After the applause, the roar of gongs and drums began again. Jane Ning suddenly felt playful and took off the large red flower on her chest, using it as a hydrangea to tease the lion. Yuechan, the lion dance leader, was stunned for a moment, then her spirits brightened, shaking her head and chasing after the hydrangea in Jane Ning's hand.
Seeing this, Tong Bajin and Xu Dali ran into a house's yard. After a while, they carried out an eight-immortal table. Jian Ning jumped onto the table with a somersault. Lion Head followed, opening its bloody mouth and trying to bite the hydrangea in Jian Ning's hand in a silly way.
Every time when the lion was about to bite, Jian Ning would flip his wrist and miss again, making the lion's head shake in anger, and the onlookers cheered and applauded louder and louder.
Tong Bajin and Xu Dali brought out another wooden ladder. They put one hand on their waist and supported the ladder on each side with one hand. Jian Ning flipped down from the table, took a deep breath and scrambled to the middle of the ladder. He turned around and hooked the ladder with his legs, hanging upside down on it. Then he swung the hydrangea like a meteor hammer to hit the lion.
The lion was so angry that it was circling the wooden ladder with its fangs and claws bared. Ding Youtian raised his arm and shouted, "Climb up! Climb up!"
When the onlookers heard the county magistrate shouting, they all started to jeer, "Go! Go quickly!"
Amid the shouts, the sound of gongs and drums became more and more frequent, and more and more joyful and festive.
The lion seemed to be helpless, and it raised its head and bared its fangs and claws at Jane Ning several times. The onlookers shouted even louder, and more and more people came to hear the news. Erniu and Sanniu also joined in the fun.
"Sister!" Erniu shouted, and Sanniu immediately stood in a horse stance steadily. Erniu pointed her toes and jumped onto the backs of her hands, using the force to jump to the lion's tail, and then stepped on the lion's tail and bounced to the lion's head.
She jumped back and forth between the lion's head and tail, and the drummer matched her jumping to make the gongs and drums deafening. The lion looked extremely frantic and wanted to catch Erniu. Every time the lion turned its head and bared its teeth to try to catch Erniu, the hydrangea in Jane Ning's hand would hit her.
"Come and bite me, come and bite me!" Sanniu also jumped around the lion, disturbing the lion's attention. The people had never seen such a wonderful lion dance. Many of them clapped their palms so hard that their voices were almost hoarse.
"Second sister, come down and let me go up!" Sanniu shouted, and Erniu responded. The lion cooperated very well and immediately bent down.
Unexpectedly, as Erniu got off the lion's back, the lion roared and leaped up, landing steadily on the wooden ladder like a huge monster.
"good!"
"good!"
The overwhelming cheers rang out like thunder.
The lion and Jian Ning were playing on the ladder again. Tong Bajin and Xu Dali had changed from one hand to two hands to firmly support the ladder from the bottom. Baimei also flew over to join in the fun. Guoguo squatted at Ding Youtian's feet as steady as an old dog, calmly watching the lion dance.
Jian Ning jumped to the top of the ladder and suddenly heard the sound of gongs and drums coming from the street on the left. A green lion, surrounded by seven or eight big men, was dancing towards the street, shaking its head.
"A lion fight is about to begin, a lion fight is about to begin!" The onlookers made way for the lion dance. There are certain rules to it, and whenever a lion meets another lion, they must fight. Today was really an eye-opener, and the people were even more excited.
Jian Ning jumped down from the ladder and quickly exchanged glances with Ding Youtian amid the cheers of the people. These men had arrived in Danyang on the third day of the Lunar New Year and had also listened to books in the bookstore. Although they could not be sure whether they were from Prince Yong's Mansion, it was always better to be cautious.
Ding Youtian patted Qin Yifan's shoulder, and Qin Yifan understood. He smiled as he watched Jian Ning playing with the green lion with the hydrangea in her hand, while walking towards Mei Niang and the others. When he reached Mei Niang, he didn't look at her, but kept his eyes on the lion dance. He tilted his head and talked to Mei Niang, looking like he was commenting on the lion dance, with a smile on his face.
"Listen to me, don't panic. Tell Mom and Mama Li and the others to take the baby and go first."
Mei Niang was shocked when she heard this. Although she didn't know what was going on, she knew that Qin Yifan would not tell her this for no reason. She remained calm and rubbed her forehead. "Don't worry, Fanlang, I'll save you some trouble. We're leaving now. Take care of yourself."
"I'll be fine, don't worry."
After he left, Mei Niang turned to Li Mama, who was holding Xiao Yu'er, and said, "My head hurts a bit. Let's go back first."
When Aunt Feng heard that she had a headache, she said hurriedly, "Okay, go back if you want. You've been looking at this for a long time anyway."
But Xiaoyuer and Xiaojiuer refused to do so. The two little guys started crying and refused to leave.
Old Qin was also reluctant to leave. He was in high spirits when he saw Xiao Jiuer crying. He strode over and learned that Mei Niang had a headache and they had to leave first. He reached out to hug Xiao Jiuer and said, "You can go back by yourselves. Xiao Jiuer can follow me."
Aunt Feng turned her body to the side, not letting him hold her. "You stay here and take care of yourself. Jiuer should be asleep soon. It's cold outside, and you'll catch a cold even if you hold him while he sleeps. We'll go back first."
Old Qin was worried about his grandson and didn't want the child to catch a cold, so he had to let them go.
Over there, Qiao Feng was also pretending to be playful, and quietly conveyed Ding Youtian's instructions to Duan Xinyan, Erniu and Sanniu, asking them to follow her over to Tong Bajin and Xu Dali.
The red lion danced by Erlangzi and Yuechan had jumped down from the ladder and was competing with the green lion for the hydrangea in Jian Ning's hand. The people didn't understand what was going on but kept shouting "good".
Two lions were jumping and rolling around the Eight Immortals Table. The two big eyes like copper bells on their heads blinked from time to time. They were scratching themselves and shaking their hair. Their movements were so lifelike that they made the onlookers laugh out loud.
Old Qin put his hands in his sleeves, stretched his neck and grinned until his eyes narrowed into slits. As he looked, his shoulders suddenly shrugged and a puff of black smoke blew out of the green lion's big mouth.
"Come on!" Jian Ning shouted, raised his arm, and smashed the hydrangea on the green lion's head. Water splashed everywhere, and the black smoke disappeared in an instant.
At the same time, the red lion pounced towards the green lion. The two lions exchanged more than ten moves with each other while flapping and jumping. Jane Ning shook the hydrangea and weaved in between. The gongs and drums on both sides were beating as densely as war drums, as if carrying the murderous aura of thousands of troops!
The people in charge of beating the gongs and drums on the Red Lion's side were strong men carefully selected from the team organized by the yamen runners and hangers-on. They were not ordinary people either. At the sound of the drums, Jian Ning suddenly jumped up and landed heavily on the back of the Green Lion. The Red Lion also roared and rushed forward with his divine power.
Seeing that the fight was about to break out, the opponent's drumbeats slowed down with a "dong". The green lion, who was originally about to straighten its back and throw Jane Ning off, leaned forward and shook its head at the red lion, showing a silly look.
As Jian Ning danced with the hydrangea, the red lion also lay down and shook its head from side to side. The drum beats of both sides returned to normal. It sounded festive and joyful, and won thunderous applause from the people. Everyone thought they were performing a wonderful lion dance show.
Blind Liu had a smile on his face from beginning to end, with his hands tucked into his sleeves just like Old Qin. The two old men stood side by side, and not only were their smiles like copy and paste, but even their expressions were exactly the same.
Because of this, the leader of the gang dispelled his suspicions about him. How could such an old man be Nanyangzi, who was far from Feng Qingzi's immortal demeanor?
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