Chapter 7

Gan Tian settled in Jinling Cheng the next day, the City God Temple fair's welcoming the gods □□ began, and the whole city of Jinling Cheng almost fell into a frenzy!

After breakfast in the morning, she hurriedly met up with Xiao Tong.

Xiao Tong is a local of Jinling Cheng; his grandfather specially handles the attire for the god-welcoming ceremony, so he knows the whole procedure inside out. Having him as a guide is certainly much more fun than wandering aimlessly.

'Just wait here, the welcoming god procession will surely come this way!' Xiao Tong specially looked after Gan Tian.

Gan Tian looked up and saw the windows on both sides of the buildings wide open, already many people guarding the windows, mostly wearing pearl hairpins and splendid clothes. She asked Xiao Tong: 'Can we go upstairs to watch the welcoming of the gods?'

Xiao Tong's face showed difficulty: 'The upstairs has all been booked; going up now would cost money, do you have that much money?'

Gan Tian shook her head, letting out a small sigh.

When the welcoming of the gods actually began, Xiao Tong led Gan Tian to occupy a good spot—actually the best spot is surely upstairs on both sides of the street where the welcoming god □□ procession passes, with a good view and relaxed, no need to crowd with others. But such spots were already booked in advance; if you want such a spot at the last minute, you have to pay a high price.

Gan Tian never lacked money, but this time she had sneaked out, didn't deliberately bring much money, planning to return home when her money ran out.

Although she didn't bring much money, thanks to the very □□ purchasing power, she had been living quite comfortably along the way. But this only applies to ordinary eating and drinking; if she really wanted to make any extraordinary expenditure, it would definitely be a fast track to bankruptcy.

'It's fine, watching from here is great!' Xiao Tong comforted Gan Tian. When he sensed the □□ procession approaching and could hear the drum and gong sounds, he reminded Gan Tian: 'Listen! The people welcoming the gods are coming!'

Sure enough, they came!

Firecrackers were set off along both sides of the road, crackling loudly. The procession's vanguard were the traffic-clearing colonels, who drove the onlookers too close to the road to both sides; then came those waving small flags and performing fire-and-water meteors. After that came the band, whose main instruments were gongs and drums.

After the band came the firecracker team, whose duty was to set off firecrackers all along the way.

After the firecracker team came the dragon and lion dances, performed by highly skilled locals, very splendid, eliciting continuous applause from the onlooking populace.

Besides the dragon and lion dances, there were also those operating dry boats, riding flower carts, and parading lantern carts.

After these passed, one could see all sorts of 'immortals'—in fact they are the City God's retinue, such as the Sun Patrol God, Night Patrol God, Black and White Impermanence, Civil and Military Judges, the Twenty-Four Office Great Gods, etc., down to various minor officials. These are certainly not played by real people, but by specialists donning the costumes to portray them.

These costumes are the handiwork of Xiao Tong's grandfather and several other master craftsmen.

After that comes the ceremonial guard carrying various weapons, then another band, though this time the band's instruments are more varied.

After those holding the solemnity and avoidance plaques passed, the divine palanquin finally arrived!

The divine palanquin, over ten feet long and six or seven feet wide, carried by twelve people, has in its center the original City God statue enshrined in the City God Temple. Before the palanquin are those holding command flags and those presenting the imperial seal; on both sides are flag, canopy, umbrella, and fan bearers; behind are those carrying incense burners, offering trays, and inner core lamps, etc. —in fact, all of these can be collectively called the 'ceremonial guard'.

After the ceremonial guard passed come the various performance and entertainment troupes.

The ceremonial guard also includes some performance and entertainment elements, but its main purpose is not performance, so there is still a distinction.

There are dancers, acrobats, stilt-walkers, opera singers, flower-drum players... very lively and bustling.

After these passed comes the final part of the welcoming god procession, the so-called 'rear-support troupe'.

This is the part where some civilians participate; the populace lining both sides to watch the welcoming god □□ can also join. However, they may not randomly insert themselves into the front ranks; they can only follow behind. As the □□ passes through more streets, the rear-support troupe behind it grows larger in scale.

Some people just join in, but more people make slight preparations—for example, also dressing up as ghosts and gods, or simply holding a small flag or wearing a mask, which counts as participation.

At this moment the whole city's people really went mad, wildly singing, dancing, and making a ruckus—who normally dares to let loose like that? But today is different; no one blames anyone for outrageous behavior, nor finds it strange.

From the upstairs on both sides, people kept throwing down money, clattering away, all brand-new copper coins!

Compared to those people, Gan Tian was also quite enjoying herself, but not to the point of losing herself. She glanced sideways at Xiao Tong, his cheeks flushed red, a sheen of sweat on his forehead. His hands were raised high, shouting enthusiastically! His eyes were fixed only on the □□ procession, completely oblivious to anything else.

When it came to the rear-support troupe, Xiao Tong obviously wanted to join, but thinking that he had brought Gan Tian to watch the welcoming of the gods, he hesitated a bit.

Gan Tian considerately spoke first: 'Xiao Tong ge, go join the rear-support troupe! I won't go; I originally planned to wander around this afternoon and buy some toys and special products.'

To avoid making things difficult for him, Gan Tian slipped the small colored flag she had bought earlier into Xiao Tong's hand: 'Xiao Tong ge, go have fun! I'm going elsewhere.'

Saying that, she squeezed out of the crowd—now there are really too many people; at this moment she vanished from sight, and wanting to find her again would be extremely difficult!

Having witnessed the welcoming god assembly, Gan Tian felt the trip was worthwhile... At home she had also seen some entertaining-the-gods rituals, but her family follows the nature-god lineage, whose liveliness naturally cannot compete with the City God based on popularity!

Even if she didn't have the ordinary folk's fervor, the surrounding atmosphere influenced her, and at this moment her face also turned slightly red.

She hopped in place twice, then decided to first go eat something—she had had breakfast this morning, but after so long she was hungry.

This time Gan Tian didn't go to the snack stalls, but went to a roast duck shop... speaking of which, Jinling Cheng's roast duck is also famous; having come this once, she definitely wanted to give it a try.

People of Jinling Cheng are skilled at cooking duck, with many varieties of duck delicacies. Gan Tian not only ate delicious roast duck, but also drank duck blood vermicelli soup—especially fresh and delicious.

Deliciously satisfying~~

'Miss, half a roast duck is two silver qian, a bowl of duck blood vermicelli soup is fifteen wen!' The waiter saw her gesture and came over to settle the bill and collect payment.

It's considerably more expensive than similar food at the outside snack stalls, but understandable—they have higher rent costs. Moreover, today is the temple fair's peak, with more people, so a price hike is quite normal.

She took out some silver bits and copper coins, settled the bill, and prepared to continue strolling. But as she stepped out of the roast duck shop, she suddenly had a feeling; she looked back, seeing nothing special... perhaps she was just too sensitive, and the feeling was mistaken.

Thinking that, Gan Tian continued to stroll about carefree.

Only when she wandered to a place with fewer people did she feel that she might really be being followed.

Who was following her? She didn't know, but could only be sure the follower was an ordinary person. Since it's an ordinary person, there's no pressure—she always felt her family might suddenly snatch her back home; if it weren't that, there wouldn't be much pressure.

Given that she currently lacks the ability to deal with bad people, Gan Tian didn't provoke trouble or act tough; instead, she very timidly returned to the inn where she was staying. Although it's a pity not to play when having fun, it's still better to be cautious.

After resting in the inn for an afternoon and taking a nap, by evening Gan Tian came out again!

Just in time to visit the night market!

As for the person she had sensed following her earlier, even if they harbored ill intent, they should have dispersed—she had only just arrived in Jinling Cheng, hadn't offended anyone, nor done anything eye-catching. Even if someone had ill intent, they weren't targeting her specifically! It's more like they spotted her in the bustling market and thought she'd make a good target.

That's all.

And once such a target is lost, they'd look for the next one—never heard of a pickpocket preparing to strike and then going home; thieves will still lie in wait half a day at someone's doorstep, waiting for another chance!

Of course, for safety, Gan Tian still didn't go into alleys and backstreets; she stuck to the main streets and wandered the famous night market of Jinling Cheng.

It's not that she's gone berserk and defied heaven, nor could she act wildly.

'Quite clever!' a scar-faced man spat: 'Following this young lass was discovered!'

Beside him was a lanky youth, his features appeared proper, yet he inexplicably gave off a sense of slyness and lewdness. He followed with a 'hehe' laugh twice, then said: 'What's so clever about it? It's just a young lass! Big Brother Dayou doesn't need to worry; Xiao Hu is just starting to follow along in doing things, inexperienced, that's why he noticed the clue. But he's clever, he can turn back later!'

The scar-faced man gave a half-smile glance at the lanky youth: 'Knowing you two are fellow townsmen, no need to speak well for him—I know he's capable! His actions are a bit clumsy, but he still has some skill in reading people; that earlier 'how class' fellow is a real sharp one! This one is even better!'

The lanky youth kept nodding, not daring to say more.

'Alright, get ready—inside the city it's probably not a good time to make a move... let's talk about outside the city.'

Hearing the scar-faced man say that, the lanky youth hesitated a bit. He wondered: 'Big Brother Dayou, is this really necessary? It's just a young lass; such a big deployment seems more like a big business!'

They're all kidnappers; compared to some small-time crooks, they operate on a larger scale—the whole gang numbers about ten! And every member is tough. That's why, besides abducting people, they'll also turn to banditry when a good chance comes.

The so-called "big business" just means robbery.

"How isn't that big business?" Dao Ban Lian rubbed his hands, feeling a bit proud as he pointed at the hemp stalk: "Don't say big brother's been hiding things; this time I'll show you!"

"Is pulling off a bandit raid really big business? Ordinary merchants can only make a few hundred taels of silver as capital. You know, fencing stolen goods involves a loss—when it reaches us, losing half is still acceptable. Add the trouble before and after, and it's not as easygoing as our usual line of work."

"But if it's such a young lady, it's different! Your eyesight is no good—you can't compare to Xiao Hu... I don't know if he's just a blind cat finding a dead rat, or if he really has the talent for this line of work. Heh, this young lady, for now we only know she's a beauty in the making, but we don't realize that not all beauties-in-the-making are the same. Some look alike at twelve or thirteen, but by seventeen or eighteen they're completely different."

"Once we get this haul, I'll look up my old flame—she knows the ropes. As for this young lady, if she brings in a thousand or so taels, that'll be us doing her a favor."

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Thanks to the little angels who voted for me as overlord or contributed nutrient solution between 2020-04-11 07:48:11 and 2020-04-12 08:12:17~

Thanks to the little angels who contributed nutrient solution: A Lei wants to sleep early, 30 bottles; Qin Xin, 10 bottles; Bi Shui Ling Luan, 5 bottles; Fenghuang Hua You Kai, 1 bottle.

Thank you all very much for your support; I'll continue to work hard!