Chapter 27: The Fairy
A regular drum beat accompanied by bursts of floral fragrance from far and near, and at the end of the street appeared a team of brocade palace ladies holding gilt bowls and raising pieces of flower petals. Red and white, reflecting the sky overhead, is also stained with a slight reddish.
Chihiro moved her nose and sniffed the fragrance of flowers, and the scene of a group of palace maids picking flowers in the flower garden came to mind. Xindao, you won't pick all the flowers in the palace, right?
Behind Gong'e, there is a group of strong men stepping on flower petals and holding colorful flags, and the high flags flutter over the streets, guiding the people behind.
The drums are getting clearer and louder, and behind the flags, there are four groups of big fish holding realistic paper ties, waving them. The fish was very long, with a bamboo keel and eight wooden sticks attached to it. In a group of 8 people, one person controls the head of the fish, one person controls the tail of the fish, and the rest of the people control the belly of the fish, competing for a colorful cloth flag. The person who controls the cloth banner holds a thick wooden stick in his hand, and his posture is flexible, and he shuttles among the four fish, and the colorful stripes fly with ease.
A big drum cheers them on behind the big fish. Eight people push a giant drum in pairs of four corners, and a muscular man wearing a painted mask dances on the drum surface, and every time the body joints hit the drum surface, a drum sounds. The four fish competed fiercely, and the man also danced to the critical point, his movements were like a storm, and the drums were impassioned, shaking the heavens and the earth.
The crowd erupted in applause from time to time, and Chihiro was emotionally infected, and couldn't help but applaud.
She glanced into the distance and said to Hachi beside her, "This parade looks so long!" ”
"Hmm."
"I now know why so many people are crammed here."
"Why?" Hachi asked.
"Of course, it's funny!" Chihiro raised her head slightly, a smile in the corner of her eyes.
I don't know when the tattered who stood next to Chihiro watched the interaction between her and Hachi, and his eyes were full of envy.
The young lady and the son looked really compatible, his heart was sour, and his face was slightly lost.
"Look, it's a float!"
Chihiro's excited voice brought the tattered back to reality, and he looked up and followed Chihiro's fingertips, only to see a mahogany painted float coming from afar.
The float built a three-level platform, and 12 shirtless strong men on both sides pushed forward. The dancing servants on the platform hold colorful umbrellas and step on the tunes hummed by the strong men with accurate movements.
Behind the float was a group of gorgeously dressed, cute and beautiful 7 and 8-year-old children. They carried lanterns in their hands, were well-trained, and walked in a proper manner, and none of them were greedy for fun.
Suddenly, the front of the street is full of people, drawing Chihiro's attention to them.
"Princess, it's a princess!"
I don't know who shouted, the originally noisy crowd immediately fell silent, and people knelt on the ground from far and near like a wave, and they couldn't stand for a long time.
Chihiro looked at everything in amazement, these originally crowded people were able to squeeze out some more space to kneel at this time, which was also amazing.
Tattered follows the movements of the crowd, hooking the body, very religious.
A gorgeous chariot carried by sixteen people gradually approached.
A large round canopy covers the square incense wood pavilion, and around the dome hangs pale blue brocade clouds, the corners of which are pressed with tassels of the same color. The pavilion is paved with a tapestry, and is surrounded by a gold-colored vermilion railing. The frost-colored tulle hanging from the dome is light and elegant, and it is embroidered with gold thread with ruyi moire, which sets off the hazy beauty on the throne in the pavilion, like a fairy in the clouds.
Chihiro's legs seemed to be sandwiched between two planks, and she couldn't bend them. She looked at the vague figure sitting in the chariot, her body trembling more and more, and for some reason, the heart in her chest was so restless and pounding.
Hachi noticed the trembling of the people around him, and reached out to hold her arm, wondering why Chihiro had this reaction.
Is it fear?
As she got closer, Chihiro still stood upright. There were a few shouts around him, and when he heard it, he looked up at Chihiro, and she stared at the people in the chariot like a demon, without even blinking her eyes.
Tattered carefully tugged at the corner of Chihiro's skirt, trying to pull her soul back.
Chihiro was unmoved.
Hachi doesn't care much about the opinions of the people around her, she stands when she stands, and he kneels when she kneels.
The breeze blew, lifting the corner of the drapery, revealing a face of the country and the city in the middle of the court, and everyone finally had the honor to witness the fairy in full costume.
When people saw the princess's appearance clearly, as if they were afraid that their eyes would defile the immortals, they quickly lowered their heads.
"That's her!" When she saw the face of the man on the throne, Chihiro heard such a sentence in her mind, and she felt that her heart was slightly hot, and she was beating faster.
At the same time, the fairy saw two conspicuous people in the crowd, especially the girl, and her face was shocked, and she actually blushed after seeing her. The red lips are slightly hooked, and the mocking smile is another person who is obsessed with his beauty.
Her white fingers scratched at the bright red brocade on her body, and the admiring gazes of those below made her resentful, confused, and sad.
As the people walked away, they remained on their knees, motionless, as if they were afraid that their movements would scatter the little fragrance left by the immortals.
Seeing that the escort team and the bunting team behind the chariot had already passed in front of her, Chihiro was finally anxious, how long were these people going to kneel?
She shook off Hachi and lifted her feet, trying to catch up with the chariot.
Immediately there were shouts and screams from all around, like someone had thrown a lit firecracker into a crowd. The strange girl grabbed her hands, and the two people who were stuck together immediately fell to both sides, and the second person in both directions dodged in no hurry, and immediately fell on their backs, and then they fell like dominoes.
There is no one else in her world at the moment, she just wants to catch up with the people, catch up with that person, and then ......
Hachi didn't understand what Chihiro was going to do, and wanted to keep up, but he moved faster and had already rushed behind Chihiro.
Tattered followed Chihiro and apologized over and over again to those who had fallen, at this time he had the same idea as Chihiro, and wanted to look at the princess again.
At this time, the two who had difficulty communicating invariably thought of one piece.
Xiaoba watched the people around him turn on his back, helplessly stroked his forehead, and followed.
Chihiro drove all the way and didn't go far, the entire Miyoshi Street was full of kneeling people, she was out of breath, watching the chariot get farther and farther away from her, and finally stomped her feet unwillingly.
The tattered still insists on moving forward.
"Chihiro, what's wrong?" Hachi stepped forward and asked worriedly.
"I ......" She didn't know what was going on with her, she didn't know how to answer, she calmed down for a while, and said, "It's nothing." Looks like the parade should be over, let's go back! ”
Calling the tatters, the three of them went home.
Hachi carefully observed Chihiro in the back, her face was silent, as if she had something on her mind, she thought a little, and proposed, "Why don't we go eat something first, and then go to see the street performances." I heard that there is a lantern festival at night, so we can go back after watching the lantern festival. ”
Tattered raised his feet and hands in favor of this proposal, today's things were enough for him to go out and brag for a while, it didn't matter if he saw the princess for a second time.
Chihiro's reaction wasn't as positive as Ragged, but she didn't refuse either. But the whole afternoon and evening were lacking in interest, and compared with the two, she was more docile and quiet.
Hachi can't say which kind of Chihiro is better, he just wants Chihiro to be like a normal person, and he doesn't have to guess and guess.