"Sister, where are we going now?" The woman with a long knife at her waist and a crotch on horseback looked helplessly at Ruoxue beside her and asked.

Ruoxue looked at the marching procession in the distance as if writhing her black body, and did not speak, she buttoned up the black veil that wrapped her face, looked at the desert Gobi, turned the horse's head, and added a whip again.

"Father is old, I don't want his wrinkled face to endure the erosion of the desert outside the Saiwai again, let him do some miscellaneous work in this marching team, and when we find the servant Lan Fangba, we will come back!" Ruoxue shouted to Soyu.

The two of them slowly disappeared into the distance of the horizon with their horsewhips in hand.

Shuozhou City is still lively, and the facts that people occasionally hear from the people who have returned from afar do not affect the scene of singing and dancing here, and there are more rumors, more people talking, and more people whispering mysteriously in the back alleys of the teahouses and restaurants. Dressed in cotton jackets and carrying unknown pastries or a few frozen fruits, people pretended to be casual and slowly approached the people outside the walls of the forbidden palace or the perennial begging and performing arts at the head of the general's palace, and talked with them with a smile to see if they could dig out some treasures from their all-knowing eyes and mouths, and pry out some clues, and closely combined with the various versions of the rumors they had heard, a new version of the story was formed. And let himself think deeply, yes, that's what happened, the 500,000 army has already crawled here, but they are just transiting, their real purpose is to fight the city on behalf of the city, judging from the style of the Han army, it should be that Qiu has not committed any crimes.

There was not the slightest pre-war unrest inside and outside the government, and they were unhurried every day, so that people's eyes widened and they could not see any vision. This shouldn't be, I obviously heard that the good deeds colluded with the little ruffians and half-sized children in the streets and alleys, and after breakfast every day, it was a day of intense but idle intelligence collection work, negating the old news, and sharing new news, they carefully analyzed and studied, especially in the several tea shops on the Longsheng Street, secretly talking, laughing, shouting a few angry words for a while, and whispering a few words that made people feel incomprehensible, It seems that all the secrets of this Shuozhou city have long been known, and they are happily reflected in the longing eyes of the people at the adjacent table or on the other side, and the ears that are erected.

That's right! In the past few days, there is something big going on in Shuozhou City, and it seems to arouse people's interest more than the news that these officials are ignoring it, that is, the city lord of Shuozhou City, Pan Heng, who proclaimed himself the king of Shuofang, is going to choose an Oiran among the female Lu in the city.

As soon as this kind of news comes out, what is going to be warned, what is going to be slaughtered and so on, there is no way to live, you see, we have a scene of singing and dancing here, peaceful and prosperous, and the king has issued an order to order the whole city to participate in the great matter of choosing an oiran, you say strange or not, swallow your tea, don't stop talking nonsense here, let's go, hurry up and take a look.

On the crossing of Longsheng Street stood two wooden pillars wrapped in red cloth, the wooden pillars were more than three zhang high and one foot wide, standing on the huge wooden pedestal that was also three zhang high. On top of it hung two crimson satins, one dark and one light, and when the silk was gently lowered with the simple rope structure, it was completely unfurled, slowly turning into a curtain of red halos in the sunlight on this high machine.

The sun was still in the sky, and the people in Shuozhou City were shoulder to shoulder in the open space of this crossing, surrounding the pedestal with the crimson curtain, making a restless noise.

"Hey! I've heard that there are more than 30 women running this year! The little boy in the crowd waved his hand at the man next to him and said happily.

"More than thirty? So much! The man looked at the gray-faced hippie kid beside him and exclaimed.

"That's right! And all of them are generous, and there are many people who went to the yamen two days ago! I saw with my own eyes that the old bustard of the lure immortal building led a small man to break into the yamen, and the little man carried two boxes of gold and silver, not to mention, it was indeed not light, and he walked up and flashed the flat arm, and the money was spent! The boy tiptoed to look at the high pedestal and said to the man.

"What if you spend so much money, but you can't choose? Money is not spent in vain! The man asked.

Xiao Tong glanced at the man and said disdainfully: "To tell you the truth, this is called the annual example, although the female Lu in Shuozhou City is not illegal, but there must be an official government to take care of it, reduce some taxes, poll tax or something, and there is a lot less trouble on weekdays. ”

The man nodded his head and asked, "How many people are choosing a scene like today?" ”

Xiao Tong smiled: "I tell you, don't tell others, in a scene like today, there are more than 20 girls who are running for the Oiran, but the victory or defeat is only between the two." ”

"Oh! Between the two! Between which two? The man asked, surprised.

The little boy just looked at the high platform and didn't answer, pretending to frown, rubbing his stomach and muttering to himself: "Hungry! There's not some water and rice in the belly, let's see what's lively here, don't talk about it, I'm really sorry, I'll go first! With that, he squeezed out.

The man saw that he was really leaving, and eagerly pulled Xiaotong's arm and said, "Little brother is not in a hurry, I happen to be a little hungry, you see that this upstairs is a wine shop, why don't we go there and chat while eating, and we can see it clearly, how about it!" The man met the smiling face and pointed to the Juxian Pavilion behind him.

"Since you're hungry too, then okay, I'll eat this meal with you!" The little boy said with an embarrassed face, and took the lead again, leading the man to hurry upstairs in a familiar way.

The two of them sat down by the window, wanted to have some delicacies, drank a few glasses of wine, and looked up at the phoenix platform from time to time. The man saw that the little boy was feasting on the wine and meat, and asked again: "Little brother, you just said that this year's Oiran girl is only between the two, which are the two of them?" ”

"Let me tell you, this year's Oiran is either the Yuan'er girl in the Tempting Immortal Building or the Xi'er girl in the Qinglou, no one else, hey! But look at the excitement, why are you asking so carefully, don't tell others, it's a crime to leak this news! You don't look like a local, where are you! The boy said as he ate.

The man said: "Don't worry, little brother, I just asked for a lively time, I am a businessman in Luoyang, do some mink trading, I only followed the caravan into the city to select goods yesterday, and I may have to be here for a while." ”

Xiao Tong smiled: "Seeing that you are well-dressed and extraordinary, I already knew that you were a rich master." ”

The man didn't eat, but kept looking up at the phoenix platform and asked, "Brother Xian, what good do you say about this chosen Oiran girl?" ”

Xiao Tong glanced at the man and replied, "Benefits... The benefits are great, not to mention the elevated value, according to this year's new regulations, you can still enter the palace to face the saint, if you are lucky, stay in the palace, and add a title of beauty and nobleman, it will be glorious to the ancestors, it is really amazing! ”

The man sighed: "Let's tell the little brother directly, I have already heard of the Qinglou in Shuozhou City, and the purpose of this horse gang is to meet the girl of Naxi'er, but unfortunately the fate is shallow, and the timing is unlucky, if she chooses the Oiran and enters the palace, I will rarely see each other even if I have gold and silver!" ”

The little boy was surprised: "Who do you want to see?" ”

"Hey... Miss Ciel! The man replied.

The boy exclaimed, "Hahaha... What's so hard about that! Why didn't you say it earlier! You don't ask who I am, just because I love to wander around since I was a child, the people in the rivers and lakes call Li Lang San'er, the big and small things in Shuozhou City, leave me Lang San'er, can he have fun! I've been selling steamed buns since I was a child, and I've been through everything, not to mention your little thing, and I'm still going to walk around a lot in the Admiral's Yamen! As long as you are willing to spend money, this matter is on me, what is the difficulty! ”

The man heard it accurately, and hurriedly surrendered his hand in surprise: "Ah... Yikes... Yikes! I really don't know Mount Tai, I Pei Guang has thanked Brother Lang San'er here, how many silver taels do you need, Brother Lang San'er opened his mouth, I will go to prepare now? ”

"Don't worry, when I've eaten enough and drunk enough wine, this idea will be there!" Lang San'er replied with a smile while picking up the wine and meat.