Sheng Suihe and his party below didn't know what was going on in the Nightless Pavilion today. After Sheng Weiwu asked Sheng Suihe to guess the riddles on his behalf, Sheng Weiqiao was originally very upset and didn't even want to agree. However, when she planned to trick Sheng Weiwu into leaving, she looked at The little girl's face was full of grievances, and she looked back at the lantern riddles with reluctance every step of the way. She finally softened her heart.
After all, it is a rare opportunity for a girl to go out at this time. Even though Sheng Weiwu is still young and still some years away from getting married, after missing tonight's trip, she returned to Nanfeng County a few days later, even though her family allowed her to have Lantern Festival next year. When I go out to watch the lanterns during the festival, the districts and counties are prosperous, how can they compare with Chang'an
Unless this little cousin marries to Chang'an in the future, according to common sense, tonight may be the last time in Sheng Weiwu's life to witness the splendor of the Chang'an Lantern Festival.
Thinking of this, Sheng Weiqiao sighed secretly, stood still, and asked Sheng Suihe coldly: "Are you good at guessing lantern riddles?"
Sheng Suihe Xin said, now even if I really know nothing, can I say that I am not good at it
Without hesitation, he said: "Of course!"
"...Then let's go back and try." Sheng Weiqiao looked at Sheng Weiwu who turned from worry to joy in an instant and smiled brightly. The depression in his heart was somewhat relieved. He touched his sister's little face and warned, "Stay with me later. , don’t run around, lest there are too many people crowding you!”
Sheng Weiwu happily agreed and couldn't wait to hold her hand and walk back.
At the little girl's insistence, the group returned to the store. When the guards came forward to separate the crowd with brute force, many people were still very dissatisfied. However, seeing that Sheng Weiqiao and Sheng Weiwu were both girls with delicate features and gorgeous clothes, such comments There was a lot less noise. After all, it was obvious that these two girls were pampered and could not squeeze around with ordinary people.
Looking at the sleeping crane at the back, she has sword-shaped eyebrows and starry eyes, red lips and white teeth. Under her sable fur, there is a corner of her robe with dark embroidery and a bird's-eye pattern on the bottom. Her hair is tied up with a gold crown, and she has jade fingers. She is obviously a child of a wealthy family.
Not only did the people who were pushed aside stopped complaining loudly when they saw it, the shopkeeper who was just at the door to solicit customers also hurriedly stepped forward to greet him and said with a smile: "Are you young ladies and gentlemen interested in entering to guess riddles?"
Sheng Weiqiao took a look at the shopkeeper. His voice was similar to the one he heard outside before. He looked like he was in his sixties, so he was getting older. His temples were slightly frosty, but his eyes were bright and his face was kind. He looked very strong and amiable. The look reminded her of her grandfather, Mrs. Sheng, whom she had not seen for several months. She felt a little fondness in her heart and nodded slightly: "My roommate is very interested in lantern riddles. I'm afraid that our talents and knowledge will make us laugh."
"Miss, you are humble." The shopkeeper smiled brightly, ordered someone to go in and bring out three octagonal bamboo bone lanterns with white gauze and colorful fringes, and said, "According to the rules of our pavilion, those who enter the store must take these welcome lanterns before entering. Yes, please give it a try, Miss!"
Looking at the situation, servants don't count.
Also, there were more than a dozen people like Sheng Weiqiao and the others, maids, women, stewards, escorts, and coachmen, all in total. This was because the emperor's feet were such a powerful place that they could not pull out all the people in Sheng's house.
If these people wanted to count, they would have to guess more than a dozen riddles before entering. Not to mention wasting time, it is estimated that the Evernight Pavilion may not be able to come up with these many fresh riddles
Sheng Weiqiao thought this and felt a little nervous, because he had never been allowed to participate in the lantern festival before. This is the Chang'an Lantern Festival, and this is only his third trip. The first two times, because of meeting Princess Qingfang, Sheng Suihe Although the interest was not high, Sheng Weiqiao was also preoccupied, so that he mostly watched the lanterns in the elegant room upstairs and did not accompany Sheng Weiwu through the lantern market.
Therefore, she had no experience in guessing riddles. At this moment, in front of everyone, she was a little worried, fearing that she would fail and find it difficult to step down from the stage.
Simply looking at the three octagonal bamboo bone lanterns with white gauze and colorful fringes, I saw a big "一" written on the lantern on the left. The shopkeeper introduced: "An idiom for this riddle."
He also pointed to the lantern on the right, with a single word "武" written on it, and said with a smile, "This riddle is just a guess of one word."
As for the one in the middle, it is the word "Danzhu", which is also a guess.
These three riddles are very simple [Note]. Sheng Weiqiao, who was ashamed of her talent, secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said to herself that she was really shocked by Huan Ye's hatred. Although she did not put in any hard work in her homework, this No matter how much the owner of Night Pavilion likes to guess riddles, he is open for business after all. If even the riddle to get in is extremely difficult and few people can guess it correctly, no matter how high the odds are, how can he not be left alone
Not only is there a lot of people around, but when you go shopping in high spirits to watch the lanterns, being embarrassed in front of a group of people will make anyone feel disappointed or even angry. In this way, you have indirectly made enemies. How could the boss here do such a thankless thing as long as he was in his right mind? So it is estimated that not only the riddle to enter the door is simple, but also there must be a lot of riddles on the first floor that ordinary people can figure out at a glance, to save the face of all guests.
The real problems, as well as the steps to avoid Night Pavilion losing money, are probably on the second and third floors.
Thinking this way, she felt certain in her heart and said with a smile: "The idiom is 'continuously', the character on the right is 'Fei', and the character in the middle is 'He', is that true or not?"
The shopkeeper personally handed over the three lamps and said with a smile: "Miss Bingxue is smart, please come in!"
But after saying this, he looked at the crowd behind them and said apologetically, "There are many guests in the pavilion, and many lanterns are now arranged. To avoid accidents, each person can only bring one servant in, and please invite three Haihan!”
This was not an embarrassing matter. Sheng Weiqiao readily agreed and ordered the two maids, Lu Qi and Tian'er. Sheng Suihe asked Gongsun Yingdun to follow, and Sheng Xiang took the others to wander nearby.
Sheng Weiqiao then took the lantern from the shopkeeper, gave one to Sheng Weiwu, and gave one back to Lu Qi. Only then did Lu Qi take it, and she took Sheng Weiwu's arm and walked inside.
This made Lu Qi secretly complain and hurriedly sent the lamp to Sheng Suihe.
When Sheng Suihe calmly took over the lamp and walked in slowly, Sheng Weiqiao took Sheng Weiwu and had already guessed two riddles correctly. One was "si". Type one word and the answer was "ten"; the other was " Type the word "ash" and the answer is "dust".
Sheng Weiwu guessed the last one correctly, so the little girl was very happy. Although the riddle was simple and only placed on a very ordinary four-corner pink gauze palace lantern, she still happily asked to buy it on the spot and mentioned it herself. Hand the octagonal bamboo bone, white gauze and colorful tassel lantern to the maid.
… Except for the octagonal bamboo bone white gauze colorful fringe lantern when you enter the store, which is given away if you guess correctly, other lanterns are not so generous. After guessing correctly, if you want it, you can get a discount at most, and it will cost you some money. purchase.
But this is also reasonable. After all, as Sheng Weiqiao thought, many of the lantern riddles on this floor are very simple and easy to understand at a glance.
In this case, if it is the same as some stalls outside, if you guess correctly, you will get a gift... Based on the flow of people in Tianjie during the Lantern Festival, they will definitely lose more than one or two points.
So the strategy they adopted was to give a free bamboo stick with the name of the pavilion engraved on it if they guessed correctly. After collecting thirty bamboo sticks, they could go to the stairs and hand them over to the steward. After the steward checked that they were correct, he would let the person go upstairs.
When Sheng Weiqiao correctly guessed the lantern riddle with the answer "ten" before, because it looked like it was just an ordinary lotus lantern, nothing special, he didn't ask for it and instead took the bamboo chips. The four-cornered pink gauze palace lantern at the back was also bought by Sheng Weiwu as a souvenir because she was young and rarely guessed the right one.
Because the two girls didn't need help at the moment, Sheng Suihe didn't say anything and just followed silently, occasionally looking at the lantern riddles nearby, but had no intention of taking action.
However, when I walked past a revolving lantern, for a moment when my eyes were illuminated by the colorful lights, a young man and woman happened to be walking towards this direction not far away. The man in the brocade robe looked up and his eyes lit up, showing enthusiasm. Se Lai, before he could reach the front, he shouted loudly: "Brother Hengshu, what a coincidence!"
When Sheng Suihe heard this, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he immediately stepped forward to salute as if nothing had happened, and said with a smile: "Sending Brother Sang, what a coincidence!"
At this time, both Sheng Weiqiao and Sheng Wewu had their backs turned to them, thinking about the lantern riddles in front of them, and did not notice this scene. On the other hand, the girl accompanying the man looked at Sheng Sleeping Crane curiously and asked in a low voice: "Fifth brother, who is this? I've never seen him before?"
The man in the brocade robe came over first and said to Sheng Suihe: "My sister-in-law just passed by this shop and insisted on coming in and guessing how many lamps to put back. But she couldn't help but had to comply. I didn't expect to meet Brother Hengshu here."
He also said, "Brother Hengshu is very elegant."
"Brother Xian, I don't know, but I was dragged in by my sister." Sheng Suihe smiled and pointed at Sheng Weiwu behind him, "Originally, I saw that the Evernight Pavilion was crowded with people inside and outside, so I wanted to change to another place. Wait. Unfortunately, the eighth sister, who is young and good at doing things, has to join in the fun. We have no choice but to follow them in. "
Hearing this, the man in brocade robe seemed to be stunned for a moment. He glanced at Sheng Weiwu in a strange way, but he quickly covered it up and said with his hands, "Brother Hengshu, it seems that we are truly destined!"
Only then did he have the time to introduce the girl next to him, "This is my third sister. By chance, she went out to live in Zhuangzi outside the city for a few days during the twelfth lunar month. She was not in the house, so I haven't seen my sister in person yet."
He also said to his third sister, "This is Nanfeng County Jieyuan Sheng Shuihe, whose cousin is Hengshu. When he came to Chang'an at the end of last year, he was accompanied by Mrs. Ningweihou and the prince, and he came to our house. At that time, the companions were also There are three young ladies from the Sheng family, but it's a pity that you didn't meet them, Tao Mei."
When he said this, although Sheng Suihe did not leave, Gongsun Yingdun who was following him had already hurried over to remind Sheng Weiqiao and Sheng Weiwu.
Although Sheng Weiqiao was still deliberately ignoring Sheng Suihe, he was afraid of being laughed at in front of others, so he calmed down and spoke.
But she just walked over and raised her eyebrows when she heard these words: Although she had never seen the brother and sister in front of her, but she said it so clearly, she knew that they must be the children of the Zhao family.
Mr. Zhao, and Miss Zhao San, Zhao Taomei!
She is also... Sheng Suihe's direct maternal cousin!
[Note] These riddles and puzzles were all found online, as were the ones in the following chapters.