Su Lijin noticed the scar on half of the opera performer's face. Her expression remained unchanged as she fixed her gaze on the puppet in her hand. "Are you the opera performer here?"
The female opera performer then noticed someone nearby. Seeing Su Lijin dressed in the empress's attire, she was startled. She carefully put down the puppet and quickly knelt down, saying, "To answer the empress, I am Du Xi, the imperial female opera performer here."
Raising her hand to get someone up, Su Lijin said with a faint smile on her face, "The puppet show just now was quite good. I'm very interested. Would you be willing to teach me?"
Upon hearing this, Du Xi looked up in surprise, as if he had never expected that Su Lijin, the queen, would actually learn puppetry.
"But is there any inconvenience?" Su Lijin saw that she didn't say anything and just stared at herself blankly, so she smiled faintly and asked.
Du Xi hurriedly shook her head, her face showing a mixture of surprise and joy. She said, "The Empress has asked me to teach puppetry. This is a blessing for me. I have no inconvenience at all."
Su Lijin nodded: "That's good, let's start with the simple ones."
Walking to Su Lijin's side, Du Xi deliberately turned half of his face away.
This action made Su Lijin frown slightly. She wanted to say that there was no need to do this, and there was no need to hide her appearance. She wanted her to feel more at ease.
But just as he was about to say that, he stopped.
After all, she is not Du Xi and cannot empathize with her. Saying this rashly might make her feel a little embarrassed.
After thinking about it, Su Lijin didn't mention it. She raised her hand and picked up a doll with a little girl's face painted on it and wearing cute colorful clothes. She said, "This doll is very beautiful. I will imitate this doll."
"What doll is cute?" At this time, Xiao Shengxing's voice came from behind.
Du Xi bowed again and stood aside awkwardly.
Su Lijin raised the puppet in her hand and said proudly, "Your Majesty is late, so you can't just snatch it from the palace. I'll just imitate this one."
He glanced at the doll in her hand, his gaze falling on her smiling face. A hint of smile also appeared in Xiao Shengxing's dark eyes: "Okay, okay, if it's what the Queen likes, why would I snatch it away?"
As he spoke, he glanced at the puppets in the box and picked up a little boy puppet that looked like a pair with the puppet in Su Lijin's hand. He said with a firm black gaze, "Then I'll learn from this one."
Du Xi looked at the two puppets and smiled: "The Emperor and the Empress have a deep affection for each other. These two puppets are a pair."
After looking at what she held in her hand and then at what he held in his, Su Lijin's face felt inexplicably hot.
She snorted in her heart, "Why did Xiao Shengxing choose that one when there were so many other options?"
Xiao Shengxing's expression was quite natural, his thin lips slightly curled, as if he was in a very good mood: "Then please teach me how to operate the puppet."
Du Xi quickly said that he didn't dare, picked up a puppet at random, introduced the background of the puppet's manufacturing, and then began to teach the operation techniques.
She demonstrated it once, and when she pulled the silk thread in her hand, the puppet immediately bent over.
"It moves just by pulling a string. It feels pretty simple."
Su Lijin stared at her movements and thought they were simple. She couldn't help but pull the thin string above her own doll and looked at it with anticipation.
However, the doll remained motionless...
The corners of her mouth stiffened slightly, and she said, "Maybe I'm not strong enough."
Then, she increased her strength a little, the silk thread was pulled tight, and the puppet finally moved. But before she could be happy, she was shocked to find that the puppet did not bend over, but directly presented a twisted posture, as if the force she just used really "sprained" the puppet!
The corners of Su Lijin's mouth became even stiffer: "..."
Xiao Shengxing, who was standing nearby, had already mastered several puppet manipulation techniques. Turning back, he saw this scene and couldn't help but smile. "Queen, are you dissatisfied with her? If so, there's no need to torture her like this."
He pointed at the puppet, a smile almost overflowing from the corner of his mouth.
These words made Su Lijin extremely embarrassed, and her face turned red.
She glared at the man who was laughing heartily and snorted softly, "Perhaps this is a new posture of mine. Your Majesty, learn your own way."
After saying that, he turned around and didn't bother to pay attention to Xiao Shengxing.
Xiao Shengxing raised his thin lips, walked to Su Lijin, and put down the puppet in his hand.
Then, a big hand held Su Lijin's hand from behind, and with a clever move of his wrist, the silk thread in Su Lijin's hand moved slightly, and the puppet bent down respectfully.
Su Lijin opened her mouth wide in surprise and exclaimed, "She bent over! She really bent over! She looks so cute!"
As he spoke, he turned around and looked at Xiao Shengxing, wanting to share with him.
At this moment, Xiao Shengxing's action almost hugged her in his arms. When she turned around, her face almost hit his thin lips, and her face turned completely red.
Xiao Shengxing stared at her face: "She does look very well behaved."
Su Lijin inexplicably felt that these words had a double meaning, as if she was being teased, and turned her head away in embarrassment.
"Your face is as ugly as a ghost. You just scared the Emperor and the Empress, you know? Get away from me now!"
At this time, a scolding voice came from not far away. The two turned around and saw Du Xi being scolded by a eunuch.
Su Lijin frowned, exchanged a glance with Xiao Shengxing, and the two of them walked over.
She said, "Du Xi didn't scare me, so don't talk nonsense."
The eunuch smiled awkwardly and glared at Du Xi secretly.
"Where did you learn your puppet-making skills?" Su Lijin asked.
Du Xi bowed and replied, "My father was a court opera teacher, and I have been learning this since I was a child."
"So your father was also a court opera teacher." Su Lijin nodded in appreciation.
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