Chapter 1716: Stinginess and New-Style Plays

On the west side of the Tower of Time, Code Plaza.

Compared to the Central Plaza in Savile Town, Code Plaza is somewhat larger, and since Daxia Territory is currently in a state of development, the residents are mostly concentrated in their living areas, making it very convenient to travel to and from Code Plaza, and the distance is also shorter.

A few years ago, when the territory's population was small, the territory basically couldn't put on any decent celebrations, but now the population has reached seventy or eighty thousand, almost catching up to Savile Territory.

When Xia Duo returned, except for the area around the Code Sculpture in the center which was reserved for the Prayer Ceremony, the rest of the plaza was packed with people.

However, although there were many people, it did not appear chaotic.

Among the crowd were a large number of security officers wearing eye-catching orange uniforms, dividing the entire plaza into several sections; this formed a sharp contrast to the wave-like, overlapping crowds in the Central Plaza of Savile Town.

These sections even left dedicated passages for the people inside to temporarily enter or leave the plaza.

Of course, the various sections were not exactly the same; some were larger, some smaller, and some even had members of the Territory Culture and Education Department performing tricks or plays.

Others were quietly watching performances or entertaining themselves, but in any case, clear distinctions could still be seen.

Seeing this scene, Xia Duo couldn't help but think of the scene when his school held assemblies on the playground during his middle school years, only the school didn't have as many people back then as there are now.

And after just one glance, Xia Duo could see that Code Plaza should only be a "main venue," and it was estimated that a small half of the people had been arranged at the "branch venue," which was over at Altar Square.

……

When Xia Duo and Niya appeared at the foot of the Code Sculpture, Laidun received notice immediately and brought several newly trained rookie Priests to push through the crowd from outside the plaza to arrive before Xia Duo.

"My Lord, the arrangements at Altar Square are complete. If there are no other instructions, the Prayer Ceremony can begin here."

"Then let's begin!"

"Yes."

Laidun responded, then immediately signaled the new Priests to take their positions before the Code Sculpture, and subsequently announced to the crowd watching the ceremony in the plaza—

"The Prayer Ceremony begins!"

"Great Lord of Radiance, thank you for bestowing upon us the sunlight!"

……

Laidun had originally come out of the Temple in Savile Town, and there was not much difference between the Prayer Ceremonies of the two places; as for the timing, it was determined by the height of the sun, and the two places were basically synchronized.

As the ceremony progressed, the Holy Light enveloping the Code Sculpture became increasingly apparent, but until the end of the ceremony, Xia Duo did not wait for any Divine Miracle to appear.

In this Prayer Ceremony, he had let Laidun "report" the achievements of the Daxia Standard Weights and Measures to the above; he had originally thought the Lord of Radiance would at least show some sign, but he hadn't expected such stinginess.

After the ceremony ended, Xia Duo called Laidun to his side and asked in a low voice, "Did that one have any special reaction?"

"No." Laidun shook his head, his expression somewhat dejected, "Only the routine feedback of Divine Grace, nothing else."

"Forget it, we just need to do our own work well."

"Mm."

Under Xia Duo's influence, Laidun's thinking had also changed quite a bit; at least he would no longer, like in the past, view Divine Grace as the sole standard for whether one was practicing the tenets of the gods.

It could even be said that Laidun already had his own understanding of the Doctrine, and although he was still influenced by the original Doctrine, it could be said that he had walked a path that truly met his own inner needs.

After all, wanting to be completely unaffected is impossible.

A person's life is inherently meant to be subject to various influences from the outside world, some deep and some shallow; the difference lies only in whether the process of influence is one that one truly accepts.

Some people are influenced without realizing it; they do not question the process of influence and only start from the results, and in the end, they will almost inevitably lose themselves and become slaves to desire.

Xia Duo was not sure which type Laidun belonged to, but he could be very certain that he himself was definitely not the kind of person who didn't question the process of influence.

He insisted on Meditation Training every day to ensure that the changes in his personality could always be accepted by the self at the current moment, rather than directly accepting a personality that had already changed.

Of course, Xia Duo could not draw a conclusion on which of these two types was better or worse; constantly accepting a brand-new self might not be a bad attitude toward life, it was just that he himself preferred to make the development of his personality more controllable.

……

After the ceremony, although the sun was still overhead, it had already shifted to the west side. Laidun still had to go to Altar Square to wrap things up, so Xia Duo did not keep him.

Afterwards, Xia Duo saw the differences in the celebration procedures between Daxia Territory and Savile Territory.

After the Prayer Ceremony, in Savile Territory, the lord would take the priests to distribute Holy Water to the residents; this activity would last until night. Of course, the lord only needed to make a gesture at the beginning, as no one would really stand there until night.

This activity basically continued the traditions of the Netherese, but nowadays, more and more territories are abandoning tradition.

Like here in Daxia Territory, Xia Duo had not held any Holy Water distribution activities from the very beginning.

After the ceremony, Jibu, the head of the Territory Security Bureau, began to adjust the distribution of the sections in the plaza, the general direction being to move the people in the middle to the periphery and let the people on the periphery come to the middle.

As for why.

That was, of course, because the area where the Code Sculpture was located would simultaneously stage new-style plays in four directions, created by the Territory Culture and Education Department and approved by Xia Duo.

The actors included members of the Culture and Education Department, but more were ordinary residents of the territory.

In fact, these new-style plays were already widely circulated in the territory, such as "From Netherese Slave to Daxia Citizen," "Daxia Legend," "New Territory Customs," and over thirty others.

They involved rich themes and almost covered every aspect of life in the territory; this was actually also a part of the territory's New Life Movement.

In this current era, there were very few ways for ordinary people to be entertained, and Xia Duo's promotion of new-style plays (similar to stage plays on Earth) in the territory deeply resonated with the hearts of the people.

Even if most residents hadn't seen all thirty-plus plays, they could almost recite the classic scenes from them off the top of their heads.

The second half of the Midsummer Festival was, in fact, a dedicated session for plays.

Besides the entertainment purpose, it was more important to utilize the Divine Miracle Universal Knowledge effect of the Code Sculpture, allowing the residents near the sculpture to integrate their understanding of the Daxia Code during the process of watching the plays.

When Xia Duo first heard that the Code Sculpture could be used this way, he immediately ordered the Territory Culture and Education Department to hurry and create a batch of new-style plays that focused more on legal education, similar to the legal education films from Xia Duo's hometown.

But unfortunately, Xia Duo knew about this matter quite late; for this Midsummer Festival, there was only one specialized legal education play being performed.

It was titled "Wendy Johnson Buys Melons." Xia Duo had only read the script and thought it was quite interesting at the time; he just didn't know how the effect would be when performed live.