Hypocrites

Two incense sticks of ferry boats go back and forth one by one, and a simple tea house is built on the shore for passersby to rest their feet.Ten coins buy a bowl of tea and a seat on the boat.There were about 30 people waiting, many of them were empty-handed and smiling, as if they were crossing the river to visit relatives or play.

After a while, the bow of the ship broke through the fog in the river, split the river into two, and docked firmly at the pier.On the head is a statue of the Zhenjiang Dragon God, majestic and majestic. Boat passengers climbed onto the boat one after another, among them were two shadows in plain robes and white shirts, who squeezed into the crowd and sat down.

One said: "What kind of material is this dress? It's so uncomfortable."

The other said: "Everyone wears like this, just bear with it."

The so-called "everyone" refers to the common people in the head of Guizhou. Naturally, linen and rough cloth are not comparable to silk and satin. The people who said this were Liang Heng and Shen Yu. ferry.

The people on the boat were all in high spirits, discussing something, Shen Yu heard a few words, as if a lively ceremony was being held on the other side, so he asked the passengers on the boat beside him.The man replied: "Every year around the beginning of summer, Chaoguo will hold a fire sacrifice ceremony, which lasts from noon to night, and performs different forms of Nuo opera. Are you from the south? It's normal if you don't know. This Nuo opera is performed in the palace. In the army, it will be performed by musicians, and in the army, Fang Xiangshi will be in charge. Fang Xiangshi in Erzhu Camp has the most wonderful rehearsal and acting. At this time of year, everyone is looking forward to going to the other side to see the elegance!"

Liang Heng said: "Crossing the river is so easy? Is there no ban on interrogation?"

The answer was yes, but not often. People from the north want to come to do business, and people from the south want to go to the theater. No one wants to fight wars, and it is best never to.

Shen Yu listened thoughtfully.

Liang Heng was very happy: "It seems that we came at the right time!"

After getting off the boat, there is a town market, several miles away from the city.But today the town market is more crowded than the city, and people from the city also come here to watch the annual Nuo opera sacrifice.

Tourists came one after another, and Shen Yu held Liang Heng's hand tightly, for fear that he would get lost. The shops were filled with all kinds of unique masks, which were dazzling and almost unique, attracting customers to stop one after another.Liang Heng definitely wanted to join in the fun.The masks are delicate or rough, painted in vermilion, ochre-yellow, azurite, eggplant purple, reed gray, etc., in a variety of colors, roughly depicting the facial features of a human being.

Everywhere you look, everyone is wearing a mask.Seemingly like a custom, Liang Heng picked things up and down, made a red face, and chose a black face for Shen Yu, smiling and pulling him to the place with the most people.

There is a parade on the main street, standing on bamboo stilts, the height is five feet away, and it is also very conspicuous from a distance. There are five protagonists and dozens of foils.The main character is dressed in colorful clothes, with five colors of red, black, yellow, white and blue paint on his face. While walking high, he moves with music and dance.

The parade went straight to the town market square and stopped, surrounded by stands and seats.Shen Yu and Liang Heng took the high place, and the Nuo opera officially started. Taking advantage of the lack of people, Shen Yu asked Liang Heng not to move around, and he left for a while.Liang Heng was fascinated by the sight, and responded casually—a stone pillar carved with beasts was erected in the center of the square, and the protagonists of five colors came and went around the stone pillar, gesticulating.

"What is this for?" Liang Heng only felt that the dance was beautiful, but he didn't understand what it meant.

A voice next to him said: "This is the story of Chao Guo and his country."

Liang Heng turned his head and found that Shen Yu was gone, and there was a strange young man beside him.The man nodded and smiled at him. He wore a robe and scarf, a folding fan on his waist, and an exquisite jade ornament on the fan. He had an elegant demeanor and a reserved and handsome face.

"Brother Tai is from Chao Guo?" Liang Heng smiled, "Please tell me a little bit about it."

The young man said in a friendly way: "It's easy to say. Look, the five people and five colors in the field represent the five surnames of the founding of the country. The one in red is Hulu, the one in yellow is Sun, the one in white is Erzhu, and the one in green is Wei. The one in black is the Gao family. The four surnames of Zhu, Huang, Bai and Hei all came from military generals. Therefore, the four corners held swords and fought with each other. Webster was the only adviser, so Tsing Yijiao held a wat board and wore a Jinxian crown on his head, and did not participate. Fighting with weapons, only wandering around the four people, symbolizes Webster's ability to use both sides to see the wind."

Qingjiao stepped on the bamboo stilt like a tumbler, and swayed exaggeratedly, every time it reached a corner, the two of them would touch their heads and ears, as if conspiring, wherever Qingjiao's wat board pointed, that person would strike.

"Hanging on the stone pivot is a golden mask, which symbolizes the power of the empire. Whoever gets the mask will win the world. The goal of the five performers is to remove the mask hanging on the stone pivot."

Liang Heng took a closer look, and there was indeed a golden light on the sky-reaching stone pillar, and the beast's head protruded all over the stone pillar, coiling up and reaching the top.

"Isn't it too high?" Liang Heng asked, "How can this be taken down?"

The young man smiled slightly: "Please continue to read."

The five characters fought endlessly, and the props fought with swords and guns. They danced vigorously, and it was hard to see who had the upper hand at the moment.But after all, the Gao family is in power in Chao Guo. Could it be that a local Nuo opera dares to change the dynasty?Presumably the black-clothed corner won the golden mask in the end, but I don't know how to do it.

At this time, Huang Yijiao suddenly discarded the weapon in his hand, jumped off the bamboo stilt, bowed down to Hei Yijiao, and then held the bamboo stilt in his arms, allowing Hei Yijiao to step on it.

Liang Heng: "..."

Immediately, the black horn was one zhang higher and stood far away.

The young man sighed with a smile and shook his head: "No matter where the play is made up, the Sun family will always be the first to surrender."

Immediately afterwards, Zhu Yijiao also offered his bamboo stilt, then Baijiao, and at the end, Qingjiao saw that the situation had been settled, and if there was no storm, he had no choice but to kneel down and give up the bamboo stilt.

One after another, the black horn rises higher and higher, almost breaking through Xiaohan.The audience on all sides was completely silent, they were both shocked by this brilliance, and at the same time worried, fearing that the two thin bamboo stilts would not be able to support the actor stably.The black horn was already flush with Shishu, and the probe easily took off the golden mask and put it on his face.

The scorching sun melts gold and shines on the world.

As soon as the black-horned robe was unfurled, it suddenly turned into a golden costume, full of brilliance, matching the golden mask covering the face, as if a god had descended.It directly attracted people from the state of Chao in the banquet to shout long live the emperor.

Such a daring artist, Liang Heng applauded involuntarily, and said in admiration, "It's amazing, how did you come up with this play?"

"Okay."

Hearing this tone, he knew it was Shen Yu. Liang Heng came back to his senses, and saw that the young man had left unknowingly, and Shen Yu didn't know when he came back, standing quietly by his side.

"Where did you go?" Liang Heng complained, "I asked you to watch the play with me, it's all over now."

Shen Yu handed him a pack of greased paper, and opened it to find fruit cakes and snacks.Liang Heng immediately cleared the clouds and saw the sun, showing a smiling face, and said to himself that Shen Yu is the only one who understands him best in the world, and his belly is empty.

While eating, he said, "Have you watched this play? Do you know what it's about?"

Originally, he wanted to show off, but he expected that Shen Yu was not from Chao country, so he must not know the history, but Shen Yu sneered and said: "No one knows about the five surnames of Bei Chao fighting for power and profit."

Liang Heng glared at him: "What's your tone?"

"Look here," Shen Yu pointed to the crowd outside the arena kneeling in front of the "Son of Heaven" in golden clothes, "Can you tell which ones are from the Chao Kingdom and which are from the Qi Kingdom?"

"..."

"It doesn't matter if others can't tell the difference, but I'm afraid that one day I won't be able to tell the difference. I don't know the allusions, but when it comes to the Gao Dynasty, they are clear. In their hearts, what is the surname of this emperor who is dressed in fine clothes and sits high in the hall?" Gao or Liang?"

Liang Heng bit the fruit without making a sound.

Shen Yudao: "Er Zhuying's subtle tricks, I guess the King of Southern Sichuan will not be unaware of it."

Liang Heng sighed deeply, feeling that his mood had turned into a bad mood.

The two wandered casually in the market town, eating and drinking, wearing masks all over the street, they were actually very safe, and they didn't have to worry about meeting "acquaintances".

Liang Heng was much more noisy than usual, obviously out of sight of his subordinates and subordinates, which made him feel free.However, it caused Shen Yu a headache. His intuition was that he had to lead a lively puppy, and he had to get into this and that. He had to often pull Liang Heng in the crowd and tie him up.

"Take it easy, ah, how tiring it is to hug like this." Liang Heng said.

Shen Yu pinched one of his arms, and half of Liang Heng's body was circled in front of him.

"Let go and you will disappear." Shen Yu said indifferently.

Liang Heng said again: "Hey, how embarrassing is this posture."

Shen Yu motioned him to see that there were as many people coming and going on the street as there were sands in the Ganges River, hugging and shoving each other, shoulders to backs touching each other, everyone seemed very close.Liang Heng had nothing to say, and turned around to wrap his arms around his waist, sticking him tighter: "Hug, hug, enough hugs, I want to hug him too."

The two seemed to be glued together by syrup, sticking out of the crowd.Looking back, he turned around and returned to the square.

As the sun set, a bonfire was lit in the square. Fang Xiangshi, wearing black clothes and Zhusong, holding a spear and a shield, danced in front of the fire, and held a ceremony to drive away disasters.Liang Heng stood and watched for a while, then found a place to sit on the floor with Shen Yu, amidst the sparse audience.

By the end of the fire sacrifice ceremony, it was already dusk, and the flames were hot and bright, attracting tourists from the town.

A master of ceremonies came out and introduced the last colorful head of the ceremony - a colorful feather mask hung on the top of the stone pivot, and the warrior who climbed up the stone pivot first to obtain the mask was the winner.

The bonfire vaguely illuminated the objects on the heights, and they couldn't be seen clearly, but they looked colorful and resplendent.

The crowd is ready to move.

Liang Heng looked at the stone hub, and in the daytime, he saw relief sculptures of animal heads all around him, obviously he wanted to climb along the protrusion.He was very curious about the lottery, but it was too high and daunting.

Others exchanged: "It's too high, what should I do if I fall?"

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, I climbed it last time, and the relief is more reliable than the steps, no problem!"

In Shen Yu's front was a handful of chestnuts fried in sugar, he carefully blown the ashes and peeled them off, and handed them to Liang Heng, seeing his eyes shine.

"I'll try it!" Liang Heng said.

Shen Yu: "?"

As soon as this person put on the mask, he completely forgot his identity, he was so jumpy, he dared to do anything, if he fell off the stone pivot, even if he broke a piece of skin, Shen Yu would kill himself and apologize.

"Listen to them, it's as wide as steps!"

Shen Yu looked miserable, stuffed chestnuts into his mouth to stop the conversation, then poured the chestnuts in his arms to Liang Heng, clapped his hands and stood up.

"Hmmm?" Liang Heng chewed the chestnuts and looked at him questioningly.

"I'll climb for you, master, you just sit quietly and don't leave the ground." Shen Yu sighed.