Chapter 657 Another Lantern Festival
The annual Lantern Festival has arrived once again. Although the letter from Li Dalang has caused everyone in the Li family great concern, it also lets them know that he is safe and healthy and has found his blood relatives, which is a good thing.
Therefore, this year, the Li family decided to take the children out for some fun during the Lantern Festival.
On this day, the weather was kind; it didn't snow. Although there was some wind, it was just a light breeze and not a cold wind.
The Li family is large, and the only carriage they have, which is used daily by Li San Niang for going out on duty, is naturally not enough.
So, early on, Brother Li Er went out and rented two horse-drawn carriages. He drove one, and Brother Li Da, who was on holiday at home for the Lantern Festival, drove the other.
Actually, it could be said that one of the three branches of the Li family rode in a horse-drawn carriage.
Brother Li's family, along with Wu Qiaolan and Sister-in-law Li, sat in the carriage together, helping to take care of Xiao Liulang.
There were no outsiders in the car, only members of the second branch of the Li family.
On the contrary, Li San Niang's larger carriage not only carried Li's father and mother, but also Bao Ya, Li San Niang, Lu Zhu'er, and Qiu Xiang.
The lead carriage was driven by Brother Li. As a member of the Imperial Guard stationed in Chang'an, Brother Li was extremely familiar with the roads of Chang'an.
However, no matter how familiar they were with the roads, the streets were even more crowded during the Lantern Festival. The carriage moved slowly through the bustling city, and it took the Li family more than an hour to finally reach the entrance of the West Market.
Li San Niang got off the carriage with Qiu Xiang's help, then carried Lu Zhu'er down herself before helping Li's mother down as well.
Li's father didn't need Li San Niang's help; he jumped off the carriage in one go.
After standing still and looking at the bustling crowd on the street, Li's father couldn't help but sigh and say, "Because of that trade deal, there are really quite a few people coming from the Western Regions."
Father Li was right. Although the West Market was a place with a large number of people from the Western Regions, in the past only four or five out of ten people on the streets were from the Western Regions. But now, Father Li looked at the scene and it seemed that more than half of the people here were from the Western Regions. One could imagine how many people from the Western Regions were in the West Market at this moment.
Brother Li and his group had already stored their carriages, and then the group set off together in a grand procession into the West Market.
"Let's buy some snacks and go see the show first."
I think if Xiao Wu doesn't sit down and keep a closer eye on him, he'll turn into a monkey and run away.
Mr. Li held Kogoro's hand and chatted and laughed like this, making Mrs. Li and the others laugh at Mr. Li's jokes.
Kogoro understood what Li's father meant when he said he looked like a monkey. He also knew that Li's father was just teasing him, so he didn't feel embarrassed at all. Instead, he grabbed Li's father's hand and headed towards the stall where Indians were performing with monkeys.
(I personally do not support watching animal performances, especially those involving coercion. This is for the sake of the plot and does not represent the author's personal opinion.)
"Grandpa, monkey, look at the monkey, I am the monkey, let's go see the monkey."
Father Li squatted down and picked up Kogoro from the ground, patting Kogoro's bottom twice: "Monkey, we'll take you to see them later. Shall we go see the wild beasts first?"
Seeing the unyielding yet persuasive attitude on Li's father's face, Kogoro could only nod and let his father carry him into the acrobatic troupe run by Bai Ziyi and his group.
If it were someone else holding Xiao Wulang at this moment, such as Li's mother, Li's second sister-in-law, or Li's third sister-in-law, Xiao Wulang would definitely not agree to not go see the monkey show.
However, Kogoro was very clever. He knew that Li's father was the most dangerous person in the family, so he was very obedient in Li's father's hands and seemed to listen to him a lot.
Li Ersao, who had been following Li Ershuang, watched as Li's father carried Xiao Wulang inside to watch the show, and then she let out a deep sigh.
After sighing, Li Ersao said to her mother, who was holding Luzhu'er beside her, "Mother, if I had known that Xiao Wu was so tough, I should have given birth to a girl."
How wonderful it would be to have a little girl as well-behaved as Dewdrop!
Holding Luzhu'er, Li's mother listened to Li Ersao's complaints. She didn't say anything bad about Xiaowulang, nor did she praise Luzhu'er for being well-behaved. Instead, Li's mother said to Li Ersao, "Let's go in too. Don't waste the tickets that Qiuniang saved for us."
Yes, this time the tickets were specially delivered by Tuva and Shen Qiuniang earlier, and the Li family was given good seats in the sixth and seventh rows in the center.
Li San Niang originally wanted to give her money, but Shen Qiu Niang said to her, "Wouldn't this make you seem distant from me, San Niangzi?"
My life was saved by Third Sister, and this child (Little Lingzhi) is also able to live thanks to Third Sister.
If you insist on settling accounts with me for these few tickets to the opera troupe, then I'll truly be too ashamed to trouble you again.
Since Shen Qiuniang had already said so much, how could Li Sanniang possibly refuse?
So today, on the Lantern Festival, the Li family members came together to the West Market to watch the performances.
Today is the only day of the year without a curfew, and the Li family has decided to stay out until late before going home.
After watching the performance, we would go out for a meal, and then we would go our separate ways. Those who wanted to go to a teahouse to listen to storytelling could go to a teahouse, and there were also places to listen to music. We could also go shopping.
When it gets dark, we'll go guess the lantern riddles and release river lanterns to pray for blessings.
After the Li family entered the troupe, they quickly found where their tickets were. The men of the family sat on both sides of two rows, with the women sandwiched inside.
"Mother, let me carry her."
"Come on, how old is she?"
"I'm not even seventy or eighty yet, how could I not be able to hold my precious child in my arms?"
Li San Niang smiled helplessly and could only let her mother hold Lu Zhu'er while she and Qiu Xiang sat down to the side.
"Bao Ya, come sit between us."
Bao Ya obediently moved in from outside and sat between Li San Niang and Qiu Xiang.
When Lu Zhu'er saw Bao Ya arrive, she wanted to go and sit with Bao Ya as well. So, Li's mother had to put Lu Zhu'er down and let her sit with Bao Ya.
The sound of a gong rang out, and sure enough, a man with a head full of small braids was walking back and forth in the center, striking the gong. This was to inform the people who came to watch the show, "The show is about to begin, so hurry up and sit down and wait to watch!"
"Auntie, here you go."
Li San Niang took the two bags of still-warm snacks handed to her by Li San Lang. They were wrapped in oil paper. Li San Niang saw that one bag contained shortbread sprinkled with salt and pepper, and the other contained crispy fried sugar-coated fritters.
Just as Li San Niang handed one of the packets to Qiu Xiang, Li Er Lang came over, holding four hawthorn berries drizzled with syrup in one hand, and said, "Little Aunt, here you go."
Li San Niang only took three. She gave one to Qiu Xiang, one to Bao Ya, and kept one for herself to eat with Lu Zhu'er.
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