After a while, Lily came back with a flushed face, and said excitedly: "My lord, my concubine, you are eating Yuanxiao blindfolded in a competition, no, it should be guessing 'stuffing' blindfolded! Guess the fillings of ten Lantern Festivals, and you can win the 'Lamp King'!"
The more Lily talked, the more excited she became, her eyes lit up: "I have gone to see it, that lamp king really deserves to be the lamp king, it's so delicate, beautiful, and amazing..." Lily, who lacked vocabulary, couldn't continue, I can only sum it up in one sentence, "Anyway, if you don't go and see it, you will regret it!"
Baihui looked at Lily from the side, feeling very emotional in her heart. Her little cousin is still childish, and she is going to get married in a few days... It's really worrying! But in the future, the cousin will no longer be her responsibility... Thinking about it, Baihui felt a little sad again, and lowered her eyelids halfway to hide the strange color in her pupils.
Nangong Yue, Xiao Yi and Xiao Fei were all intrigued by Bai He's words, and were about to step forward to have a look, when a familiar voice suddenly came from behind:
"Ah Yue!"
"Brother!"
The three of Nangong Yue followed the sound, and not far away, a group of slightly familiar faces were walking towards them. Apart from Fu Yunhe, Fu Yunyan, and Wen Yu, even Yongyang also went out in plain clothes. The sons and daughters of the family, and even the two married aunts of the Fu family.
Since everyone was traveling in plain clothes and it was inconvenient to salute, Nangong Yue and the others were not too restrained, and simply greeted Yong Yang and other Fu family members.
"Ah Yue, what a coincidence, you and A Fei are also here to enjoy the lantern!" Fu Yunyan trotted to Nangong Yue with a smile, and pointed to the ring curiously, "Why are there so many people over there, do you know what they are playing? "
Nangong Yue gave Lily a look, and Lily immediately explained it vividly, and the joyful look made several girls show some interest.
Fu Yunying, a nine-year-old Fu Qi girl, asked curiously: "Is that revolving lantern really so beautiful?"
"It's beautiful, it's really beautiful!" Lily nodded vigorously.
Wen Yu looked at Yong Yang with a smile and said, "Grandmother, why don't we join in the fun? Let's see if grandson can win back the 'Lamp King'?"
Going out to watch the Lantern Festival is naturally to join in the fun, since his grandson is interested, how could Yong Yang spoil the fun, so he immediately agreed.
So, Baihui, Baihe and a few accompanying women tried to open the way in front of them, cleverly pushed aside the crowd, and managed to squeeze the crowd to the front of the crowd.
On the high arena, five blindfolded people are sitting on it, tasting glutinous rice balls, and reporting the ingredients of the filling one by one: "Lard, sesame, osmanthus, honey..."
As long as one wrong ingredient is mentioned, the boss with a mustache in a brocade robe will invite him off the stage with a smile.
Although there are many people watching, there are actually not that many people queuing up by the arena. According to an old lady on the side, ten copper coins are needed to go on stage, and ten copper coins are enough to eat several bowls of Lantern Festival, so ordinary people just don’t like to wait. Try it once, and then just stand there and watch.
Although this Lantern Festival is small, the fillings in it can be made from a mixture of several ingredients, so it's not so easy to guess. Most people are well aware of this, but there are still some people who are unwilling to give up and are willing to try several times. That is the charm of the "Lamp King".
Just behind the arena, an exquisite palace lantern-shaped revolving horse lantern was hung on a branch of a big tree. The lamp base of the lantern was decorated with golden cloud patterns, and the bottom was decorated with golden fringes and tassels of various colors. Both festive and dazzling. The outer lampshade is a thin layer of white gauze, with a translucent hazy feeling, and a white light bulb is placed on the wind disk inside the gauze lamp. Under the light of the red candlelight, the light bulb rotates slowly , Green mountains and green waters are projected on the white gauze lantern screen, and several military generals gallop on horseback, chasing each other, exuding a kind of heroic spirit that reigns supreme between heaven and earth. Flying over the water with cicada-like wings, it is a little more tender and delicate.
Wen Yu on the side sighed aloud: "An ancient poem says: 'Balloons and horses drive flame spirits, fly around the city that never sleeps, the wind mane chases the stars, there is a shadow, and the frost hoof chases the electricity to go silently. Chibi soldiers; I even recalled the days when the saddle was young, and the Zhangtai smashed the moon and the bright light'. It is just a revolving lantern!"
"This lamp is worthy of being the lamp king!" Yong Yang also praised.
Although the aunt could not hear Wen Yu's literary lines, she knew she must be praising the "Lamp King". She straightened her plump breasts and said proudly: "That is! But the most famous Lantern King in the entire capital, his skill in making lanterns is top-notch, and there is no better master than him. It's just that the original boss made a lot of money in business, so the original master didn't come out to make lanterns for others. It's a lantern, and as soon as this 'Lamp King' was hung up today, someone offered a thousand taels of silver, but the original owner didn't want to sell it, and even let it go, the lantern wasn't for sale, it was just as a prize for the lantern festival. Have fun."
Nangong Yue and the others looked at each other, the former boss was a bit interesting.
The aunt lowered her voice, pointed to a young man in fine clothes and a middle-aged businessman on the ring, and said: "This young man and that old man are all eyeing the 'Lamp King', and they have already participated in the competition." It's been several rounds!"
Fu Yunyan was speechless: "They are not afraid of accumulating food!"
Yuanxiao is mainly made of glutinous rice, if you eat too much, you will accumulate food!
At this moment, another round in the arena was over, except for the young master and the businessman, the others all came down in a dispirited manner, some simply left, while others stayed there unsatisfied and continued to watch.
"Cousin, I'll go play with you too." Fu Yunyan eagerly said, "However, my mother always said that I drink water, and no matter how good something is in my mouth, it's the difference between delicious and bad." She said There was a bit of self-deprecation and open-mindedness in his tone.
"Go, go. Anyone who wants to go, go up and have fun. It's good to join in the fun." Yong Yang suggested with a smile.
Although Yong Yang said so, except for Fu Yunyan, the other girls still did not come to the stage. After all, they have to be blindfolded and eat glutinous rice balls on stage, and if they are not careful, they will lose their dignity in public.
Fu Yunhe casually threw a silver ingot to the younger brother who was collecting money, and everyone filed up on the stage.
After blindfolding, the first round of Lantern Festival was delivered to everyone's mouths. The original boss "kindly" reminded: "This is composed of four ingredients."
"Bean paste, sweet-scented osmanthus, sugar..."
"Bean paste, sweet-scented osmanthus, honey..."
A "white sugar" successfully knocked Xiao Yi off the stage first, Xiao Fei silently glanced at Xiao Yi who happily walked back to Nangong Yue, her eyes were full of contempt. She thinks that Fu Yunyan's phrase "drinking water like a hair" should be given to elder brother! Honey can taste like white sugar! Those delicacies that go into his mouth are really wasted...
Fortunately, my sister-in-law always cooks hard to cook delicious food for him!
Two more rounds soon passed on the stage. The second round of fruit glutinous rice balls defeated Fu Yunhe and the two young masters, and the third round of pork glutinous rice balls stumped Fu Yunyan again.
Fu Yunyan stepped down from the stage dejectedly and said: "Ah Yue, it's a pity that Cousin Yi is not here. If she is here, she might win!" Hey, it's rare that grandma likes this lamp. She originally wanted to win the lamp king and give it to grandma! It's a pity Already...
Nangong Yue shook her head with a broken smile, and could only comfort her: "Liu Niang, and your cousin Yu."
Fu Yunyan looked up at Wen Yu who was still blindfolded in the arena, she really didn't have much confidence in her cousin...
The game on the ring is still going on... Every time a round passes, there will be fewer people on the stage, and by the last round, only Wen Yu is left on the stage.
Fu Yunyan changed from being surprised in the middle to now only looking forward to it, with sparkling eyes, holding Nangong Yue's hand and saying: "Ah Yue, it seems that this Lantern King should belong to our family."
During the conversation, the surroundings became more and more noisy and lively. Many people heard that the "Lamp King" was about to be won away, and they flocked here to watch the excitement, discussing in one go:
"That young master's tongue is really powerful!"
"Yeah, yeah, I actually made it to the last round."
"I thought the original boss was trying to make things difficult for others, but I didn't expect someone to win."
"..."
During the discussion, the last round is over!
The original boss announced loudly on the stage: "Thank you for your participation today, this lamp king will be given to this young master!"
Amid applause and cheers, Wen Yu took the revolving lantern down the ring, walked up to Yong Yang, presented the revolving lantern to him with a smile, and said, "Grandmother, grandson wants to give you this 'Lamp King' , do you like it?"
How could Yong Yang not like the grandson's filial piety, he smiled from ear to ear, and said: "Brother Yu, grandma certainly likes it."
Fu Sanniang, who was by Yong Yang's side, jokingly said: "Cousin Yu, I know you respect your grandmother, but don't forget us cousins!"
Wen Yu smiled slightly, and replied calmly: "How dare my younger brother forget my cousin..." As he spoke, he pointed to the front right, and saw the original boss walking towards this side, followed by several mistresses, each They all held a few lanterns in their hands.
"Brother Wen and I hit it off right away," the original boss said with a smile, "Brother Wen, don't be polite to me, give these lanterns to Brother Wen."
"Thank you, the original boss." Wen Yu cupped his fists to thank the other party, and then distributed those lanterns to several Fu family girls one by one, and finally got two more.
"Concubine Xiao, Miss Xiao," Wen Yu looked at Nangong Yue and Xiao Fei with a smile, "There are still two lanterns here, please accept them!"
The left and right were just two lanterns, and they were given in front of the elders, which was in accordance with the rules, so Nangong Yue and Xiao Fei were disrespectful.
Wen Yu gave one of the plum blossom lanterns to Xiao Fei, and one of the jade rabbit lanterns to Nangong Yue.
"Thank you, Mr. Wen." Xiao Feifu thanked her, raised the rose red plum blossom lantern in her hand a little, and the candlelight reflected on her little face through the lantern veil, making her skin look like a layer of rouge blush.
From the beginning to the end, Wen Yu's behavior was polite and impeccable, but Nangong Yue always felt that something was wrong...
"Girl, the color of your lantern really matches your clothes." Tao Yao whispered beside Xiao Fei.
One sentence attracted Nangong Yue's attention. She looked around thoughtfully, and after careful observation, she noticed that the plum blossom lantern in Xiao Fei's hand was the only one among them. The Jade Rabbit Lamp in my hand, and the Mushroom Lamp in Fu Yunyan's hand have two or three duplicates. Could it be that I am too attached to it
"Ah Yue, Ah Yi, where are you going next?" Fu Yunyan walked over with a round mushroom lamp, and suggested, "How about we go together?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she heard Wen Yu say from the side: "Shizi Xiao, concubine Shizi, I heard that many believers will go there tonight in Santai Temple to light up Kongming lanterns. It must be a very spectacular scene."
Xiao Fei's eyes lit up immediately, and she blurted out: "Isn't that 'Hundred Kongming Lanterns Flying Up, Longevity Like a Sage'? Sister-in-law..." Xiao Fei looked at Nangong Yue expectantly, her black and shiny eyes seemed to be hidden behind the The moon in the clouds.
Nangong Yue was just guessing at first, but now she is almost 80 to 90% sure that Wen Yu should be trying to curry favor with Xiao Fei. She couldn't help recalling the scenes at the stove meeting a few days ago, which seemed to be a sign of this.
It is human nature to be fond of lust, but Nangong Yue always feels that Wen Yu's attitude is a bit too deliberate...
Is she suspicious
"Okay." Fu Yunyan said happily, "Let's go release the Kongming lanterns!" As she spoke, she looked forward to looking at Nangong Yue and the others.
After all, they are close to Yongyang Mansion, it is not appropriate to refuse for no reason, Nangong Yue said to Xiao Fei with a smile: "Sister Fei, let's go to Santai Temple to have a look."
So, a group of people continued on their way to Santai Temple.
At this time, there are more and more people on the road. Every few steps, you can see various stalls and restaurants engaged in various activities. There are also dragon and lion dance teams passing by from time to time. The atmosphere is very lively. up.
Suddenly, Xiao Yi's footsteps stopped, and he looked forward to the right, and vaguely, he seemed to see a somewhat familiar figure from the back, but before he could see clearly, that figure blended into the crowd and disappeared.
"Ayi?"
"It's okay." Xiao Yi smiled and took Nangong Yue's hand, "Let's go."
The hustle and bustle of the crowd disturbed their walking speed a lot, and it took more than half an hour to walk as far as a stick of incense could cover.
When they arrived at Santai Temple, it was almost Haishi.
Fu Yunyan excitedly dragged Nangong Yue into the temple, urging: "Hurry up, everyone, Kongming lanterns will be released at Haishi!"
As if to confirm her words, one, two, three... Hundreds of Kongming lanterns rose slowly in the night wind like white doves, and the candles flickered in the Kongming lanterns.
I saw that the courtyard behind the main hall was already crowded with people, shoulder to shoulder, people either leaned over to light their Kongming lanterns, or looked up at the countless Kongming lanterns floating high and low in the sky, which was almost bigger than the stars in the night sky. To shine brightly, they fade away, slowly blending into the constellations of the night sky, and finally disappearing out of sight.
This scene is really beautiful!
The girls looked up one by one intently...
I don't know how long it took, the Kongming lanterns in the night sky became sparse, and the crowd around them also began to disperse.
Xiao Fei withdrew her gaze a little bit, and Nangong Yue comforted her with a smile: "Sister Fei, let's set off the Kongming lanterns next time too!"
"Next time" represents good expectations... Xiao Fei couldn't help laughing.
At this moment, someone in the crowd screamed hysterically: "Ah! It's gone!"
A word is like a stone falling into the lake, quickly causing ripples circle after circle, spreading around like...
"Look, it's gone!"
"Everyone run!"
"The water is gone! The water is gone!"
"..."
Nangong Yue followed the sound and saw thick smoke rising from the direction of the main hall, in which she could faintly see the crimson flames jumping up all the way, spreading to the surroundings, and after a while, the thick smoke billowed into the night sky .
Others naturally saw it too, Fu Yunyan was quite calm, and most of the other girls from the Fu family turned pale and were at a loss.
Nangong Yue's heart sank, Xiao Yi hurriedly grabbed her wrist, while Bai He hurriedly blew out the lantern in her hand, and shouted loudly: "Everyone blow out the lantern first!" How could anyone care about her when she was running for her life? There are lanterns, but if you throw the lit lanterns around, it is likely to create a new fire point, and even cause the fire to spread faster.
Yong Yang glanced at Bai He appreciatively, and hurriedly said: "Everyone be careful, try not to get lost..."
But her voice was drowned in the madly surging sea of people in the blink of an eye...
The panicked crowd frantically surged around like headless flies, and everyone blindly wanted to escape from here... In this extreme panic, the power of the crowd was like the rolling mudslides, booming Nangong Yue and the others had to run out along the flow of people.
When she was able to slow down a little, Nangong Yue found nervously that Xiao Fei had disappeared.
"Concubine Shizi, servant girl, look for it!" Lily said, and quickly squeezed in against the crowd.
"Lily!" Nangong Yue was about to tell her to be careful, but Lily had disappeared.
Nangong Yue was anxious and uneasy, wondering if Lily could find Xiao Fei.
Xiao Yi carefully embraced Nangong Yue's shoulders, protected most of her body in his arms, and walked towards the gate along the direction of the flow of people.
The surroundings were extremely chaotic, and you could see lanterns thrown aside everywhere. The candles in the lanterns ignited the withered grass, and they burned up. Unknowingly, the Santai Temple was filled with thick smoke. Disorienting the direction...
Xiao Yi took Nangong Yue and rushed out of the temple gate in a vigorous manner. Once outside, he saw Yong Yang and Fu Yunyan were already outside. Fu Yunyan rushed up to greet her and sighed happily: "Ah Yue, Ah Yi, As long as you are fine... Where is A Fei?"
"Sister Fei and we were separated by people." Nangong Yue looked into the temple worriedly. Before, only the main hall was on fire, but now at a glance, both the side hall on the left and the side rooms on the right are moving. The flames, the raging fire with its teeth and claws, just looking at it from such a distance makes people feel uneasy...
At this time, Fu Yunhe also protected Fu Sanniang and rushed out of the temple, only to see that Fu Sanniang's temple hair was slightly messy, half of the makeup on her face was gone, and there was a familiar figure behind them.
"Taoyao!" Nangong Yue hurried forward and asked anxiously, "Where's your girl?" Why isn't Xiao Fei with Taoyao
Taoyao's face was already black and red, and she was extremely embarrassed. She cried and said with a sad face: "Shi... Shizi Concubine, slaves and eldest girls have been separated..."
In other words, Xiao Fei was still in this sea of flames, Nangong Yue's face was so pale that there was no trace of blood, and her slender body trembled slightly.
Sister Fei, will she be okay
Nangong Yue felt a throbbing pain in her heart, and couldn't help thinking: If something happened to Sister Fei, it would be all her fault! If she hadn't insisted on keeping Sister Fei in the capital, Sister Fei would have returned to Nangong now. If it is out of the border, then it will not encounter today's catastrophe...
She was still thinking wildly, when Xiao Yi beside her suddenly said in a deep voice, "Ah Yue, wait for me here..."
"Ayi..."
Nangong Yue instinctively raised her eyes to look at Xiao Yi, but she saw Xiao Yi rushing towards the temple with big strides: "I'm going to find Xiao Fei!"
Nangong Yue subconsciously wanted to chase after her, but was immediately grabbed by Fu Yunyan beside her: "Ah Yue!"
Nangong Yue calmed down, yes, she followed at this time, didn't she add trouble to Ah Yi!
All she can do now is wait, and--
She looked at the monks who came in and out with buckets of water, and the countless men and women who came from nearby with buckets to put out the fire.
Nangong Yue calmed down and told Baihui: "Baihui, I will be fine with Grandma Yongyang. You and the guards should help put out the fire quickly.... Be careful yourself."
"Yes, Shizifei." Baihui immediately took the order and left.
Everyone looked in the direction of Santai Temple worriedly, but at this moment, poor Xiao Fei was trapped in the side hall at a loss. She was squeezed into this side hall by crowds. It is said that she could escape from the temple through the side door as long as she passed through this side hall.
However, there were too many people at that time. I don't know who knocked over the candle in front of the Buddha. The hall quickly caught fire. The fire could be extinguished at that time, but the extreme panic made the crowd lose their minds, so that they Let the fire spread and spread, just focus on escaping, and then almost the entire side hall was engulfed in a sea of flames...
Xiao Fei watched helplessly as a few people rushed out of the side hall, and their robes instantly burned. Although the fire was finally extinguished after those people rolled on the ground a few times, it burned them into a mess.
When she hesitated, she lost her chance. A section of burning beams fell down with a bang, forming a wall of fire at the door, blocking the way, and trapping her and a middle-aged woman in this side hall.
The two of them immediately wanted to go back the same way, but the way they didn't want to come was already surrounded by fire, and the heat was blowing in their faces, and it was almost impossible for the two of them to move.
"Girl, what should we do? Now we are dead!" The middle-aged woman said in fear, her lips trembling.
It was cold winter, but they were like being in a huge stove, sweating profusely.
What should I do? Xiao Fei took a deep breath, tried to calm down, and said: "I remember I read in a miscellaneous book that when it's on fire, it's best to wet the sheet and put it on your body before rushing out..."
"But where are the sheets here..." As she spoke, the middle-aged woman looked at Xiao Fei and the cloak she was wearing, with a look of rejoicing on her face. Fortunately, she was wearing a cloak because of the cold weather.
Xiao Fei looked around again, her eyes fell on the vase on the altar table, and hurriedly ran over, but she heard the middle-aged woman behind her exclaim: "Girl, be careful!"
Xiao Fei was startled, and heard a "crack" sound from above her head, followed by another sound, followed by sporadic sparks falling down one after another.
No matter how dull Xiao Fei was, she still felt that something was wrong, she quickly raised her head, her eyes widened in disbelief.
On the roof of the side hall, a section of blazing beams fell down with a "bang", faster and faster, and the surging heat rushed towards her face, so hot that she almost ignited her.
Xiao Fei knew that she should hide, but at this moment, her body was completely out of control, and she couldn't move at all. She could only watch helplessly as the beam like a flaming sword was getting closer and closer to her...
I didn't expect that I would die like this, but I still have a lot of books I haven't read? If I knew she...
One thought after another flashed through Xiao Fei's mind in an instant, and at this moment, a black figure suddenly appeared in front of her, followed by a familiar voice: "Why are you standing there stupidly?"
In the crimson fire, a silver sword light was very eye-catching, and it struck the beam neatly, splitting it in two, and then only heard two loud bangs, and the two sections of the beam fell heavily On the ground, countless sparks splashed in all directions.
"Brother..."
Xiao Fei looked at the other party's unbelievably handsome face in the firelight in disbelief. To her, this handsome face with disgust and impatience was so familiar, but at the same time so strange!
If the eldest brother came a little later just now, she would have been burnt beyond recognition by now, right
Thinking of this, Xiao Fei suddenly felt a little scared, her slender body trembled violently, and even Xiao Yi's disgusted eyes seemed to feel a little more cordial.