The Privy Council Mansion was very efficient and had already reserved an entire floor in Wanjing Tower for Xia Fan to stay.
There are eight wing rooms, four servant rooms, as well as the uppermost terrace and attic. The number of rooms even exceeds Xia Fan's actual needs.
"This is one of the best hotels in Shangyuan City. All the people who come and go are wealthy businessmen and distinguished guests. I believe it will not insult your status." Xin Wu helped drag the luggage into the room, and then handed a stack of name tags into his hands, the top one One has a black background with gold edges, and seven silver stars debossed in the center. "This card means that you are a distinguished guest invited by the Privy Council, and you can enter and exit the city gate freely. As long as you carry it, neither guards nor officers will make things difficult for you."
"You're quite thoughtful."
"Your Excellency, you are joking. The Privy Council invites all kinds of guests, with people from six countries and even overseas. How to receive them has become a set of conventions." His Royal Highness the Prince personally received you, but he has not come back yet, so we can only receive you according to the customary highest standards."
"Can it get better than this?" Xia Fan sighed, "It should cost a lot of money to rent such a floor."
"How can your arrival be measured by money?" Xin Wu shook his head repeatedly, "In my opinion, this is already condescension from you."
What is professionalism? This is professionalism.
Xia Fan secretly smacked his tongue, no wonder the princess looked wary.
If he hadn't already experienced the sugar-coated bullets of capitalism and enjoyed it, he might have been a little unable to withstand the other party's enthusiastic treatment.
"You need to rest today, and I will pick you up the day after tomorrow in the evening." Xin Wu continued, "There will be a dinner party in the Palace Square, which will be just a good time to wash your hands."
"Dinner party?"
"Ah, I forgot to tell you that the day after tomorrow is the Lantern Festival, which is also a celebration before the Chinese New Year. In previous years, at this time, the emperor would climb the palace walls and speak to his people." Xin Wu explained, "There would also be hundreds of decorations placed in the palace At the table, many high-profile people will go to the banquet, and it will be easier for Master Qian to introduce him. By the way, this Master Qian is the Hagoromo I mentioned before."
Are you going to face the highest-ranking alchemist in the Privy Council so soon...
Xia Fan nodded calmly, "I understand."
"Then I'll take my leave first." Xin Wugong cupped his hands, closed the door and left the room.
He leaned against the window and saw the envoy walking out of Wanjing Tower, then turned and said to the inner room, "He left. How about these rooms?"
"After checking, the rooms are all normal. There are no secret passages and no hiding places. It is indeed a very ordinary inn." The first person to walk out was the living dead Qianyan.
Judging from the decoration, it is obviously not ordinary at all. Xia Fan raised his eyebrows, "Can you still search the house?"
"Those who don't know how to search are already dead." Qian Yan rolled his eyes at him, "In this kind of matter, experience is more reliable than anything else."
"I've also looked at it and found no traces of Qi residue." Then Luo walked into the room gently, "At least you don't have to worry about the Privy Council's surveillance methods."
Li Yi completed her inspection. "There is nothing unusual in the attic. The area you can overlook from the terrace is very wide. If there is an emergency evacuation, you can prepare a hemp rope in advance and slide down from the roof."
Xia Fan chuckled and said, "Not bad, it seems I can sleep well tonight."
"There is also Qianzhi!" Qianzhi raised his hand and said.
Everyone turned their attention to her, "Have you discovered anything?"
"Chichi is hungry."
Fang Xiandao slapped the little girl on the head.
"It doesn't matter, I'll just ask the store to bring you some food." Xia Fan said with a smile, "This kind of high-end inn should have a chef on call twelve hours a day."
In fact, he was quite right.
Less than two-quarters of an hour after giving instructions to the waiter, seven or eight dishes were delivered to the door, and Xia Fan noticed that the other party did not mention the cost - apparently Wanjinglou adopted the method of recording the accounts first and waiting until check-out. Only then will the payment be settled together, just like a hotel in later generations.
Qianzhi happily held the bowl and started eating.
Xia Fan repeated the messenger's words completely.
"What exactly is this Lantern Festival? Why have I never heard of it anywhere else?"
"Because there is no emperor in other places." Luo Qingqing replied, "This custom originated from the early days of Daqi. At that time, evil spirits were rampant everywhere, people were frightened, and the city was like a dead place. So the emperor walked out of the palace and personally Describe to the public the results of one year's elimination of evil spirits, as well as the goals for the next year. This way we can eliminate fear and encourage everyone to explore outside."
"At the same time, on this day and night, the city will also put up floating lanterns, and the lights on the streets will stay on, creating a bright and majestic effect. As long as there is light, it will be difficult for charms and demons to invade, so as to make people walk on the streets The people feel at ease.”
"Later, this custom gradually became fixed, and the content of the statement became a summary of the year and an outlook for the coming year, and was no longer limited to evil things. The act of lighting lanterns all night is still retained today, and there are more lanterns and floating lanterns than in the past. Brighter, that’s why the term ‘ten thousand lanterns’ comes from.” She paused here, “Didn’t you notice when you came here that there were already many lanterns hung under the eaves along the street?”
"The Luo family in Youzhou is knowledgeable about everything." Qian Yan praised, "This Miss Luo knows a lot."
"But I am the first in the Qingshan Town Scholarship Examination." Fang Xiandao muttered softly.
"So there will really be many big shots gathering that day?" Fang Yanni asked curiously.
"Well, ordinary people have their own way of celebrating, and the imperial palace has its own way of celebrating. At least this banquet of ten thousand lanterns is recognized as the threshold for the upper class." Luo smiled softly, "Everyone who is invited must show his face. Youguang, I heard before that there was a fight between officials from six departments to compete for qualifications."
"Then... there must be a lot of delicious food at the banquet, right?" Qianzhi asked while stuffing chicken feet.
"What you eat is not the point. The point is that you can get to know a lot of big people, high-ranking officials, wealthy businessmen, alchemists... you name it. As for the food, I can only say that the taste is okay, why not..." She looked at Xia Fan, "You made it Fried crab.”
Xia Fan smiled and shook his head, "It sounds like you have eaten it yourself."
"I've eaten it."
His smile faltered.
The same goes for everyone else.
"When I first gained energy, I attended the Banquet of Ten Thousand Lanterns with Master." Luo Qingqing wrote lightly, "Although everything has passed, I don't want to deny those memories."
Sure enough, some people's starting line is different... Xia Fan sighed secretly.
After making sure there were no major problems with the trip, he walked up to the attic with a bag of luggage.
"Need help?" Li followed.
"Well, it would be easier for me if you came -" Before Xia Fan could finish her words, she saw a familiar fat cat sticking out half of its head from behind her.
"Meow-"
"This guy! Isn't he that cat spirit from Jinxia City?"
Xia Fan twitched the corner of his mouth. Since he and Li were not on the same carriage, he never noticed that there was such a passenger in the motorcade.
"That's it. I've taken it under my wing and given it a name, Fat Flower."
Upon hearing this name, the cat spirit's whiskers shrank.
"Well, it's obviously not a tabby cat."
Xia Fan squinted his eyes and looked at the other person for a while. If he looked closely, the cat was quite good. It had black eyes and white fur. It didn't look like the common cats on the street.
"Do you have a better name?" Li didn't insist on his opinion.
"This figure... this color scheme..." Xia Fan thought about it for a moment, "How about calling it Gungun."
The cat spirit obviously didn't like this name much either, but the fox spirit laughed and said, "Well, if it sounds better than mine, then you can call it Gungun. Thank Xia Fan quickly."
The cat spirit turned away.
Li pinched the fur on the back of the opponent's neck and twisted it.
Gungun suddenly hissed and bowed his head towards Xia Fan honestly.
This guy... his spirituality is really not bad.
Xia Fan curled his lips in a funny way and opened the luggage package.
What was placed inside was a section of antenna pole.