Inside the house, Wang Li, wrapped in a quilt, was having a dream that was both magical and absurd.
In the dream, Wang Li was sometimes like a bystander and sometimes like a participant. The dream spanned several decades and witnessed an extraordinary story.
There are ghosts, gods, demons and fairies in the dream, as well as human scenes and the terrifying underworld. Sometimes it is like a sweet dream and sometimes like a nightmare.
In the usual sense, even if ordinary people come into contact with a medium that conveys spirits through objects, it will not be able to have any effect. On the one hand, their spirits are weak, and more importantly, their spirits are scattered and they have no spiritual energy or magic power to leverage them.
But as the caster, Ji Yuan only needed to make Wang Li see by touching the paper. However, ordinary people's spirits were not strong enough to handle too much information in an instant, so they would enter a sleeping state for self-protection and digest it in the form of dreams.
This has been seen in "Tongming Ce" a long time ago. It's not that Ji Yuan used some special dream technique. He hasn't learned the technique of entering dreams yet. Of course, Ji Yuan controlled the process very well so as not to make Wang Li uncomfortable.
This process will not have any adverse effects on Wang Li himself, because it is not forced and the method is gentle, so the only problem lies in Wang Li's memory. If his memory is very poor, he may forget some key points before he has time to write them down after waking up from the dream.
Ji Yuan's ability to convey spirit through objects is a talent, but he is far from mastering it. Moreover, he uses ordinary paper as the medium, so the essence will be dissipated once it is triggered.
But this is also the law of fate, the fate of this storyteller. If he forgets it completely, Ji Yuan still knows the story of Bai Lu Yuan, so it will naturally not be broken, but he will not look for Wang Li again.
After standing outside the yard for a while, Ji Yuan listened to Wang Li sleeping with even breathing in the house. A child in the alley ran excitedly to the yard of this family and knocked on the door.
"Bang, bang, bang..."
"Xiaodong, we are going to pick up firecrackers, do you want to come?"
Three children were outside shouting towards the inside.
"Go, go, go, I'm coming, I'm coming, wait for me for a moment, I'll be there soon!"
An excited boy's voice was heard from the yard, and he ran out in a hurry with a bun in his mouth.
"Wear a scarf to avoid catching a cold!"
The boy's mother chased after him, wrapped a cotton scarf around her son, and then let him go.
A total of four children were gathering outside the yard, laughing and rushing out of the alley at a quick pace.
Firecrackers are a rare item, and wealthy families would only set them off during festivals. However, not every firecracker in a string would have a chance to explode, and some would be bounced out when other firecrackers exploded.
These pearls that have escaped the net are treasures for children. During the New Year holidays, many children will look everywhere for places where firecrackers have been set off and search for small firecrackers that have not yet exploded.
Watching the children's laughter fade away, Ji Yuan was also infected by the atmosphere and walked away with a smile. He remembered that he seemed to have done something similar when he was a child.
When he returned to Yongning Street, the illusion naturally disappeared, and Ji Yuan was walking on the street like an ordinary person.
Although he had to go back to the Chu Mansion Library, it was not a pressing matter. Although he was maintaining a normal schedule now, not sleeping for ten days or half a month would not have any impact.
The Green Ivy Sword was floating behind him, and had been very quiet since it swept up the pure air last night. It was itself an immortal sword with green vines wrapped around it and had a very special spiritual charm. The meaning of the New Year was also of great significance to the Green Ivy Sword, so Ji Yuan had let the immortal sword rise into the air last night.
"Buzz..."
At this moment, the magic sword behind him made a subtle sound, and Ji Yuan turned his head to look.
"woke up?"
"Buzz..."
The Green Ivy Sword rang softly again in response. The sword body floated behind Ji Yuan without moving or being unsheathed, but there was an imperceptible sword intent sweeping in all directions, making it impossible for any foreign object to hide in the range of the immortal sword's aura.
Going straight ahead along Yongning Street is the direction of the imperial city. The further you go, the richer the people become, and the more large gardens and mansions begin to appear.
This is also the main "battlefield" for some children.
"We got here first, go pick it up over there, there's no one there!"
"Nonsense, we just picked it up here, you guys just got here!"
There were two groups of children quarreling near a mansion. One moment they were on the verge of a fight, but the next moment there was no conflict between the two sides. They gathered together and charged towards the door of the other mansion.
"Show me how many you picked up!" "Oh, you have more than ten!"
"I have twenty!" "I only have seven..."
“We’ll release them together later!”
…
When Ji Yuan walked by, there were more than one or two groups of children like this. They didn't care about their red frozen fingers as they searched around, wanting to get the treasure before the doormen and servants cleaned the door.
Many mansion doormen will chase children away when they come out with a broom. It’s not necessarily that they are mean, but it’s their duty.
Ji Yuan walked and walked to the outside of the Chu Mansion. Across the street there was a bun shop that he often visited. He planned to buy some buns before going to the library.
The doorman of the Chu Mansion was an old man in his fifties. He was leaning against the gate, holding a broom and watching two children in large flowered jackets rummaging for firecrackers. He also asked the two children with a smile.
"How many did you find?"
"I have eleven, and he has almost twenty!"
"Great, great! Here, I have a few candies. If you help me clean up the stems of the firecrackers, I'll give you the candies. How about that?"
"Okay, okay!" "Don't lie to us!"
The two children excitedly took the broom and dustpan from the waiter and started sweeping the floor very enthusiastically. Sweeping the floor was naturally not difficult for children from ordinary families.
Ji Yuan also stopped to take a look. He had seen this old waiter of the Chu family several times. In fact, he was not a doorman but more like a manager. He was active in various places of the Chu family, sometimes doing chores and sometimes giving orders. He was very trusted by the Chu family.
As far as the mortal world is concerned, this man is actually quite remarkable. At least although he looks old, he has quite impressive martial arts skills.
Ji Yuan is considered a martial arts master of the time, and in his mind, "extraordinary" already carries considerable weight.
Seeing a gentleman standing by with a smile on his face, the doorman also bowed slightly to Ji Yuan, as if to congratulate a stranger on the New Year.
Ji Yuan also responded politely. After the two children finished sweeping the floor and got the candies, he left and walked towards the bun shop over there.
Less than a cup of tea later, Ji Yuan appeared on the third floor of the library in the backyard of the Chu Mansion.
There are only a few bookshelves on the third floor of this library, and there are two tables and chairs. There are no decorations in the rest of the space. It looks empty, but in autumn and summer, when the doors on both sides of the third floor are opened, it will definitely be a transparent and comfortable environment.
After all, it is the library of a wealthy family. On one of the bookshelves on the third floor, the four treasures of the study are neatly placed, and all of the pens, inks, paper and inkstones are of top quality.
Ji Yuan sat at one of the tables, eating pickled cabbage buns while flipping through a set of "Bai Fu Tong Jian" he found on the second floor, which had a total of six volumes.
The Thirteen Prefectures of Dazhen have a total of nearly a hundred prefectures and a vast territory. This set of books roughly talks about some of the scenic spots and customs of each prefecture. Although the book was written seventy or eighty years ago, it is still vivid and interesting, and also has reference value.
Before he finished eating the five pickled vegetable buns, Ji Yuan heard voices gradually approaching the study. After raising his head and listening carefully, Ji Yuan continued to eat and read on the third floor without moving, while someone had already opened the door of the study downstairs.
"Brother Chu, I heard that King Jin had auspicious signs from heaven last night. Is that true?"
"You also know about this?"
"Of course I don't know that. I even knew that the King of Wu broke the cup this morning!"
"Hey, you dare to say that."
"Isn't this in front of Brother Chu? By the way, is the story about Prince Jin's Mansion true?"
The two young men below were chatting animatedly, one wearing a light green cotton coat and a fur scarf, the other in a dark brocade robe, and they were accompanied by the old man who had just acted as the concierge.
Hearing the other young man's curious questions, the young master from the Chu Mansion told the truth.
"Hehe, my father was also invited to the Prince of Jin's Mansion last night. The auspicious sign was witnessed by everyone in the Prince of Jin's Mansion, and... "
At this point, the young master of the Chu family subconsciously lowered his voice.
"Moreover, His Majesty also summoned a divine being to appear. I heard that a white mist appeared, but the divine being did not come in the end."
These two sentences made Ji Yuan on the third floor stunned. He really didn't expect that someone from the Chu Mansion was also in the Prince Jin's Mansion last night.
As if he just realized why he was here, the young master of the Chu family asked the old waiter.
"Uncle Xu, where is the set of 'A Hundred Birds Theory' that my father sent someone to copy from the Prince of Jin's Palace? Let me show it to Brother Shi."
"Oh, it's on the second floor. I'll go get it for you, sir."
After the old waiter responded, he took small steps all the way up to the second floor, found a bookshelf with ease, and took out a box of cardboard volume "A Hundred Birds Theory".
Just as he was about to go downstairs, his nose twitched.
"Um?"
The questioning nasal sound was very low, but it made Ji Yuan on the third floor pause and look at the pickled vegetable bag in his hand.
'What a mistake!'
Sure enough, after just a few breaths, the old man reached the third floor with his nimble toes, and the whole process was silent.
After going up to the third floor, the old waiter looked around, sniffed carefully, frowned, opened the attic door and walked around the corridor, but didn't see anyone.
He simply climbed onto the attic roof like a monkey hanging from a tree and gently landed on the snowy surface of the roof.
Looking carefully, he found that the snow on the roof was very neatly laid, with no footprints except those under his feet. He then looked at the overhanging eaves of the lower floors, and found that there were no signs of trampling on the snow either.
'Is it because I am overthinking?'
When the old waiter was puzzled, the urging voice of the young master of the Chu family came from downstairs.
"Uncle Xu, have you found it?"
The old man quickly climbed back to the attic and responded to the person downstairs.
"Found it, found it, come down right away!"
As soon as the old waiter left, Ji Yuan walked out from behind the shadow of a desk and sat down at the desk again.
"This old man is quite sharp! As for Master Yin, it seems that his reputation has spread a little bit."