At the third quarter of the Hour of the Rabbit (6:45 AM), inside the "Listening to the Wind" tea stall on the west side of the Capital, the sandalwood tea table was still glistening with last night’s dew. Old Zhou the storyteller struck his wooden gavel with a crisp "crack," the sound vibrating so sharply that the strings of dried chili peppers hanging from the rafters swayed gently. Morning light filtered through the bamboo blinds, weaving spiderweb-like patterns on his grease-stained gray robes. "Dear patrons! Today, we speak of the State-Protecting General and Princess Anning—let us go back to the winter of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, when the first petal of the withered plum blossoms at Cien Temple fell, and Princess Jiang perceived the hidden truth amidst the incense ash..."
"Old Zhou is making things up again!" teased Wang Er, who sold tofu in the front row, only to be interrupted by his son tugging at his sleeve: "Don't bother me, Father! I want to hear how the General kills the bandits!"
The storyteller glared at him, deliberately drawing out his words: "When that General Lu rode his 'Wind-Chasing' black steed into Plum Blossom Manor, his iron hooves trampled the ink-plum blossoms to pieces, and the Wolf-Head Token he knocked loose with his sword tip struck the flagstones—" He raised his hand to indicate a height of three inches. "And guess what? That token actually gouged a hole in the stone, and you can still see the bloodstains on the wolf's eyes to this d…
Chapter 285