The Guangde Garden

Chapter 585: Shangjing City

On the main street of Shangjing City, Lü Zhuangyuan was at that moment sitting inside a sedan chair, holding his little grandson Lü Tongsheng, carefully peering out at the shops lining the street.

The lavish decor inside the carriage made him understand that this place was absolutely prime real estate. In the past, it was definitely not a place someone of his low-class status could ever have come.

He gave his little grandson a vigorous kiss on the cheek, his white beard making the boy wail.

"Tongsheng, my little ancestor! Look, look! Our Lü family—this time we really have smoke rising from the ancestral grave!"

"All my life, I dreamed, and I never really thought I'd live to see the day I rode in a sedan chair, hehehe. So this is what it's like to ride in a sedan chair." Lü Zhuangyuan gently bounced his bottom on the seat, his heart brimming with delight.

"Urgh—" Hearing the disgusting sound outside, Lü Zhuangyuan frowned. He lifted the curtain to look back and saw his eldest son, Lü Juren, sticking his head out of the sedan chair, vomiting his breakfast in big gulps.

Seeing the minced meat and white flour in the vomit, Lü Zhuangyuan's eyes filled with irrepressible heartache. "What are you doing! Juren! Look at the ground! Such good things you've wasted! That could be exchanged for silver, how much would that be worth?"

His face deathly pale, Lü Juren suppressed his nausea and said to his father, "Dad, this sedan chair is swaying and making me sick. Can I get out and walk for a bit?"

"You don't even know how to enjoy good fortune! Shut your mouth! If you throw up again, I'll make you eat it all back!"

Lü Juren nodded bitterly, covered his mouth, and ducked his head back inside.

Luckily, he wasn't tormented for long. After about the time it takes half an incense stick to burn, the sedan chair carrying the Lü Family Troupe slowly came to a stop.

By the time Lü Zhuangyuan carried his grandson out of the sedan chair, a three-story blue-green building stood before him. On it, a large red plaque bore three big characters: Guangde Garden.

Lü Zhuangyuan's eyes were wide open; without blinking, he slowly walked inside.

The roof ridge, the pillars, the beams, the doors and windows.

Exquisite relief carvings, openwork carvings, colorful paintings—his eyes couldn't take it all in. Not to mention the places that were gilded and silver-plated.

Lü Zhuangyuan was completely stunned by this place. He had never seen such a beautiful location.

When Lü Zhuangyuan's gaze finally settled on the stage inside the garden, the accompanying eunuch approached cautiously and said, "Elder Lü, this is the opera garden the Emperor has gifted to you."

"This, this… this…" Lü Zhuangyuan stuttered as if possessed by Gao Zhijian. "This… this is mine?"

"Yes. Are you satisfied with it? If you're not, you can take your time looking around all of Shangjing City until you find one that pleases you."

Lü Zhuangyuan couldn't hear anything else at that moment. He only heard the word "is."

His eyes reddened, he let out trembling, meaningless moans and dashed toward the stage like a madman. Then, as if possessed, he circled the pillars and the platform over and over, touching the floor tiles with his hands again and again, nearly sticking his tongue out to lick them.

"Dad! Dad! Stop it!" Lü Juren and Lü Xiucai forcibly pulled him down.

Once he was off the stage, seeing that Lü Zhuangyuan was still in that dazed state, Lü Xiucai spat into his palm, wound up, and slapped him hard across the face several times.

The sharp pain finally brought Lü Zhuangyuan back to his senses. He stared at Lü Xiucai in shock. "You hit me?"

"Pah! How embarrassing. Don't tell anyone I'm your son." Lü Xiucai's face was full of contempt.

"How dare you hit me!?" Lü Zhuangyuan rolled up his sleeves and raised his pipe.

But in the end, he didn't end up fighting with his youngest son, because a crowd of people was gathering around from all sides of the garden.

"Feng Family Troupe pays respects to the Master." With a rustling sound, this group of over a hundred people—men, women, old, and young—knelt down before Lü Zhuangyuan.

"Oh dear, you mustn't, you mustn't—this will shorten my lifespan!" Startled, Lü Zhuangyuan quickly pushed his two sons, trying to avoid their kowtows.

"Elder Lü, do accept them. What use is an opera garden without an opera troupe? From now on, with them, the whole Guangde Garden will be making money hand over fist—no problem."

After repeated refusals, when he realized what the other party was saying was true, Lü Zhuangyuan finally stood before them, somewhat nervously.

"Feng Family Troupe pays respects to the Master." With a rustling sound, this group of over a hundred people—men, women, old, and young—addressed Lü Zhuangyuan again.

This time, Lü Zhuangyuan didn't dodge. Standing before the crowd, his whole body felt numb and tingly, as if floating on air. "Say… fellow performers, would you mind saying that one more time?"

Although the crowd was a bit puzzled, when they saw the eunuch gently wave his hand beneath his horsetail whisk, they repeated it once more. "Feng Family Troupe pays respects to the Master."

"Hehehehe." Lü Zhuangyuan laughed like a fool, as if he could barely hold himself back from jumping up. "Don't… don't stop!"

"Feng Family Troupe pays respects to the Master." "Hehehehe."

Lü Juren stood to the side watching him. Compared to Lü Zhuangyuan's reaction, he was calmer. After all, this opera garden was given to his father by the Emperor; as long as his father was still alive, this place had nothing to do with him.

But even so, he was still very excited. Gao Zhijian, that big simpleton, had become the Emperor and even given their family such a grand gift. It all felt like a dream.

He turned his head to look at his younger brother, Lü Xiucai, only to find him picking his nose with a look of extreme impatience.

Feeling his elder brother's gaze, Lü Xiucai pulled his finger out, rubbed his two fingers together, and flicked it toward Lü Zhuangyuan. "If there's nothing else, I'm leaving first. You stay here and watch this old coot lose his mind."

With that, Lü Xiucai, carrying his copper coin sword on his back, turned and walked out of the opera garden.

"Hey! Xiucai, where are you going?"

"The others are getting ready to enter the palace to see my master. Of course, I'm going to follow along and have a look. I heard my master has become incredibly powerful now—maybe he'll teach me one of those amazing techniques." With that, Lü Xiucai ran toward the palace gates.

Hurrying along the way, he finally caught up to the others' sedan chairs just before the palace gates. Although the sedan chairs didn't require walking, they weren't exactly fast either.

"Hey! Lü Xiucai! What are you doing here? You look as tired as a dog!" Gouwa, draped in silk, leaned half his body out of his sedan chair and teased him.

"Screw you! Hey, is it just you guys going into the palace?" Lü Xiucai peered at the other sedan chairs, finding only Chun Xiaoman, Zhao Wu, Yang Xiaohai, and Gouwa.

"What, you got a problem? Let me tell you, entering the palace is a big deal. The idiot didn't ask for you, so don't you go sticking your nose in shamelessly."

"Hmph. You say that, but I'm not going to see him. I'm going to see my master." As he spoke, Xiucai jumped into Gouwa's sedan chair.

"Hey! You! Get out of here! This sedan chair only seats one person!"

"Don't be so stingy! If I hadn't saved you that night, you would have been killed by that Daoist. You still owe me a favor!"

"Get lost! That night, I was the one who saved you!"

Amid the swaying of the sedan chair, they slowly made their way through the wide-open palace gates.