28 Nice to meet you, Changsan! (2/2)
Lights brilliantly illuminated flagstone boulevard throughout streets and it looked like in the day. On the streets were flows of passers, some of whom stopped at a booth or enjoyed stars in the sky. Apparently, those stopping at booths had been couples, while those admiring stars had just begun dating.
The Tangs, those living in Chang'an in particular, were dressed simply. They wore shirts with tight sleeves, so they looked neat and tidy. Few men would be dressed in shirts with broad sleeves but those sleeves were not long and cuffs were above waists, which was designed for them to pull out swords if necessary.
Men in turquoise robe walked with official sword. With beard swinging in the night breeze, they looked like an aloof outstanding swordsman, but when noticing vaudeville, they chose to halt amid a crowd of ladies and nervously stared at somewhere with eyes wildly open. They might applaud excitedly and cheer loudly but the moment the players began to collect money, they returned to be cool and superior, showing obvious disdain toward such earthly action like tipping them.
Women in Chang'an dressed themselves simple and clean too, in other words, cool, or to be exact, bare. Though it had just become warm in spring, these women should have exposed arms out of yarn sleeves and some charming young women wore tube dresses boldly, drawing too much attention to those white skins.
Besides, barbarians exposing chest and carrying bota looked around curiously; Touching their beard, officials from Yuelun Kingdom, who wore typical hat with little wings, came in and out of various restaurants and brothels like frequent visitors; Merchants from South Jin Kingdom, who leaned against a banister upstairs to drink and enjoy watching stars, burst into laughter on purpose once in a while. A sound of folk instrument was heard from nowhere, melodious and beautiful.
It seemed that all the fortune, entertainment, and personality were concentrated in this city. The people were passionate and the wines were fragrant. They excited men and intoxicate them. Heroic feelings coexisted with tenderness as well as broadswords matched beauties.
Out of his mind, Ning Que lifted Sangsang's little hand and walked in streams of people and lights with gasp in admiration, extremely appearing as kids from the countryside.
Legendary Bird was a black pigment to brush brows; fragrant butterfly powder, jade hairpin powder and pearl powder could be used to enlighten faces. ”Oh, is that Rose Cream the rouge? Emm, in the tiny bottle, is it the legendary dew on flowers?” Sangsang said to herself silently.
With her hand in Ning Que's, Sangsang stared at bottles and tins on booths with her slender eyes widely open and felt reluctant to move on.
Some young lady walked in front of Ning Que seductively. ”Oh, her hip looks so sexy.” Ning Que thought. Some young girl with braid passed by, giggling. ”She smells fragrant, like... orchid?” Ning Que continued to think. The young woman who was picking up flowers before booths with a man seemed to ogle him. ”Why does she do this? Does it mean she likes me?” The lad asked to himself, confusedly and excitedly.
With Sangsang's hand in his, Ning Que delightedly gazed around. He tried to search such special views in his memory of Chang'an during childhood, but he failed. He felt reluctant to move on as well.
Therefore, they slowed down their paces and gradually it appeared less noisy in the street. However, before these two visitors from border town managed to calm down, someone in the distance shouted something and all of sudden, swarms of Chang'an citizens flocked from all directions to a corner of street, plugging up that place.
”Duel!”
Looking over crowds of people, they faintly found two men, with official sword in the waist, glaring at each other. Each had a part of right sleeve cut down and threw it between the two men.
The world fell into silence. All the bystanders kept their mouths close tightly. In the Tangs' blood, they thought it a must to guarantee fairness of duel, even if it was none of their business.
”For a duel, cutting down a sleeve means I challenge you. If you take it, you'll do the same. This is the rule.”
Seizing Sangsang's hand, Ning Que was moving out of crowds and he explained, ”This duel is just a simple battle and they just need to know who'll win, while the other one, called Life and Death, needs the approval of local government. In Life and Death, the challenger should cut his palm, so does his opponent, if the man accepts the challenge.”
”Can they refuse it?” Sangsang asked curiously.
”Of course!” Ning Que answered and wiped out sweat on forehead. He then patted huge bag on Sangsang's back, making sure nothing was stolen by thieves and continued, ”But sometimes, humans, men in particular will become idiots and they'll grow crazy because of things like women, love, dignity or some other trifles.”
When they two finally squeezed their way out of crowds, Sangsang lifted her black face, asking, ”Why didn't we stay to watch it? I remember in the City of Wei, you love to be an on-looker. One year when they were killing a pig for meat, you squatted beside to watch it for a whole night.”
”You don't know it. We used to see killing cows or sheep but it was the first time in the City of Wei, they killed a pig. It was unusual and I should inspect it carefully, but the duel is very common in this city. I believe we'll have many chances to watch one.”
Calmly and peacefully, Ning Que said, ”This is Chang'an. I just want to be a well-behaved student in the academy. I don't want any trouble. So, from now on, we should act like two doggies and never show our teeth.”
Sangsang shook her hand and thought, ”I don't want to be a female dog. As for you, young master, I hope you can control yourself and kill fewer people. Pretending to be humble is not your style.”
”To find an inn.” Ning Que seemed to read her mind and being frustrated, he said, ”I'm sleepy.”
Sangsang pointed to a building just in front of them down the street, saying, ”Look, that's an inn.”