"Talking about dreams?" The Sovereign's voice held neither joy nor anger, clear as forest springs over stone, warm as jade heated in Lantian. "Why not listen to me tell a story first?"
"Hahaha, a story—yes, yes, now is indeed the perfect time for stories!" The white-haired old man known as Mister Chunyu burst into laughter. Stroking his beard, he said with easy grace, "How many in this world are fortunate enough to hear the Sovereign tell a story? Such luck deserves celebration. It seems this old man's journey of ten thousand miles has truly not been in vain!"
The middle-aged scholar looked slightly startled, but quickly returned to normal.
He drew his wide sleeves back and clasped his hands behind him.
Standing silently.
As though he intended to listen closely to the story the Sovereign was about to tell.
The Sovereign seemed not to notice the mockery in Mister Chunyu's laughter, remaining as placid as a mirror-like lake. "A little friend once told me such a story. There was a man fond of dreams, who often dreamed and imagined that one day his dreams would come true. One day, drunk, he lay beneath a great tree in his courtyard. In his haze, two envoys of a kingdom came and invited him to visit a place called the 'Great Locust Kingdom.' There, through all he saw and heard, he discovered that the people of this kingdom were far inferior to himself, giving him the superiority of a crane standing among chickens. As Great Locust Kingdom was selecting officials, he signed up to try his hand. He found it effortless, passed three trials in succession, and came first in the examinations. Seeing how outstanding he was, the king personally married his princess to him, and for a time it became a much-told