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C15

After stopping at the Cloud Perching City for a few days, they left for the north side of the canal and returned to the imperial city of Qianyuan City. In the past few days, Ning Dairong had come to Lu Chun a few more times and knew that he was very determined to leave the imperial court. After sending everyone on the boat, he sighed and led his men back to the Shadow Mountain Troops' encampment.

After riding on the boat for more than ten days, the group finally returned to the imperial city. The emperor led the royal family and the civil and military officials to welcome them from the outskirts of the city. The Emperor and the Empress saw their long-lost eldest sister and brother and were indescribably moved. The two Old Duke of Su and Gu, when they saw their daughter, they were even more filled with tears. That night, the emperor held a banquet at the Qianyang Hall to comfort everyone.

After the banquet ended, Lu Chun and Yu Chu Qing entered the palace and had a long talk with the Emperor. Only then did they return to the Marquis' Mansion.

On the second day, the emperor decreed that Lu Chun should be conferred the title of Grand Marshal of the Empire of Wei and the Grand Marshal of the Republic of Pillar. He also bestowed upon Lu Chun the title of the new Duke of Wei's Mansion before he ascended to the throne. Grand Princess Yu Chuqing once again took control of the Feng Xiang Army. Gu Jianyun and Su Loyi were still deputy commander-in-chiefs and strategists. Shi Kuan, Feng Se, and Mu Chi were promoted by one rank and transferred to the Feng Xiang Army.

The moment the imperial edict was issued, the entire imperial court was shocked. Although the marshal was the highest ranking military officer in name, he was not a three-phase military officer and no longer held the actual military power. However, the Duke of Wei was different. Since the founding of Great Gan, there were only a total of ten dukes. Lu Chun was the eleventh, and he was bestowed with an Alchemy Book.

Unlike the Great Ancestor's Duo Ying Lin Cheng, Ren Wuhui, and the Martial Emperor's Baili Chengping, these three were dukes, but they had long since gone into hiding and had not left behind any descendants. And the new Duke of Wei, Lu Chun, had his son, Lu Que. What's more, the Emperor had even given away his royal palace, which clearly showed the strength of his saint's family. Everyone could see that a peak-level noble family was slowly rising to prominence in the Great Gan City.

In the blink of an eye, it was already the third month of Taoliang. Lu Que had been in the Qianyuan City for more than a month, and during this month, the whole Qiangan Capital was filled with a sense of war, because of the return of Yu Chuqing and Lu Chun, which gave the Emperor more confidence. Ten days after the decree was issued, the Emperor ordered the Evergreen Army stationed in the capital to take over the defence of the Dragonfly Army.

Although he still hadn't found out who was behind Princess Tian Xiang's disappearance a few months ago, the one who took action against Princess Tian Xiang was undoubtedly Scarlet Deer, the Qian Huang Yu Yuan Xu had already begun his preparations against Lei Meng. However, this had nothing to do with Lu Que. Even if the general called Bai Yi came to visit his father, he did not inquire about the details.

In the past month, Lu Que had been studying literature and martial arts in the Manor every day in preparation for the test. Although Lu Que did not know what level he was at right now, according to his father Lu Chun, it was more than enough to take the test.

Lu Que could still remember the first time in his life that he saw a book with a thin, white paper. Ever since he was young, he had loved to read books, and whenever he had the time, he would find a few books that he had never seen before. Or he would compare them to the inscriptions of his predecessors on the pure white, snow-white paper. In the past month, Lu Que had only used a bamboo stick to write on the sand table. Now, he could use a brush to write well. Although he did not have the air of a scholar, his writing also revealed the sharpness of a teenager.

Lu Que, who had stayed in the mansion for a few days after lunch today, felt a little bored. Taking advantage of the lack of attention, he walked out the side door of the Mansion of the Duke of Wei's residence, intending to take a walk around the streets. When he first came to Qian Yuan City, he often went out, but every time he went out, there were servants and guards following him. This made Lu Que, who had always been at ease since childhood, feel impatient. It wasn't easy for him to come out today. Naturally, he wanted to take a good look around this city that was reputed as the number one city in the world, the Great Gan Capital.

Walking out of the side door of the Duke of Wei's mansion, it was a secluded alley. Usually, no one would walk inside. Lu Que took a few steps forward and decided to follow along the alley towards the main street. At the entrance of the alley, he noticed a young man, who was peeling the green bricks of the alleyway, peeking outside with his eyes.

Out of curiosity, Lu Que came up behind the young man and looked out. There were a few men wearing the clothes of servants looking around the main street as if they were looking for something.

"Ai!" Lu Que watched for a while and saw the men turn their gazes to the other side and pat the shoulder of the young man who was acting weird.

He hugged his head and squatted on the ground, begging for mercy, "Brothers, your little bro's purse has indeed been taken away by the thief. Next time, next time, your little bro will definitely offer it up to you with interest, and I will not hold it back, please forgive my little bro for once. If everyone feels angry, you can hit me twice, but don't slap my face."

Seeing the young man squatting on the ground with his hands clasped together and holding them above his head while mumbling some incantation, Lu Que was amused and could not help but laugh.

The youth crouched on the ground. Hearing the laughter behind him, he didn't seem to be very old. He carefully turned around and saw a youth who was about the same age as him standing behind him. His face showed embarrassment and anger.

"I say, you. No matter how you walk, there's no sound at all. I'm so scared that my heart is trembling. I don't even have half a life left. Tell me how you should compensate me."

"My dear friend, you've been sneaking around my doorstep. I didn't take you to the officials, so why are you asking me to compensate you?" Seeing the clear and limpid eyes of the teenager in front of him, Lu Que knew that he meant no harm.

"Your house?" The young man circled the landing twice, "You said this is your home? This place belongs to the Duke of Wei's mansion, are you Lu Que? "

"Looking at your appearance just now, you seem to be avoiding those servants. If I were to yell here, I wonder where you would go?" Lu Que didn't answer the young man's question. Instead, he pointed with his finger and walked towards the few men on the other side of the street.

"Don't, don't, don't, please don't. Little brother knows he was wrong. Our families are friends after all. Brother Lu QIanxian won't just watch little brother make a fool of himself, right?" The youth secretly glanced at the big man walking towards the distance while cupping his hands towards Lu Que.

"I wonder who Brother Ren is?" Lu Que looked at the young man with a strange expression. His father was from a humble family. Although he was now part of the government, he didn't have many friends with the Wei and Lu family.

"Ai, Brother Lu, my name is Zhuge Yan."

"Zhuge Yan, Zhuge Yan?" Lu Kai repeated his actions twice and suddenly, he understood.

The person in front of him should be the eldest grandson of the Imperial Assistant Minister, the Zhuge family. If that was the case, the two families could be considered to have been friends for generations. This Zhuge Yan's father, Zhuge Ju, should have been the strategist of the Sky Fire Legion.

There were also rumors in the capital. The son of the Residence of Yun was gentle like jade, he was a talent of the times; the son of the Gu family was calm and resolute, he was the choice of famous generals; only the eldest grandson of the Zhuge family lingered in the brothel at the age of fourteen, he was indeed a debauchee young master.

"Brother Zhuge, what are you doing?"

"Hai, don't mention it anymore. Originally, I was going to have a meal at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion. How could I have imagined that my purse would be stolen? Zhuge Yan also had a wry smile on his face.

"Brother Zhuge, you are the eldest grandson of Prime Minister Zhuge. Just tell the shop owner clearly. Don't tell me that they don't trust the credibility of the Crown Prince's Palace?" Lu Que felt incredulous.

"Don't you know where the Hundred Treasures Hall is? May I know the relationship between Hundred Treasures Hall and you? " Zhuge Yan looked strangely at Lu Que.

Lu Que looked at Zhuge Yan blankly and shook his head.

Seeing that Lu Que really had no idea, Zhuge Yan sighed and said, "This Hundred Treasures Pavilion is where the Grand Princess and her close friends gathered before she left the pavilion. Back in the day, before the Duke of Wei left for the battle, he had gathered with a group of generals for a feast in the Hundred Treasures Pavilion. As such, he was also known as the Hero Pavilion. Furthermore, all of the restaurant's dishes are from the palace menu. Every day, there will be a lot of customers, and the business will be extremely good. "

"Then what does this have to do with me?"

"This Treasure House is the Grand Princess's property. It could be considered my bad luck. A while ago, a few young masters of the house of the Marquis started arguing at the Hundred Treasures Hall and attacked and destroyed quite a few things. The Grand Princess was infuriated, and she ordered her men to strip those unlucky fellows, making them the laughingstock of the capital. Afterwards, the Grand Princess ordered that anyone who causes trouble at the Hundred Treasures Store shall follow this rule. "

"So you just finished your meal and ran off because you were afraid of being roamed?" Recently, Lu Que had been studying in the Mansion and didn't know about this. Hearing Zhuge Yan's words, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He felt that this Prime Minister's eldest grandson still owed him money.

"Brother Lu, look at how miserable I am. Don't laugh at me." A wry smile appeared on Zhuge Yan's face as he pointed at his robes, which had been torn in several places just moments ago when he was escaping.

"This is not a big deal. Brother Zhuge, do you need to go into the mansion to change your clothes?"

"Ai, so what? I have experienced much more miserable than this." After finishing her sentence, she took out a folding fan from somewhere and shook it with an air of elegance. If one did not see the description in front of him at this moment, he would appear to be an elegant and refined young noble. However, with the addition of that one fan, he looked like a beggar in his outer robes, causing others to burst out laughing.

"Brother Lu, where are you going?" Zhuge Yan stretched out half of his head to take another look outside. He was relieved when he saw that the few burly men had already left.

"I just arrived at Qian Yuan City so I want to go for a walk. I heard that the tower is a place of worship for the sages, and is also a place of excellence. If you want to go there, you should take a look. "

"What do you mean, worship pagoda? That's a place where poor scholars go. Those who go there will become bookworms sooner or later." With that, Zhuge Yan glanced outside the alleyway and continued, "Since Brother Lu has just arrived in the capital, you're definitely not familiar with the various places in the capital. How about I serve as a guide and accompany you on a stroll around the capital?"

"That's good. But Brother Zhuge, you, you're going to wear this?"

"It's nothing, it's nothing, it's nothing at all. Let's go, we'll go to Xihe Square first. We heard that a few caravans from Sha Hai are coming, so we'll go watch the show." As he spoke, Zhuge Yan didn't wait for Lu Que's approval before dragging him out of the alley and into the crowd on the main street.

"Brother Zhuge, how much longer do we have to walk?" Lu Que and Zhuge Yan had already walked for more than an hour through several streets. Lu Que had some doubts as to whether this eldest son of the Residence really knew the way or not.

"We'll be there after we cross the street in front of us." Zhuge Yan swallowed his saliva and said tiredly.

"This Qianyuan City is really big, much bigger than the one in the Cloud Nest City." Lu Que said with a sigh. He had been to the Cloud Nesting City before as well. As the capital of the Great Xuan Empire, the Cloud Nesting City was much smaller in terms of scale.

"Cloud Perching City?" Zhuge Yan shook her head disdainfully, "The original name of this place was Spirit Hill, which is the mound where the palace is now. Emperor Taizu used a million prisoners of war to surround the city and took more than ten years to finish it. In addition to the successive dynasties of construction, the current Qian Yuan City is at least six times bigger than the one in Xi Yun City. "

"So that's how it is." Upon hearing Zhuge Yan's words, Lu Que nodded his head in understanding as he carefully observed the things on the street. The road they were walking on was not the main street of Qian Yuan City, nor was it a famous city square. However, the streets were still filled with people, and the sounds of people selling could be heard.

After a few more turns, a several zhang tall gate appeared before them.

"But I'm so tired." Seeing the signboard of the West Peace Workshop, Zhuge Yan let out a long breath and hammered his sore thigh.

"Brother Zhuge, have you never been to Xihe Square before?" Zhuge Yan's residence wasn't too far away from the Lu family's residence. Judging from Zhuge Yan's appearance, this shouldn't be his first time here. How could he be so tired?

"He has been here before. However, he used to come in his family's carriage. This is the first time he has used his legs to come here." Zhuge Yan unceremoniously twisted her waist and stretched her muscles before feeling a little better. Brother Lu, let's go and take a look as well. "

Just as Zhuge Yan pulled him into Xihe Square, Lu Que was struck dumb by the scene in front of him. Even Zhuge Yan, who had been by his side a few times, was now filled with shock.

He saw countless foreign merchants, camels with different colors, and goods of different styles piled up in the Western Paradise Market.

In the marketplace, the sound of a peddler shouting with an accent filled with sand sea, as well as the melodious sound of a musical instrument unceasingly entered their ears.

"I didn't expect it to be so lively today. Brother Lu, let's go ahead and take a look." Although he had been here a few times, it was the first time that Zhuge Yan had seen the West Peace Workshop bustling with activity. His curiosity was greatly piqued.

"Alright." Lu Que nodded his head. His eyes were starting to run out of vision as he followed the stream of people in the marketplace, moving forward bit by bit.

After walking forward for a while, there were two rows of dancers with their veils covered, dancing to the music at the entrance of an extravagantly decorated shop. These dancers appeared to be at the prime of their life. They were alluring in their dancing and their movements were charming. They attracted a large number of people's attention as they blocked half of the road. Cheers could be heard from time to time.

It took a lot of effort for Zhuge Yan to pull Lu Que to the front of the crowd. Lu Que looked at the dancers, who were dressed in revealing clothes and dressed in flirting attire, and felt a little embarrassed. Zhuge Yan, on the other hand, continued to clap and cheer. He was no different from the other staring men. Those who didn't know it wouldn't be able to tell that he was the eldest grandson of the prime minister and heir to the Duke's estate.

"Brother Lu, since we're here to play, we should let them go. Look at these dancers, then look at their dancing positions. This is much better than the royal court music and dancing." As Zhuge Yan talked with Lu Que, she cheered.

Looking at Zhuge Yan's expression, Lu Que shook his head and forcefully pulled him out of the crowd.

"Brother Lu, I haven't seen enough. Why did you pull me out?" Zhuge Yan said somewhat unhappily.

"Brother Zhuge, this is not the only place in the market. Let's go visit somewhere else."

"Then, alright."

The two of them went from store to store, and from booth to booth, they saw quite a few fresh things. There were Ramón's blankets, the silver of the Sada, Luoyun's musical instruments, Leran's horned crafts, and the unique spices and lacquers of the Sea of Sand.

"Lu Que, look, this is the Phoenix Jade Zither of the Yanzhou University. Its sound is extremely beautiful, not inferior to the zither of my Great Gan."

"This is Cha Yan's Golden Mask, normally only the Cha Yan royal family would be able to use it. Look at the exquisite workmanship of this mask, it should be a burial accessory dug up by a sand thief."

As Zhuge Yan walked, she explained everything she knew in detail, just like how Lu Que had explained.

When the two of them reached the center of the city square, Lu Que turned around and discovered that Zhuge Yan had disappeared. He searched around for a long time before finally finding Zhuge Yan, who was squatting on the ground and chatting with the booth owner, beside a stall that was blocked by a crowd of people.

"Brother Zhuge, what are you buying?" Lu Que walked to the side of Zhuge Yan and discovered that he was holding an azure hairpin in his hand. On the hairpin was an unknown bird, and Lu Que, who was proficient in carving, could tell at a glance that the craftsman who carved this hairpin was quite skilled in craftsmanship.

"Brother Lu, it's great that you're here. I wonder if Brother Lu has brought any money, and if you can lend me ten silver? You should know that my purse was stolen." Zhuge Yan said somewhat embarrassedly.

"Brother Zhuge, did you buy this hairpin to give to your lover?" Lu Que was a little curious. Even though the person in front of him was known as Young Noble Dang, he was only fourteen years old. Moreover, Lu Que knew that although Zhuge Yan's behavior was different from that of an ordinary person, he was still a virgin.

"That's not the case either. However, that person usually treats me extremely well, and this hairpin also very well describes her skin color. Thus …"

"Lu Que saw how he kept talking with his head down and smiled while shaking it. He took out a small gold ingot from his sleeve that he had taken at random when he went out." That's all I have. Have you seen enough? " Although Lu Que had been in Qianyuan City for more than a month, he had never bought anything of his own. Thus, he was not too sure about the purchasing power of gold and silver.

"Enough, that's enough. "This is one tael of gold for the officials, equivalent to eighteen taels of silver." As he spoke, he handed the gold ingot to the old vendor.

After inspecting the quality of the gold ingots, the old stall owner took out a cloth bag from his bosom. Inside the cloth bag, there were some scattered silver and copper coins.

"Uncle, I think the carving of this wooden pagoda is pretty good. If we want the wooden pagoda and the hairpin, then you don't need to look for money, do you?" Lu Que picked up a wooden nine-story pagoda from the stall.

"Good, good, good." Although the craftsmanship was not bad, the wood used was extremely light. He felt that this item was definitely not worth much and had been put out to enrich the stall. Now that someone was willing to pay eight taels of silver to buy it, he was naturally willing to do so.

After Lu Que and Zhuge Yan finished buying their things, they strolled around the city square. Seeing that it was getting late, they called for a horse carriage and headed home.

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