Chapter 44 Lantern Festival
Jiang Ran originally thought that after seeing her drunken rage, Lu Weiqing would calm down.
Just after noon, he sent her another invitation, inviting her to go to the Lantern Festival in East Market that night.
"This guy, doesn't he know that girls are thin-skinned? He doesn't understand romance."
Jiang Ran threw the post away and was about to fall onto the bed.
Taoli peeked in and muttered, "Hey, a lantern festival? I heard there are craftsmen from Henan who specialize in making iron flowers. Taoli wants to go and see it."
Hearing that there was something fun, Jiang Ran became interested again.
"Okay, then I'll reluctantly take you to have a look." It's not that she wants to play, Taoli just wants to go.
Tao Li cheered when she heard this, thinking to herself: "I'm such a clever little ghost! The young lady couldn't save face, thanks to my help. On the wedding day, if the son-in-law doesn't give me a big red envelope, I won't agree!"
Because of the Lantern Festival, there was no curfew in Chang'an, and lights were on everywhere, with a constant stream of visitors.
Jiang Ran was a little reserved at first, but after playing for a while, he forgot everything that happened yesterday. He held the steamed cake in his left hand and the meat skewers in his right hand. He took anything interesting he saw and threw it into Taoli's arms.
After a while, Taoli couldn't hold any more things in her arms. Fortunately, Eleven took all the things with a cold face.
Free labor, why not use it? Jiang Ran played even harder.
The only unpleasant thing is that Lu Weiqing's face is too attractive.
Along the way, countless young girls and wives kept looking at him. In just a quarter of an hour, at least five of them pretended to accidentally drop their handkerchiefs at his feet.
Jiang Ran walked to a stall selling masks and immediately fell in love with a ferocious Rakshasa mask. He picked it up and put it on Lu Weiqing.
Seeing that he didn't object, Jiang Ran praised him guiltily, "It looks good. This mask suits you very well."
Taoli leaned close to her ear and whispered softly, "The young lady is jealous."
Jiang Ran made a gesture towards her, wiping his neck. She wasn't jealous, but there were too many girls throwing themselves at her, and it was affecting her fun.
Next to the mask stall is a pitching pot stall, which has the most people gathered around it.
Jiang Ran likes the hustle and bustle, and finally squeezes in under Lu Weiqing's protection. He happens to see the previous person fail in the challenge and leave with a shake of his head.
"Miss, do you want to try? One ounce of silver can be exchanged for ten arrows, with no time limit. If you hit six out of ten, you'll get a lotus lantern. If you hit eight out of ten, you'll get a laurel rabbit lantern. If you hit all the arrows and the ears are pierced, you'll get this lion lantern."
Jiang Ran immediately fell in love with the majestic lion lantern hanging at the highest point, but it was too difficult to hit the target ten times out of ten!
She didn't say anything and just stood aside and watched others try.
She soon discovered that there was something wrong with the two-handled pots at the stall; they were empty.
In order to prevent the arrow shaft from falling into the pot, the pot is usually filled with red beans.
But because the pot was empty, the man hit the target twice, but the arrow fell out again. In the end, he only hit seven arrows and took away one lotus lantern. According to the people around him, this was already the best result.
"No, this is too difficult."
Jiang Ran pulled Lu Weiqing to go somewhere else, but after pulling him twice, he didn't move at all.
"Do you like it?" Luosha asked. Jiang Ran was suddenly frightened and regretted coming up with such a bad idea of wearing a mask.
She quietly looked away and shook her head slightly.
Seeing that she had been staring at the lion lantern, Lu Weiqing naturally knew that she was saying one thing and thinking another. He walked up to her, picked up ten arrows and started shooting.
He hit the target five times in a row without stopping. The people watching nearby began to cheer, and Jiang Ran also cheered for him excitedly.
Lu Weiqing threw three more times in a row, and although he didn't hit the target, he hit the target every time.
"Wow! Lu Weiqing, you are so amazing."
Jiang Ran was jumping around beside them, her face flushed, and she cheered louder than anyone else.
There were only two left. Jiang Ran was already thinking about how to convince the vendor to give her the lion lantern if her suggestion didn't go her way.
Lu Weiqing picked up an arrow and was about to throw it. He didn't show any nervousness at all. Instead, Jiang Ran's heart was pounding.
At this moment, a gust of wind suddenly blew, and the empty pot was unevenly stressed, shaking a few times and was about to fall over.
"Ah, how could this happen!"
Jiang Ran stepped forward to argue, thinking that the vendor must have done it on purpose, putting an empty pot there. No matter how good his skills were, it would be difficult to win the prize.
“Whoosh—”
Two arrows were thrown at the same time, and both hit the ears!
The crowd erupted in warm applause and cheers. The vendor reluctantly took down the lion lantern and handed it to Lu Weiqing.
"This young man is quite skilled. I've been setting up shop here for years, and you're the first person to hit the target with two arrows."
Jiang Ran held his right hand and jumped up excitedly, "Great, we won!"
Lu Weiqing shook her hand back, his dry palm touching her slightly sweaty palm. A subtle pleasure spread from there to every part of her body, making her feel indescribably comfortable.
Jiang Ran, however, was not so attentive. He took the lion lantern from his hand and trotted off to look at other new things.
She didn't know that Lu Weiqing's unique skill in pitching pots was due to her special practice.
During the Lantern Festival a few years ago, she and Jiang Chuan spent all the change in their purses at a pitching pot stall in order to get a dough figurine of Sun Wukong. In the end, the stall owner couldn't bear it anymore and gave one to each of them.
After they left, Lu Weiqing also went to the stall and contributed his own money in exchange for a consolation prize from the stall owner.
Since then, Lu Weiqing has practiced pitching pots at home whenever he has free time. His technique has become so perfect that he can even hit the target with his eyes closed.
I thought this skill would never be useful again, but I didn't expect it to make A Ran smile.
Lu Weiqing's eyes never left the lively figure, and the expression under the Rakshasa mask was extremely gentle.
The atmosphere here was just right, but the other engaged couple was the opposite, looking gloomy. One was crying so hard that he couldn't breathe, and the other was shivering with cold.
That day, Xu Qingwan discovered Lu Yu and Lin Buqiu's affair, and immediately ran home crying, telling her mother that she would not marry him.
Mrs. Xu felt distressed when she saw her daughter crying like a tearful person, and she cursed Lu Yu's ancestors for eighteen generations.
However angry she was, she couldn't let her daughter act as she pleased.
Seeing that Lu Yu came to apologize, the Prime Minister's Mansion didn't want to be too aggressive.
"With your wedding date approaching, who else can you marry?"
"I'd rather marry no one than him!" When Xu Qingwan mentioned this, she couldn't stop her tears from flowing down.
Madam Xu sighed deeply and advised softly, "My little ancestor, which son of aristocratic family doesn't have three wives and four concubines? Those concubines Su and Yu have been making things difficult for your mother, right?
Xu Qingwan stamped her feet anxiously: "That's different! Lu Yu and I haven't even gotten married yet. If he does something so shameful, isn't that a slap in my face?"
"She is just a person who is not presentable. She has caused such a scene that even a drop of spit can drown her. What kind of trouble can she cause?" Madam Xu showed contempt. Lin Buqiu was not a smart person since he could come up with such a despicable method.
"Take advantage of the fact that Lu Yu feels guilty towards you now and make him promise not to take a concubine until you give birth to a legitimate son. Are you worried about not being able to secure your position as the legal wife?"
"When he's in high school next year, and you give birth to a son and a daughter, and stay home to take care of your husband and children, who will remember this?"
Xu Qingwan carefully considered her mother's words and forced herself to hold back her tears.
What my mother said makes sense. If I cancel the engagement now, no respectable family will marry her.
If she marries a man from a poor family, she will be inferior to others wherever she goes, and she can't stand it!
"Alright, Lu Yu, you've been kneeling outside for so long, you've vented enough anger, hurry up and pack up and get out. After all, he's your future husband, don't let him get frozen to death."
Xu Qingwan washed her face as instructed, put on her makeup, and awkwardly told someone to open the door.
She didn't know yet that she could no longer bear children. She and Lu Yu were destined to be a pair of unhappy couples.
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