The Queen Mother clapped her hands and the Queen was considerate. Chu Qingzheng didn't know whether to kowtow to express gratitude. Someone from the palace reported: "The Queen Mother, Queen, the banquet is about to begin."

The Queen Mother took Chu Qing's hand and said, "Let's go with the Ai family!" This was a great honor. Mrs. Hong secretly gave Chu Qing a wink and was happy for her.

Chu Qing couldn't be happy. She was really not used to being so close to strangers. What's more, these were all nobles in the palace, not as straightforward as Mrs. Hong.

Along the way, I carefully dealt with the seemingly unintentional questions from the Queen Mother and the Empress, told more interesting things about my little treasure, and finally arrived at the Linde Hall safely.

At the foot of the steps, a young eunuch led Chu Qing to a seat at the back of the palace, where he sat with Bai Hua. That was where the lower-level officials were seated.

Chu Qing understood that he was attending the palace banquet as an official of the Secret Investigation Department. He was not a "patriotic person". This made Chu Qing quite satisfied.

Patriots were arranged in the front row. As the ministers also took their seats, a eunuch sang: "The Emperor is here! The Queen Mother is here! The Queen is here!"

Only then did Chu Qing realize that although he and the Queen Mother and the others were walking together, in front of the Linde Hall, the Queen Mother and the others had their own way into the side hall. They did not appear with the Emperor until all the courtiers had arrived.

The emperor simply made a few opening remarks and ordered the banquet to begin. He invited these patriots who had contributed to the country to raise a toast together and thank them for everything they had done for the propaganda.

Chu Qing saw an old man crying and unable to kneel down.

"This old man had seven sons, all of whom were sent to the battlefield. Six never came back. The only remaining youngest son came back, but he was also disabled." Bai Hua introduced to Chu Qing in a low voice.

"The old woman over there led the whole village to sew 30,000 pieces of winter clothes for the front line. Her village is a widow's village, and all the men died on the battlefield."

"And the one over there..." Bai Hua introduced them one by one to Chu Qing.

At this moment, Chu Qing deeply realized what kind of patriotic feelings these ordinary people had. They had no education, no schooling, and even illiterate, but they sent their husbands and sons to the battlefield for the sake of

Protect your country and hometown.

Chu Qing didn't know if they would regret it, but between the pain of losing their loved ones and the safety of the country, their choice proved that they had righteousness in their hearts!

Chu Qing felt depressed.

Chu Qing had been chatting quietly with Bai Hua, and there were also whispers around him. Suddenly the hall became quiet. "Hush, the emperor is about to speak." Bai Hua reminded.

Chu Qing raised his head and looked up.

Just listen to the emperor saying: "Everyone, I heard an interesting story. A hundred households celebrate the New Year differently from other families. They will hold a bonfire party on the night of New Year's Eve. They don't invite a troupe, but everyone takes turns to perform.

, they call this the 'Spring Festival Gala'."

"Today is a day for my Daxuan people to celebrate together. I will also hold a 'party'. I don't seek elegance, just fun!"

As soon as the emperor said this, the whole place was in an uproar. Everyone expressed their curiosity and novelty. The queen mother joked: "Your Majesty, please tell me what this 'party' is all about. It sounds very fresh to the Ai family!"

The emperor smiled and said: "Mother, this is Chu Aiqing's masterpiece. I plagiarized it. You should take a closer look. It's interesting."

Then, he ordered Eunuch Li to place an empty jade plate. In the center of the plate, the emperor placed a spoon and said: "Mother, please turn this spoon. When the spoon stops, the handle of the spoon will point to whichever beloved queen you are."

Come up and perform a piece, no matter what it is."

Chu Qing was stunned below. Is this okay? The emperor personally hosted the gala?

Bai Hua kept regretting underneath: "Oh! I didn't catch up! I didn't catch up! I left early!"

The Queen Mother turned the spoon, and the emerald spoon spun brilliantly in the candlelight that filled the hall. After it gradually stopped, the handle of the spoon pointed at the old woman who was sewing cotton clothes for the frontline soldiers.

With a knowing smile on her weathered face, the old woman stood up generously, said a blessing in the direction of the main seat, and said:

Let me tell you a joke. There is a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law. The mother-in-law is sewing quilts on the bed, and the daughter-in-law is kneading noodles in the kitchen.

I heard my daughter-in-law call: "Mom, what should I do if the noodles are thin?" My mother-in-law said: "Add more noodles!"

After a while, the daughter-in-law called: "Mom, the noodles are dry again!" The mother-in-law said: "Add water!" After a while, the daughter-in-law ran out of noodles!

The mother-in-law scolded angrily: "Oh, look, you are so stupid! If I hadn't sewed myself into the quilt when I was sewing it, I would have beaten you!"

Pfft! The Queen Mother and the Empress were so happy! What kind of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are there in this world?

"Okay, okay! You are so optimistic and positive. I want to learn from you!" The Queen Mother praised.

The game continued. This time the emperor turned the spoon, and his finger hit Hong Liang,

"Hong Guogong, what kind of performance have you planned...well, a show!" the emperor asked.

"Your Majesty, I still have this old minister! I also learned it from Chu Baihu!" Hong Liang stood up and walked to the center of the hall.

"Your Majesty, please get me a scabbard for my sword, and I will dance for you!" Hong Liang requested.

Eunuch Li brought the guard's saber.

The emperor said: "How can I use the scabbard since I'm just dancing?" This was an honor, showing that he completely trusted Hong Liang. Hong Liang was even more excited.

"Your Majesty, Chu Baihu once sang a song. It was very beautiful. Many people were singing it. I heard it in Beijing and found it inspiring. I danced and sang it to you!"

After that, Hong Liang paired a sword dance with "Guanshan Wine" and performed it. The song was sung with Hong Liang's rough tone, which gave it a unique taste.

The originally passionate lyrics add a sense of domineering, wildness, and heroism! Paired with the vigorous sword dance, it expresses his determination to guard the mountains and rivers and Daxuan, and makes people seem to see him young.

The hardships of guarding the frontier and the perseverance accumulated after experiencing battles.

The emperor beat the beat with his hands to the loud singing. Thinking that Hong Liang had basically spent his whole life at the border to protect his family and country, the emperor was also very emotional.

After the dance, the emperor raised his glass and drank with Hong Liang.

It's all in the wine. Is this it?

"Hong Aiqing's singing is so good! It is very popular with me!" The emperor's voice was still full of excitement.

"Your Majesty, this is Chu Baihu's song! Chu Baihu is a great talent!" Hong Liang laughed. After a sword dance, Hong Liang sweated slightly on the tip of his nose, but his breath was steady. It is really a sword that never grows old!

"Okay! Okay!" The emperor also said happily, "Queen, do you want to try it too?"

"I've been waiting for your words!" the queen said with a smile, and turned the spoon. When the spoon stopped again, it pointed towards Chu Qing and the others.

Chu Qing's position was at the back, and there were officers from the Secret Investigation Department in front of him. Hu Hengqiu was in the front row and shouted: "Your Majesty, who is this pointing at?"

"Whoever asks, it's up to you!" The emperor simply pointed at Hu Hengqiu and ordered: "It's up to you!"

Hu Hengqiu: "Your Majesty, you are a bit hasty!"

As he said that, the emperor pointed to the musician next to him: "Give him the piano. This boy plays the piano very well!" After that, he took the lead and laughed.

This statement is referring to something. It is said that Hu Hengqiu is good at playing the piano. In order to pursue his wife, he spent all his time trying to please his future uncle. Once, he heard that his uncle had acquired a good piano and asked Ying to help him tune it.

When he found out that this piano was given to his sister as a birthday gift from his uncle, he worked even harder and even pretended to be auditioning and played a song.

His wife liked to listen to the piano very much, but she couldn't practice it on her own, so after hearing the beautiful sound of the piano, she felt fond of her brother's friend.

In this way, the two met, then fell in love with each other, and finally fell in love. So people who knew the inside story joked that Hu Hengqiu could not play the piano, but could love.

Until now, whenever my wife gets angry, she can be calmed down by playing a piece of music.

At this time, Hu Hengqiu called out: "Your Majesty, I don't want to play the piano, I want to play something different!" After saying this, he ran to the musician and got a bamboo flute.

Standing in the center of the hall, a loud and clear bird song came from Hu Hengqiu, and the emperor was perked up! Looking carefully, he saw Hu Hengqiu's lips moving slightly, and another short and light lark call from the flute hole on his lips.

!Amazing!

Along with the sound of the flute, people seemed to hear: in the early morning, a tit jumped and called on the branch, and other tits responded one after another. What a lively tit cry!

This is followed by a melody with a rough and hearty feel, beautiful and smooth, interspersed with various bird sounds, some long and short, some clear and sweet, some soothing and graceful, just like large, small, colorful birds.

The children gradually gathered together, flying up and down in the forest, playing happily.

Suddenly, a high-pitched and beautiful cry came. The birds were quiet for a while, and then cheered again. They enthusiastically responded to the cry, that was the cry of the phoenix!

People seem to see thousands of birds setting off colorful lights in the sun, flying towards the phoenix shining with golden light. It is full of vitality for a while, and the scene of hundreds of birds paying homage to the phoenix makes people intoxicated.

Many people closed their eyes toward the rafters. It seemed that they could see this wonderful scene in the forest when they raised their heads, and saw the golden phoenix spreading its wings and flying into the sky, its tail feathers drawing golden shadows, accepting the worship of hundreds of birds.

With a clean coda, the song ended. People raised their heads, unable to regain consciousness, and opened their eyes, as if searching for any birds on the beam that had not flown away.

After a while, sighs came from the hall, and then turned into loud cheers: "Okay!"

"This is the time for applause, applause!" Hong Liang took the lead in applauding.

In an instant, Chu Qing felt that the artistic conception just now was gone!

All the civil and military officials in the hall, including the emperor and the queen mother, all cooperated and expressed their feelings about the music with applause.

"Your Majesty, I would like to take this song "A Hundred Birds Pay Attendance to the Phoenix" as a congratulatory gift. I wish your Majesty a long life without borders, and may you be worshiped from all over the world!"

"Okay! Okay!" Emperor Qingde was delighted! He raised his glass and drank with Hu Hengqiu again.

The queen over there was also fascinated by what she heard, but at this moment she held down the plate and said: "Your Majesty, I want to play again!"

The emperor looked at the usually dignified and solemn queen, and he was very happy that she became lively today. Women always look better when they smile than when they keep a straight face. What husband doesn't like to see his wife's smile?

"Okay! Queen, continue!"
Chapter completed!