Yu Tang Golden Boudoir

Chapter 22 The Lantern Festival

Early in the morning on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Lin Ke and Yu Yaofang came together and gave Li Tian a bunch of lanterns and some masks. Lin Ke directed Qingzhi and others to hang up the lanterns all over the yard in a mess, talking and laughing After laughing and having lunch, the two said goodbye to Li Tian, ​​and ran out excitedly to watch the lights and play. This is the most exciting and free day and night for the little ladies in the capital city in a year.

Lin Ke and Yu Yaofang wandered until their feet were soft, so they found a teahouse, but they didn't sit in it. Instead, they took a table under the corridor of the teahouse, ordered snacks and soup, and called a maid to sit beside them and order tea. The two drank sweet and sour soup, ate seasonal snacks such as crispy puffed snails and crispy winter pears, and watched the crowds of people passing by, chatting, laughing and commenting non-stop.

Lin Ke's smile was fixed on his face suddenly, he jumped up, pulled Yu Yaofang up and said, "Quick, I saw that nasty villain!" Zi hurriedly paid the tea money, took the mask and lifted the lantern, and Hu Lala ran out after him.

"Which bad guy? Bad guy, don't you run away quickly, why are you following?" Yu Yaofang finally steadied her footsteps, pulled Lin Ke back and said anxiously, Lin Ke looked straight ahead and said, "It's that bad guy from Leng's family." Damn, that bastard who dared to retreat from Sister Tian's marriage!"

"Ah? Which one? Which one from Leng's family? Mrs. Leng? That's the elder, don't mess around!" Yu Yaofang urged urgently.

"No, it's...that bastard Leng Mingsong! Hmph, he even pulled a little lady, and the two of them became one person. Shameless! Shameless! Uh, it's his sister." Lin Ke pulled Yu Yaofang away Not a few people away from her, she suppressed the word Leng Mingsong, gritted her teeth and kept cursing, Yu Yaofang laughed angrily: "How do you know him, don't mistake him, oh, Tian'er... she I've said it all, don't mention it again, you're going to be a disservice again."

"He came to my house. I peeked through the screen. It's him. It's okay. He doesn't know who we are. How can he vent his anger? It would be great if Sister Tian was here. She has the most ideas, yes! I'll step on him." Foot, step on it hard, break his bones! Stomp on his leg! You wait." Lin Ke excitedly threw off Yu Yaofang's hand and was about to rush forward, Yu Yaofang pulled her back forcefully and shouted: "Just You... still don't recognize it? Where's your mask? Lantern!"

"Yes, give me the mask and the lantern!" Lin Ke hurriedly turned to look for her mask and lantern. The dazzled Leng Songming, whose sister was walking around, rushed over.

It was the first time for Leng Mingsong and his younger sister, Leng Nuan, to visit the capital city. They had never seen such excitement before, and they found it extremely novel to look at. They just felt that their eyes were not enough. Lin Ke rushed straight from the slanting thorns, and his eyes were fixed on Leng Mingsong's feet. Step on the pair of indigo silk shoes with snow-white uppers and ribs in the middle.

She rushed fast, her eyes were only on the shoes, and she couldn't care about anything else. The lantern in her hand directly hit the lantern carried by Leng Mingsong, and the two lanterns that hit each other immediately caught fire. Ke shook her hands in fright and yelled, threw the lantern far away at once, staggered, and was about to fall backwards. Leng Mingsong reacted so quickly that he didn't dare to grab Lin Ke's hands and arms, and stretched out his hands to grab each of them. Lin Ke was holding the cloak, and Lin Ke was pulled back in the cloak.

Leng Mingsong's two servants stomped on their feet and rushed quickly, and the two lanterns were burned to the ground, leaving only a few pitch-black bamboo branches. Lin Ke was ashamed, annoyed, and angry, his face was flushed, and his eyes were watery. Tears of grievance, she tore off the mask angrily, held the mask with both hands and beat Leng Mingsong with force.

Yu Yaofang's anxious eyes were red, she rushed over, pulled Lin Ke past her, and ran to the side. Leng Mingsong stared straight at the direction where the two disappeared, and then she blinked her eyes until she could no longer see her, then turned her head to look at the burning area. Looking down at his hands again, his slender fingers moved, he raised his hand and slowly stroked the place where Lin Ke had knocked, and looked in the direction where the two disappeared.

"Brother, are you alright?" Leng Nuan saw her brother standing there in a daze for a long time, she hurriedly stepped forward to pull him and asked, Leng Mingsong suddenly came back to his senses, he was a little at a loss, waved his hands repeatedly and said: " No, nothing, let's go, it's lively over there, go there." Leng Nuan pointed to the front and said: "Go there first and then buy a lantern, this noble lady in the capital is really... so amazing."

"You can't blame her. A little lady stepped on the feet of a strange man. Can you be in a hurry? She almost fell down again. She must have been frightened. You can't blame her." Ke argued, Leng Nuan thought for a while and smiled: "Well, if I bumped into someone like this, I would be terrified. That little lady is really pretty."

"Oh? Really? I didn't pay attention, I really didn't pay attention to what she looks like." Leng Mingsong's tone was extremely certain, but his expression was not very natural, and he looked at him strangely, so close, he didn't pay attention to what she looked like ?

Three horses came rushing in from the narrow alley behind the Yongguo Mansion Garden, one servant at the front and one at the front, and a young man from a noble family in the middle, wearing a large tuft of moths on his head, trembling and shining brightly, pink and blue The bright satin squirrel cloak was casually swinging behind the back, the waist was wrapped in gold, and Wu silk socks and embroidered silk shoes were worn on the feet.He rode his horse into the alley, turned his head from side to side and asked, "Is it right here? Are you going the right way?"

"Lord, don't worry, that's right, it's right here, I've visited it several times during the day, and there's a corner gate a little further ahead, and inside the corner gate is the yard of the fifth lady of the Li family!" The servant in front replied courteously .

"Well, let's go then!"

The three horses rushed outside the corner gate, and the pink-blue youth got off the horse, straightened his head and moth, pulled his cloak, brushed off his skirt, raised his arms, and raised his sleeves in a majestic manner. After receiving the gold-and-coloured box handed over by the boy, he pouted his lips and ordered: "Call the door, and say that Master Ding Qi has come to visit Mrs. Li Wu."

In the yard, Yue Niang jumped down from the tree next to the corner gate, clapped her hands, looked at Li Tian who was standing under the tree in a cloak and holding a stove, and said, "It's that prodigal son of Lai Guogong Ding's family, what should I do? According to me, just kill it." Yue Niang raised her arm and made a chopping motion with a bit of excitement and longing on her face.

"I remember there is a military patrol shop at the entrance of the alley? How long will it take to get here?" Li Tian asked in a clear voice.

"Yes, today is the Shangyuan Festival. The Ma Bujun, the three yamen in front of the palace, and the yamen of the capital are all in full formation. There are cavalry guards guarding them. Come here quickly, and it's almost a few dozen breaths." Yue Niang replied, Li Tian'hmm ' He gave a command and said: "This is a dead end, set them on fire!"

Yue Niang's eyebrows were so raised that they almost flew up: "Do you want to burn them to death?"

"It depends on how they burn. Go to the opposite side of the alley and set the fire on fire, then light some fireworks and firecrackers and throw them down together. Yin Hua watches from the crack of the door and shouts to put out the fire." Li Tian looked gloomy. Instructed, Yue Niang excitedly jumped to the nearby tea room in two steps, picked out a dozen pieces of thin firewood, quickly wrapped them in a thick layer of tinder, and then heavily stained them with lamp oil, and picked out a dozen more sticks of firewood. Tianhou Xiaoyanhua hugged her, tapped her feet, and ran to the opposite side of the alley without making a sound.

Ding Qi's servant had just knocked on the door twice, and Yue Niang was already lighting firewood, and together with Zhan Tianhou, they pointed at Ding Qi and greeted Ding Qi. In the yard, Yin Hua and others shouted "Fire!" La!Fight the fire!help! '.

Ding Qi and the boy were stunned by the sudden burst of flames, the sharp and piercing whistle of the diamond monkey, and the sound of firefighting. The three horses were more frightened, and they reacted faster than their masters, neighing in horror. , Jumping and jumping to break away from the boy, one went deep into the alley, and the two rushed out of the alley.

The horse infantrymen on duty in the patrol shop at the entrance of the alley and the servants of the Beijing government rushed out, and the cavalry captain who rushed ahead was facing the two startled horses, and they slammed into each other, blocking the narrow alley for a while. , the Xiang army pushing the water truck behind simply stopped the car, pressed up the small water dragon, and sprayed the cold well water at the place where the fire started first. Water was poured into the alley with big and small buckets, and the small alley was like a torrential rain. The fire was extinguished in the blink of an eye, and the water and soup dripped by Ding Qi and the two servants were thrown away by several government officials. He pulled it out with his twisted feet and his head on the ground.

Yue Niang stood on the tree, watching Ding Qi, who was dripping with water all over her body, was so frightened and speechless that she and the two servants were locked away by the Ma Bujun and the yamen servants as arsonists, and they fell from the tree with a muffled laugh. Li Tian fell down here.

Li Tian had already avoided the hallway, Yue Niang jumped to the hallway and stood still, patted the skirt of her clothes neatly, looked at Li Tian and said: "It's just a scare, what's the use?"

"If you just want to test one or two, this scare is enough, if it's not... Let's talk about it later, grandma said, you must be punished without teaching." Li Tian turned around and went back, answering Yue Niang's words, Yue Niang She raised her eyebrows disapprovingly, she has always punished but not taught.

Before the lanterns were confiscated on the Shangyuan Festival, the second wife, Mrs. Xu, sent her mother-in-law to break into the Qingtong courtyard boldly, asking Li Tian to borrow 500 taels of silver as envoys.

"...Our wife said that if you don't get enough money for a while, the money here by Wu Niangzi will become moldy if you leave it for nothing. Let me take 500 taels first. Our wife and the second master are both elders of Wu Niangzi, so we should be filial to each other... ..."

Yingluo couldn't believe it, firstly, this was not something she should talk about, and secondly, she didn't know what to say, so she turned her head and looked at Li Tian who was sitting at the table concentrating on writing. Tian just kept writing calmly, as if he didn't hear what she said, and couldn't help saying it again, but Li Tian still ignored her, and slowly copied the Heart Sutra, then put down the pen, and took the handkerchief Yu Ye handed over. The son cleaned his hands, looked at the mother-in-law and said, "I don't have any ready-made silver here, and some silver is stored with the eldest lady. Do you want to come with me to get it, or wait for me to tell the eldest lady and send it to you?"

The mother-in-law stared blankly at Li Tian, ​​unable to turn her head around. Seeing Li Tian got up and put on the cloak, she tied her hands and hurriedly shouted: "I will go with Fifth Lady to get the silver, our wife is waiting to use it now."

(End of this chapter)