On the afternoon of July 4, the 13th year of Yuanping in the Han Empire, a sudden summer rainstorm hit the entire imperial capital.
Today is the third day after the publication of the Han Empire Times. This afternoon, Yan Liqiang also had his short break, which comes once every three days.
Yesterday afternoon, the sky over Imperial Capital was clear and full of white clouds. But this afternoon, a rainstorm came and the sky over Imperial Capital suddenly darkened. Strong winds blew and heavy rain poured down. Between the sky and the earth, there was a fog of rain. The visibility was only a few dozen meters. Occasionally, a flash of lightning would tear through the sky, illuminating the world with a white light...
In this rainstorm, those busy people inside and outside the Imperial Capital City were still busy, such as Fang Beidou.
Amid the rumbling thunder outside, Fang Beidou booked an entire floor of a restaurant called Zuixianju in the Imperial Capital City. Then, almost one-third of the storytellers in the entire Imperial Capital City were invited by Fang Beidou to Zuixianju today.
These storytellers were busy men who earned dozens of copper coins an hour. It was not easy to invite them on normal days. However, Fang Beidou's method of inviting these storytellers was very interesting. He just noted the time and place in the invitation, and then wrote the first two chapters of Journey to the West on a piece of paper, and then put it in the invitation. All the storytellers who received the invitation came on time.
When the storytellers who came to Zuixianju saw so many of their colleagues appearing in Zuixianju, they were looking at each other and asking each other what the mysterious person who invited them was going to do, Fang Beidou made his appearance.
Fang Beidou came on stage without saying a word, but just clapped his hands. Hu Haihe beside him distributed dozens of prepared copies of "Journey to the West" which only went up to the fifteenth chapter to the storytellers one by one. The restaurant, which was bustling just now, became quiet in an instant.
When the storytellers looked up from their copies with great excitement, Fang Beidou cleared his throat and said, "The Journey to the West in your hands only reaches the fifteenth chapter, which is less than one-sixth of the complete Journey to the West. The complete Journey to the West has one hundred chapters, and the content behind it is even more exciting. As long as you agree to the three rules with me, you can use the complete version of Journey to the West for free..."
"I would like to ask, who wrote Journey to the West?" An elderly storyteller dressed in a gray robe, who was considered a senior storyteller among the others, stood up and asked respectfully, "I wonder if I could meet that gentleman and listen to his teachings in person!"
"'Journey to the West' was written by our shopkeeper. If you want to meet our shopkeeper in the future, you will naturally have the opportunity. But now, it is a bit inconvenient!"
"Is your shopkeeper's surname Liu, Wang, or Huang?"
"Why do you say that, old gentleman?" Fang Beidou asked with a smile.
"In the current Han Empire, apart from the three great literary masters of Xicheng Liu, Guichuan Wang, and Baishan Huang, I really can't think of anyone else who can use words to create such a story and give storytellers all over the world another job!"
As the old gentleman was speaking, the other storytellers actually nodded one by one, seeming to agree with what the old gentleman said.
"Haha, our shopkeeper's surname is neither Liu, nor Wang, nor Huang, but Yan!"
"Ah..." All the storytellers were stunned...
"If you have the chance in the future, you will naturally have the chance to meet our shopkeeper! Now, gentlemen, please consider what I just said and whether you are willing to make three rules with me..."
"I don't know how to make three rules?"
When Fang Beidou finished talking about the three rules he had agreed with the storytellers, the entire Zuixianju was boiling with excitement. Even the sudden thunder outside could not cover up the enthusiasm of the storytellers in Zuixianju...
…
Boom…
Thunder roared from the sky outside, resounding through the heavens and the earth. Outside the window of the small courtyard, there were curtains of water flowing down from the eaves...
Amidst the rumbling thunder, Yan Liqiang's room was completely silent. The signs of his advanced martial arts were slowly dissipating, and the clouds were sinking into Yan Liqiang's body. Yan Liqiang slowly opened his eyes, completing the recovery and strengthening process of the Yijing Xisuijing martial arts.
This was not the first time he had advanced to this level, so Yan Liqiang was not surprised at all, and even felt accustomed to it, even though he had just completed the last level of the "Cloud Dragon Ten Transformations" technique. With this speed of cultivation, even if Ye Tiancheng was reborn, he would probably be scared to death again.
"I didn't expect it would rain today!" Looking at the water curtains and the misty scenery outside the window, and feeling that his body seemed to have lightened a few pounds again, Yan Liqiang smiled slightly.
Just as Yan Liqiang was looking out the window, the branches of several birch trees more than 20 meters away from Yan Liqiang's yard were swaying in the storm. Suddenly, a bird's nest was blown down from the tree by the strong wind and fell to the ground...
Yan Liqiang, who was standing by the window, disappeared like a ghost at the moment the bird's nest fell from the tree. In the blink of an eye, Yan Liqiang was back to the window of the house. There were only a few water stains on his clothes, and he was holding a small bird's nest in his hands. Three baby birds, whose eyes had not yet opened and whose bodies were bare, were stretching their necks in the nest and chirping, as if they had no idea that they had just walked around the gates of hell.
Two little birds flew through the rain and arrived outside Yan Liqiang's window. They looked at the bird's nest in Yan Liqiang's hand, wanted to get closer but seemed a little scared, and were screaming at the top of their lungs.
"Forget it, I'll be a good person to the end and find a new place for your family to settle down that is sheltered from the wind and rain..." Looking at the two little birds, Yan Liqiang jumped lightly and leaped onto the windowsill. Yan Liqiang swept the rafters under the eaves and finally found a place close to the main beam of the house. There was a suitable gap, like a small hole. He stretched out his hand and carefully placed the bird's nest in his hand into the gap under the eaves. After stabilizing it, he jumped down from the windowsill.
Yan Liqiang had just put the bird's nest away when the two little birds flew over and got into the nest, chirping as if they were thanking Yan Liqiang.
Seeing that the time was almost up, Yan Liqiang returned to the bedroom, changed into the clothes and boots that he had prepared long ago, and then took out the Guoshanfeng mask that he had hidden in the interlayer of his bag. He then found a face towel and put the mask and face towel on his body. After thinking for a while, he took out a few flying needles with strange blue tips and inserted them into his belt so that they could neither be seen nor felt from the outside. Then he put on a raincoat, took an umbrella, and went out...
"Captain Yan, it's raining heavily. Are you still going out?" The guards at the gate of the Deer Garden greeted Yan Liqiang with an even warmer smile than before.
"A big brother is inviting us to dinner tonight. If you don't go, you're being disrespectful!"
"There are carriages going to and from the Imperial Capital every day in Luyuan. Captain Yan, please wait a moment. We will call a carriage to take you to the Imperial Capital..."
“Hahaha, walking in the rain is quite interesting. Maybe I can even meet a beautiful lady and hide from the rain together. I won’t bother you guys!” Yan Liqiang laughed, said hello to the guards at the gate of the Deer Park, and then walked into the rain in a chic manner…
Yan Liqiang went to the Imperial Capital today to attend a banquet and also to kill someone...
(End of this chapter)