Chapter 253: Lantern Festival, looking for it among the crowd

Xie Yingmian said, "Of course."

"However, there will be many people taking pictures of flowers during the Lantern Festival, so you must not be alone and be wary of those who approach you without reason."

"Many crimes are committed by gangs, for example, one person plays the bad guy and the other plays the good Samaritan. If you encounter such a situation, don't trust anyone. Go and smash the stalls of the vendors. Smash as many as possible. The bigger the commotion, the better. Once it's safe, we will compensate the stall owners many times over and apologize."

"If you encounter a child or elderly person who is alone, don't be too kind. Be especially wary of those who ask you to take them home. Never follow strangers to unfamiliar places."

"There will be a lot of people on the Lantern Festival, so there should be a lot of patrol guards to maintain order. If you really come across someone who needs help, it's safest to hand them over to the patrol guards..."

Xie Yingmian talked a lot in a long-winded manner.

Linglong could still bear it at first.

Later I couldn't help crying out loud.

Tamamo was a little dissatisfied: "The princess only said a few more words for our own good, why are you crying? What's there to cry about?"

Linglong sobbed, "Miss Yumo, you misunderstood."

"I am touched. If I could have heard the princess say these things when I was a child, I might..."

Linglong couldn't say any more.

Yumozuo thought of Linglong's life experience and felt a little regretful: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to touch on your sad story."

"Don't cry, don't cry, the lantern show is about to begin, let's go out quickly."

"Don't worry, I will follow you closely and won't let you get left alone."

After Tamamo and the others left.

Yu Lingye and Xie Yingmian also left.

After leaving the palace gate.

The whole street is hung with colorful lights.

The closer to the downtown area, the more complex and beautiful the lanterns become.

Goldfish lanterns, flying crane lanterns, dragon and phoenix lanterns, peacock lanterns...

Various lanterns are hung together, and the jade pot light is spinning, which is breathtaking.

Seeing so many lanterns for the first time, Xie Yingmian exclaimed, "No wonder the storybook had two rich young ladies fighting over a lantern."

"If anyone tries to steal this beautiful lamp from me, I will beat him up."

Yu Lingye: "Which one did you like?"

Xie Yingmian: "Only children make choices. Adults, of course, want everything."

Fu Mo, who was following behind him, complained: "Forget it, this thing will fade in a few days and look ugly. It's also expensive, only a fool would buy it."

Yu Lingye, the fool who was about to buy the entire row of lanterns: ...

Xie Yingmian, the fool who wants it all: ...

Fu Mo realized that he had said the wrong thing.

He touched his nose and chuckled twice: "My Lord and Princess, you don't go out often, so you may not know the rules of the Lantern Festival."

"The lanterns I bought for the Lantern Festival are really useless. They look great when they're all gathered together. Taking one lantern individually doesn't look that stunning."

"We've only just begun, we're at the outermost edge. The further we go in, the more lively it gets, and the more beautiful and exaggerated the lanterns become. They can't compare to those outside."

"There is also a big competition stage during the annual Lantern Festival."

"On the stage, you can guess lantern riddles and win various prizes, ranging in difficulty from easy to difficult. This is the favorite program of the people of Shangjing."

"In addition to guessing lantern riddles, there's another important activity called 'Searching for It Among the Crowd'. This activity has generous prizes. Although it's only been around for a few years, the people are very enthusiastic."

Xie Yingmian was not very interested in riddles.

She is quite interested in "looking for it among the crowd".

"What is the rule for searching for it among the crowd?"

Fu Mo said: "Looking for it among all the lanterns is exactly what it means. It means looking for a particular lantern among all the lanterns."

“The theme is different every year.”

"The organizer gives a theme, and people buy lanterns according to the theme. When the agreed time arrives, the organizer gives the correct answer, and those who buy the correct lanterns can share the prize money."

Xie Yingmian found this model novel: "How much is the prize pool?"

Fu Mo said, "It's different every year. I remember it was one thousand taels the year before last, five thousand taels last year, and this year it's said to have increased again, to ten thousand taels."

Xie Yingmian: "That is to say, if ten people buy the correct item, each person will get one thousand taels. If ten thousand people buy the correct item, each person will get one tael."

Fu Mo waved his hand: "It's impossible for ten thousand people to buy the right one."

“The rules are still very strict.”

"First, each person only has five chances, which means each person can only buy five lamps."

"Secondly, although there's no exact number of correct lanterns released by the organizer, it's not a large number, no more than a hundred at most. Based on past experience, it would be good if ten people got it right."

"Third, the theme proposed by the organizer is very strange."

Fu Mo spoke about this in great detail.

There are too many people inside and it's noisy, so it's not a place to talk.

He pointed to the Yuanxiao (Chinese lantern festival) stall in front of him and said, "The Yuanxiao (Chinese lantern festival) is also a must-try. It's still early for the organizers to announce the theme, so why don't we have a bowl of Yuanxiao first and talk while we eat?"

Without waiting for Xie Yingmian and Yu Lingye to react.

Qing Huang, who had no interest in lanterns but was very interested in cooking Yuanxiao, immediately said, "Yes."

He walked straight to the stall selling Yuanxiao and said politely, "Please cook all the Yuanxiao."

The people selling Yuanxiao are an elderly couple.

This batch of Yuanxiao is hand-made by them. The ingredients are solid, the quality is good and the price is low. It has been very popular in previous years.

However, this winter, the snowstorm was so severe that their house collapsed and the old couple's legs were hit. This made their already weak legs even worse.

As a result, they failed to get a good spot during the Lantern Festival and could only set up a stall on the edge.

At this time last year, more than half of the bowls were sold, but this year I have only sold two or three bowls.

Just when the old couple thought they would lose money this year, someone suddenly asked them to cook everything.

"Sir," the old woman said, "we make hundreds of dumplings. There are only four of you. You definitely can't finish all of them."

Qing Huang said, "Don't worry, old lady. I have a big appetite."

The old woman still hesitated.

Although she really wanted to sell the Yuanxiao, she couldn't bear to see anyone wasting them.

"Sir..."

"He has a really big appetite." Xie Yingmian said with a smile, "Old man, just cook for him."

Fu Mo reluctantly handed over a silver ingot: "Yes, cook it, cook it quickly."

"I guarantee you won't make a sound while I cook."

I don’t know what level of pig Qinghuang was reincarnated from, he can eat so much.

Oh, he forgot that Qinghuang is a bionic man, not a pig.

The old couple started to cook Yuanxiao.

Qingxiao stared at the big pot with bright eyes, intoxicated by the sweet smell.

Fu Mo couldn't bear to watch.

He continued the previous topic: "Last time, we talked about how the themes given by the organizers were all very strange."

“For example, two years ago, the theme was Cows Eating Grass.”

"That year happened to be the Year of the Ox, and all sorts of cows were painted on the lanterns. People picked all sorts of cows to eat grass, and the organizers said that was wrong."

"Just when everyone thought the organizer was playing a trick on them, a little kid came with a blank lantern."

"The organizer said that this kid is right."

"Guess why the blank lantern is the correct answer?" Fu Mo asked mysteriously.