Acai's Sky

Chapter 944: Forget Worry Night Banquet: A Feast of Time and Space

Wangyou City, City Lord's Mansion, Banquet Hall

The night is as dark as ink, gently enveloping Wangyou City.

Bright lights rise from all over the city, like stars falling into the world, making this mysterious city look like a dream.

The banquet that Acai carefully prepared kicked off in this charming night.

The spacious banquet hall was ablaze with light. The huge crystal chandelier emitted a soft and bright light, illuminating the entire hall with a golden splendor.

The surrounding walls are painted with exquisite murals, telling stories that span time and space.

As the lights come on, the dazzling lights shine through the clear glass lampshades, casting layers of halos on the ground, just like a galaxy pouring down to the world.

This feast, which brings together heroes from ancient and modern times and transcends the boundaries of time and space, is about to begin.

The first to enter the banquet hall were the awe-inspiring Qin Dynasty generals. They wore dark armor, the armor plates gleaming with a cold metallic sheen under the light. The long swords dangling from their waists swayed gently with their steps, making subtle clinking sounds.

The leading general, Qin General Bai Qi, had eyes as sharp as an eagle. When he glanced around, he seemed to be able to see through everything. His every gesture showed the majesty of the Qin army.

Their arrival instantly filled the entire banquet hall with a solemn atmosphere, as if the air had become heavy.

Then, the Mohists marched in in unison, dressed in plain, coarse linen robes, a stark contrast to the ornate armor of the Qin generals.

The Mohists held various exquisite mechanical models in their hands and whispered about their latest research results. From time to time, hearty laughter could be heard, adding a bit of academic atmosphere to the banquet hall.

The Mohist Gongshu Ban walked in slowly with a group of disciples, their eyes full of curiosity about new things.

Gongshu Ban was white-haired but in good spirits. His eyes lingered on the decorations and utensils in the banquet hall, and he looked thoughtful from time to time, as if he was pondering the craftsmanship of these objects.

The disciples gathered around him, chattering about everything in front of them, full of desire to explore this strange yet fascinating world.

Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty appeared with his civil and military officials. The civil officials, dressed in intricately embroidered official uniforms and clutching folding fans, were graceful and elegant, their every gesture revealing the demeanor of a scholar. The military officials, clad in golden chain mail armor and bearing precious swords, were imposing and commanding. Their bold strides and hearty laughter showcased the grandeur of the Ming Dynasty. They exchanged pleasantries and discussed regional wars in a warm and harmonious atmosphere.

Emperor Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty wore a bright yellow dragon robe, a dazzling jade belt at his waist, followed closely by the twenty-four ministers of the Lingyan Pavilion. Tang minister Fang Xuanling held a feather fan, his eyes sagacious; Tang minister Du Ruhui looked resolute and calm; Yuchi Gong, with his full beard and twin whips, looked majestic; and Tang general Qin Qiong carried a spear, his eyes piercing.

Emperor Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty had a gentle smile on his face, and his every gesture showed the demeanor of a wise ruler. He talked in a low voice with the people around him, and occasionally laughed heartily, attracting admiring glances from the people around him.

Finally, Tong Jiayuan walked in with a group of interstellar anthropomorphic intelligent robots, all of whom had mechanical faces today.

These robots have different shapes. Some look very similar to humans, with delicate faces and smooth lines, almost indistinguishable from real people; others are full of futuristic technology, with mysterious blue light flashing all over their bodies and mechanical joints rotating flexibly.

The appearance of the robots made the entire banquet hall seem to have transcended time and space and arrived in the future world.

They greeted everyone present in a friendly manner with their emotionless yet polite voices, adding a different touch of color to the banquet.

Ming general Qi Jiguang, dressed in Ming general armor, stepped into the banquet hall majestically. His arrival instantly caused a commotion.

Everyone looked at this famous anti-Japanese general with admiration. He smiled and saluted everyone with a fist. His calm and dignified demeanor impressed everyone present.

A Cai stood in the center of the banquet hall, wearing a colorful dress, like a fairy descending to earth.

As soon as her fingertips touched the ground, thirty-six lotus lanterns burst into warm light, and thirty-six small paper figures less than a foot tall jumped out of the lamp wicks and stood up.

These creatures, folded from snow-white paper with gold foil outlines, were originally paper-cut paintings lying on the table, but now they seem to come alive, swinging their sleeves decorated with silver bells - some have peach petals pinned on their heads, some have tassel-like fringe hanging around their waists, and even the twined branches on the hems of their skirts are gently stretched in the light and shadow, like fairies in a painting brought to life by the spring breeze.

The little paper figure in the lead turned around on the tip of her embroidered shoes, and the pipa in her hand rang out a string of silver-bead-like notes.

Only then did I see clearly that their fingertips were not as stiff as folded paper, but had translucent fingertips that emitted a faint fluorescent light when plucking the strings. When their fingertips passed over the goose column, they could actually cause the gold powder on the strings to fall off.

The little paper figure playing the huqin kneels on one leg on the drum stool, its ponytail swinging out in neat arcs as the bowstring rises and falls; the one playing the 羯盘 is more lively, its two little feet taking turns stepping on the edge of the drum to keep the beat, the bells around its waist jingling with its movements, and even the drumstick has turned into a spinning butterfly shape, leaving a fleeting plum blossom mark on the drum surface every time it falls.

The most amazing thing is the six little paper figures playing the sheng. They are suspended side by side in the air, and the tassels on the jade sheng hang down to the ground, floating up and down with the pitch of the tune.

When the music reaches a cheerful part, a small paper figure will suddenly tilt its head and wink at the guests at the table, and the fluttering of its folded eyelashes can even bring about a fragrant breeze; or two small paper figures will take advantage of the intervals between breaths to gently poke each other's waists with the sheng pipe, and the one being poked will then smile and hide in the shadow of the lamp, and when the gold powder on its skirt falls, it will actually spell out the light and shadow of the word "forget worries" on the ground.

There was a little paper figurine playing the guzheng. Perhaps she was too engrossed in the performance, and at the climax she actually danced on the strings. The twelve strings bent into crescent shapes under her feet, and then straightened as she jumped, emitting clear vibrato.

The paper crown on her head was tilted and she didn't bother to fix it. She simply took it off and threw it into the air. The crown turned into thousands of butterflies flying around the banquet hall. On each butterfly's wing, there were patterns from different eras - cloud and thunder patterns from the Qin Dynasty, Baoxiang flowers from the Tang Dynasty, sea water patterns from the Ming Dynasty, and even light bands unique to interstellar intelligence, which intertwined into a flowing galaxy on the dome.

At first, the guests held their breath at this magical sight, but when they saw a little paper man hit the wrong beat and hurriedly covered his mouth and hid behind his companions, low chuckles were heard among the guests.

The wine cup in the hand of Qin general Meng Tian was almost spilled because a small paper figure playing the flute flew by and playfully tied his long beard into a bow with the tail of the flute; the folding fan of Ming minister Xie Jin opened with a "snap", but the fan was covered with a small paper figure with gold powder, on which a little mouse stealing wine was painted, and it was winking at him while holding the wine jar.

When the music turned into a slow passage, the little paper people changed their clothes like magic - the Tang-style skirt turned into a Ming-style horse-faced skirt, the silver bells around their waists turned into the blue light of the interstellar energy core, and even the musical instruments changed: the pipa became a suspended electronic keyboard, and the 羯琴 turned into a jazz drum composed of light and shadow.

They jump on the table to a complex rhythm, and when passing by the jade plates with delicacies, they will carefully tiptoe to avoid the food, but they can't help but lightly touch the frosting on the pastries with their fingertips, leaving tiny fluorescent fingerprints, like star-like kiss marks on the food.

Until the end of the song, all the little paper figures suddenly froze in the most playful poses - some pointed one hand to the sky to show their appearance, some hung upside down on the lamp stand with their little feet dangling, and some hugged each other to form the shape of a flower.

When Ah Cai clapped her hands again, they floated down like dandelions, turning into pieces of paper with residual warmth, and folded back into the lotus lantern obediently, leaving only the lingering sound of the music in the air and the smiles of surprise in the guests' eyes.