In the evening, the street was crowded with people, countless vendors, crowded stalls, Chu Nian only felt that his hand was tightly held by a powerful big hand, the palms of the big hands were a little warm sweat, Chu Nian's face was hot, and he wanted to struggle to take out his hand, but he didn't want to just make the big hand clench tighter and tighter, and when he looked up angrily, he looked up angrily and looked at a pair of narrow eyes with a little sarcasm.

He leaned back a little and protected Chu Nian in front of his chest, "It's better for you to be honest, the city gate is wide open during the Lantern Festival, and I don't know who are the people who entered Beijing, if you and I get separated, what can you do if you encounter any danger." ”

Chu Nian's face was stunned, and the lotus fragrance between her noses had already wrapped her entirely. Her face turned red, and she quickly lowered her head, but there seemed to be more and more crowds around her, and she couldn't break free of this embrace no matter what.

At this time, there was a circle of people at the mouth of the alley not far away, and they were forming a group, and there were bursts of cheers among them, Chu Nian had an idea, raised his eyes and said to the pair of narrow eyes: "Childe, I want to go and see what is in front of me?" ”

Ming Xiu, who was at the top, raised his eyebrows, and his thin lips slightly hooked a good-looking arc, "Okay." ”

Chu Nian breathed a sigh of relief, and finally got out of that embrace, and the two of them squeezed into the deepest part of the crowd, only to see an old man and a young man naked, the old man was lean, but he was holding a huge melon, the small one was delicate, with a wine pot in his left hand and a fire stick in his right hand.

The onlookers were applauding, and they saw the young man put down the wine jug, extinguished the fire stick, turned around and lifted the shelf on the ground, and the old man walked around the crowd with a melon, "Everyone who has passed by, those who have money have a money field, and those who have no money have a personal field, and then the old man will perform a secret technique for everyone to ensure that you have never seen it before." ”

As he spoke, he split the melon with one hand, and the center of the melon was empty, and he put the melon on his back on the ground, and someone threw money into it.

The old man smiled with satisfaction, turned and walked towards the young man, who had quickly made a flower stand, and the flower stand was a piece of dirt underneath.

Seeing this, the old man took out two seeds from the cloth pocket on the side and handed them to the nearest watchman next to him, "Look, this is not an ordinary seed." ”

The man took a look, and the other person immediately snatched it, and after a moment he sent the seed back, "Ordinary seeds are right, what do you want to perform, old man?" ”

The old man raised his eyebrows and smiled, "Haha, just look at it!" ”

So saying, the old man turned around, and threw the seed in his hand into the dirt under the trellis under the curious gaze of the people, and then he took the jug handed by the young man, and with a flip of his palms, the water in the kettle was poured into the dirt.

The old man squinted and smiled, "It's time to sprout!" ”

A magical scene happened, the old man's voice just fell, then saw a few seedlings break out of the ground, and then, the seedlings meandered up to the flower stand, and then a cup of tea time, the seedlings that should have grown for a quarter have already produced flowers, everyone was amazed, and then saw the old man smirked and said: "It's time for the result!" ”

As soon as his words fell, the flowers withered, the petals fell all over the ground, and the melons and fruits had already borne fruit, and in a short time they had grown to a ripe size.

The crowd suddenly erupted in applause, the old man's eyes looked around, and when he landed on Chu Nian, a fine light flashed in his eyes, but it only took a moment to retract, and he turned to the crowd present and said: "Little illusion, thank you guys!" ”

The cheers of everyone were still in their ears, but Chu Nian and Ming Xiu glanced at each other, and they both saw a trace of doubt in each other's eyes.

"Illusion is a technique that is rampant in Western Chu, and there are people who can do illusion in Da Liang?"

In a sense, this illusion is only used to please the rich, but there are also people with scheming who use illusion to seek benefits, in the Western Chu court, the use of illusion to fight for power abounds, if the people in the capital see this person with illusion, will not follow the example of Western Chu?

Chu Nian turned his eyes and looked at the old man carefully, but his gaze was on his waist.

At this moment, Ming Xiu also saw the bright jade pendant on the old man's waist, he frowned, turned his eyes to look at the roof not far away, and nodded without a trace.

The old man began to close the stall, and the crowd gradually dispersed, Chu Niancai took Ming Xiu's hand with a suspicious face, "Your Highness, let's go back?" ”

Ming Xiu lowered his eyes to look at her, "Go back so early?" ”

Chu Nian shook his head and said, "You have also seen that the old man is not ordinary, and it is still unknown what Qinghe represents, but at the moment, it seems that they obviously want to intervene in the court battle." ”

Hearing this, Ming Xiu raised his eyebrows, and the hand held by Chu Nian was held back, and he tightened it before he said: "Don't worry, Lone has already sent the secret guards to follow, and it is not easy to come out to play once, so don't think about these irrelevant things." ”

"Your Highness......"

The corners of Ming Xiu's mouth hooked up an imperceptible smile, he ignored Chu Nian's protest, took Chu Nian's hand and walked towards the west of the city, seeing this, Chu Nian had no choice but to sigh helplessly, and let him hold his hand.

After a while, the two of them arrived at a quiet stream, Ming Xiu didn't know when there were two more lanterns in his hand, at this moment the sky was getting late, a bright moon had already risen, and the water of the stream was flowing happily under the cold moonlight, Chu Nian turned his eyes to look at the shadows of the trees around him, it turned out that he didn't know when, the two of them had already moved away from the crowd, and the hand of this person was still holding his hand tightly, but Chu Nian felt that his right hand was frozen in his hand, and the warmth made people unbearable to break free.

Ming Xiu handed the lantern to Chu Nian, "It's for you." ”

Chu Nian lowered his head, the paper lantern was pasted into the shape of a lotus flower, the wick of the lantern had not yet been lit, and it was very rough, but it looked like someone had made it himself.

Seeing this, Chu Nian raised his head and smiled lightly: "When did Your Highness learn to make lanterns?" ”

Ming Xiu lowered his eyes to look at her, and there was a strange tenderness in his long and narrow eyes, "Do you like it?" ”

Chu Nian lowered his head and nodded silently.

Of course she liked it, he made it with his own hands, how could she not like it.

Ming Xiu took out the flint from his arms, Chu Nian held the small lotus lamp in the palm of his hand, the two looked at each other and smiled, lit the lotus lamp, Chu Nian carefully put the lotus flower on the stream, and with the flow of water, the lotus lamp gradually drifted away.

At this time, the upper reaches of the creek also gradually floated down a lot of lanterns, there are paper cranes, there are all kinds of small animal shapes, there are also all kinds of dyed paper paste lamps, not far from the city came a fine drum beat, I think it is the beginning of the lantern feast.

Chu Nian raised his eyes and looked at the lights in the distance, and suddenly smiled, "Your Highness, do you know who is being honored today?" ”

Ming Xiu looked sideways slightly, and there were three or two lanterns flowing down the stream, and the lights were reflected on his knife-like outline, indescribably gentle.

"A former and a backward?"

After the abolition?

Chu Nian raised his eyebrows, "Your Highness is really rational, but if you only look at it from the point of view of her identity, it is indeed just a deposed queen, but if what she does, isn't it enough to be admired?" ”

Ming Xiu's face was a little puzzled, "Just blocked a sword for the emperor?" ”

Hearing this, Chu Nian shook his head, people are in the spiral nest, and they really can't see the surroundings clearly, even Ming Xiu is inevitable.

The queen of the previous dynasty was born in a fisherman's family, and when the emperor went out of the palace to travel, he met this pure and beautiful fisherwoman, fell in love at first sight, and brought her back to the palace. The fisherwoman saw the harem for the first time, and gradually grew up in the harem, stepping on the corpse to become the mother of a country, however, at this time, the border of Western Chu came to invade, and the national strength of Daliang at that time was not so prosperous, but there was an invincible general in Xichu who was famous all over the world, Daliang was invincible, and soon invaded several cities on the border of Daliang, and threatened the Daliang Emperor with the people.

If the emperor really bows down to his vassals, will a country not decay? But if the emperor does not care about the lives of the people, where is the people's heart?

At this time, there were rumors in the harem that the emperor suddenly fell ill, the queen was in charge of the court, and ordered people to reject the armistice treaty of Xichu.

Western Chu no longer invaded, and the emperor also returned to take charge of the court, so the hundred officials took this opportunity to jointly play a request to abolish the demon queen, and there were also voices among the people, and the emperor had no choice but to abolish the queen and enter the cold palace.

Later, one day, the thieves in the palace were in turmoil, and the emperor was secretly visiting the queen in the cold palace, and happened to be assassinated.

The emperor was heartbroken, and on the day of the queen's death, he granted amnesty to the world and ordered the people to hold a festival today, and after many years, the festival finally evolved into the current lantern festival.

Ming Xiu looked thoughtfully at the scorching brilliance in Chu Nian's eyes when he told the story, and when her words fell, a pair of watery eyes looked at him with a smile, and he came back to his senses, and then saw Chu Nian continue: "Your Highness thinks that it was whose idea to cause the people at the border pass to be slaughtered?" ”

Hearing this, Ming Xiu frowned slightly, "Isn't it the queen?" ”

"Since ancient times, the harem is not allowed to participate in court politics, even if the emperor is really sick, in normal times, will the hundred officials be sent by the queen?"

"You mean......" Ming Xiu's face sank.

"If my guess is right, at that time, the overall situation was current, the emperor had no choice but to give up those people, but as a generation of Ming monarchs, the emperor could not bear such crimes, and the civil and military officials could not afford it, so they acquiesced to the queen's participation in court politics, and acquiesced to the queen's order to kill tens of millions of people at the hands of the enemy.

"So ......"

Chu Nian raised a smile like water, "The queen loves the emperor deeply, and she is reluctant to let him bear this infamy, so she took the initiative to stand up and bear all this, even if the hard-won status and reputation are burned, she is willing to die." ”

Ming Xiu's eyes flickered slightly, and his voice lowered a little, "If this is the case, then this lantern festival has become a celebration of the death of the demon queen for the people." ”

Seeing Chu Nian smile and shake his head, "Why do the people celebrate the death of the person who protected them?" ”

Ming Xiu took his hand and looked at her for a long time.

"It was the people of the border pass who died, but they saved a piece of Daliang, His Highness thinks that if the armistice agreement of Western Chu is agreed, the people of Daliang will not live in dire straits?"

"No, no, on the contrary, after being oppressed for a long time, the people will only be unclothed and unable to eat, so does Your Highness still think that the queen has done something wrong?"

Ming Xiu's face frowned, looking at her smile that did not reach the bottom of his eyes, his thin lips pursed slightly.