Snake Tale

When the guards of the Qi royal family came out to arrest Luo Yi and others, the army suddenly rebelled, rushed into the palace, and launched an attack on the Qi royal family.The royal family suffered heavy casualties, and the young gentleman Zhong Lichun was killed in this rebellion.

Qi's political situation briefly fell into chaos without a leader.Afterwards, nobles, old ministers, military generals, and businessmen wrestled with each other and compromised with each other, and finally formed a delicate balance to support the new Qi Jun who was in his infancy.

However, these are things for later.What's more, for ordinary people who are far away from the center of Gyeonggi, this tour in the temples of the ruling and opposition parties is just a chat after dinner.

This day is the Lantern Festival.In the wild and remote land of Vietnam, there is no curfew restriction. During the festive season, the streets and shops are even more lively.

The stars and the moon melt in the sky, and the lanterns in the world are shining.Taking advantage of the carnival, the common people took to the streets to have fun, people wearing animal masks, men wearing women's clothes, and traveling hand in hand in fancy and colorful clothes.There are fiery trees and silver flowers on both sides of the long street, decorated with lanterns, shadow puppets, lantern shows, wine pots, gambling, miscellaneous songs, selling medicine, divination, all kinds of acrobatics advocating excellence, merchants sitting in business, singing and dancing, singing and dancing, drums and sky, and burning torches. land.There are also tens of thousands of bright lights in the shape of a dragon holding a pearl, dancing by more than a dozen strong and handsome teenagers, passing by the long street*, making people dazzled and dizzy.

In the crowded crowd, a tall and healthy man was carrying a lot of vegetables, fruits and food and many daily things for housing. He turned sideways to avoid the queue of passing lights, and complained to his companions: "It's agreed to eat oyster mushrooms at night. Stewed ribs, I bought oyster mushrooms, where's your ribs?"

The same tall and slender companion beside him, with a pale face that had just recovered from a serious illness, raised a small winter melon in his hand, and replied innocently: "I'm talking about stewed winter melon with oyster mushrooms, where did you get the ribs?"

Luo Yi gritted his teeth and said, "Winter melon? Another winter melon?!" While talking, he quickly took the things in his hand and refused to let him lift any heavy objects.

Shen Yuzhu said slowly: "Isn't your injury healed yet? Pleurotus ostreatus relaxes tendons and activates collaterals, wax gourd reduces inflammation and relieves fire..."

Luo Yi squinted his eyes: "Broken fire? Who are you talking about getting angry?"

"..." Shen Yuzhu whispered: "You are a little angry now..."

Luo Yi snorted coldly.Shen Yuzhu explained nicely: "Your leg injury has been delayed for too long, you need to take medicine and supplement it, calm down and recuperate slowly, so as to cure both symptoms and root causes. Have you done the daily rehabilitation that you were told to do? Bend your knees Lift your legs two hundred times?"

Luo Yi replied lazily, "I practiced three hundred times today."

"Five thousand steps with a sandbag?"

"Ten thousand steps."

"One hundred strokes?"

"..."

"Have you done it?"

"...Shen Yuzhu, are you teasing me?"

Shen Yuzhu suppressed a smile, with a righteous face: "I didn't tease you! It turns out that you sit in a wheelchair all day, no matter how good your physique is, the blood flow will be poor for a long time, and it will even cause hemorrhoids, blood in the stool, anal fistula... ..."

Luo Yi couldn't bear to listen, and interrupted impatiently: "Stop, stop, stop—! I can do it!"

Shen Yuzhu said slowly: "You can do it now. If you don't obey, you will still eat winter melon tomorrow."

Luo Yi stared at the triumphant smile in Shen Yuzhu's eyes, and swore angrily: "When my legs and feet are completely healed, the first thing I will do is fuck you!"

Shen Yuzhu laughed, blinked and said, "Then you have to work harder..."

Taking advantage of the crowd, he leaned closer to his face, blew into his ear, and said in a low voice, "...I can't wait any longer."

Luo Yi's blood was so excited by that aura, if it wasn't for the crowds all around, he couldn't bear it and would have dealt with him on the spot.But Shen Yuzhu stopped suddenly, staring at the colorful lantern riddles beside the street, he reached out and picked up one of the pages.

Luo Yi also stopped in his tracks, and slowly read out the riddle on the paper beside him:

"'Zhongneng, type a sentence from the "Poetry".'——What is 'Zhongneng'?"

Shen Yuzhu turned to him with a smile and said, "This is a kind of spirit in the folklore of the Southern Lands. It is said that after the mouse is a hundred years old, all the hair on its body will turn white, and people who are good at divination can use it to predict the good and bad changes of a year. **…”

Luo Yi listened, and already had the answer in his heart.With a slight smile, he stretched out his hand to tear off the page of lantern riddles, and said to Shen Yuzhu, "Then I will do my part?"

Shen Yuzhu smiled and said, "Please."

He watched Luo Yi pick up a pen from the table beside him, leaned over and wrote the words "Grow old together with me ***" next to the red paper puzzle.At that time, the long street was resplendent with gold and green, and the lights were enchanting. They were all colorful fireworks in the world, which fell in Shen Yuzhu's eyes, but they were not as bright as the blue color in his eyes.He silently stared at the lock of black hair scattered around his snow-white cheek, his eyes were gentle and almost painful, as if he was cherishing a handful of fresh snow that was about to melt in his palm.

Luo Yi lifted his pen and raised his eyes, just as he saw Shen Yuzhu lowering his eyelashes, there seemed to be a flash of sadness in his eyes.He paused, looked at his face, and said, "What's wrong?"

Shen Yuzhu paused, then smiled and said: "I often feel that these poet writers are very boring. Think about it, fate is impermanent, 'death and life are in harmony', which one is up to us? The so-called 'grow old together' ’, it is nothing but the wishful thinking of the person who swears.”

Luo Yi stared at him.Surrounded by laughter and singing, Shen Yuzhu's expression was as gentle as ever, but for some reason, there was an indescribable sadness in his eyes.Luo Yi still couldn't see through all the people in front of him, but he was no longer worried about it.He said: "Shen Yuzhu, aren't you bothering others? ——Since you are willing, why should you care if it is wishful thinking?"

Shen Yuzhu was startled slightly, and his palm felt warm, it was Luo Yi who had already held his hand tightly.

——If "grow old with your son" is too ethereal and extravagant, then "holding your hand" tonight is the luck of my life.

Luo Yi watched as Shen Yuzhu finally smiled, and said, "Let's go! Let's go to the lottery."

He led Shen Yuzhu, and put the lantern riddle with the answer in front of the organizer's case.After checking the numbers and answers, the organizer smiled and said enthusiastically: "Congratulations! You got the answer right! — This is your prize, please accept it!"

As he spoke, the organizer bent down/body, and took out a plump winter melon tied with a red ribbon from under the table.

The corners of Luo Yi's lips twitched slightly, Shen Yuzhu couldn't help but "puchi" and laughed loudly while holding his shoulder.

*Based on the descriptions about Lantern Festival in "Jin Ping Mei" and "Tokyo Meng Hua Lu".

**Ge Hong of the Jin Dynasty recorded in "Baopuzi·Duisu": "The life of a rat is three hundred years old, and when it reaches a hundred years old, its color is white. It is good at divination according to people, and its name is Zhongneng. "Records of Different Names of Things Beasts and Rats" quotes "Sou Shen Ji" written by Ganbao of the Jin Dynasty: "The hundred-year-old rat is white in color and good at divination according to people. Its name is Zhongneng, and it can know the good and bad times of the year."

***The "old" person is white, and the mouse corresponds to the "child" in the twelve hours, so the image of the white mouse corresponds to the sentence "grow old with the child".This riddle is the author's perusal, please do not delve into it...