Lanqin stayed with Madam Dong for dinner at Madam Dong's request, then said that she needed to return home early. Madam Dong reluctantly bid farewell to Lanqin. As soon as Lanqin and Nianxue left the Seventh Prince's residence, Lanqin said to the sedan chair bearers, "This princess wants to go for a stroll in Dashilan. Are you going to leave?"
In Lanqin's mind—no, it should be said in Lin Mengyao's mind—Dashilan in Beijing was a place where folk customs and activities gathered. At this moment, she took out a pocket watch that Fourth Master had given her from her bosom, checked the time, and realized there was still quite a while before Shenshi (3-5 PM). Going back like this would be such a waste of her time.
The two sedan chair bearers, who happened to be the same two who carried Yan Yu that day, could not stop Lan Qin from saying this, so they nodded in agreement.
"Princess, are you really going there? Master instructed that you must return by Shenshi (3-5 PM)." Nianxue asked with some concern.
"You heard it from Consort Dong just now too. Fourth Master and his wife probably won't be returning to the manor today, so they won't know when we'll be back. Don't worry, leave it to me. If Fourth Master blames you, I'll keep an eye on things, so it won't affect you," Lanqin said nonchalantly.
Seeing that she couldn't stop Lanqin, Nianxue had no choice but to accompany her to Dashilan.
Sure enough, the Dashilan area was really lively. There were more and more people on the street, and all kinds of shouts could be heard. Lanqin, sitting in the sedan chair, couldn't help but lift the small window to look outside.
"Princess, this is it! We've arrived!" Nianxue was also moved by the bustling scene of the street and couldn't help but happily say to Lanqin inside the sedan chair.
After Lanqin alighted from the sedan chair, she instructed Nianxue to give a few taels of silver to the two sedan chair bearers, telling them to find a place to rest and then meet up again in two hours. The sedan chair bearers naturally agreed; with the silver, they could find a place to have a good meal with wine and meat.
Seeing that the sedan chair bearers were settled, Lanqin said to Nianxue, "Let's go and stroll around the temple fair!"
Along both sides of the street, there were people making sugar figurines, selling candied hawthorns, wielding broadswords, showing Western paintings, selling rice cakes, performing storytelling, and even singing local operas...
"Gege, this is so much fun! Look, there are people blowing fire and swallowing swords over there!" Nianxue was only a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl, and she naturally became interested when she saw something fun.
"Come on, let's go take a look~" Lanqin glanced at Nianxue with a grin, then pulled her into a crowd of onlookers.
Three burly men were shirtless, and none of them looked like people from the Central Plains. They had high noses, deep-set eyes, and thick beards, and their accents were noticeably curly. Lanqin thought they looked like people from Xinjiang. Of course, the term "Xinjiang people" didn't exist during the Qing Dynasty, so they looked more like people from the Dzungar Khanate.
"Wow, Princess, look! He really swallowed the knife!!!" Nianxue clapped her hands and cheered.
"Tsk tsk!" There were occasional gasps of surprise around Lanqin.
“Hehe, Nianxue, once you recognize that this is definitely an illusion, it won’t be so novel. All magic tricks are illusions~~” Lanqin said, crossing her arms and staring at the person swallowing the knife.
"Magic?" Nianxue was puzzled.
"Ahem, magic is a performance art, it came from the West. Look at that knife, believe it or not, I can show you how it works," Lanqin said confidently.
"No way, Princess, you can swallow a big knife?" Nianxue looked incredulous.
At this moment, the people standing around them also heard Lanqin's words and looked at her with disbelief.
When the knife-wielders saw someone revealing their secret to making money, they exchanged glances. One of the burly men walked up to Lanqin and said, "Young lady, don't talk nonsense. We've been practicing our skills for over ten years to earn this living, and you, a mere girl, dare to speak so presumptuously."
Yes, yes!
"May your heart and mouth be at peace!"
The people around them all chimed in.
Seeing that her casual remark had attracted so much skepticism, and that the man was still staring at her, Lanqin said in a hard tone, "Such a trivial skill, bring me your knife!"
This statement caused an uproar among the crowd.
The burly man winked at the person behind him, who then stepped forward with a knife in hand. His menacing aura made those who approached him involuntarily take a step back.
"Little girl, if you've got the guts, swallow this knife." The big man took the knife and shoved it into Lanqin's hand.
Nianxue was startled and grabbed Lanqin's arm, whispering, "Princess, let's forget about it. That knife is too big and scary."
Seeing that things had come to this point and there was no way to refuse, Lanqin had no choice but to muster her courage and take the knife.
Seeing the little girl's great courage, everyone became curious and gathered around to see how this girl, who had made such a boast, would swallow the big knife.
Lanqin held the knife in her hand, turning it over and over, trying to find the mechanism that would allow the blade to retract, but after searching for a long time, she still found nothing.
"What, you're scared now? I won't force you. Just kowtow three times to me, apologize, and say you were just talking nonsense. Then I won't make things difficult for you," the big man laughed loudly.
Seeing Lanqin's worried expression, the people around her started gossiping again. Some advised Lanqin to give up, while others took advantage of her misfortune, mocking and ridiculing her. In short, there were all sorts of opinions.
Lanqin frowned as she stared at the blade and hilt, ignoring all the chattering voices.
However, she felt as if a sharp gaze was sweeping over her, not coming from the people around her, but from a distance. Lanqin looked up, bewildered, but couldn't find the source of that gaze.
"Master, can that girl see the mechanism on that knife?" A servant asked a man with a hooked nose and extremely sharp eyes who was staring intently at Lanqin. Although his clothes were not much different from those around him, a closer look revealed that the aura he exuded was completely different from others.
"Who knows? Look at her, that woman is quite different from ordinary Qing women. Mengdou, go, tell Abahai and the others to keep an eye on her, don't let them hurt her!" The man's thin lips uttered these words.
After speaking, the man turned his head and glanced at Meng Dou. He saw that Meng Dou was definitely not a Manchu or a Han Chinese, just like the other men outside who were wielding broadswords. His thick beard, which reached all the way down to his ears, was perfectly and neatly attached to his chin.
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