Dreaming for 10,000 years

Chapter 191 Just teasing you

After leaving Qiri Mountain, Shi Fei headed northward towards Shandong.

He heard that Shandong was experiencing a drought that had not been seen in a century, with thousands of miles of barren land and people suffering, so he decided to go and find out what was going on.

After walking for a day, he arrived at Tanzhou, a prosperous city on the Xiangjiang River.

Although Tanzhou at that time was not as fashionable as the coastal trading ports, it was still an important city in Central and South China with prosperous commerce and rich culture.

The Xiang River runs through the city. The river is dotted with sails and cargo ships are coming and going. The dock is bustling with people. Porters carry bags of grain and boxes of goods on their shoulders and hands, unloading them from the ships and loading them onto horse-drawn carriages to transport them to various places in the city.

However, as foreign influence gradually infiltrated the city, churches and foreign companies quietly emerged, forming a sharp contrast with the traditional urban culture.

In the streets and alleys, you can often see ragged beggars or refugees displaced by war. On the banks of the Xiangjiang River outside the city, you can occasionally see a few floating corpses, silently telling the suffering of this era.

Shi Fei walked on the streets of Changsha City, his eyes swept across the scene of prosperity and decline, and he sighed in his heart.

He stood by the Xiang River, looking carefully at an alluvial sandbar, which looked like a long dragon, lying quietly in the river, surrounded by rippling water, making it particularly eye-catching.

"Countryman, what is that place called?" Shi Fei stopped a porter passing by and asked, pointing at the sandbar.

The porter was barefoot and carrying a bag of goods on his shoulder, obviously he had just unloaded the goods from the dock.

He looked in the direction Shi Fei pointed and said in a thick Hunan accent, "That's where you're talking about! There are a lot of orange trees planted there, so we call it Orange Island!"

"Is it really called Orange Island?" Shi Fei asked in disbelief.

Li Fu looked Shi Fei up and down. Seeing that he was dressed in ordinary clothes but had an extraordinary demeanor, he smiled and said:

"Why would I lie to you? Who in the whole Tanzhou doesn't know where it is? If you have nothing to do, you can take a boat over there to have a look. When the oranges are ripe, the whole province is filled with fragrance. It smells so good!"

"Good! Good! Great!" Shi Fei clapped his hands and laughed.

He didn't expect there really was an Orange Island here. It was worth his special trip.

Seeing Shi Fei laughing happily, the porter shook his head, muttered "weirdo", and hurried away carrying the goods.

Shi Fei stopped for a moment, but ultimately did not board the boat to Orange Island. Instead, he turned around and prepared to leave.

He walked slowly along the road out of the city. Suddenly, a festive suona sound came into his ears, accompanied by the crackling of firecrackers and the noise of gongs and drums, as if a wedding procession was slowly marching.

He looked up and saw a huge wedding procession, about one or two hundred people, marching towards the center of Tanzhou.

In front of the team, red silk fluttered, the sedan chair was gorgeous, and everyone was crowded around, making it very lively. The leader was wearing a red wedding dress and riding on a tall horse. The direction of the team was the towering Governor's Mansion.

Shi Fei's eyes fell on the Governor's Mansion, and a strange feeling suddenly rose in his heart. The mansion had high walls and deep courtyards, with red doors wide open and eaves flying high, revealing the solemnity and majesty unique to an official's mansion.

However, beneath this solemnity, he felt a chilly aura, as if something was secretly watching him.

No, there's a problem!

He realized that this strange feeling was not ordinary. It was not a human's prying, but the power of some kind of Old One.

It seems that someone has planted evil things in the Governor's Mansion and is monitoring the entire Tanzhou City.

Is it the governor? He glanced at the groom on horseback and decided to go and see. It would be fine if it was an official like the governor, but there were still many innocent people in Tanzhou.

So he followed the wedding procession to the magnificent Governor's Palace.

The Governor-General of Huguang was the highest official of the Qing court in Hunan and Hubei. Today was the wedding day of the son of the Governor-General Jiang. The mansion was decorated with lanterns and red silks, and there were many guests. It was very lively. People lined up in front of the mansion to congratulate, and there was a clamor of carriages and horses, and a lot of noise.

Shi Fei followed the bustling crowd and easily blended into the Governor's Mansion. The courtyard was deep, with carved beams and painted buildings. The vermilion columns sparkled in the sun, and the bluestone paved floor was as smooth as a mirror, showing luxury and style everywhere.

This is in stark contrast to the beggars and refugees outside Tanzhou City.

The Governor's Mansion covers a vast area. After entering the gate, the guests were led to different courtyards. According to the level of official rank and status, everyone was divided into several large courtyards.

Only those who are well-known and influential are qualified to enter the main hall. The main hall is spacious and bright, with only ten tables and a gorgeous ceremonial platform in the center, with gold-painted carvings and hung with red silk, which looks particularly solemn.

Shi Fei found a seat to watch the fun, which happened to be on both sides of the worship hall, with an excellent view. He grabbed a handful of melon seeds and cracked them slowly.

The wedding has not started yet, but he knows that this wedding will never be peaceful.

Shi Fei was leisurely eating melon seeds when he suddenly heard someone beside him talking to him, "What's your name, brother?"

He turned around and saw a young man looking at him with a smile.

The man was wearing a long gown and a jacket, with a gaunt face and a scholarly look, but also a hint of determination. He introduced himself, "My surname is Tan, I am the seventh child in my family, so I call myself Tan Qi."

Shi Fei made up a lie: "My last name is Dou, and my given name is Niwan."

"Dou Niwan?" Tan Qi repeated in a low voice. He always felt that the name was a bit strange, but he couldn't figure out what was wrong with it.

His father was the governor of Hubei, and he came to congratulate him today. Seeing that Shi Fei had an extraordinary bearing, he thought that he was also the son of an official from the Hunan and Hubei areas, so he continued to chat with him, "Brother Dou looks very impressive, I wonder where he came from?"

Shi Fei smiled and said mysteriously: "I came from above!"

Tan Qi raised his head and saw that there was no one on the beam! He said, "No one up there?"

"Go higher and higher!" Shi Fei said with a smile.

"Could it be..." Tan Qi also reacted and pointed upwards.

"That's right!" Shi Fei nodded in response: "But you, Tan Qi doesn't sound like a serious name!"

He did come from above, he was not the person in this dream.

Tan Qi heard this and sighed, "I am ashamed to say that although I was born in an official family, I have not been able to pass the imperial examination. Now I am twenty-five years old, and I have not even passed the imperial examination. I am really ashamed."

Shi Fei laughed and said jokingly, "Brother Tan, why are you being so modest? The imperial examination has always been full of tricks since ancient times. Honest people like you will naturally suffer."

When Tan Qi heard this, his face changed slightly, and he quickly lowered his voice and said, "Brother Dou, be careful with your words! Be careful with your words! Don't say such things carelessly."

Imperial examination cheating has existed since ancient times, and all those that were caught were major cases recorded in history books!

He muttered to himself that the man in front of him was bold and unscrupulous, and was obviously not an ordinary person. But he had never heard of a prominent family named Dou in Hunan or Hubei.

As he was thinking, he suddenly had an idea and realized the homonym of the three words "Dou Niwan" - just kidding!
(End of this chapter)