Practice begins with the awakening of the possessed old devil

Chapter 245 The Melancholy During the Banquet

The guard immediately replied honestly: "As Master Ni said, the younger one is Tang Jingzong, one of the 24 guards of the Longteng Guard, and Tang Ao's cousin!"

"Oh, is it Tang Jingzong, or the cousin of your great commander Tang Ao?"

Ni Qi showed a thoughtful and meaningful smile: "Do you want to know how many officials are absent from today's banquet this year?"

Tang Jingzong didn't answer, but just looked at Ni Qi quietly.

Ni Qi sneered, and said, "Tell me, it's only a list of two to three hundred people, and there are as many as five to sixty people absent. Isn't it strange?"

"It seems that many people are not eager to enjoy the moon banquet during this year's Mid-Autumn Festival, but are afraid to avoid it."

Tang Jingzong asked in surprise: "How could this be? This, this is an extraordinary and glorious event, how could you avoid it?"

Ni Qi glanced at him and asked calmly, "What do you think?"

Tang Jingzong hesitated and asked: "Could it be, could it be because the prince..."

Ni Qi snorted coldly and said, "These people are naturally the prince's followers in the court, because the prince was dispatched by the emperor to the front line of the Southern Conquest Army, and the prince will not be here this year during the Mid-Autumn Festival."

"These followers of his made an excuse not to attend the Mid-Autumn Festival feast tonight, so they showed their dissatisfaction and resistance. The excuse was to complain for the prince, but in fact it showed that they did not take the emperor seriously."

"They think that they can succeed in supporting the prince, and they will be the heroes of the dragon when the prince ascends the throne in the future, and they themselves don't have to show respect to the current emperor at all."

Tang Jingzong immediately muttered angrily: "It's really audacious, lawless..."

"Hey, I can't blame them. I've seen all these people. Most of them are the prince's henchmen. They all rely on catering to the prince all the way to promotion. Naturally, they follow the prince's lead."

"Oh, there is another strange thing. Da Ci'en Temple also declined tonight's banquet."

"More than a dozen young monks died in their temple last night, causing panic. The group of monks seems to be very unhappy recently."

This time Tang Jingzong was even more taken aback, and said loudly, "Did so many monks die overnight in Da Ci'en Temple?"

"It was so sudden, what was the cause of death?"

"And who is so bold, dare to go wild in Da Ci'en Temple?"

"What's even more amazing is that this guy is still under the watchful eyes of countless eminent monks in the Da Ci'en Temple and He Temple, and has committed this earth-shattering murder without anyone noticing it. It's simply unbelievable."

Ni Qi shook his head and said, "I don't know, I just got the news from this absence list."

"However, the incident at the Da Ci'en Temple is very strange. The Da Ci'en Temple is full of eminent monks with outstanding strength. Few people dare to break ground on Tai Sui's head. Now it is... really chilling!"

Tang Jingzong hesitated and said: "However, I heard that Da Ci'en Temple recently offended the prince, the Tai Sui, and then they started to have bad luck, and kept slipping into the trough, and everything went wrong."

"Now that there is such a big accident again, we should investigate the reason."

Ni Qi smiled slightly: "The Da Ci'en Temple will pursue this matter on its own. They have to give an explanation to the souls of the monks who died in their own temple. You and I don't have to worry about it."

"However, this accident gave them an excuse not to attend the Emperor's Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, which is quite strange."

Tang Jingzong frowned and thought: "The eminent monks of the Da Ci'en Temple are not coming, does this also lead to a group of officials who are inclined to the Da Ci'en Temple not coming?"

Ni Qi nodded approvingly, "Tang Jingzong, you are very experienced."

"You're right, otherwise there wouldn't be so many people missing."

After a short pause, he continued: "Besides, there are two people who are absent, they are Master Zhou and Master Liu of Honglu Temple that we all know."

Seeing Tang Jingzong nodding silently, but not speaking, Ni Qi pondered for a moment, then suddenly smiled and said:

"That's good, it saves a lot of trouble, and I don't have to socialize with those people. I'm in the mood to participate in this year's Mid-Autumn Festival feast."

Inside and outside the imperial garden, the emperor held a grand banquet for his ministers, and enjoyed the moon at the scene of Mid-Autumn Festival.

Ni Qi kept drinking and chatting, while carefully observing the expressions of the officials at the meeting. Beneath the joy on the surface, one could indeed feel the obvious uneasiness and fear.

Ni Qi knew very well what they were worried about, what they were afraid of, and what they were looking forward to.

Amidst the clamor of people, he suddenly felt a strong sense of urgency, which made him unable to breathe, and looked straight ahead.

The eight virtuous king Zhao Youting, who was dressed in brocade clothes and luxurious princely attire, was performing his duties like an outsider with a rigid and serious face, and his actions were so self-disciplined and confident.

Ni Qi sighed deeply in his heart, this person, the Eight Sage King Zhao Youting, he can really support the burden of the country.

However, the biggest crisis of the Nanqing court was not in the selection of successors or in the interior, but in the invasion from the northern Tianmeng cavalry, which could not resist the raging momentum of the opposing army.

Under such crisis and difficulties, can the Eight Worthy Kings really become the real dragon emperor who can finally clear the chaotic situation before Li Qing's eyes?

Ni Qi drank the wine in the glass, feeling a dull pain in his chest.

He told himself that he had to do more, more, the more the better.

Tang Jingzong came behind him silently, and said softly, "Master Ni, your complexion is not very good, are you alright?"

There was no one around Ni Qi, so Tang Jingzong was assigned by Tang Ao, the commander of Longteng Wei Da, to serve as Ni Qi's personal servant temporarily.

Ni Qi nodded: "Tang Jingzong, I'm too strong to drink, so you stand in my way, I'll go for a walk."

"Yes."

Hearing Tang Jingzong's affirmative answer, Ni Qi made some perfunctory words, then turned around and quietly exited the imperial garden.

Standing in the shadow under the eaves of the outer corridor of the Royal Garden Corridor, with the cool breeze blowing on his face, Ni Qi felt a lot clearer.

Because the banquet at the back and outside was not in front of Emperor Zhao An, everyone was more relaxed and had more fun, and no one noticed Ni Qi for a while.

Ni Qi walked away slowly along the shadow of the corridor, feeling intensely lonely again.

On this Mid-Autumn Festival night, no matter how hard he tried, he finally couldn't resist the longing that surged from the deepest part of his heart.

Yes, he missed them, so if his parents and family members in the Blue Star World before he traveled here, if it was Mid-Autumn Festival now, without him, would they miss him and be sad too?

He thought it would feel better to think of himself as a native of this world, but only now did he realize that he was just deceiving himself.