Among the Three Kingdoms, Nanjing attaches the most importance to the Zhongyuan Festival. The people of Nanjing firmly believe that their deceased ancestors will return home to visit their descendants on July 15th every year. They must follow the traditional autumn festival to offer sacrifices to their ancestors, to express their grief, to inform their ancestors of the good harvest, and to pray for smooth sailing in the coming year.
Wei Zhenfeng never celebrated the Zhongyuan Festival in Beiyuan, but he was happy to experience the Zhongyuan Festival in Nanjing. Throughout the year, the number of festivals he could spend with Zhao Mian was very limited, and the "Ghost Festival" was at least one of them.
After nightfall, Zhao Mian set up a platform in the highest Zhaixing Tower in the palace to worship his ancestors, and Wei Zhenfeng waited for him by the door. After Zhao Mian finished worshipping his ancestors, he was not happy to find that Wei Zhenfeng did not look at him, but looked up at the bright moon hanging in the distance, with bright eyes covered with bright moonlight and a slight smile on the corners of his mouth.
Zhao Mian asked: "You seem to be in a good mood?"
Wei Zhenfeng shrugged: "Maybe it's the sequelae of the male and female Gu? I feel better when I see the full moon now."
Zhao Mian frowned: "Can you please not say this in front of my ancestors?"
His ancestors must have been very unhappy because he was pregnant with a Beiyuan person's child.
"Oh, sorry." Wei Zhenfeng clasped his hands together and bowed deeply towards the tablet of Zhao Mian's ancestors. "Everyone, I'm sorry."
Zhao Mian walked to the railing and looked into the distance, taking in the entire scenery of Shangjing.
The night of the 15th day of the seventh lunar month in the capital is brightly lit, but from a distance it looks as if covered with a strange mist. Every household offers sacrifices to their ancestors and raises wisps of smoke to guide the souls of the dead back home.
Wei Zhenfeng had never seen such a sight before: "Tell me, will the deceased really come back tonight to visit their descendants?"
Zhao Mian said: "If you believe it, it exists; if you don't believe it, it doesn't exist."
Wei Zhenfeng laughed and said, "If I believe what you said, my mother is watching me right now. And at this time next year, Wei Zhaoxiu will also come back to settle accounts with me? Tsk, how creepy."
Zhao Mian's mind moved: "When are you going to start the rebellion?"
"It's scheduled for December." Wei Zhenfeng said casually, "There's still half a year left. If nothing unexpected happens, it's enough for me to complete the rest of my plan. But I may not be able to go to Nanjing again before I'm done and ask you to accompany me."
Zhao Mian silently calculated the days. Bai Yu said that his child would probably be born around the first month of next year, and if Wei Zhenfeng could achieve great things by the end of the year, he might still be able to catch up.
"We celebrated the New Year in Shengjing this year." Zhao Mian said, "I hope you can spend the New Year with me in Shangjing next year."
As the king of a country, he should be fearless and face the future independently. But when that moment really comes, he still hopes that Wei Zhenfeng can be by his side and witness the birth of their common bloodline with him.
He… He was also afraid that he would be scared if he were alone.
Wei Zhenfeng put his arm around his shoulders under the moonlight: "Okay, I'll try my best."
Zhao Mian smiled softly.
Sure enough, Wei Zhenfeng still refused to give a 100% guarantee. Even if it was just to make him happy, Wei Zhenfeng was unwilling to make a promise for something he was not sure he could do.
Wei Zhenfeng looked up at the smoke that was dissipating into the sky over the entire city and said with a smile, "Come to think of it, I also hope that you can be with me on the day I kill my father. Unfortunately..."
It turns out that when their loved ones were born and died, they both hoped to be together to witness it.
Zhao Mian turned his head and looked at the young man's profile: "Okay, I will."
"Can you leave Nanjing now?" Wei Zhenfeng was surprised at Zhao Mian's straightforwardness. "Or do you want me to bring the person to Nanjing and kill him?"
Zhao Mian said coldly, "Stupid, do you think my father has retired? With him here, it won't be a problem for me to leave Shangjing for two months."
Wei Zhenfeng was envious and jealous: "Same person, different fate. Why don't I have such a good father?"
At this time, Shen Buci stepped forward and reported: "Your Majesty, the Left Commandant Hang Xing is here to see Lord Hang."
Zhao Mian ruthlessly took away Wei Zhenfeng's hand on his shoulder and told Wei Zhenfeng to stay aside: "Pass it on."
When Wei Zhenfeng was driven away, he did not forget to tease: "When there is nothing important to do, I like kissing and hugging you. When there is something important to do, just stay away and don't bother me. You are really something, Zhao Mian."
Zhao Mian: “… That’s a good summary.”
Compared to the last time he met the emperor, Hang Xingchao seemed much more down-to-earth, probably because he was doing a good job.
"Your Majesty, I have followed your instructions to check every household in the capital that did not offer sacrifices to their ancestors or smoke cigarettes tonight." Hang Xingchao said, "Excluding the registered foreigners, there are still more than a hundred households left. Currently, all of these people are under the close surveillance of the Qianji Institute. I believe we will be able to gain something soon."
Shangjing has a population of over one million. If you want to find the followers of Tianque Sect, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack if you don't have any clues. By the time Hang Xingchao has finished investigating them one by one, his and Wei Zhenfeng's children will be old enough to play soy sauce.
The Zhongyuan Festival is undoubtedly a good time to narrow the scope of the investigation. Like the Beiyuan people, the Dongling people also celebrate the Zhongyuan Festival. The Tianque sect followers lurking in Shangjing have no ancestors to worship, and they will not spend time on worshiping their ancestors. Compared with the normal Shangjing people, they are naturally exposed.
As expected, Qianjiyuan quickly found a number of Tianque Sect members among these people, and then followed the clues to uncover a large network secretly woven by Tianque Sect in Shangjing. In addition to the members disguised as ordinary people, there were also many local members who were successfully brainwashed by Tianque Sect, and there were even some children of officials on the list.
The Tianque Cult would talk about ghosts and gods and the way of heaven to ordinary people, but they simply used poison to control the children of officials. This poison can make people feel like they are in a dream, and it is very addictive. Most of these high-ranking children who were bewitched were brainless playboys, and they were easier to be controlled by the Tianque Cult than ordinary people, and thus used by them.
The seemingly prosperous capital was actually eroded by villains. The result was shocking and made the emperor furious.
In the name of the emperor, Qianjiyuan strictly investigated and punished those involved in the incident in the capital within just half a month.
All the Dongling followers of the Tianque Sect were killed without mercy. Anyuan Hou took the head of the leader and ran to Dongling to lie down, and personally conveyed the intention of the Emperor Nanjing to the Queen Mother of Dongling - if Dongling could not control the evil cult in its own land, Nanjing was willing to serve Dongling. Dongling did not need to do anything, just open the country and let people come.
Ordinary people were imprisoned. The children of high-ranking families who were bewitched by the Tianque Sect were not only in danger themselves, but their entire families would also be implicated. Those who were unaware of the situation would be punished by being deposed and fined for not managing the household properly; those who knew about the situation and concealed it would be dismissed from their official positions at the least, or their property would be confiscated and they would be exiled, with their heads cut off.
The once glorious and powerful people fell from grace overnight, their wealth was confiscated into the national treasury, and they were paraded through the streets in shackles as prisoners. Even for the respected officials of the dynasty, such as the Grand Secretary of Wenyuan Pavilion who lost his integrity in his later years because he loved his grandson, the Qianjiyuan was not lenient.
In other words, the emperor will never show mercy.
The emperor was furious, and the whole city was in a state of panic. In late July, the hottest month of the year, the capital was as cold as the cold winter of December. Whether it was the common people or the officials in the court, they quickly realized that the new emperor Nan Jing's methods were even worse than those of Prime Minister Xiao.
It was not until the end of the month, when the situation eased a little, that Zhao Qi prepared to take the Empress Dowager and the little princess to Yanhe Garden for a temporary stay as planned. When they went, Xiao Xiang would naturally follow them.
When Xiao Shiqing was packing up, he found two special items. With his current status, it was not appropriate for him to keep these two items, so he ordered people to send them to Yongning Palace and hand them over to the emperor for disposal.
Zhao Mian was looking at these two things in his bedroom. They had been in his father's hands for the past twenty years. Was it time for them to change hands
Should he give them to Wei Zhenfeng? Is Wei Zhenfeng worthy? Nanjing has been established for hundreds of years, and there has never been a precedent of giving them to Beiyuan people.
Zhao Mian was weighing the pros and cons when Wei Zhenfeng came over at the right time and said as soon as he entered the door: "Mian Mian, do you know that there are ministers kneeling on the ground outside?"
"I know." Zhao Mian said absentmindedly, "He is just someone who is begging for mercy for the Grand Secretary. I don't want to care about him."
"Then ignore it." Wei Zhenfeng walked as fast as the wind, and in two or three steps he came to Zhao Mian. He placed his hands on the dragon table, leaned over and said with a smile: "I have good news to tell you. Bai Yu said that the remaining poison in my body has been cleared, and I have recovered."
Zhao Mian was so happy that he smiled for the first time in a long time: "Very good, I will increase Bai Yu's salary and let her earn twice as much as Zhou Huairang."
Wei Zhenfeng lowered his eyes and looked at Zhan Yan's smile. The golden emperor's body, which had just recovered, became hot uncontrollably. During the half month of recuperation, he only slept with Zhao Mian once. The rest of the time, he could not eat or see. If he had not been forced to practice ninjutsu once a month before, he would not have been able to make it.
Wei Zhenfeng felt that with his relationship with Zhao Mian, there was no need to beat around the bush on this matter, so he could not hide his eagerness and said, "I have recovered very well, and I can hold you for half an hour without feeling tired—do you want to do it, do you want to do it?"
Zhao Mian said calmly: "No, no."
Wei Zhenfeng was very disappointed: "Ah, why."
"Because you said such outrageous things in bed, saying that I was wet and tight, which was a serious crime of disrespect."
Wei Zhenfeng was silent for a long time, then said slowly: "For a moment, I couldn't tell whether you were angry with me or trying to seduce me."
"Put aside everything before going to bed." Zhao Mian raised his chin towards the two objects on the dragon table, "Look what this is."
Wei Zhenfeng said without much interest: "It's your chin."
Zhao Mian was slightly angry: "This is the imperial edict and seal of my Queen Nanjing!"
Upon hearing this, Wei Zhenfeng instantly became interested and picked up the imperial seal to examine it carefully: "Speaking of which, I have been following Your Majesty for some time, Your Majesty should give me a title."
The seal of Queen Nanjing is the seal of the founding queen, which has been handed down for hundreds of years. The imperial edict is a golden edict when the queen was crowned, on which the three characters "Xiao Shiqing" are printed.
This edict was not announced to the world like those of other queens, but it was enough for Prime Minister Xiao.
"The queen is the mother of the country. She must be virtuous, have good character, inherit the family line, and assist the king." Zhao Mian looked Wei Zhenfeng up and down. "Which of these qualities do you meet?"
Wei Zhenfeng raised his eyebrows: "You are right. But if you don't give it to me, how can you give it to others?"
"I can leave it to ashes. You are not qualified now." Zhao Mian handed Wei Zhenfeng another book, "This is the most I can give you."
Wei Zhenfeng looked down at the imperial seal for the title of concubine and said in disbelief, "It's fine if I'm not given the title of empress, but I can't even get the title of imperial concubine?"
(End of this chapter)