Fifteenth of the First Month

First Month, third day, Liu Yuanzhou followed his father to his aunt's house to pay a New Year visit.

On the early morning of the First Month, fifth day, Liu Chuang brought two jars of wine to find Liu Yuanzhou. Before long, Zhang He and Liu Yuanfan also arrived, and after a while, several cousins from the same clan also came, all of whom usually played together.

Seven or eight people sat around on Liu Yuanzhou's kang, forming a circle, talking and laughing, cracking melon seeds.

Before long, Liu Yuanzhou brought out some dishes to go with the wine: a plate of scrambled eggs, a plate of cold mixed vegetables, and a bowl of pickled radishes. Bowls were placed on the kang, and everyone began to drink.

After a few rounds of drinks, everyone started talking about the Yangge competition on the fifteenth day of the First Month.

Liu Yuanfan said, "This Li Laocai is really bullying people. Why is it that the Liu Li Village Yangge team only wants people with the surname Li? Not a single Liu Wa is included?"

It turned out that every year on the fifteenth day of the First Month, Crouching Tiger Slope would hold a Yangge competition, and more than a dozen nearby villages would send Yangge teams to participate. The top few teams in the competition would not only receive prize money but also be commended by the Township Official, which was a very prestigious thing. Therefore, every village attached great importance to this competition.

The Liu Li Village Yangge team had always been organized alternately by the Liu and Li families. Last year it was Third Master, and this year it was the Li family's turn. In previous years, no matter which family organized the team, they would select the best young people from both families, and would not only use their own family members. But this year, Li Laocai didn't know what had gotten into him, and he only used the Li family's young people, which made the Liu family very dissatisfied.

Liu Chuang took a sip of wine and slammed the bowl heavily on the kang, angrily saying, "It's really hateful, does he think there's no one in our Liu Shi family?"

Another cousin sighed and said, "If only Third Master were here."

So everyone started to denounce Li Laocai, each saying a word. But it was just talk, because no one in the Liu family dared to challenge Li Laocai except for Third Master.

Liu Yuanzhou was also very angry at first, but after the anger subsided, he began to wonder what Li Laocai was up to and whether there was a deeper reason.

As for the prize money, that shouldn't be the reason. Although Li Laocai couldn't be said to be extremely wealthy, he wasn't far from it, and he wouldn't offend all the Liu surnames in the village for that little bit of prize money. As for the commendation, it happened every year, and no one had ever received any special benefits from it.

Moreover, the Liu Li Village Yangge team's level was really ordinary. Since Liu Yuanzhou could remember, the village's Yangge team had never entered the top three.

Since he couldn't figure it out, Liu Yuanzhou stopped thinking about it. He couldn't do anything about Li Laocai for the time being. The group continued to drink and chat.

The drinking session lasted until the afternoon before it dispersed. Liu Chuang was very drunk, and several cousins sent him home. Zhang He didn't drink much and stayed until the end.

Since Liu Yuanzhou started to Enter Samadhi through stance training, his alcohol tolerance had increased as his body became stronger. Although he had drunk a lot of wine, he was only a little tipsy and there was no major problem.

Liu Yuanzhou asked Zhang He, "Where is Li Laocai's Yangge team practicing?"

Zhang He said, "I didn't see them in the Ancestral Hall courtyard. I heard they seem to be at the Thousand Buddha Cave."

Liu Yuanzhou's heart stirred when he heard this, and he said, "Let's go, let's go see how they're practicing."

Zhang He nodded in agreement. The two of them left as soon as they said they would. Liu Yuanzhou told his mother, Zhang Shi, and then left with Zhang He, heading towards the Thousand Buddha Cave.

Even before they reached the Thousand Buddha Cave, they could hear the sound of gongs and drums. The two of them walked to the outside of the courtyard wall and heard the gongs and drums being played in the courtyard, along with shouts. The Yangge team was practicing in the courtyard.

Liu Yuanzhou looked towards the Thousand Buddha Cave and saw that the entrance was still sealed as he had seen it last time.

The two of them approached the gate and saw that it was tightly closed. They looked through the cracks in the door but couldn't see anything. Liu Yuanzhou gave Zhang He a look, and the two of them left the gate and walked to a grove of trees not far from the courtyard wall, choosing a large tree to climb.

Liu Yuanzhou squatted on a branch and looked into the wall through the bare branches. The view was very good, and almost everything inside the courtyard wall was visible. The area under the Thousand Buddha Cave entrance, which used to be farmland, had now been cleared and compacted into an open space. Twenty-odd people were lined up, twisting and dancing the Yangge. They were wearing yellow and red Yangge costumes with white headscarves.

Directly below the cave entrance, there was a square table with incense candles lit on it, and offerings such as a pig's head and fruits were placed on it. Next to the table, three people were energetically playing the gongs and drums.

Liu Yuanzhou and Zhang He exchanged a glance, both with a hint of doubt. What were the incense candles and offerings for during practice? And why did they come to such a remote place?

The two of them watched for a while. The gongs and drums stopped, and they saw the leader of the Yangge team, holding a colorful umbrella, walked to the offering table, constantly spinning the umbrella and singing. The rest of the team stood quietly in two rows behind him. Because they were far away, Liu Yuanzhou couldn't see the leader's appearance clearly.

After the leader finished singing, he knelt down in front of the offering table, and the people behind him also knelt down, and then they all kowtowed together. At this time, the gongs and drums began to beat fiercely again. This scene was completely unlike the Yangge team practice in previous years, and Liu Yuanzhou and Zhang He immediately felt a strange sense of unease.

After everyone kowtowed about six times, they stood up, and the gongs and drums stopped again. At this time, an old man walked out of the house, and his figure was indeed Li Laocai.

Li Laocai gave everyone something, and the Yangge team dispersed, walking in twos and threes to rest by the houses. Li Laocai spoke a few words to the leader and then returned to his room.

The leader called two people and had them move the offering table and the offerings on it back into the house.

After resting for a while, the group lined up again to rehearse. This time, it was no different from previous rehearsals. Liu Yuanzhou and the others watched for a while before sneaking down from the tree and walking back.

On the way, Zhang He asked Liu Yuanzhou about the strange behavior of the Yangge team. Liu Yuanzhou couldn't explain it either, so they went home.

In the following days, Liu Yuanzhou, Zhang He, and Liu Chuang went to peek at the Yangge team's rehearsals every day, gradually grasping the pattern. The Yangge team only set up the offering table for kneeling and worship in the afternoon, and rehearsed normally at other times.

Time quickly came to the First Month fifteenth. On this day, Liu Yuanzhou got up in the morning to practice his stance, and finally broke through the thirteenth level, feeling another burst of joy in his heart.

After breakfast, Liu Yuanzhou went out and met up with Zhang He and Liu Chuang, and they hurried towards Crouching Tiger Slope. Today was the day of the Yangge competition.

When the three arrived at Crouching Tiger Slope, it was still early, but there were already many people at the competition venue. The competition venue was in the temporary market of Crouching Tiger Slope, with a circular area marked off by ropes. Several square tables covered with red cloth were placed on the north side of the circular area. This was the seating area for the Township Officials and judges. Before the official competition began, the Township Official would say a few words here. Of course, the tables were empty now.

On the edge of the market, vendors had already started selling pancakes, Heluo Noodles, Cold Skin Noodles, Mutton Offal Soup and other food, and many diners were squatting or standing in front of the stalls eating.

Liu Chuang was greedy and ran to buy a pancake, breaking it into three pieces for the three of them to share. As time passed, more and more people arrived. In order to grab a good viewing spot, Liu Yuanzhou and his friends stood by the ropes early.

More and more people came, and by mid-morning, the market was already packed. At this time, it would be very difficult to squeeze inside. Several people were sitting behind the tables at the edge of the competition field. Judging by their clothes, they were not government officials, but should be the judges. The judges were all respected elders from various villages.

On one side of the tables, an area was also marked off, which was where all the participating Yangge teams stood. At this time, some village Yangge teams had already arrived, and Liu Yuanzhou also saw some acquaintances. But their Liu Li Village Yangge team had not yet arrived.

Suddenly, Liu Yuanzhou spotted two people in the crowd watching the competition: Wang Wu and the White-Haired Taoist. The two were standing to his left, four or five people away.

The White-Haired Taoist and Wang Wu turned to look at the judges and whispered to each other. They didn't notice Liu Yuanzhou. This time, Liu Yuanzhou could see the White-Haired Taoist's appearance clearly: a fair face, a mustache on his upper lip, and a white cloth wrapped around his head.

After Wang Wu and the others spoke for a while, the White-Haired Taoist gave Wang Wu a small wooden box that he carried with him. Wang Wu looked around and squeezed out of the crowd.

While Wang Wu was looking around, Liu Yuanzhou quickly turned his head away. He pondered for a moment, told Liu Chuang and Zhang He, and squeezed out of the crowd as well.