There are bandits in Zhongshan

——Fire trees and silver flowers close, star bridge iron locks open.

The flames of the night can be seen from far away. The towering city walls can't stop the noise in the city. Every time you get closer, the voices become clearer. The sounds of conversations, footsteps, and wheels rolling across the road are mixed together. Construct a grand and grand score.

Passing through the city gate decorated with lanterns, thousands of bright lights suddenly flooded into the dark eyes.

Changli had never seen such a lively scene, she looked at the sparks floating in front of her eyes, as if she saw a vast galaxy.

From nowhere, the earth-shattering gongs and drums sounded, driving away the quietness that should have been at night. She was dazed for a moment, and her steps hesitated.

Some were too loud, she thought.

But then, the tense emotions were dissipated by the heat covering his palms, Zhong Mingzhu pulled her and said with a smile: "There should be a performance in Dongshi, let's go and see it?"

She lowered her eyes to the sleeves where the ends of the two were close together, curled her fingers tentatively, and gently clasped them back, then nodded and said "hmm".

Zhong Mingzhu laughed twice, gathered five fingers, held her hand even tighter, and walked forward quickly.

Soon, the figures of the two disappeared into the hustle and bustle of the world.

Banquets in the realm of comprehension are never noisy, and even if there are no fixed seats, most of the people are very quiet when they walk and talk, and they all wear peaceful smiles, showing no emotions or anger.Most monks think that good food and wine are the desires of mortals, which will delay their practice, so the spiritual wine and spiritual fruits at the banquet are tasteless and tasteless, just to get their spiritual power. It is the word "practice".

Immortals are pure-hearted and ascetic, do not touch the smoke and dust of the world, and can abandon all emotions and anger, while monks who seek to attain Taoism and become immortals cannot do without the word "quiet" in their words and deeds.

Even Li Langxuan, who is famous for his pleasure-loving, held a banquet with more sensuality, but in the end it was mainly plain, and the sound of silk and bamboo was so elegant that it seemed to come from a distant place, so how could there be so much fireworks.

Now, Changli is on the streets of Mortal Realms, looking around, the scene in his eyes is ever-changing, everyone, every corner has its own uniqueness, and there is no repetition.

Joy, anger, sorrow, and joy are all available, and a moment in the world is worth a hundred years in the mountains.

A line of children ran past her, each with a bright lantern in their hand, and someone tugged on the fire wire, and the sparks scattered all over the ground.

Not far away, a group of people were guessing lantern riddles. Various lanterns were hung in several rows, and the notes were flying under the lanterns. From a distance, they looked like rows of ribbons. Once a lantern was taken away, a new one would be replaced immediately. Going up, in the crowd, some were proud, while others shook their heads and sighed.

"Only by correctly guessing the crossword puzzle under the lamp can the lamp be taken away." Zhong Mingzhu and Changli explained, "The crossword puzzle under the most beautiful lamp is often the most difficult."

As she spoke, she pointed to the lamp in the center.

That lamp is much bigger than the others, it looks like a phoenix, with nine tail feathers fluttering in the wind, surrounded by a few small lanterns, although it is made of bamboo bones, its outline is no different from a real bird, It looks lifelike.

A lot of people gathered under that lamp, each of them was scratching their heads and thinking hard, but no one could solve the mystery yet.

"It's really beautiful." Changli said so, she remembered that Zhong Mingzhu once said that the craftsmanship of the craftsmen in the mortal world is not inferior to those of the craftsmen in the cultivation world, and now seeing it is true.

Zhong Mingzhu saw that she was looking at the lamp for a while, and asked, "Do you want it?"

"Do you know the answer to the riddle?" Changli asked back. She glanced at the lantern riddle briefly. The answer seemed to be related to an emperor in the mortal world, rather than the ordinary deciphering of characters. It is difficult for a monk to know the change of dynasties in the mortal world.

Zhong Mingzhu shook his head: "Of course I don't know, who knows who is the king around here." She continued: "But I can see the answer."

They are monks, peeking at the answer to an anagram is not even a trick.

Chang Li refused without hesitation: "This is cheating, no way." Seeing Zhong Mingzhu frowned in dissatisfaction, she said again when she complained that she was too rigid, "Besides, I don't want it either. "

She never cared about surprises. Although this lamp was exquisite and extraordinary, for her, seeing it was enough.

"Forget it." Zhong Mingzhu muttered, her temper came and went quickly, and she quickly stretched her eyebrows and turned her attention away from the crossword puzzle.

After walking for a while, Changli heard a sudden commotion coming from the left hand side. She saw that it was two vendors arguing for some reason. , turned around and greeted the guests with a smile on his face.

They changed so fast, Chang Li thought, at this moment she suddenly felt something was draped over her shoulders, and when she looked down, it turned out to be a purple cloak.

"White is too conspicuous." Zhong Mingzhu said so, and she put on a peacock blue coat herself.

Both of them are dressed in white, which is incompatible with this festive occasion. In addition, the two of them have outstanding appearance, and they have attracted many searching eyes along the way.Changli has long noticed that no matter where they are, someone is always watching them, but he has never thought about it, only thinking that it may be the habit of ordinary people, and he realized it after Zhong Mingzhu mentioned it, and tied the cloak carefully. While whispering: "So that's how it is."

She saw that the cloak and outer shirt were made of ordinary fabrics, and the tailoring and sewing were not considered sophisticated, obviously they were not spiritual objects, and she asked curiously, "Where did you come from?"

Zhong Mingzhu pointed to the right back side, Chang Li distractedly looked around, and saw a tailor shop through the crowd, where there were a lot of tailored clothes, but the two shelves closest to the door were empty.

It seems that Zhong Mingzhu picked up two clothes by chance when he passed by, and she only needed to touch them. However, from the shopkeeper's point of view, two clothes were missing, and he was rubbing his forehead and staring at the shelf in a daze. Haven't fully realized what happened yet.

"you……"

Probably seeing that Changli was going to preach again, Zhong Mingzhu immediately interrupted her, and said plausibly: "I didn't steal it, if you don't believe me, you can see it again."

Only then did Changli realize that there was a half-arm-long ginseng on the shelf, and the shopkeeper also noticed it. He picked up the ginseng and looked at it suspiciously, and then put it away with a smile on his face.

It is a ginseng that is about 200 years old. It is not a rare thing in the cultivation world, but it is considered rare in the ordinary world.

"That ginseng is much more expensive than these two clothes." Zhong Mingzhu waved his sleeves in disgust, "If the white clothes weren't too conspicuous, I wouldn't want to change."

Chang Li said: "In the mortal world, you only need to cast spells to change your appearance, why bother."

"It's called doing as the Romans do." Zhong Mingzhu smiled, and then pointed to the dazzling array of shops and stalls on the street, "Besides, we came here for nothing, why not let go of the monks."

No matter what it is, Zhong Mingzhu always has the ability to speak clearly, even if it's just a whim.Chang Li was able to guess her thoughts pretty well, but he didn't want to argue with her, so he nodded and let her go.

Changli stayed in mortal towns several times before, all of which were important matters. Whether she went to Qingyang County to find clues to Zhong Mingzhu's life experience, or was forced to Liuhe Pagoda by Nanming and others, she didn't even have time to rest How much, at most a quick glimpse of the scene in the town.Now walking on the streets of festivals, she really realized why her predecessors would always use the word "flashy" to describe the mortal world.

The colorful lights, the dazzling array of shops, just a glance is enough to be dazzled by the beauty of them.

Most of the monks dismissed the grand sights in the mortal world, and flashy meant vain and unreal, but looking at the picturesque scenes on both sides of the street, Chang Li didn't feel that those were all superficial.

Those lanterns, as well as the masks, sachets, etc. in the shop, at least those are very beautiful.

At first, she only thought it was to accompany Zhong Mingzhu, and she didn't care about anything else, but unconsciously, she was attracted by this splendor.

Whether it is the singing and dancing on the high stage or the dazzling array of gadgets in the shops, she is full of novelty.

She didn't realize that since entering the city, Zhong Mingzhu's eyes fell on her most of the time.Those light-colored eyes always showed coldness inadvertently, but when talking to her, the smile would reach the bottom of the eyes without any concealment.Once you find out what she notices, you will introduce it to her in detail.

For example, the origin of Nuo Shenwu, such as the varieties and uses of spices.

Changli also saw a young man picking out hairpins, bracelets and other jewelry in a jewelry store, and those jewelry seemed to be women's styles.

"Why are they buying these?" she wondered.

"Of course I bought it for the little girl." Zhong Mingzhu looked like he was watching the show, and he pulled Chang Li to follow the man. It didn't take long to see him rushing after a young girl, and he hesitated a few words Afterwards, he took out the jewelry.

It turned out that the man fell in love with the girl at first sight, but he had to leave the next day and would not return until a year later, so he made such a bad move.

"I want to propose marriage without even knowing the name." Zhong Mingzhu shook his head and said, "Young people are scary."

Chang Li then asked: "Is this the case for all mortals?"

"That's not true." Zhong Mingzhu took her to look at another place, "Shangyuan Ye did have a lot of private meetings with couples, most of them were like this."

There, I saw a girl and a scholar walking side by side. They were talking and laughing. When they reached the intersection and were about to part, the girl stuffed a handkerchief into the scholar's hand, and then left with the female companion who came to pick her up. Yes, in a hurry as if fleeing.The scholar held the handkerchief and looked at it again and again, then he grinned, showing a bit of stupidity for no reason from his originally gentle appearance.

"Give me a veil embroidered by myself to express my heartfelt love." Zhong Mingzhu broke his fingers and talked to Changli about the customs of marriage in the mortal world. Much more complicated.

To form a Taoist couple, monks only need to form a bond, because dual cultivation requires skills that can complement each other, so most of them form a bond with fellow practitioners, and because they seek to improve their cultivation, when the practice reaches a bottleneck, the alliance is disbanded and a new Taoist partner is found. Not less.

Taoist couples like Zhu Maolin and Baili Ningqing have not been a couple for hundreds of years.

They are even willing to give up their cultivation for the word "love".

When the man presented the jewelry, Changli heard the word "sincere love".

This is love——

The erratic thoughts suddenly froze on this word. Not long ago, someone said similar words to her.

The wandering thoughts in a trance suddenly froze, and there seemed to be a wave of waves in her heart. For a moment, there was only a clamor in her ears. She closed her eyes and tried to pull back her thoughts. When she opened her eyes, she met Zhong Mingzhu slightly. eyes.

"What are you thinking?" It seemed that she had been in a daze for too long accidentally, and was noticed by Zhong Mingzhu.

Seeing the teasing look in Zhong Mingzhu's eyes, Changli lowered his eyes and said calmly, "It's nothing." She turned sideways, randomly grabbed something on the stall at hand and asked, "What is this?"

After asking, I realized that it was a mask.

Zhong Mingzhu laughed: "This is a mask."

Chang Li heard the teasing meaning in her words, pursed his lips, and asked stubbornly, "What kind of mask is this?"

The mask with protruding browbones and blue-faced fangs, although it is not very scary, is not in the same breath as beauty and tranquility, and there are many people who can buy it.

"This is to ward off evil spirits." Zhong Mingzhu also grabbed one, "The night is very cloudy, wearing this mask, the ghosts and ghosts will be scared away when they see this." She stared the eyes in her hand until they were as big as copper bells He raised his mask to his face, turned to Changli, and said in a low voice: "The ignorant brat knelt down and begged for mercy when he saw this gentleman."

Her voice seemed to be imitating Baili Ningqing, but she was slender, so there was no deterrence from Baili Ningqing, but it was a bit funny. He removed the mask from her face with his hand, and seeing the familiar face gradually revealed from behind the mask, he felt a little tenderness in his eyes, and said, "Stop making trouble."

"It's not trouble." Zhong Mingzhu blinked, and then pretended to say, "It's to ward off evil spirits, at least it's more effective than my face."

Chang Li thought for a moment, first nodded his head as if agreeing, but quickly shook his head, thinking: But this face is better.

Seeing that they were having a good time playing, the stall owner gave them the two masks directly.

Just as Changli was about to refuse, Zhong Mingzhu had already thanked the stall owner first, then put on his mask and went elsewhere, so Changli had to put away his mask and chase after him.

The two strolled around for a while, and finally stopped on the bridge beside the market. There were relatively few people on the bridge, and most of them went under the bridge and were putting lanterns into the river.

"Those are prayer lanterns. If they remain unsinkable, your wish will come true." Zhong Mingzhu lay on the stone railing, looking at those lanterns, with a smile that was not a smile.

Many of the lanterns dimmed before they reached the middle of the river, and some floated down the current until their outlines disappeared into the night, leaving only the flickering light of the fire.

Changli saw a few people who were very happy, as if their wishes had come true. After a little exploration, he found that although the lanterns of those people floated far away, some of them even floated outside the city, they all sank into the water in the end. He couldn't help but wondered. : "Their lanterns also sank, why are they so happy?"

"The fire light drifted to a place where they couldn't see it. From their point of view, it naturally didn't sink."

"This is also possible?"

"Why not." Zhong Mingzhu looked up lazily at the slightly dim starry sky, "It's just a wish, even if it's fake, it's good to be happy for a moment."

——All wishes come true, how much you can believe, is how much.

Pedestrians left one after another, and after a while, only the two of them were left at the bridgehead. After they calmed down, those unpredictable emotions struck again.

Between the fire and the light, his thoughts flashed one by one from the scenes he had seen, and the thoughts that were interrupted not long ago resurfaced.

On the square, the fireworks burst into dazzling colors, and those hazy lights and shadows seemed to come from a very far distance, but also seemed to be close at hand.

Changli looked at Zhong Mingzhu's side face, then lowered his eyes to look at the floating sparks in the river, curled up his fingers, and said hesitantly, "Do you have any wish?"

"Huh?" Zhong Mingzhu raised his eyebrows, turned his head, looked at Changli for a moment, and suddenly raised the corners of his lips, "I want to put a lantern."