98.
On the first day of May, when the moon is dark, tens of thousands of ships from the south return to Hong Kong to avoid the trip of the god of the sea.
But for the civilians of Jiumeng City, they don't care about how the sea god patrols his territory thousands of miles away. People are more concerned about how to spend the upcoming three-day carnival. Early in the morning, even the poorest family will put a bouquet of blooming flowers at the door - the sea breeze, gold coins and flowers are what Tisu needs most. There was no factory to start work, and no school to attend classes. The cunning owner of the tavern put the ale he had hoarded for a long time on the street, and the price was two copper coins cheaper than usual, so a long queue soon formed at the door of the store.
The jugglers in Amber Square, the singers from Beimo, and the Bolang merchants who just returned from the sea, all set up their stalls in the square to show off their talents. The kid Ake pulled his sister and was curious about everything he saw. The money bag on his waist was touched by someone, and the boy jumped up and down in anger.
The last rehearsal for today's new play at the Grand Theater, the owner of the theater counted the money, and was very satisfied with the writer whose clothes were still covered in mud: "You will become a richer writer than Mr. Van Buren." Aubrey Ryan smiled shyly. He licked the tip of his pen, and carefully crossed out a line from his script. Whether he would become famous in one fell swoop, and he would no longer have to worry about the rent, it all depends on tonight;
The colorful ocean covers the whole city, from Yulan Street to Chenming Palace, even the Chuizhi Court, which has always been quiet and secluded from the world, is no exception. The ladies were laughing and jokingly tying colorful flags, ribbons and lanterns on the branches, and the flowers on the sideburns were burning like fire. The girls have obtained the permission of Her Majesty the Queen. After finishing this last task, they can not only ride in the carriage to catch the carnival parade in the afternoon, but also go to the palace in the evening to attend the night ball—you know the legendary Officer Flo, who fascinated countless young girls, finally came back from the border. This time, the noble ladies of each family tried their best to dominate the crowd at the ball.
"Aren't Ah Yu going?" Long Rong watched the little girl bid farewell to the ladies.
The girl turned her head and replied with a smile: "I'm not going anymore. My brother often took me to play when I was young, and I'm tired of going there." What about Zhiting?"
Long Rong's brows and eyes were gentle: "It's boring for two people to sit and listen to the bustle outside. Come and help me clean the third floor of the bookstore. When the tidying is finished, the restaurant will be ready for dinner. Today I will ask the cook to prepare a big meal." For dinner, they all go out to play, so we will eat together."
"Okay!" Long Rong on the third floor of the Book Pavilion has never allowed other people to enter. The girl suddenly gained the trust of the princess, and her face turned red for a moment. She nodded vigorously, and followed Long Rong with her skirt footsteps.
The two walked through the flowers and brushed the leaves, and the bookstore hidden in the lush bushes was soon in front of them. They walked up the spiral staircase and came to the locked wooden door on the third floor.
Long Rong pulled out the hairpin hairpin from his sideburns, and after flipping one of the golden petals, the hairpin became the shape of a key. Looking at Haiyu's surprised eyes, Long Rong just pursed his lips and smiled: "This is a machine development technique hundreds of years ago, but it's just lost now."
She opened the door, and the walls inside were not filled with books like the two floors below. There was only a pearwood bookshelf standing behind the desk in the entire room. The books are messy and disorderly, not neatly arranged like the classics downstairs. Many books seem to have been read by Long Rong many times, and the corners of the pages have already developed light yellow wrinkles; The map covered the entire wall, and Hai Yu recognized Yun Hai's map at a glance.
Why is Her Royal Highness interested in the sea? The girl was a little curious. However, what intrigued her the most was the "strange thing" in the middle of the room.
It was a sphere made of many rings and counting chips. It was suspended on the bracket, and it was marked with scale numbers and words that Haiyu could not understand. "This is..." she murmured.
"It's a puzzle ball, because it's still a semi-finished product, so I can't figure out a lot of things." Long Rong put the other parts scattered on the ground into the box with ease, and she pointed to the bookshelf, "I made it myself It’s incomparable to a craftsman, it will fall apart when you touch it, don’t worry about this thing, go and help me tidy up the bookshelves.”
Haiyu nodded. She was the best at this job. The girl quickly rolled up her sleeves and began to classify the randomly placed books, but she was slightly taken aback when she saw the cover: "Why are they all Dongzhou characters?"
"Because it's from Dongzhou." Long Rong said apologetically, "I forgot that although you are from Dongzhou, you don't know Dongzhou characters. The title and volume of the book are marked in the southern border text."
"Do you like Dongzhou culture?"
"It's just that I need to learn," Long Rong said with a smile, "Although I have never been a teacher to others, if you want to learn Arabic, I can teach you."
"I want to learn!" Haiyu agreed immediately, and then cautiously asked, "Will it be difficult? Because I think I'm already struggling to read the books on the first floor..."
"You've only just started learning, and it's hard to come by this kind of progress," Long Rong said, "The books here may be too esoteric for you, but I will organize one or two volumes to guide you in, step by step, slowly Just come."
"Yeah," Haiyu nodded ignorantly.
After marking, it is not difficult to organize the books by title. She took out a thick book with a sheepskin cover and planned to place it on a higher level, but the corner of the book seemed to bump into something, and the girl stretched out her hand. After touching it, a small object fell into her palm. She took it down and saw that it was a golden shuttle, with three large characters and a row of small characters engraved on the front, and several scales on the back.
"Your Highness? Is this something on your puzzle ball?"
Hai Yu handed it to Long Rong, and the other party took it, his blue eyes were faint and bitter, "I was too tired to look up the information yesterday, and I forgot about it for a while." The sphere seemed to be looking at an unsolvable problem, "A Yu, thank you for giving it to me."
Hai Yu shook her head: "It's just a small effort, you don't need to thank you." She blinked and looked at Jin Shuo's fingers, "Is this thing important to you?"
"Very important."
The princess answered Haiyu's question in a low voice, more like she was muttering to herself. She looked at the small window in the attic. After a long silence, she sighed: "...it's obviously a rare festival, tonight But it looks like there's going to be a lot of rain."
※※※
Hai Lian was taken to Simona's mansion by Faluco before he could participate in the parade to worship the Sea God. The sound of drums outside the window and the cheers of the crowd were faintly visible, but inside the Earl's Mansion, there was silence. He changed into a set of attendant clothes in the dressing room, the fabric was better than the one Hai Yu made for him, Hai Lian wrinkled his nose, and seemed to be able to smell the expensive incense.
Even Simone's eyes lit up when he walked out of the room
"I will take you into the palace, and everything after that is up to you."
Simona also changed into a costume that would only be worn during festivals, as if he was the one who was going to be enthroned today. In all fairness, the Earl's appearance does not have the shrugged shoulders and flattering smile that people have in the impression that a slanderer should have. The man is nearly forty years old, with a well-maintained figure, and there seems to be traces of joining the army when he was young in his brows - no wonder he was able to seek Marrying that wife with a prominent family background can win Mrs. Nan Duo's heart.
Hai Lian moved his arms, feeling that it was not very convenient: "Can you allow me to get in and take off my coat?"
"As long as the operation is successfully completed, everything is up to you."
"Where are Fang Tinglan and the others?"
"They're waiting for you at Yulan Port," Simona replied. "It's a red-painted three-masted clipper, and it's guaranteed to reach Chijin City within twenty days."
Hailian nodded, expressing that he remembered.
"Do you miss your hometown, Eastern State Assassin?"
"I don't miss it much."
"Then why do you want to go back?" Simona held out his hand to him, "I can hire you as my head of guards, and you don't need to mention the treatment."
"Forget it, I've always been used to being free and easy, and I'm most afraid of your rules."
Hearing the other party's refusal, Simona did not show any displeasure, and the man nodded obediently: "It's understandable." There was the sound of a carriage being pulled outside the door, and he made a gesture of invitation, "Let's go, the palace feast is coming soon." It's about to start."