flapping wings

The two of them came out of the restaurant after eating, it was already dark, and there were colorful lanterns hanging on the street, shining on the person's body, and falling a colorful spot of light.

The flow of people at night has not decreased at all, and there are now the most stalls selling sky lanterns on the street.

Qi Ping grabbed Mu Xiaoque's hand and walked all the way. These sky lanterns didn't change in shape, but the lanterns were of various shapes.

Some are pure colors without painting, and some are mixed with various colors.

Some paintings depict flowers, birds, insects and fish, beauties holding fans, laughing lovers, family reunion banquets, grain dumplings with fillings, lonely sails floating on the river, and old men fishing.

Some of the paintings turned out to be pictures of women, with all kinds of shapes vivid. Most of the people who bought this kind of sky lanterns were young boys, and most of them were just getting married.

They held the girl's hand and stood in front of the stall to show them to others. The girl either hid her face and fled, or chased the boy to fight, or was too ashamed to lift her head.

Qi Ping secretly took a look at Mu Xiaoque, wrapped his arms around his waist, pointed in a certain direction, and whispered: "Your waist is quite soft, you should be able to do it."

Mu Xiaoque looked up at the painting, then at Qi Ping, looked him up and down for a moment, then poked his fingers on the waist and eyes.

Immediately, Qi Ping's lower body became sore and numb, he couldn't even stand up, and supported Mu Xiaoque's shoulders, he slid down and knelt on the ground.

"Who has a weaker waist?" Mu Xiaoque squatted on the ground and looked at Qi Ping.

Qi Ping glanced around, propped himself up and kissed Mu Xiaoque's face: "I'm weak, I can't stand up anymore, I can't walk when I see you."

Mu Xiaoque leaned forward, pointed at his waist, breath floated on his neck, Qi Ping's Adam's apple rolled up and down in a circle: "Que'er, if I kiss you now, will I be beaten?"

"You've already kissed him." Mu Xiaoque pushed away Qi Ping's face buried in his neck and kept kissing, and whispered: "There are people who are shameless."

Qi Ping bumped into Mu Xiaoque secretly, lifted the curtain on the booth and pulled him in, the speed was so fast that it almost left an afterimage on the spot.

Only Qi Ping threatened in a low voice: "Don't do it, if you collapse the table, you won't be able to explain it clearly anymore."

After a long while, Mu Xiaoque got out with his hands on his body limp.

His lips were red, with inconspicuous tooth marks engraved on them, two clear red marks on the side of his neck, his eyes moved up slightly, and the tips of his ears were almost so red that they were bleeding.

He glanced around, saw someone coming, and kicked Qi Ping back who was going out.

Qi Ping hissed, and could only stay inside and wait for the passers-by to disperse. After waiting for half a cup of tea, he couldn't help shouting: "Queer? Can you go out?"

He didn't hear the answer, so he opened the curtain. How could there be anyone outside?

Climbing out anxiously, he got up and raised his head, and saw Mu Xiaoque hiding behind a lampshade in the distance, only half of his body was exposed, watching him from afar through the crowd.

Qi Ping's tense back relaxed, and a sentence suddenly popped up in his mind, "I am the only one in the world who can make him so ashamed and not be beaten to death."

Following the flow of people, he ran over to hold Mu Xiaoque's hand, and dragged him forward for a stroll.

At the end of the road, I saw that all the sky lanterns on a roadside stall were plain, with pens and ink next to them.

Many people who think they are romantic and gifted are holding pens to write poems on it, and another person takes the artistic conception in the sky lantern poem and paints beside it, which is quite interesting to watch.

There are many spectators around the stall, and these sky lanterns are eventually bought by talented scholars who sway their pen and ink, or they are placed on the stall for predestined people, or they are bought by the spectators at a high price.

Standing in front of the stall, the stall owner was also busy drawing pictures, drawing a picture of a certain couple looking at the excitement, and then walked up to sell them.

The other party often reveals a look of surprise, and takes out the money and buys it without saying a word.

Draw a lively family of three, draw a lonely traveler alone, draw friends who suddenly quarrel, and draw a lonely knight wandering outside the crowd.

Many onlookers wished that they were lucky enough to be selected by the vendor and leave behind the splendor of this piece of paper, but those who were selected by the stall owner were either lucky or unlucky.

After a while, the stall owner suddenly came to Qi Ping and Mu Xiaoque, handed them the lantern in his hand and clasped his hands: "I hope you two can forgive me if I offend you."

The moment Qi Ping saw the painting, he immediately held it in his arms, blocking all kinds of sight around him.

It's not that the painting is so precious, it's just that the vendor just drew the moment when he peeked at Mu Xiaoque.

Of course, maybe it shouldn't be said that it was an instant, but it was always looking at every move of the person next to him.

In the painting, he is almost sly, with an idiotic smile on his face, and such a handsome face can't block the lewd demeanor leaking out.

Mu Xiaoque glanced at it, turned her head away, covered her lips and coughed, "Just say you are shameless!"

Seeing the atmosphere between the two, the vendor hurriedly smiled and said: "The young master is handsome, he looks ignorant and cute, I couldn't help but made a joke, I hope the young master will not be offended."

"Draw me so ugly," Qi Ping snorted, "Que'er, can you show them your hand?"

"I gave you a painting last time," Mu Xiaoque turned around and was about to leave: "Why do you want more?"

Qi Ping froze in shock, grabbed Mu Xiaoque by the sleeve and pulled him back: "You always remember me?"

Mu Xiaoque nodded: "Didn't you say we were friends at the time? Friends for life."

Qi Ping coughed hard, never expecting that all of this was lifted by himself, friend, friend, his grandson.

Seeing Qi Ping's violent reaction, Mu Xiaoque went to the stall and picked up a brush to draw in order not to irritate him.

Qi Ping Shun Shun held the sky lantern and leaned forward to look at it. After a while, a painting came out.

In the painting, he is holding a fat sparrow in his hand, squatting on the ground, squinting at it and pouting his mouth.

Although this painting is not much better, but it gives people a completely different feeling, even if it is a bit lewd, but Mu Xiaoque's self in the painting is at least innocent.

People around were also amused by the naivety of the characters in the painting, and bid to buy this sky lantern one after another.

Qi Ping quickly snatched the lantern from that day and said with a smile: "No, no, this is a gift for me, how can I sell it to others!"

Qi Ping handed the sky lantern hidden in his arms to Mu Xiaoque, touched the new gift and looked down at it for a while, but the more he looked at it, the more he liked it.

I just took a general look at it just now, and didn't notice some small details. Only now did I realize that there was a worm under the sparrow's feet, with its mouth open as if to claim credit for itself.

Moreover, there is a small chain on the sparrow's feet, and one end of the chain is hooked on "his" index finger.

Qi Ping smiled, he couldn't imagine Mu Xiaoque's naive expression, "What do you mean by drawing this?"

"A picture of a bird," Mu Xiaoque's eyes flickered, and he said indifferently: "There is no special meaning."

When he and Mu Xiaoque walked to the open space by the river, the sky was already filled with colorful lanterns, and there were several painting boats parked on the river, which was really lively.

Qi Ping saw a lot of acquaintances from a distance, a group of Xuanxiu Sect disciples were holding sky lanterns in their hands and were about to light them up, when the ever-blossoming sky lanterns just flew away from his hands.

Mu Xiaoque took out a torch and lit the wick, grabbed the corner of the sky lantern and said, "Make a wish!"

Qi Ping looked at Mu Xiaoque on the other side through the light, and this person's eyes were shining with fire, dazzling.

He laughed happily, then cleared his throat and said solemnly: "Qie'er, I only hope that your life will be safe and happy."

After he finished speaking, he pulled Mu Xiaoque's hand holding the lantern, and the sky lantern slowly went up. Qi Ping raised his head and looked at the sky lantern with the painting of himself and Xiaoque'er without blinking.

Mu Xiaoque lowered her head and wiped the corners of her eyes, and when she raised her head, she met Qi Ping's gaze, and felt the vast sea of ​​lights, suddenly dazzling.

The corner of his mouth bent upward: "Thank you."

"Hold one," Qi Ping walked over, hugged him tenderly in his arms, rubbed his fingers lightly on the side of his face, and said softly: "Que'er, I am very lucky to meet you, maybe the ending is not destined to be happy, but I still want to Thank God for the arrangement."

Mu Xiaoque stared hard, a trace of water swirled in the eye sockets, after a long time he finally nodded.

He couldn't help but look up, and silently made a wish to the long-lost sky lantern, "May he be free all his life."

Qi Ping held Mu Xiaoque's hand and walked leisurely in the direction of Zhou's house. Halfway there, someone was setting off fireworks. They stood outside the crowd and listened to the commotion, feeling very comfortable for a while.

Qi Ping turned his head to look at Mu Xiaoque, just as he was about to play hooliganism, when out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of a beggar staring straight at the fried dumpling stall.

He couldn't help turning his head to observe what the beggar was going to do next, Mu Xiaoque noticed his movement, and turned his head to look over.

The beggar looked around for a while, saw Qi Ping and Mu Xiaoque staring at him, smiled at them, raised his hand and made a shush gesture to the two, it seemed that the beggar had some mental problems.

Qi Ping also made a shush gesture towards him, the man bowed his head and nodded his thanks, then walked straight to the fried dumpling stand, when he got to the side of the stall, he reached out and quickly grabbed a few dumplings and was about to run away.

Maybe it was because the dumpling had just come out of the pan and was still very hot. The man threw the dumpling on the ground with a groan, but it seemed that he was not reconciled, so he reached for the chopping board to get it.

The stall owner had come to his senses when he ran for the first time. Seeing that he wanted to take more, he threw him to the ground with a plop.

Press him and start cursing: "You idiot, I gave you some for nothing this morning, and you still come to steal forever, don't you?"

The beggar struggled under the ground, punched and kicked, and was beaten down by the rolling pin of the stall owner.

He yelled: "This time it's my wife who wants to eat, and I've eaten all the dumplings in the morning."

The stall owner sneered, stood up and kicked him hard and said: "You idiot, how can there be a wife, which girl can fall in love with your virtue?"

The beggar shouted: "Who says I don't have a wife? My wife slept with me this morning!"

Mu Xiaoque was vigilant and frowned slightly. He walked over and took out some money to buy some fried dumplings at the stall.

Then he put it in front of the beggar and said, "Little brother, when did you marry your wife? As long as you answer all my questions, these dumplings will be given to you to eat."

"It's not for me," the beggar roared, "It's for my wife!"

Mu Xiaoque took back the dumpling, stood up and was about to leave, but the beggar grabbed his hand, "Don't go!"

I saw the beggar frowned and said with fingers: "My wife used to be someone else's wife, but she told me yesterday that as long as I give her food, she will be my wife. I was hungry all day yesterday, and I took away the food." Take it all for her to eat, and she will be my wife this morning."

Mu Xiaoque waved her hand at Qi Ping who was about to come to rescue her, and looked at the dirty hand with long nails and mud embedded in it with distaste.

With a slight shock of his internal strength, he withdrew his hand and hid it behind his back, and said softly: "Your wife must be very beautiful, otherwise, why would my little brother prefer to be hungry all day long and have her be your wife?"

The beggar laughed a few times and said, "That's that, I fell in love with her when I saw her on the wall a few days ago."

Mu Xiaoque frowned lightly, and asked unhurriedly: "Wall?"

The beggar danced and said, "Yes, yes, the portrait of my wife has been pasted everywhere in the city recently."