is not something that can be accomplished overnight, but as long as they persevere, after three to five generations, they will consider themselves Tang people, not other ethnic groups.

In addition to education, we also need to promote development in areas such as healthcare, agriculture, and mining. There is a lot to be done, and it may take several generations to complete.

Li Shimin said to Li Zhi:

"What I can do as your father is to try my best to create a space for you to fully display your talents. Whether you can succeed or not depends on your efforts and those of your children and grandchildren... Eat up, this red stuff is chili oil, it's especially fragrant when you put it in a steamed bun."

While the father and son were talking, Xiao Sizi had already finished her dinner. She bid farewell to her father and brother and, escorted by a group of palace maids, arrived at the Yiyuan Hall, where she met Wu Meiniang, who was studying under a lamp.

"Oh, what a beautiful lamp! Sister Meiniang, did the master bestow this upon you?"

"Yes, he was worried that reading at night would be bad for your eyes, so he walked more than ten miles to buy this pink rechargeable desk lamp. His Majesty's study also has a black one, haven't you seen it?"

Little Sizi looked at his cup with delight and said:

"It's not as pretty as mine. This color is so pink and tender, it makes me want to take a bite."

She looked left and right, and then picked up her second-grade math textbook to study. Wu Meiniang also took a carbon pen and carefully wrote down the future arrangements for Hunyuan Palace in her notebook.

Meanwhile, in the world of Emperor Zhezong of the Northern Song Dynasty, Li Qingzhao and her family had finished dinner and were sitting in the pavilion in the courtyard enjoying the night breeze.

Li Gefei took a sip of the cooled tea and said:
"Zhao'er, your brother-in-law is coming to visit tomorrow, so don't get up too late, or people will say you're impolite."

Li Qingzhao had many relatives, and while idly fiddling with the sleeves of her Taoist robe, she asked:
"Which brother-in-law?"

“Cai Jing, the Minister of Personnel of the current dynasty and a Grand Secretary, has heard that you have connections with immortals. He has sent a visiting card today and will bring his family to visit you tomorrow.”

Li Qingzhao's birth mother was the eldest daughter of Wang Gui, a prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty. Wang Gui's granddaughter, who was also Li Qingzhao's cousin, married Cai Jing, which is why they were related.

However, the two families did not have much contact because Li Qingzhao's birth mother passed away when she was two years old, and Li Gefei married the granddaughter of the famous minister Wang Gongchen and had a son named Li Hang. In addition, due to personality reasons, his relationship with Wang Gui's lineage was relatively weak.

Wang Gui also had a granddaughter who was seven or eight years younger than Li Qingzhao. She later married Qin Hui, the treacherous minister who framed Yue Fei. Before her marriage, she even recognized Tong Guan as her godfather, making her even more treacherous.

It can be said that the two notorious prime ministers of the Song Dynasty were actually relatives of the talented Li.

Ever since learning the details of the Jingkang Incident, Li Qingzhao felt physically uncomfortable whenever she heard Cai Jing's name.
"Tomorrow I will follow the immortal's arrangement and go to Tianqing Temple to inspect whether there is any neglect of the immortals, and whether there is any lack of time to entertain the current Minister of Personnel."

Tianqing Temple was an official Taoist temple in the Northern Song Dynasty. Located in Kaifeng Prefecture, it was not large in area, but emperors of all dynasties would go in to offer incense and pray for blessings, making it the most famous Taoist temple in Kaifeng during the Northern Song Dynasty.

Of course, the so-called inspection was just an excuse; Li Qingzhao simply didn't want to see Cai Jing, that treacherous minister.

Li Hang asked:

"Sis, what if they stop you from coming in?"

Li Qingzhao took out a stainless steel token and tossed it in her hand:

"Then let's see how tough his head is. The immortal has bestowed upon me a magical treasure; if I don't use it, wouldn't it be a waste of the immortal's painstaking efforts?"

As she said this, Zhou Yi inside the Hunyuan Palace felt a sense of disorientation, as if a huge wave of merit was about to leave him...

(End of this chapter)