"Your Majesty worries too much."
The old eunuch stepped forward with great tact and said with a smile, "Though Her Highness's divine might eclipses all beneath heaven, she holds His Majesty, her imperial brother, in the highest respect. This is a blessing for our Great Tang."
"Of course!"
The Emperor immediately straightened his back again, looking unbearably proud.
"Whose younger sister do you think she is? I watched her grow up... well, perhaps not for many days, but blood is thicker than water. Could that be false?"
"Right."
The Emperor suddenly seemed to remember something, and his expression turned grave.
"White Elder's matter..."
"Pass down my decree."
"Welcome White Elder back to the capital with the rites of the state. I shall personally leave the city to greet him."
"And... have the people in the palace stand by. So long as he still has one breath left, they must keep that breath hanging on!"
Chang'an, West Market.
As the most prosperous and bustling district in all Great Tang.
It gathered people from all walks of life—barbarian merchants, peddlers, and commoners alike.
Listening Rain Tower was even more packed than usual today.
Even the proprietor, who was ordinarily stingy to the bone.
Had, for once in a blue moon, hung red silk at the entrance.
In the middle of the main hall.
A three-animal sacrificial offering had been laid out, and they repeatedly bowed toward the south from afar.
Upon the raised platform at the center of the hall.
A storyteller in a blue robe, with a goatee and a folding fan in hand, wore a solemn expression.
The mass of tea drinkers below held their breath, not daring to make so much as a sound.
Smack—!!!
The sound of the wooden clapper striking the table made everyone's hearts jolt.