Shi Xi dejectedly walked down from the artificial mountain and left unhappily. He naturally didn’t want to attend that so-called coral banquet, but he also lacked the strength to openly oppose his father, who commanded great authority in the household.
After Shi Xi left, a woman with a graceful figure slowly emerged from Splendid Tower. She had gorgeous features and wore a blue-green deep robe with several brocade ribbons adorning the hem that swayed gently with her steps, creating an elegant and ethereal appearance. Every gesture and movement she made seemed like dancing, containing some kind of rhythm, extremely captivating. All over her body, she wore only a hairpin inlaid with a green bead at her temples—no other jewelry whatsoever.
A true beauty needs no jewels to shine brilliantly.
If she had appeared at the pavilion just now, even those numerous coral trees couldn’t have overshadowed her radiance.
This woman was none other than Lu Zhu, whose beauty was renowned throughout Luoyang. She casually draped a dark red silk shawl over her shoulders and walked quickly to the center of the pavilion. On her absolutely beautiful face, gone was the usual sweetness and charm, replaced by the fire of resentment and regret.
Lu Zhu bent down to pick up a fragment of the coral tree, gently wiping the dust from it with her jade hand: “Even though it hasn’t yet condensed into a spirit, it’s still a treasure formed over thousands of years by gathering heaven and earth’s spiritual energy. How dare he…”
“Things too easily obtained, humans don’t cherish,” the musician said calmly as he walked down from the artificial mountain. Perhaps such events were already within his expectations. He glanced at the still-angry Lu Zhu, knowing that even warnings wouldn’t be of much use, but still said seriously, “Be patient and wait. Shi Chong still has ten years of life left—don’t damage yourself for the sake of mortals.”
“He is the person I chose, I understand,” Lu Zhu said with apparent calm, but in her sleeves, she secretly gripped the coral fragment tighter.
The doctor groggily woke up, ruffling his bird’s nest hair. The blinding coral trees from his dream seemed to still be spinning before his eyes.
But how could someone just casually smash coral trees?
For some reason, the doctor felt an inexplicable anger in his heart—this was completely unlike his character.
No matter how beautiful those coral trees were, they were just dead objects. For such a wealthy tycoon, it was probably as ordinary as casually breaking a cup.
But the doctor just felt upset about it.
Those ancient people really knew how to put on shows—whether it was Wang Dun executing beauties for refusing drinks or Shi Chong’s wealth competition, it was all just performance.
Yes, he had already searched for information about the dynasty in his dream series. As for why he dreamed of another person’s life experiences every night, the doctor couldn’t figure it out, but since it didn’t affect his real life, he didn’t take it to heart.
The rousing “Turkish March” rang out again. The doctor picked up his phone and saw this was already the third alarm. Strange, why hadn’t Tang Yuan come to his room to protest today?
After washing up, the doctor found Tang Yuan sitting on the living room sofa, staring blankly at a newspaper. Curious, the doctor walked around and discovered that besides the newspaper, there was also a welfare lottery ticket he had bought a few days ago on the coffee table in front of Tang Yuan.
The doctor felt somewhat embarrassed—buying lottery tickets wasn’t something a rational surgeon like him would do. Just as he was about to make excuses about someone else buying it and giving it to him, Tang Yuan suddenly stood up, eyes shining as he grabbed the lottery ticket and rushed over.
“Uncle! We won! First prize!” Tang Yuan was somewhat incoherent. He had lived in seclusion with his master for years, but he still knew how important money was in the modern world. Moreover, this windfall had numbers so large they made him somewhat panicked.
The doctor’s first reaction was to pinch his thigh.
Hiss… so painful!
This wasn’t a dream!
300 AD
Lu Zhu stood on the rooftop of Splendid Tower, gazing at the gradually setting sun in the distance. Her stunningly beautiful face showed deathly calm. She heard rhythmic footsteps coming from the stairs behind her but didn’t turn around, only asking quietly: “Has he already left?”
The one who climbed to the rooftop was that musician. He had been at the Shi household for six years, but his appearance was still as young as when he first arrived, unchanged in any way.
Lu Zhu was the same.
One often hid behind others, while the other, though renowned as Luoyang’s most famous courtesan, appeared bright and beautiful every time she met people. Others would only think she was wearing powder and makeup.
“He has already left.”
The musician spoke calmly, but his eyes still contained unconcealed sorrow.
“Never living past twelve years old—humans are really too fragile,” Lu Zhu sighed with feeling. Looking down from Splendid Tower, she could already see white smoke rising from Stream Valley Garden where Shi Xi lived, with faint sounds of crying carrying over. Lu Zhu felt a slight pang of regret—after all, that Shi Xi was quite cute and soft.
The musician remained silent for a long time, quietly watching the sunset paint the clouds on the horizon with brilliant red hues, gradually pulling himself out of his sad emotions. He had climbed Splendid Tower for another matter.
“Lu Zhu, Shi Chong still has eight years of life left—why must you do this?” The musician was somewhat puzzled by Lu Zhu’s actions. Shi Chong’s fate clearly wasn’t supposed to end, but Lu Zhu had deliberately spread word that Shi Chong’s sudden wealth was because of her. Sure enough, someone came to demand Lu Zhu, and Shi Chong swore he would never comply. Of course, to those who didn’t know the truth, it seemed the other party was simply coveting Lu Zhu’s beauty, but that wasn’t actually the case.
Lu Zhu’s true form was actually an Azure Jade Tassel.
The “Book of Rites: Jade Tassels” states: “The Son of Heaven’s jade tassels have twelve strands, hanging before and behind.” The so-called jade tassels were actually small jade pendants strung into strands, with each strand containing twelve pieces of five-colored jade arranged in the sequence of vermillion red, pure white, azure green, orange yellow, and dark black. A total of twelve strands were strung together, hanging before and behind the Son of Heaven’s crown.
The earliest crown in this world belonged to the Yellow Emperor. He possessed five fragments of the five-colored stones left over from Nüwa’s repair of the heavens, and ground these fragments into jade tassels, weaving them into his crown. Only these five jade tassels truly had spirits, but besides the Yellow Emperor himself, no one knew which five among the crown’s 288 jade tassels were special.
These five jade tassels of vermillion red, pure white, azure green, orange yellow, and dark black respectively represented birth, death, wealth, provisions, and military force—the five most important elements for a nation’s ruler to govern the country. They were the true Son of Heaven’s jade tassels.
The Yellow Emperor’s crown was eventually destroyed by war during its transmission, the 288 jade tassels were divided up completely, and the five true jade tassels with spirits also disappeared without a trace. No one knew why the crown was decorated with five-colored jade tassel strands, but they all followed ancient rites and imitated the form. Gradually, five-colored jade became difficult to find, so from the end of the Han Dynasty onward, the twelve hanging strands on the emperor’s crown were strung only with white jade beads.
Lu Zhu was one of those five Son of Heaven’s jade tassels—the Azure Jade Tassel—which had passed through many hands over thousands of years before taking human form a few years ago. The musician had only discovered her identity by chance but harbored no covetous thoughts.
Jade tassels chose their own masters, but obtaining one wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Obtaining and protecting were two different concepts. Possessing such a treasure brought guilt—not everyone could have a good beginning and end.
“Why are human desires endless and infinite?” Lu Zhu lowered her head to stroke the railing before her. Every brick and tile of Splendid Tower was made from the finest materials, even the railings were carved from rare white jade, glowing with a hazy light under the evening glow.
The musician remained silent. He was also human and naturally knew what desire meant. He still lived in this world because of the existence of desire.
“With previous masters, I couldn’t communicate with them. They either embedded and wore me, or placed me in boxes to gather dust. But without exception, once they gained windfall wealth, evil thoughts would arise in their hearts.”
“Either killing innocents indiscriminately, or destroying things at will.”
“Then what is the meaning of my existence…”
“Lu Zhu…” The musician hesitated to speak but didn’t know how to comfort her. Spiritual beings of heaven and earth weren’t like humans who had parents and teachers to guide them to maturity. They were formed by gathering heaven and earth’s spiritual energy, naturally developing a set of behavioral principles when their spirits formed. But if they became fixated on something, they could easily become evil entities.
Ironically, the distinction between spiritual beings and evil entities was simply based on whether they benefited humans.
The musician had even less standing to persuade her, so he could only stand silently for a while, sigh deeply, then turn and slowly walk downstairs.
Lu Zhu still leaned against the railing. The sun was already half-hidden below the horizon, no longer illuminating the face that had fallen into madness.
The musician walked away from Splendid Tower step by step. The moment the sun completely disappeared, he heard the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground behind him.
Screams arose as maidservants cried “Lu Zhu has jumped from the tower,” but this didn’t make the musician stop. An azure-green bead with cracks rolled past his feet. The musician only glanced at it indifferently, then walked determinedly toward the exit of Golden Valley Garden.
“To think it changed from a spiritual being that enjoyed granting wealth to others into an evil entity that enjoyed watching others descend into madness for wealth… tsk, so this is where the Azure Jade Tassel ended up.” A voice without any tonal variation echoed in the doctor’s room. If Tang Yuan were here, he would surely cry out that this person was the senior brother who had forced his master to throw him out.
Zhao Gao examined the Azure Jade Tassel placed on the lucky cat’s paw for a while, unable to figure out whether the person who found this bead knew its background. Otherwise, why would they place it on a lucky cat’s paw so fittingly?
However, looking around this room so small one could barely turn around, he smiled self-mockingly.
He was being too suspicious—it was probably just coincidence.
Zhao Gao unceremoniously took the Azure Jade Tassel into his palm, feeling no guilt about taking someone else’s belongings. After all, this was an evil entity—the other person should thank him for taking this bead away!
As he turned to leave, he didn’t notice that in a bamboo basket in the corner, a small white snake was coiled tightly, watching him and trembling.
Not long after Zhao Gao left, the doctor and Tang Yuan returned.
Both of them looked dejected, each more disappointed than the other.
“What the hell, isn’t this just messing with people? Uncle, the lottery ticket you bought has last period’s numbers—how are they exactly the same as this period’s winning numbers?” Tang Yuan wiped his face, feeling this must be the doctor playing a prank on him. “Same numbers—why didn’t you keep buying them this period?”
“How would I know…” The doctor was also depressed. He had really chosen those numbers randomly. If he had bought it two days later, wouldn’t he have become a multimillionaire?
But sudden wealth might not necessarily be a blessing to enjoy. The optimistic doctor quickly adjusted his mood, patting Tang Yuan’s head consolingly: “No win is no win, but uncle can still afford to treat you to a buffet! Let’s go!”
“Oh yeah! Then I want to go eat the buffet at a five-star hotel!” Tang Yuan immediately revived on the spot.
“…Let’s go.” The doctor silently touched his wallet with tears in his eyes. Good thing he remembered that children under 1.3 meters got half price at buffets…
Wait, had that kid Tang Yuan grown taller again?
Tears…