guess lantern riddles

Wen Jingzhao is used to being served by others, but the young master also has his own way of serving others.

Step by step, gentle and delicate, a pair of hands seem to be able to knead out water.

The voice was also very gentle. They usually called each other by their names, and occasionally said "wife" or "husband" in a teasing manner, mostly as a joke.

"Yingchun, Yingchun..." He called her in a low voice, his voice so soft that it seemed to float into her bones.

When He Yingchun was still in the general's mansion, she often saw Wen Jingzhao making tea. He was an old hand at making tea, with slow and elegant movements.

First, there is the sound of the tea lid hitting the teacup, tinkling, then there is the sound of trickling water, and you can smell a hint of sweet fragrance.

His tongue was extremely sensitive and he could tell whether the water was spring water or well water by just tasting it, and it was the same now.

As the tea entered his mouth, a sweet fragrance filled the air. He couldn't help but exclaim that this tea was brewed to his heart's content.

…

The wife was indeed satisfied with the "Flower Moon Full Moon" with taro paste, mochi and pork floss filling, and generously ordered 10 of them.

"After opening, you must eat them within two days, otherwise the taste will be bad." Taro paste, mochi and pork floss are not ingredients with a long shelf life, and there is no place to keep them fresh. If they are left for a long time, they will probably grow mold.

The maid nodded, "Okay, I'll remember that."

He Yingchun collected the balance with a smile and handed her a wooden box with the words "Welcome the Spring" and a picture of family reunion during the Mid-Autumn Festival printed on it.

"Here are all kinds of mooncakes made in our shop. Give them to Madam to try."

"Thank you very much."

Lady Wang was particularly curious about this lady and peeked at the sedan chair outside the door. "This sedan chair is exquisite and luxurious, truly beautiful!"

The maid came several times, but the lady never showed up. Anyway, the money and goods were paid, and the deal was successfully completed!

When there were a lot of people in the store, everyone put the matter behind them.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, and with the experience of the last Chinese Valentine's Day, He Yingchun made a mooncake gift box this time, which contains ten mooncakes with different fillings. Customers can also buy them individually, which is cheaper.

The mooncakes sold so well that He Yingchun simply opened a window at the door to sell mooncakes. Lady Wang sold them and Xiaohe helped her.

There are quite a lot of mooncake sellers in the East Market, but only the "Welcoming Spring" store has a long queue in front of it. Some customers got hungry from waiting, so they bought some mooncake crisps to eat with noodles.

"Are you here to buy something too?"

"She has a wide variety of dishes, and they taste great, but the prices are a bit high. It's a holiday, after all."

"Don't buy a gift box. Buy the loose ones. They're cheaper. We're just eating at home. Why bother with so much care?"

"It's Erlang. You insist on eating something with lotus seed paste. That's only in the gift box."

"Yes, I saw Sister Guifen buy a gift box the other day. It had ten kinds of fillings in it, like jujube paste, five-nut filling, rose filling, and some meat filling..."

He Yingchun was serving dishes to the guests. After hearing this, she smiled and replied, "There are also pork floss, purple sweet potato, Yunnan ham, lotus seed paste, taro mochi, mung bean, and custard, a total of ten flavors!"

"Oh, yes, yes!" The guest nodded with a smile.

"So many flavors?" A passerby also heard it and said, "I'll buy some for my kids to try."

…

The "Xiyingxia" store across the street is deserted, mainly because the clothes and jewelry they sell are too expensive. Ordinary people can't afford them, while wealthy people think they look average.

Wen Wanrou came over to check the accounts, and looking at the bustling crowd of people queuing up opposite, the handkerchief in her hand was about to be torn to pieces.

After the eldest lady passed away, she lived a good life for a while and then pestered the old man to sell the shop to her. She even gave herself the name "Xiyingxia" just to deliberately annoy He Yingchun.

They were not affected at all and their business became more prosperous day by day.

The shopkeeper brought the account book, looked at Wen Wanrou's expression, and said cautiously, "Madam, please take a look at this account. Do you still want to check it?"

"What are you checking? Look at how few people are in this store! Why don't you go out and attract customers?" She raised her voice, glared at him, threw the account book in his face, and shouted angrily.

"And you! You! All of you! Hurry up and go!"

Several people went outside to solicit customers, their voices weak, "Come on, come and see the rouge, powder and jewelry~ Everyone, come and see~"

"Rouge, powder, and beautiful ready-to-wear jewelry."

Only two passers-by took a look and then left.

Wen Wanrou was so angry when she saw how they dealt with it that she asked the maid to call the shopkeeper in and scolded him again.

"You must earn me one thousand taels before the end of the month. If you dare to fool me again, pack up and leave!" Wen Wanrou left a last word, watching them shouting hard, and then she twisted her waist and got into the sedan chair angrily.

As soon as she left, the shopkeeper let a few people in.

"Why are you so arrogant! She's just a concubine!"

"One thousand taels, what are you dreaming of!"

In fact, if this kind of store was in the West Market, it would not be difficult to make a profit of one thousand taels, but the East Market is usually known for its good quality and low price. The rouge and powder clothes sold next to it are half the price of their store. Even if the material is good, people are scared away by the price.

They have also mentioned that either they should change the location or buy low-priced goods, so that the selling price can be lowered.

But Wen Wanrou refused to do so, and this time she caused another trouble.

The shopkeeper's face was difficult.

It's gloomy here, but there's laughter and joy at "Welcoming the Spring".

The mooncakes sold well, so red envelopes were indispensable. She gave everyone a big red envelope and celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival happily.

"There's a lantern riddle guessing game going on at the West Market tonight! Do you want to go?"

"Guess the lantern riddles?"

Madam Wang began to explain to them the Mid-Autumn Festival customs of each county.

"According to the management, a colorful platform will be built next to the Minggu Tower, decorated to resemble the Moon Palace, with osmanthus trees, jade rabbits, and other things inside. Various lanterns will be hung, with riddles on them. If you can guess them, you will win a prize."

"Most of these events are jointly held by well-known restaurants and inns in each county, so the odds can't be too bad."

Xiao He nodded repeatedly, "There are so many prizes! I've even won fruits, cakes, and more! I even got to taste Jiang Yue Lou's osmanthus wine!"

And Jiangyuelou? Yes, Jiangyuelou is also a time-honored brand.

"Oh right! There's also Paopa seeking a bride!"

Lady Wang continued, "The girls will dress up as Chang'e. After the lantern riddles are finished, they will throw handkerchiefs embroidered with different patterns down. If someone catches a handkerchief that matches one of the girls, they win. If both parties like the handkerchief when they return it, they can get married."

In fact, it is somewhat similar to the Qixi Festival event, but that one was spontaneous. This time there is sponsorship, so the scene is naturally bigger.

"That's quite interesting."

"It's quite lively anyway."

Originally, He Yingchun was thinking about setting up a stall to sell mooncakes or something, but this time, seeing that everyone was so interested in guessing riddles, she thought about it and gave up, as she didn't want to make money at the moment.

Wen Jingzhao also came to pick her up at that time. He Yingchun saw that more and more people were outside. She thought that it would be too much trouble to go back to cook, so she said, "Okay, then why not call Li Bin over as well? We can go together tonight!"

In the evening, we shared a large mooncake with taro paste, mochi and pork floss, and made braised pork, spicy chicken, beef brisket stewed with tomatoes, and tofu soup.

He Yingchun has been particularly fond of spicy food recently, so she made spicy diced chicken. She cut the chicken thighs into cubes and marinated them with oil, salt, soy sauce, starch and egg white for a quarter of an hour.

After the oil is heated, add the diced chicken and fry until golden brown. Remove from the oil and control the oil. Fry again after the oil temperature rises, and the skin will be more crispy.

Next is to stir-fry the chili peppers. Pour oil into the pan, add dried chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, minced garlic, and minced ginger, and stir-fry until fragrant.

Mix the diced chicken and chili peppers, then add chopped green onions, peanuts, white sesame seeds, etc. and stir-fry evenly.

This time, not much chili was added, but it was very spicy. He Yingchun blinked, and Wen Jingzhao wiped the area around her eyes with a wet cloth.

While eating, He Yingchun was also staring at the spicy chicken. Lady Wang asked in surprise, "I've never seen you like spicy food so much before?"

He Yingchun nodded as well. For some reason, she had a very good appetite recently and wanted to eat something spicy. "Maybe it's because the weather has turned cooler. I didn't eat much at noon today."

Madam Wang nodded and said, "Yes, there were so many people at noon that we didn't have time to eat."

Seeing that He Yingchun was eating very happily, the mother thought more about it. She looked at He Yingchun's stomach, and the words came to her lips, but she didn't say anything.

As the night deepens, the moon hangs high in the sky, like a bright mirror, emitting a soft and warm light.

He Yingchun and his group walked to the West Market, where the platform for the Minggu Tower had already been set up.

"There are so many people." Xiaohe murmured while standing on tiptoe.

Yes, at first glance, there are human heads everywhere, and there are riddles hanging above their heads.

The child was placed on his father's shoulders and read the words on the wall. "Dad, come closer."

"A man fishing under a sweet-scented osmanthus tree, sitting alone all night, busy in his dreams..."

"Osmanthus...it's Wu Gang! Wu Gang is chopping down the osmanthus tree!" Xiao He raised his hands high and shouted, "It's Wu Gang!"

"This young man guessed right. Bring the bamboo stick to collect the prize later!" The middle-aged man on the stage picked up the lantern and handed the bamboo stick on it to Xiaohe.

The middle-aged man then said, "Everyone, guess quickly! There are not many riddles left!"

There were men, women, young and old who came to guess the riddles. When the children saw someone sitting on the shoulders of an adult, they followed suit. The seven or eight-year-old children also wanted to go up, which was a pity for their old father's neck.

He Yingchun turned his head to see a chubby kid fidgeting on his father's shoulder. The adult below was sweating profusely. "Don't move!"

Seeing that she was watching intently, Wen Jingzhao asked, "Do you want to go up and take a look too?"

He whispered in He Yingchun's ear, "It's not impossible."

"I'm an adult now..." She saw Wen Jingzhao's raised mouth corners, and the memories of last night flooded into her mind. Her cheeks turned slightly red and she rolled her eyes at him.

The two of them also joined in the fun and guessed, "In the golden autumn season, the moon is beautiful, and the fragrance of flowers fills the night." "Is this... osmanthus?"

"That's a good answer, young lady!"

Most of them were quite simple, and many people had guessed them and lined up to receive the prize.

Xiao He didn't get what he wanted and got a hairpin. He gestured on his head unhappily, thinking it looked like a woman's hairpin no matter how he looked at it.

Mom gave her a bag of snacks, and Xiaohe begged her to exchange them.

Li Bin and Wang Niangzi were a pair of sachets, while He Yingchun and Wen Jingzhao were a box of mooncakes.

He Yingchun looked at the packaging with the words "Flowers and Full Moon" on it and felt a little amused. It felt a bit like buying a souvenir in a foreign country and then going back to see "Made in China".

"Please stay!" The middle-aged man on the stage called out to He Yingchun, "Our wife wants to see you."