Competing in the morning and evening

Yuan Xizheng frowned and said, "I...how can I kiss you?"

Li Yan had already come over, and asked cautiously, "Why not?"

Yuan Xizheng looked at Li Yan's eyes, perhaps because of northerners, his brows are far deeper than those of southerners, with high browbones and a straight nose, compared to Chu Yin's handsome, his appearance reveals A kind of oppression and momentum.

Yuan Xizheng looked at the gradually enlarged face in front of him, and wondered in his heart whether this Li Yan liked men, which also explained why he clung to him so hard. Thinking of this, his face turned pale, and he hurriedly stood up straight and said: "Second Highness, Caomin likes women."

Li Yan's loose and wide eyelids slightly lifted, looked at Yuan Xizheng for a while with a half-smile expression, and then laughed loudly: "No wonder you are so enthusiastic about a strange woman, and you don't hesitate to offend her." Chu Hao, it turns out that you fell in love with her girl! Anyway, I will be a good person to the end. Why don't you just be a matchmaker and betroth this girl to you?"

Yuan Xizheng's face was full of embarrassment, and Cai Ji was also blushing and said: "A lowly concubine, how dare a lowly concubine want to marry this young master."

Li Yan smiled slightly and said: "With this identity, what's the difficulty? I recognized you as a righteous sister. Could it be possible that Emperor Nanchang could deny you as a righteous daughter?"

Yuan Xizheng gritted his teeth and said, "Your Highness, it's hard for you to be so willing to think about Ziqing, but Ziqing just wants to bear the word "unbearable."

Li Yan said with a smile: "Then think about it now, so what?"

Yuan Xizheng said angrily: "If the Second Highness insists on playing with me, I will have to say goodbye first." After he finished speaking, he left, but before he took a step, his wrist was held by Li Yan, Yuan Xizheng instinctively thought Trying to break free from that hand, he found that Li Yan's hand was as hard as an iron hoop.

Li Yan looked at the wrist in his palm for a while, and said: "Ziqing, if you don't want to marry the woman in front of you... then you might as well not save her just now. She was originally a person who was destined to die, with no hope of life, but you Once she is rescued, she will have more expectations. Now that you leave her alone, she will suffer all the sufferings before she dies, and then die a tragic death."

Yuan Xizheng's heart sank slightly, knowing that what Li Yan said was the truth, Chu Hao's retreat just now was purely because of Li Yan, but Li Yan would leave sooner or later, once he left, this woman would die soon.

When he saw the woman again, he saw that she was pale and trembling, as if she was about to go to a slaughterhouse.

Li Yan held Yuan Xizheng's hand in his palm, and at this moment Yuan Xizheng looked at the woman and forgot to struggle. Li Yan was so quietly clinging to the man's hand in front of him. I don't know why the words in the Book of Songs flashed across his heart. Sentence, hold the hand of the son, and grow old together with the son.

He knew it was ridiculous because the person in front of him was a man.And since he was 13 years old, he has been dealing with all kinds of women, and he knows that he likes exquisite and graceful women.

But when these things came to Yuan Xizheng, it was as if the world had turned around, making him forget a lot of things, and there was a desperate urge to have this person in his arms and occupy this person's life.

As soon as he was so distracted, he couldn't prevent Yuan Xi from leaving his palm with a wave of his hand.

Li Yan raised his head and smiled slightly: "You can take her away if you want."

Yuan Xizheng turned her head and waited quietly for the second half of Li Yan's sentence. Sure enough, Li Yan said with a smile: "But you want to go to the Northland with me, how about it? I will take you to visit the Northland as well."

Yuan Xizheng was silent for a while, and said, "Thank you, Second Highness, for your kindness. May I think about it for two days?"

Li Yan said happily: "It's a deal." He smiled and thought, as long as you set foot on the land of the Northern Kingdom, Ziqing, you will never be able to leave it again.

Yuan Xizheng sat on the chair in the inn room, silently looking at the belt in his hand, it was a gold belt, in the shape of a fairy flower, inlaid with four pieces of gold jade and two pieces of red and sapphire, which symbolized the identity of the user. When the Grand Duke.

"Why did you steal his belt?" He asked after looking at it for a long time.

Cai Ji bowed her head and said, "The concubine didn't know who he was, but thought that if she reported to the police, she would have evidence, so she took a belt from him and fled in a hurry."

Yuan Xi contended: "This belt is new, but the gems are old. It must be that the belt has been refurbished several times, but the gems have never been changed. The gems probably have other contents. If you escape alone, they may return You won't be pestering me endlessly, but the belt you're holding is your life-threatening talisman."

Cai Ji panicked and said, "My lord, then, what should I do? Otherwise, I will return the belt and beg them to spare my life."

Yuan Xizheng chuckled and said: "If you still have the belt in your hand, they may still want to get the belt back from you. If you send the belt back, they won't have to worry about it, and they will think that you know their secret. They won't stop until you die."

Cai Ji's face was pale, and she collapsed powerlessly in the chair.

Yuan Xizheng stood up, walked back and forth a few steps, lowered his head and frowned.

That Cai Ji stood up suddenly and said, "My lord, then I will take this belt and take it to Chu Hao's other political enemies."

Yuan Xizheng paused, turned her head to look at Cai Ji, and saw her eyebrows raised slightly, her extremely gorgeous appearance had a kind of determination to break the boat.

He was slightly moved, bowed his head for a long time, then raised his head and smiled slightly: "Cai Ji, do you want to dance to the world?"

After Yuan Xi Zheng didn't mention whether he wanted to go to Northern Qi, Li Yan seemed to have forgotten about it, and played around with Yuan Xi Zheng all day long.The winter in the Southern Dynasties was originally warm, but the closer it was to the New Year, the more it felt like spring was warming the earth.

Li Yan sat on the grassy slope, watched Yuan Xizheng wash his hands in the stream, and said with a smile: "I can't blame a poet in the Southern Dynasties who said, 'The warm wind makes tourists drunk'. The winter in the Southern Dynasties is too unreal." It's been a winter."

Yuan Xi Zheng smiled and said: "Compared to the thousands of miles of ice and snow in the northern kingdom, it is true that the winter in the southern dynasty is much shorter."

Li Yan said with a smile: "Yes, if the winter hadn't been so long, I would have hit Jianye in one go. You know that when it snows in the northern country in winter, no matter how good a horse is dragging grain and grass, it won't be able to escape the knee-high snow. How far away."

Yuan Xizheng smiled slightly, and said: "I know there is a method that can make you rush to deliver food and grass in the cold and snowy world."

Li Yan turned his head and stared at Yuan Xizheng. After a long time, he grinned and said, "What do you want me to do?"

Yuan Xizheng looked into his eyes and said with a smile, "It's nothing, I'm just asking you to treat me to dinner."

When Yuan Xizheng met Li Luo's eyes, she realized that she was in a very happy mood. Perhaps there is no more joyful feeling than yielding to an opponent who can always catch up with her.

When Li Yan invited guests to dinner, it was natural that everyone from the emperor of Nanchang to the princes and princesses should be present.Therefore, even if he didn't say anything, the entire Xingyuan would be cautious.Yuan Xizheng, the real treater, watched Cai Ji dance in the backyard all day long, and his complexion changed only once. After watching for a few days, Li Xu felt that Yuan Xizheng's face was pale, as if he had eaten arsenic.

In fact, Cai Ji's dancing skills are not bad, what's more rare is that her eyes are flowing, she is very coquettish, she is best at moving her waist, her waist is as soft as a snake, and it is difficult to seduce, but if this kind of dance is placed in the royal family, it will be included in the royal family. In front of guests such as queens, imperial concubines, and princesses, they appear vulgar.

Li Yan was actually not very convinced that Yuan Xizheng would really teach him how to transport food and grass in the ice and snow, but he was really curious about how Yuan Xizheng could keep Cai Ji alive in the Southern Dynasty.

Naturally, Cai Ji could also see that Yuan Xizheng was not satisfied with her dancing, but she had already put out almost all of her efforts.

On the third day to the seventh jump, Yuan Xizheng suddenly stood up from the chair.Cai Ji suddenly felt a pair of hands holding her waist, and another pair of hands holding her hand, only to hear Yuan Xizheng ask in her ear, "Do you know what a dancer is?"

Although Cai Ji is a flirtatious dancer, she has a strong temper, so she is not a casual person. There are not many men who can get close to her. Now Yuan Xizheng is so close to her, so As for the handsome facial features in her eyes, Cai Ji felt blushing for a while, and couldn't even utter a complete sentence.

"Dancers, those who descend to the gods by dancing (Note 10)!" Yuan Xizheng whispered in her ear: "From Fuxi's "Feng Lai" dance to Huangdi's "Cloud Gate", there is not a single dancer who is not Representing the gods, you are the dancer, you are the gods!"

Cai Ji only felt that Yuan Xizheng's words were not heavy, but they seemed to have a strong voice. She was taught to please the audience since she was learning dance.

She felt Yuan Xizheng's slender fingers lift her chin slightly, and said: "Raise your head, the eyes of the gods are from top to bottom, it should be pity, not begging for alms."

Cai Ji raised her head, only to find that she could look over the bushes with her eyes a little higher, and see that it was already warm in early spring and new branches sprouted in the distance.Since she started dancing at the age of three, she often had to dance with tears in her eyes because of scolding, scolding, and ridicule. This is the first time she danced... with pride.

Li Yan sat on the rockery, biting the grass root and watching them dance with great interest, and then said to Chai Ping: "-Chai Ping, I can't wait, I really want to see what surprise Yuan Xizheng can give me."

There is a natural stage in Huangan Bieyuan, but Yuan Xizheng asked them to remove all the hijabs on it, which doubled the size of the stage, and cost Li Yan a whole three thousand silver to buy a lot of rockery Stones, decorated the surroundings of the platform into high mountains and mountains, and used many night pearls that were presented to Li Yan by others, and scattered them conveniently among these fake stones.

When it was about the same time, Li Yan smiled at Yuan Xizheng and said, "You also spent a lot of money on me, why don't you let me see it first."

Yuan Xizheng smiled and said: "Your Highness is the master, how can you not let the master have a look first?"

When Cai Ji appeared in front of Li Yan, Li Yan couldn't help being slightly surprised. He didn't expect Yuan Xizheng to transform a dancer so quickly. Although it was only a semi-finished product and there was no music accompaniment, it was already very contagious.

Cai Ji's dance has a sword intent, which makes her dance have a sonorous and fierce meaning.She was no longer the same as the coquettish dancer by the Qinhuai River before.

Li Yan finished watching with a smile, and said lightly: "Yes, this dance could have been perfect, but it's a pity..." He turned to look at Yuan Xizheng, and said, "She's not you." After finishing speaking, he didn't say anything else If you don't speak, just walk away leisurely.

Yuan Xizheng lowered her head, turned to look at Cai Ji again, her gorgeous face came into view, and she couldn't help sighing slightly.

The day of the banquet is approaching in a blink of an eye.On that day, the royal family of the Southern Dynasty, the three princes and nine ministers all attended the scene, which gave Li Yan enough face, but Li Yan seemed not interested, most of the time he was even cold.

At the banquet, Rong Wang Chuhao praised Li Yan's unique cooking of the banquet.Li Yan said lazily: "It was made by your own cook."

When he opened his mouth like this, Chu Hao couldn't help being a little bit embarrassed.

On the contrary, Chu Yin took it gently, and said: "Although this dish is a southern dish, it has a style of wild vegetables mixed in, so it is a little more rough, but it is different from the usual ones. I really want to thank the Second Highness for adding more dishes to us. His eyesight has been widened." He relieved Chu Hao lightly, without appearing to be playing against Li Yan, he was gentle and polite, Emperor Chang Chu Wei gave him an approving glance, while Chu Hao glanced at him indifferently.

Li Yan said with a smile: "Prince Ten, I have indeed prepared a big gift for you all today."

Emperor Chang turned his head with interest, and said, "What did the Second Highness prepare for us?"

Li Yan raised a finger and said, "A dance."

Chu Hao learned how to be good this time, and said with a smile: "Could it be the Daqu Dance in the north (Note 11), or the Feitian Dance in Dunhuang?"

Li Yan said indifferently: "I don't have that much time for people to do such a complicated dance. This is just an ordinary dancer, but her dance should only be in the sky. It is rare to see it in the world. I also got it by accident."

Chu Hao touched his nose again, and couldn't help but look a little unhappy. In a blink of an eye, seeing Chu Min wink at him to show that he should stop talking, he forced a smile and said nothing.Others who knew Li Yan a little bit felt that this man was extremely arrogant. He looked at people and things as if he was looking at garbage. It was rare for him to praise something, so he couldn't help being curious.

So everyone followed and filed in, and saw that everything that could be moved in the back garden was moved away, and it turned out that a large bleacher was built.Everyone's curiosity was even more suspended. After they were all seated, the lights in the corridor behind them were all extinguished.Only a few dead wind lanterns around the stage were left behind.

Yuan Xizheng behind the stage looked at the lights and asked Cai Ji with a chuckle, "Do you believe me or not?"

Cai Ji nodded stiffly, Yuan Xi held her arm with a smile, and said, "I'll count to three, no matter where you are, start dancing, okay?"

Cai Ji nodded and said hello.Yuan Xizheng said slowly: "One, two, three!"

As soon as the three characters were uttered lightly, Yuan Xizheng raised his hand and threw Cai Ji into the air.Cai Ji looked at the people under her feet from top to bottom, and she suddenly realized that she was not as panicked as she imagined. She realized in her heart that she really believed in Yuan Xizheng.

She lightly stretched the belt, danced in the air, and then slowly landed in front of the stage.

Her strange appearance made everyone in the royal family slightly surprised. As soon as Cai Ji fell into the center of the stage, the ending of this surprise was involuntarily raised.

I saw that this woman who appeared on the stage like a banished fairy turned out to be half-faced and coquettish like a ghost. As the music played, she lightly stretched her slender jade fingers, and her limbs rotated softly, like a creeping plant that seems to be slow but grows quickly. rattan.The music is very strange, it sounds like a pipa, but not like a pipa, that kind of music is like percussion music, with clang in the light.

The form of the music is also quite peculiar, not like the previous Yan (Note 12), nor the usual preface. Emperor Chang nodded and said: "This dance is special, and the instruments are also very strange. I don't know what it is?"

Before Li Yan could answer, Chu Yin had already smiled lightly and said, "Your Majesty, this is the barbarian's pipa, also called Hu Pi, which is not played with fingers, but is struck with objects, so it is clear.

Emperor Chang let out a cry. At this time, the music has entered the breaking stage (Note 13). The harmony sounded, and the pipa sound faded away, replaced by the erhu. The erhu stands out from the crowd, with a bright and beautiful voice, with a sense of sadness and depression. The dancers in the field seem to be struggling in the world of mortals, and they seem to be sighing softly, which makes people feel depressed. Wipe the corner of my eye.

But before anyone could feel sorry for themselves for too long, they suddenly heard the music change, and the instrument was changed to Guzheng again. The woman raised both sleeves, and the long sleeves spread out in the air. At this time, she changed sides again, Others realized that the other side of her was elegant and clean, her eyes were light, revealing a kind of contempt, a kind of invisible contempt, as if all living beings were like ants under her feet.

She has a light figure, her clothes are in the wind, and her long sleeves are crossed, as if she has broken free from the shackles between heaven and earth, with a kind of chicness that comes and goes without any relationship.

The unique music and dancing posture has completely fascinated people, and even the moment of bowing their heads to talk is forgotten.I don’t know who turned off the lights at this time. Under the reflection of the night pearl on the stage, the woman only left a silhouette like dust and smoke. The dance was so wonderful that before people came back to their senses, it was already at the end of the song When scattered.

After the melody dissipated, everyone was silent for a long time, and only then did Emperor Chang sigh: "Sure enough, this dance should only exist in the sky, and it is rare to see it in the world."

Li Yan seemed to have forgotten what Emperor Chang said, and only heard a woman say softly: "Father, ask that woman to come out and meet her. I think her dance seems to be telling a story. My child really wants to know what kind of story it is." .”

Emperor Chang looked back at the woman, smiled and said, "Ruian, you are just curious."

All the people present were fascinated by the dance, but Chu Hao was startled not because of the dance, but because he recognized that this dancer was Cai Ji whom he chased and killed a few days ago.He never expected that a third-rate dancer, who hadn't seen her for a few days, would actually have an inviolable and inviolable aura of elegance.

Ruian had so many things going on, Chu Hao couldn't help but said, "Ruian, you're just a dancer, and you, a princess, are yelling and listening to what a dancer has to say, how decent it is."

As soon as his words came out, Li Yan said calmly: "The princess of the Southern Dynasty saw that this dancer was disrespectful, so I don't mind listening."

Chu Hao's face turned pale, he didn't expect to offend Li Yan again in his impatience.

Emperor Chang smiled and said, "Let's pass her on. A woman who can dance to such a level must be a legend."

Li Yan smiled slightly and said, "It is indeed... a legend."

Cai Ji walked up slowly, she had already gone to the colorful dress and replaced it with an ordinary Luo shirt. Although her appearance was still gorgeous, her expression could not help being coquettish, but her alluring ghost-like half just now left people Was too impressed.Therefore, with her bare face, others felt that she was faintly elegant, and her expression was occasionally a little lazy, which was far different from ordinary women.

"Cai Ji has seen Sheng."

Emperor Chang smiled and said, "Pingshen, your dance is pretty good."

"Cai Ji thanked the Holy One for the compliment."

Emperor Chang smiled and said, "Are you famous for this dance?".

Cai Ji said indifferently: "Unyielding."

Emperor Chang was taken aback, and repeated: "Unyielding."-

"Unyielding is the name of this dance. Don't bow your knees because of humbleness, don't bow your knees because of weakness, don't bow your knees because of momentary gains, don't bow your knees because of momentary losses."

Chu Wei was so shocked, if it wasn't for Li Yan who contributed this dance, he would have thought that some minister deliberately arranged it to persuade him in disguise.

Emperor Chang didn't know how to deal with the words of the dancer in front of him for a while, Chu Yin smiled gently: "The dancer in the Second Highness's house is really refreshing, the music and dance have always only had melodious sounds, so there are not many clangs."

Li Yan was naturally distressed, and sighed inwardly: Yuan Xizheng hello, you not only let Cai Ji attract the emperor's attention, but also used her mouth to speak to the emperor of the Southern Dynasty.Birds with one stone.

He didn't speak, but Cai Ji bowed to Chu Yin, and said: "Returning to the tenth prince, Cai Ji...is not from the Northern Qi Dynasty. Although the Second Highness has saved my life, I am from the Southern Dynasty. It’s just a momentary friendship between the host and the guest.”

When she opened her mouth like this, Chu Hao was startled and angry. He had never been able to figure out what Li Yan meant by arranging such a dance, but now he finally understood that Cai Ji had the idea of ​​suing him.

He couldn't help but glanced at Chen Angwen, and saw that his expression was not very good-looking.

Emperor Chang knew that Li Yan would not arrange such a dance for him for no reason, there must be a following in it, and the following would probably embarrass him, so he frowned slightly.

He pondered for a while, then turned his head to look at Li Yan, and said with a smile: "Thanks to the Second Highness for saving such a strange woman, otherwise we might lose our sight."

Li Yan smiled and said, "My lord, Cai Ji danced just to have the opportunity to talk about my grievances with my lord."

Chu Hao couldn't bear it any longer, and said: "The Southern Dynasties have their own laws. If this dancing girl really has a grievance, she should go up and appeal. How can she disturb the current Holy Majesty."

Li Yan sneered, and said: "It's strange, Cai Ji hasn't spoken yet, how do you know that she will definitely disturb the Holy One?"

Before Chu Hao could speak, Emperor Chang raised his hand and said, "Cai Ji, if you have a grievance, you might as well tell me about it."

Cai Ji bent down and knelt to the bottom, and said: "Your Majesty, the folk girls are here to perform dances today to admire the Holy Majesty, not to sue the imperial court."

As soon as she said this, not only Emperor Chang, but even Li Yan couldn't help being stunned. Emperor Chang said suspiciously: "You..."

Cai Ji said: "Today is His Highness the Second Highness of the Northern Qi Dynasty entertaining the emperor. This is a state banquet. How can a young girl disregard the country's appearance for personal gain or loss? The so-called family ugliness should not be publicized. How can I be in front of a foreigner? The loss of one person will cause thousands of my compatriots to lose their dignity?!"

What she said made the lukewarm Emperor Chang feel excited. If Li Yan hadn't been in the way, he would have applauded loudly.

Li Yan couldn't help but look livid, he never expected Yuan Xizheng to put himself so ruthlessly.

"If you have any other requirements, you can tell me!" Emperor Chang said.

Cai Ji said: "The daughter of the people wants to present something to the emperor." After she finished speaking, a servant girl came in with a tray, on which was placed a golden belt, Chu Hao and Chen Angwen were almost frightened when they saw it All broken.

Note 10: From "Shuowen Jiezi" written by Xu Shen in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the original intention was to explain the word "witch".

Note 11: Qu is a large-scale piece of music that existed in various important music genres in Chinese history.In particular, it refers to the big songs of the Han and Wei Xianghe songs, the Six Dynasties and Qing Shang music, and the Tang and Song Yan music.They are almost all large-scale song and dance music with instrumental music.Therefore, the so-called Daqu is also a large-scale song and dance. ——Excerpted from Baidu Encyclopedia, huh, huh, in layman's terms, it is a large-scale music and dance that the royal nobles enjoy while eating.

Note 12: Yannai is the opening section of the ancient symphony, which looks like a cross, and is a part of Daqu. Although Yuan Xizheng arranged a solo dance, the soundtrack used is a luxurious lineup.

Note 13: Break, this is the climax of the ancient symphony.