Chapter 408 Shadow Puppet Show: Their Story
"Clang clang clang..."
Suddenly, a burst of rapid drumming came from the street ahead, where a crowd had gathered under a large locust tree.
Behind the white cloth curtain, shadow puppets fluttered, depicting the important scene of Marshal Xiao's great victory over the enemy's Xuanjia Iron Cavalry and the Guai Zi Cavalry.
The black-armored cavalry, made of cowhide and representing the enemy, were pressing down on the soldiers of the Great Zhou, who were dressed in red uniforms, like a landslide.
The clatter of hooves seemed to strike one's heart with each step, carrying the force of thunder.
Suddenly, soldiers in red uniforms rolled forward, wielding iron axes to strike the legs of enemy horses.
"Crack! Crack! Crack!" A series of crisp, clean snapping sounds rang out as the shadowy cavalrymen fell to the ground in unison.
The warhorse neighed, "neigh, neigh, neigh..."
The spectators clapped and cheered, "Great! Great! Great!"
A few children standing on the periphery rode on their fathers' shoulders, their bright eyes reflecting the light and shadow on the curtain.
The crowd in front was too dense to squeeze in.
Xiao Xuance also picked up his two sons. He was tall, and by holding the children high up, they could all see them clearly.
He then asked his wife, "Xue'er, can you see it?"
This scene depicts his famous victory over the enemy on the battlefield. Although it's not as breathtaking as the actual battlefield, the performance was quite good.
His son looked at him with adoration, and he also wanted his wife to know, so that she would love him even more if she knew how capable he was.
"I can see her." She wasn't short, and she grew a few centimeters taller after giving birth. With shoes on, she should be about 175 centimeters tall. The people in front of her where she was standing were mostly women, so she wasn't in the way.
The performance continued on the screen, showing how the soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty, after defeating the enemy's iron cavalry, successively captured Baozhou and Youzhou. The shadow puppet representing Xiao Xuance rescued a Han Chinese female prisoner.
He rescued the woman, and at the celebration banquet, he got drunk and had physical contact with her, subtly implying that they had consummated their marriage. She even became pregnant. Later, he took her back to Lin'an.
The shadow puppets behind the curtain were all put away, the gongs and drums stopped, and that was the end?
"Ladies and gentlemen, the enemy's Xuanjia Iron Cavalry has suffered a crushing defeat here today. To find out how Marshal Xiao will strike at the heart of the enemy's stronghold, please wait for the next episode where he reviews his troops under the moonlight. The lamplight has been dimmed for now, please proceed with caution."
The preceding part is already known to everyone and has been widely circulated. Some people have even seen similar shadow puppet shows. The following part is the widely discussed story of Marshal Xiao's triumphant return, accompanied by a pregnant woman of unknown identity.
This is something that's keeping up with current events, and everyone's talking about it.
Just as the show was getting exciting, it suddenly ended. Left wanting more, they urged the actors to continue: "It's not over yet! It's not over yet! What's next? Keep going! We haven't had enough!"
They wondered if, like in the folk tales, the mistress would be elevated to a secondary wife, on equal footing with the princess.
The people had been reading storybooks for two years, and it hadn't been for nothing; they were already imagining what would happen next.
"Yes, please continue! We want to see more. Will Princess Zhaoxue be the woman who compromised and entered the family, or will she take her two sons and divorce him, move out of the Zhenbei Prince's Mansion, and how will she retaliate against him? Will she, like in the storybooks, find a man of higher status and greater power to humiliate Marshal Xiao?"
In the Great Zhou Dynasty, only the current emperor holds a higher status than the Prince of Zhenbei.
The Emperor and the Princess are cousins, and it's said they once had a romantic relationship.
The princess was heartbroken by Marshal Xiao, and who knows, she might rekindle her old flame with the emperor. Currently, the emperor has no princes in his harem. If the princess could bear children, she could give the emperor two more princes...
Xiao Xuance, “…”
The onlookers, those with money, donated, throwing coins into the bowl—three, five, ten coins, and some even more generously, one or two taels…
There were over a hundred onlookers, and each of them gave a small tip, which added up to a lot.
The audience was enthusiastic, but the shadow puppet troupe hadn't yet written out the next part of the story and didn't know how to perform it. However, since everyone had already paid, they couldn't return the money.
Returning the money now would be disappointing and detrimental to future performances, so we'll have to improvise. However, we need to coordinate in advance and discuss it beforehand.
The troupe leader said to the audience, "Please allow us to discuss this for the time it takes to drink two cups of tea, and then we will bring you another wonderful shadow puppet show."
"Okay, we'll wait. I'll go buy some food over there and come back later."
"I'm going to buy sunflower seeds."
"I'm going to buy candied hawthorns."
Everyone got hungry and wanted to buy some food before continuing to watch.
Erbao said to Xiao Xuance, "Dad, put us down. Let's go listen to how they're going to act next."
He left his two children behind.
The two children walked around the crowd and went behind the curtain.
Yun Zhaoxue gave the guards a look and told them to follow. There are human traffickers in every era, and the two children were so pretty that she was worried they would be kidnapped.
Every time she takes her child out, she makes sure the child is always within her sight.
The guards followed, and the couple waited for their child to return, as the crowd surged.
Xiao Xuance saw someone in front of him turn around and walk back, and raised his hand to put his arm around Yun Zhaoxue's shoulder.
"Xue'er, is the shadow puppet show interesting?"
Yun Zhaoxue raised an eyebrow slightly, "It's good, and the plot is also good, especially the part where the hero saves the damsel in distress."
"Xue'er, I didn't, it's all fake."
Yun Zhaoxue squeezed his hand. "I know, I was just teasing you. Tell me in detail how you defeated the enemy's iron cavalry."
Although the two corresponded, they could only say so much in their letters, mentioning a few things occasionally without going into details.
Xiao Xuance explained it to her in detail.
After listening, she sighed, "My husband is incredibly wise. I was much less worried. Seeing you come back has finally put my mind at ease."
If she hadn't known that he had completely crushed Wanyan Zonglie on the battlefield in his previous life and would definitely have returned alive, she might have done what Yang did, going to the temple every month to burn incense and pray for his safety.
Two cups of tea's time had passed, and the audience who had gone to buy things returned, so the shadow puppet show continued.
"Clang clang clang..."
Next, the shadow puppet show depicted real events that occurred in the Prince's mansion.
After Xiao Xuance entered the palace to pay his respects to the emperor, he quickly rode his horse to the gate of the Prince of Zhenbei's mansion.
Yun Zhaoxue tucked a knife into her sleeve and led her two sons out to greet them.
The man rushed forward and hugged his wife and children excitedly, unaware of what they wanted to do to him.
Everyone held their breath, worried that the moment he embraced her, Yun Zhaoxue would suddenly stab him. No, that won't do.
His taking a mistress is a moral issue, not a violation of the law. However, if it harms the heroes of the Great Zhou, he will be unable to fight on the battlefield or protect the people, which would be a loss for the Great Zhou.
Suddenly, the lights on the screen flickered, and the scene changed.
Yun Zhaoxue flicked her wrist, pressing the thin blade against Xiao Xuance's neck, and tearfully questioned, "You once swore you would never take a concubine, why have you betrayed me today?"
With a sharp "bang," the man knelt down on one knee. "My wife, please see the truth! Those are just rumors circulating in the streets. My relationship with that woman is completely innocent. I promised before that I would never take a concubine in this life. If I break this vow... I will surely die on the battlefield, my body wrapped in a horse's hide."
The troupe leader didn't know how Xiao Xuance and Yun Zhaoxue got along in private; of course, it was Da Bao and Er Bao who told him.
People who watched it felt that the plot was wrong and different from what they had guessed.
The couple talked things out, happily embraced each other, and everyone was overjoyed. The performance then came to an end.
A female audience member questioned, "Master, something's not right. How can this be? Wasn't that woman Marshal Xiao's mistress? How come she isn't?"
They want to see a heroine, like in a storybook, slap the face of a seductive mistress, abandon the scumbag, marry a wealthy man, and slap the scumbag in the face again.
The troupe leader said, "It was two three-year-old children who looked exactly alike who told me this."
Two three-year-old children, aren't they Marshal Xiao and Princess Zhaoxue's sons?
"I remember now, there was a man next to me just now holding two identical twins. They were very handsome, and I couldn't help but take a second look."
"I remember now. The man was tall and strong, holding a child in each arm for a long time without putting them down to rest. His arms were strong and powerful. They must be Marshal Xiao."
The crowd looked around for them. If they were there, they would really like to ask them on the spot if the performance was real.
They were so anxious they were scratching their heads, but after searching everywhere they couldn't find them. They figured they must have left long ago.
They weren't much earlier; they quietly left the crowd after helping the lead actor finish his performance.
Only then did everyone realize that they had misunderstood the gang leader and he apologized. They also learned that the woman who returned in triumph with the team had no relation to Xiao Xuance.
Everyone started to wonder again who the woman was.
Xiao Xuance was not a chauvinist in front of his wife. He thought his two sons had done a good job and quietly helped clear his reputation, solving a big problem for him.
He had been accused of many crimes, but he didn't want to bear the burden of being a heartless and unfaithful man for even a day longer. He wanted to be the best man to his wife in the entire city of Lin'an.
On the street, Erbao asked, "Dad, Mom, was that story exciting? I told most of it, and my older brother added the rest."
Yun Zhaoxue gave him a thumbs up and praised him, "Wonderful, absolutely wonderful! I never expected my second child to be such a great storyteller."
Erbao looked up at him, her eyes sparkling, "Mom, in the future... can I write storybooks to earn money?"
"Of course you can."
Xiao Xuance also asked his eldest son, "Dabao, what about you? What do you want to do in the future?"
Da Bao looked up at him, his little face full of seriousness, "I want to be a general or marshal like Dad, leading troops into battle and galloping across the battlefield."
He raised his hand and gently stroked his eldest son's nose. "You've got potential. You're worthy of being my son, one scholar and one warrior."
Erbao exclaimed, "I want to be a general too! I want to lead troops into battle! I can also write storybooks at the same time!"
"Fine, do whatever you want."
Let them do whatever makes them happy, as long as it doesn't break the law.
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