Chapter 10 Unexpectedly, ghosts and gods

Time flies, and the end of the year of the imperial capital flowed away in harmony. After the court meeting on the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the emperor seemed to be aware of his own situation and no longer dictated the government at will. Every day, I just went to the ground and retreated step by step, and occasionally visited the concubines in the harem, and everything seemed to have returned to the normal of the past 30 years.

A group of civil and military officials were also relieved. For them, the best thing is nothing. It has been like this for decades, and everyone's harmony is not very good. Why make it tense, hard work and hurt feelings.

Sifangfan Town was also relieved. Although there was a tendency to divide, the power and authority of the central court were still strong, and the vassal towns were many, surrounded by heroes, and no one dared to jump out and face the anger of the emperor. It was normal for everyone to make a fortune according to the old rules and continue to cultivate their own power.

As for these days, the king of Wei, who has been at the forefront of the storm, still looks light. Although there are rumors in the streets and alleys that at the great court meeting on the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, hundreds of officials joined hands to force the emperor, and the black hand behind the scenes was the four sons of the former emperor called the virtuous king.

In private, the people of the capital also criticized the emperor's recent deeds. Although he has been the emperor of peace for 30 years, although he has been evaluated by the literary minister and the king of Yao Shun, the state affairs are becoming more and more and more, the so-called quiet and inaction, is just a whitewash that has nothing to do. Over the years, people's livelihood has been withering day by day. The Yellow River has burst several times. Shaanxi and Hebei have had severe droughts, thousands of miles of red land, and they have been starving all over the fields. However, the princes in the court have only been fighting for power and profits and enriching their own pockets. And there were constant quarrels between the vassals and towns, and even several times of swordsmen, causing the source of all this, and the emperor could not get rid of it. As the people said, the people in the world are not worthy of your majesty for a long time.

With an inexplicable anxiety, the people of the capital ushered in the first day of the 32nd year of Zhongping. This day has been five years since the chaos of the king of Chu in 27 years. There seems to be an invisible hand manipulating the reincarnation of the world.

The morning celebration is the most important morning meeting of the year. As usual, the emperor will pardon the world and fully release the curfew in the capital to show his common goodwill with the people. The New Year's Eve before the New Year's Day is the most festive time. After several hard work, the people finally waited for the end of the year to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new year. Thousands of households always exchange new peaches for old charms. For ordinary civilians, as long as they don't owe huge debts, New Year's Eve, Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival are far more festive days than the emperor's birthday.

The festival is full of streets and alleys. Although every family has its own difficulties, as long as it is not a dead end, no one wants to be sad on such a day. Even the debt collector, if it hadn't completely ruined his conscience, he wouldn't have really urged too much on this joint.

Whether it is a pawn hawker or a civil martial arts minister, they have received their business early, swept the courtyard in their own house, and decorated them with lanterns. The calligraphy and paintings on the hall, the Spring Festival couplets at the head of the door, and the Fu characters on the window sill are all replaced one by one. On this special day, everyone is full of expectations for a better life in the coming year, so as to meet the unknown future with a new look.

In the elegant room on the second floor of Songhe Teahouse, Wu Dongting gathered a group of people as usual, listening to him talking about anecdotes outside. Wu Laosi has been traveling north and selling goods for many years. Although he shrinks in the city and refuses to go out again when he comes back this year, he is still well-informed and is regarded as a role of insuring by everyone.

Today is the New Year. The owner of Songhe Teahouse is also used to doing business. He posted a notice early. Old customers are exempted from tea money, and everyone is given four-color snacks to thank the neighbors for their care over the past year. Therefore, there are a lot of guests gathered in this teahouse today, and their heads are surging and running in and out.

Of course, the guests are all men. At this time, women in each family are sweeping the courtyard, washing vegetables and cooking, preparing for the New Year's Eve ceremony and New Year's Eve dinner. After giving the grave to their ancestors and finishing some heavy physical work, the men went out of their homes in twos and threes, wandering in the street, waiting for the night to fall.

"Wu Laosi, what you said about whether the evil stars are true or false. Why did I live for most of my life and haven't heard of the characters you say? Where did those characters come from? It's not sensational. Come and fool us." The speaker was Zhao Weiyue, an old man who opened a pancake shop under the overpass in the south of the city. The old man's family is rich and has lived peacefully for most of his life in the capital. His sons and daughters are complete and everything goes well. He has always been a little contemptuous of Wu Laosi's habit of saying amazing words.

Wu Jie was not angry when he heard Zhao Weiyue's doubts. He knew that the old man was used to living a peaceful life, and there was only one acre of land in the capital. He had always been a little uncomfortable with his businessman who begged for life outside. He just said a few gossips outside, which was quite appalling. Xi, if the old man doesn't jump out to refute, he will go to hell.

"Uncle Zhao, everyone is a neighborhood. Your father and I are still chess friends for many years. Fourth, I have absolutely no intention of disrespecting your hometown." After drinking two sips of tea to moisten his throat, Wu Dongting politely said two words first, and then turned to the topic: "I'm not talking about these things alone. There are more people who know about them. Anyone in Beijing who knows some eye-catching eyes outside doesn't know the final mountain war a few days ago. I heard that several mountains have been flattened. Good boy, the means of the fairy and demon man are really not what we ordinary people can imagine. These are still talked about by a friend of mine when he was drinking tea with me. My friend must have heard of it, that is, Judge Cui of Kaifeng Mansion. He is a talented man who has been a scholar. The literary stars in the sky come down to earth and will never talk nonsense.

Speaking of Judge Cui, Wu Laoshi's face was red. Zhou was the most important scholar. It was the most proud thing in his life to make friends with a civil official from a scholar. At this time, he naturally couldn't help showing off. Thinking that when I met Judge Cui, he didn't dislike my fourth vulgarity and handed it in. Now there are gifts and gifts on New Year's Day. On my father's 60th birthday, Judge Cui also wrote to the old man, and now he hangs it in my house. If you don't believe it, you can go to see it now."

Old man Zhao opened his mouth and didn't know how to refute it. The matter involved Judge Cui, who was not only a scholar, but also a practical official in the county management. Huang Zhou has always been polite to civil servants, and the people are also superstitious about these literati in private. As soon as something happens to these literati, they are covered with several layers of mysterious veils, which makes people dare not wait for leisure. Look at it. He stared a few times and couldn't find the right wording for a moment, so he had to say, "Judge Cui is a good man on earth, but he has been an official for many years and has never been out of the capital. How can those fairy things reach his ears thousands of miles away? It's not be you, Wu Laosi, fooling and pretending to be the name of Lord Cui. , it's fabricated."

"Uncle Zhao, you can eat indiscriminately, and you can't talk nonsense. Although I respect you as an elder, I can't let you arrange it. Wu Laoshi's eyes flashed with anger. He was also used to things and did not attack on the spot, but there was a little anger in his words: "These things were all mentioned to me by Judge Cui himself. You may not know that Judge Cui has a cousin who is an inner disciple of the Emei faction. At the end of the Nanshan War, Emei sent hundreds of people to join hands with Wudang, Qingcheng, Wanshoushan and Bimu Palace. After all, they could not stop the evil god named Luohou. According to Judge Cui's cousin, his master once mentioned that Na Luohou was originally the hero who dominated the world. Three hundred years ago, he almost unified both good and evil. Thanks to the desperate resistance of the elders of the Taoist sect, he was lucky to suppress him at the foot of Qishan Mountain. Unexpectedly, he still escaped from the cage many years later, and now it is even worse. In the battle of Zhongnan Mountain, there were heavy casualties on the right road, but Luohou took the ghost ancestors and blood demons to open the array of the back mountain of Zhongnan and released the king's seat that day.