Concubine Wen saw the strong jealousy of the rest of the beauties from the corner of her eyes, and the cold light seemed to come from the ice cellar, Concubine Wen felt shuddering, so she had to be cautious at all times, for fear of getting into trouble or avoiding disasters.

discussed with Ling'er in private, and finally came up with a few clever plans.

On the night of the sixteenth, a concert was prepared, which lasted for an hour. Next to the warm charcoal fire, the servants also enjoyed the performance of the court musicians with the imperial concubines, the guzheng played the "Mountains and Flowing Water", Concubine Wen's thoughts returned to her distant hometown, the verdant mountains for many years, in order to conserve the clear and clear mountain streams, and now, as a gentle concubine Wen is like mountain spring water, flowing around the high mountain of Emperor Xu, which is also quite suitable for this beautiful song; Enjoying "Evening Singing of the Fishing Boat", the imperial concubines seemed to feel the blur and warmth of the sunset, seemed to hear the laughter of the fishermen who returned with a full load, and seemed to see the light of life flickering with thousands of silver scales, struggling on the fishing boat, but the fishermen thought that they were jumping wildly, and in addition to joy, a trace of imperceptible melancholy surged between Concubine Wen's eyebrows.

But this did not escape Liu Meiren's eyes, and after glancing at Concubine Wen, she mocked: "Such a lively and beautiful song, some people are still crying and mourning, who will show it." ”

Chang Mingming was afraid that the situation would expand, so he hurriedly stopped: "Master, forget it, you can't afford to be angry about such a small matter." Concubine Wen thought of taking a step back and continuing to smile and listen to the song.

Then I enjoyed "Spring Miao", and the emperors and concubines seemed to hear the sound of the seedlings pulling out the joints, as if they saw the graceful demeanor of the green leaves dancing in the wind; Concubine Wen admired the "Spring River Flower Moonlit Night", unconsciously memorized Zhang Ruoxu's famous poem through the ages, recalled the interesting story of reciting poetry by testing the people on the way to travel, and couldn't help but cover her mouth and smile......

On the night of the 17th, a party was organized in the palace. The inner eunuchs lit a large bonfire in the imperial garden, and in the dreamy and changeable melody, Concubine Wen volunteered to be the host, and asked Emperor Xu to first recite excerpts from the Analects, which was a piece of cake for a genius emperor who could memorize seven volumes of the Analects at the age of eight or nine; The inner eunuchs performed stick skills, the palace ladies performed fencing, and the Ouchi masters performed fighting; Then, under the leadership of the jade butterfly, everyone danced happily around the burning bonfire, in order to highlight the benevolence of the Song royal family, Concubine Wen proposed to send a New Year's gift to each inner prison maid, similar to the red envelope of later generations.

On the night of the 18th, Emperor Xu invited Zeng Bu to watch the performers' stilt and lion dance, and saw that they could dance swords, split forks, jump stools, cross the table, twist Yangge and other actions. The roles of fisherman, matchmaker, silly son, little second brother, Taoist aunt, monk and other characters are so vivid, and all the beauties are eager to try under the instigation of Concubine Wen, but thinking that Emperor Xu is not enthusiastic, Concubine Wen's body is inconvenient, and they also dispelled this idea.

According to Zeng, it is said that the form of stepping on stilts was originally a kind of stilt skill developed by ancient people in order to collect wild fruits from trees for food and tie two long sticks to their legs.

Emperor Xu suddenly remembered a poem: "Xiliang Trick, West Cool Trick, Mask Hu Man Fake Lion." The carved wood is the head and tail, and the gold-plated eyes are silver-plated. Fenxun sweater swings his ears, like coming from quicksand. Hurriedly asked who did it, and Lord Zeng humbly replied that it was Bai Juyi.

He went on to say: In the long course of historical evolution, the lion dance has formed two performance styles, the north and the south. The lion dance of the Northern School is mainly based on the performance of "martial lion", that is, the "rui lion" of the Northern Wei Dynasty appointed by Emperor Wu of Wei. Under the guidance of the "Lion Lang", the lion performs skills such as tumbling, falling, jumping, climbing, and worshipping, and has difficult actions such as walking plum blossom piles, running tables, and stepping on rolling balls. The southern lion dance is mainly based on the performance of "Wen Lion", and the expression is paid attention to when performing, with actions such as tickling, shaking hair, licking hair, etc., which are vivid and cute, and there are also difficult skills such as spitting balls. The ancients regarded it as a symbol of bravery and strength, believing that it could drive away evil spirits and keep people and animals safe. Therefore, people gradually formed the custom of lion dance during the Lantern Festival and other major events, in order to pray for good luck in life and peace in everything. ”

On the night of the 19th, Concubine Wen finally ushered in the long-awaited lantern riddle guessing activity, in order to avoid "poor donkey skills". Emperor Xu made an appointment with Zhang Dian and Zeng Bu.

Liu Meiren was about to make a bad deal on the sedan chair, but she didn't expect Concubine Wen to seem to be unpredictable, and she refused to sit in the sedan chair again, so she took Emperor Xu and walked to Kaifeng City.

Liu Meiren scolded fiercely in the back: "Hmph, the goblin should appear again, maybe she should be favored again tonight, sisters, you say, are our eight beauties scarecrows, they are just decorations all day long, like a dresser in the palace." The seven beauties read Concubine Wen's benevolence and righteousness, and persuaded her one after another.

The eighth sister roared: "Concubine Wen is full of favor, just like Weiyang in the harem, more like the newborn sun, who can drag it to the sunset?" ”

The emperor and concubine walked together, the monarch and the ministers had fun together, they were enthusiastic, laughing and laughing, visiting the lamp market together, and guessing the lantern riddles.

The long dragon-like lamp market, shining auspicious light everywhere, generous lanterns, pasted with clear riddles, dazzling words over the pearl, one after another like a drunken dragon hanging overhead, but close to the close.

Emperor Xu proposed that everyone guess at least one correctly, and everyone happily applauded.

Everyone asked Emperor Xu to guess the first article, "Open the letter? Hit a place name. ”

"Kaifeng." Emperor Xu thought for a while, blurted out, and everyone gave a thumbs up. Emperor Xu earned a beautiful envelope.

"Gao? (pronounced the same as "draft"), type a common word. ）

The crowd was silent, and after a while, Zhang Dian replied calmly: "If the 'fruit'." "Master Zhang earned a big red apple.

Everyone pondered for a while, and sure enough, it was the "fruit", and everyone smiled convincingly.

"Wearing a pointed hat and holding two spears, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty issued a holy decree and gave it a big red robe? Hit an animal. ”

Concubine Wen proposed to give this opportunity to the third sister, but the third sister had to think hard, but she still couldn't, Concubine Wen reminded: "Waist, a little bent." ”

"Shrimp." The third sister finally guessed that she earned a handkerchief, and everyone was happy.

"Fat chorus? Hit a place name. ”

Liu Meiren is related to singing, and she hurriedly said I guess I guess, "Hefei." Is it? ”

"Congratulations, sister." The little girl awarded her a small map.

"Hou Yi shoots the sun? Use polite language. ”

Everyone asked Concubine Wen to guess, and she didn't shirk, "The nine suns are all gone, and only one is left, and the mystery is 'not seen for many days'." Everyone admired, and she earned a rose.

"Saved the chicken, the hungry snake? Hit an idiom. The eighth sister hurriedly replied: "Take care of one and lose the other." Accompanied by applause and congratulations, "No Complaints" won a decorative bracelet.

"Little foal? Hit a place name. The second sister had been to this place and immediately replied: "Zhumadian." "The second sister earned three cents.

"The belly of Jianghan and the land of fish and rice, the former capital of Chu, the war place? Hit a place name. ”

Everyone unanimously asked Lord Zeng Bu to come out, and Lord Zeng replied loudly: "Long live Your Majesty, thousand-year-old girls, this is 'Jingzhou', the Three Kingdoms period is particularly famous, it is a place where ancient soldiers must fight, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, 20 generations of Chu kings set the capital here, as long as 411 years. Since ancient times, it has had the reputation of being a cultural country and a land of fish and rice. ”

The little student who served the riddle was deeply impressed by the talent of this adult, and was rewarded with a silk fan, and Emperor Xu happily admired and quipped: "Aiqing won again tonight, and my sister-in-law won this beautiful fan, I don't know how happy I am." ”

"Thank you." Zeng Bu Shi Li said.

"It's really a rich and rich five cars." Emperor Xu's concubines all praised enthusiastically, and then, through the bright starry streets, they returned with joy.