Suddenly, the bustling night market street was filled with a surge of people, cheers, shouts, and applause, as if everyone in Jinan had come to the main street. Hongli and Hongzhou, protecting Xueying, were slowly carried forward by the crowd. In the distance, they saw a procession approaching in a lively and bustling manner.

"What festival is this? It's so lively!" Hongzhou used his hand to block Xueying from being pushed around, while asking the people around him.

"You must be from out of town? This is Jinan's annual Spring Festival celebration... You've come at the perfect time." The man was quite enthusiastic, not at all shy, and even acted like a true host, introducing the history of the Spring Festival celebrations to the three. However, the loud gongs, drums, and shouts completely drowned out his voice. This conveniently prevented the three from awkwardly refusing his enthusiastic introduction.

"Fourth Brother, let's walk forward and see what kind of performance is up ahead." Hongzhou never misses a good show, and besides, Xueying is not very knowledgeable, so he wanted to take this opportunity to make her happy.

The three of them then put on masks and walked around, looking around.

Clearings were deliberately left in the street, allowing the crowd to surge to both sides. With the arrival of the sounds, a group of people dressed in flamboyantly colored costumes, wearing tall hats, and walking on stilts, performed a bizarre and distinctive dance. Some played trumpets, some banged drums and gongs, and some set off beautiful fireworks. The most captivating performance was the dragon dance. Seven men performed in the street, carrying two long dragons whose scales shimmered with gold. The dragons chased each other, leaping and tumbling, vying to eat a luminous pearl. Watching this spectacular performance, the onlookers couldn't help but applaud.

Suddenly, someone tossed a luminous pearl into the sky; before anyone could see it clearly, a golden light leaped up. The dragon dancers then formed a human pyramid, leaping up to catch the pearl with the dragon's mouth. This performance ignited the enthusiasm of the audience below, who became even more agitated, pushing and shoving, screaming and swaying.

Hongli knew that Hongzhou would protect Xueying, so he focused on pushing through the crowd to find a way out and didn't pay much attention to the two people behind him. Little did he know that Hongzhou only dared to block the crowd to avoid hurting Xueying, but didn't dare to actually touch her. There were too many people wearing masks, and the crowd was too strong. Hongzhou didn't even notice when the person next to him was changed.

"Xueying, be careful..." Fireworks drifted down, brushing past the woman's hair. Hongzhou quickly shielded her with his hand, and the woman turned around, gratefully removing her mask and shyly saying thank you. This thank you was terrible; a chill ran down Hongzhou's spine, and his heart trembled. Oh no...

"Xueying? Xueying is gone..." Hongzhou pulled at the calendar. "Fourth...Fourth Brother...Xueying...is gone..." Hongzhou couldn't speak anymore. He only regretted that he hadn't protected Xueying. Frustrated and anxious, Hongzhou was sweating profusely and didn't know what to do.

Hongli calmly reassured Hongzhou: "It's alright, Xueying can't have gone far. We'll split up and search here, we'll definitely find Xueying..." After saying that, Hongli disappeared into the crowd.

Hongzhou steadied himself, took a deep breath, and began calling out to the crowd, "Xueying? Xueying, where are you?"

Having lifted countless shoulders and removed countless masks, the unfamiliar faces chilled Hongzhou's heart. The more anxious and flustered he became, the less he could find her. Hongzhou desperately wanted to escape his damned hand. Why hadn't he protected Xueying properly...

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