The year after Zhao Zhen succeeded to the throne, the Great Song Dynasty changed its name to Tiansheng.

In the first year of Tiansheng, the Lantern Festival was ushered in shortly after the New Year's Day.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, it is commonly known as the "Lantern Festival", and the Taoists call it "Shangyuan". It is the habit of lighting lamps at night, which is also called "Shangyuan Festival" or "Lantern Festival".

On the day of the Shangyuan Festival, there are lantern exhibitions in the streets and alleys of Bianliang. Shangyuan lantern exhibition is three days, that is, the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth of the first month, this dynasty to Taizu years, because the court has nothing to do, the country is stable, the year is abundant, because the Kaifeng Mansion continues to release the seventeenth, eighteenth two days of lights.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the sky has not yet been darkened, the surrounding of the royal street has been crowded with tourists, the people have dinner early, the whole family and the young go to the royal street to watch the lanterns hand in hand, the lazy to go far, just watch the lanterns at the mouth of the square and alley near their own house, and can also see the scene of thousands of lights.

The Fan Tower outside the Donghua Gate, at the north end of the Royal Street, is the largest restaurant in Bianliang and the first of the 72 restaurants in the capital. The Fan Building consists of five buildings: east, west, south, north and middle. One of the central buildings and a three-storey building on each side of the building face each other, and the floors are connected by flybridges.

Because of its proximity to the light market, all the seats in the building were fully booked 10 days ago, and all the officials, nobles, and wealthy families in the capital who had a little face did not want to crowd with the people in the market, so they booked a meal in Fan Lou early and watched the lanterns by the way.

Fan Lou has a hundred steps corridor, there are small pavilions in the two corridors around, the hall aisle and the pavilion private room, all hang the bead curtain embroidered forehead, the Fan Lou on the night of the Lantern Festival, each tile ridge on the eaves is lit up with a colored lantern, the candlelight swaying is more and more lined with this night misty and hazy, looking at it from afar like a fairyland on earth.

At this time, there was a private room on the third floor of the Fan Building, one of which was quite luxurious, with a middle-aged couple and several young men and two teenage men and two teenagers sitting in it, looking like a family, and there were several guards standing at the door.

Because there are as many officials and nobles as many as this Fan Lou, they all bring three or five guards when they travel, so it is not uncommon to see this guard, who knows who is sitting inside.

The tea doctor in the private room silently retreated after serving the tea, and the teenage boy looked out of the window, taking in the night view of the capital, and listening to the romantic singing and dancing faintly coming from the porch outside, poetry and laughter, as if in a dream.

The teenage boy looked at it for a while, turned his head excitedly, and smiled at the middle-aged couple and said, "Uncle Eight Wang, Aunt Wang, thank you for being willing to accompany me here, otherwise the eldest lady will definitely not agree to me coming out, how can I see the beautiful scenery in this capital?" ”

Aren't the eight princes and aunts called the eight kings and aunts the eight kings?

"Official, you must not do it again in the future, think about how noble the identity of the official family is, this casual private act, in case of an accident, the minister will die." The eighth prince replied respectfully.

"Daddy, Brother Zhen is usually detained tightly in the palace, and it is difficult to come out easily, so let's not spoil the fun anymore." The girl who is about ten years old is Zhao Xian, and the teenage boy is naturally the official Zhao Zhen.

Thinking of that young man's temperament, Zhao Zhen, who usually hardly goes out of the palace gate, coincided with the Lantern Festival, and begged the queen mother and got the eighth prince to agree to accompany him before going out of the palace, and at this moment he naturally enjoyed this rare opportunity.

"What Uncle Bawang said is very true." Zhao Zhen hurriedly responded, thinking that although he was young, he was also a person who knew how to advance and retreat, and he knew that this matter could not be repeated.

Not far from this Fan Lou is the lamp market, and there is a night market downstairs, which is the time to be lively.

After watching it for a while, Zhao Zhen couldn't sit still again, "Uncle Bawang, I want to go to the Lamp Market to have a look, I think I am also the lord of a dynasty, but I have never been close to ordinary people, I am ashamed." ”

Looking at the resoluteness on this young man's face, the eighth prince knew that if he didn't let him see it today, he would not give up. had to be arranged, "Yunxi, Yunliang, you and the other four brothers take a few capable guards to go to the Lamp Market with the official family, follow the official family closely, don't have an accident, otherwise you don't have to come back to see me." ”

Yun Xi and the other four were the four sons-in-law of the eighth prince, and after they bowed down, they took a few guards with high kung fu, and followed Zhao Zhen and Zhao Xian, who were in high spirits, out of a secluded small door behind Fan Lou, and walked towards the lamp market not far away.

The lantern market outside the Donghua Gate, there are many kinds of lanterns inside, the people who look at them are dazzled, the lantern ball, the lamp lance, the silk lantern, the sun and moon lamp, the poetry lamp, the mirror lamp, the word lamp, the horse riding lamp, the phoenix lamp, the water lantern, the glass lamp, the shadow lamp. The ingenious lamp maker also skillfully used animal horns, feathers, glass, leather, silk, etc., to make the lamp into the shape of peonies, lotus, mandalas and other flowers......"

Zhao Zhen and Zhao Xian each happily carried the lamp they had just bought and walked back slowly, at this time it was already dark, and the street was crowded with people. Everyone walked and watched with lanterns, and the streets were full of lanterns with riddles written on them; There are also many colored cords hanging in the sky, as well as the "street lamp" hanging on the lamp, the "lamp pole" of dozens of zhang, and the other ends with the ribbon, the papier-mâché characters of a hundred plays, hanging on the rod, the wind moves like a flying fairy.

Zhao Zhen looked at these lanterns with great interest, walking slower and slower, and several people behind him followed closely, automatically forming a circle around Zhao Zhen, escorting him to slowly walk forward with the crowd.

One of the alleys is still performing thaumaturgical abilities, singing and dancing, which is exciting, attracting onlookers to applaud.

With a "bang", the sound of fireworks came from the sky above the royal street, and then all kinds of fireworks bloomed brightly in the sky, extremely brilliant.

Zhao Zhen couldn't help but stop and look up. The guardian did not dare to relax for a moment, and guarded tightly.

At this time, a voice came from afar, "Pull the fire, start the fire, run." Seeing the crowd rushing here, Zhao Zhen was startled, and hurriedly tiptoed to look into the distance to see what was happening.

At this time, Yunxi shouted, "Everyone protect Childe, run to a place where there are few people first, and earnestly protect Childe's safety." ”

Zhao Xian heard her brother's voice, and hurriedly grabbed Zhao Zhen, who was still looking towards the fire, "Brother Zhen, let's run, the crowd is coming here." ”

Zhao Xian looked around and saw that there seemed to be fewer people in an alley in the distance, so she grabbed Zhao Zhen and ran, then pointed to the alley in front of her and said, "Big brother, let's go there." ”

Zhao Xian had been practicing two young skills with her master, so her figure was quite light at this time, and she pulled Zhao Zhen to run towards the alley quickly, and the guards were busy protecting them.

At this time, before the people on the street could react, they were pushed by the crowd that came in the opposite direction, and many people fell to the ground and trampled on each other, pushing and shoving, and the crying immediately rang out in a large area.

Zhao Xian had already pulled Zhao Zhen out of the crowded place, and she was about to get close to the alley with few people. At this time, a few people suddenly flew out of the alley, and rushed towards Zhao Zhen and the others, and a trace of silver light crossed in the darkness, but it was the dagger that those people carried.

Several guards were startled, and hurriedly drew their personal blades to meet them, and for a moment the sound of "clanging bells" weapons handed over was endless.

Yun Hee hurriedly shouted, "Guardian Son"! But those guards have been entangled by the comers, and no one can free up to protect Zhao Zhen, so even the Yunxi brothers are also overwhelmed.

Yun Xi was in a hurry, because out of the corner of his eye, another person flew out of the alley, holding a dagger and rushing straight towards Zhao Zhen, and at this time, Zhao Zhen was the only one by his side.

He is the sister of Zhilu Dao's own family, who has followed her master to learn art for two years, and is obsessed with the art of disguise and light body kung fu, but he can only protect himself in kung fu.

In this hurry, his arm was cut, Yun Xi was busy calming down, he knew that if he messed up at this time, the safety of the official family would be difficult to guarantee, and he could only quickly solve the person in front of him to get to the official family quickly, and at this moment, he could only hope that his sister could resist for a while.

The man pounced in front of Zhao Zhen, although Zhao Zhen was young, he was quite calm, and when he saw the man rushing over, he hurriedly protected Zhao Xian with his hand and flashed to the side.

The man didn't seem to expect Zhao Zhen to react so quickly, and after the dagger stabbed into the air, he stabbed the dagger horizontally towards Zhao Zhen's heart.

Zhao Xian had already pulled out the personal dagger given by her father at this time, dragged Zhao Zhen behind him, and she stood in front of him.

In the end, she is young and weak, and she can only block that person's move. And this is because the assassin did not take these two people seriously, and only used 10% of his strength.

The assassin saw that Zhao Zhen had dodged this trick again, and did not dare to underestimate the two of them anymore, and the horizontal stab was not yet over, so he pulled the dagger and beckoned to Zhao Zhen again.

This time, Zhao Xian's strength was exhausted, and seeing that the dagger crossed over and stabbed at the person behind him, he was in a hurry, and hurriedly shouted, "Brother, come quickly!" ”

Yun Xi had solved the entangled person in front of him, turned around and jumped towards Zhao Zhen and them, but his body was still not faster than the action of the person who stabbed Zhao Zhen, seeing that this dagger was unavoidable, Zhao Xian wanted to save him.

There was a "poof" sound in the air, but seeing that the dagger was shot down to the ground, it could slip from Zhao Zhen's hair, and Zhao Zhen was scared into a cold sweat. The Assassin looked down, but it turned out to be a stone, and he didn't know who had such a strong arm that he could use the stone as a weapon to shoot down his own stab.

The assassin saw that his dagger was shot down by an unknown stone, one hand became a claw, and grabbed Zhao Zhen's shoulder again, at this time, a finger stretched out from the side, and quickly clicked on the assassin's hand a few times, the assassin's arm was numb, and it hung down, and he couldn't use any more force.

Yunxi saw that Zhao Zhen was out of danger, and hurriedly ran to Zhao Zhen's side, looked carefully, and found that Zhao Zhen was unharmed, so he breathed a sigh of relief.

The Assassin saw that he could no longer take advantage of it, and put his other hand in his mouth and made a sound, and the other Assassins heard this, put down their opponents, turned and left, and between a few jumps, they had already disappeared into the crowd and could no longer be found.

Yun Xi said in a deep voice, "Don't chase anymore, escort Gongzi back." ”