Linxia

Chapter 111, Lantern Festival

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, people twist and turn; on the second day, the new bride returns home, and Xin Jiasha Xiaoyun brings back some gifts; on the third day, the mice get married, and everyone goes to bed early. Fang's mother still follows tradition and sprinkles a little salt and rice in the house. Unfortunately, after the kitten came, there were no more mice in the Fang family; on the fourth day, the Kitchen God is welcomed; on the fifth day, the God of Wealth is worshipped; on the sixth day, the family does a thorough cleaning.

During these six days, there are constant sounds of firecrackers, and it is bustling wherever you go. When people meet someone, no matter if they know each other or not, people often come forward to bow and say "Happy New Year".

Although Fang Lin's family did not live in Xiaohe Village, they also visited to pay New Year's greetings. Because of Xu Kuo Lao's relationship, Fang's father and Fang Lin went together, and took the opportunity to thank him again for his help in the matter of Sister Guihua. As for Dong Zugao and Manager Liu, Fang Lin went on his own because of his own relationship.

On the seventh day, Xuan Mo Zhai opened its doors and I came back to work.

Huang Di and Chai Yiwei both changed into new clothes and came over happily. As soon as they arrived, the business started at a fast pace. There were quite a lot of customers. Probably because the pent-up demand of the past few days was being released, the business was very good.

The two men could hardly adapt to the new environment. At the end of the day, Huang Di kept complaining of being tired, and Chai Yiwei was also a little lazy and not as diligent as usual.

"You guys can't do this. Look at Fang Lin, learn from him!" When the store was busy, Manager Liu stood up and shared some of the burden, and joked with the two of them.

"Boss, this is a normal symptom after the New Year holidays. It will be better in a few days." Fang Lin said. He was experienced and his mentality changed quickly.

Sure enough, after two busy days, I quickly adapted again.

Time flies, and it is noon on the 14th day of the first lunar month.

Shopkeeper Liu came over and said, "Tomorrow is the Lantern Festival, and it's almost time for your day off, so I'll give you a day off and go see the lantern festival in the evening."

“I heard that this year’s Bieshan Lanterns are on a boat over on Yuehu Lake. The rich people in the city have pooled together tens of thousands of taels of silver and hired skilled craftsmen to decorate it… With tens of thousands of taels of silver, I wonder what can be built.” Huang Di said with a sigh.

"It must be very beautiful." Chai Yiwei continued, "But ordinary people can only watch from the shore, and only the rich and powerful can go on the ship."

"Yes, it's a pity that this year, we can only watch from afar on the shore." Shopkeeper Liu sighed.

"Boss, why don't you rent a boat?"

"It's difficult to rent. It's said to be booked." Shopkeeper Liu shook his head.

"I do have some space here." Fang Lin suddenly said.

"Oh?"

Manager Liu, Huang Di, and Chai Yiwei all looked surprised.

"Great job, Linzi, you got the position without saying a word."

"Is it related to Mr. Xu Kuo?"

"Really not." Fang Lin shook his head and didn't elaborate: "I still have two or three seats here. If you want to go, let's go together tomorrow!"

"I would like to go, but I have something else to do..." Huang Di thought of something, shook his head, and refused regretfully.

"Brother Fang, I want to go back too."

"I have a big family, forget it." Shopkeeper Liu thought about it and refused.

"Okay." Fang Lin nodded and didn't force it.

Dong Zugao told him that there were six or seven places. There were four people in his family, so it would be okay if they took two or three people, but if there were more, it would not be the same.

After all, they invited you and agreed to have six or seven people, but you brought ten or so people with you at once, and there wasn't enough space, which would only make both parties embarrassed and awkward.

……

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the weather was fine. The moon was bright in the clear night sky, and the moonlight was like a veil.

Today is the Lantern Festival, so we have to eat glutinous rice dumplings in the evening. The Fang family’s glutinous rice dumplings are filled with sesame seeds, crushed peanuts, etc.

Fang Lin was eating a glutinous rice dumpling and talking about the news he had heard: "It is said that this year's Bieshan Lantern cost tens of thousands of taels of silver..."

"Tens of thousands of taels?" Fang's mother was shocked. "I thought our family had been doing much better recently and was considered wealthy, but now that I hear this, compared to the truly wealthy people, it's nothing!"

“Those who have money can spend tens of thousands of taels of silver to build the Bieshan Lantern.” Father Fang shook his head.

"For those wealthy people, being able to board the ship carrying the Bieshan Lantern is a matter of status and face, and money is nothing." Tian Xuan thought for a moment and said, "The Bieshan Lantern on the ship may not be dismantled in the future."

"Yes, Sister Xuan is smart. In the eyes of those dignitaries, they can get close and see, but we can't. This is a sense of superiority. Afterwards, the turtle mountain lantern on the building ship was not dismantled. I heard that it will be used as a flower boat. It is actually more economical than building the turtle mountain lantern in the city and then dismantling it."

Fang Lin said this, and added: "Although we can't board the ship tonight, we can still get closer to see it... By the way, don't bring too much money when you go out later. There will be a lot of people at the lantern festival tonight, and it will be lively and there will be a lot of pickpockets." Fang's father, Fang's mother, and Tian Xuan nodded, and they were more or less expectant in their hearts. Who wouldn't be curious about what the Bieshan Lantern built with tens of thousands of taels of silver looks like?

In this mood, even the rice dumplings didn't taste very good. This was also because the Fang family's conditions had improved a lot recently, and it was the Chinese New Year, when they had a feast of fish and meat, so they were not so rare.

However, the kitten liked the food very much. He ate it without even raising his head. His ears moved from time to time and his tail also wagged.

It is also because Fang has been eating particularly well these days. Recently, it has been coming back on time at mealtime. However, after dinner, it will not come home for a while and will wander around somewhere. If you want to find it to pet it, you can only wait until mealtime. Fang's mother says that there is no difference between having a cat and not having one.

After dinner, the family went out.

……

When we came out of the alley and arrived at the street market, we could clearly feel that it suddenly became noisy and lively, with crowds of people flowing and lights as bright as day. The atmosphere of the Lantern Festival was in the air.

There are pedestrians walking on stilts, leisurely in the busy streets;

There were stilt horses, with four men riding on them, brandishing swords and spears, and many people gathered around to watch and cheer loudly;
There was a circus troupe, with two boys carrying a long wooden ladder on their heads, with a person sitting on the ladder and performing various moves, surrounded by many people;

……

There are also lion and dragon dances.

The sounds of hawking can be heard one after another - unlike New Year's Eve, tonight is the Lantern Festival, but it is a good time to do business. Most officials have holidays, and street thugs also want to celebrate the Lantern Festival. No one exploits them, and no one cares about the roadside vendors and stalls.

Those shops and stalls displayed all kinds of good goods. There were goods stores from the East and West, fur stores from the Northwest, and goods stores from Sichuan and Guangdong, etc.

All goods in the world, from home and abroad, from all over the world, seem to be concentrated here.

On the way, Fang Lin also saw a man coming out of the shop wearing a pair of glasses, looking really fashionable!

"It's so lively! Our Xiaohe Village can't compare to it, and even Haining County can't compare." Fang's father sighed.

"Isn't it? During the Lantern Festival that year, your father, I, and other villagers took shortcuts over mountains and across rivers to go to Haining County to watch the lantern festival. It was much worse than this." Fang's mother said.

On the way, Fang Lin guessed two riddles and got a fox mask and a red lantern. Fang's father and mother didn't want them, so they gave them to Tian Xuan. She wore the fox mask, held the red lantern in one hand, and held Fang Lin with the other, her eyes smiling with joy.

when! when!
There was a gong being sounded in the front, and there was actually a storyteller, and there were a lot of people.

It was still early, so the family was not in a hurry to go to Yue Lake, so they went over there.

Because they also have experience, generally speaking, the more people there are, the more it means there are good things here. Sure enough, they heard discussions when they got closer.

"It's Liu Mazi telling a story, we have to listen to it!"

"What, who is Liu Mazi? Speaking of Liu Mazi, he is lazy all day long, as if he hasn't woken up yet, but with his storytelling skills, he has no worries about food and clothing."

"Yes, Liu Mazi is a very good storyteller. He only tells one story a day, and each story is priced at one tael of silver. If you make an appointment ten days in advance, you will not be able to get him."

"One tael of silver, so expensive?" The high price made the man smack his lips. "Fortunately, today is the Lantern Festival, and several teahouses have jointly invited Liu Mazi to tell stories outside to attract popularity. You can listen to it for free."

……

Fang Lin pulled Tian Xuan, and squeezed over with Fang's father and mother to look inside.

I saw that Liu Mazi's face was blackened, there was a large pockmark on the right side of his face, and there was a scar on his chin. He looked extremely ugly.

At this time, he trimmed the wick of the lamp, and a waiter brought him a plain teacup. He took a sip and said slowly: "Speaking of Wu Song..."

Today's scene is exactly the story of Wu Song fighting the tiger on Jingyang Ridge. This person tells it with a fast and slow, light and heavy tone, and with emotional and reasonable feeling, which penetrates deeply into the bones.

Fang Lin had certainly read "Water Margin". This person's story was very different from the original, but it was well-controlled, with a good balance of tension and relaxation, and no verbosity. When it came to Wu Song going to the store to buy wine, there was no one in the store, and he suddenly roared, and all the empty jars and pots on the scene made a rumbling sound; when it came to the tiger, the bursts of low roars seemed to bring to mind scenes of flying sand and rocks, and fishy wind blowing in the face, as if there was really a tiger...

"These days, storytellers also need to be good at ventriloquism. How cool!"

Fang Lin was thinking, and saw that Fang's father, Fang's mother, and Tian Xuan were listening intently. He also saw an acquaintance not far away, so he said to them, "Dad, Mom, Sister Xuan, you wait here, I'll go buy some chestnuts."

……

(End of this chapter)