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Chapter 842: Immortal Terrace

'Bai Wei' Ao Donglai was born into the Ao family, a prominent family in southern Xinjiang. He also had another identity, being one of Lord Shen's disciples.

During the conversation, when Zhou You learned of this identity, everything became clear to him.

It was obvious that today's conflict was specially planned by the Five Gentlemen in order to take revenge on him.

The most crucial part was to delay Ao Donglai so that he could not meet Zhou You, thus giving the Five Gentlemen an excuse to kill Zhou You on the spot.

However, once Ao Dong arrived on the scene, the five masters had no choice but to stop and leave.

Only then did Zhou You realize how powerful a supporter Lian Feihong had found for him.

The identity of Lord Shen's disciple is very important, and the Five Gentlemen have to give him face when they meet him, and even go to great lengths to delay him and avoid conflict.

"Thank you for what you did just now!"

Ao Donglai laughed, "No need, if I hadn't been late, it wouldn't have happened!"

"Hey, you have to be more careful in the future. The Five Gentlemen also have people in the palace, among the guards..."

They walked and talked, and suddenly stopped at the most critical place.

It turned out that after the two passed the first palace gate, they had unknowingly arrived at the office of the imperial guard general Zhou.

When he saw Zhou for the first time, Zhou You felt stuffy for him. It turned out that the imperial guard general Zhou was wearing an airtight armor and a visor, with a row of fences where his eyes were exposed.

Not to mention appearance, I can't even see his eyes, so I have no way of judging any expressions or emotions.

The first impression is that this is a robot!
After Zhou opened his mouth, Zhou You became more resolute in his judgment. His tone was flat and without any emotion, as if it was an AI dubbing, as if to say, "Listen to me first, and when I finish speaking, you can do whatever you want."

The content is concise and clear, indicating that Zhou You's post is located on the Xianren Terrace next to the Qingming Pond.

Zhou You's job title is Golden Spear Guard, which belongs to the category with prefixes. He can command four guards without prefixes to 'hold the spear'. To put it bluntly, he is a regular worker with several temporary workers on the job.

The post area is patrolled day and night, and usually the four guards are divided into two shifts, switching back and forth day and night.

As the leader of this "group", he only needed to arrange the shift order and then return to his dormitory in the palace to rest. He would conduct surprise inspections once or twice, which would be like standing guard.

This is the normal duty in the palace. A prince like Zhou You doesn't have to stand guard in the rain or wind. The real guards are the ones who do the real work.

Back then, when Zhou Nanwang entered the palace, he was a guard without a prefix. He worked very hard and helped Zhou Tianyuan stand guard and do hard labor.

According to Zhou You's irresponsible reasoning, the feud between the two was formed at that time, and to this day Zhou Nanwang and Zhou Tianyuan are enemies and dislike each other.

The treatment of the two types of guards was very different. Zhou Nanwang lived in a dormitory and ate from a big pot, while Zhou You was assigned to a single dormitory and had a separate meal.

If he was ruthless and asked his guards to do odd jobs for him after they finished their duties, such as washing clothes, cleaning the room, etc.

Ahem, don’t think it’s too much, everyone does this!

After meeting General Zhou, Ao Donglai took him to familiarize himself with his work location and dormitory, introducing the situation as they walked.

In addition to guard posts and dormitories, the guards also have resting places similar to tea rooms, but they can only use them on their days off.

"Brother Ao, isn't the general's dress style a little too unique?"

Finally, Zhou You couldn't help but ask this question. Ao Donglai had an attitude that he had expected it. You kid has been holding it in for so long before asking, "You don't understand this."

The Zhonglang Zhou family has been guarding the Forbidden City for generations. They are different from other aristocratic families in that their unique rules are approved by successive feudal lords and Zen rulers.

For example, in terms of clothing, not only the generals of the imperial guards, but all the members of the Zhonglang Zhou clan in the palace were all wrapped up in tightly wrapped clothes, with armor on the outside and a smock and a hat on the inside, so that their gender or age could not be seen.

Their personalities are all cold, and they speak without any changes in tone or emotion. Talking to them is like talking to a wooden man.

"Besides, there is a legend."

"The whereabouts of Zhonglang Zhou's family is a top secret known only to the feudal lords, and outsiders know nothing about it."

"The male members of this family are raised and trained in a top-secret place after they are born. Only the elite who have gone through countless selections and eliminations are qualified to join the Imperial Guards."

"So, the old, weak, women and children in this family never see the light of day, and only the strong and capable members of the family can be born!"

Oh, this is really mysterious!
Zhou You thought about it and thought that this Zhonglang Zhou might be a family of assassins raised by the feudal lord!
The entire family is held hostage, and the elites are selected as royal guards, so that they can protect the king's safety without any distractions.

Before I knew it I had arrived at my 'workplace'.

Qingming Pond is one of the few sources of living water in the palace. It is a natural pool formed by underground springs and supplies water to the palace.

The entire pool is irregular in shape, with waterside pavilions, viewing pavilions and even a large mill built on the shore.

Because the area surrounding the Qingming Pond is too large, it was divided into several sections and assigned to different guards for guard duty. The landmark building that Zhou You was assigned to was called... the Xianren Cheng Terrace.

A platform is a building without walls or roof. It is just a square platform made of earth and stones.

Although there may be various large and small buildings on the platform, they are generally considered vassals of the platform.

The purpose of building a high platform is to serve as a place for offering sacrifices to heaven and communicating with the gods living deep in the clouds.

For example, when nobles got out of their carriages or on horses, they would put a brocade stool on the ground to support their feet, or even use a living person.

By the same token, if the fairies or gods in the clouds were moved by the sacrifice and came down to earth to take a look, wouldn't we have prepared a high place for them to step on?
If you're talking about the roof, that's not appropriate either!

Therefore, the high platform also serves as a place for gods to come down to earth and rest.

This Immortal Terrace, as the name suggests, is a place where immortals wait for the descent of the gods to bestow rain and dew upon everyone.

On weekdays, you need to sweep up dust and fallen leaves, and drive away birds from landing and building nests, etc.

Naturally, these miscellaneous tasks were not done by the guards. There were servants in the palace to do the work. These people were not under Zhou You's jurisdiction, but due to the status of the Golden Spear Guards, the servants had to kneel down and kowtow to Zhou You when they saw him.

After all, servants in the palace are not considered human beings. Zhou You can still take the Qingyun Road, but they can't take any road and can only settle in empty places.

Once someone took the wrong path, the punishment would be chopped off feet at the very least, or beheading at the worst, and the executors would be the guards like Zhou You.

"Oh, there's another benefit to your job. There are often nobles from various palaces who boil water for tea and need to choose the best pool water. You are close to the water and can provide convenience, which will also benefit you a lot!"

Ao Donglai brought him to the place and revealed a huge benefit before leaving.

Selling water? Haha!
Zhou You didn't know whether to laugh or cry, he didn't care about the so-called benefits, he just wanted to go home after completing his service. He was also thinking about Zhu Qinghua who was about to give birth at home, and the little son Zhou Ding who was about to be born. How much would it weigh after opening the box!
(End of this chapter)