The Beacon of Kyushu

The crescent moon hangs high in the sky, and the breeze blows gently.

The Nanqing Palace was extremely quiet in the past two days, with a tense atmosphere everywhere, so tense that the servants and singing girls in the palace were all on edge. But tonight, the tense atmosphere was replaced by noise, and the actors who had not performed for two days took advantage of the good night to rehearse a new play. For a while, the sound of drums and music and singing shook the earth, and half of Tokyo City could hear it clearly.

The actors on the stage were busy rehearsing, and the singing girls and servants below were enjoying the fun. No one noticed when a dark shadow lurked on the beam under the Yin'an Hall. The dark shadow was well hidden, revealing only a pair of thief eyes, looking carefully at the stage in the garden, "I stole the golden maces of the Eighth Prince, but these guys not only didn't issue a nationwide arrest warrant for me, but also stopped investigating after only two days of assigning people to investigate, and instead focused on rehearsing here. Could it be that the golden maces I stole were fake?"

While the shadow was wondering, Lou Mingli suddenly pinched his waist and said loudly to the actors who were rehearsing, "Hey, everyone, work harder! His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu has returned to Beijing today, and will be invited to the palace to listen to the opera at noon tomorrow. At the speed we are going now, I'm afraid that His Royal Highness will arrive before we can finish rehearsing. By then, how much we earn is secondary. The most important thing is that our Yun Qingxiang, a century-old brand, will be destroyed. What have we relied on for so many years? Isn't it this brand? Who can afford it if it is destroyed!"

The actors sang more vigorously, and even the few parts that were not smooth before became smooth and natural after the encouragement of the troupe leader. Seeing that his words really worked, Lou Mingli was so happy that he grinned and began to dream of rising to a high position and becoming rich overnight.

"Zhao Yuanzuo will come at noon tomorrow?" The black shadow was slightly startled, and thought to himself, "Zhao Yuanzuo comes to Nanqing Palace now, and he will definitely ask about the golden mace. I just happen to eavesdrop on it. If the golden mace is real, I must find a way to leave Tokyo as soon as possible. If the golden mace is fake, I will have to do it again! However, Zhao Yuanzuo is extremely prominent both in the world and in the temple. You must be careful when he comes tomorrow, otherwise, once he is alarmed, I am afraid it will be dangerous!" After thinking about it, the black shadow jumped up, floated out of the palace wall, and disappeared into the night.

The next day, Chenshi.

Junyi Street in the early morning is even more deserted than during the day. There are very few pedestrians on the street. The morning light shines lonely on the empty stone road, which is deserted yet warm.

Soon, a white horse came slowly in the bright sunshine. The horse's four hooves seemed to be carved from white jade in the sunlight. They stepped on the blue-gray stone road, making crisp "da, da" sounds, which was particularly pleasing to the eye. The young man on the horse was dressed in white, with a golden belt around his waist. His eyebrows and eyes were so handsome that he seemed like a god. At this moment, he closed his eyes slightly, bowed his head and played the xiao. The generous and heroic music came out from the xiao and went straight to the sky.

In a blink of an eye, the sound of his xiao startled the birds in the city. As if they had heard the command, all kinds of birds stopped foraging, circled and flew into the sky, forming five lifelike phoenixes. The phoenixes sometimes danced gracefully, sometimes sang in unison, sometimes spread their wings and flew high, and sometimes swooped down. As the sound of the xiao became louder and louder, the phoenixes flew closer and closer, connected head to tail in the air, circling and wandering, and finally gathered into a giant phoenix that soared into the sky and dissipated among the blue sky and white clouds.

Such an amazing scene instantly shocked the entire city of Tokyo. Everyone knew that the noble and outstanding Prince Chu, the son of heaven who was well-versed in both literature and martial arts, had returned. Instantly, everyone in Tokyo knelt down and kowtowed to the phoenix in the sky, with a pious look as if a god had descended to the earth.

Zhao Yuanzuo was used to the people's behavior, so he naturally had no intention of riding his horse to watch the fun. Instead, he dismounted in front of Nanqing Palace in a familiar and graceful manner and walked towards the palace gate. He had been to Nanqing Palace several times before, and the gate of Nanqing Palace was open every day. Now the gate was closed, and there were two more guards in front of the gate.

One of the guards had sharp eyes and saw that the person coming was Zhao Yuanzuo, so he quickly came over and said, "Your Highness, why are you here? Now His Highness the Eighth Prince..."

Zhao Yuanzuo didn't wait for him to finish his words. He winked at him and whispered, "I have already arranged a clever plan to capture the thieves. You don't need to ask any more questions. Just make way!"

"Yes!" the guard said as he hurriedly walked to the front of the palace, gently pushed open the palace door, and made a gesture of invitation, "Your Highness, please come in. The Eighth Prince has been waiting for you in the palace for a long time!" Zhao Yuanzuo saw that he reacted quickly, smiled with satisfaction, strode into the Nanqing Palace, and went straight to the bedroom at the back.

Just as Zhao Yuanzuo entered the palace gate, the shadow arrived as expected. The owner of the shadow was thin and short, and his footsteps were as light as a civet cat. Just when Zhao Yuanzuo was about to arrive, he jumped onto the bracket opposite the bedroom without anyone noticing.

As soon as the shadow was lurking, Zhao Yuanzuo came to the bedroom and knocked on the door of the main hall. "Cousin, it's been years since we last met. Are you doing well? I, Zhao Yuanzuo, am invited to visit you. Please open the door." As soon as Zhao Yuanzuo finished speaking, a lazy and noble voice sounded in the hall, "Cousin, you are here. I just sang a song outside the palace and attracted the phoenix in the sky. Such a big gift is too much for me to bear!"

The two spoke loudly, and every word was heard by the shadow. The shadow was even more suspicious than last night, and said in surprise: "When I stole the golden mace that night, I remember that the Eighth Prince had the same voice, and it must be correct. If what I stole was really the concave golden mace bestowed by the Emperor Taizu, the Eighth Prince should be crying now, how can he still laugh? This is really strange!"

Zhao Yuanzuo slowly pushed open the palace door, walked into the palace with a smile, and closed the palace door casually. The shadow was lying under the bracket, and although it was barely visible, he could not see the face of the Eighth Prince. He wanted to get closer to see it clearly, but he was intimidated by Zhao Yuanzuo's martial arts and did not dare to act rashly.

Zhao Yuanzuo in the hall said, "Cousin, I heard that your golden mace was lost a few days ago. Is this true? The golden mace was given by Emperor Taizu, who also issued an imperial decree to grant it various privileges. If it is really lost, it is right to find it back!"

The Eighth Prince smiled nonchalantly, "Cousin, to be honest, I don't have any other abilities, but I do have foresight. When my father gave me the golden mace, I was too young to understand. Later, when I grew up a little, I thought that someone might come to steal the treasure, so I specially asked for a fake one. It's ridiculous that the thief stole a fake golden mace and was so proud of himself, thinking that he had picked up a treasure. Who would have thought that the real golden mace is still in my hand!"

Zhao Yuanzuo also laughed when he heard this, "Haha, cousin, you are really far-sighted. If I hadn't anticipated what would happen today and prepared a fake mace to deceive the thief, the consequences would be disastrous. However, cousin, please keep the real golden mace safe, otherwise it will be too late to regret if it is stolen again!"

The Eighth Prince said confidently, "Don't worry, cousin. The real golden mace has always been placed in a box beside my bed. This box was specially made by a master craftsman hired by the government. There are several mechanisms designed on it. If you encounter an ordinary petty thief, let alone breaking the mechanism to take out the golden mace, as long as he touches the box, the mechanism will be triggered immediately to alert the servants in the palace. He will have nowhere to escape."

Zhao Yuanzuo said, "That's the best. Since my cousin has arranged everything so well, I feel relieved. I heard that my cousin specially invited the Yunqingxiang Opera Troupe to perform in the palace to welcome me back to Beijing. Why don't you and I go and listen to the opera?"

The Eighth Prince smiled bitterly and said, "Cousin, I had planned everything well, but I suddenly felt unwell today, so I may not be able to watch the show with you. If you think it's boring to watch the show alone, why don't you ask Qingyu to accompany you? I want to sleep a little longer."

Zhao Yuanzuo asked with concern: "Cousin, what's wrong with you? Do you want me to call the imperial physician?"

The Eighth Prince said, "It's okay. This is just an old problem. It will be fine after two days of rest. You don't have to worry about me. Go to the garden and watch the show. Otherwise, my money will be wasted!"

"Okay, take care, cousin. I'll be there soon." Zhao Yuanzuo said as he slowly left the bedroom. Just as he was about to go to the garden to watch the show, he suddenly stopped and glanced at the corner where the shadow was hidden. He murmured, "If there are still thieves who dare to commit crimes in broad daylight, do they really think that the laws of our Song Dynasty are a joke?"

The black shadow thought that Zhao Yuanzuo had discovered him, and cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead. He originally wanted to just leave, but he was worried that he would completely alarm Zhao Yuanzuo and end up with his head and body separated. He had to suppress his fear and huddled on the beam without moving.

Zhao Yuanzuo only stopped for a moment, then walked towards the garden again. The shadow finally put his heart at ease. He was afraid that Zhao Yuanzuo would come back, so he didn't bother to tell whether the Eighth King in the palace was real or fake. He used his Qinggong to float away, waiting for the Eighth King to fall asleep tonight before finding out. (End of this chapter)