Chapter 19 Pear Blossom Lantern Festival
Chapter 19 Pear Blossom Lantern Festival (I)
Having lived in Li County for two years, Wang Dongdong looks forward to the annual Pear Blossom Lantern Festival the most.
Late spring is the time when pear blossoms are in full bloom. The white pear blossoms all over the mountains and fields spread out like brocade. The pear blossoms fall like snow, and the ground is covered with piles of snow, making Li County look like a fairyland.
To celebrate this beautiful scenery, Li County specially set up "Pear Blossom Day" and held the "Pear Blossom Lantern Festival" for three consecutive days at night.
Of course, what Wang Dongdong liked most was that the Li County government office and the weaving institute were both closed for three days.
Although Li County is just a small county, this is the most important event in Li County. Even people from outside will come to play and watch, so it cannot be taken lightly.
The magistrate of Li County specially summoned skilled craftsmen to make ingenious lanterns, some in the shape of pear trees, some in the shape of dragons and phoenixes, and some in the shape of palaces and jade buildings. Scholars from nearby also volunteered to paint and write inscriptions on the lanterns, adding to their elegance.
As night falls, Li County becomes bustling with activity, with red gauze fluttering, pear blossoms like clouds, and lights like the sea.
Wang Dongdong and her two little sisters were all wearing pink and white pear blossom skirts that were appropriate for the occasion, and they walked hand in hand into the brightly lit market.
The stalls along the street were full of snacks and handicrafts of all kinds. They were so tempted by the freshly baked, fragrant pear blossom cakes that they bought a few. Then they saw an old man selling sugar paintings surrounded by a group of children, so they joined in the fun. Then they each took a little rabbit made of sugar and left, satisfied.
Wang Dongdong and her friends were stopping at a stall selling sachets, handkerchiefs and hair ornaments to make selections when they suddenly heard thunderous cheers and applause from the back. Turning around, they saw someone was dancing a dragon and a lion. The long body of a colorful dragon was tumbling around. The dragon head in the front was chasing the dragon ball with great energy. The lion dancers on the side were responding to the dragon dance by jumping up and down, looking very adorable and winning rounds of applause.
A little further ahead, there were people performing juggling and making iron flowers, and they were also surrounded by people.
Along the way, Wang Dongdong also ran into many colleagues from the Weaving Institute. It seemed that apart from Liu Sheng who was obsessed with work and Zhang Yuanzheng who never had fun with the people, there were also some people who were homesick. Almost a dozen people from the entire Li County Weaving Institute were at the Lantern Festival.
"Look! These lanterns are so beautiful!"
Suddenly, Wang Dongdong's younger sister Yue Shan pointed excitedly to the front and pulled Wang Dongdong and another sister Yi Chunxian over.
When I took a closer look, I saw that the lanterns hung on the stalls were indeed very exquisite. There were revolving lanterns, jade rabbit lanterns, cat lanterns, gourd lanterns, etc. They were of different colors and vivid images. There were also notes attached to them, which turned out to be riddles.
"Girl, it's one cent for each guess. Come and try. If you guess right, I'll give it to you." The stall owner was a scholar who looked like an old scholar. Seeing Yue Shan's interested look, he took the initiative to speak.
Yue Shan's eyes lit up. She had already fallen in love with the Jade Rabbit Lantern at first sight. But when she saw the riddle on it - "Mountains on all sides, all connected to each other", she couldn't help but feel distressed. The other two also gathered around to help with the advice.
Yi Chunxian, who usually doesn't talk much but loves to read, whispered, "It's the character '田'."
"This girl is so smart!" The stall owner clapped his hands in praise and smiled as he took down the Jade Rabbit Lantern and gave it to Yi Chunxian. Yi Chunxian then handed it to Yue Shan, but Yue Shan refused to take it.
"This is what you guessed, Chunxian. It's yours. I have to get it by myself!" As she said that, Yue Shan continued to give another coin and started looking for the next target.
Wang Dongdong was confident in his intelligence and thought it was not advisable to participate, lest he end up losing all his money. However, he became so angry watching the fun that he couldn't help but join in.
Then the two men retreated empty-handed, holding their half-empty purses in disappointment.
"The riddles on this stall are a bit difficult. Let's look at something else." Yue Shan was a little embarrassed, looking at the exquisite and lovely jade rabbit lantern in Yi Chunxian's hand with envy.
Wang Dongdong nodded: "Let's go, let's go, this stall owner did it on purpose, it definitely has nothing to do with our strength!"
The two quickly moved to the next lantern riddle guessing stall. The lanterns on that stall were not as exquisite as the previous one, but the two had already gotten into guessing and the lanterns were secondary. They were only thinking about proving themselves.
Seeing how engrossed the two were, Yi Chunxian shook her head helplessly and followed closely behind them holding the Jade Rabbit Lantern.
She and Yue Shan have been good sisters since childhood, and now they are helping out together in Yue Shan's family's tailor shop.
Wang Dongdong got to know them because one time a group of hooligans were harassing and making trouble in the shop. She saw injustice and helped them drive away the hooligans. Later, the three of them became familiar with each other. So Wang Dongdong, who was working alone in Li County, now had these two local girlfriends.
Now that we have agreed to be good sisters and visit the Lantern Festival together, we must naturally advance and retreat together.
…The three of them strolled around the market, guessed riddles, and when they got tired they sat down to drink tea and eat snacks. Before they knew it, the night was getting darker.
No one noticed that the Supreme God's eyes narrowed slightly.
In order to look good, Yue Shan only wore a thin skirt and no jacket. As the night deepened, she began to feel the cold and shivered with her arms folded.
Yi Chunxian's Jade Rabbit Lantern also went out, and the hand holding the lantern turned blue from cold.
"It's cold at night, it's time to go home." Wang Dongdong took the initiative to say when he saw this.
Although she also felt that it had suddenly become much colder, she had some cultivation and her ability to withstand the cold was better than that of ordinary people. However, Yue Shan and Yi Chunxian could not bear it. If this continued, they would get sick from the cold.
The three of them walked back along the street, thinking of sending Yue Shan home first.
The streets were still crowded with people, the music and singing continued without stopping, and the falling pear blossoms turned the entire street a desolate white.
"Girl, do you want to guess the riddles?"
As soon as I turned a corner, a stall owner greeted me enthusiastically.
There were colorful lanterns hanging on his stall, but they looked crudely made and too bright. For example, the goldfish lantern had one eye larger than the other, and its scales were mottled and green, making it look sick; and the doll lantern had snow-white skin, two bright blushes on its face, blood-red lips, and black-painted eyes that were wide open, as if staring straight at me, which looked a bit weird.
The three girls were all shocked by the ugliness of the lights. Yue Shan was the first to refuse, saying, "No, no."
Then they hurried on, not noticing that the stall owner behind them was looking at them with resentment.
Just after taking a few steps, another voice came out from the side: "Girl, do you want to play lantern riddles?"
The voice sounded sinister. They looked in the direction of the sound and saw an old lady with a pale face. The lanterns on her stall were even uglier than the previous one.
There is a chicken-shaped lantern with a pig's head on top, a head lantern with only a little girl's hair cut, a skinned monkey lantern...each one is twisted and scary.
Wang Dongdong felt something was wrong, but before she could say anything, Yue Shan said impatiently, "No need."
The old lady's face turned even paler, and she stared at Yue Shan with her eyes so fixed that the whites of her eyes seemed to protrude from her eye sockets.
Wang Dongdong felt that he should remember something, but his brain seemed to be covered by a thin film and he could only be pulled forward by Yue Shan.
Yi Chunxian also felt a little uneasy and silently clenched the Jade Rabbit Lantern in her hand.
The noise on the street seemed distant, and the eerie silence seemed to be mixed with some screams and wails.
The dragon head that was swimming up and down in the distance was staring at them all the time, its body twisting by itself, bulging inside, and some swollen flesh and blood could be vaguely seen through the thin cloth on the dragon's body. One could even see some human heads squeezed inside, and the legs were densely packed under the body.
On the other side, the craftsman who was making iron flowers was tirelessly beating the iron liquid into the sky. The golden fireworks were like fireworks, but he seemed to have forgotten all the taboos. The fireworks fell directly on himself, scalding his skin so that it was charred and blistered. However, he seemed to feel nothing and continued to take the iron liquid to hit others. His whole body was soaked in blood and flesh, and his bones were almost exposed.
No, no, everything is wrong, but Wang Dongdong can't tell what's wrong specifically.
At this time, another riddle stall appeared in front of me.
This time, the lanterns on the stalls were all bright red, bright red rabbits, bright red moons, bright red monkeys and bright red dolls.
"Want to guess riddles?"
The stall owner asked with his two round eyes without eyelids staring at him from his skinless bright red face, grinning with his two rows of snow-white teeth.
Finally signed! One more chapter to celebrate!
(End of this chapter)