Chapter 611 - 371: Clouds Shroud, Fog Conceals, the Divine Lord Rends the Sky on a Kun
Chapter 611: Chapter 371: Clouds Shroud, Fog Conceals, the Divine Lord Rends the Sky on a Kun
"I want to sleep with Daddy tonight too!"
Playing, eating, bathing, sleeping—she wanted to cling to her daddy for all of it.
Resigned, Li Xiang and Jiang Cai’er could only wait until their daughter was sound asleep at night before the two of them would sneak off to a secluded spot to share a few tender moments. They didn’t dare stay away for too long, terrified their daughter would wake up and cry from not being able to find her parents.
...
The Qingming Festival is a very important traditional holiday, and City No. 03 naturally had its own way of setting the scene.
The Spiritual Energy Matrix in the city’s dome simulated the hazy, rainy weather of Jiangnan. Fine threads of rain drifted down in the gentle breeze, filling the streets with the damp scent of fresh grass. Shops along the road rolled out seasonal goods. Some proprietors set up bamboo stalls, hanging cloth banners that read "Qingming Apricot Blossom Brew." A unique, mellow fragrance—a mixture of fermented mugwort and glutinous rice—wafted from the wine jars, tempting passersby to stop and inquire about the price.
Other Underground Cities might not have had surplus grain to brew wine, having to subsist on peacetime stockpiles. But Underground Dungeon 03 had an inexhaustible supply of synthetic starch. The scale and output of its underground farms were number one in the world, making something like brewing wine a trivial matter.
The only problem was that the liquor brewed from synthetic starch couldn’t compare to spirits made from real grain. Still, in this day and age, having anything to drink at all was a blessing.
In time, many different products were developed from the synthetic starch, creating simulations of wheat flour, glutinous rice flour, japonica rice flour, sweet potato starch, and more.
Due to fire safety regulations, open burning was, of course, strictly prohibited. However, City No. 03 had designated special locations for this purpose: several massive, centralized pools for burning offerings, located within the underground farms. People could come here to burn joss paper in remembrance, expressing their grief for the deceased.
City No. 03 had also built a public cemetery, but it was only for those buried after the start of the Apocalypse. The graves of loved ones from before the Apocalypse were all on the surface, a place now completely impossible to reach.
All people could do when burning their offerings was to add a few descriptive words, specifying which ancestor the offerings were for.
But Li Xiang could go to the surface. He and Jiang Cai’Er went together to pay respects at the graves of his grandfather and parents. The graves had long been covered by ice and snow. The two of them shoveled the ice and snow away, then cleaned and reinforced the tombs.
They also visited the graves of Jiang Cai’Er’s ancestors, one by one, sweeping the tombs, laying out offerings, lighting incense and candles, and burning gold and Silver Yuanbao folded from tin foil.
When passing the mountain behind his old home, Li Xiang saw that Er Huang and the Little Fox had also come out. They were whimpering softly in front of Dahuang’s grave.
"Poor Dahuang." Although many years had passed, Li Xiang’s heart still ached whenever he thought of him. So he walked over and burned some joss paper and Yuanbao for Dahuang.
Er Huang and the Little Fox nuzzled against him.
Although Li Xiang had many Spirit Beasts now, his favorites were still these two little ones. Next came Tuantuan and that litter of pandas, followed by the fierce beasts like the White Elephant and the tiger. The cat, the big goose, the little hedgehog, and the big rooster were even further down the list. As for the captured Space Exotic Beasts, they were all future cannon fodder; he had no feelings for them whatsoever.
Li Xiang had prepared offerings in abundance—fruit, qingtuan, white liquor, Yuanbao, and joss paper—and he also went to pay his respects at the graves of other acquaintances.
For example, Third Granny, who had been his grandmother’s best friend.
It was just that his grandmother was too old, and the surface was dark and frigid; she couldn’t make the trip. Several years into the Apocalypse, the surface had become a place where an ordinary person would find it difficult to even breathe, let alone walk. The biting cold could easily seep into their bodies and freeze their internal organs. Thus, tasks like tomb-sweeping were left to Li Xiang to handle on her behalf.
Li Xiang also came to the grave of the old village chief, Li Jinyu. The old village chief, however, was buried in the underground public cemetery.
"Cai’Er, do you remember at the first Li Family Village gala, when the old man sang that Bao Longtu aria?" Li Xiang asked, looking at Jiang Cai’Er.
Jiang Cai’Er nodded. "Of course, I remember. The old village chief sang so well back then. Even though he nearly ran out of breath a few times, every word was resonant and forceful, full of passion. You could say he had a voice of iron and lungs of bronze!"
"Yes, for a man his age to have such vocal chops was truly remarkable," Li Xiang said wistfully. Then, struck by inspiration, he added, "How about I sing a piece for him?"
Jiang Cai’Er clapped her hands. "Great! I’ll keep the beat for you!"
She began clapping to the rhythm of *The Case of Chai Mei*, even using her mouth to imitate the sounds of drums and other instruments. Li Xiang took a moment to compose himself, then began to sing in a rich, powerful voice, causing people in the distance to turn and stare in their direction.
"’Prince Consort, come forward and look closely. It states herein that Qin Xianglian, aged thirty-two, accuses the current Prince Consort of deceiving the king and scorning the Emperor... and this legal plaint has been brought to my great hall!~~~’"
Once they finished singing, they swiftly departed, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Someone sweeping a grave in the distance muttered, "My eyes aren’t playing tricks on me, are they? Was that Li God and his wife just now?"
"It sounded like them. That singing was absolutely divine!"
"If I’d known they were sweeping a grave over there, I would’ve gone over and asked for a photo."
"They were wearing hats and masks, completely covered up. They obviously didn’t want to be disturbed."
"My grandpa loved opera when he was alive. I’m going to sing a piece for him, too."