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The bells stopped another quarter of an hour later.
All sixteen bells fell silent at once, and the room suddenly dropped into utter silence and stillness.[1]
That thing’s finally left.
* * *
After breakfast, with his spirits restored, He Lingchuan lounged with a toothpick in his mouth and said, “Come on. Let’s go have some tea.”
This time, they headed for Xiang Yan’s residence.
Though Xiang Yan had once taken an elixir of youth, he was eighty-four this year in actual years. And the elixir of youth was not truly an elixir of immortality. Like other old men, he slept lightly and rose early.
The whole Xiang household woke with him. Servants were already sweeping and sprinkling the courtyards.
Xiang Yan himself was feeding two red-beaked zebra finches.
Though they were bird monsters, they were actually smaller than ordinary birds of the same kind. They hopped through the branches and leaves, elegant in form and beautiful in plumage.
The morning sun had only just risen, the day’s heat had not yet caught up, and Xiang Yan was in rather a good mood.
At that moment, a servant came to report, “Master, the Crown Prince’s special envoy has come.”
Xiang Yan’s hand jerked. More than a dozen grains of millet scattered to the ground, and sparrows flew down from the treetops to peck at them in a flurry.
Why has the special envoy come again?
Xiang...
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