Chapter 42: New Year (3)

  "Drop, drop, drop the handkerchief, gently place it behind the little friend, don't tell him, hurry up and catch him!" Suddenly, a burst of children's song came from the summer courtyard, the singing was awkward, more than a dozen people sang like more than a dozen people, but back and forth, just these two sentences, soon became smooth in the rhythmic clapping.

  After learning the nursery rhyme, Zhao Che explained the rules clearly. Everyone dispersed and sat in a large circle. A round of "rock, scissors, cloth" selected the first unlucky person. He picked up the handkerchief and walked a few steps before putting it behind one of his companions and running away. Xiao Huangmen, who had put the handkerchief down, immediately discovered something was wrong from everyone's expressions, turned around to pick up the handkerchief and chased after him, but still ended up being late. Under Zhao Che's "threat", he stood in the middle of the circle, sang a folk song from his hometown, before reluctantly sitting back down.

  After a few rounds, everyone discovered the trick. The person who was being teased thought of 'revenge', those who had not been caught looked back frequently, afraid that they would be next, others even if they were caught still pretended to be calm and clapped their hands and sang, the atmosphere slowly became lively, for a moment the courtyard was filled with singing, laughter and shouting as people chased each other, everyone was intoxicated in the joyful game, forgetting their troubles.

  It is said that modern behavioral experts have studied this game and believe that during the game, everyone is in a dominant position and can maintain a pleasant mental state, which can make people form an optimistic and positive personality. When Zhao Shu was a new recruit in his previous life, everyone had to endure overloaded training every day and face new environmental adaptations and new interpersonal relationships, each person would feel tremendous pressure. The old squad leaders often organized everyone to play small games they used to play as children during training breaks, not only can release the pressure accumulated in their hearts but also alleviate the estrangement between new comrades, superiors and subordinates through playing together, improve interpersonal relationships, and satisfy everyone's desire for performance in public.

  Just as Zhao Yi was lost in thought, reminiscing about his past days of practicing the "Dazed" skill, a small yellow gate guard mustered up the courage to quietly place a handkerchief behind him, pretending nothing had happened and continuing to walk forward. However, the gap between him and Zhao Yi was too great, making him feel uneasy, and he couldn't help but keep looking back as he walked.

  "Second Master" saw that he had finished his own business for a while and went to King Wang without realizing it, and couldn't help but remind him out loud.

  Zhao suddenly heard someone shouting, he looked around and saw Xi rushing towards him with a warning expression, reminding him that he had fallen into the trap. He immediately realized his mistake, turned around, grabbed the handkerchief on the ground and chased after it. By this time, Little Huang Men, who had thrown the handkerchief, had already walked half a circle away.

  "Come on, Prince, come on, oh, oh, oh!" But unfortunately, Zhao Zhen's legs were short and he was late in exerting force, so although he ran quickly, he still couldn't catch the hem of the prince's robe. He had no choice but to stand obediently in the middle of the courtyard. The little eunuchs saw that the prince didn't show any signs of anger, so they immediately learned from his example and did what he had just done to them earlier.

  "Then I'll sing a song for everyone, okay?" Zhao Yan stood in the middle of the room, scratching his hair and laughing.

  "Good, Prince Wang's singing is the best!" Xiang Xi clapped her hands loudly and shouted.

  "Meet joy, don't be rude!" Seeing Joy busy with his own affairs, he also mixed in the crowd and made a fuss. When he met Joy, he followed suit and shouted loudly. It was See Joy, and Meet Joy was so frightened that he shrunk his neck and lowered his head, not daring to make a sound. The other little yellow doors were also trembling with fear at his icy face.

  "What's all the fuss about? We're just playing together, you can find a place to sit down too!" Zhao Zhe pointed at Jian Xi and said. Jian Xi didn't dare disobey, so he let a small yellow gate guard give up his seat for him, and sat down with a sullen face.

  "I'll just sing a 'A Man Should Be Strong', give me some applause!" Zhao Che stood in the middle of the venue, like a pop star facing countless fans, raising his hands and shouting. If he were a bit taller, with his hair scattered all over, he would really have looked like a "Beatle". The king wants applause, who dares not to show their face, suddenly there was thunderous applause from all directions.

  "Braving the raging waves with heroic spirit,"

  Passionate like the red sunlight

  Gall like iron cast, bones like refined steel.

  Ambition soaring high as the sky, vision stretching far and wide.

  I strive to be a good man

  Be a good man every day must self-improvement

  A hot-blooded man is brighter than the sun!

  Let the ocean and sky gather energy for me

  Go pioneer and open up a new world for my ideal!

  The green waves surge high and the blue sky is vast, with heroic spirit soaring.

  I am a man who should be strong and self-reliant.

  Everyone should stand tall and be a pillar of strength, be a good man.

  With my hundredfold brilliance shining out a thousand points of light!

  Be a good man

  Fiery passion burns within

  "More radiant than the sun" This song was sung by Brother Cheng Long with his low and rough voice, making many men's blood boil. Poor Zhao Xiao was only eight years old at the time, still far from reaching puberty, so he had to hold back his voice and use a fake tone to shout in order to achieve that effect. People outside the circle only saw the people on stage singing and dancing together, with the song accompanying the fists, the fists bringing wind, and the white clothes fluttering, having another flavor. After Professor Meng Tao finished a round of Changquan, the song also ended just in time.

  "Good, good, a fine young man should be self-reliant!" Zhao Ke finished his song, and the people in the courtyard were still in a daze. Someone outside shouted "good", and only then did they realize that the people from the inner courtyard had already surrounded them in a big circle again. Huang Jingchen was also there, unknown when he arrived, "The prince's singing is great, it makes this old slave's heart hot, with a strong urge to charge forward with spear and horse!"

  "Huang Bo has won, I was just momentarily excited. Why don't you join us and play together?" He said, pulling on Huang Jingchen's sleeve.

  "I'm old, I can't run around anymore, you guys play on, I won't disturb you!" Huang Jingchen said with a smile to everyone. The little yellow gates and the onlookers were all surprised, today the official unexpectedly didn't scold them, but instead allowed them to continue, he walked away, and only then did everyone burst into applause.

  "Shunzi, have you heard Wang Ye sing this song?" Huang Jingchen asked Shunzi as they walked to a secluded area.

  "Great official, I've never heard of it, or else I'll go check!" Shunzi only slightly understood the melody and felt that the prince's singing was greatly different from what they had heard before, but couldn't quite put his finger on the subtlety.

  "Never mind, it's just a song!" Huang Jingchen said with a wave of his hand, but in his heart, he couldn't help but mutter to himself.

  Everyone was in high spirits, so Zhao took the initiative to pull all the lively people into the circle. Fortunately, Xia's courtyard was big enough, otherwise it would have been hard to fit so many people. People clapped their hands, sang and danced, with social hierarchy thrown out of mind. Those who had never spoken before were now chatting and laughing warmly, even Xianji, who always puffed out his chest and put on a straight face in front of others, was caught by a little yellow gatekeeper and had to stand in the arena making "moo" sounds like a cow to escape.

  Everyone played until lunchtime before reluctantly dispersing, after being busy for half a day, surprisingly no one felt the slightest fatigue. The lump of suffocating air that had been stuck in their throats seemed to have suddenly disappeared. Xiao Huangmen's faces also revealed long-lost smiles, these smiles were heartfelt and not forced like they used to be. Their mouths still hummed the song that Wang Ye sang earlier.

  After lunch, the northerly wind started to blow strongly, and the sky darkened. The air was quickly filled with black clouds. When Zhao Xie woke up from his afternoon nap, he found that snowflakes had already begun to fall. He excitedly got dressed and rushed out of the bedroom barefoot.

  "Second Master, hurry up and put on your clothes, don't catch a chill!" Huaihua was guarding the door, sitting by the candle holder, weaving something in the candlelight. When Zhao Yi rushed out of the house wearing only a jacket and barefoot, she hastily stopped him and shouted.

  "What a big snow! I want to go out!" Zhao exclaimed as the snow fell bigger and bigger, already covering the ground with a thick layer.

  "That also requires dressing properly first!" Huaihua helped Zhao Che put on his socks, tied his buttons, wore his robe, wrapped his jade belt, and was busy finding him a large cloak.

  "What are these things?" Zhao suddenly discovered a pile of small objects on the table and asked curiously.

  "Oh, these are all gifts from the young masters of the inner courtyard for you. They instructed me to hand them over to you!" Huaihua said, holding out a package.

  Zhao Ye nodded, rummaging through it, inside there was a set of portrait candies of drama characters, and sandbags, sugar people, sprouts, mountain yellow, brown beans, salt beans, fir seeds, steamed pear, dates, rice food sheep, dogs, hooves, eggs, chestnut cakes, bean balls, and various snacks. On the edge of the table stood a 'bright silver spear', he picked it up with his hands and danced for a few moments, shaking his head in bitter laughter, coming to think that no matter what 'great things' one does, everyone still treats oneself as a child.

  "Second Master, don't eat these things randomly, the outside food is not clean!" Huaihua Wangye grabbed a few beans to eat, and hastily grasped his hand saying.

  "How come everyone can eat, why can't I? I'm not that picky. They'll be upset if I don't eat the things they give me!" Zhao Chu smiled and tossed a bean into his mouth, saying slowly.

  "Alas, Second Master, you never listen to advice!" Huaihua sighed and scolded, then opened the package and took out a fox-fur coat.

  "Oh, what a beautiful skin!" Zhao couldn't help but praise after taking a glance.

  "Second Master, this large cloak is made of silver fox fur from Liaobang, extremely rare and precious. It was bestowed upon the Empress by the Emperor himself. When you left the palace last year, the Empress altered it overnight to give it to you to wear, but she herself never had the heart to wear it even once!" Huaihua said with a sigh as she gently stroked the fur.

  "Kinship, friendship; Friendship, kinship" Zhao Xian's enthusiasm was suddenly gone, "Forget it, the snow is too heavy, I'm not going out!" He hugged his large coat and returned to the bedroom, gazing through the thin window paper at the vast snow outside, everything in front of him shrouded in a haze, he stood there silently for a long time, hugging his coat!

  I didn't expect the daily clicks to exceed 10,000 and the collections to break through 1,000 so quickly. This is something that has never happened with my previous two books. I'm deeply grateful for the support of all book friends, thank you everyone!