Tibet

I saw an old Taoist priest with a somewhat celestial spirit slowly appear. He flicked the dust in his hand, and the lights around him suddenly dimmed, and he was immediately greeted with warm applause.

Li Ye secretly admired him for his skill in psychological tactics and his immortal Taoist performance, which made people believe that this person must be a skilled Taoist and have deep magical power, just like those famous doctors in TV commercials in later generations. Like a liar.

The old Taoist priest came on stage and played a little trick, waving the Buddha dust in a cool and unrestrained way, and dimming the lights. Everyone thought it was Taoism. These were all designed plots.

Ordinary people are actually very easy to deceive. As long as the atmosphere is sufficient and they preconceptionally believe that the other party is profound, things will be easier to handle later.

The old Taoist priest picked up an earthen jar, raised it up for everyone to see, tapped the bottom, and there was a "dang" sound, and asked people to fill it with soil and bury a melon seed in the soil.

The old Taoist priest pulled out his mahogany sword, lit a talisman, and stared at the eastern sky with a serious look on his face, muttering something. This was the key link. With the help of magic, everyone's eyes were attracted to it.

The old Taoist priest swung his wooden sword eastward, and a puff of smoke rose into the sky, and everyone exclaimed.

Li Ye didn't look at the Taoist priest. He just stared at the earthenware pot on the table. Just as the smoke rose, the earthenware pot suddenly disappeared and then reappeared. The empty table seemed to have gods. In fact, this was Zhengda. A bright exchange.

The Taoist priest walked up to the earthen jar, pointed at the earthen jar with his mahogany sword and muttered something. After a moment, vine seedlings slowly appeared and spread along the table. Thousands of people below exclaimed in surprise.

Suzaku sighed: "The Taoism is so profound!"

Li Ye smiled faintly, "I can also teach you how to make it stop growing, believe it or not?"

Suzaku asked curiously: "How do you do it?"

Li Ye took out a copper coin from his arms, flicked his hand, and the coin flew away.

Sure enough, the vine stopped moving. Suzaku covered his mouth and asked in surprise: "What's going on?"

Li Ye took Suzaku's hand and said, "Let's go! This is either an illusion or a trick to deceive stupid people and women. I have broken it."

Li Ye pulled Zhuque out of the crowd, and Zhuque said anxiously: "Tell me, what's going on?"

Li Ye smiled and said, "When he asked for immortality, where were you looking?"

"Of course it's to see him ask for magic!"

“But I was staring at the clay pot on the table, and it disappeared and reappeared the next.”

Suzaku reacted immediately, "You mean, they changed the clay pot?"

Li Ye nodded, "The clay pot contains a prepared vine."

“But it’s still winter, where will the vines grow?”

"Who told you that it was a real vine?"

Li Ye sneered and said, "Can't it be cut from green satin?"

"Then what?"

"Then a thin thread was tied to the green bud. Someone pulled it at the other end under the table and pulled it out bit by bit. I cut the thin thread with a copper coin, and the vine naturally stopped growing."

Suzaku frowned, "But it will bloom and bear fruit later, and the melon will grow up little by little. How can you do that?"

"Have you ever seen a blow-up lantern? Fold paper into a small lantern, and when you blow it, it will gradually grow bigger. As long as you take out a few real ones to share with everyone, won't it be a success?"

"No! No!"

Suzaku shook his head repeatedly, "I saw it in the palace. Alchemist Luo Gongyuan performed a performance of growing melons in a porcelain pot. He held it in his hand, but there was no table. I saw it grow with my own eyes, and saw it blossom and bear fruit. Are they all real vines? "

"All the Taoists in the world perform the same Taoism. This in itself is the biggest flaw."

Li Ye smiled: "The porcelain basin you see is just a very delicate prop. There are mechanisms inside, and gold threads are threaded inside the vines. As the gold threads extend, the vines will naturally extend, and the flowers and fruits will be attached to the vines in advance. , and then use gold wire to stretch it open. From a distance, it looks no different from real flowers and fruits.

It is actually the same little trick, but it is more skillfully executed, more seasoned, and more elaborately made. However, this old Taoist priest is relatively crude, so he can see through it at a glance. "

Suzaku was speechless by what he said, and could only say angrily: "You have destroyed every little good memory."

Li Ye laughed and said, "I'm known as a spoiler. I drank too much at noon and peeed all over. So you had to accompany me to the toilet."

"How vulgar! Ah Ye, I want to go too."

As night falls, Tianbao’s eleventh-year Shangyuan Lantern Festival finally begins.

The lanterns throughout Chang'an City were lit up, and Zhuque Street and Chunmingmen Street were filled with lights. Seen from a high altitude, they looked like two dazzling giant dragons, one from north to south and one from east to west, lying on the streets of Chang'an City.

Then there are several concentrated lantern markets, one is the East Market, one is the West Market, and one is in front of the Danfeng Gate. This is convenient for the emperor and the people in the palace to watch the lanterns on the top of the Danfeng Gate City. Another one is Pingkangfang.

Every household closed their doors and went out with their wives and children to watch the lanterns. Millions of people came out in droves. The streets were full of people, swimming in the sea of ​​lanterns.

Li Ye and Zhuque held hands and walked north from Xuandu Temple on Zhuque Street to enjoy the lanterns. They walked through Zhuque Street, then went to the West Market to see the lantern trees, then turned around and went to the East Market, and finally went to Pingkangfang Yashi to rest.

"Aye, is that an elephant lantern?" Zhuque pointed at a large lantern and asked enthusiastically.

Li Ye looked at it crookedly for a long time and said with a smile: "The person who put up the lantern must have never seen an elephant. If it weren't for the long nose at the end, I would definitely think it was a pig lantern. This is called a pig's nose with a green onion inserted into it to show off."

Suzaku smiled and bent down, "Put a green onion in a pig's nose, I hope you can figure it out."

A lady walked forward, holding a flat basket, "Sir, buy some jewelry for the lady!"

Li Ye saw a dozen hairpins placed on the flat basket. They were all made of copper and of average workmanship. He was about to decline politely when Suzaku took his hand and said, "I want it! I want it! I want it!"

"Okay! Pick one yourself."

Zhuque quickly stepped forward and picked out a dragon and phoenix hairpin. He happily inserted it into his hair. He tilted his head and asked Li Ye, "Does it look good?"

"good!"

Li Ye reluctantly responded and asked, "How much?"

"Sir, one hundred coins!"

Li Ye almost jumped up. It's not like he didn't know that his mother had several identical copper hairpins, all of which were bought for twenty cents each. This old woman actually wanted one hundred cents for herself.

"Aye, it's okay, give me the money quickly!"

Helpless, Li Ye had no choice but to take out a penny and stuff it into her. The aunt knew the penny, looked at it carefully, thanked her with a smile and left.

"Madam, this copper hairpin is too expensive for us to buy. We need to save some money to buy rice!"

Suzaku held his arm and chuckled: "Just think of it as a good deed and take pity on that old woman!"

"She's not necessarily pitiful. I think she's very skilled at testing money. She's a veteran."

"Hey! Hey! It's your first time to go shopping with me for lanterns. You need to be more generous. I'm counting on you to make money to buy me a silver hairpin in the future!"

Li Ye couldn't help but laugh.

The two of them were talking and laughing all the way. Suddenly, their smiles disappeared at the same time and became awkward. Pei Sanniang was standing opposite them, looking at them with a smile.

Zhuque quickly shook off Li Ye's hand, stepped forward and said shyly: "Hello, aunt!"

"Mom! Why are you here alone? Where is daddy?"

Pei Sanniang pointed to the front and said angrily: "Your father just bought me a copper hairpin. I think it is worth twenty cash at most. He actually spent a hundred cash. I told him to return it quickly."

Li Ye and Zhuque looked at each other and said together, "Pfft!" ’ laughed out loud.