Chapter 265 Lanterns
Meimei saw the queen move slightly on the couch, and several palace maids came forward to serve her. She simply climbed up, and saw Yu'er bring a palace maid over, bringing warm water and hot tea, helping her wash her face and rinse her mouth. Another palace maid brought a mirror to help her adjust her clothes and makeup. After a while, an eunuch went to the outer room to report: "Your Majesty: The queen is up!"
"Well, what about the other one?"
"The wife of Marquis Weiyuan has also woken up and is dressing up..."
"Please ask the Queen and the wife of Marquis Weiyuan to come out. I and Marquis Weiyuan have been waiting for them for a long time! The children are all outside. After dinner, we will go to the garden to enjoy the lanterns and guess lantern riddles. Then we will go out of the palace and climb up to Shenghua Tower to enjoy the lights all over the city. I want to bring the Queen and the prince to have fun with all the people!"
After coming out of Kunning Palace, Meimei stayed with Xu Junying and was not separated. When they walked out of the Imperial Garden, they saw the King of Qi, the Queen of Qi, Princess Sude and a group of people waiting there with the Queen Mother. The royal family members greeted each other, and then the ministers greeted the Emperor, Empress and Queen Mother. The Emperor smiled and waved his hand: "I said that today the emperor, his ministers and the people will have fun together. No need to be polite, let's have fun together!"
Amid the laughter of the ministers and ladies of the imperial court, Xu Junying and Meimei greeted the King of Qi and his wife. The King of Qi said nothing, did not smile, and did not look at Xu Junying, but raised his hand to touch the pink face of Heng'er in his arms. Heng'er had learned some etiquette when he entered the palace, and knew to greet people, so he called out, "My lord!"
Lin Runan chuckled and teased him: "Heng'er, what about me? How do you call me?"
Heng'er said: "Auntie..."
"Stop!" King Qi pinched Heng'er's face and turned her to look at him: "Call her mother from now on, understand? I am the father!"
"Your Highness the Prince of Qi! Please don't teach my son a lesson!" Meimei glared at the Prince of Qi.
The King of Qi laughed and said, "Go ask Lord Xu - I have three conditions, this is only the first one!"
He waved his hand at Heng'er and said, "My dear son, I've found the right person. I'll give you a lantern to play with later!"
After saying that, he walked towards the Queen Mother with his hands behind his back and head raised. Halfway there, he realized that Lin Runan hadn't caught up with him, so he said coldly, "Why don't you come over here quickly?"
Lin Runan rolled her eyes at him, and Meimei asked worriedly, "Are you guys still fighting?"
"I don't fight when I'm awake...I sometimes fight when I'm dreaming!"
Lin Runan took the opportunity to talk to Meimei, not caring about Xu Junying anymore, her eyes slightly red: "It's already like this, I don't care about anything else, I'll just do as you say......"
The King of Qi refused to let Lin Runan and Meimei talk any more, and turned around and walked back... Lin Runan flicked his sleeves and went to meet them: "Here we go, Your Majesty, let's go!"
Meimei watched in a trance as the two pretended to be a loving couple as they walked away together under Lin Runan's efforts. Xu Junying unhappily reached out and turned her face away: "I told you not to get entangled with them anymore. Don't give them any tricks!"
"I didn't!" Meimei turned around and settled the score with him: "Did you really give Heng'er to him as your son?"
"I didn't agree! I told you I had to ask, but he made the decision himself. What if Meimei really wants it? Those three conditions..."
Meimei thought for a moment and said, "Let's just leave it like this! He recognizes his own son, and we won't say whether to give him or not... Our son is ours, and he will be raised in our family. When he grows up, he will know who is close to him and who is distant from him. We can all pretend to be confused, and let it be a mess... Anyway, no one loses out!"
Xu Junying smiled and said, "Okay, I'll listen to you!"
The family accompanied the emperor, empress, princess, prince, concubines, ministers and ladies of state to visit the garden to enjoy the lanterns and guess riddles. The lanterns in the palace were so exquisite that each one was breathtakingly beautiful. No matter whether it was auspicious animals, colorful birds, or people, they were all made vividly - lifelike... When hung up, the colors were bright and gorgeous... When lit, it made the surroundings as bright as day... Some of them even rotated non-stop, and Meimei was dazzled by the sight. There was a jade rabbit lantern that jumped up and down leisurely that attracted Heng'er's attention, and he insisted on moving it back home. Xu Junying said, "If we move it back home, this place will be empty, what will others see?" Heng'er scratched his head, said nothing, and refused to let go. As a result, the whole family guarded the rabbit lantern, with two adults accompanying the child, and looked at it enough. The emperor looked back and sent someone to urge them to leave.
Meimei has enjoyed the modern Lantern Festival. The lanterns that were crudely made in factories and workshops, put together in groups, and controlled by fire and electricity to light up and show their effects are really incomparable to the exquisite antique lanterns in front of her, which can be called true works of art. Not to mention Heng'er, even she wanted to take one home and put it in the yard. They are really beautiful!
Meimei was quite good at guessing riddles, at least better than Xu Junying. Every time she guessed a riddle, she would get an exquisite item made in the palace as a reward. The most common items were small ornaments from Sizhenfang. Later, Meimei found a place where she could take the lantern away if she guessed the riddle on it. She was excited for a long time, but her brain got hot and it didn't work. She couldn't think of the answer no matter how hard she tried. The riddles were written in ancient poetry, and the meanings of the words were profound and difficult to understand. She didn't choose the Chinese department when she went to college, but she attended Chinese classes for some purpose. At that time, the professor taught classical Chinese. It was all thanks to that period of forced learning that people who couldn't understand traditional Chinese characters could learn to read account books and some simpler books by guessing in this world. It was really too difficult to guess riddles now. Simple ones were fine, but it was really difficult to get a palace lantern!
Said to Heng'er: "Just take a look, let's go!"
Unexpectedly, Heng'er saw someone taking away the bright and beautiful lanterns. He was extremely envious and unwilling to leave. He pointed at the lanterns and complained. Meimei had no choice. Xu Junying touched Heng'er's head and said with a smile: "You can't buy this lantern with silver. Why don't you take it? Go out of the palace and pick one on the street later."
Meimei turned her head around to look at the people around her. Xu Junying asked, "What are you looking at?"
"Find out where my brother is and ask him to come over and get a lamp for Heng'er!"
Xu Junying pulled her closer and said, "You saw it on her face! Do you want people to misunderstand you?"
"Go! I'm not that boring!"
Xu Junying smiled and leaned close to her ear: "Let's guess seriously? If the husband and wife are of one mind, maybe we can guess it right, and it will make Heng'er happy!"
"All right!"
The two of them calmed down. Meimei asked Heng'er to pick one. The little guy still picked the rabbit lantern. Meimei took a look and took a breath: she didn't recognize all the traditional Chinese characters. What's more, the riddle on the rabbit lantern was written in cursive script. She couldn't understand it no matter how she looked at it... She had no choice but to ask Xu Junying to read the riddle, and read it twice. Xu Junying suddenly thought of this question while reading. Knowing that Meimei didn't recognize many characters correctly, she smiled and asked her: "You didn't only understand half of the letter I wrote to you a while ago?"
Meimei looked at him twice and glared at him: "You look down on me! As long as the handwriting is good and clear, I can always recognize it. Your handwriting looks like it was carved with a knife, who can't read it? As for the words on this lantern, I don't know what kind of calligraphy master wrote it, I can't guess it!"
Seeing Meimei's face half-shy and uncomfortable, Xu Junying wanted to reach out and hug her to comfort her... Seeing the emperor, empress and a large group of people standing there guessing lantern riddles, he just squeezed her hand and said softly: "It's okay! Your husband will read a few more for you, and we will guess slowly, just treat it as a game... It doesn't matter if you can't guess it, you can ask the champion to get a lantern for Heng'er when you meet him later!"
Meimei smiled and nodded, and the two of them lingered in front of the row of lanterns like shadows. Xu Junying was still holding Heng'er's hand. After relaxing, Meimei's brain worked better again, and Xu Junying was not stupid either. The couple analyzed the riddle one after another, and actually guessed the answer at the same time... Heng'er's favorite rabbit lantern was finally taken away by him... He was so happy that he jumped and laughed... which attracted the little prince who was held in the palace maid's arms to look over, and when he saw Heng'er's excitement, he stared and shouted non-stop.
The emperor was not convinced. He had seen Xu Junying and his wife refusing to move and insisting on guessing the lantern riddle. He actually got a lantern for Heng'er. The emperor also asked the queen to guess together. He was determined to get a lantern for the prince and the two princesses. It was very easy for the children of the royal family to get lanterns. But for the sake of fairness, the emperor had to make a show of it, both to share the joy with the people and to set rules. It would only take a while, and he would let his family members insist on it. When the occasion was over, they could get any lantern they wanted. At this time, seeing Xu Junying and his wife guessing the lantern for their son, he was jealous of them and wanted to get the lantern for the prince with his own ability.
When the emperor spoke, everyone cheered and waited. The emperor and empress were in front, followed by the virtuous concubine, the beautiful concubine, the chaste concubine, and a dozen other concubines. How could anyone guess what was going on? In addition to the little emperor's cries, the two little princesses were also shouting, "Father, I want the eagle lantern!"
"Mother, I want the lamb lantern!"
"I don't want an eagle lantern anymore. I want a lotus lantern that can spin!"
The emperor was overwhelmed. He turned around and frowned at the group of beautiful girls around him. Then he glanced sideways at Xu Junying and his family of three, who were leaning on each other and quietly enjoying the rabbit lanterns. They looked relaxed and comfortable, and indescribably sweet and warm. Xu Junying would glance in their direction from time to time, as if he was watching the fun. The emperor felt so angry that his teeth were itching: There has been nothing to do recently, Xu Junying, you are living too comfortably, aren't you?
The Queen had seen all the answers to the lantern riddles. She was a smart woman who could remember everything she read, not to mention hundreds of lantern riddles. In order to pretend to be more convincing, she deliberately took a long time to guess one and got the lotus lantern that the Grand Princess wanted. The Emperor was overjoyed and picked up the Grand Princess, holding her hand to take the lantern: "My dear daughter, take it! Are you satisfied? You must thank your mother!"
Then he guessed the eagle lantern. The emperor smiled from ear to ear and stepped forward to hold the queen's shoulders: "My queen is so smart!"
The last guess was the buffalo lantern that the prince pointed at casually. The queen said, "This riddle, in my opinion, is related to this lantern!"
The emperor said, "It's just a cow!"
The eunuch in charge of the riddles bowed and said, "Congratulations, Your Majesty! You guessed it right!"
The emperor thought to himself: Congratulations! Instead of hanging a dragon lantern, my prince actually specifically asked for a cow!
The prince was very happy to see the lantern. Just when he was feeling happy, he turned his head and saw the Prince of Qi standing next to him with a smile on his face. Thinking of the time when he was a child raising cattle, he became annoyed and left in anger.
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