The waiter quickly served all the dishes, and the two children stared at the strangely shaped seafood, their faces scrunched up in disbelief.
Meng Anzhi poked the Crab with her finger, "Can we eat this?"
"Of course you can eat it, and it's especially delicious," Fu Congxi, picking up Crab and putting it into the pot.
Meng Anzhi was surprised to find that the blue Crab turned red when exposed to hot water.
Fu Congxi, " The Crab don't need to be cooked for too long. Once they turn red, wait a little longer before taking them out."
She peeled off the Crab shell and placed the tender white crab meat into Meng Anzhi's bowl.
"Try it, it's delicious," she said, and started peeling Crab for Meng Anci, while also cooking abalone and mantis shrimp.
Fu Congxi barely ate anything during the meal, spending the entire time entertaining the three of them, truly fulfilling his duties as a host.
Before leaving, Fu Congxi called over a waiter, "Pack these ingredients and deliver them to Top Scholar Tower."
The waiter accepted the reward with a smile. When the group came out, it was nearly late afternoon. Fu Congxi led them to see the imperial city.
That was the heart of the Sheng Dynasty, a place that all the people longed to see.
Meng Anci's palms were sweating with excitement, and he even forgot to look at the scenery along the way, until Fu Congxi stood in front of the moat and pointed to the towering city wall in front of him.
"See that? That's the imperial palace, where the current emperor lives. It's a pity we can only stand here and look; if we move any closer, the soldiers guarding the city will arrest us."
The Jin Shanyao as it looked up at the palace, where a layer of golden light enveloped the entire palace.
However, within that dazzling golden light, there were a few strands of black thread, which would be completely undetectable without careful observation.
Seeing the two little ones Fu Congxi suggested, "Why don't you stay a few more days? The capital has the catalpa tree, known as the king of trees. Its flowers are especially beautiful; you'll definitely like them."
"What?! Which tree dares to overtake her?" Jin Shanyao retorted, her eyes wide. "Nonsense! The ginkgo tree deserves to be called the king of all trees, no, the king of ten thousand trees... It's the biggest."
Fu Congxi was taken aback. "Boss, you like ginkgo trees?"
Jin Shanyao proudly raised her head, "Of course! Ginkgo trees are so beautiful! They're green in spring and yellow in autumn, and they do bloom, though it's not very noticeable."
This doesn't sound like anything special. "Hey boss, wanna go to the night market?"
Jin Shanyao looked at the child whose eyes were shining, "Let's go."
"Let's go..." Fu Congxi led the two little ones and rushed off, making them giggle non-stop. As night fell, colorful lanterns were hung on both sides of the street, dazzling and eye-catching.
A crowd had gathered in front of the lantern shop. Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci squeezed through a gap and saw a row of lanterns hanging high, dazzling the eye. There was a copper kettle under the shelf.
The shopkeeper shouted, "It costs ten coins to throw in the lanterns! If you throw in five, you get the bottom lantern; if you throw in nine, you get the middle lantern; if you throw in all of them, you get the top lantern—that's the King of Lanterns!"
Meng Anzhi's gaze fell on the coiled dragon lantern. She wanted to give her aunt a gift for the New Year, a gift that wouldn't cost her aunt any money.
Fu Congxi to see that she liked it, and immediately took out his purse, "I'll help you put it in..."
The shopkeeper disagreed, "Miss, please don't tease me. You won all the lanterns last year, so you can't participate this year."
The shopkeeper was a retired Fu Household Army. He had developed a chronic illness during his military service, and his legs would ache every winter. Fu Congxi bought all the lanterns and gave them to the passerby so that he could go home and rest early.
Unexpectedly, the old man was ungrateful and wouldn't let her play anymore. Fu Congxi was about to object when Meng Anzhi stopped her, taking out ten coins and smiling, "I'll pay."
Seeing that she was pretty and was with Fu Congxi, the shopkeeper casually grabbed a handful and handed them to her, saying, "Take your time throwing... As long as you hit one, you can choose any lantern here."
The people around laughed. "Little girl, this spout is too small to throw anything. If I were you, you'd spend ten coins to buy a lantern and carry it around."
Ignoring the crowd, Meng Anzhi picked up the feathered arrow and stood in front of the pot. With a focused gaze and a slight flick of her wrist, the arrow pierced the bronze pot with a thud. The shopkeeper was taken aback at first, then clapped and cheered.
"That's good for a young lady... her hands are quite steady; she's a promising archery talent."
Meng Anzhi smiled without saying anything, picked up the second one, and dropped it into the copper pot with a thud.
The people around started to cheer, "What incredible luck! Little girl, throw again. If you make it in on the third try, I'll give you a lantern." Before the man finished speaking, there was a thud as an arrow fell to the ground.
A murmur rippled through the crowd, pointing at the man who had just spoken, "Hurry, hurry and buy lanterns!"
The man laughed heartily, pulled out ten coins, bought a lantern, placed it at Meng Anzhi's feet, and shouted, "From now on, you'll throw in the lantern. For every one you get in, I'll give you a lantern. I don't believe you'll get it every time!"
With a soft thud, the arrow pierced the pot, eliciting laughter from those around them who urged the man to hurry and buy a lantern. The man placed the lantern at Meng Anzhi's feet.
He muttered to himself, "Something's fishy. Could there be something wrong with this pot?"
The shopkeeper's eyes widened immediately, and he retorted angrily, "This pot of mine was modified from an enemy's bronze drum! I'd stake the Fu Household Army's reputation on it; it's more legitimate than yours!"
Those around burst into laughter again upon hearing this.
Thump... Another arrow landed in the copper pot. The shopkeeper's eyes lit up. "Good heavens, if you were a boy, I'd send you to the old general."
More and more people gathered around, holding their breath and staring intently at Meng Anzhi's hand. Whoosh... their gazes followed her like a shadow until the arrow fell into the pot.
A round of cheers erupted from the crowd, "Well done... girl, one more!"
Meng Anzhi found it amusing; she wasn't a juggler, why would she do another one? Ignoring the crowd's jeers, she pointed to the coiled dragon lantern at the top.
"Shopkeeper, my King of Lamps!"
"Hey, hey, hey..." The shopkeeper snapped out of his daze and hurriedly took down the lantern, handing it to Meng Anzhi with a mixture of excitement and sorrow.
I'm excited that Meng Anzhi is so talented at such a young age. I'm also heartbroken that... his "King of Lights" is gone!
Meng Anzhi gave the lantern to Jin Shanyao, saying, "Happy New Year, Auntie." She had taken it herself without spending her aunt's money.
The little girl's bright smile, her eyes filled with nothing but herself, melted Jin Shanyao's heart. She accepted the dragon lantern and said with a smile, "Thank you, Auntie likes it very much."
Meng Anci glanced at his older sister, then at his aunt, a sense of crisis rising within him. Oh no... he'd made a fatal mistake; his sister had won the favor of the emperor.
Damn it... It's all his fault for being blinded by the glitz and glamour of the capital. He has to find a chance to get back at them.
Just then, someone in the crowd shouted, "Look at the sky!"
Jin Shanyao up unconsciously and saw countless Kongming lanterns floating in the night sky. The candlelight illuminated the thin paper, and a name was clearly written on each lantern.
The words ' Shi Dun ' suddenly came into her view.
Jin Shanyao a beat. She looked in the direction the lanterns were rising and saw a man standing silently on the riverbank, slowly sending lanterns inscribed with names into the air.
This was the same person I had seen at the post station earlier.
Fu Congxi followed her gaze and couldn't help but sigh softly, "His name is Shen Yan, the little general from the shadow puppet show this morning."
Upon hearing this, Meng Anci immediately looked up, but the crowd completely blocked his view, and he couldn't see anything.
Fu Congxi's voice lowered a few decibels, "More than a year ago, he had a small team of twenty-eight men under his command who were temporarily borrowed by Jing'an Prefecture to escort grain supplies."
The team was buried in a landslide en route... I heard he's still investigating the incident; he feels there's something fishy going on.
Fu Congxi withdrew his gaze. "Let's go. Didn't you want to buy books? I'll take you to the largest bookstore in the capital."