Chapter 8: Dong San Ye's Last Dinner

  A small banquet of dust and wine also only took an hour or so.

  The evening is the official gathering of joy.

  With the wealth and extravagance of the Dong family, this banquet will surely last from night till dawn, with cups and dishes clinking together as everyone gets drunk.

  Then what happens after we wake up?

  Continue on the road heading east? To rescue those who are bringing disaster and harm to the country?

  What a joke.

  We must stay. Stay in Chang'an City.

  We probably have just this one night too.

  One chance.

  An opportunity lost is gone forever.

  We were of course plotting inside the house.

  The slightly drunk old man sprayed wine, but his mind was still sober, and his attitude became even more resolute.

  At this moment, no one has any doubts.

  Not even a shred of hesitation is needed.

  We must take action.

  －

  The night color is getting deeper and darker.

  The lamps in the camp had already been lit one after another.

  The hall where the banquet is set up is the most magnificent with lights.

  In this large hall of about two or three hundred square meters, there are about fifty or sixty wall lamps. Even if all the candle holders were covered with a thin layer of colorful lantern paper, they could only add a bit of festive atmosphere to the room.

  Inside the spacious room, more than twenty charcoal braziers were placed at each corner, with the charcoal burning quietly and soundlessly in the braziers, emitting a thick aroma between black and red.

  On January 20th, although it was already early spring, it was still a chilly day, but inside this grand hall, not a hint of coldness could be felt.

  I untied the large coat wrapped tightly around my body and casually threw it into the hands of the female servant who was receiving me. She half-knelt down to salute, then lowered her head and retreated, neatly folding up the garment.

  After several months of recuperation, my internal strength had fully recovered. As a martial artist, I was still in good health. Under the large coat, it was just a spring shirt, with wide sleeves and a loose robe, the hem fluttering as I entered the hall.

  But just as I put on this casual outfit, a hint of self-reproach suddenly welled up in my heart: This getup is too cheap; if I continue to travel through the Central Plains, I'm afraid this outfit will be scorned to death by everyone.

  But this feeling only lasted for an instant.

  Then I followed quietly after Father into the room.

  Compared to the dust-washing and wind-receiving banquet at noon, this time's seating arrangement was more spread out, with a greater distance left in between, and luxurious fur rugs were laid on the ground - please forgive my ignorance, I had never seen such things that could reveal one's status.

  The seating arrangement of each person seems to have its own rules, not only must it conform to the basic etiquette of identity, but also blend in with the background lighting and overall environment - the latter is my own speculation.

  The table seemed even wider than at noon, and when we sat down, half of the table was already filled. The only thing I particularly appreciated about Dong Zhen is that he has a common point with me: he likes to eat meat - among the seven or eight dishes on the table, there wasn't a single vegetarian dish! Not a single dish had less than sixty percent meat content!

  I could hardly hold back tears.

  It is difficult indeed to find one who knows you!

  Unfortunately, he is about to kick the bucket soon.

  Otherwise, it's our family's turn.

  Let me gnaw on a few bones of our moving common ground first!

  I smiled faintly and knelt on the cushion, while the maid beside me moved silently, dish after dish of delicacies quickly filling the table.

  －

  The wine has gone around three times.

  Li Su slightly straightened his body and whispered a sentence to the maid beside him.

  The maid bowed and backed out, lifting the curtain as she left.

  It was just a trick of wine, and twenty or thirty women entered in a line.

  None of them were not young women, compared to us, the clothes they wore were indeed not too much, but also would not be overly revealing to only one layer of gauze that made their bodies vaguely visible, and the upper and lower parts were still properly covered.

  They entered barefoot, their shoes and socks having been removed outside the tent before they carefully stepped in with only their small feet. Most of the women had smooth bellies and white calves exposed, and more than half of their round shoulders were also visible, subtly concealed without being too revealing, which was exactly the style that young people of my age liked.

  Dong San Ye knows me well!

  I can only sigh helplessly once again.

  －

  The Wu Ji slowly entered, followed by two rows of musicians who also entered in a line.

  Dancing absolutely cannot be without accompaniment; otherwise, even if the dancer is as beautiful as a heavenly fragrance and national color, under the effect of silence, the atmosphere will also be greatly discounted.

  Dozens of things I had hardly ever seen were carried or lifted into the hall by people and quickly arranged in a corner.

  A dozen musicians plucked, pulled and strummed, making a tinkling sound as they tuned their instruments.

  I'm ashamed to say that the musical instruments I know are only limited to flute, guqin, erhu and the like. It's not possible for me to distinguish between them specifically. As for appreciating ancient music, I don't even know what the seven notes or five notes are - to put it bluntly, I'm absolutely tone deaf when it comes to music, whether now or in my past life.

  These dozen or so ancient musical instruments of different shapes and sizes rang out in unison, the dancing girls and singing ladies stepped down to the stage one after another, their wide sleeves fluttering gently, their beautiful songs lingering on and on without end.

  Although Chang'an City had long been affected by Wang Mang's chaotic policies, with many palaces and temples damaged or destroyed, and some of the population having fled, after two hundred years, the city was still thriving, with a sufficient number of inhabitants, and the scale of commerce had largely recovered. Although it was not as prosperous as the capital in its heyday, it was still a rare and flourishing place, and its various songs, dances, literature and art were naturally at the forefront of the times.

  Judging from Dong San Ye's reputation and appearance, I never expected him to appreciate the artistic beauty of dance music. His appreciation level is limited to the facial features and body curves of the dancers, which is no different from ours.

  As expected, after a brief overture, the waltz comes directly.

  More than ten dancing girls scattered in all directions, with a distance of about several people between each other. Then they continued to dance slowly on the spot, facing east and west. I didn't know what specific actions they were doing, but I saw that as they swung their arms, two long sleeves fell off from their bodies, revealing two snow-white arms and light purple breast wraps; then they twisted their slender waists, and the diamond-patterned fabric wrapped around their hips fell to the ground, leaving only pure white underpants on their lower body.

  I took a glance at the people present, and Dong Xuan's three didn't need to be said, naturally they were fully engaged; Old Dad wasn't much better, I reckon his mind was already a complete blank - where would he have seen such high-quality dancers and dances in his hometown?

  Ma Dai's face was flushed red, which is a normal phenomenon for young boys, and he didn't react at all to my glance; Pang Rou's pale face also had a layer of blush on it, and when she saw my gaze, she picked up her wine cup and took a shallow sip in an attempt to cover it up; Pang De was still okay, um... I saw that Big Sister Ma Wen was staring at him with a fierce gaze from the side, so he didn't dare make any moves.

  But the dancer's movements were far from over, her slender jade hands and delicate fingers leapt and danced on her small shoulders, lightly sweeping downwards, revealing mountains and hills, a breathtaking view of the human world, all appearing in this instant.

  The music is magnificent and the dance scene is extremely beautiful.

  Dong Zhen was apparently very satisfied with the program, and even though he had "appreciated" this beautiful scene countless times in Chang'an, he still couldn't help but voice his praise.

  Li Meng was slightly younger and even more foolish, completely forgetting himself.

  Li Su's face still had a faint smile of composure, but his dull eyes told everything.

  Lao Die and Li Su were like two peas in a pod, Ma Dai and Li Meng were similar, while Pang Ru slightly turned his face away, and Pang De lowered his head to gnaw on a piece of meat.

  The elder sister suddenly stood up and left the ballroom without saying a word.

  In an instant, the house fell silent.

  The three of them came back to their senses, and Li Su smiled: "This is all Brother Shoucheng's fault. He clearly knew that Third Master had arranged for a grand performance of music and dance tonight, but he still brought his daughter along. After all, she's just a young lady, how can she possibly join in on the fun with us old men?"

  Li Meng repeatedly responded with "yes", Dong Chen burst out laughing.

  "It's all right, it's just that I didn't think it through," Ma Teng signaled to Pang De, "Take care of Xiaoyuan, don't go out and cause trouble."

  Pang De hastily got up and fled from this fragrant scene in a flurry of running and crawling.

  "Hey, Dege, you'd better take good care of my sister!" I reminded him loudly from behind.

  Behind him was a room full of laughter, and although Dong Chen was a coarse person, he still understood the anger of these young men and women, so why would he take this situation to heart?

  The sound of silk and bamboo is increasingly low and gentle.

  The fabric scattered on the ground is gradually increasing.

  The people in the house became more and more intoxicated.