At Yuehong Restaurant.
A lively feast was currently underway in the restaurant. People were urging their friends to drink and creating a pleasant buzz of noise. Suddenly, they heard the sounds of a commotion coming from the street outside, followed by an uproar of voices. Everyone subconsciously exchanged looks before the person closest to the windows pushed open the window pane.
The cacophony from outside poured into the room.
“What a huge crowd on the streets!” someone said.
A large man with curly whiskers roared with laughter. “What’s strange about that? There’s usually a crowd on the streets.”
Suddenly, all the people in the main hall laughed in unison.
The cheeks of the person who had first spoken up flushed red. “No, no, it seems like there’s something going on. Someone’s splitting up the crowd and making way for someone else… Some of them are dressed in lion dance costumes!”
The people of the capital all held a curious heart, no matter their status or rank. Very quickly, there were people poking their heads out to find out what the buzz on the streets was about.
“What a grand-looking lion dance troupe. I’ve never seen six people dancing at once. Don’t tell me they’ve also prepared music to go along with this performance?”
“Is it really that grand?”
At this time, a young man dressed in blue walked in from the entrance. The moment he entered, he started shouting, “Quick, come with me to check out the performance! I just came over from Changping Lane and that grand lion dance troupe is preparing for their performance over there!”
The crowd couldn’t hold back their curiosity. Quite a few of them came out of the restaurant and onto the streets one after another.
De’an Restaurant’s Mr Wang had still been settling some accounts at the counter of his restaurant. Following the increase in noise from outside, the originally full main hall of his restaurant suddenly emptied out. A few waiters hurriedly chased after the leaving customers to settle their bills.
“What’s going on?” the grey-haired Mr Wang frowned as he asked one of his waiters.
“Manager, will you allow this one to go out to check for you?”
Mr Wang waved his hand in permission.
After a short moment, the waiter returned. “Manager, Manager, there’s something big going on outside!”
“What kind of event is it?”
The waiter gestured with his hands as he said, “There are six people dressed in lion dance costumes out there, with shining lion heads this big! They even have musicians and singers behind them, all wearing the same kind of clothes, and though they look very festive, no one knows what they’re going to do. They’re currently finishing preparations out on the streets. It looks like the performance is going to start in a while. Manager, do you want to go out and watch too? There are lots of people outside on the streets right now!”
The waiter was clearly excited, and it was written all over his face, too.
Mr Wang set down the abacus in his hands and strode over to watch together with the waiter. All the customers in the restaurant had been drawn away, so they couldn’t do business anyway. Why not check out what was going on outside and find out who was trying to cause trouble?
When it was finally 10am, the lion dance troupe gathered on Zhuque Avenue right outside Yuehong Restaurant suddenly began shouting together. The golden lions behind them started dancing, and following that, the music troupe behind them began to play their instruments.
With the lion dancers in front and the rousing music behind, everyone was captivated. After a few beats, some of the spectators who had an interest in music began to cry out in surprise.
“What tune is this? Why is it so strange yet so full of emotion?”
Just as someone finished saying so, one of the musicians started singing in a rough, loud voice.
“The great rivers all run to the east! The stars in the sky look up to the North Star!”
Right after the first line, the remaining ten or more men in the troupe continued in a chorus, “Hey hey~ Look up to the North Star~ A cup of wine for our sworn brothers~”
The leading singer continued, “If I say march, we all march! Yours and mine are all shared between us!”
The low and fierce chorus line shouted, “Hey hey~ All shared between us~ No retreat come floods or fire!”
Of all the people of the capital, no matter if they were nobles or commoners, this was the first time they had heard such a strange yet catchy song.
These lyrics were like normal speech and the tune was easy to follow. The wild and heroic music made people’s hearts soar with excitement.
The crowd on the streets started getting bigger and bigger as all of them tried to peek at what was going on.
Someone at the front of the crowd shouted, “The lion dance troupe is moving! They’re moving! Everybody make way! Make way!”
Amidst the bobbing heads of the crowd, someone asked, “What are they doing? Why is it so lively here?”
“We don’t know either. Look, the troupe is moving forward, let’s follow along and see!”
A middle-aged man interrupted their conversation and said, “Hmm? That troupe looks like it’s heading to the stage northwest of here. Don’t tell me that it was this group of people who built it… That wooden platform was just set up a few days ago!”
The lyrics to the song ‘Song of Heroes’ were simple, and there were only two parts to it, yet the melody was rousing and majestic. The singing troupe had only repeated the song twice, but the crowd following behind them had already learned how to sing along.
The leader of the music troupe sung once again, “When I see injustice, I roar with anger! When it’s time to act, I fight! I travel the world, doing as I like!”
Without waiting for the chorus from the troupe, the crowd had already started chanting, “Hey hey, hey hey yo hey hey, hey hey, hey hey yo hey hey.”
That strange melody and magnetic song suddenly spread through the entire street in an instant. The lyrics were so easy to remember that even the little children had learned them. They ran alongside the lion dance troupe, chanting along with the singers.
With the lion dancers dancing and the troupe members singing, the wide Zhuque Avenue was actually filled to the point that even a pebble couldn’t squeeze through.
“Look, the lion dance troupe is finally stopping!”
The lion dance troupe had indeed stopped before the wooden stage that had been built beforehand. Following that, they nimbly climbed up onto it, causing the crowd to gasp in admiration.
The sounds of singing and drums suddenly disappeared.
At the last moment when the singing and drums stopped, the raised lion head suddenly spit out a large red scroll.