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Chapter 51 Dragon Boat Festival (2)

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  Reminder from 79 Web: You can quickly find us on "79 Free" or "79 Web". Chapter 51, 4th update - Continued seeking pink powder.

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  After a while, the sound of drums and music came, and everyone cheered up, pulling their necks to take a look, stunned. The 79th free online flower car parade, but saw from Chunmingmen starting, a dozen colorful cars came in a row, the cows pulling the car were either covered with tiger skin or disguised as rhinoceroses and elephants, thousands of strange things, on the colorful cars there were many beautiful women holding various musical instruments blowing, pulling and playing. Later, there were also majestic elephants dressed in brocade clothes, happy lion dances, men dressed as women in song and dance performances, and people from various theatrical troupes lined up in uniform costumes.

  Arriving at the foot of the Diligent Government Building, these people began to perform. It was far away, and Peony couldn't see clearly, her eyes felt sour, and she could only barely make out what it was roughly about. What a pity, there were no binoculars. Looking around at the crowd, they obviously couldn't see clearly either, but each and every one of them stretched their necks to an incredible length, without blinking once, utterly absorbed.

  The peony sighed, the officials and nobles had already occupied the best viewing spots, and among the remaining places, theirs was still a good location. Who knows how people in even farther places are doing? Are they all thousand-mile eyes and ears of the wind?

  Suddenly, a commotion broke out among the crowd, and thousands of people surged towards the Qínzhèng Building. Peony tiptoed to take a look, and many glittering golden things were shining in the sunlight, pouring down from the building like rain. The crowd went wild, scrambling to grab them. Meanwhile, He Dalang and He Silang had already disappeared from beside her.

  "What's wrong? What's wrong?" Peony was so anxious that she jumped up and down. Xue Shi and Bai Shi were also craning their necks to look, no one had time to answer her question.

  Li Yi wore a light yellow narrow-sleeved round-necked robe, quietly squeezed over, and smiled at Peony: "This is the emperor's delight, scattering gold coins as a reward."

  "Is Brother Tan here too?" Peony searched through her memories and curiously asked, "Is it Jin Tongbao?" This Jin Tongbao was not in circulation on the market, but was specially provided for appreciation, all of which were bestowed from the palace, and officials had some, the Liu family also had some, only Peony hadn't had the chance to get close and play with them carefully.

  "It's yours, Golden Token." Li Wei smiled slightly and nodded to Peony to open her palm. Peony did as she was told, and Li Wei released his grip, letting the two scorching hot Golden Tokens fall into Peony's hand.

  The peony looked at the crowd still in a group, pointing at him in surprise: "How did you get it first?" He was neatly dressed and didn't look like he had just fought with the crowd for money. Looking again, his hat surprisingly had no feet.

  "Your feet are gone!" Peony exclaimed, pointing at him.

  Li Wei stroked his hair with a backward hand and said lightly: "Everyone walks on tiptoes, I'll just fly without feet."

  The peony made him turn his head to take a look, but it had been cut off. Indeed, it was different from the others. The peony couldn't help but burst out laughing. Under the sunlight, her pink cheeks and lips, the fine down on her young face shone with a golden light. Her slender waist was accentuated by the crimson embroidered sash, which made her look elegant and lovely. A kind of inexplicable feeling arose in Li Yi's heart, violently striking his heart. He clenched his fists, and only with great difficulty did he manage to shift his gaze away from the peony, smiling as he looked into the distance.

  The peony carefully played with the golden treasure for a while, then handed it over to He Zhizhong, Xue Shi, Yuhe and others to take a look, before returning it to Li Wei. But Li Wei just whispered: "Give you to play."

  Peony glanced at He Zhizhong, her face showing hesitation. Li Wei slightly frowned in annoyance: "It's just two coins, your brothers rushed so fast, squeezed into the crowd, wasn't it just to grab two for you to play with? You don't want this one, but do you want to wait and compete with others later? Or are you disdainful because they weren't handed down by the Emperor himself?"

  He Zhizhong suddenly said, "Dan Niang, if you like it, just take it. I really want to give it to you." Peony smiled slightly at Li Wei and softly said, "Thank you." She carefully opened the flower-shaped purse at her waist and put it in.

  Before long, the upstairs stopped throwing money, and the crowd dispersed. The performance continued, He Dalang and He Wulang were squeezed to be covered in dust, sweating profusely, tightly clenched their fists, laughing and chatting as they walked side by side, proudly showing off their spoils to the crowd. Thanks to their physical strength, they managed to grab six or seven gold ingots, which was already a big haul compared to others.

  It was about an hour later, the flower cars that had paraded earlier had gone to the Jin Guang Men side along the street, and the places they passed by were all cheering. Li Yi told Peony: "Don't worry if you can't see clearly now, they have set up high platforms over there, after watching here, they will go to those places to perform. There are sword dances, pipa, horse stunts, jumping swords, jumping balls, sheep plays, monkey plays, pole plays, rope stunts, horn butting, strength stunts, bird plays, chicken fights, ball kicking, dragon and fish performances, knife swallowing and fire spitting, pottery making melons, empty-handed money changing, and it will last until tomorrow morning. You can go take a look slowly later."

  Peony listened with great interest, it seemed that there were many entertainment activities, and there was even magic later? Li Wei paused for a moment, then said: "Tonight is even more fun, you can wear masks, light torches and play around everywhere, just like during the Lantern Festival. I have prepared men's clothes and masks, if you get good news later, let's go together?"

  The Lantern Festival, on the fifteenth day of the first month, is a grand folk gathering in various places. The night market is open, and people light up torches, regardless of social status, gender, or age, all mixed together, singing and dancing until dawn. In Peony's eyes, it's like a carnival. Formerly, He Peony had never participated in such a crazy festival due to physical reasons, but now she can. Peony excitedly turned back to ask Dalang, Silang, Xishi, and others: "Brothers and sisters, are you going to play too?"

  "Ha! What's the big deal? If you want to play, we'll keep you company."

  Suddenly, a commotion was heard in front of the Diligent Government Building, followed by an eerie silence. Soon, news from that side spread here, and it turned out that the performers from the Wei Wang Fu had been performing a stunt where they stabbed their bellies and cut off their noses. As soon as the performer picked up the knife to stab himself, the Emperor considered it cruel and immediately stopped them. He also issued an edict saying that these Indian performers were deceitful and unreasonable, ordering them to be sent back and not allowed to stay in the capital for long.

  Peony vaguely remembered that this King Wei was the father of Qinghua County's master, the current emperor's own brother. The program for presenting gifts had come to this, and it seemed like a very inauspicious thing? She raised her eyes to ask Li Yi, and indeed saw Li Yi smiling and nodding, saying softly: "This Tianzhu artist was recommended by Qinghua County Master to King Wei."

  Tsinghua county was mainly scolded by her father, Peony smiled with schadenfreude, and suddenly heard a melodious sound coming from afar, no matter how she listened, it sounded familiar. She looked up to see a pair of children wearing five-colored brocade clothes leading two horses, one black and one white, decorated with five-colored gems, arriving at the square in front of the Diligent Government Building. It was Li Yi's two horses that had arrived at the Ning Wang Fu to perform.

  The peony warmed up in her heart, and she looked at Li Wei, saying softly: "Thank you, Brother-in-law."

  Li Wei raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly: "What's with the politeness? I was originally going to give it to Prince Ning anyway."

  The peony has a thousand words in its heart, wanting to express its gratitude, but ultimately feels that saying anything is useless, so it doesn't say anything and quietly stands looking into the distance. Li Yi quietly turned her head and glanced at her, suddenly speaking in a low voice: "Why did you change your fragrance today? Don't you like the peony scent?"

  The peony's heart skipped a beat, she grasped her sleeve tightly, looked up at him with a bright smile, and asked in return: "Isn't the Thousand Gold Moon Order fragrance I'm using pleasant to smell?"

  Li Wei pursed her lips and whispered, "Sounds good." She raised her eyes to see that the horse dance performance was about to end over there, so she hastily said, "I have to go now, I'll come find you guys later." With that, she hurriedly bowed to He Zhizhong and quickly left.

  Before long, news came from the direction of the Diligent Government Building that the dancing horse of the Ning Wang Fu was actually the first to perform today. Because in the end, the dancing horse picked up a large golden cup with its mouth and knelt down to offer fine wine to the Emperor and Empress. Of course, the Emperor and Empress couldn't drink the wine, but how delightful! Especially compared to the heavenly performers from the Wei Wang Fu who had previously performed the stunt of cutting off their noses, it was a completely different feeling. As a result, they were heavily rewarded.

  The peony watched for a while, as it was almost time for dinner, and felt a bit tired. Thinking that they still had to meet people in the evening, they needed to rest and refresh themselves. So, with Xue Shi, they went to the perfume shop where He Si Lang usually rested, accompanied by a few people, and took a short nap. After waking up, they had dinner at the store, and when it was almost time, they carefully dressed up and went to the place where they had agreed to meet Madame Bai.

  As the time approached dusk, the lights on the top of the Diligent Government Building were already shining brightly. The viewing platforms set up along the street and the pavilions set up by officials' families were decorated with lanterns and streamers everywhere. Strings of lanterns hung from the trees, illuminating the wide street from Chunming Gate to Golden Light Gate as bright as daylight.

  It was still a quarter to the hour of Xu, when Yu Ruyi hurried over, dressed in a brown robe with a round collar and narrow sleeves, black and white striped tight-legged Persian pants, and shallow green line shoes. Seeing Peony and Xue Shi waiting there early, she couldn't help but smile with satisfaction. She went forward and greeted Peony, beckoning her to go aside and whisper: "You're lucky, that nobleman is coming today, and later he'll be playing with our lady together. The Clear River County Princess will also be there. Later on, you just pretend to know nothing, show your face and that's all. When someone comes to call you, you can go over. The county princess will definitely make things difficult for you, at that time you...

  Peony nodded repeatedly and pulled Yu to ask: "Sister, can you tell me the identity of that noble? So I won't accidentally conflict with him."

  "Ah, it's Princess Kang of the Imperial City, the elder sister of His Majesty and a paragon of kindness and virtue. If she is willing to help you, then everything will be all right."

  Peony carefully noted, called Xue Shi and Feng Danni, Lin Mama, Yuhe together, and Mo Yu was separated by seven or eight steps away, one after another towards the direction of the Diligent Government Building. Dalang, Erlang, and Silang followed with a few people behind, being extremely careful, not even daring to blink their eyes, fearing that if they blinked, Peony would disappear.

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  The fourth update is delivered in advance, 240.

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