Heaven's Formula

Xia Fan clicked his tongue secretly, no wonder the princess looked wary.

If he hadn't already experienced the sugar-coated cannonballs of capitalism and enjoyed it, I'm afraid he really couldn't resist the warm treatment from the other party.

"You rest first today, and I'll pick you up in the evening the day after tomorrow." Xin Wu continued, "There will be a dinner party at the Palace Square at that time, and it just happens to clean up the dust for you."

"A dinner party?"

"Ah, I forgot to tell you that the day after tomorrow is the Lantern Festival, which is also a celebration before the Chinese New Year. At this time in previous years, the emperor would climb the palace wall and talk to the people." Xin Wu explained, "There will also be several lanterns in the palace. Hundreds of tables, many famous people will go to the banquet, and it will be easier for Mr. Gan to introduce. By the way, this Mr. Gan is the Yuyi I mentioned before."

Are you going to face the highest grade alchemist of the Privy Council so soon...

Xia Fan nodded calmly, "I see."

"Then I'll take my leave first." Xin Wu cupped his hands, closed the door and left the wing.

He leaned against the window, and after seeing the envoy walk out of the Wanjing Building, he turned to the inner room and said, "He's gone. How are these rooms?"

"After checking, the rooms are all normal, there are no secret passages, and there is no place to hide. It is indeed a very ordinary inn." The first person to come out was Thousand Words from the Living Dead.

Judging from the decoration, it is obviously not ordinary at all.Xia Fan raised his eyebrows, "Are you still searching houses?"

"Those who don't know how to search are already dead." Qian Yan rolled his eyes at him, "In this kind of thing, experience is more reliable than anything else."

"I've checked it too, and I didn't find any traces of Qi left." Then Luo walked into the room lightly, "At least you don't have to worry about the surveillance measures left by the Privy Council."

Li Yi completed her inspection. "There is nothing wrong with the attic. The terrace overlooks a very wide range. If you need to evacuate urgently, you can prepare a hemp rope in advance and slide down from the roof."

Xia Fan chuckled and said, "Yes, it seems that I can sleep well tonight."

"There's Qianzhi!" Qianzhi raised her hand and said.

Everyone turned their attention to her, "Did you find anything?"

"Qianzhi is hungry."

Fang Xiandao slapped the little girl on the head.

"It's okay, I'll ask the store to bring some food up." Xia Fan said with a smile, "This kind of high-end hotel should have chefs on standby twelve hours a day."

In fact he guessed right.

Less than two quarters of an hour after giving orders to the waiter in the shop, seven or eight dishes were delivered to the door, and Xia Fan noticed that the other party did not mention the cost-obviously Wanjinglou adopted the method of bookkeeping first, and waited until the refund It will only be settled together with the room time, which seems to have a bit of the shadow of a hotel in later generations.

Qianzhi happily hugged the bowl and began to eat.

Xia Fan recounted the envoy's words in full.

"What is this Lantern Festival? Why have you never heard of it in other places?"

"Because there are no emperors in other places." Luo replied softly, "This custom originated from the beginning of Daqi's establishment. At that time, evil spirits were rampant everywhere, people were terrified, and the city was like a dead place between cities. So the emperor walked out of the palace and personally Present to the public the results of removing evil spirits in one year, as well as the goals for the next year, and use this method to dispel fear and encourage everyone to open up.”

"At the same time, on this day and night, the city will also put up floating lights, and the lights on the streets will not go out, creating a bright and majestic effect. As long as there is light, it will be difficult for charms and demons to invade, so that people who walk on the streets the peace of mind of the people."

"Later, this custom gradually became fixed, and the content of the statement became a summary of the year and an outlook for the coming year, and it was no longer limited to evil things. The act of lighting lights all night has remained to this day, and there are more lanterns and floating lights than in the past. It's brighter, that's why the word 'ten thousand lights' came about." She paused here, "Didn't you notice that there are many lanterns hanging under the eaves along the street?"

"The Luo family in Youzhou knows everything." Qian Yan praised, "This Luo girl really knows a lot."

"But I am the No. 1 scholar in Qingshan Town." Fang Xiandao muttered in a low voice.

"So there will really be many big shots gathered that day?" Fang Yanni asked curiously.

"Well, ordinary people have ordinary people's way of celebrating, while the imperial palace has the way of celebrating in the imperial palace. At least this Wanlan Banquet is recognized as the threshold for the upper class." Luo smiled lightly, "Anyone who is invited will be invited. Youguang, I heard before that officials from six ministries fought for qualification."

"Then...there must be a lot of delicious food at the banquet?" Qianzhi asked while stuffing chicken feet.

"What to eat is not the point. The point is that you can get to know quite a lot of important people, high-ranking officials, wealthy businessmen, alchemists... everything. As for the food, the taste can only be said to be okay, how about..." She looked at Xia Fan, "You fried crab."

Xia Fan smiled and shook his head, "It's as if you have eaten it yourself."

"I have eaten."

His smile froze.

The same goes for the others.

"When I first gained diligence, I participated in the Wanlan Banquet with Master." Luo lightly wrote, "Although everything has passed, I don't want to deny those memories."

Sure enough, some people's starting line is different... Xia Fan sighed secretly.

After confirming that there was no major problem with the itinerary, he took a bag of luggage and walked up to the attic.

"Need help?" Li followed.

"Well, it's easier for me if you come—" Before Xia Fan finished speaking, he saw a familiar fat cat poking out half of its head from behind her.

"Meow--"

"This guy! Could it be the cat spirit from Jinxia City?"

Xia Fan twitched the corner of his mouth.Since he and Li were not in the same carriage, he hadn't noticed that there was such a passenger in the convoy.

"That's it. I've taken it under my command, and I even gave it a name, Fat Flower."

Hearing this name, the cat spirit's beard wilted.

"Uh, it's obviously not a cat."

Xia Fan narrowed his eyes and looked at the other party for a while. If you look closely, the cat is not bad, with black eye sockets and white hair, it doesn't look like ordinary products on the street.

"Do you have a better name?" Li didn't hold back.

"This body shape... this color scheme..." Xia Fan pondered for a while, "Why don't we call it rolling."

The cat spirit obviously didn't like the name much, but the fox demon laughed, "Well, it sounds better than mine, so you'll be called Gun Gun. Thank you Xia Fan."

The cat turned her head away.

Li pinched the fur on the back of the opponent's neck and twisted it.

Gun Gun immediately hissed, and obediently bowed his head towards Xia Fan.

This guy... is really not bad at spirituality.

Xia Fan pouted amusedly, and opened the luggage.

Inside is a section of antenna mast.

Chapter 262 Ning Wanjun's Entrustment

As early as the beginning of preparation, these rods took into account the need for quick disassembly and assembly, so there are bayonets between each section, which can be fixed as long as they are plugged in.

Wireless communication is still at the most primitive stage, and the frequency of electromagnetic waves without modulation is not high, so the longer the antenna, the better the reception effect.With Li's help, Xia Fan nailed the antenna to a pillar, half of which went through the attic and the eaves, and inserted straight into the air. From a distance, it seemed that there was an extra strand of hair swaying left and right on the top of the Wanjing Tower. .

"That's enough." Xia Fan clapped his hands and said.

"With this little thing, can we really contact Jinxia City?" Even Li, who had seen the magic of the sound note, was still skeptical—after all, Shenzhou was too far away from here.

"If there are many sources of interference, you will definitely only hear a bunch of noise, but now there is only one communication line in the entire Daqi, and there will be no interference if the time is staggered, so there is still a possibility. Let's go to the bedroom below and try it .”

In less than half a quarter of an hour, the "receiver device" connected to the antenna was assembled.Under the watchful eyes of a group of curious spectators, Xia Fan injected air into the audio device, and at the same time called every ten seconds, waiting for the reply from the other side.

After seven or eight attempts, the loudspeaker suddenly vibrated.

"Hey..." After a burst of electricity, Ning Wanjun's voice penetrated thousands of miles away and appeared in the house of Wanjing Building, "Finally, I have heard from you... Hey...you have now arrived Is it Yuancheng?"

"Wow..." Qianzhi covered her mouth and said, "I can really hear it, Qianzhi's knowledge has increased again!"

The others also applauded.

There was silence for a while, "Uh... Are there many people around you?"

Everyone said in unison, "I have seen Her Royal Highness."

"Ahem—don't be too polite." Ning Wanjun's voice suddenly became more serious, "Xia Fan, report your situation."

"The Privy Council is quite considerate, and prepared a whole floor of inn for us to stay in." Xia Fan briefly described what happened on the road and the situation on Shangyuan's side, "It is rumored that the surrounding area of ​​the palace is under martial law. , This is probably the reason why the news from the palace can’t come out. At present, the Privy Council has not formally met with me, and they chose to meet at the Lantern Festival the day after tomorrow. What do you think about this?”

"Hey... Lantern Festival?" There was a pause, "I almost forgot about it. It turns out that if they want to meet you and introduce you to other people, the Lantern Festival is indeed a good reason. I used to I met Mo Yun at the Lantern Festival - she was a little girl at that time."

It made it sound like you weren't a little girl at the time, Xia Fan thought to himself.But what did Ning Wanjun look like when he was a child?At the age of six or seven, it's probably not long before he became angry. Is it because his quiet temperament has not been overshadowed, or has he become the king of children with a wooden sword? "If I want to go to the appointment, is there anything I need to pay attention to?"

"Hey... there shouldn't be any problem." Ning Wanjun replied, "The Wandeng Banquet is held in the palace square, and there are many invitees. The Privy Council will not mess around in this kind of place, just enjoy the dinner. But..."

"But what?"

"If they invite you to another place after the show, it's not guaranteed."

Xia Fan couldn't help raising the corners of his mouth, "Do you think I'm a three-year-old child who can still be abducted by others?"

After a moment of silence, Ning Wanjun's voice sounded again, "By the way, can you do me a favor?"

"You said."

"...I want to talk to you alone."

As soon as these words came out, everyone consciously cupped their hands at Xunyinyi, "Then I'll take my leave first."

But apart from Fang Yanni, no one moved.

"Eh? Why do you all..."

Xia Fan waved his hand amusedly, and said with his mouth: "Okay, don't embarrass Your Highness."

Everyone turned around and went out.

He also noticed that Li's ears had grown from limp to erect like antennae.

"Okay, let's talk."

"Hey... are they sure they're not in the room?"

"Yes, I promise." Xia Fan affirmed.

As for whether these people would eavesdrop through the door panel, that was beyond his control.

"Okay, that's it. I want you to offer me a stick of incense... for my mother." When Ning Wanjun spoke again, her voice was much lower, "The Lantern Festival itself is also a day of farewell and memorial service. I used to complete the tomb sacrifice before the festival, and when I couldn’t go, I would usually entrust it to Eunuch Li, but now, there are no such acquaintances in Shangyuan City.”

"I see." Xia Fan sighed softly, "...I understand. But your mother is a concubine, so she won't be buried in an ordinary place, right?"

"Hey... In fact, she was not buried in the royal cemetery, but in a cemetery next to the cemetery." Ning Wanjun's words came intermittently, "There is no one guarding there, only a few sweepers. Anyone can go in... Hey... After you get there, you can find her tombstone by asking more."

"Okay, I'll go."

"please."

Then the loudspeaker made an invalid hissing sound, obviously the communication was interrupted there.

Xia Fan also slowly turned off the audio device.In his memory, this was the first time the princess said please to him.

It was quiet outside the door, probably even if someone heard it, they probably wouldn't come in at this time to break the atmosphere.

It wasn't until the evening that Li mentioned the matter in an indirect way, "When do you plan to go?"

"You did hear it." Xia Fan raised his eyebrows.

"The hearing is too sharp, so I can't blame it." Li touched his long ears to show his innocence.

"The day after tomorrow will be the Lantern Festival, and the streets will probably be quite crowded, so let's make it early tomorrow morning." Xia Fan decided.

……

Early the next morning, he left Wanjing Building with Li and Qianyan, and rode to the hills on the western outskirts of the city.

Needless to say, Li Zi has been Xia Fan's best partner since Gaoshan County. On the contrary, when Qianyan proposed to go together, everyone was quite surprised.

However, considering that Luo Qingwei was guarding the inn, Xia Fan finally agreed to the other party's request.

Because of her short stature, she couldn't step on the stirrups when sitting on a horse, so she could only ride on the same horse as Xia Fan.

Even through the thick clothes, he could feel the slightest chill from the other party - as if that small body had no temperature at all.

Relying on the token given to Xia Fan by the envoy of the Privy Council, the three of them did not encounter any obstacles along the way. After an hour, they entered the mausoleum halfway up the mountain, and under the guidance of the sweeper, they came to a place without any obstacles. In front of the eye-catching stone pavilion.

"The person you are looking for is here," said the sweeper.

"Thank you." Xia Fan handed over a bunch of copper coins to the other party, "Isn't the Lantern Festival coming soon? Why don't there seem to be many people coming here to pay homage?"

The other party grinned, showing a mouthful of withered and broken teeth, "Because there are very few living people who still remember them and can offer incense to them."

That voice combined with the surrounding white mist that had not dissipated, unexpectedly had a kind of eerie feeling.

It seems that he is not a living person, but a ghost in this place where life and death meet.

Chapter 263 The Tombstone of Memory

After the other party turned around and left, Li Cai shook his ears and said, "Leave him alone, let's fulfill Her Royal Highness's request first."

"En." Xia Fan watched the other party's back for a moment, then moved closer to Shiting.