Chapter 884: Lamp Market

Beijing's lantern market originated from the imperial decree of Zhu Di, the emperor of Yongle, originally from the eighth to the eighteenth day of the first month of each year for the lantern festival, the fifteenth day of the first month is the main lantern, during which the ban on the night of the hundred officials is lifted, the imperial court holds a feast, sets off fireworks, and the Beijing city is also widely displayed lanterns. The lamp market was originally located in front of the Wufeng Tower, and Xuande moved to the outside of the Donghua Gate at the beginning of Xuande. A long street that stretches for two miles, because of the annual Shangyuan Festival of the light market, the original name of the alley is gradually forgotten, and most people in the capital call this alley the lamp market alley.

Due to the turmoil in Beijing this time, most people thought that the holiday and lantern release might also be canceled, so the emperor ordered an additional holiday, and the whole city put lights, which was naturally full of joy. It is said that every morning when cleaning, the shoes that have been stepped on are countless, and even the small objects such as sweat towels, finger rings, fan pendants, etc., have also made some people make a small fortune.

As night falls, the daytime market is transformed into a world of pedestrians, cars and horses, as the shops are decorated with lanterns. Most of the shops that do big business are hung with lanterns made of silk yarn or burnt pearls, and those who are short of money are made of wheat straw, grass, etc., and as far as the eye can see, you can only see such a street more than two miles long with bright lights and people, and even drums, fireworks, juggling, and so on.

At this moment, a juggling stall was full of people in front of a juggling stall beating gongs and drums, and the big man in the center was still naked in this cold day, holding a blazing torch in his hand, and the flames spit out from his mouth and nose during the swallowing, and for a time the surrounding people were applauding. A woman on the side performed various movements on a rope tied between high wooden stakes, which also attracted a round of applause. When an old man comes up to ask for a reward at the end of the performance, most of the people, except for a handful of people who watch the white play, will throw a copper on their heads.

When the old man turned to the middle, he saw a seven or eight-year-old child yelling at him excitedly, he hurriedly squatted down, and sure enough, the child directly put down a handful of copper coins, not to mention a dozen. The old man was overjoyed, and he thanked the place for a thousand thanks. As soon as he left, the young man next to the child patted him on the head angrily.

"It's natural to be happy and want to reward more, but you also have to see what is being rewarded, if I don't look at it, you really put down that string, and then I don't know how many people will stare at it. Didn't you inquire with Tianci about today's prices, what can you do with a small string of fifty yuan, you don't need me to teach you! ”

"Dad, didn't I get too caught in it!" Jingguan smiled, then pulled Zhang Yue's sleeve and begged, "But don't tell my mother, otherwise I will be reprimanded again!" ”

"You deserve to be trained, who told you that your mother was wasting paper last time?"

Zhang Yue flicked his fingers lightly on the little guy's head, and then pulled Sansan out. When he got to the side of the street, he suddenly found that his big carriage was gone, and this surprise was not trivial, and when he was looking for someone, he finally saw the ox on the road running with a bitter face.

"Young master, young grandmother, they're going to guess the lantern riddle."

The Lantern Festival is held every year, and the likes of hanging yarn lanterns and playing dragon lanterns abound, but the most attractive thing is undoubtedly guessing the lantern riddles. In the most prosperous central place of the light market, several adjacent restaurants and restaurants have posted hundreds of riddles, and guessed that one is a piece of jewelry, which has attracted crowds of people on the street.

In the past, the big girls and little daughters-in-law who stayed at home also came out a lot, and they squeezed around in the crowd and were rarely taken advantage of, but for the sake of fresh jewelry, the shyness and elegance of the past were all left behind, and those who had a lover were even more disgusted with the lover to guess, and for a while many people were competing for the colored paper with the riddle written on it.

When Zhang Yue took Jingguan and Sansan to the largest restaurant in the center, what he saw was the scene of countless people excited. Dazzled, he looked east and west, and finally found his own carriage without any ornamentation. Du Juan and Amber Autumn Scar were standing there looking at a pile of confetti in unison, while several guards next to them spread out and watched the movement around them. Before he could ask a question, he suddenly saw a person squeezed out of the crowd over there, holding a large handful of riddled colored paper in his hand, it was Peng Shisan. Peng Shisan ran over in a hurry, but without saying a word, he stuffed all the colored paper in his hand.

"Young Master Yue, I have to ask for your help, I only have to look at this thing and not guess it, but if I can't get a single color, my family has to blame me to death!"

Zhang Yue was dumbfounded and looked at the pile of riddles that were stuffed into his hand, and just wanted to object, a call came from behind him, and he turned his head to see that it was Qiu Zhen who was waving at him with a smile, so he simply walked over, but saw Du Wanamber staring at a few riddles and studying, and the Lingxi on the side was frowning and pointing.

"Young Master! You're just in time, so hurry up and help you guess. Although we are not uncommon with that jewelry, we can also ask for an auspicious one. Since Brother Peng has grabbed so many mysteries, everyone will work together to divide things later, and it should be the color of the festival, which is better than buying, how festive! ”

"Yes, yes, Dad, I want it too!"

Seeing that the Jing official next to him was also coaxing, Zhang Yue suddenly became angry. Looking back at the crowd crowded with riddles, he saw that countless people were wrinkled when they squeezed out, and he didn't know how many people had ravaged them, but he still didn't care about shouting, he couldn't help but laugh dumbly, thinking that there was too little entertainment in these years, and the colorful head was not so much tempting as it aroused people's competitiveness. Therefore, seeing that Du Juan and the others were guessing vigorously, he smiled and leaned over to look at the riddle.

"Returning from stepping on flowers, butterflies around your knees, guessing a taste of Chinese medicine? There are so many Chinese medicines, who can guess, it's too embarrassing! ”

"Look at this, 'The remnants of the flowers are withering, and the words of the song are played.'" This one...... Ha, isn't it just scattered into mud and dust? ”

"The heart is ape, type...... What should this be......"

Seeing that Lingxi and Amber were already together with their heads, and the warm ears had fallen to the ground and were still unconscious, Zhang Yue had to step forward and cough, but the four eyes were all staring at him, and Lingxi even stuffed the few pieces of paper in his hand, and said with a smile: "Young grandma has already guessed three or four, and the rest of the young master, come on!" ”

Zhang Yue took over the lantern riddles, and after looking at a few exquisitely designed riddles, he immediately racked his brains and thought about it. Today's riddle maker doesn't know how many Tang poems and Song poems and lantern riddle collection notes have been turned over to design so many riddles, so it is not so easy to guess, he looked at them one by one with great interest, and only guessed a few.

"When the butterfly returns from stepping on the flowers, this is naturally incense; The heart is ape, type...... Well, it's a heavy word, there must be no doubt about it; The statue of the old stove king, playing a Tang poem, has, full of dust and fireworks; Falling into the English is colorful, playing a Chinese medicine name ......"

"Red Flower Scatter!"

Just as Zhang Yue was chattering, a man's voice suddenly came from behind. He turned his head in surprise, and saw Xiao Wu winking at her with a smile, but his hand was pointing at the group next to him. I saw a woman wearing a jade-colored silk jacket, a blue satin skirt, and a lotus-colored cloak outside. Seeing Ruan Shi Ying Ying saluting, he hurriedly waved his hand, and immediately recognized her next to her brother Ruan Qin and Li Cheng.

Li Cheng had stayed in the Shenji Camp for five days before, and although he didn't hold a grudge, he couldn't help but feel stunned when he saw Zhang Yue. After all, he is a high-ranking official in the court, but he is a minister of Annan after all, and he is already nearly fifty years old, and he only thinks that his wife will live a peaceful life. Therefore, after Ruan Qin stepped forward to greet him, he tried his best to collect his gaze, so as not to make people mistakenly think that he was peeping at other people's families. But what he never expected was that Ruan Qin was there with great interest to help Zhang Yue guess the lantern riddle, and then he talked about the new weapons of the Ordnance Bureau, which was simply not at all.

"Ahem!" Zhang Yue was also not happy to talk about business with a big man on this rare Shangyuan Festival, so he coughed lightly and changed the topic, and asked, "Your brother and sister still live with Mr. Nan Weng?" Each other is proficient in firearms, which is just right. If you have time to spare, you might as well go to the house and sit down, and you won't be able to talk about these firearms for a while. ”

Ruan Qin nodded, and was about to answer the conversation, but was pulled aside by Ruan's force. Since Ruan is a woman, she naturally peeked at Du Juan and the others over there just now, although these inner relatives are not very stunning, they have their own merits, and it is strange that Zhang Yue is a high-ranking official, but he is extremely restrained outside. At this moment, she secretly scolded her brother for being a complete idiot, and after smiling and saluting, she said to Zhang Yue: "It's rare that my cousin has time to go to the lamp market with our brothers and sisters, so let's leave first, so as not to disturb the adults." ”

Seeing that the Ruan family was dragging Ruan Qin away alive and dead, and finding that Li Cheng seemed to be avoiding Zhang Yue like a snake and scorpion, Du Juan stepped forward and looked at the backs of the three of them curiously for a while, and then chuckled: "This is that Annannan?" ”

"Beauty or not beauty everyone has their own opinions, but she is a smart girl." Zhang Yue didn't have any regrets in this matter, so he said very calmly, "His brother is an idiot, he listens to his sister for everything, he can't even look at him just now, if he is the only one, he may have to be eaten alive in the weapons prison...... Ahem, I just hope his brother doesn't get so energetic, and seeing the way he looks just now, he might actually come to the door and talk to me about firearms. ”

Zhang Bu's few people are strict-mouthed, so few people in the Zhang family know about this Annannan people's public case, but these few people do not include Autumn Amber and Lingxi, so the hostility may not be, but curiosity is curiosity. After all, it is very rare for a woman to be able to save her brother with her intelligence and settle down in the capital with her intelligence, let alone a foreign woman.

Curiosity came and went quickly, and when Zhang Yue turned the topic to solving the mystery and redeeming the prize, everyone forgot about the three passers-by just now. Although Zhang Yue has tried his best, he still can't compare to Du Juan and Amber Lingxi joining forces, but the big mysteries just now have solved twenty-three riddles.

Naturally, Peng Shisan continued to run errands, however, this time, when he ran out of the crowd, he was followed by a middle-aged man wearing a six-in-one hat. The middle-aged man was not very good-looking, and came up to look at the dozen or so guards around him, and looked at the women in the middle who were all silk jackets covered with half-sleeved cloaks, although they were not full of pearls, but the few pieces of jewelry that were exposed were not trivial, and he suddenly realized that it was not someone who made trouble, but the riddle of his own restaurant did not match, which obviously provoked the interest of the rich family.

At this moment, he couldn't help wiping his sweat, and hurriedly smiled and said: "The small restaurant is buying some worthless things such as gilt silver jewelry, you are all nobles, presumably you don't want to give it away for free, it's better to be a host......

"Who said we don't want it, these twenty-seven riddles are twenty-seven pieces of jewelry, no matter how expensive or cheap, I have to decide!" Peng Shisan ran back and forth, thinking that the middle-aged man was going to repay the debt, and suddenly had a seizure, "If you hit the riddle, you will be given a prize, it is justified, if you don't give it, there are so many guesses over there, and they won't let you go easily!" ”

The middle-aged man was furious by Peng Shisan's tough attitude, seeing that Zhang Yue and the others just smiled and didn't make a sound, he thought about the pros and cons, so he had no choice but to agree, and while walking back, he secretly scolded those who invited the good hands to make lantern riddles and they were all rice buckets, and they broke more than 20 in a row for others so easily. But the gilt silver jewelry in the building really didn't have so many preparations, and as soon as his eyes rolled, he had an idea. Suddenly, in a hurry, he turned back with a carved lacquer box

"This son, and this eldest brother, I also know that everyone came out to visit this Lantern Festival, just to be happy and auspicious. The gilt silver jewelry must not be able to look at it, I have the delicate pile of yarn flowers that Jiangnan just sent here, as well as a few handfuls of silver-inlaid comb backs, exquisite flowers, beads of various bright colors, and various silk threads, although they are not worth a few dollars, but you can also play with it, why don't I offset this? ”

Peng Shisan was about to speak, but Zhang Yue finally couldn't stand it: "Okay, okay, old Peng, don't make a fuss, everyone just join in the fun, just pick two things you like." ”

As he spoke, he stepped forward to take the box, and walked around in front of his family, Du Juan picked a few colored silk threads, Amber took a delicate flower, and Qiu Scar Lingxi each took a handful of silver-inlaid comb backs, as for Jingguan, he picked a pile of yarn flowers for Sansan, and he didn't ask for anything, Xiao Wu checked in the box for a while, and took a bag of beads. Therefore, when Zhang Yue handed the box back, the middle-aged shopkeeper who thought that he had suffered a heavy loss this time took a long breath, and even said thank you, and concluded in his heart that this must be everyone's children bringing their families out to play, just for fun.

Just when both sides were happy, I didn't know where Lian Sheng suddenly came out, hurriedly stepped forward, and whispered in Zhang Yue's ear: "Young master, the prince of the royal prison is just at home, saying that he is not suitable and has lost the emperor!" At this time, the emperor and the county lord Chen Liu should be in the lamp market, you hurry up and help find it! ”