Chapter 21: The Eight Divine Bird Pictures
When Chen Bai arrived at the Gan residence, the atmosphere was strangely awkward.
Crown Prince Jiao looked extremely restless.
Qi Zheng, on the other hand, was leisurely drinking tea.
The guests around them were gathered in small groups, quietly discussing.
“The fourth question in the contest between Prince Zheng and Crown Prince Jiao is about settling the refugees outside the city. How could there be a result so quickly? This is a problem even the court struggles with.”
“Prince Zheng only said he won, but he refuses to explain the reason.”
Chen Bai could not help smiling. No wonder Crown Prince Jiao looked so uneasy. He was probably losing sleep over it. Qi Zheng really knew how to toy with people.
Whether Crown Prince Jiao believed it or not, this matter would probably cling to him like a heart demon.
Chen Bai gave Qi Zheng a friendly nod. In response, Qi Zheng’s expression turned cold. If there had not been guests present, Qi Zheng probably would have spat out the word “scram.”
Chen Bai paused. Right—he had forgotten that his current identity was not Mountain Lord.
To Qi Zheng, if Mountain Lord had not entrusted Chen Bai to his care, he probably would not even spare this person a second glance. And now Chen Bai actually dared to wink and nod at him in public, disregarding rank and etiquette.
Chen Bai curled his lip. Fine then, they could each play their own part.
Chen Bai had brought a gift with him. He was holding a leash.
The moment he entered, he caused quite a stir.
“An exotic beast!”
“Chen Zixiu actually gave another exotic beast.”
“I heard someone has been looking everywhere for that foreign merchant Chen Zixiu mentioned. They wanted to buy one themselves, but there’s no trace of him at all.”
It was a large curly-haired dog with a half-black, half-white face and a pirate-like eye patch.
It was an Old English Sheepdog.
“One look and you can tell it can ward off evil and suppress ill fortune. Young Master Gan won’t have to fear ghosts or evil spirits causing trouble anymore.”
In ancient times, drowning was often believed to be caused by evil spirits.
Chen Bai opened his mouth, but in the end, he did not explain. Let it count as a form of emotional comfort. For someone who had nearly drowned, if it helped them overcome their fear, then in a certain sense, it was a good thing. Whether it was superstition or not did not matter so much.
Guided by the Gan family’s servants, Chen Bai walked toward the inner room.
When he handed the leash to Gan Xin, who still looked a little weak, the dog kept licking Gan Xin’s hand.
Gan Xin did not pull his hand back. Instead, he laughed until he giggled nonstop.
The Gan family had probably never seen him laugh so happily before.
A person newly recovered from serious illness, laughing sincerely from the heart, was the most moving sight.
Gan Xin’s mother even secretly wiped away her tears and gave Chen Bai a grateful nod.
Chen Bai smiled. When the recipient liked the gift he gave, he was happy too.
He casually asked a few questions. “Little Thirteen, how are you feeling?”
Gan Xin answered gently and politely, “After taking Mountain Lord’s pills, I feel much better. Those pills are so amazing. The outside is sweet, but the inside is so bitter my mouth went numb. I only lightly bit one open.”
His speech was clear, and his complexion had improved a great deal. It seemed his condition had stabilized.
At this moment, the Shang twins, Shang Jujiu and Shang Zhizhou, happened to come in to see Gan Xin.
“Oh my, this doggy’s face! Why does its face look like that?” Looking at the Old English Sheepdog’s half-black, half-white face, the two brothers covered their faces.
Gan Xin’s eyes curved into crescents from smiling. “This is the doggy Brother Bai gave me. Isn’t it good-looking?”
The three little fellows began chatting.
A member of the Gan family led Chen Bai outside. “Brother Bai, please take a seat. The banquet will begin soon.”
Actually, many people were looking at Chen Bai with strange expressions. Especially since Crown Prince Jiao was present today as well. The Chen Zixiu case remained unclear and unresolved, but no one dared investigate it, because it involved the crown prince.
Even so, it did not stop some people from glancing at Chen Bai one moment and Crown Prince Jiao the next.
This should be the “first time” Chen Zixiu and Crown Prince Jiao appeared at the same event after the incident.
Faced with those looks, Chen Bai did not feel much. He was already used to it. Besides, he knew he had done nothing wrong. The one who should be feeling guilty and suffocated was someone else.
Sure enough, Crown Prince Jiao’s expression was ugly to the extreme.
In his imagination, Chen Zixiu would never dare appear at the same event as him. Even if Chen Zixiu did appear, everyone would humiliate and scold him, making him regret ever being born.
But now… many people present looked at Chen Zixiu with disgust, yet no one spoke up. They even looked back and forth between him and Chen Zixiu as though watching a show.
Actually, putting aside the fact that Chen Zixiu’s case had already become ambiguous, the fact that Gan Xun had personally sent Chen Zixiu an invitation was enough to keep people from saying much at this banquet. Otherwise, it would be equivalent to causing trouble for Gan Xun.
“What a disgraceful thing, yet he still dares show his face in public.” Suddenly, Crown Prince Jiao said this. He had probably been provoked by Qi Zheng earlier and had nowhere to vent his anger, so he could not hold back anymore.
After speaking, he drank alone. After all, this was Duke Gan’s banquet, so he still had some reservations.
The air around them froze. Even those who had been quietly chatting stopped. This banquet no longer had any lively atmosphere. Everyone’s gaze turned toward Chen Bai.
The Gan family members’ faces stiffened, but since Duke Gan was not present, they did not dare say much.
Chen Bai sneered inwardly. To be able to make an entire banquet fall cold with one person’s strength—how impressive. If he was unhappy, he had to drag everyone down with him?
Facing the gazes around him, Chen Bai also pretended to mutter quietly, “What a pity that the court is unjust too. It doesn’t dare retry the case. Otherwise, who exactly should be living in the gutter remains unknown.”
Of course, with his current status, he could not openly offend Crown Prince Jiao. After all, right now, he was not Mountain Lord, whose identity no one could trace. So his voice was not loud.
Crown Prince Jiao sat at the head, so he definitely could not hear him clearly. But when he saw the people below suddenly look at Chen Bai in shock, he knew Chen Bai must have said something.
Chen Bai lowered his head and leisurely drank his wine. He did not believe Crown Prince Jiao would dare drag this matter out into the open. If the case really were retried, it would definitely become the greatest joke in Shangjing.
The one afraid of the case being retried had never been Chen Zixiu.
The people around Chen Bai sucked in a breath. How could they not understand what Chen Zixiu meant just now?
In the past, no one would listen to Chen Bai, because back then, there had only been one voice. But now, the seed of doubt had already been planted. It was no wonder people were starting to think in other directions.
The atmosphere became extremely strange.
Especially since Chen Bai drank with such ease and freedom, while Crown Prince Jiao seemed terrifyingly gloomy. Somehow, it felt as though their positions had been swapped. Shouldn’t Chen Bai be the one ashamed and trying to make himself invisible?
Even later, when Gan Xun personally arrived, the atmosphere still did not warm up.
This banquet was somewhat of a failure. It even ended hastily. No one was in the mood to continue.
Before it ended, Gan Xin, the little birthday star of the banquet, still came out to meet everyone.
His small, scholarly-looking body was leading a big dog. A four-month-old Old English Sheepdog was already not small.
Gan Xin’s eyes curved into slits from smiling. He kept asking everyone whether the doggy Brother Bai gave him was good-looking or not. A child recovering from illness naturally made people feel a bit more tender toward him, so they inevitably followed his wishes and praised it more. Besides, this exotic beast really did have spirit. It was big, yet very gentle. Not only did it show no aggression, it was also close to people.
It truly was rare.
But when he reached Crown Prince Jiao, Gan Xin’s every “Brother Bai” sounded especially irritating.
Crown Prince Jiao’s face darkened. “Now disasters have broken out everywhere in Great Qian. Refugees are trapped around Shangjing. Even the imperial family is cutting down on clothing and food. How can there be leisure to play with and flaunt exotic beasts? If this spreads among the common people, what will they think? What will those refugees think…”
He spoke righteously at length. His original intention was to lecture Chen Bai, accusing him of not understanding the people’s suffering and indulging in pleasure, implying that Chen Zixiu had poor character.
If it had been another time, perhaps that would have been one thing. But to lecture someone at another person’s birthday banquet—what was that supposed to mean?
Chen Bai glanced at Duke Gan’s expression. Sure enough, his face had darkened.
As the person involved, Chen Bai could not avoid speaking now. “Then shall I take this exotic beast back and return it to the foreign merchant?”
He did not know how others reacted, but Gan Xin burst into tears. He cried loudly, big teardrops falling one after another, while hugging the big dog and refusing to let go.
He had finally waited for his big doggy, but Crown Prince Jiao would not let him keep it.
People hurriedly tried to coax him, and chaos broke out. The banquet ended in this situation.
Of course, a gift that had already been given would not be taken back.
Qi Zheng suddenly said, “Imperial Brother’s congratulatory gift just now was truly grand. This younger brother was quite envious.”
This inexplicable remark made everyone pause. Then they immediately understood: Crown Prince Jiao’s congratulatory gift was expensive and valuable, far beyond this exotic beast. If they were talking about extravagance and waste, Crown Prince Jiao had gone much further. Yet he still had the nerve to lecture others so righteously?
Where did he get the face?
Chen Bai almost wanted to give Qi Zheng a thumbs-up. Nice comeback.
In the end, Crown Prince Jiao left with a dark face and a flick of his sleeves. The banquet broke up unhappily.
As Chen Bai sat in the carriage leaving, he took out his phone and sent Qi Zheng a voice message.
“After you established your residence and received your fief, you still haven’t hosted guests, have you? That’s not proper etiquette. Why don’t you hold a banquet in your fief three days from now? It would also be a good chance to invite Duke Shang to see the answer to the fourth question.”
Seeing Crown Prince Jiao today—how could Chen Bai feel comfortable? Whenever he felt uncomfortable, he wanted to find trouble for Crown Prince Jiao.
That man was the crown prince. What could Chen Bai do to him? The only thing he could do was slap him in the face openly and trample his dignity into the mud.
Qi Zheng was probably on his way back as well. He replied with a voice message. “That suits my thoughts exactly. We do need to let everyone know who won and who lost this contest. But hosting guests in my fief? I’m afraid even if I send invitations, few people will go.”
Chen Bai replied, “Leave that to me. Just send the invitations.”
Qi Zheng: “…”
He truly could not imagine what method this demon could use to make everyone go to those barren hills for a banquet.
The next day, Qi Zheng began sending invitations.
However, the people who received the invitations felt quite strange.
What was going on with Prince Zheng? He actually wanted them to attend a banquet in his fief. Who did not know that although Prince Zheng’s fief was not far from Shangjing, it was remote. They heard it was all barren mountains. What was there to do?
As for Chen Bai, every day after school, he changed into his Mountain Lord identity and went with Qi Zheng to the fief. Perhaps because Qi Zheng had previously planted potatoes only to have them all rot, he now had to bring “Mountain Lord” with him whenever raising rabbits or planting grapes, just in case something went wrong.
Shangjing Academy ended classes around four in the afternoon. This was because some students lived far away, and carriages moved slowly through Shangjing. If school did not end early, they would not make it home before curfew.
So there was enough time for Chen Bai and Qi Zheng to visit the fief every day.
Qi Zheng was full of doubts. How exactly would this demon get everyone to attend?
Chen Bai smiled. What was so difficult about that? He guaranteed that all of Shangjing would be so shocked that everyone would want to visit.
Since he had asked Qi Zheng to take in those refugees, he had to find them some sustainable ways to make a living.
Chen Bai began taking full responsibility for the banquet preparations and drew some money from Qi Zheng.
Then he climbed the mountain alone again.
Qi Zheng: “…”
What was this demon doing now?
After reaching the mountaintop, Chen Bai took out his phone and bought two peacocks, one male and one female.
Peacocks, because of their beautiful appearance and rarity, carried many meanings in ancient times. They were called divine birds from heaven, auspicious omens of the mortal world, symbols of peace and prosperity.
There was no shortage of scholars who used the most magnificent words to praise and sing of them.
Chen Bai found good angles with his phone and took eight pictures. One picture of the peacock spreading its tail amazed even Chen Bai.
Then he found a print shop on his phone. “Please print these eight pictures as posters.”
Tomorrow, he would place these Eight Divine Bird Pictures at the entrance of Shangjing Academy. He refused to believe anyone could remain unmoved. Just the sight of a divine bird descending from heaven would be enough to make all those old court officials come to Qi Zheng’s fief.
He had to get Qi Zheng to notify the refugees to set up some simple tea stalls and pastry stands along the mountain path. After all, once people got tired from climbing the mountain, they would need water and something to eat.
Add to that the shocking sight of an entire mountain full of rabbits, and he could make the people of Shangjing happily come here again and again. The advantage of being close to Shangjing would show itself.
The people of Shangjing had the habit of going on outings in every season. As long as the people of Shangjing were willing to come to Qi Zheng’s fief, would he still have to worry about not finding livelihoods for those refugees?
However, if the refugees were arranged to do other things, Qi Zheng would probably complain again that he was delaying the work on the mountain. At present, they had only just managed to enclose the mountain with fences. Qi Zheng was already frowning over the lack of manpower. He had originally wanted to fill the neighboring peaks with rabbits as well, but unfortunately, they were already too busy handling this one mountain.
