Chapter 66 Chapter 52

Seldon's eyes flicked briefly.The man to his right is slightly thinner and appears to be quite older. He has dark brown eyes and dark skin.Seldon was sure that if he hadn't had hair removal surgery, he would have black hair. He faced forward again and began to think: This brother's appearance is quite special.He had noticed a few brothers, none of them short, and very light-skinned, with blue or gray eyes.Of course, he hasn't met enough people to make a general rule. Then, he felt a light touch on the right sleeve of the jacket.Seldon turned his head hesitantly, and found a card in front of him, with a faint handwriting on it: "Foreigners, be careful!"

Seldon was startled, and naturally reached out to touch the fur hat.At this moment, the man next to him made a silent mouth shape: "Hair." Seldon felt it, and there was a lock of short hair protruding from the temple.At some point just now, he must have touched this human fur hat.He pulled it down as quickly as he could, as cautiously as he could, and then, as if groping his head, poked his hand around to make sure the fur hat was back in place. He turned to the right, nodded lightly to his neighbor, and said with his lips: "Thank you." The person sitting next to him smiled slightly, and said in a normal voice, "Going to the church?"

Seldon nodded: "Yes, I'm going." "It's easy to guess. Me too, shall we get out of the car together?" His smile was quite friendly. "I'm bringing my... my..." "Your woman. Three, then?" Seldon didn't know how to respond.He looked quickly to the other side and noticed that Dors' eyes had turned straight ahead.Her attitude was exactly what a sister should behave--no response to male conversation, which was the attitude of a sister.Seldon, however, felt a tap on his left knee, which he interpreted (perhaps without justification) as: "It doesn't matter."

In any case, etiquette made him agree with it naturally.So he said, "Okay, of course." There was no further conversation between them.Soon, the directional sign showed that the church was scratched, and the friend of McQueen got up and prepared to get off the car. The Gravity Bus made a sharp turn at Temple Square, drawing a large circular trajectory.After the car stopped, many passengers got out of the car one after another.The men squeezed to the front and walked out of the car door first, and the women followed behind. The Mr. Myqu's voice was a little hoarse due to his age, but his tone was very cheerful.He said: "It's early for lunch, my... friends. But believe me, it's going to be very crowded before long. Would you like to buy simple food now and eat out? The area is very familiar, and I know a good place."

Seldon suspected it was a trap, designed to lure ignorant foreigners into buying something particularly bad or expensive.However, he decided to take a risk. "It's very kind of you," he said. "We don't know this place at all well, and we're glad to have you as our guide." They bought lunch at an open-air stall—sandwiches and what looked like milk.Since the weather was fine and they were tourists, the old man Maiqusheng suggested that the three of them walk to the Church Square together and have lunch outdoors, which would help them familiarize themselves with the surrounding environment.

As they walked forward with their lunch, Seldon noticed that the sanctuary resembled a palace shrunk down many times, and the surrounding square seemed to be a concrete and miniature palace.He could hardly believe that the Mycosians could adore a royal building, or do anything but hate it and despise it.Yet the cultural pull is clearly irresistible. "It's so beautiful," said the Mycosian, with obvious pride. "Yes," said Seldon, "how bright it is in daylight." "The surrounding plaza," he said, "is modeled after the government plaza on our Dawn world . . . a much smaller replica, in fact."

"Have you seen the royal gardens around the palace?" Seldon asked cautiously. The Maiqusheng sensed the meaning of this sentence, but he didn't seem to be angry at all. "They also imitate the world of dawn as much as possible." Seldon didn't believe it at all, but said nothing. They came to a semicircle of white stone benches, which also gleamed in the sunlight like a sanctuary. "Great," said the mystic, with a gleam of joy in his black eyes, "no one is taking my place. I call it mine because it's my favorite seat. Wear it from here Looking out through the trees, there is a beautiful view of the side walls of the sanctuary. Please sit down, it is not cold, I assure you. And your companion, she is also welcome to sit down. She is a foreign woman, I know, and therefore have different customs. She... she can speak as she pleases."

Dors gave him a sharp look before sitting down. Seldon understood that they would probably stay with the old Myrkson for a while, so he held out his hand and said, "My name is Harry, and my female companion's name is Dors, but we don't need a number." "Everyone has his own... or her own... rules." The other party said in a generous tone, "I am Mycelium Qier, and we are a big clan." "Mycelium?" Seldon said hesitantly. "You seem surprised," said Mycelium. "Then I suppose you've only met people from the elder families. Names like Cloud, Sunshine, Starlight—all celestial phenomena."

"I must admit..." Seldon was only halfway through. "Well. Now meet the lower classes. We take our names from the soil, and from the microbes we cultivate, with all dignity." "Totally agree," said Seldon, "thank you again for helping me out on the Gravity Bus with...problems." "Listen," Mycelium Seven-Two said, "I've saved you a lot of trouble. If a sister saw you before me, she'd no doubt scream, and the niggas next to you would push you off the bus —maybe before it even stops." Dors leaned forward so that she could look past Seldon. "Why didn't you react like that yourself?"

"Me? I am not hostile to foreigners, I am a scholar." "scholar?" "The first of our line. I attended Templar College, and I did very well. I have studies in all ancient arts, and besides, I have a permit to enter the Alien Library, where the films of the Aliens are kept. Books and traditional books. I can read any film book I want, or I can read any traditional book. We even have a computerized library, and I can use it. It helps open the mind, I don't mind There's a little bit of hair showing. I've seen pictures of men with hair many times, and women's." He glanced at Dors.

They ate their lunch in silence for a while, and then Seldon said, "I noticed that every brother who came in and out of the sept wore a red sash." "Oh, that's right." Mycelium Qier said, "It hangs down from the left shoulder and wraps around the right side of the waist, usually with very unique embroidery." "why?" "It's called the 'he belt,' and it symbolizes the joy one feels when entering the sanctuary, and the willingness to shed blood to protect it." "Blood?" said Dors, frowning. "Just a symbol, I've never actually heard of anyone blood spilling the sept. Besides, there's not much joy here, mostly wailing, lamenting, or worship of the 'lost world'." His tone lowered, and softened, "very stupid." Dors said, "Aren't you a...a believer?" "I'm a scholar," Mycelium said with obvious pride.When he grinned, his face scrunched up, making his aging more apparent.Seldon found himself wondering how old the man was, centuries?No, they have ruled out that hypothesis.That's impossible, yet... "How old are you?" Seldon asked unconsciously. For this question, Mycelia Qier didn't mind at all, and she didn't show any hesitation in answering. "sixty seven." Seldon insisted on getting to the bottom of it: "I heard that your people believed that in very early times, everyone lived for centuries." Mycelium Qier looked at Seldon with a strange expression: "How do you know? There must be people who have a lot of people... But it is true, there is such a belief. Only innocent people would believe it, but the elders This belief is encouraged because it shows our superiority. In fact, we do live longer on average than elsewhere because we eat more nutritiously, but very few live to a century." "I guess you don't think Myco is superior," said Seldon. Mycelium Seven-Two said: "There's nothing wrong with mycogenes, and they're certainly not bad. However, I think all people are equal—even women." As he added, Chaodos looked in the direction. "And I think," said Seldon, "that not many of your kind would agree with that." "Your clansmen won't agree too much." Mycelia Qier replied with a trace of resentment, "But I firmly believe in this-a scholar should do so. All the great literary works of foreigners, I have passed them all. Projected and even read with the naked eye. I know your culture and have written about it. I can sit here with you as if you were one of us.” Dors said a little abruptly, "You sound like you're proud of knowing everything about foreigners. Have you ever traveled outside of Myqusheng?" Mycelium Qier seemed to step back a bit: "No." "Why not? You'll know us better then." "I would feel wrong, I would have to wear a wig, it would make me feel ashamed." Dors said, "Why a wig? You can go bald." "No," Mycelium Qier said, "I won't be that stupid, otherwise I will be bullied by everyone with hair." "Bullying? Why?" said Dors. "You see a lot of born bald men everywhere, in every corner of Trantor, or any other world for that matter." "My father was quite bald," Seldon sighed, "and I think I will be bald in the next few decades. My hair is not very thick now." "That's not bald," Mycelium Seventy-Two said. "You have hair around your eyes, and over your eyes. I mean bald—no hair at all." "No body?" Dors was interested. This time Mycelia Qier looked really angry, and he didn't say anything. Seldon was eager to bring the topic back, and he said, "Tell me, Mycelium Seventy-Two, can foreigners enter the sanctuary as bystanders?" Mycelium Qier shook his head violently: "Absolutely not, its door is only open for the Children of Dawn." Dors said, "Only the Children of the Dawn?" Mycelium Qier said nonchalantly: "Well, you are foreigners. Only on certain days and hours, the Daughter of Dawn can enter. That's the rule, I didn't say I agree with it. If I decide, I'd say: 'Go in and have fun.' In fact, I'd be last in line myself." "Have you never been in there?" "When I was young, my parents used to take me there. But—" he shook his head, "there were only some people staring at the classics, and they recited the chapters and lines, sighed and shed tears for the old days. The atmosphere was very dull, You can't talk to people, you can't laugh out loud, you can't even look at people. Your mind has to be completely in Lost World, completely." He waved his hand in disapproval. "I don't like that. I'm an academic and I want the world to be open to me." "Well said," said Seldon, seeing the opportunity at last. "We feel the same way. We are both scholars, Dors and I." "I know." Mycelium Qier said. "You know? How do you know?" "You must be. The aliens who are allowed to enter Mequsheng are limited to imperial officials, diplomatic envoys and important businessmen, besides scholars. And in my opinion, you have the appearance of scholars. That's what interests me about you The reason is that like attracts like." He smiled happily. "You guessed right. I'm a mathematician, and Dors is a historian. What about you?" "My specialty is - culture. I've read all the great literature of foreigners: Riesle, Manton, Novigo..." "We have read the great works of your people. For example, I have read your classics—records about the lost world." Mycelium Qier's eyes widened in surprise, and her olive skin seemed to fade slightly. "Have you read it? How? Where?" "In our university, we have copies. We can read them as long as we get permission." "A copy of the tome?" "That's right." "I wonder if the elders know about this?" Seldon said, "I've also read about servitors." "Servant?" "Yes. That's why I want to go into the sept. I want to see the servitor." (Dors kicks Seldon's ankle lightly, but he ignores it.) Mycelia Qier said uneasily, "I don't believe in such things, not even educated people." But he looked around, as if he was afraid that someone would overhear. Seldon said, "I read a record that a servitor is still in the sanctuary." Mycelium Qier said: "I don't want to discuss these nonsense." Seldon did not relax: "If it were in the sanctuary, where would it be?" "Even if there is one in there, I can't tell you what, I only went in when I was a child." "Do you know if there is a special place inside, a secret place?" "There is an elders' pavilion, only elders can go there, but there is nothing there." "Have you ever been there?" "No, of course not." "Then how do you know?" "I didn't know there wasn't a pomegranate tree, I didn't know there wasn't a laser organ, I didn't know there weren't a million things out there. I didn't know they didn't exist, does that mean they all exist?" For a moment, Seldon was speechless. An erratic smile flashed across Mycelium Qier's worried face.He said: "That's the scholar's way of reasoning. You see, I'm not an easy man to deal with. Anyway, I would advise you not to try to go to the Elder's Court. If they find a foreigner in it, I don't think you will." Loved the consequences. Well, may the dawn be with you." He got up suddenly - without warning - and hurried away. Seldon looked at his back, feeling rather surprised in his heart: "What made him run away in fright?" "I think," said Dors, "it's because someone's coming." Someone did come.The man was tall and tall, wearing an exquisite white gown, with a more delicate and faintly shining red shoulder strap hanging diagonally.He approached them with serious steps, his face showing unquestionable authority and even more unquestionable displeasure.