The Marquise: I Earn My Own Worship

Chapter 154 Drawing Lanterns

On the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, colorful lanterns are hung in the streets and alleys. Standing on the Tongtian Tower in the capital and looking down, the scenery is as beautiful as a painting.

"There aren't many festivals this year. I went to the shops today and saw lanterns hanging outside. Manager Yu said that only Fumanlou, Zuixianlou, and Yunqi Pavilion were holding lantern festivals, which is much smaller than in previous years."

Song Shengfu looked at the booklet in her hand while listening to Lu chatting with them.

"The capital is okay. I came all the way from Xiyang. The streets of larger county towns are much less crowded, not to mention some towns."

Mrs. Lu and the children were very curious and asked Shen Xianli about what he had seen and heard along the way.

Listening to Shen Xianli talking about the sufferings of the people, the more sentimental Lu was already moved to tears. It was also the first time that the children heard that there were people in the world who could not get enough food.

"Daddy, I won't be picky about food anymore."

Xuan Ge'er hugged Shen Xianli nervously. It was really scary not to have enough food.

He remembered the last time he threw a tantrum and refused to eat, and his grandmother found out. She had the food taken away, and he was hungry for a long time before she gave him anything to eat.

I was so hungry that I didn't even have any snacks. But when I ate dinner that night, everything tasted delicious.

It was so hard for him to endure just going hungry for a meal, so wouldn’t those people who didn’t have enough food be even more miserable?

Shen Xianli touched Xuan Ge'er's head lovingly. He had just returned, and Xuan Ge'er was clinging to him like he was clinging to anything.

Sister Wei is fine, but Brother Xuan is probably too young, so he needs him to be with him day and night.

Duan Jingzong felt jealous seeing this clinginess. It turned out that this kid liked to follow him.

Sister Wei looked at Xuan Ge'er who was hanging on his father and felt shy towards him.

Xuan Ge'er looked at him and turned his head away. He was still a little baby and was not shy.

Song Shengfu's eyes were dazzled from looking so much, so she got up to rest her eyes.

Looking at Sister Wei playing with her handkerchief boredly, and Brother Kang making tea by himself on the other side.

"Sister Wei, do you want to make a lantern for fun?"

Sister Wei raised her head, her eyes became bright, and making lanterns sounded very elegant.

"miss you!"

He did as he said and asked his servants to bring some plain lanterns. These lanterns were all pasted with pulp paper and had no decorations on them.

Because of the festival, gifts of various colors and styles were given. Song Shengfu picked up a jade palace lantern and admired the wisdom of the ancients of this era.

There are several different shades of yellow alone. Mrs. Lu asked people to take only one of each color and put them all in the yard.

"This is suitable for drawing the Linglong Tower!"

Sister Wei first picked out a half-colored gauze lantern and spoke excitedly.

Then he looked at another round, grass-white lamp and murmured, "This one with the mountain bird is beautiful!"

The servants had already prepared the paints and brushes, and Sister Wei took the lantern she liked and started painting.

Duan Jingzong was already interested in the news, so he joined in the fun.

Song Shengfu didn't want to paint, so she wrote on the lantern.

"Let's not talk about the waxing and waning of the moon, just enjoy the good times in the world."

After finishing it, I admired it for a while.

Duan Jingzong, who was standing by, looked at it with some surprise, then picked up the lantern with the inscription and took a look at it.

There was no tradition of writing poems on lanterns in this era, but there were inscriptions, but they were all common double happiness characters, or some inns-only ones.

"What a clever idea! It's really interesting when written down."

Following suit, Duan Jingzong put down the palace lantern with bamboo joints just painted on it and picked out an ordinary square lantern.

After a little thought, I began to write the inscription.

He felt that one side was a bit monotonous, so he wrote on each side evenly.

I have to say that Duan Jingzong has some aesthetic sense. Not to mention the poems themselves, just his running script is pleasing to the eye.

The verses are arranged in a staggered manner. When the wind blows after they are hung up, the square lamps turn, and the verses on the lamps seem to come alive and float on the lamps.

Duan Jingzong looked at them with a bit of fascination, immersed in the lanterns.

Duan Jing'an and Shen Xianli looked at it with lights, and when they saw the eldest brother's appearance, they couldn't help but shook their heads. The eldest brother has always had no resistance to these "elegant things".

Soon, all kinds of lanterns were hung in the yard, with images of mountain birds, water and clouds, poetry, bamboo and chrysanthemum...

"Wow! So beautiful!"

At night, the lanterns are lit, and the courtyard is illuminated.

Rows of lanterns were hung up, and the maids below were looking at the lanterns, holding hands and looking at them until they couldn't take their eyes off them.

"This lantern looks so beautiful with the poem written on it!"

"Yes! Bright moon... longing... Even though I only know these few words, it's so beautiful!"

"I like this. Do you think the little maid holding the lantern looks like me?"

"Okay, stop being so conceited!"

The maids were pushing and shoving each other and teasing each other.

The mother in charge looked at it but pretended not to see it and walked away helplessly.

"I like this little rabbit chasing the moon, so cute!"

On the other side, Xuan Ge'er, who had been paying attention to this side with his ears pricked up, heard someone talking about the one he drew, and he covered his mouth and laughed secretly.

"It's worthless!"

Sister Wei pinched Xuan Ge'er's nose lovingly, and Xuan Ge'er snuggled into Shen Xianli's arms.

Sister Wei couldn't stand his clingy look, so she had to catch him and tickle him.

Shen Xianli called Xuan Ge'er with one hand while holding Wei Jie'er with the other. Looking at the two children lying on his knees, he smiled so hard that his eyes burst into flowers.

Song Shengfu looked at the group of children below and felt her heart was fulfilled and filled.

At the same time, a similar scene took place in the capital and even in the entire Great Chu.

Amidst the lights of thousands of homes, families gather for reunion nights, children play around each other's knees, mothers often nag at their parents, and fathers smile softly.

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the capital seemed to have returned to peace.

Perhaps the festival brought some joy to Da Chu, and good things happened one after another.

Upon receiving the news that autumn rain had fallen in Nanyang, the King of Chu was overjoyed and led his court officials to host a rain-praying ceremony.

The next morning, it rained in the capital, but it was not as heavy as the previous year's downpour.

This year's autumn rain is continuous, like a fairy blowing on your face, nourishing both the land and the hearts of the people of Da Chu.

In the fields, the people in short brown linen clothes cheered one after another, and the elderly grandfather knelt on the ground and shouted, "God is merciful!"

But if God is truly merciful, how could there have been natural disasters in the past two years?

The suffering of these two years would only be briefly mentioned in the history books of the Great Chu. The bitterness and tears involved would be turned over and buried in the dust of history.

This autumn rain lasted for more than half a month. After the rain, the sky cleared up and it was another good time of the year.

The Emperor of Chu was so pleased with the good news that came one after another from various places that he could not stop smiling during his court session.

The officials attending court were also relaxed. If His Majesty was happy, they were happy too.

But some people couldn't stand it anymore and jumped out to cause trouble when everyone thought everything was peaceful.