I remember that after attending the Dragon King's birthday banquet, Ji Yuan went boating along the Tongtian River in the severe winter, and had a speed competition with a big ship of the Xiao Mansion.
Unlike the old turtle who directly bears the huge impact of evil karma on his cultivation, the Xiao family members are just struggling in the officialdom of the mortal world and are not exposed to things like cultivation of immortals or magic. On the contrary, the impact on themselves is not as exaggerated as the old turtle.
After all, officials are the sword of imperial power. Relatively speaking, the Dazhen Kingdom also shouldered a lot of evil deeds. Even such a big thing as killing meritorious officials was involved in the entanglement of the court and the public in the mortal world. Xiao Jing ended up with many illnesses and a short life, but his death would be a little more painful.
Although the events described by the old turtle happened almost one hundred and seventy or eighty years ago, if the Xiao family had been more resourceful and not retaliated against afterwards, it is possible that they would still have a place in the court after experiencing ups and downs.
Ji Yuan's thoughts just changed in passing, but the old turtle's narration continued.
"Among those founding heroes, there were some rebellious ones. When the old emperor was still alive, he could suppress everyone, but once the old emperor passed away, the new emperor might not be able to control the court. In order to ensure the stability of the dynasty, the old emperor decided to eliminate future troubles."
The old turtle looked up at Mr. Ji, who looked thoughtful. He paused and waited for Mr. Ji to look at him before continuing.
"After all, I am just a monster hiding in the Chunmu River. I cannot possibly know everything that happens in the court. But I also know the cause of the incident. In the 32nd year of the Liyuan period, at the instruction of the old emperor, Xiao Jing set up a trap at the New Year's Eve farewell banquet in the palace, and made some of the rebellious military officials among the old ministers drink with the crown prince and the princes..."
"Even if there were some princes who could drink well, they had already been told by the old emperor that they could only lose, not win. Some princes who were unaware of the situation thought that their father was afraid of hurting the old ministers' reputation. The result was self-evident. All the royal children were defeated. Officials from the Censorate deliberately mocked the old ministers for not giving the princes face, which led to one of the old ministers making rude remarks. During the annual banquet, except for a few extremely talented people, everyone else thought it was just a joke, but in fact it was the beginning of a tragedy..."
After that, Laogui's narration became more general. After all, he was not a member of the government or the public. Later, fewer people dared to talk about the matter, and naturally, less news was heard from Chunmu River.
Moreover, the old turtle realized later that things were not going well and wanted to completely sever his ties with the Xiao family. He did not dare to speculate on what was going on. He only occasionally heard some literati who were meeting with close friends in private on some pleasure boats talk about tragic events.
In the next two or three years, the old turtle felt that the force of his evil karma had reached its peak, and then it finally began to ease, and he knew that the tragedy was about to end.
As expected, in the 36th year of the Yuan Dynasty, the new emperor ascended the throne and "restored order and punished treacherous officials" with a sweeping force, bringing belated justice to a few loyal officials. At the end of the year, the old emperor also passed away.
"This incident made me, the old turtle, hide in a cave on a cliff somewhere in Chunmu River for many years, fearing that I would be doomed if I was not careful. I dared not move too much even if there was no thunder on rainy days, and I even dared not practice too hard..."
The old turtle spoke with great regret, and Ji Yuan also felt emotional when he heard it.
Many monsters might think that the old turtle's hiding behavior was too scared. You know, many monsters who eat people without blinking an eye do all kinds of evil and are not afraid of being struck by lightning. But Ji Yuan understood a little bit.
Precisely because the old turtle has special talents, he looks far further into spiritual practice than ordinary monsters, and is more afraid of the occurrence of some low-probability events. What he fears is the great terror in low-probability events.
This story began at sunset and ended just before dawn. The morning sun seemed to be tinged with the blood of the story.
After the old turtle finished speaking, it floated on the river in silence. The big black fish just swam quietly beside it, and the red fox lay there without saying a word. It had a deep impression of the horrific fight in the court and was a little scared. It even began to worry about Yin Qing's father and whether it would be dangerous for Yin Qing to become an official in the future.
It is now daybreak and the gate of Chunhui Prefecture is about to open. Merchants or farmers going to the market from afar are already heading towards the gate and have begun to line up in front of it.
Ji Yuan was silent for a while, then said something while looking at the scene.
"If you want to turn this story into a book, you can't let a storyteller tell it without revising it..."
Whether it is humans or demons, or in the market or the court, true harmony is difficult, or almost impossible.
Ji Yuan actually hopes to spread some meaningful stories through storytellers, stories that have meaning to humans, monsters, or other things. In addition to sharing some after-dinner benefits with people who have very little entertainment in their lives, he also has an immature little ideal.
After sighing this, Ji Yuan looked at the three monsters around him, and finally looked at the old turtle Wu Chong.
"Your luck is really not that good, which also shows that you should not rely on your magical powers to do anything crooked. Over the years, you have suffered the consequences every time you have thought about it. But there are still opportunities, and your path to seeking the truth will not be cut off. Just be at peace in the future."
"Mr. Ji is right! Lord Jiang Shen also said something similar."
"hehe."
Ji Yuan smiled and said to the three monsters around him.
"You don't have to be too afraid of the hardships and obstacles of cultivation. Although it is extremely difficult to start from scratch as an animal, once you succeed in cultivation, you will at least have more accumulation than those monsters who have transformed monster parents."
Ji Yuan stood up and picked up the fishing rod on the ground. Seeing that it was too long to put into his sleeve, nor was it convenient to carry it into the city, he threw it on the old turtle's back.
"Hold the fishing rod for me and come get it when I leave."
The old turtle naturally agreed to take the order, and after Ji Yuan said this, he started walking towards the city gate, ready to queue up there to enter the city.
Hu Yun hurriedly followed, trying his best to hide in Ji Yuan's shadow, and asked him a question in a low voice.
"Mr. Ji, are we going to check out of the inn and get our luggage, and then go back?"
Ji Yuan nodded and then shook his head.
"Go check out and get your luggage first, otherwise it will be counted as another day after noon, and then go to the garden shop again."
"Garden Shop? What is that place?"
Ji Yuan took out an old wine bottle from his sleeve and waved it towards Hu Yun. This was the bottle he used to buy his first bottle of Qian Richun. Later, it was used to hold some other wines of varying quality, even wines like Ambergris.
"A Thousand Days of Spring?"
"Yes, it's the place that specializes in brewing and selling Thousand Days Spring. If you come across it, go there."
. . .
They queued up to enter the city, took Hu Yun to the inn to check out and collect the deposit, then made their way around the city and arrived at the street where the garden shop was before noon.
It's still the same store, with the same furnishings, and it still doesn't look like it has much business, with the shop assistants sitting or chatting in groups of three or four, and it doesn't look very busy.
The busiest time for Yuanzipu is spring because new wine needs to be brewed. Autumn is relatively leisurely, especially now that it is close to noon and the wine transporters will not come at this time.
The shopkeeper Zhuo Tao was calculating the accounts in a book. After finishing one of the items, he adjusted the abacus back and forth, and then closed the book with a smile on his face.
The Zhuo family has always adhered to the principle of brewing as its main business and never sells wine outside Chunhui Mansion. They only collect money for the first batch of wine and do not get involved in the second and third batches of sales. With the support of the state government for the garden shop, the business has been smooth sailing with few setbacks over the years.
“Cough…cough cough…cough cough cough…”
Shopkeeper Zhuo coughed a few times, and then coughed uncontrollably for a long time before stopping. He quickly picked up a small purple clay teapot beside him and drank a few sips from the spout, and finally he stopped coughing.
Some guys nearby looked at him and asked with concern.
"Boss, are you okay? Go see the doctor again. You've been coughing for more than a month!"
"It's okay, it's okay. I've already seen a doctor. It's just a cold."
This accountant Yuan also stepped into the garden shop. The owner behind the counter was still the same one, just a little older.
When they saw Ji Yuan coming in, the people in the shop subconsciously took a few glances at him. Because of the sleight of hand, Ji Yuan's eyes looked like those of an ordinary person, so he looked like a gentleman.
Shopkeeper Zhuo is just an ordinary person. Although he was deeply impressed by Ji Yuan at the beginning, so many years have passed that he naturally couldn't recognize him.
"Sir, are you planning to order some wine?"
Generally, people who come to the Garden Shop place orders for wine, in large jars or carts. Some also reserve new wine for the coming year. Very few actually come here for retail, but if they do come to buy, the Garden Shop will not refuse.
Ji Yuan didn't reply first, but walked to the counter and looked at Zhuo Tao. He was indeed just suffering from a cold, with a buildup of cold air in his chest and lungs. If he warmed up his body for a month and a half, the cold air would dissipate.
Ji Yuan could also cure this disease. When he took out the wine bottle from his sleeve, he shook his sleeves, and the cold air in Zhuo Tao's chest and lungs was cleared away.
However, no one else noticed this little action. They were just attracted by the old wine jug that Ji Yuan took out.
"Boss, I have an old wine jug here. How much would it cost if I filled it with new wine?"
Shopkeeper Zhuo took a close look at the ceramic wine jug. The exterior was not dull, but there were some small nicks and bumps on the bottle, which showed that it was used quite frequently. The style should be an old one from a few years ago. The wine jugs in new cellars now look different.
No matter what, Shopkeeper Zhuo was still very happy to see such an old wine jug and meet someone who might be an old customer of Qianrichun.
"The price hasn't gone up. This is a one-jin pot. If you fill it up, it will cost 800 coins."
Ji Yuan nodded and suddenly asked.
"Boss, are the wine jugs you bring full of one catty each costing 800 coins? Is the difference of 200 coins for one jug so huge?"
Shopkeeper Zhuo originally wanted to get the purple clay teapot to moisten his throat, but he didn't feel like coughing for a while, so he withdrew his hand. He felt that Ji Yuan had an extraordinary demeanor and became interested in chatting with Ji Yuan for a while.
"Actually, it wasn't like that before. Just like what you said, a wine jug is not worth two hundred coins."
"Then why?"
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with this. In order to curry favor with a special drinker, I deliberately sold my aged fine wine at a low price and also offered a wine pot for 200 coins. The shop assistants and some acquaintances all knew about this. After that, anyone who brought a pound of wine to the shop was only charged 800 coins."
Ji Yuan smiled.
"Oh, the shopkeeper treats everyone equally? That would be a big loss, since you are a businessman!"
The shopkeeper also laughed.
"Although Zhuo is not a scholar, he still has a bit of self-conceit. Besides, he is not a nobleman. Who among the ordinary people drinks Qianrichun every day? Even fewer people come to this shop to buy wine... Besides, we won't make it public!"
"Ha ha ha ha… "
Ji Yuan smiled with admiration and took out two taels of silver from his sleeve.
"The shopkeeper is smart! Bring me a new jug of wine. This is two taels."
This is a bit strange. Isn't this person using old bottles to drink wine
But since the man said so himself, Zhuo Tao did as he was told. He took a bottle of new wine from the counter and weighed the silver before handing it to Ji Yuan.
After Ji Yuan took the bottle of wine, he turned around and left. When he was about to step out of the shop, Zhuo Tao realized that the old bottle was still on the counter and hurriedly called out.
"Sir, your bottle of wine is still here!"
The white-shirted guest in front waved his hand.
"I'm giving it to you!"
Zhuo Tao was a little amused and looked down at the broken bottle. What did he need this wine jug for? This kind of thing was the last thing in the garden shop.
But when he looked up again, the man in white who had just walked to the door was gone.
'Walking so fast?'
Zhuo Tao walked around the counter and went to the door to look around. There were shadows everywhere on the street, from near to far, and he couldn't see where the man was, so he had to go back to the counter.
A shop assistant at the counter asked with a smile.
"Boss, what should I do with this bottle?"
"What else can I do? Just throw it away."
The shop assistant said "Oh", picked up the bottle, looked it up and down, and subconsciously pulled out the cork. A faint fragrance with a sense of freshness floated in the air, which made people nearby feel refreshed when they smelled it.