Chapter 129 Lantern Festival on Fire

Jiang Hongyu didn't even turn his head: "Sit anywhere you want."

The visitor's voice was filled with surprise: "Brother Jiang?"

Jiang Hongyu felt the voice sounded familiar. He turned around and saw Yu Jiaming and Xiao Wu standing in front of the table. Both of them were dressed like rich young masters.

"Brother Jiang, are you guys here for the Lantern Festival too?" Yu Jiaming happily sat down next to Jiang Hongyu. Xiaowu glanced at the items on the table and silently placed the same fish soup in his hand on the table.

"Yes, what a coincidence." Jiang Hongyu nodded.

Ye Mingzhu just glanced at them, smiled, and said nothing more.

Seeing that she was enjoying the meal, Yu Jiaming asked Xiaowu to bring his fish soup over and took a bite. "Hmm, it tastes really good."

While eating, he called Xiaowu beside him to eat quickly, then turned around and complained to Jiang Hongyu: "This Xiaowu, he ate too much for dinner and now he can't eat anymore. He even said that everyone is watching the lanterns and no one will eat at the lantern festival. Look, Mingzhu is eating so deliciously."

Ye Mingzhu, who was enjoying the meal, said: ...

Xiaowu: ...Is it appropriate for you to say that?

Ye Mingzhu simply didn't want to listen to this idiot anymore. He looked smart, but why did he say such stupid things?

Just then, the waiter brought the roasted meat they ordered, and Jiang Hongyu invited Yu Jiaming to eat with him.

Yu Jiaming took a piece without hesitation and said, "Let's come up and eat together later."

Xiaowu couldn't bear to watch it anymore.

Ye Mingzhu and Jiang Hongyu just smiled and didn't mind at all.

After they finished eating the roasted meat, Ye Mingzhu and Jiang Hongyu stood up. Yu Jiaming swallowed the meat in his mouth and wiped his mouth. "Brother Jiang, where are you going? I heard there's an iron flower show tonight. Let's go watch it together."

Xiaowu pulled his sleeve and said, "The couple just wants to visit the lantern festival, what's wrong with you following them?"

Yu Jiaming was still in the joy of meeting an acquaintance and hadn't thought about this aspect at all. He even pulled Xiaowu's hand away: "Don't pull my clothes, I won't get lost."

Xiaowu turned his head and decided to ignore him and just keep silent.

Jiang Hongyu glanced at Ye Mingzhu and said, "Or else, go shopping with Brother Yu and the others."

Ye Mingzhu glanced at the crowded crowd and nodded.

There are so many people on the street, they can't restrict others. Anyway, the purpose of the lantern festival is to have fun.

Seeing Ye Mingzhu agreed, Yu Jiaming immediately stood next to Jiang Hongyu: "Brother Jiang, I know what the layout of this lantern festival is. Let me tell you."

Jiang Hongyu only knew that there was a lantern festival in the county, but he had never visited it carefully. However, he was willing to listen to Yu Jiaming's talk.

Just a quarter of an hour later, Jiang Hongyu felt a little regretful. Yu Jiaming was really too noisy.

He talked about everything from the venue to the layout, right down to the lanterns placed on the street.

Ye Mingzhu listened with great interest, treating him as a tour guide and asking questions from time to time.

Jiang Hongyu's face began to look bad. Xiao Wu accidentally glanced at him and felt a little cold in an instant.

Fortunately, they had already reached the place where iron flowers were made, and Jiang Hongyu stopped.

"I heard that this iron flower making was introduced from other places, and this is the second performance this year." Yu Jiaming pointed to the high platform in front.

Ye Mingzhu had only seen it on video before and had never seen the live version.

In the center of the wide square, there is a two-story shed about ten feet high. The roof is covered with willow branches, and fireworks and firecrackers are tied to the branches. There is a pole on the top of the shed, and firecrackers and fireworks are also tied to the pole.

Next to the shed stood a furnace for melting molten iron. There were several shirtless men nearby, doing preparatory work. Sparks flew from time to time, and the people around were far away.

As more and more people arrived, a lion dance troupe started performing nearby, and cheers could be heard from the crowd from time to time.

The iron flower making activity officially begins. The flower beater, wearing an upside-down gourd ladle on his head, holds an upper stick filled with iron liquid in one hand and a lower stick empty in the other. He quickly runs under the shed and strikes the upper stick with the lower stick. A dozen flower beaters, one after another, move back and forth between the furnace and the shed, batting one stick after another.

After a while, the firecrackers and fireworks on the shed were ignited by the iron flowers, the iron flowers flew, the firecrackers rang out, the crowd kept cheering, and some people squeezed forward through the gaps in the crowd.

The encirclement was getting smaller and smaller. Ye Mingzhu frowned. If someone touched the molten iron, it would be very dangerous.

Moreover, the sparks produced by striking iron are flames. The weather is cold now and everyone is wearing more clothes. If one of them hits someone, he or she will immediately become a fire man.

Ye Mingzhu's face became more and more ugly, the crowd's cheers became louder and louder, and people pushed forward from time to time.

Jiang Hongyu helped her stand up and frowned.

Ye Mingzhu repeated her guess in Jiang Hongyu's ear.

Jiang Hongyu turned his head and glanced at the crowded crowd behind him. He was an officer of the county government. Even if the county town was not within his patrol range, if something happened, he would feel guilty being at the scene.

He pulled Yu Jiaming and Xiaowu over and told them Ye Mingzhu's guess.

Yu Jiaming and Xiaowu's faces changed color. "I'll go find someone." After Xiaowu said this, he immediately squeezed out. Amidst the curses of everyone, Xiaowu squeezed out of the crowd.

The remaining three people looked at each other, and Yu Jiaming walked towards the yamen runner in the middle of the crowd.

Jiang Hongyu stood beside Ye Mingzhu and looked at the crowd warily. He always felt that there seemed to be more people today.

Soon, Yu Jiaming and two yamen runners began to arrange the crowd to retreat, but there were too many people and everyone was excited, so few people listened to them.

Ye Mingzhu frowned. This speed was too slow. She suddenly had an idea and pulled Jiang Hongyu to squeeze out.

The two of them finally squeezed outside. Ye Mingzhu took out a handful of copper coins from her pocket and said quickly, "Go to the side and throw these coins on the ground one by one."

Before Jiang Hongyu understood, she had already run to the side, throwing some copper coins while running, and shouted loudly: "Someone threw copper coins."

No one paid attention at first, but as she threw down a hundred or so copper coins, people gathered around.

Jiang Hongyu was afraid that something might happen to her, so he kept following her. Later, he took the copper coin from her hand and threw it away.

Someone was pushing forward to watch the iron flower making, but when he heard someone throwing coins behind him, he immediately turned around and ran over there.

More and more people started to grab the copper coins, and the number of people watching the iron flower making began to decrease.

At this time, two teams of yamen runners led by Xiaowu also rushed over.

Ye Mingzhu breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't have many copper coins left. If she scattered any more, she would have to scatter pearls or small silver coins.

Jiang Hongyu protected Ye Mingzhu and retreated from the crowd. When the onlookers saw the yamen runners coming, they all hid to the side, and the crowded crowd here began to disperse slowly.

"Ah...it's on fire." Before Ye Mingzhu could breathe a sigh of relief, a scream came from the iron flower side, and then more people crowded here.