Ye Zelin pointed at the colorful dolls on the stall, "Do you like these?"
"I like it!" Hua Fushu looked at the big Afu dolls on the stall. Each one was smiling and chubby, much prettier than the gray clay dolls.
"Pick whichever you like." Ye Zelin's eyes were filled with doting that no one could see.
"Okay!" Hua Fushu looked around and around, and picked out two particularly cute big Afu dolls, one boy and one girl. "I want these two."
Ye Zelin paid the money.
Hua Fushu gave Ye Zelin a big Afu doll. Ye Zelin looked at it carefully and found it really cute. Hua Fushu's clothing taste was not very good, but he had a good eye for picking things.
The two of them had a great time. After an hour, Hua Fushu felt a little hungry, so he pulled Ye Zelin to sit at a snack stand and ordered two bowls of noodle soup.
Hua Fushu looked up and saw an elderly couple not far away. They were both white-haired and wrinkled. The old man was helping the old woman choose a hairpin. The old woman kept complaining that the hairpins were not pretty and asked the old man to pick them again. The old man patiently chose. They both had smiles on their faces, and there was an indescribable sense of happiness. Perhaps this was what it meant to grow old together and support each other.
Hua Fushu asked, "Do you think we will end up like them?"
Ye Zelin looked over and saw the loving couple. He then understood what Hua Fushu meant. After a moment's thought, he pretended not to understand and answered irrelevantly, "Everyone gets old. Don't worry about it."
Hua Fushu was both amused and confused. Wasn't that what she meant? Did he really not understand, or did he understand but pretend not to?
Hua Fushu, still determined to gain control, continued to test him, asking for a 'token of love'. "When your father and your mother were engaged, he gave her a Pear Blossom Melting Moon. How about you give me a Mandarin Duck Love?"
Ye Zelin looked at him coldly, "Stop talking nonsense, do you want to eat or not?"
Hua Fushu closed his mouth in disappointment and stopped talking.
After the two of them had eaten and drunk their fill, Ye Zelin estimated that it was getting late, and said to Hua Fushu, "It's almost time, we should go back."
Hua Fushu looked at the bustling streets and said, "I haven't had enough fun yet. It's still early, so there's no rush."
Ye Zelin said, "It's almost midnight, is it still early?"
A hint of disappointment flashed across Hua Fushu's eyes. "Didn't you promise me that you wouldn't leave on the way? Are you going to go back on your word?"
Ye Zelin smiled helplessly. He had promised not to leave halfway. He shrugged and said, "No regrets."
The flowers are lush and the smile is as beautiful as a flower.
Ye Zelin looked at her and saw her smile. The disappointment in his eyes disappeared at that moment. The smile was as bright as the lights on the streets and as dazzling as the fireworks in the sky.
He stood up and held out his hand, "Let's go."
Hua Fushu hesitated for a moment, then placed her little hand in his palm. Ye Zelin held her hand, pulled her up, and walked along the bustling street with thousands of lights.
Hua Fushu glanced at her hand held in his, and the corners of her mouth curled up. The candlelight fell on them and on his handsome face with picturesque features. She felt very happy.
She hoped that the candlelight would never go out and would always burn.
She hoped that this street would be very long, so long that they could never walk through it.
She hoped that this excitement filled with joy would never stop.
She also hoped that time could stop, stop at this night, forever, forever...
The Song Dynasty was different from previous dynasties in that there was no curfew. In the prosperous capital, some hotels were open from early morning until five o'clock in the morning. It was common for tourists to still be around until three or four o'clock in the morning, not to mention during festivals and lantern festivals.
Not only Hua Fushu and Ye Zelin came to visit the Qixi Lantern Festival from the General's Mansion, but Dugu Lanxi and his wife, Ruhuan also went, and Ye Songyan, the fourth young master of Feiyuan, also came.
He came alone, without a servant or a maid.
He was in the square pavilion in the neighborhood, where the lights were dim. He had been there for more than an hour, watching the tourists coming and going, and listening to the excitement unique to this festival.
"Ayan."
Ye Songyan looked over and saw a young woman in a lilac satin gown with a pattern of acacia flowers. She lifted the veil of her hood, revealing a face so beautiful it could be described as stunning, with skin as white as snow and a beauty as beautiful as flowers. Her smile was as bright and beautiful as the full moon, and as dazzling as mountain flowers.
"Rong'er, you're here." Ye Songyan also smiled and looked at her, as if he saw the most beautiful scenery in the world.
Princess Yurong approached Ye Songyan, pulled the veil of her hat back over her shoulders, and said with a smile, "You must have been waiting for me for a long time. I came here with my brother. It took a long time to walk to this street. I lied to my brother and said I had to go to the bathroom so I could come to see you. My brother is waiting over there, so we don't have much time left."
Ye Songyan smiled softly and said, "It's okay. I'm already satisfied to see you. You're a princess, and it's not easy for you to go out on your own."
Princess Yurong looked at Ye Songyan's handsome face and lowered her head slightly, not daring to look at him. A blush slowly spread across her beautiful face, and she hesitated to speak. "You, you... missed me?"
Ye Songyan's face suddenly turned red, and gradually turned red to his ears. He was very nervous, "...I did, I really wanted to..."
Princess Yurong's face turned redder and redder, as shy as a lotus bud about to bloom, and she said in a voice as soft as a mosquito, "I feel the same way."
Ye Songyan looked at the lantern in his hand, then at Princess Yurong, and said seriously, "Rong'er, this lantern is only for you."
In Tokyo, there is a custom of the Tanabata Lantern Festival. If a man falls in love with a woman, or likes a woman, he will give her a lantern. If the woman accepts the lantern, it means that she accepts the man's feelings, or that she and the man are in love with each other.
Therefore, lanterns represent courtship and the affection between men and women.
Princess Yurong took the lantern with her fair little hand and held it. The lantern was in the shape of a peony, and the petals were made of red gauze. The layers of petals were centered around a short red candle. The workmanship was crude, and it didn't look like the ones sold on the street.
She said, "You did it?"
Ye Songyan nodded. "Most of the lanterns sold on the street are lotus lanterns. They look pretty, but I think they're too simple and lack any uniqueness. Your maiden name is Yurong, which sounds like Yurong, another name for peony. The Book of Songs says, 'The man and the woman, when they tease each other, give each other spoons of herb.' So I made a peony lantern. Please don't despise me if it's not good."
Princess Yurong laughed, with an indescribable joy in her eyes.
Ye Songyan said timidly, "You, don't you like it?"
Princess Yurong smiled and said, "No, I like it very much. This lantern is the most special lantern I have ever seen."
Ye Songyan breathed a sigh of relief.
"Let's not stand here, let's sit over there. I only have time for a cup of tea. After a cup of tea, I have to go back to the palace." Princess Yurong pointed to the Sifang Pavilion.
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