Chapter 501

"His Majesty has arrived!"

The eunuch's high-pitched voice came,

The hall became even quieter.

Amidst the rustling sounds,

The Emperor walked in from behind the hall with the Empress, Zhao Fang, Consort Rong, and other concubines.

The Emperor and Empress took their seats behind the imperial desk in the center, and the imperial princes, concubines, princesses, and others also walked to their seats.

But Zhao Fang, the concubines, princesses, and others did not sit down.

The head eunuch beside the Emperor looked at the situation in the hall and took a breath again: "Congratulate!"

As the sound came out,

Everyone in the hall knelt on the ground and shouted in unison: "Long live, long live, long live the Emperor!"

After shouting, everyone prostrated themselves on the ground.

"Rise!"

Everyone in the hall stood up one after another.

"Congratulate!"

Listening to the head eunuch's voice, Zhao Fang beside the Emperor, like the officials in the hall, knelt down again, shouting with eyes full of reverence and joy: "Long live, long live, long live the Emperor Father!"

The princess beside Zhao Fang was also shouting in a milky voice.

Afterward, it was another round.

Usually, one or two kowtows are actually enough, but today is the Emperor's birthday, and it's a grand birthday, so naturally, there must be more kowtows.

The Emperor stood behind the imperial desk and looked out,

From inside the hall to the square outside the hall, and further to the palace gate, everyone within sight was kneeling on the ground.

Before he had a son, the Emperor had seen it dozens of times; except for some feelings at the beginning, there was actually not much movement later.

But since he had Zhao Fang, looking at this scene again, his mood was already very different, especially when he saw the surrendered people of Bai Gao kneeling near the entrance of the main hall.

"Everyone sit!"

The Emperor waved his hand very casually.

"Sit!"

"Sit~"

The eunuchs passed the sound out one by one.

Most of those sitting in the hall were princes of the imperial clan, meritorious nobles, and high officials of the dynasty.

The masters of each family were in front, and the family members were behind.

Those sitting under the corridors around the square outside the hall were officials and generals below the fifth rank in Bianjing and their family members; hearing the eunuch's shout, they sat down one after another.

"Dong~"

After a bell rang,

The sound of onlookers' clamor and exclamations came from the direction of Xihua Gate, obviously having seen something.

In the square outside the hall,

"Chirp, chirp, chirp~"

"Coo, coo, coo~"

On the built colorful pavilions,

Musicians of the Jiaofang used musical instruments and shouts to imitate the sounds of various birds.

The sounds were very similar; closing one's eyes and listening, it was as if one were standing in a forest full of birds.

This also indicated the beginning of the celebration and set the atmosphere for watching the auspicious beasts.

Xu Zaijing and Gu Tingye listened to the various bird calls near the colorful shed where they stood,

And looked toward the palace gate side by side.

"Ye Ge'er, has your family prepared any rare beasts this year?"

Listening to the words that could only be heard clearly when leaning to the ear,

Gu Tingye's eyes were full of pride, and he said: "Hehe, naturally there are! Jing Ge'er, you must be prepared; the things this year are novel!"

Xu Zaijing turned his head to look at Gu Tingye: "Have you seen them?"

Gu Tingye's face was a bit embarrassed and he pursed his lips: "Mm, mm! Jing Ge'er, it's not that I don't want to bring you, it's really..."

"Understand! Today I must see what it is!"

"I heard from my grandfather that it was caught by the Wu family from ten thousand miles away in the south; it... you wouldn't believe it even if I told you, wait until you see it."

Not long after,

Animals that were led, tied, or locked in cages on flatbed carts were sent in from outside the gate under the guard of imperial guards.

These animals were mostly those whose fur color had mutated or were very beautiful, sent to Bianjing as auspicious omens.

Moreover, some birds heard the calls from the colorful pavilions and looked curiously at the colorful pavilions.

Two quarters of an hour later,

"Jing Ge'er, look, the things sent by my grandfather's family have arrived!"

Gu Tingye pointed to the cage on a flatbed cart that came in from the palace gate and said.

Xu Zaijing hurriedly looked carefully, and looking at the animals in the cage, Xu Zaijing turned his head to look at Gu Tingye in disbelief: "No! This thing..."

"Rare, right! The even rarer part is on its belly!"

Gu Tingye pointed to the animal in the cage and smiled: "Wait until it gets closer, Jing Ge'er, look carefully at its belly again, I guarantee it will surprise you!"

Xu Zaijing nodded, but he knew in his heart that the kangaroo Gu Tingye mentioned had a pocket on its belly, and there might be a little kangaroo inside.

As they spoke,

The flatbed cart had already approached the two.

"Look quickly!"

Following Gu Tingye's shout, everyone around, whether eunuchs, palace maids, or Western Army captains preparing to perform, all looked surprised at the little kangaroo poking its head out of the 'nursing pouch'.

Inside the hall,

The head eunuch said beside the Emperor: "Your Majesty, the carriage coming next contains the southern exotic beast contributed by the Marquis of Ningyuan; it is said that it has a naturally grown pocket on its belly, specially used to raise small beasts."

Both the Emperor and Zhao Fang showed curious expressions on their faces.

Soon,

The flatbed cart stopped at the entrance of the main hall,

Listening to the buzzing conversation in the hall, and the Northern Liao and Jin envoys who were in disbelief, standing up and wanting to see what was going on.

The several dukes sitting above Gu Yanhai all showed smiles, and the Duke of Lian looked at Gu Yanhai not far away and smiled: "Marquis Gu, I remember that at the last Emperor's birthday banquet, the Gu family contributed the exotic beast 'Qilin'?"

The Duke of Ying to the side nodded with a smile.

The Marquis of Xiangyang, sitting not far from Gu Yanhai, shook his head and said: "Having a good father-in-law means there are many tricks! Every time it grabs people's attention!"

Gu Yanhai smiled helplessly, bowing to the surroundings from time to time and saying: "It's also a coincidence, a coincidence!"

The Emperor sitting above was also smiling and said: "Later, put this exotic beast at the palace gate so that all the ministers can take a close look when they go out."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Everyone who heard the Emperor's voice bowed and shouted.

After the auspicious exotic beasts finished walking, the sounds of birds imitating calls on the colorful pavilions also gradually dissipated.

Afterward,

Various musical instruments in the colorful shed outside the hall sounded in an orderly manner, and the dancers of the first program walked toward the main hall amidst the music.

Along the way, the female officials dressed in magnificent clothes danced simple movements in place rhythmically.

Inside the hall,

Gu Tingyi, sitting behind Bai Shi, looked at the program schedule post in her hand, leaned over to a noble lady to the side, and said: "Zhengzheng, the first dancer is actually a dancer from the Bai Xingqing Prefecture?"

Chai Zhengzheng, who was looking in the direction of the Marquis of Yongyi's residence, withdrew her gaze from Rong Feiyan, who was sitting beside Sheng Hualan, turned her head: "Hmm? I know! Sister Tingyi, didn't you look at the program schedule post?"

Tingyi scratched her cheek and said: "Mother and sister-in-law have always been looking at it, I didn't notice."

"Mm!"

Chai Zhengzheng nodded, looked in Sheng Hualan's direction again, and pursed her lips.

Sitting not far beside the Emperor,

Wearing a flower crown and pearl makeup,

Consort Rong, whose face was very soft and beautiful, was picking up a piece of fruit and putting it into the golden bowl in front of her, then Consort Rong also raised her head to look at her younger sister sitting beside Sheng Hualan, with quite a lot of expectation in her eyes.

At this moment,

The music coming in stopped briefly,

After the dancers entered the hall and bowed to the Emperor, they stood in the positions they had rehearsed in the hall.

As soon as the dancers stood still, the music started again.

Rong Feiyan held the post in her hand, smiled, and said to Sheng Hualan to the side: "Sister Sheng Hualan, this post says it's a young girl dancing by the stream; listening to the music, it's really lively, isn't it?"

Sheng Hualan turned her head to look at Rong Feiyan, whose eyes were bright and whose face was extremely soft and beautiful but slightly flushed, and nodded with a smile: "Da Niangzi Feiyan is right."

As she spoke, Sheng Hualan also compared Rong Feiyan with Chai Zhengzheng, who entered the hall together, in her heart, and finally Sheng Hualan shook her head: Spring orchids and autumn chrysanthemums, each has its own merits.

Watching the dance in the venue,

The madams and noble ladies sitting in the hall looked at the post in their hands from time to time,

The post contained the summary of the first dance.

Tingyi sat beside Chai Zhengzheng watching the performance in the venue, as if to make up for the regret of not looking at the post much along the way, Tingyi was chanting while watching the dance:

"This is a girl who entered the Jiaofang of Xingqing Prefecture... was bullied and had nowhere to go..."

"Dong dong dong~"

At this moment, a suppressed and low drum sound rang out outside the hall, and the dancers in the venue made movements of standing unsteadily and being dizzy, then collapsed on the ground, the water sleeves in their hands flying up and falling from time to time.

"This is... an earthquake?"

Chai Zhengzheng, who was focused on watching the dance, asked without turning her head.

"Yes, yes!"

Suddenly,

The music coming from the colorful shed became full of crisis, and another dancer entered the venue.

The music became intense, and the dance movements of the two were telling the story of a woman being bullied by a villain.

Afterward,

The wooden clappers that controlled the rhythm in front of the colorful shed rang rhythmically.

A row of dancers wearing red costumes, with horse heads made of colored paper in front of them and small flags with the word 'Zhou' inserted on their backs, came with small steps.

This row of dancers was dressed handsomely, and their small steps were very neat, giving people a feeling of elite and majestic at a glance.

"Ha! This is our Great Zhou's cavalry!"

The Marquis of Xiangyang's voice, neither high nor low, came, causing the nearby nobles and officials to nod one after another.

Seeing the red-clothed dancer at the head wave his hand,

The dancers at the back made a gesture of drawing a bow and arrow,

"Xiu"

A whistle sound similar to a whistling arrow came,

Among the two dancers who were 'entangled', the one playing the villain stopped his movements and immediately lay on the ground.

Afterward, the dancer playing the victim girl jumped a few movements indicating joy, then slowly knelt on the ground, her gaze chasing the one who played the cavalry just now.

"Dang dang, dang dang!"

"Dang dang, dang dang!"

The colorful shed came with the ensemble of dozens of pipa.

Outside the hall,

While Gu Tingye was still confused,

Xu Zaijing had already shouted loudly after the first beat of the pipa rhythm: "Great Zhou, Wan Sheng!"

After Xu Zaijing shouted, the pipa sound continued.

Zhu Qinghu, Di Jing, Cao Yi, and other Western Army captains who were waiting for the next program near the two also echoed one after another.

There was no shouting from Xu Zaijing and the others during the rehearsal.

As a result, at this time, the shouting of Xu Zaijing and the others added a heavy stroke to the end of this dance.

The story performed by the Xingqing Prefecture dancers through dance actually had that trace of reality at this time.

"Great Zhou, Wan Sheng!"

After the Marquis of Xiangyang echoed and shouted, the Emperor smiled and reached out to press down, so there was no unison shouting of Great Zhou Wan Sheng in the hall.

"Hahahaha! Good! Danced well! Reward!"

"Reward~!"

The head eunuch shouted loudly.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

The dancers in the hall hurriedly knelt and kowtowed.

When the dancers retreated,

The music had not yet started, and there was a trace of silence in the hall.

The Duke of Ying, who was old but still strong, looked at the old General Cao, the Marquis of Tuoxi, and said in a deep and powerful voice: "Old brother, I remember looking at the war report, before this earthquake, it was the youngest son of the Marquis of Xu's family who entered Xingqing Prefecture?"

Hearing this,

Not only Zhao Fang in the hall sat up straight and pricked up his ears.

Old General Cao looked at the Duke of Ying, then looked at Xu Minghua, the Marquis of Yongyi, and smiled: "What the Duke said is true! To tell you the truth, the dancer just now is a survivor of this story."

"Oh? Is she the one saved by our Great Zhou cavalry?"

"Not bad!"

Once Old General Cao said this,

Everyone in the hall whispered and discussed one after another.

The Emperor sitting behind the imperial desk also had a surprised look on his face: "There is actually such a thing?"

When speaking, the Emperor looked at Old General Cao.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, exactly! This woman later wrote a blood letter with her own hands and sent it to the front of the camp, and later followed the large army back to Bianjing."

Listening to Old General Cao's words, everyone in the hall nodded one after another.

When the old general was speaking,

Chai Zhengzheng just looked at the place where the dancers danced just now, thinking about the movements of the row of red-clothed dancers just now,

She imagined Xu Zaijing in heroic armor, riding a horse in the capital of the enemy country,

After seeing this, Xu Zaijing waved his hand coldly and directly,

The tough knights following him immediately drew strong bows, and the whistling arrows killed the villains, without stopping for a moment.

Thinking about it, Chai Zhengzheng couldn't help but smile.

"Zhengzheng, what are you laughing at?" Tingyi looked at her in confusion.

"It's nothing!" Chai Zhengzheng shook her head.

"Oh my, laughing like this, the pearl on your cheek is going to fall off." Tingyi said.

Chai Zhengzheng hurriedly calmed her smile, then let Gu Tingyi press the pearl on her cheek to fix it.

Behind Xu Minghua,

Sun Shi felt the gazes from the madams and madams of the imperial clan, nobles, and high officials from all directions, although she was worried in her heart, she still had to nod slightly to the surroundings with pride.

Seeing the gloating and teasing look of the Madam of Wu, she could only skip it as if she hadn't seen it.

Fortunately, after a while,

Joyous and funny music sounded,

Eunuchs outside the hall were busy fixing bamboo poles and colorful cables in front of the hall, and moved large vats, torches, and other things,

Soon,

Acrobatics such as climbing poles and stepping on vats began to be performed in front of the hall.

The superb skills caused exclamations in the hall from time to time.

After the acrobatics, the son of the imperial clan from Yuzhou, dressed as a farmer, performed a harvest dance in the hall.

After the performance, looking at Zhao Ceying, who had a bit of the meaning of pleasing his relatives, the Emperor smiled: "Last time it was a harvest song, this time it's a harvest dance! You father and son have a heart!"

"Thank you for the Emperor's praise! May our Great Zhou's grain be harvested and the granaries be full!"

The Emperor nodded with a smile.

After Zhao Ceying went down,

The eunuchs were busy setting up high cuju goals in front of the hall again.

"Your Majesty, the one performing on stage is the Rong family's young master!"

Hearing the head eunuch's report, the Emperor smiled: "What is this kid performing? Cuju?"

"Yes! The Rong family's young master recruited those who are good at cuju in the capital! Saying that those who shoot the goal more times win and get rewards, and those who lose will have Xuanwu painted on their faces."

The Emperor nodded with a smile.

Soon,

Two groups of cuju players in different colored clothes appeared in front of the hall, each with one person wearing flowers on both sides of the goal.

Rong Xian, who was wearing a big red flower in the crowd, was very conspicuous.

Afterward, the players on both sides showed superb cuju ball control techniques while passing the ball to Rong Xian, who was wearing flowers, and the other one who was wearing flowers, from time to time, completing the 'goal'.

Rong Xian could use a ball to attack Qi Heng when he was a child, and this technique was still good.

But in the end,

"This, is Rong Xian lost?"

The Emperor said and looked back at the people behind him.

Consort Rong and other concubines all nodded with smiles.

Rong Xian licked his face and walked in with a smile at this time, knelt down smoothly, and shouted loudly: "Please, Your Majesty, paint Xuanwu!"

After the Emperor was startled, he understood in a flash and nodded with a smile: "Come here!"

The head eunuch hurriedly offered the prepared brush and gold lacquer.

Xu Minghua, who was sitting above the Marquis of Hou Fu Chang, watched all this with a smile, then bowed to the Marquis of Hou Fu Chang and said: "The Rong family's young master has a heart."

The Marquis of Hou Fu Chang bowed with a smile repeatedly.

Outside the hall,

Xu Zaijing and Gu Tingye watched Rong Xian's performance from afar, listening to the shouting coming from the hall, the two looked at each other and shouted in unison with hatred: "Rong Xian, this guy, when did he become so smart?"

Too damn good at it.

(End of chapter)