chapter 0587 part 2
"Incense of Faith..."
Emperor Tang's gaze flickered slightly. He took a deep breath. The incense aura permeating the city was like all rivers flowing into the sea, like young swallows returning to their nest, falling behind him. *Thump-thump!*
Emperor Tang rode the white horse slowly along the Bluestone Road in the Small Town. The hawking sounds along the way attracted the Toddler's attention. She widened her round black eyes; everything seemed very novel to her. From time to time, she stretched out her chubby fingers, pointing at the things on the small stalls.
"Grandpa Tang, I want that, I want that!" The Toddler gnawed on her fingers, saliva flowing down the corner of her mouth. She shook Emperor Tang's arm, burrowing her head into his embrace again and again, and said coquettishly.
In a short while, the Toddler's arms were full of various ragdolls, dough figurines, sugar figurines... For this, Emperor Tang even specially spent a few copper coins on the street to get a bamboo basket to put her little toys in.
"Wonton, wonton!"
The sugar figurine in the Toddler's hand had just had two bites taken out of it when her round black eyes were attracted by a Wonton Stall by the Roadside. She pointed at the steaming wontons, twisting in Emperor Tang's embrace and burrowing in, saying.
Emperor Tang dotingly rubbed the Toddler's head, held her, and dismounted, coming to the wonton stall.
"Guest, your horse!"
The wonton stall wasn't big, only three tables. The one cooking the wontons was an Old Man in his fifties, who looked weathered and experienced. He looked troubled at this white horse. His was just a small stall facing the street, and there was no place to tie the horse!
"No matter, my horse is quite intelligent, no need to mind it!" Emperor Tang threw a piece of loose silver to the Old Man: "Two bowls of wontons, a cage of baozi, the rest is a tip!"
"Thank you, noble! Please sit, this old man will cook the wontons for you right away!"
The Old Man grabbed the piece of silver. Seeing Emperor Tang's attire, he took a clean rag and wiped a table two or three times in a row before inviting Emperor Tang to sit down. After bringing a pot of hot tea, he then quickly went to cook the wontons for him.
There were also people sitting at the other two tables. Looking at their attire, they should all be residents of this Small Town.
Facing a noble like Emperor Tang, who was clearly an important figure at a glance, they glanced once and didn't dare to look again, silently finished their wontons, put the money for the wontons on the table, got up, and left.
The Emperor came to Zhongnan Mountain for the Heaven Worship Sacrifice. During this time, quite a few nobles had also come to Ziwu Town. Commoners had their own way of survival: look less, listen less, speak less.
"Wonton!"
Soon, the Old Man brought two bowls of wontons. The Toddler took the small silver spoon handed to her by Emperor Tang, scooped out a wonton, blew on it, and handed it to Emperor Tang's mouth, signaling him to open his mouth.
"Ah!"
Emperor Tang opened his mouth and ate that wonton. Only then did the Toddler pick up the spoon with satisfaction and begin eating the wontons one by one with the spoon.
Emperor Tang chewed the wonton in his mouth. The wonton had pork filling, with a little chopped green onion and chopped garlic added. The pork seemed to be from a castrated pig, the meat didn't have much gamey smell. Although there wasn't much filling, however, on a morning with some cold air, eating a bowl of wontons was already a rare and pleasant enjoyment for ordinary commoners.
"Hoo-hoo—" The Toddler blew on the small spoon while putting the wontons into her mouth. Soon she was sweating profusely from eating, and her small face, with its baby fat, became even redder.
She also picked up the small spoon from time to time and put a mouthful of wonton into Grandpa Tang's mouth beside her. Although her small head didn't understand how the uncle who used to look young turned into a grandpa, she had secretly sniffed him, and the smell was right. It was the same uncle who used to like holding her.
The little one was precocious. She remembered that her imperial father didn't dote on her and her imperial consort mother as much as he did now. Later, when she was playing in Daming Palace, she was attracted by a very, very handsome uncle, then ran over and asked him for a hug. That uncle not only picked her up but also lifted her high. The smell on that uncle's body was very fragrant, just like the lotus flowers in the garden... Later, for some reason, her imperial father came to her imperial consort mother's palace every few days, making it so her imperial consort mother couldn't hug her to sleep. Before, she could only fall asleep by touching her imperial consort mother's arm.
Bad imperial father! The Toddler fiercely bit into a wonton, secretly glanced at Emperor Tang beside her: "Uncle is still better, he said he'd take her out to play and he did, unlike that smelly imperial father who competes with her for Mommy! Hmph!"
Emperor Tang didn't touch the bowl of wontons in front of him. His right hand's thumb and index finger were pinching a pale golden sarira, examining it carefully. His expression was thoughtful.
Ordinary people might not see anything, but inside this golden sarira, he saw the phantom of a Golden Cicada.
"Golden Cicada!"
Emperor Tang slowly spoke. His voice wasn't loud, not even the Toddler beside him heard it.
However, from the sarira in his hand came bursts of cicada chirping, seeming to be responding to him.
Six-winged Golden Cicada, the first Golden Cicada in the legendary Jambudvīpa World, was the head of fierce insects. When Yan Fu first opened, the first often represented the Innate Gods and Demons born from the Primordial Chaos, representing a profound innate foundation.
The Six-winged Golden Cicada was naturally no exception. It was the second disciple of Shakyamuni Tathagata. It is said that when Sakya was still Duobao Daoist, it was by his side.
This was also Chen Xuanzang's first incarnation. Could this Golden Cicada be his first life golden body?
A commotion broke Emperor Tang's thoughts.
He saw at the street corner in the distance, a shabbily dressed, chicken-haired youth wearing a patchwork robe was thrown out of the Inn by two Waiters.
"No money! Dare to stay at an inn without money!"
The chicken-haired youth wasn't angry about being thrown out of the inn. He just muttered as he picked up his bundle, turned and left, rubbing his belly as he walked, but his eyes were fixed on a roadside stall nearby.
Seeing the steaming steamed buns and baozi, he swallowed his saliva again and again. But he squeezed his empty bundle but didn't feel a single coin.
Just as he was standing in the middle of the road, looking at the steamed bun stall, considering whether to go forward and begging for alms, a voice sounded in his ear:
"Here's a bowl of wontons, do you want to eat?"
The chicken-haired youth raised his head, looking at the brocade-clothed person not far away, and pointed to himself in disbelief: "Me?"
After seeing the brocade-clothed person nod, the chicken-haired youth suddenly realized and nodded repeatedly. He trotted to the front of the wonton stall. He looked at the bowl of wontons in front of Emperor Tang and swallowed a mouthful of saliva:
"Benefactor, you mean, you want to give this bowl of wontons as alms to me!"
*Gurgle!*
When the chicken-haired youth mentioned wontons, his belly uncooperatively rumbled.
"It was originally ordered for you!!" Emperor Tang pushed his bowl of wontons towards the chicken-haired youth! The chicken-haired youth swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Although he didn't understand what the person in front of him meant, he understood that he had met a person with good intentions. He first put his palms together and bowed to Emperor Tang, only then sat down.
Then, not caring that the wontons were still a bit hot, he began wolfing down food.
(end of chapter)