Chapter 138: Ending and the Little People (4)
To host the bell-ringing festival, Fu Jishan painstakingly built a wide, smooth road leading to the bell pavilion on the mountaintop. The path was wide enough for a horse-drawn carriage, but no one ventured into the area. Instead, everyone carried lanterns of all shapes and sizes, chatting and laughing as they wandered among the stalls.
At the foot of the mountain, Luo Xuanyi saw many people gathering colored silk and trellises, and she was curious. Zhang Qiu explained, "This is a lantern festival. To walk the path of blessing, you need to carry a lantern. You can choose to make your own, or you can participate in the lantern festival to get one."
"Like the Bluebird Lantern? Then how many people did you defeat?"
Zhang Qiu chuckled. "No, no. The lantern riddle competition is just one of the many activities there. Usually, weaker students like us from the academy participate. There's also archery and lantern shooting, scent-sniffing competitions, and arm-wrestling competitions—it's all very exciting! It's a pity you didn't see it. This year, Sister Yumi won the lantern shooting competition. It was late and the competition was about to end, but the dealer was so proud that they were the only one who hadn't won. What a joke! But Sister Yumi hurried over, shot an arrow, grabbed the lantern, and left with her brother. The dealer was dumbfounded."
"Do you know about fish and rice?" Luo Xuanyi couldn't help asking when she thought of the brother and sister who made her get the boat back inexplicably.
Zhang Qiu thought for a moment and said, "Actually, we're not that familiar with each other. It's just that from the time I came to the academy, and later when I was picking up my junior brothers and sisters, it was always Sister Yumi who took care of the boat. We would occasionally exchange a few words."
Feeling a bit regretful, Luo Xuanyi left the Lantern Festival behind. As soon as she stepped onto the road of blessing, she was greeted by a group of enthusiastic vendors. They said that they were vendors and that all the food today was free.
Luo Xuanyi was almost overwhelmed by the sight, but Zhang Qiu didn't rush her. He simply introduced the dishes one by one. Sweet glutinous rice dumplings, seared fish sprinkled with spicy noodles, cool and smooth ice cream, and perilla paste with a faint herbal fragrance...
Luo Xuanyi, clutching a large pile of snacks, finally reached the first corner of the mountain road, which was also the end of the snack shop. She finally saw the cotton candy that Zhang Qiu had been longing for. The shop owner was a chubby and kind uncle. He moved a stool and sat next to an odd-looking table. When he saw the two of them coming, he stood up with a smile and said to Zhang Qiu, "You're here?"
"I come here every year." Zhang Qiu was a little embarrassed. Luo Xuanyi, who was always generous, didn't know why she felt a little shy. When she saw the uncle's actions, she couldn't help but be surprised.
After confirming he wanted two, the uncle used his chubby fingers to uncover a small pot beside the odd copper plate. Inside, it was surprisingly filled with snow-white, delicate sugar. He filled a small wooden spoon with the sugar, then, watching the moment, activated a piece of yellow talisman paper inside the plate. Wind blew out, and the uncle poured the sugar in. He quickly set down the wooden spoon and picked up a sharpened bamboo stick, rolling it across the plate. Soon, a small "white cloud" formed.
The uncle first broke the talisman paper, then handed the rolled marshmallow to Zhang Qiu. After Zhang Qiu handed it to Luo Xuanyi, the uncle did the same thing again. This time, Zhang Qiu held it in his hand and took a bite of the marshmallow with happiness.
"They're using snowflake candy! What a luxury!" Luo Xuanyi muttered, finally understanding Zhang Qiu's embarrassment. Snowflake candy was extremely expensive. Luo Xuanyi had never seen it in the valley before, only learning about it later from Taoist Hua Shen's book. Since pure snowflake candy could be used in alchemy, Taoist Hua Shen demanded that Feiyan Pavilion secure some, no matter what. Feiyan Pavilion reportedly paid a large sum for a batch from a profiteer with whom Tiandao had been in constant communication, and Jiao Xing even personally delivered it.
Luo Xuanyi had only secretly tasted it once, while delivering materials to Feiyan Pavilion. It was sweet and expensive. This was her concept of snowflake candy. Since Taoist Hua Shen used it to refine poison pills, she was a little reluctant to eat the marshmallow in her hand.
To distract her, she chatted with the stall owner, "This snowflake candy is extremely expensive. Are you here to advertise your goods today?"
The uncle chuckled twice, carefully covered the snowflake candy, and was happy to chat: "It's okay, it's okay. I actually stopped doing it a long time ago. My son was fortunately trained by Master Wang and is now a big merchant. I also became a wealthy man early on. But one should not forget one's roots. I also come to the annual bell ringing ceremony to share in the blessings, just as a way to accumulate merit."
Luo Xuanyi hummed twice, noticing that the talisman paper on the copper platform had lost some of its cinnabar. "This talisman paper is rare, isn't it? You've really invested a lot of money, so it will surely bring you great fortune."
The uncle smiled and pointed at the talisman paper, saying, "You really know your stuff. After all, talisman paper is made by immortals. Even this kind of paper, which is just for making food, costs ten spirit coins a piece! Calculating the price of copper coins this year, it's thirty strings of cash. Buying one piece every year is too much, too much."
"Last year it was ten spirit coins or ten strings of cash?" Zhang Qiu, who was sipping marshmallows, realized something and frowned.
"That was last year. We don't need money in Fuji Town on a daily basis, so you wouldn't know unless you went out." The uncle shook his head. "Out there, you can't even pay a copper coin for a single dan of rice. Even if you were to use gold or silver to buy it, you might not even get it. The price changes every day."
Luo Xuanyi nodded nonchalantly to indicate she was listening, but she still made up her mind to take a bite of the marshmallow. Not bad. The two said goodbye to the stall owner and headed up the second section of the mountain trail.
Compared to the first section of the mountain road, the second section is hung with lanterns, and they are four-sided glass lanterns of the same style, heavy and not shaken by the wind. Each glass lantern has a different painting on it.
Zhang Qiu was clearly distracted, but he forced himself to explain to Luo Xuanyi, "The food we just talked about is about how we're now affluent, and every household can enjoy a wide variety of delicious food, so we don't have to worry about filling our stomachs anymore. This section of the road uses colored glass to depict the many stories of suffering in the past, reminding us not to forget our ancestors."
Luo Xuanyi looked at her carefully and asked, "What's wrong?"
Zhang Qiu shook her head and continued walking in silence. She looked at the brilliant four-sided glass lanterns, at the marshmallow in her hand, and after a while, as she was about to leave the road, she suddenly spoke: "I actually thought that the outside world must not be peaceful, otherwise I wouldn't be sent to the academy. My father wanted me to be able to earn a living, even if I couldn't study, so that I wouldn't starve to death like my mother."
"Fuji Town is very prosperous. Those stories of people starving to death are now only seen on the glass lanterns. I've been here for so long that I almost feel like the glass lanterns are the only ones out there."
Luo Xuanyi couldn't understand her logic. As long as she was fine, why bother with others? So she didn't interfere with Zhang Qiu's thoughts. Feeling a bit bored, she quickly walked out of the second brightly lit road. After all, Luo Xuanyi had also crawled out of hell on earth, and she couldn't empathize with the suffering depicted here.
But she felt that she had to comfort Zhang Qiu, so after thinking about it, she handed the marshmallow in her hand to Zhang Qiu. Zhang Qiu gave Luo Xuanyi a puzzled look, and Luo Xuanyi said directly: "Don't be sad. You like eating marshmallows, right? I don't like it, but we can't waste food. Do you want to eat it?"
Actually, this wasn't a very appropriate move, but Luo Xuanyi really felt that food shouldn't be wasted. As she walked, she used her spiritual power to seal all the snacks she had bought into her storage bag. Even though she didn't need to eat now, what if?
Zhang Qiu accepted the cotton candy, her expression finally less grim. "Thank you," she said excitedly, seeing the last bend ahead. "The Xuanzhong Pavilion is just ahead." (End of this chapter)
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