Although the Lantern Festival lasts for seven days from the 12th to the 18th day of the first lunar month, the lighting of lanterns on the 15th day of the first lunar month has always been the most lively day of the year in the capital.
In addition to the decorations of lights and colorful lanterns in several streets from Donghuamen in the inner city to Dong'anmen in the outer city and all the way to Dengshi Hutong, dignitaries and wealthy families would also make colorful lanterns and even light lantern towers on this day. In the early years, they competed openly and secretly for the limelight.
That is to say, from the reign of Emperor Yingzong to the reign of Emperor Ruizong to the current emperor, the wealth of the people has increased, but the trend of competing for luxury among the dignitaries has been repeatedly suppressed by the three emperors. The size of the lantern towers has been strictly limited to two stories high, so the powerful and wealthy people can only compete with each other in the design of the lantern towers, and be ingenious, which can be regarded as a visual feast of this era for the people of the capital.
Therefore, on the night of the Lantern Festival, the sky was full of fireworks and every household would go out in full force. In order to maintain public order, the government naturally treated it as a formidable enemy. In addition to the three shifts of officials from Shuntian Prefecture and Daxing and Wanping County, the Ruiqi Battalion also dressed in plain clothes to work in the city. Although there were many theft lawsuits, there were fewer cases of fighting and kidnapping than before.
During the Lantern Festival of this year, Zhang Shou received an invitation from Zhu Ying to go see the lanterns a few days earlier. Although he had seen countless more splendid night views in various skyscrapers and mountaintop observation decks, he was not very interested in watching lanterns, but since the beauty had an appointment, he naturally agreed and went to Zhaoguogong Mansion to pick her up in the evening.
However, when he saw Zhu Ying, he could not help but look up and down at her new clothes - a black cloak with bright red lining, a gorgeous bright red Shu brocade jacket with peony embroidery, a brown and yellow sable rabbit-shaped headdress, a string of round South China Sea pearls in the phoenix's mouth on her long golden hairpin, and a jeweled phoenix on her neck. At first glance, she looked magnificent and glittering with jewels.
Zhang Shou smiled and looked at him for a moment before walking forward and saying, "When you came out, I thought the goddess in the painting had come to the human world! You are dressed more luxuriously than usual, do you want everyone on the street to stare at you?"
Zhu Ying had been looking forward to watching the lanterns with Zhang Shou. When she heard this, she couldn't help but look at Zhang Shou's seemingly ordinary green shirt with bamboo embroidery on the edges. She was both excited and happy: "Ah Shou, you are the immortal who has been banished from heaven! Fortunately, you don't dress up. If you were dressed so conspicuously, all the young girls and wives on the street would stop looking at the lanterns and only look at you!"
She said with a smile, "My second brother just said to me that there are many people in the Lantern Festival. If I go out dressed like this, someone might think I met a fat sheep... Haha, he didn't think about it. I brought thirty guards with me today! I just want to dress up with jewels and gems. Let's see who dares to attack us. If one comes, I'll beat him to death. If two come, I'll beat them to death!"
After making a domineering declaration, she was both angry and amused when she saw Mother Li, who had sent her out. She called the guards to prepare the carriages. Zhu Ying came to Zhang Shou and whispered, "Ah Shou, you don't know that today in Qingning Palace, the Queen Mother issued an imperial decree to take away the Queen's seal and ribbon! The Queen naturally cried and complained about her injustice, but the Emperor produced a lot of evidence of the Queen's family's crimes."