They believed in Buddha, in Dao, in themselves, and also in ghosts and spirits. “Saying Guo Pu is putting on an act and playing tricks? That’s because you ignorant people are foolish and unqualified to know the secrets of heaven. He can annotate the ‘Book of Changes,’ ‘Classic of Mountains and Seas,’ ‘Chronicles of Emperor Mu,’ ‘Songs of Chu,’ and ‘Dialects.’ People like you probably aren’t even qualified to touch the covers of these books, are you?”

“He makes his living through real skill, not like those charlatans running wild out there!”

“You, you stop insulting us! Who says we haven’t read the ‘Book of Changes’?”

“You’ve read it, but can you understand it?”

The other person was stumped. He truly couldn’t understand it, and precisely because he couldn’t understand, he didn’t believe!

Although the “Solar Eclipse Prophecy” was only a small article squeezed into the margins, because the solar eclipse was so terrifying to people, and with so many discussing it, even the common people who couldn’t read newspapers and didn’t frequent teahouses heard about it, and discussions filled the streets.

Zhao Hanzhang then wrote numerous short educational pieces about solar eclipses and published them in the gazette, one per day. They didn’t take up much space, yet were eye-catching enough.

Of course, she couldn’t provide overly detailed explanations, so after two educational pieces, she began releasing historical records.

The Han Dynasty’s solar eclipse records were particularly complete. In later generations, many records were lost to time and warfare, but now it had only been just over a hundred years since the Han Dynasty’s fall.

Although many books and records preserved in the imperial court had also been lost, coincidentally, all the solar eclipse records had been preserved.

Zhao Hanzhang had Zhao Yunxin make copies and had the gazette publish them directly.

Thus, the common people who went to teahouses to hear storytellers read the gazette would occasionally cry out in surprise. Some curious scholars began counting, and by the twenty-eighth day of the first month, the gazette finally finished publishing the Han Dynasty’s solar eclipse records. “The Han Dynasty alone had one hundred and thirty-two solar eclipse records—is this real or fake?”

“These are events from over a hundred years ago. Even the longest-lived can’t have lived back then, so how could we know?”

As for government documents and records, only relevant officials could view them. Forget about these illiterate common people—even literate scholars had difficulty accessing them.

Information had always been held only in the hands of a few.

“Who knows when this solar eclipse will occur? Since they announced it in the gazette, it should be soon, right?”

“But it’s been over twenty days, and we haven’t seen any solar eclipse. Could it be wrong?”

“Stop talking nonsense! Anyone who hears this knows you haven’t studied enough. Solar eclipses only occur on the first day of the month. How could there be one in these twenty-plus days?” That person said, “If there really is a solar eclipse, it won’t be on the first of the second month, then it’ll be on the first of the third month. For dates further out, even Immortal Guo, as capable as he is, couldn’t calculate them, right?”

This talk spread, and everyone waited for the first day of the second month to see if there would really be a solar eclipse.

Guo Pu was also waiting.

All the civil and military officials were waiting. They had initially opposed Zhao Hanzhang publishing such news in the gazette, first fearing it would incite civil unrest, and second, worried that if the prediction was wrong, it would damage the court’s reputation.

But their opposition was ineffective, and Zhao Hanzhang persisted.

The young emperor was also waiting, and waiting with trepidation.

His coursework had decreased, and state affairs had also lessened, but the pressure over these twenty-plus days was the greatest ever.

He was very afraid. He feared a solar eclipse would really occur, feared Zhao Hanzhang and all the people of the world would blame its occurrence on him.

However, as he held the position of emperor in name only, with his ancestors’ various scandalous actions—could it be that so many people had died that Heaven couldn’t bear to watch, so a solar eclipse would appear to eliminate the Sima clan?

The young emperor hid in the rear palace, not daring to make a sound, but he didn’t miss a single gazette issue.

For some unknown reason, seeing the daily updates of seven or eight solar eclipse records, the young emperor gradually became less afraid.

Well, he was still afraid, just not to the point of trembling hands and feet or turning pale.

However, the solar eclipse still hung like a sword over his head, ready to fall at any moment.

On the first day of the second month, which was the day of the grand court assembly held every first and fifteenth, the ministers entered the palace according to custom to attend the grand assembly.

But today the hall was particularly quiet. Zhao Hanzhang had been sitting in her position for quite a while, yet no one opened their mouth to speak.

Zhao Hanzhang raised her head and scanned below, then turned to glance at the young emperor sitting at the upper right, thought for a moment, and said, “Everyone seems to have no mood to discuss state affairs. Since that’s the case, why don’t we all go to the Observatory to observe the sun?”

Ji Yuan coughed twice, giving Zhao Hanzhang a warning look.

Zhao Hanzhang smiled, stood up first, turned to face the emperor and said, “Let’s go, Your Majesty.”

The young emperor’s face turned slightly pale, and he stood up with trembling feet.

Seeing him unsteady on his feet, Zhao Hanzhang extended her hand to him.

The young emperor sneaked a glance at her expression, then carefully placed his hand in her palm. Zhao Hanzhang helped him descend the steps.

The young emperor felt somewhat more settled and led the way to the Observatory.

Guo Pu was monopolizing the Observatory, watching the sun in the sky. Seeing Zhao Hanzhang suddenly leading all the civil and military officials over, he was somewhat displeased and stood up.

He instinctively prepared to bow to Zhao Hanzhang, but halfway through his bow, he noticed the young emperor standing beside her. He quickly made a small adjustment in his posture and changed his words: “This subject pays respects to Your Majesty.”

The young emperor’s mind was entirely on the heavens at this moment and didn’t care at all. After waving his hand, he climbed the Observatory, raised his head to look at the sun in the sky. After just one glance, he found it too glaring and looked away. “Will there really be a solar eclipse today?”

Guo Pu looked toward Zhao Hanzhang.

Fu Tinghan had calculated it, so asking Zhao Hanzhang would be more appropriate, right?

However, Guo Pu believed in Fu Tinghan’s calculations, so he lowered his head and replied, “There should be.”

The young emperor very much wanted to question him in front of all the civil and military officials, but he was also afraid a solar eclipse would really occur, so he could only remain silent.

Zhao Hanzhang waved her hand, and immediately soldiers spread out mats. Zhao Hanzhang invited the young emperor to sit down and wait together.

“Provide seats for the ministers as well. Who knows how long we’ll have to wait.”

The soldiers acknowledged and immediately brought mat after mat for the ministers to sit on.

At this time, the area around the Observatory was filled with soldiers. Palace servants numbered no more than twenty at most. Although even a total eclipse wouldn’t make it very dark, she still had to guard against unexpected incidents, so today the palace’s defenses were stricter than usual.

Zeng Yue, in full armor, stood in a corner, his sharp gaze sweeping across everyone’s faces. Only after finding nothing unusual did he lower his head, occasionally raising it again to look around.

After sitting for a long time, as the sun rose higher and higher, approaching its zenith, suddenly a shadow fell, blocking the sunlight that had been falling on them.

Zhao Hanzhang heard a chorus of gasps. Already some ministers couldn’t help but cry out, “The sun, the sun has a gap in it!”

Zhao Hanzhang looked up. Without directly gazing at the sun, she only looked toward its edge and saw the sun in mid-sky had darkened at one corner…

Zhao Hanzhang turned to ask Guo Pu, “What time is it now?”

Guo Pu had already stood up in excitement, clenching his fists and saying, “Noon, the first quarter of the noon hour!”

Eleven fifteen.

Zhao Hanzhang looked up at the sun. At this time, many people should be seeing it, right?

—