Yan Jingsheng said, "Look down."
"I want to tell you that when Lao He and I left, we accidentally left a military path at your place, specifically in Lao He's garage." I jumped up and was about to rush out, but Yan Jingsheng held me back: "Read it."
The letter was followed by an increasingly agonizingly detailed note: "This is a military path that requires both a starting password and an entry password. The starting password is attached, but I can't tell you the official entry password. The reason I'm only sending you this letter now is twofold: first, according to our calculations, the Heavenly Dao has completely returned to calm; second, we absolutely cannot tell you this personally, especially the entry password, as that would constitute Heavenly interference in the human realm, potentially causing another upheaval in the Heavenly Dao. However, if you figured it out yourself, then it's none of our business, and the Heavenly Dao won't notice—actually, I really wanted to tell you secretly, but Lao He was afraid I'd be too soft-hearted and ruin things, so he set the entry password. I truly don't know. I hope you can have a change of heart and feel remorse for treating me unfairly before. Oh, by the way, I maxed out your credit card for you. After you've finished feeling remorse, hurry to the bank to pay it back; the interest is quite high. Sincerely, Liu Laoliu."
Seeing my fluctuating expression, Yan Jingsheng asked, "Have you finished reading? As far as I understand it, Liu Laoliu and the others couldn't tell us about the military strategy and the password because of their status, but the password certainly won't be too difficult. Can you guess it?"
Sweat beaded on my nose, my heart pounded, and I clutched the letter tightly, remaining silent. Baozi, carrying the child, came downstairs and asked, "What are you doing?"
I handed her the letter. Before Baozi could finish reading it, Yan Jingsheng suddenly grabbed me and ran, shouting, "Where is He Tiandou's garage?"
I couldn't help but look him over and say, "You seem very enthusiastic?"
Yan Jingsheng said resolutely, "I'm going to find Mulan. She said she'd marry me if I could just get back there!"
I suddenly realized, "No wonder Sister Mulan said that if I had the chance to wash her hair again, her lifelong problem would be solved—you guys were really playing hardball!"
Ignoring everything else, Yan Jingsheng dragged me to He Tiandou's garage and said urgently, "Hurry up, what's the starting password?"
I shrugged and said, "Didn't you say it was in the letter?"
After reading the letter, Baozi quickly caught up and excitedly handed me a small piece of paper, saying, "Is this what you wanted?"
I noticed a paperclip attached to the small piece of paper—it was indeed an attachment. I unfolded it and saw several large characters written on it: "Liu Laoliu is my grandfather."
With a dark expression, I handed the piece of paper to Yan Jingsheng: "You're going to shout?"
Yan Jingsheng shouted without hesitation, "Liu Laoliu is my grandfather!"
The garage walls remained completely still. Although disappointed, I still felt a bit smug and said, "I knew that old charlatan was going to fool some people."
Yan Jingsheng said urgently, "Try calling one."
I scoffed and said, "Do you think I'm an idiot?"
Baozi kicked me without saying a word and said, "Would it kill you to shout at a time like this?"
I could only awkwardly reply, "Liu Laoliu is my grandfather."
A cloud of black mist suddenly billowed up from the opposite wall. Yan Jingsheng led the way as he rushed inside, gloating, "Heh heh, looks like even being a grandson requires talent."
Baozi laughed and followed closely behind into the tunnel. I gritted my teeth and walked at the back. After only ten minutes, we reached the end of the tunnel. Yan Jingsheng turned back and said, "Looks like you'll have to shout the password. Quickly think of what it is?"
I sighed and said, "It's probably not something nice to say. You two, step aside!"
Yan Jingsheng and Baozi stood on either side of me. I stared at the wall, holding my breath and squatting down, and after a long pause, I suddenly shouted, "Liu Laoliu is my grandfather!"
The wall remains stationary.
Yan Jingsheng said, "The passwords can't be the same. Think again."
I said indignantly, "Liu Laoliu is my father!"
The wall remains stationary.
Baozi slapped me and said, "You demoted him by a generation, so of course it's even less likely to be right!"
I fawned over the wall, saying, "Old Liu is a good man."
The wall remains stationary.
This time, I explained to myself, "Damn it, even it can't stand hearing things that go against its conscience."
But the password had to be guessed. I tried everything: "Liu Laoliu is a noble person," "Liu Laoliu is a pure person," "Liu Laoliu is a person who has transcended vulgar interests"—I even tried "five mao liang," "his strength can uproot mountains and his spirit can cover the world," and "if you want to sell some wine," but the damn wall just wouldn't budge…
More than two hours later, Yan Jingsheng and Baozi sat on the ground with their heads drooping, while I, parched and barely breathing, continued trying various commands: "Liu Laoliu is my ancestor, open sesame, washing makes you healthier..."
More than an hour later, Baozi got up from the ground weakly and said helplessly, "I think we should leave it at that for today. At least we have a starting password. If we come every day, we'll eventually guess it right." Yan Jingsheng said with a long face, "That's all we can do. Xiaoqiang, you'd better think of something quickly. Mulan is not young anymore."
I weakly draped my arms over their shoulders and they helped me walk back. After a few steps, the more I thought about it, the more suffocated and humiliated I felt. Suddenly, I couldn't help but jump up, turn around, point at the wall, and shout, "Liu Laoliu, you old bastard!"
The wall opened with a sound...
Outside, the site vaguely resembled Wu Sangui's Great Zhou Imperial Palace military training ground, a vibrant and festive scene of celebration. A grand banquet was underway. At the table closest to us were Fatty Ying, Ersha, Li Shishi, and Jin Shaoyan. On the distant platform, Yu Boya played the piano, Zhong Ziqi played a drinking game with Li Kui, and Liu Bang sang "The Song of Heroes" to the accompaniment of "Autumn Whispers." In the center, the incorrigible bandits were already staggering drunk, while 300 young soldiers stood in a circle watching Fang Jie battle Zhang Liao…
Forgetting my joy at seeing old friends again, I exclaimed, speechless, "This is truly the most chaotic place in history!"
Everyone turned around, saw it was me, and burst into laughter: "Xiao Qiang is still the same as ever."
Later, I had a lot of doubts about the password. Because, as far as I knew Liu Laoliu, it was impossible for him to set such a humane password out of a pang of conscience or out of consideration for my feelings. Finally, after Yan Jingsheng reminded me, I began to understand: the password was set by He Tiandou.
...
Wow, time flies! Half a year has passed in the blink of an eye, and it's almost time for his first birthday—another day we can take the opportunity to have a big feast. These guys often do this. You'd never guess the reason they had their get-together when we first entered Bingdao—it was Wu Sangui's grandparents' 80th wedding anniversary… That's nothing compared to when Li Shimin's youngest son could barely call him "Dad," and Li Shimin threw a hundred-table party. Of course, some mature and prudent people like Zhang Zeduan and Su Wu didn't go. Their reason was simple: we'll go when the kids can call us "uncle."
I need to explain what happened in the past six months. Although the new military strategy is theoretically still under the supervision of the Heavenly Dao, there are basically no problems. As long as the number of people circulating it does not exceed 1,000 at a time, Dao Ge can sleep soundly.
Therefore, the biggest beneficiary was Jin Shaoyan, who took Li Shishi back and forth between the modern world and the past, having a wonderful time. Li Shishi's initial plan was to produce one film every two years. Naturally, money was no longer a factor for her; she did this to maintain her youth forever.
Yan Jingsheng and Hua Mulan have no plans to get married in the near future, as they are both busy.
What I envy most is actually Liu Bang. There are quite a few men who have their wives at home and mistresses on the side, but it's really difficult for the wife to support her husband in supporting the mistresses—Feng Feng still had Empress Lü's support.
Enough of the chit-chat. No one wanted to miss such a righteously justified opportunity for a first birthday celebration, so the turnout was unprecedented. The location was chosen to be the Xiao Mansion of the Qin Dynasty. After a whole day of revelry, Baozi and I wanted to go home early; we still had to keep entertaining the child's grandparents tomorrow. Just as we were about to leave, Qin Shi Huang suddenly said, "Wait a minute, for this little brat's first birthday celebration, haven't we missed something?"
Zhu Yuanzhang slapped his forehead and said, "We've forgotten the story of a baby's first birthday celebration."
Hu Hai asked, "What does 'grasping the baby' mean?"