The winter snow has melted, firecrackers can be heard occasionally in the streets, the Lantern Festival is approaching, every household puts up new couplets, children in new clothes play with their friends at the doorstep, but are scolded by their mothers under the eaves and go back to the yard obediently.
During the bustling New Year, the city is bustling with monkey shows, acrobatics, lantern riddles, and restaurants, brothels, and teahouses filled with guests. Many literati and scholars gather at this time to chat or compose New Year poems.
“… Brother Shangwen’s poem is really wonderful. It describes the beauty of the solar terms and the woman living in the same room, which is very appealing. It can be said that a talented man and a beautiful woman are like dry wood and a raging fire!”
"Oh, by the way, have you noticed that there are more soldiers on the streets recently?"
"How dare we neglect the Lantern Festival?"
"... But I heard that someone seemed to want to rebel..."
"Be careful with your words, don't mention state affairs."
Outside the noisy restaurant, there were performances celebrating the festival. The sounds of gongs and suonas drowned out the hustle and bustle of the long street. People stopped on the street to watch the dragon and lion dance teams, listening to the clanging sounds.
The atmosphere on the street was extremely lively. In a restaurant adjacent to Baiguanfushe Street, someone came in from outside, walked past a few men with their arms folded, and went up the stairs. Beautiful music came from a private room not far away. The man knocked on the door carefully, heard the door creak open a crack, and hurriedly took out a folded letter from his arms and handed it in.
Then, the door closed silently.
A beardless man holding a letter, bent over and walked around the singing performer, came to the first seat and called out in a low voice.
"master."
Opposite him was a man with thick beard and calm temperament, dressed in fine clothes. He was holding a wine glass, looking at the fluttering long sleeves and twisting waist over there. When he heard the words calling him, he reached out to take the letter, unfolded it and took a look, a smile appearing on the corner of his mouth.
"The Imperial Master is back..."
Yang Guang drank the wine in the glass in one gulp and laughed loudly. He didn't care that there was a performer in the private room. He put his hands behind his back and walked to the fence to look at the bustling long street outside. It was getting dark and lanterns would be hung on the streets. He always liked the hustle and bustle. Tonight was the Lantern Festival, so he just wanted to go out of the palace to take a look and also take a look at the government offices on the opposite side of the street.
"Now that the Imperial Master has returned to the city, I can rest assured and take action. What's the situation outside?"
"Everything is ready." The beardless man was a eunuch. He had a hoarse and sharp voice. He smiled obsequiously and gestured with his orchid finger.
"There are many black dogs in the city. Even the national teacher..."
"Um?"
The emperor standing in front of the fence frowned and looked over sideways. Realizing that the eunuch had said something wrong, he knelt down on the ground and slapped the eunuch in the face with a loud slap. The singing girl was startled and didn't know what was going on.
Yang Guang glared at the attendant and waved his wide sleeves at the dancers over there: "Keep singing, keep dancing!" Turning around, he kicked the eunuch who was kneeling on the ground and cursed: "You bastard!"
The eunuch panicked, crawled over on his knees, and kowtowed vigorously, but the emperor kicked him to the ground again. Then he heard Yang Guang's voice saying, "If you dare to say something nonsense again, I will chop off your head!"
The whispered words drifted outside. The night was about to darken. On the bustling streets, there were orders for cavalry to gallop. The four gates of Chang'an were closed. Soldiers transferred from the imperial city took over the defense. On the city walls, archers stood in rows facing the city. In the farther imperial city, the hooves of horses and human footsteps rumbled on the street tiles, and they poured into the streets of the government offices from all directions.
In the light of the lit torches, Yuwen Chengdu looked at the outline of the mansion in the distant night and gritted his teeth, feeling a little sour.
He had long known the reputation of the Duke of Yue. He had great prestige in the army and was also proficient in Taoist magic. He did not believe it at first, but when he followed the national teacher to the south of the Yangtze River, he could not help but be cautious.
Fortunately, His Majesty has collected all the black dogs in the city, and the armor of the imperial guards has all been soaked in black dog blood. As long as they are not affected by magic, Yuwen Chengdu is still confident that he can compete with them in terms of martial arts.
What's more, there are so many soldiers.
The Chang'an prefect, who had received orders long ago, sent out runners to clear the streets surrounding the official residences, including soldiers from the government office. The imperial guards were all out, surrounding the entire street, waiting for the signal lanterns to rise into the night sky and spread toward the Duke's Mansion.
"… Duke Yue, if you want to blame someone, you can only blame your own high prestige."
Yuwen Chengdu subconsciously looked back at the restaurant where the emperor was, took a deep breath, turned around, and asked his subordinates to carry his phoenix-wing gilded hammer and slowly lower it to the ground.
…
On the side of the mansion opposite the general's field of vision, the side door leading to the alley outside was slightly opened, and four figures flashed out from inside, and there was a faint muttering voice saying: "Tonight is the Lantern Festival, and the four of us brothers are just right to recite poems and compose essays with those elegant people. We can't stay in the mansion every day."
"Brother is right. We can also guess the riddles and get some small benefits, haha."
"Maybe there will be some young ladies who will be attracted by us four talented men from the south of the Yangtze River..."
After leaving the courtyard, the man who was still talking turned around and suddenly bumped into the back of the scholar in front of him, covering his nose which was hurt and pushed the other person.
"Brother Ma, why did you stop?"
As soon as he finished speaking, even the two people next to him were stunned. At the end of the streets, there were torches. Under the bright light, there were soldiers wearing armor and holding knives, looking at him fiercely.
Gu~~
The fourth scholar's Adam's apple rolled, he swallowed his saliva, slowly moved backwards, reopened the door and slipped in, slammed the courtyard door shut, and leaned against the door, gasping for breath.
"See? There are a lot of soldiers outside."
"Could it be that someone is causing trouble tonight during the Lantern Festival, and Your Majesty has specially sent soldiers to protect the Duke's mansion?"
When the word "Your Majesty" was mentioned, the four men's eyes suddenly widened, and they looked at each other, remembering that not long ago the eunuchs led the guards to visit the Duke of Yue. Their hearts skipped a beat, and the four scholars ran towards the side yard where they lived. The trays in the hands of the maids they met were thrown to the ground with a crackling sound.
Amid screams and shouts, the four of them hurried back to the yard, took the bookshelf from before, opened the closet and took out all the clothes in it at once, then rushed to the desk, picked up pens, inkstones, books and other things, stuffed them all onto the bookshelf, and carried them on their backs.
Four people came out of the four rooms almost at the same time, nodded in tacit understanding, and walked outside together.
"Wait..." Wang Feng suddenly spoke up and called the other three brothers. "We are also loyal people. How can we just leave like this? At least we should inform Duke Yue of what happened outside."
"Brother, you are loyal and righteous!" The three people over there stood in awe.
At this time, outside the Duke's Mansion, the night wind blew through the streets. Yuwen Chengdu stroked the horse's mane, estimated the time, and raised his hand: "Light the lights."
…
On the busy long street, Lu Liangsheng, Hong Lian and Qi You were watching the dancing lion passing by on the street. The lion had flying manes, blinked its big copper bell eyes, and shook its head under the control of people, baring its teeth as if it was about to roar.
Soon, the scholar seemed to sense something and turned his eyes over the roof. A bright paper lantern rose into the night sky in the distance.
On the main street of the government offices, the sound of countless footsteps spread out.