Tang Dynasty Little Godfather

Chapter 217 Breaking the Trap with One Move

After the opera ended, the ladies didn't rush to leave. Instead, they continued to inquire about the beauty salon. They chatted animatedly, their mouths never stopping, discussing things like whether applying a face mask every seven days was too long, what precautions to take when applying a face mask, and so on.

Madam Zixia saw everything and felt indescribably annoyed.

at dusk.

When Guang Sheng saw the expression on Madam Zixia's face when she returned from outside, his heart skipped a beat.

Since they began targeting the Nameless Academy, Madam Zixia has always appeared confident and at ease. No matter the situation, her beautiful face is always calm and composed, as if she has everything under control.

But at this moment, Lady Zixia appeared with her brows furrowed and deep in worry.

"I noticed that Madam's complexion is not very good. Has something happened?"

Guang Sheng asked cautiously.

Lady Zixia glanced at him and said, "It seems we really underestimated those children."

Guang Sheng looked at her, puzzled.

Lady Zixia then told Guang Sheng about what had happened that day.

After hearing this, Guang Sheng said, "So, they are just using this play to lure the wives of high-ranking officials to Qingyun Temple, and then using the beauty techniques to win over those ladies in order to compete with us."

Lady Zixia nodded.

Guang Sheng added, "If they think that way, they are underestimating us. This alone is not enough to affect our business. I believe no major family would entrust their most important business to a group of spoiled brats."

Madam Zixia said, "I know that too. I'm just shocked that they could come up with such a trick. It's bound to make people worry."

If Wang Xi and his group were just using some targeted tactics, she could understand and was prepared for it. But this was clearly not the case. Wang Xi and his group were targeting her network of relationships, trying to dig up her roots, which would have a huge impact on her.

Guang Sheng nodded slightly and said, "I didn't expect Young Master Wang to be so shrewd."

“That’s precisely what worries me the most,” said Madam Zixia. “If he were a shrewd person, it would be easier to predict their actions. But would a truly shrewd person simply tell their opponent all of this?”

Guang Sheng asked curiously, "Yes! Why did Young Master Wang tell Madam about their plan? Did Young Master Wang explain the reason?"

"He did this to spite me." Madam Zixia said helplessly, "The reason he did this is because we were targeting Hongxiu. I even went to tell him all this. He wanted to repay us in kind."

Guang Sheng then asked, "Could it be that nameless gentleman?"

"It's not impossible."

Lady Zixia sighed softly, "We haven't even gotten our hands on the Beauty Wine yet, and now they've brought out face masks. They even said they've only recently started developing glass. How come I didn't know that Taoist thought has such knowledge?"

Guang Sheng looked surprised and asked, "If it's true, then it will indeed be quite troublesome."

Lady Zixia frowned and pondered.

Guang Sheng stood quietly to the side.

After a long while, Madam Zixia suddenly smiled and said, "Oh, right, I remember that Que'er once said in a fit of pique that I should be used by him."

Guang Sheng said, "How dare he be so presumptuous?"

Madam Zixia gently shook her head. "His words have enlightened me. We need to change our strategy. Before, we only wanted to obtain the Beauty Wine, but given the current situation, even if we get the Beauty Wine, they can still threaten us with the face mask. Even if we get the face mask, they still have Liuli. The best way is to directly control the entire Nameless Academy and make them work for us."

The next day!

West City.

"It's water! It's water!"

"Where is the fire going?"

"Look there!"

"What a huge plume of smoke!"

"It seems to be over in the Jiaoyifang area."

Several groups of soldiers carrying buckets rushed into Jiaoyifang from all directions. Following the billowing smoke, they arrived at the southeast corner of Jiaoyifang, where they saw a busy road and pedestrians stopping to look up at Qingyun Temple on the steps.

"What are you all standing here for? Go put out the fire!"

The young general in charge rebuked angrily.

This general was none other than Guo Ziyi.

He is no longer the Left Guard Chief, but has been promoted to Left Guard Chief Secretary. The reason is that he saved Wang Xi and the others last time, and was promoted directly from the ninth rank to the sixth rank.

Even Guo Ziyi himself couldn't believe it.

But people are seven parts luck and three parts effort. He saved no one but Li Longji's beloved nephew. Of course, Wang Xi also said a few good words for Guo Ziyi.

On the other hand, there are still some differences between the ranks of military officers and civil officials.

Those who stopped all turned their heads to look at the general, their faces filled with confusion.

At this moment, a soldier squeezed out from the crowd and said, "Reporting to Chief Clerk Guo, it's not a fire, but rather that too many people went to Qingyun Temple to burn incense today, causing thick smoke to billow out."

Upon hearing this, Guo Ziyi exclaimed incredulously, "If burning incense could produce such a large amount of smoke, how many people would that require?"

He pushed through the crowd and stepped forward, and immediately gasped in shock. The crowd was so large that it stretched all the way down the steps.

Isn't that a bit too much?

Guo Ziyi asked in surprise, "Why are so many people coming to Qingyun Temple to burn incense?"

A man standing nearby said, "General, you may not know this, but it's because Qingyun Temple invented a face mask that can beautify the skin, which is why many women come here to burn incense."

"Face mask?"

Guo Ziyi was completely baffled.

Just then, someone shouted, "You little brat, stop right now, or you'll hurt someone!"

Guo Ziyi turned around abruptly and saw a little child standing on a high wall, holding two stones in his hand, with a group of children squatting below, looking up at him.

Startled, he quickly went over and asked, "What are you doing?"

When the children saw the soldiers arrive, they seemed very frightened and quickly made way for them.

But the little child on the wall wasn't afraid at all, and even said confidently, "We are experimenting with gravity."

Guo Ziyi asked in confusion, "Universal gravitation?"

The little boy nodded and said, "Uncle, look, I have a big stone in my left hand and a small stone in my right hand. If I let go of them at the same time, which stone do you think will land first?"

Before Guo Ziyi could speak, a scholar said, "Naturally, the larger one will land first."

The little boy chuckled, quite pleased with himself, "Watch closely!"

Then they let go at the same time.

There was a bang.

The little child said, "Did you see that? They landed at the same time."

The scholar was taken aback and stared at the stone.

The little boy was very proud of himself, saying, "This is gravity."

The scholar looked up again and asked, "What is universal gravitation?"

The child said, "That's a profound Taoist concept. It says that there's a suction force beneath our feet, which is why we can only stand on the ground and can't float in the air. And the reason why everything in the world has weight is related to this suction force."

However, the speed at which things fall is unrelated to their weight; therefore, they all fall simultaneously.

The scholar laughed and said, "You little brat, you're really talking big. If you want to talk about everything under the heavens, then try taking a piece of paper and a stone and see what happens."

The little boy chuckled and said, "This is different, because it belongs to the Taoist school of Qi (vital energy)."

"Aerodynamics?"

"Ah."

The child said, "According to the Taoist theory of Qi, there is a Qi in the world that is related to all changes in all things. But I don't know exactly what it is. We'll have to wait for the next episode of '100,000 Whys' to find out."

What is "100,000 Whys"?

"It's the latest opera from the Nameless Academy, it's really interesting. Hehe."

The little boy rubbed his nose, looking quite smug.

Guo Ziyi chuckled and said, "Little one, this is just opera, you can't take it seriously."

The child said, "Uncle, you don't understand. That opera is about Taoist philosophy, so it can't be fake. Didn't two stones fall to the ground at the same time just now?"

Guo Ziyi frowned upon hearing this.

The little boy suddenly exclaimed excitedly, "Why aren't you cheering?"

One of them laughed and said, "Why should we cheer?"

The child said, "Because after Wuweizi proved this point, everyone cheered."

"And who is Wuweizi?"

"He's the genius boy from '100,000 Whys'."

"????"

Inside Qingyun Temple, a turbulent situation was brewing. "Summon your abbot."

A noblewoman suddenly shouted.

The nun Jingsi stepped forward and said, "This humble nun Jingsi, may I ask what your instructions are, benefactor?"

The noblewoman said, "Let me ask you, it was agreed that distinguished guests could participate in the beauty and health event, so why does this young Taoist nun say that only the first hundred people can participate?"

A wealthy woman standing nearby said, "You're deliberately making us compete to donate money. How is that any different from fraud?"

"Actually, the money is a small matter. The key is that what you did is really infuriating. How can you do such a thing? This is supposed to be a peaceful Taoist place."

These ladies were no ordinary people; some of them were quite the shrew, and when they started yelling, they could be quite terrifying. Fortunately, Jingsi was worldly-wise and had prepared herself mentally, remaining calm and listening quietly.

Once they had calmed down, Jing Si slowly said, "Ladies, please calm down. There is a reason for this."

"What is the reason?" the noblewoman said. "If you can't give a reason today, this matter will not be over."

Jing Si said, "The thing is, there is a very special medicine in this mask. There is not much of this medicine available now, which affects the production of the mask. It can only be provided to one hundred people."

"What kind of medicine is it? It's so rare," the noblewoman asked.

Jing Si said, "This medicine, as you ladies should also know, is an exquisite beauty wine."

"Beauty Wine? The Beauty Wine that Yixianjue sells every day?"

“Exactly,” Jing Si nodded.

“You’re talking nonsense,” a lady said. “Since the Beauty Wine is sold every day, how could it be in short supply? Why don’t you just bring out the ‘One Fresh, One Sold Out’ wine?”

Jing Si said, "The exquisite Beauty Wine is specially made for drinking, while the Beauty Wine for face masks is slightly different and can only be purchased from the winery at the Nameless Academy, but..."

"but what?"

"However, because many estates refused to sell grapes to the Unnamed Academy this year, it is difficult to produce more Beauty Wine, and therefore they cannot provide us with more Beauty Wine."

"What am I supposed to think of?"

A lady laughed and said, "So it's just grapes. That's easy. My family owns a vineyard. We can just have the Nameless Academy buy some from us."

"I have it at home too."

"Everyone owns a vineyard."

One by one, the noble ladies began to flock to Versailles.

Little did they know that four pairs of dark eyes were observing everything from the room next door.

They were none other than the four senior disciples of the Nameless Academy.

Li Jieman chuckled and said, "Trying to threaten us with grapes? They really don't take us seriously. We can get these grapes even without relying on our own family."

Huangfu Sengnian laughed and said, "If your aunt knew this news, would she hide away, ashamed to see us?"

"Can she escape?"

Wang Xi chuckled and said, "I will definitely go find her and show off properly. I used so much effort and connections, but what was the result? A face mask was all the grapes in Guanzhong."

Then he looked at Wang Shuang and said, "Brother Shuang, I'm entrusting you with the task of harvesting grapes. But remember, we won't accept any grapes from families related to my aunt, including my own family."

Wang Shuang said, "Leave it to me."

Li Jieman retorted, "Does it have to be so ruthless?"

Wang Xi chuckled and said, "This is nothing."

royal palace.

Li Longji, along with Zhang Shuo, Yuan Qianyao, and several other ministers, stood in front of the palace gate, looking around with a hint of urgency in their eyes.

"Why aren't you coming?"

Li Longji then said to Gao Lishi beside him, "Go and urge them to find out how big the fire is and whether we need to send more people to put it out."

"Yes."

Before Gao Lishi could even step down the steps, a soldier from the Imperial Guard rushed over and reported, "Your Majesty, there was no fire. The smoke was caused by too many people burning incense at a Taoist temple."

Zhang Shuo angrily retorted, "Nonsense! Can burning incense produce that much smoke?"

The imperial guard said, "It's absolutely true. I saw it with my own eyes. The people burning incense seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see."

Gao Lishi suddenly paused, and whispered to Li Longji, "Your Majesty, could it be!"

Li Longji immediately realized what was happening and asked, "What is the name of that Taoist temple?"

The imperial guards said, "Your Majesty, the Taoist temple is called Qingyun Temple. It is said that the temple invented a kind of face mask that can nourish the skin, so many ladies go there to burn incense."

"That brat!" Upon hearing this, Li Longji couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Zhang asked, "Why is Your Majesty laughing?"

Li Longji was taken aback for a moment, then chuckled and said, "It was a false alarm. Isn't that something to be happy about?"

Yuan Qianyao, who was standing nearby, suddenly said, "I do know something about this matter."

Li Longji asked, "You also know about this face mask?"

Yuan Qianyao nodded and said, "Yesterday, my daughter-in-law took my grandson to Qingyun to watch the opera. When she came back, she told us about the face mask. It is indeed different. Her skin looks more moisturized and radiant."

Zhang asked, "Is it really that miraculous?"

Yuan Qianyao nodded and said, "My eldest daughter-in-law probably went today too."

Li Longji suddenly asked, "By the way, do you know what kind of opera it is?"

"Uh, what was it called again? Right, it's called '100,000 Whys'."

"100,000 Whys? What does that mean?"

"Speaking of opera, as soon as my grandson came back, he gave me a question, which stumped me."

"is it?"

Li Longji became interested and said, "Tell me about it."

Zhang Shuo and several other ministers also looked at Yuan Qianyao with curiosity.

Yuan Qianyao said, "Two iron balls, one large and one small, one heavy and one light, stand on the tower and release them at the same time. Which ball will land first?"

Zhang said, "Of course it's big."

The other ministers said the same thing.

Yuan Qianyao chuckled.

Li Longji asked, "Isn't that wrong?"

Yuan Qianyao said, "It is said that they landed at the same time."

"Why is that?" Li Longji asked curiously.

Yuan Qianyao said, "They say it's universal gravitation, but there's a suction force beneath the earth. This explains why fruits fall to the ground, why water flows downwards, and why all things in the world are affected by this force. Under this force, the speed at which things fall has nothing to do with their weight, but only with the time and distance."

This is the meaning behind "100,000 Whys".

After hearing this, everyone was completely dumbfounded.

Li Longji coughed and asked, "Do you all understand the reason behind this?"

Everyone shook their heads.

Yuan Qianyao chuckled and said, "Don't even mention that you all don't know. Even I was confused when I heard it yesterday, but after thinking about it carefully, it seems to make some sense."

Zhang said, "If the iron ball and the wooden ball were to land at the same time, they might not have landed simultaneously."

Yuan Qianyao said, "This point is also mentioned in operas, but it refers to feathers and iron balls, saying that it is related to the Taoist Qi mechanics."

"Aerodynamics?"

Zhang asked in surprise, "Do Taoists have this kind of knowledge?"

Yuan Qianyao said, "It is derived from the theory of primordial energy."

Zhang said, "That theory is vague and abstract, and few people study it nowadays."

"Different."

Yuan Qianyao said, "Judging from this opera alone, it explains some changes in all things."

A minister standing nearby said, "I think it's about right. What universal gravitation? It's invisible and intangible, how can it be so ethereal and illusory?"

Yuan Qianyao said, "But he used many examples to illustrate that gravity exists, and I can't think of any way to refute it."

The crowd looked at each other, unable to find any reason to refute the argument.

Unless you can provide another explanation for why water flows downhill.

Li Longji glanced at the group of people and thought to himself, "What am I thinking here with them? I'll have Que'er come to the palace another day and explain it to me properly."

P.S., Happy Lunar New Year's Day! I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. This is only one update today because starting today, I'll be visiting relatives and friends and exchanging New Year's greetings. I'll also take a couple of days off.

(End of this chapter)