Would You Like to Have a Drink

Chapter 30.1

Twelfth month of the lunar year, the day of the Qingsi festival.

(t/n Qing Si-Another name for the ancient December La Festival; La Festival-Year-end sacrifices in ancient times.)

This was the grandest festival of the Great Yuan at the end of the year. Its history was untraceable and was also called Jiaping or Dala in ancient times.

The Qingsi would last for two days. The people of Great Yuan would usually gather at the four-sided Great Witch Temple to offer sacrifices and worship the gods, put melons and fruits, dance with witch music, and pray for a good harvest and good luck in the coming year. The royal family would also hold archery activities under the ten thousand years tree in the Great Witch Temple. If one could hit the center nine times in a row, it would mean that Heaven blesses the Great Yuan, and everything would go smoothly and everyone would be healthy.

The sky was only dimly lit, the night still blanketed the sky, and the stars were twinkling above, it was hard to tell whether it was the coming of morning or dusk.

Zong Luo just woke up, he pushed open the door, and found a thin layer of snow falling in the courtyard outside the corridor.

The eaves tiles were covered with pure white color, the grass leaves were covered with a layer of crystal clear frost, and even the bamboo forest was wrapped in white. Looking around, all was covered in silvery white color, too beautiful to behold.

“In previous years, it snowed earlier, but this year it snowed late.”

In that early morning, Pei Qianxue looked out the window and said, “It will be the New Year’s Day in a short time, it’s good to have some snow, heavy snow in winter predicts a good harvest in the coming year.”

“What Ah Xue says is reasonable.”

Zong Luo had almost forgotten what it looked like when it snowed in the Imperial City.

In the previous life, he stayed at the border for too long, there was only never ending yellow sand, and not even a blade of grass grew. Summer was also extremely hot, and wearing armor was a kind of a torture, while winter was full of blizzards, and the snow could cover up to the knees when steeping on it.

Sipping wine around the stove, putting a small warm yellow lamp on, and sitting at the desk to enjoy the snow seemed to have happened a long time ago.

Before dawn, the gate of Pei’s mansion became lively.

Next to the Prime Minister’s Mansion was the Great Witch Temple. Not only would the emperor’s courtiers come today, but even the students who participated in the Bajia Banquet would also receive invitations. Since it was not too far away from their stations, many students did not ride horses, but instead walked together. As for the carriages of other dignitaries, they stopped at the entrance of the alley early on.

Near here, even the sound of driving horses became quieter, for fear of disturbing the blessings in the witch temple.

Zong Luo and Pei Qianxue walked together and walked out of Pei’s mansion at the same time.

As soon as he appeared, he attracted the attention of many people.

This year, an individual student was presented a jade by the King of Beining at the city gate. During the banquet, he amazed everyone present and won the favor of Prime Minister Pei. When everyone heard that this student had not only lost his memory, but also suffered from an old disease of blindness that was not completely cured, they couldn’t help laughing behind his back and criticizing him from head to foot.

Now crippled, yet could still actually encounter such an opportunity, don’t talk about envy, they were more like burning with jealousy.

However, at the hunting ground a few days ago, His Majesty drove out of the palace and asked to see this person by name, making him rise to the peak directly.

“How can he be directly recognized by His Majesty? I’m afraid this was Prime Minister Pei’s treatment back then.”

“Most likely, Prime Minister Pei said a few good words in front of His Majesty, it was said that even his own disciples did not receive such treatment.”

“However, it’s a pity……how could he have fallen off the cliff? This instead, only angered His Majesty. Afterwards, I don’t know which good person came out and spread the news that Young Master Gu was very similar to the Third Prince of Great Yuan who died in the Battle of Hangu Pass last year, that was almost to the point of confusing the real one.”

A stone immediately stirred up a thousand waves.

Now, it was unknown how many students were filled with righteous indignation and wanting to defend against the injustice.

“How can the Third Prince’s immortal appearance be tarnished by others?”

“Where did this person come from, is this a delusional opportunist trick, a reach to the sky in one leap poor family’s sour chicken? How can the Third Prince be imitated by ordinary people at will?”

Who didn’t know the prestige of the Third Prince in Great Yuan? The common people still remembered it, and the people who offered incense on the anniversary of his death a few days ago almost broke through the threshold of the witch temple. Even among students from a Hundred Schools of Thought, there were not a few who respected and admired this person.

There were also quite a few literati who scolded the King of Beining, and for the Third Prince, he felt smug hearing this.

“That’s right, I thought this student was good at swordsmanship, but I didn’t expect his character to be so inferior! Prime Minister Pei, the King of Beining, both of them had even come into contact with him.”

When Zong Luo and Pei Qianxue walked out of the Prime Minister’s Mansion together, the chirping discussions stopped abruptly, and all paid attention to the two of them.

Gongsun You, who had been on the sidelines early on, looked over and nodded to Zong Luo indiscriminately.

As Zong Luo lay sleeping yesterday, Gongsun You was the first to send someone to inquire and ask for his well-being. He was quite clever, and he didn’t reveal any traces of his acquaintance with Zong Luo on the surface. Instead, he only sent a disciple from the Yin Yang School and said that he knew Young Master Gu on weekdays, and retreated after confirming that his “Lord” was fine.

In addition, the Fourth and Fifth Princes also came, and the latter finally remembered to bring some medicinal materials. It’s just that Pei Qianxue refused all of them saying he needed rest, and didn’t let anyone see him.

As soon as Zong Luo appeared, a Confucian disciple who was waiting outside rushed forward to report the situation to the real leader.

It’s just that on the third day of the competition, not many things were accumulated. The only thing that needed to be taken care of was the message sent by the Head Martial Uncle, which made Zong Luo remember the Ghost Valley Master’s letter, and work with Yu Beizhou to choose a candidate to inherit the Ghost Valley Master’s reputation as soon as possible.

Zong Luo nodded and said, “Why is it only you, where is Ziyuan?”

“……Senior brother Ziyuan suffered from the cold wind yesterday, and today he is not feeling well, thus he did not come.”

The Confucian disciple hesitated for a long time, but eventually did not tell the truth.

The news that Emperor Yuan drove to the hunting ground was known to everyone, and even the incident of Gu Luo falling off the cliff had also spread to their station. Gu Ziyuan became worried and anxious, and when he heard that Zong Luo was brought back to the Prime Minister’s Mansion by Prime Minister Pei for treatment, he hurried over immediately without saying a word, and waited at the door for several hours.

It just so happened that the weather had turned cold rapidly these past few days, Gu Ziyuan usually neglected to exercise, and caught the cold wind as soon as he went back, thus he couldn’t come today even if wanted to, and just simply told the disciples to not tell Zong Luo about it.

“So that’s how it is. His Highness the Fifth Prince sent some medicine before, I’ll ask someone to deliver them to Ziyuan.”

Zong Luo didn’t doubt his words, and after a few words of routine concern, before the Confucian disciple asked him when he would return from the Prime Minister’s Mansion, he entered the Great Witch Temple with Pei Qianxue.

The Great Witch Temple was as peaceful as ever. Buildings with eccentric and unique styles stood on both sides of the wooden corridor path, built against the mountain, and elegant incense burners were scattered around that burned all the time like a net of stars. The highest ancestral hall was the main ancestral hall. In the center was a large open-air tree that blocked out the sun. It was said that this ten thousand year old tree that followed after Pangu created the world, was born when heaven and earth were separated, and had the same longevity as the heaven and earth, and the same brilliance as the sun and moon.