Day after day, Yang Fan and Maqiao practiced martial arts in the White Horse Temple. The autumn wind blew and the fallen leaves gradually turned into white snow.
On New Year's Day, the imperial guards went home to celebrate the New Year with their families. Yang Fan and Maqiao also asked Xue Huaiyi for leave and rushed back to the Xiuwen Workshop to celebrate the New Year with Maqiao's family.
They stayed up on New Year's Eve, ate New Year's Eve dinner, drank pepper wine, ate five spicy plates, hung peach talismans, watched the exorcism dance, went to the "pass on the seat" on the first day of the New Year, visited relatives, friends, and neighbors. After three lively days, they returned to the White Horse Temple and continued their intense training.
After New Year's Eve was the Lantern Festival. In the Tang Dynasty, the Lantern Festival seemed to be more grand than the Spring Festival. This time, even Xue Huaiyi was busy. The Lantern Festival was a grand festival in Luoyang. On that day, there would be a lantern show. Not only would the rich people make colorful lanterns, but even the government would make colorful lanterns to celebrate with the people.
How could Xue Huaiyi be willing to fall behind in this kind of limelight? He had already spent a lot of money to hire many skilled craftsmen. Once the Spring Festival was over, these people were immediately invited to the White Horse Temple to use the empty space in the backyard to make a large lantern tree.
Xue Huaiyi only had one requirement for the lantern tree: It must be the biggest, brightest, and cover all the colorful lanterns in the entire Luoyang!
Most of these skilled craftsmen were the skilled craftsmen that Xue Huaiyi had used to build Bright Hall and Heaven. It wasn't difficult for them to create the largest and most beautiful lamp tree in Luoyang. They quickly came up with a plan and began making it.
Because the place where they made the lantern was in the backyard of the White Horse Temple, Yang Fan and the others would watch curiously when they had free time. According to the craftsmen, the lantern tree was ten hugs thick and a hundred feet tall. After it was finished, it could light up nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine lanterns at the same time. Just the lamp oil to burn for one night would cost a lot. Only a rich monk like Xue Huaiyi could make such a huge lantern tree.
However, if such a huge lamp tree were to be produced directly, no one would be able to move it from the White Horse Temple to Ding Ding Street for display. Therefore, when it was produced in the temple, it was divided into six feet per layer. Therefore, Yang Fan and the others were unable to see the spectacular sight of it.
Time flew by. The White Horse Temple's disciples were training hard and looking forward to the Shangyuan Festival, and the Shangyuan Festival was approaching day by day.
Finally, the Lantern Festival arrived. This was a grand festival for all the people of the Tang dynasty. During the Spring Lantern Festival, the imperial court gave special permission to lift the curfew, which was called the "Night Release". For these three days, the streets and alleys, the teahouses and wine shops were all lit up, the gongs and drums sounded, and firecrackers were set off. The lights were lit for hundreds of miles, and everywhere was festive.
During the Lantern Festival, there would be many celebrations in the palace. Therefore, there would be no bow-striking competition or other entertainment activities on the first day. With the competition around the corner, everyone needed to relax and reunite with their friends and family. Therefore, the members of the bow-striking team of the Imperial Army had already left to return to their respective homes and reunite with their families.
The White Horse Temple was especially prosperous at this time. The problem was that the Abbot and the Chief Monk were fake monks who didn't even know how to read scriptures. They had no interest in these things. Fortunately, they didn't care about these things at all. If those benefactors met Xue Huaiyi and Yang Fan, these two monks who didn't even know how to read scriptures, it would be hard to say if they would still be willing to fork out money for the incense.
There were all kinds of banquets held in the palace, and Xue Huaiyi also had to enter the palace to celebrate. He originally didn't have the awareness of being a monk, and he also didn't treat Yang Fan as a real monk. Before entering the palace to attend the banquet, he specifically told them to go back and reunite with their families, as long as they didn't forget about tomorrow's competition.
Chu Kuangge was forcefully dragged by the Great Hermit Li to celebrate the Lantern Festival with his group of ruffian brothers. Yang Fan and Maqiao took off their monk robes and changed into ordinary clothes before returning to the Xiuwen Workshop. It would be indecent for them to be bald, but this was easy to deal with. They just needed to wear a woolen felt hat. In the evening, before the sky was completely dark, many places had already lit up their lanterns. Every workshop's doors were wide open, allowing people to enter and exit freely. Maqiao and Yang Fan were burning with impatience. They casually ate some "Face Silkworms" and then invited Jiang Xuning to go to the streets to watch the lanterns together. Auntie Ma and a group of old sisters naturally wanted to watch the lanterns as well. However, they were already old, so they only walked around the workshop and chatted with their old neighbors. They didn't stray too far away, so Maqiao could go play on the streets without worry.
When the two of them arrived at Jiang Xuning's house, Jiang Xuning had already dressed up. She wore a new set of clothes, her hair was tied up delicately, and her eyebrows were trimmed very fine. Although she didn't put on any makeup, it was clear that her facial features had been carefully made up. At the very least, her bright red lips were definitely smeared with lipstick, and they were pink and cute.
As soon as he saw them arrive, he went out into the street with them, beaming with joy. On the main street, there was an endless number of lantern houses and lanterns. Lantern houses, lantern houses, lantern corridors, and lantern sheds were connected for several miles. Regardless of whether it was the common people, the various shops, or the homes of high officials and nobles, they were all decorated with lanterns and colored banners. Even the various ministries and departments had set up tents and lantern houses.
On the streets, there was an endless stream of people playing tricks and selling snacks. During the Shangyuan Festival, there wasn't a single scholar or woman who didn't go out at night. For these three days, they could all put down their statuses. Usually, it was rare to see the daughters of rich and powerful families were also accompanied by their maids and servants to the streets to watch the lanterns. As a result, the entire Luoyang City was filled with carriages and horses, and the crowds were surging.
If it was usually this crowded, it was inevitable that some impatient people wouldn't be able to help but curse. However, today was a festival, and this kind of liveliness was needed, so no one felt impatient. Everyone was walking with their feet splayed out, looking around, pointing, and chatting. If there was a family's lantern wheel, lantern tree, or lantern house in front of their door, they would all have new and exquisite designs, attracting many people to stop and look.
There were some firecracker peddlers who used donkeys to pull towering bamboo poles along the street to sell their goods. Some families would bring out a brazier and place it in front of their door. They would spend money to buy firecrackers and pile them on top of the brazier and immediately light them up. For a moment, the sound of 'pi pi pa pa pa' could be heard without end.
On the spacious main street, there were also some workshops that organized young and strong people to play a 'lead hook' game. The so-called lead hook was a tug of war. In the middle, there was a large flag as the boundary. Two workshops each sent out dozens of strong young men to tug of war with ropes. On the side, countless young women and young women waved their handkerchiefs and shouted to cheer.
The most lively place was, of course, Ding Ding Street. In the middle of the street, a huge lantern tree stood there, illuminating the street as if it was daytime. The three big characters' White Horse Temple 'impressively appeared on the lampstand. Under the lantern, there were many people clapping and singing. There were men and women, old and young. Hundreds of men and women held hands and sang and danced around the lantern tree.
The tune they sang was very simple. From beginning to end, there were only two parts of the song. However, as the saying goes, 'Step Tune' is boundless. The tune is the same, but the words are different. This was originally a relatively casual celebration game. If you didn't know how to dance and dance, it didn't matter. Just holding hands with others and jumping and moving around the lantern tree rhythmically was enough to match the beat of the piccolo and Qiang drum.
Of course, there were also some young women who danced very well. Following the soul-stirring beat of the Qiang drum, they drew their shoulders, lowered their chins, covered their arms, swung their backs, loosened their knees, twisted their waists, and bent their hips, forming a 'three bends' enchanting posture. Then, a kind of graceful charm was presented just right. It made people intoxicated and their spirits gallop.
"With a sweet smile, I strive to be gentle and graceful." The indescribable taste of women could be seen clearly in this dance and dance.
"I'm also going to dance!"
Maqiao watched excitedly. He couldn't help but say something to Yang Fan and Pasta, and then excitedly squeezed into the crowd. The people who were dancing happily accepted him. They loosened their tightly held hands and took the opportunity to grab Maqiao's hand and let him join in.
Oh! A small hand on the left, a small hand on the right, warm and soft, smooth and greasy. They were all the hands of young girls!
Maqiao really knew how to pick. There were men and women, old and young, dancing and dancing. He just happened to find the right time and chose two cute and pretty girls who just happened to jump in front of him.
Yang Fan shook his head and said with a smile, "Qiao Ge really knows how to pick."
Jiang Xuning raised her little nose in disdain and snorted coldly, "I think a dog can't stop eating sh * t! I'm going to buy a few 'oil hammers'. Do you want to eat some? "
Yang Fan clapped his hands to the beat of the Qiang drum and swayed his body left and right along with the people who were dancing and singing. He replied with a smile, "Okay!"
Jiang Xuning took out a handkerchief from his pocket and opened it. There were a dozen or so copper coins inside. Jiang Xuning took out a few copper coins and put the handkerchief in his pocket and squeezed his way to a small stall selling oil hammers. At that time, there was no yuanxiao yet. However, this snack, 'oil hammers', was already similar to fried yuanxiao. It was also a kind of sweet food made from glutinous rice. Jiang Xuning was a girl, so naturally she liked to eat it.
Jiang Xuning bought seven or eight 'oil hammers' and carried them in an oiled paper bag before rushing back. The 'oil hammers' had just been fried and were still hot. The two of them ate the 'oil hammers' while watching the dance.
At this time, a few handsome young masters were slowly walking along the main street of Ding Ding. They looked around along the way and smiled like flowers. These young masters were all wearing plain colored robes. Some had round collars, some had crossed collars, and some wore soft leggings on their heads. There were also some who wore young master headscarves. All of them were handsome and looked as if they were made of jade.
At first glance, these few young masters were quite stunning to the girls. However, after a closer look, they could recognize that they were a group of females disguised with hairpins. This was because they did not deliberately conceal the makeup on their facial features. Their lips were painted red, and their facial features were a little too exquisite.
Even though these girls were wearing men's clothing, they were still a group of girls. Girls loved to look beautiful, so they did not wear too much under their robes to prevent their bodies from becoming bloated. As a result, their faces were slightly red from the cold. However, they were clearly in high spirits.
"Wow! Look at that lamp tree, it's too spectacular! I wonder which yamen made this. This is the first time I've seen such a huge lamp tree! Let's go and take a look! "
The one who spoke was a little beauty with a baby face. Her face was red from the cold, like a cute red apple. She was the female attendant of the First Lady, Lan Yiqing. The few 'young masters' beside her were naturally Xie Muwen, Gao Ying, and the others.
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