In recent times, Yuzhou and Sichuan Province have returned to peace. Although a locust plague was encountered in the spring, it has now safely passed, and crops have been successfully replanted everywhere. Famine has not appeared; at most, people will have to subsist on coarse grains for a month before the autumn harvest. For ordinary people, this is already a rare peaceful year.
Currently, Shen Feng commands a population of over ten million. In the past, this population would not have been considered significant, but in the apocalypse, this number far exceeds that of other regions. The zombie virus outbreak alone killed nine-tenths of the population. In the subsequent period, the continuous attacks from mutated beasts and birds caused immense casualties among humans. Population growth in the apocalypse was virtually impossible. Now, Shen Feng occupies a crucial strategic position in the southwest, possessing a substantial population, and can be considered a major regional power.
Therefore, during organizational meetings in Jinling, the people of Yuzhou are often given the first opportunity to speak, and others dare not seize this chance.
Yuzhou is also very prosperous. It had previously established an inner city and an outer city. The inner city is for important personnel, while the outer city houses a large number of mercenaries. However, even with two layers of city walls, it was not enough. Outside the outer city walls, many civilians have settled down. These civilians are mostly refugees from other regions.
Although Yuzhou appears very prosperous, this prosperity is built upon the ruins of other places. It is precisely because life is impossible elsewhere that these people come to Yuzhou to make a living.
Shen Yishi enjoys watching plays, especially in theaters where she is delighted to see people jumping and singing on stage.
In the past, Chu Zhaoyan found many TV series for Shen Yishi, allowing her daughter to watch television at home. However, Shen Yishi said, "The TV series you give me are all fake, all lies to children. Do you think I don't know? These are all fairy tales!"
It turned out that after Shen Yishi was born, she witnessed the real conditions in various places. Many areas were reduced to ruins, with devastation everywhere. Where was the prosperity of the former Chinese land? As a result, after seeing these conditions, she developed a sense of unreality towards television dramas.
Many excellent TV series in the past were filmed in high-rise buildings. However, in the apocalypse, countless skyscrapers collapsed one after another, and people were struggling to survive. The former prosperity could no longer be seen, and thus, these TV series appeared unreal.
Chu Zhaoyan could only shake her head helplessly upon hearing her daughter's explanation and said, "Children who have seen nothing are truly pitiable!"
Chu Zhaoyan had to lament that children born after the apocalypse had not witnessed the former prosperity. All they could see now were ruins and desolate scenes. It could only be said that they were unlucky to be born in such a chaotic era.
Meanwhile, the children in the Fengshen Palace were recently placed under house arrest, with everyone forbidden from going out freely and ordered to stay at home obediently.
This was due to news transmitted from the outside by Shen Feng. According to Shen Feng, many enemies from the north had moved south and might attempt assassinations, so the children needed to be protected and must not leave the Fengshen Palace.
This order was acceptable to others, but it was a death sentence for Shen Yishi. She loved going out the most. There were people everywhere in the Fengshen Palace, but they were all respectful to her and dared not offend her, which made things utterly uninteresting. Instead, the world outside the Fengshen Palace was more exciting, offering many things she couldn't see at home.
As a result, Shen Yishi was now forbidden from leaving home, and she could not stand it. After all, she was a lively and active child, and being forced to stay at home obediently was pure torture.
One day, Shen Yishi found her two elder brothers and said to them, "Let's go out and play together."
Du Fansheng quickly said upon hearing this, "Mommy and the others have already forbidden us from going out. It's too dangerous to go out now. I heard there are enemies outside who want to assassinate us at any time."
"Yes, yes, we absolutely must not go out during this time, otherwise, if our mothers find out, they will punish us!" Shen Xingzhi also quickly said.
"You two are my older brothers, yet you're so timid! I dare to go out, but you two don't. Let me tell you, the outside world is very exciting. If you don't go out and see it, you'll miss out on many interesting things. As for the dangers outside, they are just things adults use to scare children!" Shen Yishi said with conviction.
Shen Yishi was only six years old, but she spoke with great reason. Du Fansheng and Shen Xingzhi found it difficult to refute her.
"But if our going out is discovered, we'll definitely be confined," Shen Xingzhi said cautiously.
"Second Brother, what are you afraid of? It's just confinement. We'll be released in a few days, and then we can go out and play again. Mommy and the others can't bear to hit us!" Shen Yishi continued.
It was clear that Shen Yishi was very familiar with being confined. She also knew that she wouldn't receive further punishment after being confined. If she really couldn't bear it, she would just cry loudly. As long as she started crying, her mother would soften her heart.
Shen Xingzhi was tempted and looked at Du Fansheng, asking, "Brother, what do you think?"
Du Fansheng also wanted to go out and play. Staying at home all the time meant there were no playmates. It would be different if they went out. They could bring plenty of money and do whatever they wanted.
After thinking about the abundance of delicious food, performances, and beautiful scenery in the city, Du Fansheng also wanted to go out and see. However, he was still the eldest child and had to consider things comprehensively. He then said, "Going out is fine, but we must find some senior disciples to accompany us. Let them protect us."
"This is very simple. I'll go find Luo Hui right away and ask him to take us," Shen Yishi said quickly, then hopped away to find Luo Hui.
For a long time, Luo Hui had been Shen Yishi's dedicated follower. Whatever the young lady wanted to do, he would do it without hesitation, from taking the blame to kneeling on the ground to be ridden like a horse. Luo Hui would not refuse. Now, asking Luo Hui to go out with them, he would not refuse.
Du Fansheng thought for a moment and said, "Luo Hui senior disciple alone might not be enough. Xiao Hu, let's go find some other senior disciples."
Shen Xingzhi agreed and then began searching within the Fengshen Palace, asking senior disciples to accompany them out. These individuals were also basically trained by Shen Feng. They would not refuse the requests of the young master and young lady.
In fact, there were no older children left in the Fengshen Palace. Ability users over 14 years old had been sent out for training. These children were Shen Feng's disciples. Others knew very well that Shen Feng's disciples were bound to be the future core strength, so they had to be cultivated patiently.
Thus, when the three children of the Shen family left the Fengshen Palace, they were accompanied by five young men and women. These five youths were all Shen Feng's disciples, around the age of teenagers, and did not have much understanding of the outside world.
A group of children and teenagers began to wander around the city. Many people in the city recognized them. Everyone knew they were the city lord's children and disciples, so they greeted them enthusiastically.
However, on this day, someone suddenly spread a rumor on the street: "I heard there's a new opera troupe performing outside the city recently, and their singing is very beautiful. The tickets are not expensive. It would be a real shame not to go and listen!"
Upon hearing about a new opera troupe, Shen Yishi immediately became excited. She pestered her two elder brothers, saying, "Let's go outside the city to listen to the opera. This is a newly arrived troupe, and there must be many opera pieces we don't know."
"Normally, we get reprimanded for wandering around the city. If our mothers find out this time that we went out of the city, we'll be in big trouble!" Du Fansheng quickly said.
"Big Brother is a coward! Second Brother, what do you say?" Shen Yishi pouted. Although she was the youngest child in the Shen family, she was also the most willful.
Shen Xingzhi disliked being called a coward the most, so he quickly said, "It's just going outside the city to listen to the opera. It's no big deal. As long as we go and come back quickly, it will be fine. Besides, we have five senior disciples with us!"
Du Fansheng had no choice but to follow.
As they walked, Luo Hui said to Wang Xiran beside him, "Sister Ran, you are already 15 years old this year, why haven't you awakened your abilities yet?"
Generally, children would not immediately display their abilities after drinking ability potions. Instead, they needed to be triggered under specific circumstances. Just like Wang Xiran's brother, Wang Xiqiang, accidentally gained the ability to crystallize. As Wang Xiqiang's own sister, Wang Xiran was already 15 years old and still couldn't use her abilities.
Wang Xiran said, "I don't know what my ability is. My brother could use his abilities when he was 10 years old, but I still haven't learned it by now! Sigh!"
Wang Xiran was very distressed. Her peers had already gone out for practical training, but because she hadn't awakened her abilities, she could only stay in the Fengshen Palace. She was now starting to suspect if she had taken the wrong ability potion, otherwise, why would this happen?
"Alright, alright, don't say such unhappy things. Perhaps after watching this opera, you'll awaken your abilities. We're almost out of the city!" Shen Yishi ran to Wang Xiran's side and said.
Wang Xiran could only smile after hearing this and casually replied, "I hope so!"
Next, the group left the city. Because of their special status, they encountered no obstacles when leaving the city.
"This opera troupe from the north is truly amazing! Many of their opera pieces are performed brilliantly, with singing and dancing on stage, which is superb."
"Yes, yes, it would be a great regret in life not to see the performances of this opera troupe!"
"Many people have seen plays at this troupe recently, and they are indeed good. To be honest, this is the best opera troupe in Yuzhou!"
As everyone moved towards the location of the opera troupe, they heard people around them discussing. It seemed that everyone was immensely fond of this opera troupe at the moment, and Shen Yishi was even more eager to see the performance, wondering what astonishing skills the performers on stage would possess!