The pink and tender lips opened and closed, and the wind could not reach the wound through the clothes, but Pei Zheng felt itchy inside.
He reached out and pulled off Shen Shijiu's mask, covering his little face again.
Shen Shijiu looked up at him, "Sir, are you going to stop sneezing?"
Pei Zheng pressed the corner of his lips with his fingers, "Not now."
The crowd nearby began to surge again, heading towards the river mouth not far ahead, where they could release river lanterns on the river bank.
Pei Zheng also held Shen Shijiu's hand and walked forward with the crowd.
When he reached the river bank, his view became much wider. Pei Zheng had stayed in the imperial capital for so many years, but he had never been to this place before.
There were many people holding river lanterns standing on both sides of the river mouth. Many river lanterns were already floating on the river. The little flames gradually drifted away with the water flow, like enchanting sparks spreading on the river.
Everyone else had lanterns to light, but Shen Shijiu had nothing in his hands. He looked at the people beside him who were lighting lanterns with laughter, and his eyes were clearly filled with envy.
By chance, a child selling river lanterns ran up to the two of them and poked them, "Big brother, do you want river lanterns? Buy one."
The child looks very cute, with a round face and a pair of big eyes that blink. He is very short and looks no more than five years old.
Shen Shijiu looked at the river lantern in the child's hand, and then looked at Pei Zheng.
"want to?"
Shen Shijiu nodded obediently, "I want to"
But Pei Zheng felt his sleeves and found that he did not bring any money with him.
Unexpectedly, Shen Shijiu took out a few copper coins from his sleeve and handed them to Pei Zheng.
Pei Zheng smiled, bent down and gave the copper coin to the child, then picked out a red river lantern from his basket.
The child was very happy and bowed to the two of them, "Thank you, big brother."
Then he jumped and ran away.
Pei Zheng looked at the river lantern in his hand, and by chance, it was in the shape of a lotus. He spread out Shen Shijiu's palm and placed the river lantern on it.
Shen Shijiu's eyes lit up and he whispered, "So beautiful!"
"Go ahead and release it."
"Um!"
Shen Shijiu pulled Pei Zheng to the river. Pei Zheng was afraid that he would miss a step and fall in, so he put his arms around his waist.
Then Shen Shijiu carefully placed the river lantern in his hand onto the water, and imitating the person next to him, he closed his eyes, clasped his hands together, and began to pray.
But his head was dizzy and he just said whatever he thought of.
"I hope that you can get better soon and not get hurt again..."
His voice was very soft and low, but every word was clearly heard by Pei Zheng.
Pei Zheng tightened his arms around his waist, and the little person in front of him pressed his entire back against his arms.
I hope that this little fool in my arms now will have a smooth life in the future, without any more hardships, and live the rest of his life in peace and happiness.
With a loud "bang", a colorful firework suddenly exploded in the sky and bloomed above the two people's heads.
Shen Shijiu was startled, his body shook noticeably, and his feet slipped. If Pei Zheng hadn't held him, he would have slipped directly into the river.
Pei Zheng half-hugged him, walked a few steps inside, and then put him down.
There were a few more loud noises of "d bang d bang d bang". Half of the imperial capital was illuminated by the fireworks, which was dazzling and beautiful.
Shen Shijiu was extremely excited. It was the first time he had seen such a grand spectacle. He kept looking up at the sky with bright lights in his eyes.
Pei Zheng kept staring at his profile, looking at his curved eyebrows and upturned mouth corners. Seeing that he was so happy, he felt that it was right to bring him here tonight.
Under the brilliant fireworks in the sky, beside the river with twinkling firelight, there were many young men and women hugging each other passionately, some were even bold enough to take off their masks and kiss each other.
The Celestial Empire has always strictly observed etiquette and morals, and only on this night do people dare to follow their hearts and perform some intimate actions in the street.
Shen Shijiu also saw a couple hugging and kissing next to them. He was too shy to look at them. He pulled Pei Zheng's sleeve, covered his mouth and whispered, "Sir, they are doing something shameful, look..."
Shen Shijiu pointed at the two people with his other hand.
Pei Zheng smiled and pulled his hand back, "I see."
He did not let go of the hand that was holding the little person, and simply pulled the little person away from the crowd by the river, and came to a tree on the shore. He put his hands on the tree trunk and let the little person lean his back against it.
The fireworks above were still burning. Under a tree on the river bank, a pair of lovers, their masks half lifted, were kissing each other.
The fireworks lasted for a while and then stopped. The originally quiet crowd became bustling again and slowly dispersed.
Pei Zheng let go of the little guy, looked at his watery eyes and his bright red lips, then pulled the mask down and put it on him.
Shen Shijiu was already dizzy, and now he was staggering from side to side. Pei Zheng held his waist and helped him to stand steady.
He looked at Pei Zheng aggrievedly, "My legs are weak..."
Pei Zheng smiled as he heard this, and whispered, "It's all my fault. I'll help you, okay?"
Shen Shijiu nodded his little head, and then let Pei Zheng's hand rest on his waist.
The crowd around them was no longer so crowded. Just as the two were about to leave, a group of people suddenly surrounded them.
This group of people all wore masks, so their faces could not be identified, but the one in the lead with a painted mask was clearly the rich young man who had just lost the archery competition.
It seems that he has just been humiliated and is now looking for help to take revenge.
The rich young man pulled a fat man and pointed at the two men and said angrily, "Brother, it's them. They bullied me just now and made me look bad in front of so many people. Hey, why are there only two of them? Where are the other three? They are from the same gang!"
The fat man was also wearing a mask, but the mask was obviously unable to cover his fat face.
After looking up and down at the two people standing opposite him, the fat man clicked his tongue twice, "They don't look very capable. They don't even have a servant around them. I don't think there's any need for me, the fat man, to take action."
Then he waved his hand, and the attendants surrounding him rushed forward.
Pei Zheng turned his body to the side, first dodging the sudden attack from one person, and then slapped the person away with a palm.
But with such force, Pei Zheng clearly heard the tearing sound from the wound on his left shoulder blade.
Now that it's cracked, there's nothing to worry about.
Taking advantage of the servants' hesitation, Pei Zheng retreated back to the tree and placed Shen Shijiu against the tree.
Afterwards, Pei Zheng knocked down all the other servants at an extremely fast speed. These servants were just house-bred and had no fancy moves at all.
The fat man and the rich young man were stunned when they saw this. They didn't expect that the man in front of them had such a hidden martial arts skill. Pei Zheng stood in front of the two men and looked at them with cold eyes.
However, behind him, a servant crawled up from the ground at some point and suddenly rushed to where Shen Shijiu was under the tree.
When the rich young man saw how powerful this man was, he originally wanted to retreat quickly, but he didn't expect that the stupid servant would dare to launch a sneak attack.
Pei Zheng seemed to have sensed something. He turned around and sent out a palm wind, striking the servant beside the tree.
—When the dagger was only a few inches away from Shen Shijiu's eyes, it suddenly deviated from its direction and slashed along the mask on his face. Then the servant holding the dagger fell to the side and became motionless.
Shen Shijiu opened his eyes wide, his mouth half open, and was so frightened that he didn't come back to his senses for a long time.
With a "pa" sound, something warm flowed down his cheek and dripped onto his plain robe, forming a blood flower.
Shen Shijiu touched the mask on his face blankly. The mask had been cut into two halves and fell to the ground, revealing a fair and beautiful little face, but there was a finger-long bloodstain on half of the cheek.
A burning pain came from his cheek, and Shen Shijiu's tears instantly welled up. He looked in the direction of Pei Zheng from a distance, his eyes full of grievance and helplessness. Pei Zheng saw the blood oozing from the little man's face, and his fingers made a crackling sound. He stretched out his arm and pinched the neck of the rich boy in his hands. Then, Pei Zheng took off the mask on the rich boy's face, crushed it with one hand, and then took the sharp fragments of the mask and was about to scratch his face.
The fat man who had been standing next to him also saw Shen Shijiu's face clearly. He frowned and thought for a while, then suddenly slapped his forehead and looked at Pei Zheng in shock.
If the person under the tree was the one who asked him to apologize last time, then the person in front of him must be...
The fat man took off the mask on his face. It turned out that he was the fat man who had come to the Prime Minister's Mansion to apologize to Shen Shijiu before.
Fatty held Pei Zheng's arm and was about to kneel down, "Pei Da..."
Before he could even utter a word, he was frozen back by Pei Zheng's gaze, and he quickly changed his words, "Pei, Master Pei, Master Pei, please forgive me for my mistakes. Don't argue with my little brother. It's all because of us who didn't recognize the great man. Please show mercy!"
Pei Zheng looked at him coldly, frowning slightly.
This person... is unknown.
Then Pei Zheng waved his hand and pushed Fatty aside, then cut off the fragments of the mask in his hand. Regardless of the rich young man's cries, he cut a deep cut on each side of his cheek, which would definitely leave a mark.
The rich young man's voice was hoarse from crying and his face was covered in blood.
Pei Zheng pretended not to hear anything as he dragged the man to the river and kicked him into the river.
Then Pei Zheng turned around and looked at the fat man who was still kneeling on the ground. The fat man was very smart and he quickly ran to the river and jumped in.
The two people in the river struggled and thrashed wildly, attracting the attention of everyone around them.
Everyone was pointing at the two men, and those who had witnessed the whole process were applauding and cheering. These two brothers had done a lot of evil in their daily lives, and today they were finally punished.
Pei Zheng walked quickly back to the tree. The little guy had already cried so hard that his eyes were blurred with tears. After seeing Pei Zheng, he kept hiccuping.
"Sir... He scratched me... It hurts... I'm bleeding..."
Pei Zheng raised his little chin slightly and looked carefully at the wound on his face in the light of the surrounding lights.
The wound was not deep. Fortunately, Shen Shijiu had a layer of human skin mask on his face, which reduced the damage a little. It should not leave a scar, but it was bleeding, so it looked a little scary.
Pei Zheng carefully wiped the blood off his face, but the human skin mask didn't fit the wound well, and some blood seeped into the gap between the skin, making it look a little obvious.
Tears were still dripping from the corners of the little guy's eyes, like crystal clear little pearls.
Pei Zheng went to his wound and blew gently.
"Stop crying. I'll give you some comfort, okay?"
Shen Shijiu wiped his tears. He still wanted to cry, but he tried hard to hold it back. He pouted and said, "Okay... I want... a gentler one..."