“Customer, please come in…”
It was lunchtime and the sun was high. Seeing a carriage stop before their restaurant, the attendant’s face immediately exploded with hospitality and greeted them. He held the horse reins and made the carriage stop.
“Take care of the carriage and feed the horse some hay and water. After eating, we still need to make way…” The rider jumped off and took off his hat while hanging the horsewhip on his belt. This person was Yan Liqiang but he was still disguised as Wang Shagen.
“Don’t worry customers, our restaurant is famous in this town. There’s a horse den right behind, so we’ll definitely feed your horse well and clean its hair. If you need to nail horseshoes, we can get that done for you too. The price is definitely fair. If you spend more than one silver in our shop, this will all be free!”
“Mhm, add some peas in the hay, don’t make it have diarrhea!” Yan Liqiang studied the place and after making sure there were no tough characters here, he went to the carriage and opened the door like a real coachman, “Master, let’s have some food here before we make way!”
“Cough… cough… cough…!” There was some coughing in the carriage and then a grey-robed sickly looking old man slowly got out of the carriage. He held Yan Liqiang’s hand and got off. Yan Liqiang then grabbed the luggage bags. Then he gave the carriage to an attendant.
“My master likes a quiet and clean place. Find us a spot in the restaurant!” Yan Liqiang said.
“Alright, customer come with me!” The attendant swung his towel and patted the dust off their clothes and led them in.
There were quite some people here since it was lunchtime. Most of the tables were seated and the shop was very noisy. The attendant led the two to the second floor to a rather quiet table. Yan Liqiang ordered a few fresh dishes. Three dishes and one soup as well as three bowls of rice. He carefully asked for the price. After the attendant told him, he nodded in assurance.
There were a few people seated on the second floor talking and chatting. One table of customers carried weapons. When Yan Liqiang and the old man came up, a few of them turned to study them. But after Yan Liqiang ordered and the old man kept coughing, no one looked at them anymore.
Who would’ve thought that Yan Liqiang and the old men were real masters?
Yan Liqiang waited for the food and said nothing while the other tables talked nonstop. The table with weapons was the loudest. Almost the entire second floor was filled with their voices.
“Did you hear? A few days ago, a Heavenly Dog really did devour the sun in Liu Province…”
“How did I not hear about something this big? It has spread all over the world. Countless people have been waiting during this month!”
“But it came quite late. It was on the 26th. I almost thought it wasn’t going to happen!”
“Not just you, but a lot of people also thought it wasn’t coming. Now it seems that the prediction of the stone turtle from the Spirit Peace River is true!”
“That’s for sure. Now there’s going to be quite some drama in the capital city. Pity we can’t see it!”
“If what the stone turtle predicted was true? Then the capital would have to move. Staying in the capital city means waiting for death!”
“Certainly. Those elite and wealthy officials of the capital are probably all busy moving!”
“Where is it going to be moved to?”
“I heard Anxi City!”
“It’s not our job to worry about such big things. His Majesty and the imperial court will worry about it!”
“That’s right, but I feel that it’s quite strange that the imperial court removed the position of Grand Chancellor. This is the first time in all the years of the Great Han Empire that we have no Grand Chancellor!”
“Didn’t they set up a Grand Secretariat in the imperial court? There are so many ministers and grand secretaries there. They’re all smart. Surely they’re no weaker than a Grand Chancellor!”
“That’s true…”
Their discussion mentioned the two great events that happened in these two months. One was in the imperial court, one was out. Inside the imperial court, the Emperor used the news of Lin Qingtian’s assassination to remove the position of Grand Chancellor saying that no one would be able to succeed this position. Instead, he changed the Grand Secretariat so that they would share the power of the Grand Chancellor. Many of the ministers and grand secretaries there were direct reports of the Emperor himself.
The three ministers of the six ministries were changed in the past month.
Sun Bingchen had returned to the capital city a few days ago and had joined the Grand Secretariat as a grand secretary.
As for the outside, it was the Heavenly Dog devouring the sun in Liu Province. With this, it meant that the first prediction was right. The imperial palace, with internal and external pressure, was probably boiling with chaos.
Yan Liqiang had been on the road for these two months. Every day when he stayed at hotels or ate at restaurants, he could hear news of the stone turtle and Lin Qingtian’s assassination. Different people reacted differently to this news. Those officials standing on the side of the Grand Chancellor were all worried, fearing of being punished. Meanwhile, the ministers on the Emperor’s side all felt great.
To be honest, the Emperor was indeed good at grasping opportunities. However, even Yan Liqiang didn’t know what the future would be like now. Last time in the Heavenly Realm, Lin Qingtian was fine this year. Meanwhile, he was ‘dead’ now. Yan Liqiang knew that there would be a butterfly effect on what he did and a lot of things would change. Other than the heavenly phenomenon that would be recorded, everything related to humans was completely unpredictable. The future of the Great Han Empire slid toward the unknown…
