Manchu traitor, how can you let me be the emperor of the ages

Chapter 208 Shangyuan Lantern Festival, Nightless Capital

The concubines praised Li Gan one after another, and said that Emperor Ruizong had released Aoshan lanterns before, and later His Majesty released flying sky lanterns, which meant that Li Qian could be ranked with that majesty.

Li Gan didn't pay attention to what these concubines said, he still looked down, watching the lively scene that could only be seen this year.

The night market at the temple fair below is extremely lively. There are those who play flower guns, those who break boulders, those who dance dragons and lions, those who walk on stilts, row boats, dance yangko, and those who sing big operas, and those who play donkey shadow puppets...

There are still many older girls and younger daughter-in-laws on the street. Even unmarried girls can openly go shopping with their lovers today.

Of course, the most popular ones are guessing lantern riddles and reciting poems in the lantern market.

Li Qian saw a lot of juren dressed in black silk with round collars, playing in groups at the lantern festival. These people like to get together at the place where lantern riddles are guessed, so that they can highlight their literary talent and show off.

He even saw several groups of people meeting in front of the same lamp stand, as if they were competing for literary talent.

Upstairs above the city gate, most of the concubines knew that His Majesty grew up in the palace and hadn't played outside much. Seeing him looking at the lantern festival outside, they thought that His Majesty wanted to go out to guess lantern riddles as well. Suggest.

"Your Majesty, why don't we make some lantern riddles here to guess."

These words were immediately recognized by the other concubines. They sat here eagerly, and could only watch the people below play. Who wouldn't be envious?

But if some lights come over on the city gate, wouldn't they be able to play by themselves?

Especially Wu Meiniang and Lu Zhi, seeing that they could divert the attention of the concubines, agreed in unison, and everyone looked at Li Gan eagerly.

"Guess the lamp fan..."

Li Gan was still a little apprehensive, whether it was guessing lantern riddles or reciting poems, he was not very good at it.

But since the concubines want to play, let them play, at worst, just don't get involved.

Following Li Gan's order, the old eunuch sent eunuchs to bring a lot of lamps. The late emperor liked this thing especially when he was there, because according to some old Taoist priests, lantern riddles can communicate with the gods in the sky and get enlightenment from the gods. , so there are many ready-made lamps in the palace, which happened to be used by Li Gan today.

With the busy work of the eunuchs and maids, the gates and towers of Suzaku City were lit up with lights after a while, which was truly beautiful.

Originally, it was dark on the imperial city, and the common people could not see clearly, but when the lights came on, everyone knew that it was the emperor who had come down.

Every Shangyuan Festival, the royal family will go to the gate of Suzaku City to turn off the lights, which has become a tradition.

These days, the emperor is the biggest star in the world, and it is not easy to see His Majesty the emperor, and the Shangyuan Festival is almost the only time when the common people can see Long Yan with their own eyes.

So not only were there people looking up from the city gate tower, but even many people on Zhuquemen Street looked up from time to time.

At this moment, the lights above the gate of Suzaku City came on for the second time, and His Majesty the Emperor in dragon robes appeared, and was seen by many sharp-eyed people.

Such a big movement was noticed by other people all of a sudden, and the people below knelt down like wind blowing wheat waves.

In the end, as far as Li Qian could see, there was no one standing anymore, and the shouts of long live shook like the ground, resounding throughout the capital.

The concubines around him were one by one, and they were also stunned.

Everyone knows that there is such a custom in the capital, but usually there are two completely different feelings when kneeling below and standing above.

Even though most of the concubines were born noble, who has personally seen such a scene?

Not to mention them, even the elders in their family have never seen it. Only the royal family can see such a scene.

Looking at the scene below, Li Gan sighed with emotion.

In his memory, when the first emperor was still alive, he brought Li Gan up to watch the lanterns on the Lantern Festival, and he had seen such a situation many times.

It's just that memory belongs to memory, and this is the first time Li Gan himself has seen such a scene. He paused for a moment and said, "Pingshen."

Li Gan didn't shout at the top of his voice, and the people in the distance couldn't even hear his words.

But after his words fell, the people in front stood up, and the people behind also stood up when they saw this. Gradually, everyone stood up, and the bustling streets resumed their flow.

Even so, there were still many people looking up, trying to take a look at the noble "Dragon Face" of His Majesty the Emperor.

It's a pity that the city wall is too high, and it's useless to illuminate it. Only a figure in a yellow robe and a blurred face can be seen.

Li Gan also didn't want to stand on the edge of the city wall and let people look at him like a monkey. Besides, the more people in the capital knew what he looked like, the more dangerous it would be for him to go out in the future.

So Li Gan just stood there for a moment, then walked to the back seat and sat down, watching the prosperous night view of the capital.

After the concubines came back to their senses, seeing that His Majesty sat down and did not intend to move any more, they also walked back from the edge of the city wall and began to wander around the lanterns on the city wall, guessing lantern riddles.

From time to time, there were coquettish shouts and laughter, as if someone had guessed the lantern riddle and was being congratulated by other concubines.

Li Qian also noticed that several concubines came to the table on the other side, writing poems with pens and ink in their hands, as if they wanted to compete.

"Your Majesty, come and play!"

Whether Zhao Feiyan was writing poems or guessing lantern riddles, she couldn't compare to other concubines. When she couldn't get angry, it was like asking Li Gan to help her vent her anger.

But Li Qian said with a guilty conscience: "It's better for you to play by yourself, I'll just take a look."

Although he has also learned something in the past six months, most of them are dealing with government affairs, but he has not learned such things as guessing lantern riddles and reciting poems.

If it is really about literature, any concubine may be able to kill him in seconds. In order to avoid showing his embarrassment, His Majesty the Emperor naturally refused without hesitation.

It's just that after Zhao Feiyan opened his mouth, the other concubines also looked at him with shining beautiful eyes.

"Your Majesty, there is a lantern riddle here that I can't solve. Do you want to see it?"

"My concubine and Sister Liu wrote a poem, would your majesty be willing to judge..."

This time, even Changsun Wugou and the others looked at Li Qian expectantly, obviously hoping that he could come and play together.

Seeing that the situation was getting out of control, Li Gan couldn't help but feel his scalp tingling.

These people are real, can't they just play obediently?Why do you have to rely on him, the emperor, for everything?
After pondering for a while, Li Gan suddenly had an idea: "Since you like guessing lantern riddles, how about having a competition?"

Contest?

Before the concubines could speak, Li Gan continued, "Whoever can guess the most lantern riddles at the end will be the final winner."

After pondering for a moment, he continued: "At that time, I will take a treasure from the Duobao Pavilion as a reward for her."

Now the concubines have attracted their attention one after another. His Majesty's rewards are rare, and this is in the public eye, and it can surpass others.

Now no concubine cared about whether His Majesty was guessing lantern riddles or composing poems anymore, and everyone's attention was shifted to the upcoming competition.

Following Li Gan's order, the eunuchs and court ladies moved another pile of lanterns from under the city wall.

Under the auspices of Li Gan, the concubines had a great time, and a few concubines with good writing skills were far ahead, including the eldest grandson Wugou.

"Small dragon boat, the dragon boat is small, the dragon boat is pointed and the two ends are upturned. It has been floating in the water for an autumn, and it contains a white ingot."

In front of the lantern, a concubine in green frowned and thought for a moment, her eyes lit up and she said, "Caltrop!"

There was a discussion in the crowd, and several concubines regretted their slow talk.

The court lady standing behind the lantern hurriedly wrote it down, and then revealed the next puzzle: "Looking at the beauties, each side of the sky."

Changsun Wugou pondered for a moment, then said with a light smile, "This is the word 'entertainment'."

The concubines were startled, and after thinking carefully for a moment, their expressions were different, some looked at the eldest grandson Wugou with admiration, and some looked stiff, but no matter what, when the next lantern riddle came out, the concubines looked nervously at him again. past...

As the guessing of lantern riddles continues, the advantage of Changsun Wugou is getting bigger and bigger.In the end, many concubines saw the huge gap and didn't have the mood to continue playing, and they all ran to Li Gan's side to pester him.

"Your Majesty, would you like to guess some lantern riddles?"

Many empresses and concubines who didn't like Changsun Wugou even came up to make fun of them. As long as His Majesty the Emperor participates in the competition, then Changsun Wugou would definitely not dare to beat the Emperor.

There are even concubines who want to ask Li Qian to compose a poem impromptu.

In fact, it doesn't need to be said by them, Li Gan also had the idea of ​​copying poems. Who would not copy two poems after time travel these days?
It's just that after thinking about it, he found that he still remembered that there were really not many poems about the Lantern Festival, only the two most famous poems.

The first is the No. 1 article of Shangyuan Festival that has been passed down through the ages: "Sapphire Case·Yuanxi", Dongfeng night puts flowers and thousands of trees.

This is the work of the great poet Xin Qiji, but Li Gan doesn't know if there is any Xin Qiji now, and what if he is in a corner.

If Li Gan copied the Qingyu case this year.Later, Xin Qiji popped up and said that he had already written this poem a few years ago, so Li Gan would be exhausted, so this poem cannot be copied.

The second famous piece that Li Gan remembers is Li Qingzhao's "Yong Yu Le", where the setting sun melts gold and the evening clouds merge.

He can be sure that Li Qingzhao definitely hasn't written this poem yet, because she is still just a little girl, and the setting sun melts gold, and evening clouds merge, these are her works in her later years.

But this poem is not easy to copy, because the artistic conception in it is too pessimistic, desolate, and resentful, and this poem is made by a woman, if Li Gan copied it, people would definitely see through it.

His brain is not a computer either. Apart from these two poems, Li Gan really couldn't think of any other Lantern Festival poems for a while.

So when faced with the concubine's request, Li Gan simply refused, and only cared about the concubine's guessing lantern riddles.

At the end of the game, Changsun Wugou still guessed the most riddles, so Li Gan announced the victory of Changsun Wugou with a smile, and then left in a hurry.

Of course, what Li Qian didn't know was that when he was considering whether to copy the poems, Li Qingzhao, who almost became the victim of the copying, was downstairs at the gate of Suzaku.

There is no curfew on the Lantern Festival, and there is a lively lantern market. Li Gefei couldn't stand the entanglement of his wife and daughter, so he took them out shopping again.

"Dad, did you see it just now?"

Even though looking up from the street, Li Qingzhao still couldn't see anyone, he pulled Li Gefei's sleeve and looked up excitedly: "It was really His Majesty the Emperor just now."

Li Gefei swept away his usual unshaven appearance, and today he tidied up exceptionally neatly. He shook his head helplessly: "I see it, of course I saw it, I have seen it a long time ago."

In fact, the excited Li Qingzhao was definitely not alone. After His Majesty left the city, there were still many people on the street happily pointing at the top, especially children.

Mrs. Li pulled Li Qingzhao and said with a smile: "You father goes to the imperial city every day to be on duty, so naturally you can see His Majesty the Emperor every day, how can you be so frizzy like you?"

Li Qingzhao pouted secretly when he heard the words: "Mother, don't treat me as a child who doesn't know anything. Who doesn't know that you can go to the court only when you reach the fourth rank? My father is obviously only a small official from the fifth rank. Where is it?" To see His Majesty the Emperor?"

Li Gefei froze.

The smile on Mrs. Li's face froze as well, she stretched out her hand and twisted Li Qingzhao's crystal clear ears, and raised her eyebrows, "How do you talk, kid?"

"If your father was an official fan and wanted to make money, wouldn't he have gone up there sooner with his ability?"

"You still despise him as a petty official from the fifth rank? After all these years, did your father eat without you or wear without you?"

Li Qingzhao stuck out his tongue, and hurriedly begged for mercy: "Mother, I was wrong, please be gentle..."

Li Gefei also coughed twice from the side, it doesn't matter if others look down on him, he doesn't care at all, but this is the first time he has been looked down upon by his eldest daughter.

"Although your father and I are officials of the fifth rank, we personally went to the Ziwei Palace to pass the holy ceremony. Go out and ask, is there any official of the fifth rank in the court who has such an experience?"

Li Gefei, who has never been vain, seems to be a different person in front of his daughter today.

Li Qingzhao was taken aback for a moment, and then remembered the incident of his father's face-to-face meeting with the Ministry of Rites a few months ago, and suddenly became excited: "Father, so you really met His Majesty the Emperor? What does Your Majesty look like?"

Li Gefei said in his heart that not only I have seen him, but you have all seen him: "Your Majesty naturally has the air of a master, but his appearance is not something that the courtiers can talk about casually."

Because of the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival.Li Gefei didn't want his daughter to know too much about His Majesty the Emperor, so he found a random excuse as an excuse.

Li Qingzhao was naturally not very satisfied with the result of this perfunctory, but it was hard for her to ask further questions with her own mother watching her, so she walked to the lamp stand on the other side angrily.

Mrs. Li looked at his back, sighed leisurely, and said to Li Gefei tiredly: "Master, this child is already so old, when will you find a matchmaker and marry her? It will also save you from talking to her every day." Worried."

"Do you remember the young man we met at the Mid-Autumn Night Market last time?"

(End of this chapter)