Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 309 Everything is ready
"Absolutely not," Xiao Zong hurriedly declined after hearing this, "The rules cannot be broken, Father!"

According to the ritual system, the emperor is the chief priest, the crown prince is the assistant priest, and the nine ministers are the accompaniment priests. The kings are not allowed to participate. This is said to prevent the heaven from choosing the wrong emperor, but in fact it is to let the restless princes understand the situation and not have any unreasonable expectations.

So no matter what Xiao Yan said, Xiao Zong firmly disagreed and begged: "Let me stay in the palace and look after the family for my father and elder brother."

"Well, alright." Although Xiao Yan was refuted, he was very happy in his heart. "The second brother has indeed grown up, knows the rules, and knows when to advance and retreat. Then I will not force you, you can stay in the palace tomorrow."

"Thank you, father!" Xiao Zong secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that he was lucky to have escaped the disaster.

At this time, Xiao Zhengyi, the prince of Linchuan, came in and whispered a few words to Xiao Hong.

"Have you found out?" Xiao Hong's face changed immediately.

"No, it was just a false alarm." Xiao Zhengyi quickly gave his father a reassurance to prevent him from getting scared and peeing his pants. "The people from the Gou Chen Division have already withdrawn."

"What's wrong, Ah Liu?" Xiao Yan noticed the father and son.

"Third brother, let, let justice speak to you." Xiao Hong was still in shock and stuttered.

"Uncle San, you have to help my father." Xiao Zhengyi said angrily to Xiao Yan, "The Gou Chen Division will not stop until they kill my father and me! Just now, Chen Qingzhi personally led people to search the Temple of Heaven, saying that they found someone smuggling a large number of unknown items in!"

"Oh?" Xiao Yan frowned and asked in a deep voice, "Then what?"

"What else can we do? We searched the whole place, but nothing was found. We just left in disgrace!" Xiao Zhengyi said with a wronged look on his face, "If the emperor's uncle doesn't take care of it, they will directly frame us next time."

"My father has been working hard and talking a lot to build the Altar of Heaven for my uncle, but he is still being slandered like this. As a son, I can't stand it anymore!"

"Zhengyi, how can you talk to your uncle?" Xiao Hong pretended to glare at the prince, and then said to Xiao Yan: "Brother, to be on the safe side, let's cancel tomorrow's sacrifice to heaven. When the Gou Chen Division thinks there is no problem, we can talk about it later."

"Hey, how can we postpone the day of offering sacrifices to the heaven?" Xiao Yan shook his head and comforted Lao Liu and his son, saying, "The Gou Chen Division has always been like this. They believe everything they hear and always make a fuss about nothing. You should not take it for granted."

Then he said to Xiao Zhengyi, "Don't worry, Uncle Huang will definitely help you get rid of this anger. But forget about tonight on New Year's Eve. After the sacrifice to heaven tomorrow, I will make sure they will pay the price."

"Oh, okay..." Xiao Zhengyi nodded angrily.

"Brother Emperor, I think we should postpone the ceremony." Xiao Hong became more excited and said with a wronged look on his face, "Otherwise, if something happens tomorrow, I won't worry about it."

"If I say no, then no." Xiao Yan said firmly: "Hasn't the Gou Chen Division already checked it? If there is a problem, Chen Qingzhi will definitely report it. Besides, if I don't trust you, who else can I trust?"

"It's New Year's Day, don't be unhappy." He personally picked up the cup and poured a glass of wine for Xiao Hong, saying: "Come on, finish this cup, there is another one. After drinking this cup, there are three cups..."

~~
As soon as the dinner ended, Xiao Hong drove to the Temple of Heaven.

"Father." Xiao Zhengli came forward.

"What happened?" Xiao Hong said with lingering fear: "I was almost scared to death."

"I don't know where the news leaked out, but I was almost scared to death." Xiao Zhengli smiled bitterly, "When Chen Qingzhi suddenly led his troops to surround us, I was scared to death. Fortunately, we were safe in the end."

"In the end, how did you pass it?" Xiao Hong asked in a deep voice.

"I can't explain it clearly," Xiao Zhengli said in disbelief, "Those things were clearly in the secret room, but when Gou Chensi checked, they were all replaced with ritual objects." "Well, I see." Xiao Hong had a general idea in his mind and asked, "Is everything arranged now?"

"Everything has been arranged." Xiao Zhengli nodded.

"Okay, go back and rest. I'll keep an eye on this place." Xiao Hong waved his hand and said to Xiao Zhengyi, "You can go back too. You don't have to come tomorrow."

"Yes, father." Xiao Zhengli responded in a deep voice, his eyes unable to hide the excitement.

"Father..." Xiao Zhengyi looked worried and wanted to persuade him.

"You don't have to talk." Xiao Hong raised his hand and whispered, "I was laughed at for twenty years because of my father's one-sided decision. This time I finally made up my mind, not only to avenge you brothers, but also to let the people of Jiankang City see that I am Xiao Hong, not Xiao Niang!"

After saying this, he lifted his cloak and stepped onto the altar.

"..." Xiao Zhengyi looked at his back, his eyes full of worry. After a long time, he let out a long sigh, turned around and walked down the altar.

~~
When Xiao Hong climbed up to the 99-foot-tall altar, he saw 81 flags of the five directions and five colors, the sun, the moon, and the stars, had been planted around the circular altar.

In the center of the altar was a table of five offerings made of black jade, on which stood a nine-inch-diameter dark jade disk. To the east stood a huge bronze incense burner.

Even the cushions for the emperor and the prince to kneel on had been placed.

Xiao Hong stood behind the cushion in the front and center, looking up at the sky for a long while, as if explaining his difficulties to God.

"No one can see it anyway, so what if I use the emperor's cushion in advance?" Xiao Baoyin appeared beside him.

"If I use it, you will laugh at me for being too impatient." Xiao Hong already knew Xiao Baoyin very well. He knew that he was full of hatred towards the royal family of this dynasty and would never like him no matter what.

"Well, at least for now we still have to be united." Xiao Baoyin smiled faintly and said, "For example, if it weren't for us, you and your son would have to eat the last meal of execution instead of the New Year's Eve dinner tonight."

"Was it you who did it?" Xiao Hong asked.

"No, I asked another demigod for help to exchange those yellow salt bricks for ritual objects." Xiao Baoyin smiled and said, "You should thank him."

"Where is he?" Xiao Hong asked again in a deep voice.

Before he finished speaking, a white-haired, serious-looking old man appeared out of thin air. He had wolfish eyebrows and raised eyes with three pupils, like a magic disk, which made people dare not look at him directly.

"Are you Fu Shuyan?" Xiao Hong couldn't help but gasp. After all, he was the second or third most important person in the Southern Dynasty, so he was no stranger to the demigods of the Northern Dynasty. When he saw the other party's very distinctive eyes, he immediately recognized them.

The Northern Dynasties followed the old Xianbei custom of giving nicknames to people based on their facial features. Among them, there were two warriors named after their eyes, Yang Dayan and Fu Shuyan, who stood out even when there were so many warriors in the Northern Dynasties.

Unfortunately, Yang Dayan has passed away, and now only Fu Shuyan is left. He is still in good health and is struggling to support the southern defense line.

Xiao Hong didn't expect that the Northern Dynasty would spend so much money to send two demigods at the level of chief commanders to Jiankang. It can be seen how bad their situation has become... Only when they have no hope of fighting head-on on the battlefield will they bet everything on it and take such a risk.

ps. It’s the last day of this month, please give me a monthly ticket…

(End of this chapter)