Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 265: Saint's Grace
Lu Zheng helped with the preparations before the celebration. Once everything was ready and there were no problems, he went to rest.

At this time, the officers and soldiers had already organized the people queuing up to enter.

Quite a few people were sitting in the reserved seats.

Lu Zheng walked over to greet some acquaintances, then found the seat assigned to him and sat down to wait. It was in the middle of the first row.

He sat there, took out a glass of water, grabbed a handful of melon seeds and slowly ate them to pass the time.

Qing Wan also sat on Lu Zheng's lap, looking up at the big stage in front of her, peeling melon seeds and eating them.

An Taixuan strolled around Hongzhou City, and when he arrived at the venue, he saw that there was no one around Lu Zheng, so he sat down next to him.

Lu Zheng glanced sideways, spread his hands, and asked, "Big brother, would you like some melon seeds?"

An Taixuan took a look, reached out and grabbed a few, and said quietly, "I'm much older than you."

"Uncle?" Lu Zheng smiled and asked, "What do you think of Hongzhou City?"

An Taixuan was about to answer when he suddenly frowned, "Why are your melon seeds spicy?"

He had tasted all kinds of delicacies in the world, but this was the first time he had tasted spicy melon seeds, which made him feel confused and he thought Lu Zheng did it on purpose.

"Hmm? You don't like spicy food? I also have five-spice and garlic flavors..."

Lu Zheng smiled and took out several flavors of sunflower seeds. "Life is full of flavors, so I made a little bit of everything."

An Taixuan heard this and caught a little bit of all the flavors. "You are so young, but you have so many ideas about life."

Lu Zheng said leisurely, "Children of poor families grow up early. If you go to the mountain village, you'll see three-year-old children working in the fields and cooking. They understand life better than I do..."

An Taixuan couldn't help but ask, "The people of the world are suffering so much, what can you do?"

Lu Zheng said softly, "No matter how capable you are, you should exert your best efforts. Just do your best and have a clear conscience. Uncle, you care so much about these things, but have you ever done them to this extent?"

An Taixuan remained silent after hearing this.

Lu Zheng asked again: "Are you on the side of the people?"

"Of course." An Taixuan said.

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "I thought you came here to call me to task. Now that you're here, you're a fellow traveler. Today is Mid-Autumn Festival, let's not talk about this anymore and enjoy the fun with the people."

"Look at the people. Even if their lives are hard, don't they still celebrate the festival and work hard to survive?"

An Taixuan looked at the people around him, each of whose faces was filled with festive joy.

Compared to the hypocritical smiling faces of officials at the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet every year, these people are so real.

Just then, An Jing and An Yang arrived.

An Jing concealed his true appearance, while Anyang came from Fengzhou in a hurry and had no need to hide anything.

As soon as Anyang saw Lu Zheng, he smiled and said, "Lu Zheng! Do you still remember me?"

Lu Zheng lifted Qing Wan onto his shoulder, stood up, and saluted, saying, "Greetings to the Princess of Fengcheng County!"

"No need to be so polite!" Anyang said quietly, "I heard that it was you who organized the Mid-Autumn Festival celebration, and you didn't even inform me. I wouldn't have known about it if I hadn't come to Hongzhou!"

"Uh……"

Lu Zheng thought to himself that he and Anyang were not familiar with each other.

However, Anyang said this in front of others, which seemed to be a way to build momentum for him.

He couldn't help but say, "The venue is simple, I'm afraid the county lady won't like it, and this is a sudden idea..."

Anyang quickly waved his hands and said, "Okay, I get it. I'm not here to blame you!"

Anyang pulled An Jing to sit next to Lu Zheng.

An Jing looked at An Taixuan who was sitting next to Lu Zheng and couldn't help but ask, "Who is this?"

Lu Zhengdao said, "I just met him. He's a guest from far away. So, where are you from, uncle?"

"An people." An Taixuan said with a smile.

An Jing frowned, "It seems the seat you're sitting on is reserved for me."

An Taixuan blinked his eyes. He saw through An Jing's disguise, but with An Jing's strength, he obviously couldn't recognize him.

Seeing An Jing staring at him with burning eyes, An Taixuan felt inexplicably amused.

He stood up and moved to another seat, giving it to An Jing. After all, she was his own daughter, so he was just giving her a seat.

An Jing saw it and changed to a new chair and sat down.

Anyang didn't care about these things, but stared at Qingwan on Lu Zheng's shoulder.

Seeing Qing Wan helping Lu Zheng hold a cup filled with bubbling ice water, she couldn't help but ask curiously, "What are you drinking?"

Qing Wan said crisply, "Peach-flavored soda! Do you want some? It's delicious!"

Lu Zheng has been tinkering with some new foods lately, and this sweet, bubbly water is her favorite.

Lu Zheng took out two cups of soda with bamboo straws and gave them to the two women on his left and right.

Anyang took a sip, and his eyes suddenly sparkled, "Huh? What a special taste!"

She then took a few more gulps, and then couldn't help but burp.

Anyang's pretty face suddenly turned red and she felt extremely embarrassed.

"Hiccup~"

Qing Wan also tilted her head back and burped, looking very satisfied. "Yeah, it tastes great, this is soda!"

Lu Zheng changed the subject to cover up Anyang's embarrassment, "Why did the county lady come here to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival?"

Anyang said, "I heard that my nephew Dingyuan is the governor here, so I came to see him. I wanted to take him to Fengzhou to celebrate the festival, but I heard there is a special celebration tonight, so I don't plan to go back..."

The people sitting in the back had different expressions when they saw Lu Zheng and the Fengcheng County Lord chatting animatedly.

First there was An Dingyuan, and now there is An Yang. They didn’t expect that these royal family members would be so polite to Lu Zheng.

Could it be that Lu Zhengzhen has some connection with the royal family because of the previous divine gift?
The bigwigs of the local families in Hongzhou were all surprised.

When Li Mao saw this scene, he was glad that their Li family had made the right choice. Lu Zheng had these connections, so it would be easy for him to get control of their families with the government.

As the sun set, a full moon rose in the sky. On Wenmiao Hill, the venue was already packed with people, and many more stood around, eagerly waiting.

"Boom!"

On the mountain, war drums were beating, and the sound echoed in all directions.

Then, explosions sounded everywhere and colorful fireworks bloomed in the sky.

There are also practitioners who activate the formation to create various scenes that are dreamy and eye-catching.

Ordinary people had never seen such a scene before. They all looked up with gleaming eyes.

It lasted for half a quarter of an hour until the fireworks were exhausted and the illusion ended.

"Ouch!"

Soon, the sound of wolf howling echoed again.

On the tall and wide stage, giant wolves appeared and iron cavalry and armored guards appeared with great momentum.

The battle between the Wolf Guards and the Iron Cavalry Guards simulated a battlefield fight, which made people's blood boil.

In the audience, An Dingyuan was very happy and grinned, "This is my guard. What do you think, Aunt Anyang?"

"Yes, Not Bad……"

Anyang's little mouth was constantly talking, and her cheeks were puffed up from eating the snacks Lu Zheng gave her.

After a battle scene ended, actors came on stage and began to perform the story of Mulan joining the army.

"Ok?"

When Anyang saw this new play, he immediately sat up straight and became interested, not even bothering to eat his snacks.

An Jing seemed much calmer and watched attentively.

Others also watched with great interest.

The performance on stage touched people's hearts and expressed the feelings of family and country vividly.

"Don't laugh at me for sleeping drunk on the battlefield. How many men have ever returned from a battle in history..."

There is a singer with a faint voice, and the song ends with a poem.

The next new scene is the story of Liang Zhu.

A love tragedy that moved the audience.

As the music played, many people were moved to tears.

“They are so pitiful…”

Anyang sniffed and couldn't eat anymore.

Lu Zheng couldn't help but look at An Jing next to him and found that An Jing was rational and unmoved.

An Jing noticed Lu Zheng's gaze and said calmly, "No one can influence me with this."

She is not some pretty girl waiting to be married who would be sad because of these love stories.

When An Taixuan heard this, he couldn't help but blink, but after all, these looked like his children.

After Liang Zhu, there is the story of the landlord Huang Shiren.

After watching such a play, some people could not help but curse and were filled with indignation.

Others talked about their own tragic experiences and were unable to control themselves for a while.

Anyang was furious and slammed his chair, saying, "Who is this Huang Shiren? I'm going to chop him into pieces. He's so despicable!"

"Huang Shiren is dead." Lu Zheng paused, then added, "But there are many such people in this world. Perhaps, among those present here, there are such people."

Lu Zheng's voice was not loud, but people nearby could hear it clearly.

Some people felt a chill down their spines after hearing this.

They were afraid that if Lu Zheng named someone, he would be arrested and taken to the provincial government again.

Nowadays, some people call Lu Zheng "Lu Yanwang" behind his back. He is an existence that cannot be provoked and is more terrifying than the county magistrate.

The stories that follow are some heartwarming comedies.

After all, it is the Mid-Autumn Festival, so we should show more beauty, because reality is already bitter enough.

Finally, the performance ended with the Mid-Autumn Festival poem that was recently published and passed down through the ages.

"When will the bright moon appear? I raise my cup to ask the sky..."

The melodious singing echoed on Wenmiao Mountain for a long time.

In the main hall of the Confucian Temple on the top of the mountain, colorful air is floating.

The colorful air floated into the air, forming a thin colorful cloud that covered Wenmiao Mountain.

A light drizzle fell, sprinkling on everyone.

There are strands of spiritual energy that quietly penetrate into the body, making people feel like they are bathed in the spring breeze.

An Taixuan suddenly glared, and An Jing next to him also had a slightly changed expression.

There were also other people with high levels of Taoism who reacted.

"This is the grace of the saint!"

Someone exclaimed, "Colorful clouds are auspicious, and spiritual rain has descended. Bathing in blessings, ordinary people can be cured of all diseases, and those who are practicing can improve their Taoism!"

Some people did feel that their pain was alleviated.

An Dingyuan was shocked and said excitedly: "It must be that the saint saw the celebration we held!"

He had only seen such scenes during some large-scale sacrifices of the royal family.

Lu Zheng couldn't help but look at the Confucian Temple on the mountain from afar, his heart was in turmoil. Could it be that there really was a saint watching?

(End of this chapter)