Early one morning. Xue Dengke and the others took the drape used for the fire and frolicked in the courtyard. The noisy shouting woke up Xiao Yunfan from his sleep.

Xiao Yunfan stepped out of bed and stretched. Looking out through the crack in the door, a few people were fiddling with those things. He said in his heart: "These scoundrels got up early, most of them are the meaning of the chief. "Wash up and open the door. When Xue Dengke saw him come out, he hurriedly said with a smile on his face: "Everything that Brother Lu ordered the younger brothers to prepare is complete." The brothers will give our brother a performance. ”

As soon as his words fell, the three red-clothed men in the east were full of joy, holding drumsticks in their hands, picking up their arms and knocking on the cowhide drums, and the three big men in the west picked up the bronze cymbals and cymbals and cymbals and beat them blindly. The voice was sharp and harsh, and before the aftermath dissipated, a tall and thin man raised his suona and puffed his cheeks and blew, Xiao Yunfan couldn't help but cover his ears. Thanks to him covering his ears in time, otherwise a small life would have to be confessed.

Xue Dengke hugged the hood of a big-headed doll and said with a smile: "Brother, you see that our brother is still playing." Xiao Yunfan stretched out his hand and chiseled a violent shudder on the door of his head, and said, "You guys are asking for my life, don't stop quickly." Xue Dengke walked into the courtyard and kicked the suona man in the buttocks and said, "The blowing is worse than the crow's cry." ”

The man said embarrassedly: "Brother, didn't you let me blow it?" Xue Dengke stretched out his hand and slapped the back of his head, widened his eyes and scolded: "Hey! You broken cub, brother let you go to heaven, you will go to heaven?" The man pouted and said: "I will go up if there is a ladder." The crowd burst into laughter. Xiao Yunfan waved his hand and smiled: "You guys don't know how to fiddle with the guys." Xue Dengke hurriedly approached Xiao Yunfan and said, "If the brothers know, what else do you want to do?"

Xiao Yunfan walked up to the cowhide drum, asked for the drumstick, and said loudly: "As the saying goes, you don't need a heavy hammer to sound the drum." Where are you playing the drum, I see that your brothers are eager to beat this drum into a hole. When the three of them heard this, their faces turned red, and they touched the back of their heads and said, "Then brother, how do you say this drum is played?" Xiao Yunfan swirled the drumstick in his hand, first on the drum stick, and then struck it on the drum surface.

Following the drumstick in his hand, first slow and then fast, and then flying up and down, slowly beating from the center of the drum to the edge of the drum, the sound of the drum was strong and rhythmic, and the three of them were stunned. Xiao Yunfan said with a smile: "If you want to play the drum, you must first know where the drumstick falls and what sound it makes." When you beat the drum, the heart is naturally pounding, the sound is clear, and the sound is naturally dull when you beat the drum. ”

Xue Dengke saw that the three of them looked confused, and said with a smile: "Brother, you told them that you were playing the piano to the cow and the pipa to the donkey." What do these three stuffy people know?" said a dark-skinned man among the three: "Go, go, go." You seem to understand what you said?" Schedenko pointed to his head and said, "I have gold here, and you have a lot of dung here." The three of them turned red and clenched their fists to hit him. Xiao Yunfan smiled: "Okay, let's make trouble, but it's important to get down to business." ”

He looked into the courtyard, and there were fifteen people in all. Fifteen people were divided into five teams, three people played drums, two people played gongs, three people played cymbals, five people dressed up as happy dolls, and the rest came to dance the lion. After everyone divided the team, Xiao Yunfan said: "We want to win Chang Wu this time, we have to take out the momentum, don't look like frosted eggplants." One of them yelled at the top of his voice and let me listen. Xue Dengko stepped forward, raised his head and exclaimed, "Ah!" his voice was high-pitched. Xiao Yunfan gave a thumbs up and said, "Okay, next." After everyone yelled, they suddenly felt refreshed.

Xiao Yunfan said: "Well, this is like a man." Our team is also divided, so I have to explain it. And the people pricked up their ears and listened to him. It turned out that Xiao Yunfan passed on a set of simple formulas to everyone. Xue Dengke said: "Brother, it's easy to remember when you say it." Knock knock, knock......"

After everyone memorized the tune, they practiced it separately. Xiao Yunfan walked to a wooden frame and took off the lion's head, and then said to Xue Dengke: "Brother Xue, you come to play this lion with me." Xue Dengke threw away the big-headed doll in his hand and said with a smile: "Brother, you are too worthy of the brother." Xiao Yunfan said: "Why don't you dare?" Xue Dengke straightened his chest and said: "Why don't you dare." ”

At sunset, everyone actually practiced well, and when they saw everyone working hard under the eaves, they were quite happy in their hearts, and they rewarded everyone with good wine and meat that night.

As soon as the firecrackers sounded, men, women and children from all villages took to the streets to watch the fire performance. A boy with a bun in the crowd asked, "Dad, look, there's a doll on that two-foot-tall flag?" This is called a core. How exactly did this doll get it, Dad doesn't know. Listening to the old people say that this core is high, hanging and wonderful. ”

A round-faced girl in the crowd was surprised and delighted: "Senior sister, look at it, that white impermanence leg is really long." An older woman next to her smiled, "It's the first time I've seen it." An old man beside them smiled and said, "This is called willow legs, ordinary people can't walk." The old woman just smiled and said to herself, "If we perform light skills, wouldn't it be better than this willow leg." ”

This round-faced girl is Shui Hanyan, and next to her is Jiang Hanyue. In the new rules implemented by Xue Lanyi, the first one is to let these female disciples travel down the mountain. Instead of sitting in the well and watching the sky with their ears and eyes closed, it is better to let them have more experience in the rivers and lakes, so that they can shoulder great responsibilities in the future. After the two of them descended the mountain, they went all the way to the east. When I went to Lantian territory, I heard that a county held a social fire meeting, so I rushed to visit it non-stop.

People on both sides of the street are scurrying around, boiling over the sky. Not far away, there was a rumbling sound, and two sturdy oxen dressed in red and hanging colors pulled a big drum cart and walked slowly. In the car was a burly man, seventeen or eighteen years old. He wears a red scarf and a white coat. The north wind was bitter and the weather was bitterly cold. But the man didn't care, but he saw that there were beads of sweat on his forehead, and his arms were raised, as if he had inexhaustible strength.

After the drumming procession, two men first held a flagpole with the word "Chang" written on it. Two men in black held the flagpole with both hands around their bodies, threw the flagpole into the air, and the black flag was waving in the wind, embroidered with golden dragons swaying from side to side as if it was alive. The crowd applauded.

After the flag team, a man with a painted face danced up and down with a colored ball, and a vigorous long dragon appeared behind him, which was three feet long. The dragon dancer is a man in his forties, with a Chinese face and a beard. His arms move smartly, and his feet run like the wind. Several of the men behind him were also very skilled.

I saw the color ball to the left, the dragon head moved to the left, the color ball to the right, the head of the dragon head followed the right twist. For a while, the dragon's body rolled up and down, the golden light was shining, dazzling, and the cheers of everyone were higher and higher. The dragon's head rose up and spewed out a foot of flame, which was even more majestic.

After the dragon dance, a fiery lion shook its head and tail. Shui Hanyan saw that the lion was cute and cute, waved his hand and applauded, and suddenly remembered Xiao Yunfan, his heart was sour, and he almost fell into tears. The fire lion's big eyes flickered, and the bell hanging on his body was even more pleasant.

A child in the crowd said, "Daddy, I want to sit on a lion." The child's father said, "This lion is in the guise of a man, and you can't sit there." Unexpectedly, the conversation between the father and son fell into Xiao Yunfan's ears, and he and Xue Dengke rolled on the spot and pounced in front of the child. Xiao Yunfan opened the lion's mouth and said to the child: "If you want to sit on the lion, you can't do it, the uncle can let you touch the lion's head." As he spoke, he lowered the lion's head and let the boy reach for it.

Seeing the child's eyebrows and smiles, Xiao Yunfan said: "Touch the lion's head, wealth will always stay." With both feet paused, he stepped back, shook himself and threw himself at a hydrangea. It's remarkable that there are seven or eight teams in the Society's Fire Meeting, and this year there are twenty teams.

Xiao Yunfan danced and suddenly stopped, Xue Dengke said: "Brother, why don't you move?" It turned out that Xiao Yunfan saw Shui Hanyan in the crowd, his heart moved, and he secretly said: "Why is she here?" Shui Hanyan saw the lion's head facing him, and a strange feeling rose in his heart. Inexplicably, he stepped forward to see the lion dresser.

As soon as her hand touched the lion's head, the lion's mouth opened, and an unfamiliar face smiled at her. Xiao Yunfan knew that she would not recognize her current appearance, and immediately said, "Does the girl want to touch the lion's head?" Shui Hanyan retracted his hand, and his cheeks turned red and said, "I'm sorry, this big brother." Xiao Yunfan said: "Don't worry." For the New Year, everyone wants a good fortune. As he spoke, he shook his head and walked forward.

Jiang Hanyue walked up to her and said, "Senior sister, what's wrong with you?" Shui Hanyan said: "No...... It's nothing. He looked up at the lion's back, but thought in his heart: "Why does that person's eyes look so much like Brother Xiao?" No, Brother Xiao is no longer there, I am crazy again." ”

Jiang Hanyue looked at the lion and guessed eight or nine points in her heart, and immediately said: "Senior sister, since you like lions, let's go to the front and take a look." As he spoke, he took her hand and ran forward. A group of fire teams came to a stop in a huge square.

Directly north of the square there was a colorful shed, and a dozen or so gentry sat in front of a long table below. One of them was wearing a hosta, a local magistrate, forty years old, with a goatee, and a pair of small eyes narrowed into a slit to look into the field. A bare-brained master beside him said, "Master, you see Chang Wu is here." The county commander said: "Who is Chang Wu?" The master smiled: "This Chang Wu is the leader of the annual social fire conference, sir, you only arrived in the local area this year, and it is normal not to know him." ”

The county magistrate asked, "Why is this the leader every day?" The master said: "The five ancestors of Chang have been doing this dragon dance for three generations. When his grandfather was in the past, he once toured for the Son of Heaven in Beijing. The county commander smiled: "It turned out to be the light of the ancestors." The master said again: "Master Mingjian." However, this Chang Wu has practical learning, and his fire dragon flying into the sky is a must. The county commander said with great interest: "The people are just playing tricks, could it be that this dragon can really ascend to heaven?" The master said: "The master can watch it tonight." ”

In the evening, the crowd ate some food and drink indiscriminately, and waited for the order from above. Xue Dengke grabbed a chicken leg and asked, "Brother Lu, how can we win Chang Wu tonight?" Xiao Yunfan smiled: "He plays his dragon, let's dance our lion." Xue Dengke said: "But if you lose, the chief and my third uncle will not be able to explain anything." Xiao Yunfan saw that he was anxious and whispered a few words in his ear, Xue Dengke gave a thumbs up and said, "Brother, there is really you." ”

In the center of the square is a wooden shelf, with a hydrangea hanging from the top of the wooden shelf, and a cabbage hanging from the bottom of the hydrangea. This thing is called Qingcai, and whoever obtains this thing is the leader of this social fire competition. A gong sounded, and a person came out of the colorful shed and said loudly: "The social fire competition has officially begun, and those who win the green will be regarded as the champion." Each according to his ability, he shall not harm the life of man in vain. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, the teams from all directions gathered towards the high platform. Chang Wu said, "Brothers, dance." "When the dragon's body was set on fire, it burst into flames. The fire dragon rolled and swerved forward.

Chang Wu said loudly: "The dragon goes to sea, get up!" I saw the dragon head raising and the dragon body swinging. A pair of brothers on stilts were about to approach the wooden frame, but they were hit by the dragon body and fell to the ground. There was another group of people running from the west, standing like arhats, and the people from the lower level sent the people from the top floor, and the person turned over and leaped to the wooden frame with one harrier, and climbed the wooden frame with both hands and walked up like an ape.

Chang Wu smiled and said, "Flying dragon to the sky." His feet were in the air, and the dragon's head spewed fire, burning the man's pants with a snort. The man was taken aback and fell off the wooden frame, but fortunately someone from below rescued him and he was safe. The fire dragon surrounded the wooden frame, and everyone swarmed up, but they were all blocked. The people brought by Chang Wu were all brave, and the others didn't dare to come forward when they saw this.

At this time, I saw the dragon's body twist and rush straight up. Xiao Yunfan held the lion in both hands and flew on the human head. The spectators from the sidelines cheered in unison when they saw this scene. The county commander said: "You said that in the past, this Chang Wu took the lead, but today it seems that this lion has a fight with his raptor." The master opened his eyes wide and said: "Strange thing, I have never seen people play lions so cleverly in previous years." ”

Xiao Yunfan hooked his feet on a wooden beam, and Chang Wu also hooked the wooden beam with both feet. Chang Wudao: "Where did the little cub come from, he wants to rob grandpa's green." Xiao Yunfan said with a smile: "You are arrogant and tight, and it is strange that you take the jackpot every year, but it turns out that you are reckless." Chang Wu scolded: "Grandpa is reckless, take care of your." His feet kicked on the wooden beam, and his legs swept towards Xiao Yunfan like a whirlwind. Xiao Yunfan said: "Lao Tzu, I just want to extinguish your prestige." As he spoke, he twisted and dodged away. With a click, Chang Wu kicked a piece of wood off.

Xiao Yunfan's left foot was on a wooden beam, and he climbed with one hand, and his body rushed upward. Chang Wu didn't allow others to be majestic on his head, followed his body upward, tilted the dragon's head, and sneered A flame sprayed towards Xiao Yunfan's back heart.