Chapter 141 Everyone Sings "The Story of the Stone"

The Grand Dynasty Palace.

Emperor Yan was crawling at the feet of a Taoist boy, trembling with fear.

The Taoist boy snorted coldly: "Tell me, how did the Great Heavenly Official allow him to become so powerful?"

Emperor Yan shuddered and looked at the old eunuch Yan Zhengli beside him.

Yan Zhengli also knelt down. Seeing Emperor Yan looking at him, he sighed inwardly, "Reporting to the Heavenly Lord, the Great Heavenly Official was only circulated in Linjiang City at first. There were countless storytellers who sang The Story of the Stone. The Great Heavenly Official only mentioned it briefly, but the story was really lamentable, so the people recited it orally. Literary talents also wrote books about it and imitated its style. For a time, books such as The Supplement to The Story of the Stone and The Lost Romance were published one after another."

As Yan Zhengli spoke, he thought of the condensed version of A Dream of Red Mansions at home. He had asked a literary master to compile and edit it into a book, and he also asked a master painter to illustrate it. It was much more elegant than the storyteller's vernacular stories.

Seeing the Taoist boy's eyes sweeping over him, Yan Zhengli coughed lightly and said, "The Tianguan Temple has been completed. The people are all curious and flock out to burn incense. The temple priest has also invited a doctor to perform his magic. He doesn't charge for the consultation and the price of the medicine is also very low."

"Some people also claim that the Great Heavenly Official is a natural love official who is in charge of relationships and childbirth. All believers who want to get married or have children can get some food and oil from the Heavenly Official Temple to supplement their household expenses. Strangely enough, there are people who really worshipped the Heavenly Official Temple and gave birth to a baby boy ten months later."

"The people were blindly obedient, and the Tianguan Temple has since expanded and become popular in every household."

After Yan Zhengli finished speaking, he handed over the summary of the information and a copy of The Story of the Stone.

The Taoist boy flipped through the pages. It was just that his heart had been hanging in the sky for too long that he didn't notice the ants at his feet, but he was not stupid.

"This matter is meticulously planned, with each move linked to the next. It is a big deal. There must be someone behind this. Have you found out?"

Yan Zhengli bowed his head and said: "That temple keeper Feng Xiao has no foundation, it seems he appeared out of thin air, please punish him, Immortal Lord."

"There's no need to investigate if you can't find out. He can do this and knows a lot about the way of incense. He must be a banished immortal like me. You can't find such a person." said the Taoist boy.

He felt a little strange in his heart. His restless old friends naturally had the means and strength to do so, but this time their moves were a little strange, as if a high-ranking chess player had descended to the mortal world to buy the hearts of the chess pieces, which were as muddy as sand.

This made the Taoist boy, who had been hiding behind the scenes and controlling the situation, feel a little awkward, as if he had defeated his master with random punches.

"Has the Tianguan Temple checked to see if there is any unusual movement of the statue? He is a good-for-nothing who didn't even bother to list the "A Dream of Red Mansions" as a banned book and label the Tianguan Temple as an obscene place?" The Taoist boy suddenly flew into a rage.

Yan Zhengli and Emperor Yan didn't dare to say a word. After a while, the Taoist boy regained his composure.

'This incense is really poisonous. Even my emotions are changing and I can't suppress them.'

The Taoist boy was not like this at first. He was of the fourth rank in heaven and the immortal he served was even more amazing. On weekdays, he was served by his subordinates and respected by his colleagues. He could even go to the banquets held by the immortal.

His name is Leng Yanxian, and as his name suggests, the word "cold" in his name indicates that he is aloof and cold. He is also an otherworldly immortal who sits and watches the clouds rise and the flowers fall, and travels freely in the Milky Way when he has nothing to do.

But now his immortal aura has faded, he has been stained with dust, and even his temperament has been distorted. Seeing that the Taoist boy has regained his composure, Yan Zhengli said, "The Tianguan Temple has only a dozen people, and they don't accept guests. They only take in homeless people for a few days. As for the obscene sacrifice..."

Yan Zhengli glanced at Emperor Yan and said, "Because your majesty was deceived by the traitors, you accepted the silver offered by the priest of the Tianguan Temple and recorded the Great Tianguan in the pantheon and entered him into the official register."

Actually, this is not the case. Since the construction of Tianguan Temple began, Gu Qingyuan sent people to the Imperial Observatory to make arrangements and offer silver to the national treasury. He was also introduced to the emperor and offered ten thousand taels of silver and countless treasures to the inner treasury. Emperor Yan was so delighted that he wrote a couplet with the words "Qingzheng Tianguan". Now it has been framed together with the documents issued by the Imperial Observatory and hung in the most conspicuous position in the main hall of Tianguan Temple.

As for being listed as a banned book... that would only make the book famous. If people who don't know about the book get to know about it, they will try every means to get a copy to see what kind of content can be listed as a banned book.

The Taoist boy understood everything, and sighed, but did not blame him: "Okay, I don't blame you. Don't provoke him for now. I will take care of this matter. Has the rise of the Great Heavenly Official affected the popularity of my temple?"

He has been running the Yan Dynasty for a thousand years, so naturally he will not fall behind. His title is 'The Mighty Heavenly Cold Light Leng Chiyan Spiritual Immortal Lord', and he is the orthodox of the Great Yan Dynasty. You can not believe in anything else, but you have to believe this; you can believe in anything else, but you have to believe this as well. As for whether he is sincere or not, that depends on one's own opinion.

This matter is also simple. The Imperial Astronomical Observatory has revised the Genealogy of Heavenly Gods and the Map of Shinto. From the Immortal Lord downwards, all gods, big and small, are arranged, each with their own duties. The Taoist boy is naturally among them. It's nothing more than raising the position of the god. As for sitting on the seat of the Lord of Shinto, the Taoist boy dares not do so for the time being. If the Jedi Tiantong collapses, then there will be a reckoning, and he will be skinned alive if he doesn't die.

"It doesn't have any impact. We still need to see the income from incense coins this year." Yan Zhengli replied.

The Taoist boy waved his hand: "There is nothing for you to wait for, please leave."

After the two men pushed him down, the Taoist boy stood up and went to the inner room. There was only a portrait inside. He burned incense and kowtowed, closed his eyes and prayed. After a while, he seemed to have received a decree, and then sat up straight: "Great Heavenly Official, I will keep you for a few days, and then make you vomit out everything you have eaten."

Xu Zhai.

"It's been so long, even the kids on the street can play house like Dream of the Red Chamber, why haven't the fairies taken the bait yet?"

Gu Qingyuan looked into the distance, feeling depressed as if he had set the bait but no fish came.

These days have been quite fulfilling. Welfare targets have been set for believers, and several public opinion campaigns have been organized. Only then has the name of this Great Heavenly Official spread.

"A Dream of Red Mansions" was decided by Gu Qingyuan after careful consideration. If the story is to be profound, it must be sad enough, but it cannot be sad from the beginning.

Ninety-nine percent of the words are needed to describe its perfection, its beauty. Others fall in love with it, never forget it, remember its goodness, and then at the final moment, ruthlessly smash it. So the more you loved it before, the more regret you have.

Therefore, the famous movies that have been passed down, such as "Butterfly Lovers", "Romeo and Juliet", "Léon: The Professional" and other famous works are praised by thousands of people.

It must also fit the current context and be interesting enough. At the present time, most of the plots are clichés. A scholar secretly meets a lady from a noble family and the top scholar in the imperial examination are, after all, stories written by down-and-out scholars. They only seek these two things.

That's why the extremely emotional and tragic "A Dream of Red Mansions" came into being. In fact, Gu Qingyuan also wanted to create Pu Da's "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio", but this book was too realistic and too abstract in this world, so he gave up.

"It's worth my painstaking effort to copy the book and become a copyist."

(End of this chapter)