Between the vast sea of ​​clouds

There is no curfew in Zhaoye, and the darkening sky is the signal before the carnival.At night, the city is brightly lit, and there are merry-goers everywhere, and many jugglers also come out in full costume, walking through the bar of the wine shop, playing music continuously, and the crisp drumbeat seems to be beating on people's hearts, driving the heartbeat Speed ​​up and synthesize a strange tune in the music.

The opposite is the long street on the edge of the main city of Zhaoye, where it seems to be far away from the noisy outer city. Many flowering trees are planted along the way. In the warm night, the petals are gently falling, and there is a faint fragrance that intoxicates the soul. .The high sedan chair lifted by the six people is like a small moving house, and the light gauze curtain falls from the top of the sedan chair, and the figure sitting in it can be seen faintly during the movement.

Similar to the buildings around the city, the buildings are all interconnected, and there are men sitting in the building playing the piano.The passing carriages and horses were also extremely quiet. The guests got out of the car, took paper masks from the servants, put them on their faces, and were introduced by the beautiful waiters to the famous Qinlou Chu Pavilion in Chenzhou. Huaguan.

The moonlight is like water, softly covering the entire city.In the Zhanghua Pavilion, only the sound of silk and bamboo is heard, and the guests are all wearing masks and talking in a low voice. The accompanying musicians and actors are all in simple clothes, sitting behind the screen, singing to the sound of the piano.Light smoke curled up from the incense cage, and the interior decoration was very elegant. The guests were led in an orderly manner and then went to different pavilions. Glass lamps were lit under the long corridor, and the waiters walked past with their heads bowed.This is not only a place for people with status to have fun, but also a good place for secret talks and mutual exchanges.

Chen Jun is dressed in a gorgeous dress with a straight skirt and a jade belt around her waist.The high ring with one to nine hairpins is combed, and it is fixed with a gem hair crown, and there are pearls hanging on the side of the ear.She was walking in the night wind, with fluttering sleeves, and the glazed lamp swayed gently above her head, and the tiny light spots illuminated her whole body, embellishing her robe like gilt.Liu Zhen bowed her head and followed behind her, while Tianxuan held her sword and stared straight ahead indifferently.

The waiter who led the way knelt on the ground and pushed open the sliding door. Chen Jun stepped into the room. There were three middle-aged women sitting kneeling in front of a coffee table.Someone put a golden red cushion on the ground, Chen Jun flicked his sleeves and slowly landed on the seat.

One of the women got up to pour wine, said with a smile: "I have heard about Miss's name for a long time, and when I see you today, I will know that the rumors are true."

Chen Jun took the wine cup, but didn't drink it, she just put it aside and said, "Since your lords know what I did in Hezhou, you should also understand why I came to Chenzhou."

Only then did the three of them see Tianxuan and Liu Zhen behind her. Tianxuan hugged her sword, closed her eyes and meditated, a strange look flashed in the eyes of the woman pouring the wine, and she said in a deep voice: "If what Deacon Wu said is true, then This team of hidden guards of the Wei family is in the hands of the lady?"

Chen Jun said leisurely: "Aren't they all the same in everyone's hands? Why do you need to distinguish so clearly?"

She untied the wooden sign at her waist, put it gently on the table, and said, "My lords still don't believe me, why don't you take a look at this?"

One of the women took the wooden sign and looked it over and over under the firelight. She wondered: "Could it be?" She didn't know what she saw, and she almost threw the wooden sign. Under the puzzled eyes of the other two, She shook her hand and put the wooden sign back on the table, and said, "So you are—"

As soon as she finished speaking, the sound of a sword coming out of its sheath covered her words, Chen Jun bowed gracefully, a playful flash of light flashed in her dark eyes, and said with a smile: "Some things, it's better not to say so clearly. Right, Lord Zhou?"

Mr. Zhou said repeatedly: "Yes, yes, yes! What Miss said... makes sense!"

The woman who just poured the wine looked at the wooden sign suspiciously, and kept thinking about where she had seen it before.Suddenly her complexion changed, as if she remembered something, she hurriedly straightened her clothes and stepped back, folded her hands at the same level as her forehead, knelt down on the mat and bowed down.This is a very solemn etiquette, and it should be the salute that the younger generation pays to the elders.Chen Jun remained where she was, and accepted her worship calmly.

She said in a trembling voice: "It turns out that it is the head of the family... the young lady has eyes but does not know Mount Tai. Please accept my worship."

Chen Jun smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes: "I'm taking the liberty, the second clan of Chenzhou, I don't know if I can still obey the Patriarch's orders, after all, time has changed," the evening wind blows into the room from the window, and the candlelight flickers , Chen Jun put the lamp on, and the light shone through the lampshade, and the room was full of lights and shadows. Her eyes seemed to have ink and gold splendor, which was breathtaking.

She said with a low smile, "I'm afraid I've forgotten it long ago?"

As soon as these words came out, all three of them knelt down on the ground, not daring to answer.

Chen Jun smiled, and said coldly: "Everyone, please start, this great gift, there will naturally be opportunities to pay homage in the future."

The three of them were shocked physically and mentally, thinking about the things they heard, they felt that talking to this girl was like walking on the abyss, and if they were not careful, they would be smashed to pieces.Chen Jun said to one of them: "Master Li should be in Qiongzhou, why did you come to Chenzhou?"

The woman surnamed Li hurriedly said: "Don't dare, you are so abrupt, miss, please look at the sympathy on Master Wei's face... It's just that the New Year Festival is coming, and the subordinates and their families are invited to come to participate This year's annual Sea-Watching Banquet."

Chen Jun clasped her hands lightly on the table, and said casually, "He came here from Qiongzhou? It's a little far away."

Upon seeing this, Mr. Zhou hurriedly said: "If Miss doesn't mind, why don't you come to watch the sea-watching banquet together?"

Chen Jun glanced at her, picked up the wine cup and shook it in his hand, and said with a half-smile: "Okay, Master Zhou needs to make arrangements."

The man bowed down and said he didn't dare.

The wine in the cup was fragrant, amber in color, and fragrant. Chen Jun somehow thought of Qingping's eyes, and she felt a little irritated in her heart. She stood up and cupped her hands perfunctorily, saying: "Then I will leave first." gone."

After speaking, he pushed open the sliding door, turned and left.In the long corridor, there was no one around, Chen Jun stopped, looked at Tianxuan, and said, "Qingping hasn't been found yet?"

Tianxuan said: "I have sent people to inquire around the village, but no one has seen her."

Chen Jun pondered for a moment, then said: "Call everyone back, and look for more in the city, she may have already entered the city."

Tianxuan was stunned, and said: "But she didn't bring any documents with her, how could she enter the city?"

Chen Jun shook her head slightly, as if thinking of something extremely interesting, the corners of her mouth raised uncontrollably, and she said calmly, "She has always been very capable. There are many ways to enter the city, and she can't find it?"

After saying that, he flicked his long sleeves, no longer had the solemn look before, and left with a chuckle under Tianxuan's puzzled gaze.

Liu Zhen's leg injury was not healed, and she walked slowly.Tianxuan stopped and waited for her, wondering: "Why does the master have so much confidence in that little girl? I don't believe it, but now that Zhaoye's guards are so strict, she can sneak in?"

Liu Zhen smiled, and said meaningfully: "Tianxuan is talking about Qingping? She has always been the most special, Miss can't go wrong with people."

There were noisy human voices beside her ears, Qingping barely opened her eyes, feeling a little dizzy, she lay on the head of the bed for a while, Pingshu opened the tent and rushed in, angrily said: "Get up! Miss Shao called You go try it out!"

Qingping hurriedly got up from the bed, casually tied up her hair and let it go out.A huge tent was set up outside, and passers-by stopped to look at it curiously, Ping Shu led Qingping into the tent, the light in the tent was very dark, and there were a few white cloth boards, Miss Shao said mysteriously: "People are here Hurry up and light the lamp."

Someone lit a row of lamps and put them under the board. A boy stood behind the board. Miss Shao said, "You try it."

The boy started gesturing behind the white cloth, and everyone gathered in front of the white cloth to watch. A figure was clearly projected on the cloth, and every movement was clearly visible.

Ms. Shao said happily: "That's it! It's okay, it's okay! Put those finished clouds on it!"

A fuzzy mass was pasted on the back of the white cloth, and it was pasted on the other side of the cloth. You can see that it is a cloud made of wood. After adding seasoning, it looks like a real cloud at first glance on the cloth board. , Ms. Shao proudly said: "Why do we rely on this surprise to win!"

Qingping thought that this was similar to shadow puppetry. Then she thought about it, maybe the main force of the team who played the dragon girl ran away, and she couldn't find someone to replace her in the short term, so why not reduce the role of the dragon girl to the minimum, anyway, Bai Bu In a flash, everyone only sees shadows, and they can't tell who is who. It's a wonderful idea to watch the show and avoid this part of the worry.

Miss Shao asked the others to pay attention, and finally turned around and said peacefully: "You guys came out last, and Pingshu will still play that evil dragon as usual...that, what's your name?"

"Qingping."

Ms. Shao suddenly realized, and said: "It's you, you only need to stand there for a while, and it will be fine! By the way, go and change your clothes for me to see."

Qingping went to change into the costume. The costume was a sleeveless half-length jacket, and the lower body was knee-length shorts. Changing into this set, Qingping's secret passage was not good, and the wound on his lower back was no longer covered, so he was just exposed to the air. up.

She thought for a while, then changed back into her original clothes and went out.Miss Shao was about to ask her to cooperate with Pingshu, but seeing that she hadn't changed anything, she wondered, "Where are your clothes, why don't you change them?"

She bowed and said, "Miss, I want to ask you something that I don't understand."

Ms. Shao glanced at the people around her with different expressions, and said, "Let's talk."

Qing Ping said respectfully: "I guess Miss used the cloth board to map the figure, so that the dragon girl is no longer a person to play, and there is a white cloth to block it, so that it can't be seen. At the end, it must be the dragon girl." Fighting against the evil gods, at this time, it must be impossible to rely on people to act behind the cloth, right? It must be a real person, otherwise the grown-ups who are watching will be impatient."

Ms. Shao nodded, her eyes showed admiration, and she said, "I really think so. Since you guessed what I'm going to do, what do you want to say?"

"This simple attire is to make it easier for the dancers to stretch their bodies better, and to avoid the clothes from being too eye-catching. But the lady's actions are just the opposite. If such simple costumes are used in the end, there is no dancer's dancing posture. I'm afraid it's not good for people's eyes?" Qingping changed the subject and said: "It's better to come out in costumes at the end, matching the dance and the plot, so that people will feel amazing and leave a deep impression on people, right?"

Ms. Shao's eyes lit up, and she said, "I've thought about it a long time ago, but it's too late to make costumes now. What good idea do you have?"

Qing Ping smiled slightly, and shyly said under Miss Shao's encouraging eyes: "The costumes just need some embroidery, so why don't we ask someone to paint it?"

In the north of the city, cars and horses are rattling, and people are buzzing. In a calligraphy and painting shop, the owner is holding a piece of clothing, and doubts his ears: "The customer wants to paint with heavy colors on it? I don't know what to paint?"

Master Wang took a stick of charcoal and scratched out a piece on the clothes, saying: "I want the picture of the sun, moon, mountains and rivers, the upper body wants the cloud patterns and the birds, and the back wants the sea map."

The painter took out the crystal glasses and said, "I have never painted these things on clothes."

Heavy color is a very special kind of pigment. Generally, when embroidery, first use heavy color to paint a pattern, and then embroider according to the pattern.This kind of pigment is extracted from ore, does not smudge, and dries quickly.The color of the paint is very rich and bright, which is not popular with the people of the time.Qing Ping glanced at her, opened the white plain costume layer by layer, and said: "It needs to be painted with heavy-colored paint, with a gold pen to draw the outline, and I will come to pick it up tomorrow."

The painter thought for a moment, and said: "If it's tomorrow, I'm a little anxious. If the customer can wait, I can finish the painting and deliver it the next day."

Qing Ping said: "It doesn't need to be so detailed, as long as you can see it." As he said, he pushed an ingot, and when the artist saw the money, he gritted his teeth and said, "Then invite the guest to pick it up tomorrow."

Qingping nodded in satisfaction, Master Wang whispered: "Is this really possible?"

They went to three calligraphy and painting shops, and handed over the plain costumes of Jiaolong, Evil God, and Dragon Girl to different painters for painting. Because Master Wang had seen these costumes earlier, Ms. Shao asked her to follow Qingping to do business.

Qingping looked at the people around, she was actually looking for an opportunity to run away, but Master Wang was following too closely, she said: "Let's do this first, come and pick it up tomorrow."

On the second day, the costumes were fetched and displayed in front of everyone. If everyone hadn't already known that the pictures on the clothes were all painted, they would have been amazed at the exquisiteness of the embroidery.Three sets of clothes, layered on top of each other, were painted with heavy colors from the inside to the outside, and the edges were outlined with gold thread. The paint was slightly reflective, just like real satin, with a bright luster.

Ms. Shao couldn't wait to let them change into costumes. The three sets of clothes were all tailor-made plain clothes, but after being painted and worn on people, they were really bright and beautiful, and they forcibly set off an aura. People rely on clothes and horses rely on saddles.

The costume Qingping wears has royal blue as the background color, with waves and birds painted on it, and the intersecting cloud pattern on the skirt is thinly outlined with silver thread. Layers overlapped, she stood beside the white cloth, with long sleeves hanging down to the ground, dignified and elegant, not to be out of place.

Ms. Shao was so shocked that she couldn't speak, and even Master Wang couldn't help praising her. Ping Shu, who was putting on a costume, was also very imposing, but at this moment she frowned and said, "I'm afraid this dress should be shiny." , you can see the pattern, but when the time comes, the lamps on the table will all be suspended in the air, only illuminating the top but not the bottom, so it still doesn’t look completely dark?”

Ms. Shao's brows that had just calmed down frowned again, Qingping had an idea, and said: "We can put a bronze mirror on the side of the table, just like the one on the wall of Zhaoye City, when the light reflects on us, we can see it clearly .”

Ping Shu was speechless, Miss Shao immediately went to arrange staff.Master Wang said: "Pingshu, are you playing against Qingping?"

Pingshu scratched her hair irritably, and said with a sigh of relief: "Is this really acting? Just these things, can they be useful?"

Master Wang said: "Don't worry about whether it's useful or not, you should cooperate with Qingping well now, the three of you will act well, Miss Shao will take care of all the big things."

The tall woman pretending to be an evil god didn't have much chance to speak, and when Master Wang was gone, she said to Qingping: "Have you memorized all the scripts, then try it out."

Qingping went to play with her, and Pingshu leaned against the whiteboard alone, looking at the figure projected on the cloth, a little lost in thought.

She always thought that the juggling troupe at the Wanghai Banquet would compete with each other with the most wonderful dance moves. If it was really like Miss Shao's arrangement, Wan Ling's departure would not have caused much loss to the juggling troupe.In the final analysis, it was she who failed to clarify the taboos that this dragon girl should pay attention to at first, which made Wan Ling leave.But she never expected that Wan Ling would go to another troupe in the end, and in turn fight with them.

Thinking of his former partner, Ping Shu regretted and felt uncomfortable, and thought about the mistakes he made back then, so he said to Qing Ping: "Qing Ping, come here!"

Qing Ping was in the middle of the scene, and when she heard that she dragged her dress and walked over, the tent was stuffy, and her forehead was covered with sweat.Seeing this, Ping Shu felt a little inexplicable uneasiness in her heart, she whispered: "Do you know why you can't recruit someone to pretend to be a dragon girl?"

Qingping was really puzzled in her heart, she nodded, Pingshu felt relieved, and was blocked again, she said angrily: "The person who pretends to be a dragon girl is to serve the dragon girl all his life, and he is not allowed to get married or not Marriage, do you know the reason for this?"

Qingping thought to himself, no wonder Master Wang said that no matter how much money he gave others, he would not come, it was actually such a reason.

She thought for a while, and felt a little unbelievable, and said: "If this is the case, then this sea-watching banquet will be held every year. Doesn't it mean that every year there are people who have to serve the Dragon Girl for life and cannot marry or start a family?"

Ping Shu said: "Of course not, but if they win the top three at the Sea-Watching Banquet, the names of these three people will be registered in the list. The Sea-Watching Banquet itself is a sacrificial ceremony for offering children to the Dragon Girl at the annual festival. Once they enter the roster, the people of Chenzhou and Minzhou will regard them as the reincarnation of the dragon girl, and their words and deeds are under the control of the temple, and if they violate the taboos, they will be burned to death."

The word "fire torture" startled Qingping, she didn't expect it to be so serious.But anyway, she has no plans to marry a man and have children, and who knows if she can get the title of top three?

After Pingshu finished speaking, she looked closely at Qingping, but she couldn't tell whether she was happy or sad, and she was a little undecided.In fact, after she finished speaking, she regretted a little, what if Qingping ran away like Wanling, wouldn't the efforts of the past few days be in vain, and she would become a sinner in the regiment again?

Seeing the changes in her expression, Qingping was a little funny, and said: "Thank you for telling me this, I guess that's why your previous partner left? But to be honest, she must have the ability to win the top three." Yes, otherwise you wouldn't attach so much importance to her."

"That's it... It's my fault, I didn't make it clear to her in advance." Ping Shu said to himself, lifted the hem of his clothes, and looked at the dark blue pattern painted on it.Qingping patted her on the shoulder and comforted her: "Don't worry, I can't promise you anything, but I won't just leave like this."

There were too many people around, and she couldn't find a chance to slip away, so she might as well just finish playing the dragon girl and leave after receiving the reward.

Ping Shu lowered his head, unable to see his face, only after listening to her for a long time, he gave a soft "hmm".