Kona rushed into the bathroom like a thief, sat on the toilet and scrolled through Weibo for twenty minutes, then watched some silly short videos before she could shake off the embarrassment.
Kona washed her hands and slowly walked out of the bathroom.
My parents are watching TV in the living room. The show they're watching has a fresh and elegant color palette, which is very pleasing to the eye. The background music is also light and cheerful, making you feel good as soon as you listen to it.
What are Mom and Dad watching?
Kona glanced curiously at the TV screen. It was also a period drama, and the makeup and costumes looked pretty good... Oh, she saw the title: "The Tale of Yun Qing".
Isn't this just another opportunist trying to ride the coattails of "The Legend of Qingyun"?
My parents are watching this!
Kona frowned. Although she didn't want to argue with her parents over such a small matter, she couldn't help but ask, "What TV series is this? Is it good?"
"Shh! Shh!" Mom said intently, "Keep your voice down, listen to what they're saying!"
Kona had to shut up, as the whispering voices on the television reached her ears.
"Consort Ji is gone, what are we going to do?"
"What do you mean, 'what to do'? Consort Ji, you sometimes sweep snow here too."
"Just a few days ago, the observatory said this snow was an auspicious sign, and now they have to sweep it away..."
"This is a good omen! If the Emperor is pleased, it's an auspicious sign; if the Emperor is not pleased now, it's called divine punishment!"
"Divine punishment? Punishing whom?"
"Whoever is absent will be punished."
Red walls and green tiles, heavy snow weighing down the green pines. An old eunuch with a face full of wrinkles led a young eunuch with skin as tender as a peeled egg, sweeping the thick snow to both sides of the road, clearing a vermilion path.
Just then, a small cart came rumbling along. The eunuch pushing the cart hummed a little tune as he walked towards the two eunuchs sweeping snow.
"I once saw... the orioles singing at dawn in the jade palaces of Jinling, and the flowers blooming early on the waterside pavilions of Qinhuai, but who knew they would so easily melt away like ice..."
On the dilapidated cart lay a roll of tattered mat. Upon closer inspection, the seams of the mat seemed to gleam with the luster of some luxurious fabric.
The young eunuch whispered, "Why would he sing a song when he's pushing a dead person to a mass grave? It's such an unlucky thing."
The old eunuch swept the floor with his head down: "She was a favored concubine, after all, she has plenty of good things on her. Are you full now?"
The young eunuch suddenly realized, and stared in astonishment: "Oh..."
The rumbling of the cart faded into the distance, and the figure of the eunuch pushing the cart and the cart gradually became a small black dot in the center of the picture, standing out conspicuously among the white snow, red walls, and vermilion road.
Only the little tune sung by the eunuch pushing the cart still drifted gently between the palace walls:
"I watched him build his magnificent mansion, I watched him host lavish banquets, I watched his mansion crumble..."
-----------------
The TV screen went black, switching to the end credits music.
"Wearing a wet silk robe, she descended the jade steps;"
"Golden frost brush, falling silver mud—"
The lingering, melodious opera singing, like shattered pearls and splashed jade, abruptly woke Kona.
Looking down, Kona was astonished to find that she had been standing in the living room in her pajamas, watching the whole episode of "Shopping for Money" with her parents!
The melodious and smooth operatic singing suddenly changed into a hoarse and withered voice:
"Who will be ennobled after a hundred battles in the yellow sands? The old tree bears crows year after year."
"Those in red gates feast on meat and wine while those in the streets eat bones; those who would die for their sovereigns would wield jade dragons."
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