Although it is night, the streets of the capital are extremely lively today, and the teahouses and restaurants are lit with candles, making it as bright as day.
Lanterns of various shapes are placed on the stalls of the hawkers. Some of them are painted with twelve zodiac signs, some are painted with various flower branches, some are pavilions, some are beautiful and beautiful, and they are lifelike. Clap your hands.
There are also those who walk on stilts, dance lions, play dragon lanterns, and breathe fire... people are overwhelmed to see.
The girls in Nangong Mansion seldom go out of the mansion, and they have been dazzled for a long time.
Along the way, Nangong Yue was the busiest one, but she promised her brother that she would bring him delicious and fun things. Therefore, Nangong Yue sent Yimei to buy it immediately when she saw a good snack, and sent Que'er to buy it without hesitation when she saw the exquisite gadgets at the street stall.
Stopping and walking along the way, until everyone reached the entrance of the famous Shenghua Salou in Wangdu, Nangong Yue stopped with a sense of satisfaction.
Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival Lantern Festival. Naturally, there are many gorgeous and unique lanterns hanging at the entrance of Shenghua Restaurant and under the eaves of the second floor. In front of the restaurant, it was crowded with people.
Nangong Cheng was very curious, and quickly asked the boy to go forward to inquire about the situation.
After a while, the servants reported back and forth: "Master, Shenghua Restaurant is going to hold a quiz competition soon, and it is said that whoever wins the final quiz championship will get the painting of the talented girl Jin Lan."
Jin Lan is one of the famous talented women in the previous dynasty, her calligraphy and painting can be called a masterpiece, many literati in the previous dynasty admired her, but this Jin Lan only fell in love with Prime Minister Liu of the previous dynasty.
Rumor has it that Prime Minister Liu of the previous dynasty was amazingly talented and had already become prime minister at a young age. Prime Minister Liu was usually not very feminine, but he was alone with Jin Lan. At that time, the affair between the two of them was widely spread, and everyone knew about it, but just when people thought that this pair would hold hands for a hundred years, Jin Lan's family was beheaded by everyone, and the person who supervised the beheading was Liu. prime minister.
Finally, it is said that Prime Minister Liu never married and died when the dynasty changed.
And the truth about the love and hatred between Jin Lan and Prime Minister Liu has been unknown with the change of dynasties and the passage of time...
The only thing left is that the world laments Jin Lan's infatuation, but the entrustment is not human!
Nangong Yue suddenly remembered that her mother, Lin, liked the talented girl Jin Lan very much, and even collected a few of her calligraphy and paintings, and took them out to admire from time to time. If I can get the painting of Jinlan, my mother will be happy.
"Sister Yue, do you want to participate?" Nangong Cheng has always been observant. Nangong Yue's performance is so obvious, how could she not notice it.
Nangong Yue nodded and said, "Yes, big sister, I want to try it."
Hearing that Nangong Yue wanted to participate in the guessing competition, Su Jingping, Nangong Yan and Nangong Lin couldn't help being moved.
Nangong Cheng frowned in embarrassment. In her perception, she felt that as a lady, she really shouldn't show her face on such an occasion. But the sisters were all in high spirits, and she didn't want to pour cold water on her and become a bad person.
Nangong Cheng also felt that something was wrong, but thinking that it was rare for his younger sisters to leave the house once, he couldn't bear to refuse their request like this.
At this moment, a white-clothed boy wearing a pig's head mask hurried past them.
Nangong Cheng's gaze stayed on the opponent for a moment, then his eyes lit up, and he suggested: "Biaogu Ping, and a few younger sisters, if you want to participate in the competition, why don't you all wear masks before going."
The girls also thought the idea was very elegant and suited the situation of the lantern festival, so they were all excited, and hurriedly found a stall selling masks, and each picked a mask.
Nangong Cheng chose a monkey mask, Nangong Cheng chose a cat mask, Nangong Yue chose a fox mask for herself, and helped Nangong Xin bring a tiger mask.
Nan Gonglin and Su Qingping each chose a ghost mask and a fairy mask. Nangong Yan picked out a rabbit mask.
After they put on their respective masks, they entered Shenghua Restaurant together.
The hall on the first floor of the restaurant was full of people at this time, most of them came to watch the excitement, a small part came to participate in the competition, and some people came to encourage the contestants.
A high platform has been built in the middle of the hall on the first floor, and several rows of long tables are placed on the platform, on which pens, inks, papers and inkstones have been placed.
At this time, a middle-aged man in a navy blue gown appeared on the second floor. He walked down the stairs slowly, and then walked up to the high platform in the hall, looking down at everyone with a deep smile on his lips. .
"Uncle Fan, why haven't you started yet? We've been waiting for a long time." A young man dressed in a light blue Shu satin robe said impatiently. Judging from his tone, he is obviously a regular customer of the restaurant.
Immediately, someone beside him echoed loudly: "Yes, yes, let's start quickly, we have been waiting for a long time."
The middle-aged man called Uncle Fan smiled and cupped his hands at the young man who was the first to speak: "It's Mr. Zhang, don't worry, the annual Mid-Autumn Festival riddle competition will start soon. "
As soon as the voice fell, there was a burst of noise, applause, and shouts in the hall on the first floor...
"Everyone, please be quiet first." Uncle Fan raised his hand and said loudly, the hall quickly fell silent.
Uncle Fan said again: "My friends, this guessing competition is tentatively scheduled to have ten questions. The winner who answers ten questions in a row will win the painting of the talented girl Jin Lan. I can only ask you to withdraw from the competition."
As soon as this remark came out, someone immediately said: "Then what if two people answered the ten questions correctly?"
"Then whoever answers quickly will be the final winner." Uncle Fan replied without hesitation.
After that, no one asked any questions.
Uncle Fan stretched out his hand to make the petition, and said: "Next, all the contestants are invited to come on stage, and each person chooses a long answer. After I come up with a question, everyone writes the answer on the paper. Pay attention, the answer to each question The time is twenty breaths, if you don’t answer within the specified time, you will be considered eliminated.”
As soon as this remark came out, there was a burst of complaints in the hall, complaining that the time was too short. But complaints are complaints, and no one dares to make trouble.
"Then, please come to the stage as soon as possible. After a cup of tea, the competition will officially begin."
In the next cup of tea, many people came to the long table on the stage one after another, including Nangong Sheng, Nangong Cheng, Nangong Yue, Nangong Yan, Nangong Lin and Su Qingping, the accompanying maids and The guards are all waiting in the audience.
After all the participants were seated, there was a sudden sound of gong beating on the right side of the hall, and someone shouted loudly: "The competition has officially begun!"
After the voice fell, the hall on the first floor was silent. Uncle Fan took out a note, but heard a crisp voice from below the stage: "Wait! There is me!"
Everyone followed the sound and saw a silver-clothed young man with white jade skin and bright starry eyes striding towards the stage. If someone else was wearing a silver shirt, he might not be able to support it. And this young man is not only handsome, but also has an extraordinary bearing , A haughty and confident temperament exudes unabashedly in his steps.
Beside him was a slightly shorter boy in yellow shirt and four sturdy guards. Naturally, the guard didn't come on stage, only the boy in white and the boy in yellow came on stage.
Nangong Yue was stunned for a moment, these two were actually old acquaintances, she couldn't help but exchanged glances with Nangong Cheng.
Nangong Cheng nodded understandingly.
These two people were none other than Mingyue Princess Qu Jiayue and Nan Gongyue, Miss Zhang Yusheng whom they had met in Enguo Duke's Mansion before. Frankly speaking, Princess Mingyue still looks a bit like a man in men's clothing, but this Yusheng is coy, she looks like a sissy, and she can't hide it from people with discerning eyes.
Nangong Cheng immediately whispered a few words into his elder brother Nangong Cheng's ear, to let him know what to do so that he would not accidentally offend the nobleman.
And Su Qingping also recognized Princess Mingyue. On the one hand, she wanted to have a relationship with the princess, but on the other hand, she was afraid that the princess would forget herself and lose face.
Looking at Qu Jiayue and Zhang Yusheng, Uncle Fan frowned slightly. According to the rules of previous years, after the sound of the gong, he was not allowed to go on stage again. But he has been in the capital for so many years, so he can naturally see that these two people are not ordinary people, so he immediately started to ask questions with a smile on his face: "Everyone, the first question is very simple, but it will become more and more difficult in the future." Yes. Now listen, everyone. There are all pearls and agates. Guess the word."
After thinking about it for a while, Nangong Yue came up with the answer and wrote it down on paper. This "Pearl Agate" has the radical "Wang", so the answer is - "Wang".
This question was really simple, only three people went down the stage dejectedly.
After the gong was struck again, Uncle Fan began to ask the second question: "For the second question, everyone should listen carefully, and only say each question once. Before and after the farewell, there is a sudden wind, guess the word."
Nangong Yue quickly wrote on the paper again - "scratch".
Another five or six people left the stage in desperation, including Zhang Yusheng. She walked by Qu Jiayue, whispered something in her ear, and then left the stage.
Qu Jiayue turned her head to look in Nangong Cheng's direction, and asked arrogantly, "Are you the son of Nangong's family?"
Nangong Sheng didn't want to make a high profile, but he didn't have any reason to avoid it, so he nodded, "Exactly, Xia Nangong Sheng."
Several people nearby also heard their voices, and immediately whispered to each other, this Nangong family is indeed known to everyone among the literati.
Qu Jiayue's sharp gaze wandered over several masked girls near Nangong Cheng, and said, "Then these girls must be from the Nangong family." After removing the girls whose ages did not match, she focused her gaze on A few of them were on Nangong Cheng, Nangong Yue and Nangong Yan, with a sense of exploration.
Nangong Cheng had also heard before that the Mingyue princess seemed to have a lot of opinions on his younger sister Nangong Cheng. He was afraid that the other party would target his younger sister, so he just said vaguely: "It's a rare Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival. I'll take a few younger sisters out for fun."
The competition continued, as Uncle Fan said, each question was more difficult than the next, and more and more people stepped down after each question...