Chapter 1402: The Lights Are On
The dusk was dark, and the last ray of setting sun could no longer be hung between the city walls and the cornices. The dark blue sky pressed the warm red dusk clouds at the end of the horizon. However, the flow of people on the street not only did not decrease but increased, and the lights were decorated. The streets were noisy.
Chu Zihang was standing in front of a clothing store called "Qingsi Yage". There were two large stone lions standing on the left and right sides. He was standing in the center of the stone steps like a door god. If he hadn't been on the phone all the time, there would have been many The girl passing by wanted to approach him and talk to him, mistaking him for a model or salesperson in this store.
The cell phone beside his ear rang for an unknown number of times a reminder that he was not in the service area. Chu Zihang hung up the call to Lin Nian. Since the last time Lin Nian suddenly contacted him and asked him that inexplicable question, he had no idea how many times he was out of the service area. He tried to contact Lin Nian but couldn't. Whenever he called, he was reminded that the other party was not in the service area.
The Nibelungen is a very strange place with its own set of rules that cannot be judged by common sense. Chu Zihang knows this very well. It is precisely because he does not understand the rules of the Nibelungen Underground in Bei'an that he Only then would he take the trouble to contact those who entered it at various times. If he could be contacted, he might be able to help them while he was still lingering on the ground.
"Um, can you give me your contact information? My friend wants to get to know you." A tentative and cute voice sounded in Chu Zihang's ears. He put down his phone and raised his head to see a man wearing Qing Dynasty-style iron-gray dark floral silk. A young girl wearing a colorful coat embroidered with peonies and a checkered coat on her head, holding an unlit palace lantern in her hand, stood in front of her in a pretty way.
Chu Zihang raised his head and glanced at the crowds of people on the street not far away. Several girls who seemed to be friends of girls and were also dressed in princess or Qing Dynasty palace attire were gathered around. They were whispering and looking over here to play and play. Noisy.
Not only them, but people dressed as "Princes", "Concubines" and "Gege" can be seen everywhere on the street walking on the twilight Beigan Street at the beginning of the lanterns. Combined with the scenery of ancient buildings nearby the Forbidden City, it really gives people a sense of time travel. It feels like it, but it seems that no matter what era we travel to, it will be difficult to see so many dignitaries walking out of the palace to enjoy themselves with the people.
Chu Zihang was not surprised. This was a cultural and tourism activity that circled the Forbidden City tonight. The tourism bureau, under the banner of recalling the grand scene of the palace lantern tour in the Forbidden City, attracted many tourists within a fixed period of time. Gather together on a planned route for a night walk.
There are makeup shops from the starting point to the end of this route, which rent out all kinds of costumes from emperors to eunuchs and palace maids. They also provide paid makeup girls’ services. After you go out, there will be a group of professional photographers who will teach you how to pose. For styling, I took a makeup photo of you as a souvenir. After taking the photo, you walked two steps to the palace lantern seller. Since the theme is palace lantern gardening, you have to buy a palace lantern, right? After walking two more steps, you will find that the candy blowers, stall owners selling candied haws and various classic Lao Bei'an snacks are already in full swing. If you are tired from walking, you have to offer sacrifices to the Five Internal Organs Temple.
The entire route has been clearly arranged by the Culture and Tourism Bureau, and many investors and shop owners have been invited to cooperate. The purpose of the creation is to restore the grand scene of the palace ladies' outing (although there is no way to find this so-called 'splendid scene' in history) , but the big guys don’t care if it can be checked).
As for why Chu Zihang knew so clearly, it wasn’t that he was also fooled by the Bureau of Culture and Tourism’s overwhelming propaganda, but that Xia Mi kept clamoring for the flyer when he took him on the road in Liulichang. Come and take a look, euphemistically called: dark under the lamp.
Xia Mi plausibly said that as long as there are many people with mixed eyes, it will be difficult for the orthodox pursuers to take action, lest they use the same weapon as the rat.
After escaping from their orthodox home, Chu Zihang and Xia Mi were indeed worried about being hunted by subsequent personnel, so they hid here and there for a while, but rather than fleeing, they were wandering around on the pretext of fleeing. Xia Mi is worthy of her self-proclaimed title of "Old Bei'an". At least during this period, she took Chu Zihang to travel most of Bei'an, which is comparable to a special forces tour.
Judging from the current situation, I don’t know if Xia Mi’s dark plan really worked, or if Orthodoxy simply has no time to take care of these two escaped little mice. At least Chu Zihang’s excellent anti-reconnaissance capabilities have not affected He called the police, which meant they seemed to have really ditched the orthodox eyeliners and had no one biting them in the back.
Chu Zihang has already begun to consider whether to contact Su Xiaoqiang and the others again (he did not know that Su Xiaoqiang entered the Nibelungen). He had not contacted him before because he was worried that Orthodoxy was playing a long game to catch big fish, and was just waiting for them to catch them all when they met. That's why he chose to "wander around the world" with Xia Mi. Now that the alarm is gradually lifted, perhaps the right thing to do is to exchange information after meeting with his companions.
But even if you want to put all this into action, you have to wait until tonight.
Chu Zihang politely declined the approach of the passerby girl, and looked back at the antique shop "Qingsi Yage" behind him. The pretty and light figure was constantly passing by on the curtain of light and shadow. Occasionally, the sound of girls coming from inside was heard. There was laughter and playfulness in the room.
The girl was in a high mood. Even compared to the previous few days, her mood tonight was particularly high. After seeing the flyer for the Palace Lantern Garden Party, she rushed Chu Zihang from across the city at an extremely fast speed. It reached this end of the city.
It is not difficult to see that this girl is a person who likes to be seen. Before nightfall, she had already made all the plans and preparations, starting from the choice of this century-old clothing store called "Qingsi Yage". The itinerary was arranged along the way. I really don't know whether she came to Beiyu to slay the dragon or to travel.
But in fact, Chu Zihang is not sure what the situation in the Nibelungen has reached. This time, he was completely isolated from the battlefield during the Beiyu Dragon Slaying Journey. After his bloodline was controlled, he really did not have the ability to step into the core battle circle.
Don't say he's the only one. In fact, more than 80% to 90% of the so-called mixed-blood elites who came to Beiyi to slay the dragon were not qualified to set foot on the real battlefield. They wandered around in the huge city, and were overwhelmed by the sea of information mixed with "dragon" elements everywhere. The doorposts of some old courtyards on the roadside were all carved with dragons and phoenixes, not to mention the flying dragons and phoenixes coiled on red pillars in the Forbidden City. In this situation, looking for traces of dragons is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Unable to find the key information, those mixed-bloods were unwilling to leave just like that, so they could only wander around the city, trying to find something by chance - their actions were actually similar to Xia Mi and Chu Zihang's running around, which was no different from tourism. The natives were not surprised at the sudden increase in the number of foreigners, but were happy to go up to them when they were resting and enthusiastically promote their products to them.
Chu Zihang was standing on the roadside at this moment, and he could see several foreigners who were suspected to be North American hybrids walking in the procession of the palace lantern tour. They were particularly showy, wearing a yellow robe and a black crown with twelve tassels on their heads. No one reminded them that the crown was obviously in the Qin Dynasty style, which did not match the apricot yellow Qing Dynasty nine-dragon robe they were wearing. They walked with a tiger-like aura, and their sleeves were rolled up, revealing their domineering aura.
Don't worry about whether the high nose bridge and green eyes of the Caucasian race match the traditional Chinese costumes. They are definitely domineering. After all, the hybrids are tall and strong, and the average height is 1.9 meters. Even if they wear eunuch clothes, they can still walk with a tiger-like aura.
From their appearance, it is unclear whether they are here to find the traces of the Dragon King, or simply gave up this extremely tempting ticket early and entered the pure tourism enjoyment mode. After all, not all the people who come here really want to die with the Dragon King. Most people come here for pilgrimage. Seeing the strong fight the Dragon King is worth the price even if they get nothing.
The whole palace lantern fair has already become a costume show. Even the old men and women can't help but put on clothes that span the times and play a loving pair of county magistrates and their wives. Just as Chu Zihang was watching the crowd and thinking silently, someone suddenly patted his right shoulder behind him.
He subconsciously looked back to the right and saw no one. Then he turned his head to the left. A fragrant breeze accompanied by a beautiful face that was not scary at all and pretended to be ferocious was blurred in his retina. The clear pupils reflected each other's cheeks. The familiar but colorful face of the girl made him a little dazed.
"Wow! This didn't scare you, brother, you are too steady, right? Can't you cooperate to be frightened?" Xia Mi took two steps back, put down her two claws, lifted her red sleeves, stood on the slightly higher part of the stone steps and looked down at Chu Zihang.
The clerk of "Qingsi Yage" wearing a palace maid's uniform walked out of the door and hung a red lantern on the eaves. The warm red light illuminated Xia Mi's dress, and the flow of people outside the street even stopped for a moment, with countless eyes cast on the beautiful and dazzling girl under the red lantern.
Xia Mi did not choose the clothes of a palace maid or a princess, but confidently and rebelliously chose a fiery red phoenix robe, a shawl and a mandarin duck jacket, with yellow woven gold cloud and dragon patterns embellished on the clothes, and a red shawl ribbon draped over the chest of the fiery red shirt, with the dazzling phoenix crown.
——According to the shop owner, the crown Xia Mi wore was originally called "Twelve Dragons and Nine Phoenixes Crown". It was a replica of the one worn by Empress Xiaojing of the Ming Dynasty. It was made of lacquered wood, with eight golden dragons on the front, five golden phoenixes below, and four golden dragons and four golden phoenixes on the back. The crown was decorated with kingfisher feathers, and each of them held a jewel in its mouth. It was the treasure of the shop, and instantly raised the girl's spirit and pride to a new height, even a little arrogant.
In order to resist the autumn cold, the shop owner specially rented Xia Mi a white fox fur, which was placed on her snow-white and slender neck, and wrapped her face with a little light makeup in the snow-white fur. She was wrapped in gold, red and white. The eyeliner after makeup was raised at the end, and the light smoke of deep red deepened the outline of the eyes. The momentum of majesty came to her face, and the gorgeous dress shone brightly under the light, showing a strange beauty and solemnity.
She stood under the red lanterns, Xia Mi opened her arms, stepped on the yellow satin and green-soled boots under her gown, and turned around under the red lanterns, showing Chu Zihang more details of the dress. At the same time, she looked sideways at the boy below and asked with a smile, "Brother, does this dress look good?"
Chu Zihang silently looked at Xia Mi's new outfit, did not answer, just nodded slightly, which was considered to be his own evaluation.
In his heart and mind, he thought Xia Mi would be like those girls on the street, choosing to dress like a princess or a palace maid, but he didn't expect that she would boldly wear a phoenix robe, bright red and gold, with a phoenix crown and red robe. If you don't know, you might think she is going to get married tonight, or ascend the throne.