Strange Stories

Chapter 505: Bringing Good Luck to an Old Friend

"I have already noted down the size of the disciple, and I am working on it. Two sets for summer and two for spring and autumn. The young master is still young and will grow fast, so I will make two more sets of larger ones. They will be ready in about half a month." Zhou Sanniang said respectfully, as if she were talking to a god. "Where should I send it to the master?"

"No need to rush. You're tired, so just do it slowly. You don't have to send it anywhere. I'm no longer in the capital. Today is only the middle of the month, so I'll set it on the last night of this month. When it's done, Zhou Sanniang can put it in the yard, and I'll take it away."

"Oops! Got it in mind!"

Zhou Sanniang said she was surprised but it didn't seem that surprising. It was impossible to say that she was not surprised. She still felt surprised in her heart.

"How much will it cost including the cost of pulling the cloth?"

"Ah? You are embarrassing me!"

Zhou Sanniang was terrified when he said this. Even if one of her legs was broken, she wanted to stand up by the table and kneel down to greet him.
"How dare we accept money from the Immortal? Everyone in the capital knows that on the day the city was captured, it was the Immortal who sent his guardians to bring the decree, ordering the army that broke into the city not to burn, kill, and loot. That's how we escaped. The officials and nobles in the capital all said that if it weren't for this, those soldiers who broke into the city would have squeezed us dry, burned our houses, and insulted and tortured us countless times!"

"That's the soldier of Lord Luo's trusted general. He has lived in the capital before, so it won't happen." Lin Jue comforted her and took out an irregular piece of gold. "I haven't used silver for a long time. The only thing I have is some gold that my fox dug out while playing in the mountains. I'll use that as a reward."

"No, no... I dare not, I dare not... If I tell anyone, I will either be scolded to death or laughed at to death!"

But Zhou Sanniang refused to accept it no matter what.

The two uninitiated disciples were stunned by the scene.

Lin Jue thought about it for a moment before taking back the gold.

"Just now Zhou Sanniang said that after Lord Luo's coronation ceremony, he will go out of the city to the north to offer sacrifices to the heavens and ancestors?"

"Yes! Many people went to see it! There are a lot of soldiers and generals over there right now!"

"In that case——"

Lin Jue looked down at her legs and said, "Then I will invite Zhou Sanniang to go over there and watch the fun as a reward for helping me cut clothes for these two disciples who have not yet entered the sect."

"Does the real person want to take me to see it?"

"It was Zhou Sanniang who went to see it herself."

Before Zhou Sanniang could recover from the shock, she saw the real man in front of her lower his head and breathe on her legs.

"call……"

It was a stream of smoke like fog and cloud, which swirled in the air and then penetrated into her legs.

"Zhou Sanniang, you should pack up quickly, close the door and go watch the fun." Lin Jue smiled and saluted at her, "Thank you very much, and I'll take my leave now."

The two uninitiated disciples reacted at different speeds. Xu Yi, who reacted quickly, pulled Pu Mei and followed Lin Jue.

Zhou Sanniang, who was behind them, came to her senses after a while, until they left the store. She tried to stand up tentatively, and then she found that her leg had become able to move and bear force without her knowing. It didn't hurt at all to stand like this, as if she had recovered.

"Thank you Master Lin!"

Zhou Sanniang's voice of thanks came from behind.

Zhou Sanniang was very smart and knew that what Master Lin gave her was more than just a healed leg and a lively occasion.

Her craftsmanship was also well-known in the capital. Many dignitaries of the previous dynasty would ask her to make clothes, and would also invite her to their homes to teach the women there skills. When she went out to watch the fun and was recognized, someone would definitely remember that her leg was broken by the previous city defense army, and would ask about it.

I still remember that last year there was a great architect in the city named Gu, who had superb construction skills. It was said that after Lin Zhenren became an immortal, he also appeared in his dreams and asked him to help build palaces and pavilions.

This incident spread widely in the capital.

Although Gu Daizhao was famous, he was old after all. After this incident, many dignitaries in the city asked him to help with planning when building mansions and houses and donating to build palaces, temples and monasteries. This year, the Zixiao Palace in the capital was also designed and built by him.

Although I didn't sew clothes for Master Lin after he became an immortal, probably immortals no longer wear ordinary clothes, but it would be almost the same to sew clothes for his new disciples, right?
Thinking of this, he thanked her repeatedly.

The two uninitiated disciples looked back and saw that she had stood up with a look of joy on her face. They couldn't help but look at each other and then at the figure in front of them.

It seemed that the "master" who was respected and loved wherever he went, who made clothes for free and whose magical power could cure lameness with just a breath of his breath, left a deep impression on their young hearts.

The Taoist just said to them:
"Come with me. The world has changed, and Taizu ascended the throne. This may be the most special and grand day in the past hundred years. It's okay if you were born at the wrong time, but now that you have encountered it, if you don't come and see it in person, you will definitely feel regretful when you look back many years later."

How could the boy understand the master's concern? He just followed him.

At this time, the palace gate had become lively.

……

He issued a general amnesty, cleared up backlogs of cases, reduced taxes and corvee labor, provided porridge and rice for free, rewarded the elderly, and took in homeless people.

These are policies that have been commonly used by dynasties to celebrate and win the hearts of the people after a new era.

The so-called universal celebration does not mean that if you hold a wedding and tell the people, they will be happy too. They are all people who have just come out of the suffering of war and may have just been displaced. If you want the people to celebrate with you, you must have real benefits and discounts.

In addition, the imperial court allocated funds to repair houses damaged in the war, informed local governments, provided convenience for those who fled to return home, and opened the drum for grievances in the government offices. If anyone harmed others for profit during the war, the victims could go to the government offices to complain. After all, this was more than what the emperors of previous dynasties did. When some people heard these decrees, and knew that this emperor was Luo County Magistrate of the capital, who was famous for his fairness and resigned because of his fairness, they really showed joy. Some even cheered at the palace gate and spread the word around.

Not long after, the emperor left the palace. The long street had already been firmly guarded by elite soldiers, and the common people could only stand behind the soldiers and watch from afar.

He is truly an emperor on horseback!
The emperor did not ride in a dragon sedan chair, nor did he have anyone carry him. Instead, he rode a tall horse himself, and moved forward under the protection of his personal soldiers. He looked around with a sharp gaze.

Wherever his eyes went, no one dared to look him in the eye.

Many common people and officials knelt down one after another. Even monks and practitioners bowed and saluted, not daring to look up.

"Long live your Majesty..."

Luo Gong's figure is still majestic. Since he conquered the world with his own hands, he naturally never neglected his martial arts. Riding on a horse, wearing a black and gold dragon robe, he gives people a strong sense of oppression.

He is over forty years old, with a well-groomed beard, and finally looks less shabby than before. However, the scars on his face do not make him look less mature, but instead show the majesty that he has swept across most of the world in seven years in another form.

At this moment, even if there are still goblins, ghosts, monsters and foxes hiding in the capital, they would not dare to show up.

Even if there were gods descending to join in the fun, they would not dare to look this mortal emperor in the eye.

The emperor still turned his head and looked around.

His eyes swept over the common people in tattered clothes, the wealthy merchants with decent cloth on their bodies, the dignitaries of the past who were still the same as they are today, and even over those who did not look like humans, who might have been goblins and ghosts who mingled in the world and coveted prosperity but had not yet left the war. He ignored them all and continued to scan the street.

Only when he saw some familiar figures from the past, such as the strange people in the Juxian Mansion, the officials of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Shrines, the county magistrate who used to be in the capital, and the people of the martial arts world who had drunk with him or even given him some special information, would he stop to look a few more times.

Stop for a few more glances, then look away.

The guards, ceremonial officers and ministers who were traveling with him all thought that the emperor was reviewing the empire he had built and examining his people. Only the trusted generals who had drunk with the emperor last night knew that he was looking for someone.

Looking for an old friend.

Someone who had never come to see him in all the time he had been in the capital, but he felt that he would definitely come today.

But he didn't see it.

Maybe he was afraid of affecting his ceremony?
The emperor's procession slowly emerged from the north gate.

Lin Jue was on the roof of a small building, using the fox's breath as a cover, watching him leave the city.

Sometimes I look up and take a look——

It turns out that whenever such a big event happened in the human world, the gods and immortals from the heavens and mountains would come to watch and witness it with their own eyes, but most of them stood in the clouds and could not be seen by humans.

These gods are really idle.

But not all of them are here to watch the fun.

Lin Jue saw a priest holding a huge feather. He didn't know what bird it came from, nor what it was dipped in. He waved it lightly in the air as if he was painting on it.

The northern sky immediately turned purple.

The people below immediately cheered!

Another priest followed the emperor's orders and drove over a colorful cloud.

The people below exclaimed again!
The emergence of such a strange phenomenon in heaven and earth at the beginning of the new dynasty was truly an auspicious sight. It truly proved that this emperor was chosen by heaven and could truly reassure people's hearts.

Seeing this, Lin Jue had an idea and took out a white jade bottle from his sleeve and blew gently into it.

The rays of light flowed out of the bottle and were blown up to the sky.

Thus, among the purple air and auspicious clouds, there was an additional gradient of fantasy.

"Long live my emperor!"

"Long live Long live Long live!"

"The gods have appeared!"

"Your Majesty, it is God's will!"

Most people have never seen such a miracle in their entire lives, just as most people will never see the day when a new emperor ascends the throne after a change of dynasty.

Naturally, as an emperor who personally led his troops and conquered the world, and as a man who had the courage to kill gods when he was still in obscurity, Luo Gong did not care about these things. A great emperor should disdain things like destiny and recognition from gods.

If you really want to say it, he does have the capital.

The one who was truly destined by heaven, the one who was truly recognized and chosen by the gods, was Shuxianwen, the King of Yue in the south at that time, but so what? One was already dead, and the other had retreated back to the south.

It was just a casual glance, and he caught a glimpse of the rosy glow in the sky at this moment, which seemed purple but not purple, red but orange, pink but white, and white with a hint of green. The multiple colors had no intersection, and gradually turned into a gentle dream. A trance reminded him of the days many years ago when he rode on horseback in the endless desert of the Western Regions and on the undulating grassland for thousands of miles.

(End of this chapter)