"Hey, bring another serving of roasted lamb leg, and bring it well-cut!" "... Bring two more jars of wine to this table, pick the expensive ones!"
"Look at that Hu Ji down there, oh, so white... it almost blinded my eyes."
The restaurant was bustling with people, guests were shouting and talking, waiters were carrying wooden trays and passing dishes around. On the second floor, Lu Liangsheng heard Lu Pan and the others competing with their master in drinking. Little did he know that after Toad Taoist drank the wine with his mouth, he spilled the wine with his other hand, which flowed down the gap between the wooden boards and caused the people at the table below to cover their heads and look around, thinking there was a leak somewhere.
The strings of the pipa were plucked, the reed pipes hummed, and the bold and passionate Western vocal music ended. The Hu girl on the stage stepped out with one of her long legs exposed, and sent a kiss to the applauding guests through her veil.
Lu Liangsheng leaned against the fence and clapped along with the guests around him. Turning back, he saw the tall and thin man who had transformed into a monkey sitting over with Zhu Ganglie, arm in arm. He smiled and said, "Let's drink to forget our grudges?"
"Destroyed!"
The monkey pressed his elbows against the fence and responded cheerfully. Zhu Ganglie, who was leaning on the other side of the scholar, just snorted twice and looked at Hu Ji who was about to step down and leave the stage below.
"Rouge and powder! I, an old pig, don't even bother to look at them."
Lu Liangsheng was at a loss for words, after all, he was watching with great interest just now... He let out a breath and forced a rather awkward smile to deal with it. As for what grudge the two monsters had in the past, he had no intention of asking about it. It was always bad to ask too much about other people's private affairs.
'Just don't cause any trouble in town.'
The scholar was looking at Hu Ji leaving the stage below and thinking, Sun Wukong standing beside him turned his thin face and seemed to see through the scholar's thoughts.
"Actually, I don't have a big grudge against this idiot. I just fooled him once when I was herding horses."
"Hmph!" Over there, Zhu Ganglie took a sip of wine and hummed like a pig: "You were just fooling around. You almost made me lose face. How can I end this in front of my subordinates? And... when you made a scene back then..."
At this moment, there was a sudden "eh" from among the guests watching the dance below, followed by a commotion. Lao Zhu, who was talking, stopped talking and looked at the stage over there. A familiar figure walked out from behind the curtain, suddenly opened his eyes wide, and pointed at the slim figure towards Lu Liangsheng.
"Look, that's not your thing..."
Lu Liangsheng actually noticed it too. When he saw the figure walking out of the curtain, he was stunned for a moment, then he laughed and said, "What nonsense."
On the stage below, several musicians on the side of the stage were also standing there in a daze, holding their pipa, reed pipe and hujia. A woman in a red-sleeved gauze dress took lotus steps, turned her head and smiled at them. A breeze blew out from her red lips, brushing across the musicians' faces. Their surprised and dazed expressions disappeared, and they held the instruments tightly.
A gentle breeze blew by, fluttering the candlelight. A graceful figure walked lightly onto the stage. She fluttered her long sleeves and bowed to the guests. She lowered her pretty face and secretly glanced at the scholar who was leaning against the fence on the second floor. She blinked lightly, showing her charm.
Monkey nudged Lu Liangsheng with his elbow: "I'm winking at you."
Lu Liangsheng did not answer, but smiled and looked at the woman with long sleeves hanging down to the ground in the middle of the stage below. He roughly understood why she suddenly came on stage. It must be because he was so engrossed in watching Hu Ji's dance that she had some little thoughts in mind.
"However, Hong Lian's figure is graceful, which Hu Ji cannot compare to."
As he was thinking about it, the sound of music suddenly rang out from the side of the stage below, but this time it was not the Western Region Hu music. The restaurant owner came running over with his hat covered, and waved his hand to ask the musicians to stop immediately, because his restaurant specializes in performing Western Region songs and dances.
Hong Lian, with her long sleeves dragging on the ground, was on the stage. She waved her hands lightly, her red sleeves flew into the air, and she walked lightly across the stage with lotus steps, moving her slender waist. Accompanied by oriental vocals, she had the unique grace of an oriental beauty.
"Don't jump..."
The shopkeeper came running over and shouted, trying to climb onto the stage, but the excited guests rushed over, pulled him down and threw him aside.
"Guests are approaching... long sleeves are raised..."
The sound of pipa strings and jade beads falling on a plucked plate, accompanied by a faint and ethereal humming voice, spread leisurely. Hong Lian turned slowly, her soft fingers reaching out from her long sleeves to pinch out orchids, and the soft tone soothed the noise from the audience.
"People walk by the stage, and the play is performed on the stage. Who can't understand it? The curtain opens and closes, and the strings sound louder. Joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness have nothing to do with me. In the end, the deep love and separation make me sing a song that intoxicates my heart..."
The noisy restaurant became increasingly quiet. Many guests held their wine glasses, forgetting to talk and drink with their companions. Some guests leaned against the fence and listened quietly to the quiet lyrics and music, as if the life of an actor was slowly unfolding in front of everyone.
…
“… I have seen the guests sitting in a room full of cheers and laughter, and I have also seen the high waterside pavilions and locked towers. Later, I saw a foot of red silk hanging in front of my eyes. What does the red sleeves and clear voice mean? I am also buried under the yellow earth~~”
The sound of the pipa strings is like a torrential rain pouring down, crazy and chaotic. The singing figure spreads her red sleeves in an instant, like a blooming lotus bud, flying up continuously, and her black hair flies and dances wildly like a waterfall.
'Argument~~'
The last string sound echoed, the wildly dancing figures became gentle, the sound of the piano and the music were crisp and melodious, with a poignant artistic conception.
"… A rootless duckweed cannot have hatred. Look at the crescent-shaped scholar, writing the word of love…"
The long sleeves floated down slowly, passing over the beautiful face that was caught in a glimpse. The song and the play ended, and when everyone left the stage, the guests below came back to their senses from the silence.
"My god, who is this woman? She sings so beautifully."
"It's my first time seeing you. Who wouldn't know the girl in this building? She's definitely not from this building."
"… "
In contrast to the guests' noisy discussion, on the second floor, Lu Liangsheng silently looked at the empty stage. He was the only one who knew what Hong Lian was singing in this song, which was about the sad life of an actor.
“Not bad.” Zhu Ganglie came back to his senses and let out a long breath, but soon returned to his usual expression: “Just a little worse than Yue’er.”
The monkey nodded in agreement: "The widow you mentioned? She really dances better, but her singing is a little worse."
These words made the old pig glare with his eyes as big as copper bells, and the monkey and the pig glared at the scholar across from him.
"Young Master!"
A soft voice sounded from behind. When the two demons who were looking at each other snorted and turned their heads away, Lu Liangsheng turned around and threw himself into his arms with a slight scent of sandalwood.
The red lips leaned over to the scholar's ear and whispered softly, "Sir, is Hong Lian singing this song well?"
“Better than anything I’ve ever seen.”
As soon as Lu Liangsheng said this, Zhu Ganglie's eyes widened. The scholar then smiled and pulled the woman off him, "There are too many people here..." Before he could finish his words, he noticed that all the eyes from upstairs and downstairs were looking at him.
Well…
They couldn't continue drinking now. Fortunately, Lu Pan and his eight companions, as well as the Toad Taoist, were almost done. Lu Liangsheng paid for the drinks and asked them to leave the restaurant and return to Wanshou Temple.
Tap tap tap~~
It was late at night and the long street was much quieter. As the group walked out of the restaurant, they heard the sound of horse hooves coming from the imperial city at the end of the long street ahead.
"drive!"
The cavalry holding torches shouted and galloped. When they saw more than ten people suddenly coming out from the front, they shouted, "Make way! The Imperial City Cavalry has official business to attend to. Make way!"
In the crowd, Lu Liangsheng turned around and took a look at the leading knight. His eyes widened, and he hurriedly tightened the reins. He raised his hand to gesture backwards and shouted loudly.
“Stop!”
The galloping warhorse slowed down for several feet before finally stopping. The knight let out a "whoosh", threw the strange long weapon in his hand to his subordinates, turned over and dismounted, strode forward with the sword on his waist, cupped his hands, and knelt on half his knees.
"General Yuwen Chengdu pays homage to the Imperial Master!"
Lu Liangsheng asked everyone to go first, and then he carried him behind his back with a flick of his wide sleeves.
"Who are you, a soldier? How dare you ride a horse so wildly in the middle of the night?"