Chapter 76 Mid-Autumn Festival
Lantern Festival After the Yuan family's affairs were resolved, the annual Mid-Autumn Festival also quietly arrived.
In this season of cool autumn breeze and fragrant golden osmanthus, a warm and cheerful Mid-Autumn lunch is slowly kicking off. This is the first time that the Sheng family has spent Mid-Autumn Festival together in Bianjing.
The sun shines through the carved window lattices and sprinkles on the exquisite banquet. The table has long been filled with a variety of delicacies, steaming and fragrant. In the center of the banquet, a huge reunion moon cake occupies a prominent position. The cake is carved with a pattern of flowers and a full moon, and surrounded by various small moon cakes, which are the characteristics of major restaurants. The Sheng family, young and old, sits together.
"Fanlou is indeed a big restaurant. I think the specialty of their restaurant, the rose milk mooncake, is the best!" Rulan ate a mooncake and expressed her opinion.
"The milk mooncake of Huixian Restaurant is also good. The skin is crispy and the inside is mixed with this milk fragrance. I like this taste." Changfeng also justified the name of the mooncake he liked. "Fourth sister, which flavor do you like?" Changfeng turned around and asked Molan.
"I think this snow skin mooncake is good. I haven't eaten it in Yangzhou before. At first glance, the skin is crystal clear. I thought it was a jade ornament. It looks pleasing and tastes novel." Molan replied while eating and commenting.
"Minglan, tell me, which one do you like?" Rulan saw that none of the dishes matched her taste, so she asked Minglan again.
When Minglan was called, her cheeks were bulging with food, like a little rabbit. Everyone turned their eyes to her and were amused by her appearance. "You are the greedy one! You ate so many, choose the one you like best!" Rulan laughed at her.
Minglan quickly swallowed the mooncake in her mouth and licked her lips, as if she was savoring the taste. She pointed to the food box of the Eight Immortals Tower next to her and said, "This is it! Kumquat and Osmanthus Mooncake from the Eight Immortals Tower! The sour and sweet taste of kumquat and the fragrance of osmanthus are combined together, and the taste is very special. The most important thing is that I won't get tired of eating this. I've eaten too many flavors of mooncakes just now, and I'm sick of them. This one is just right!"
"Good!" It was Zhenzhen's voice. He could already say one or two simple words. At this moment, he was jumping in the arms of his wet nurse, cheering for his sister. Everyone laughed at his cute appearance.
"What's the point of you competing at home to see which restaurant has the tastiest mooncakes? There's no way to tell who's winning, and there's no prize for winning. The Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival in Bianjing is fun when all the shops compete with each other on lanterns. You can go guess lantern riddles and make couplets, and it'll bring good luck if you win. I remember when I was young I liked watching people playing pot-tossing, chicken-fighting, dragon and lion dances, hahahaha, the most interesting thing was passing the flower with the beating of drums, a group of young masters and ladies playing the game together, it was quite something to watch." The eldest lady laughed as she talked about the interesting things in the Bianjing Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival. As she laughed, she realized she had said too much, and she stopped laughing immediately.
"Ahem~ The Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival in Bianjing is a grand event every year. This year, because the Song Dynasty, Xixia and Liao have just established friendly diplomatic relations, His Majesty is very pleased. This year's Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival will definitely be more lively than in previous years." Sheng Hong used a cough to cover up the eldest lady's speechlessness and turned the topic to the grand Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival.
After the praise from the eldest lady and Sheng Hong, several children in the Sheng family became interested in the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival.
"Dad, can we go and watch it later?" Chang Feng looked at Sheng Hong with expectation.
"Yes, mother, we also want to see the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival in Bianjing. We haven't seen it yet!" Rulan also ran to the eldest lady and acted coquettishly with her.
Molan put down the mooncake in her hand, and looked at Sheng Hong and the lady with hope. Minglan made a plea and begged Sheng Hong silently.
Sheng Hong suddenly laughed, "How many of you are there? Daddy was planning to take you out to see the Mid-Autumn Festival Lantern Festival in Bianjing this year! You will go back and pack up later. Daddy will wait for you here at 3:45 pm. At 10:00 pm, I will take you to the Lantern Festival. You must not be late!"
Cheers rang out, and everyone praised Sheng Hong for his wisdom.
"Mother, I have booked a private room in Fanlou. You can go with the children to have fun!" Sheng Hong invited the old lady.
"I won't go. I want some quiet time when I'm old. The colorful lights at the lantern festival are dazzling and dazzling. Let the children go and have a good look around and guess the lantern riddles to see which one can win a lantern for us." The old lady teased Zhenzhen and refused Sheng Hong's invitation. The old lady watched the Mid-Autumn Festival Lantern Festival in Bianjing countless times when she was young. Now that she is old, she doesn't have the mood to do so. She won't disturb the young people's interest. With her around, I'm afraid Sheng Hong can't let go, not to mention the children.
Since the old lady said so, Sheng Hong didn't force it.
...
At the hour of You, Sheng Hong and his wife, along with Mingxi, the children and a group of servants, went to Yu Street from Sheng Mansion to visit the lantern festival.
Before the Sheng family arrived at Yu Street, they saw the bright lights on both sides of Yu Street, like two winding galaxies, as if they were going to light up the entire city of Tokyo. The crowds were so dense that from a distance it looked like Yu Street could no longer accommodate a single person, but there were still a steady stream of tourists joining in. As they got closer, they could hear the constant shouting of hawkers, and the tourists on the street were all smiling. The Sheng family was also infected, and all had happy smiles on their faces.
Sheng Hong led the Sheng family to squeeze forward, and fortunately because there were so many people, they finally squeezed in front of Fanlou.
"Is this Fanlou? It looks like a fairy palace!" Minglan was amazed by the building in front of her. She saw five three-story buildings connected by flying bridges. The overall scale was grand and magnificent. The whole building was made of gray tiles and green bricks, with carved beams and painted buildings.
"The jade buildings reflect Fanlou, and the lights are bright all night long." Molan praised and chanted a sentence. Mingxi and Minglan immediately cast admiring glances at her. Talented people are different. They can chant poems as soon as they open their mouths.
"Don't just stand outside and look. It's even more luxurious inside." Changfeng shouted and walked in first. He and Changbai had been to Fanlou before, but they had never seen Fanlou at night.
The Sheng family walked into the colorful building through the gate, and it really felt like they were in a fairy palace. The walls and beams were all painted with gold powder, and the paintings were colorful. The beaded curtains were lightly hanging, and the embroidery was exquisite. Every detail revealed extraordinary taste and ingenuity.
They entered the private room, which was right next to Yu Street. Looking down from above, the lights were bright, and the light and shadows intertwined, forming a flowing picture. After tasting the delicacies of Fanlou, the children lay by the window to watch the lanterns on Yu Street, and would exclaim and discuss anything new they saw.
Suddenly, Rulan seemed to have seen something, pointed downstairs and shouted to the eldest lady, "Mother, that seems to be my aunt." The eldest lady came over and saw that it was indeed Aunt Kang, "It is really your aunt. I wonder if she has booked a private room. Send someone to go down and ask."
"Why did mother ask my aunt to come? As soon as she comes, she will find fault with me. I should have pointed it out to you." Hearing that the eldest lady wanted to invite Aunt Kang, Rulan was very reluctant.