Chapter 111: Lantern Festival, Resemblance to Old Friends

The fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Lantern Festival.

This kind of festival is usually not exciting until the evening, so during the day, Jiang Ning and Liu Mingan were not in a hurry to go out.

When it was dusk, Liu Mingan pulled out the hairpin on Jiang Ning's head, tore her flowing cloud bun, and braided her hair into four or five small braids, wrapped them around her forehead and fixed them behind her head, and then put on a veil. Jiang Ning was left with only a pair of eyes exposed.

Liu Mingan took a closer look at the changed Jiang Ning and was very satisfied: "You will definitely not be recognized in this look!"

Jiang Ning touched the veil on her face, and her eyes flashed.

Soon, she will be able to appear in the capital openly, and she will no longer have to spend so much effort to hide.

There are four districts and eight streets in Beijing. Liu Mingan and Jiang Ning are unfamiliar with the place. They went out leisurely, walked around and strolled aimlessly.

It was not completely dark yet, but the shops on the street had hung lanterns, lighting up the street as bright as day.

The street was crowded with people, and there were all kinds of carriages and carriages. People came and went, and it was very lively.

Steaming shops were set up on the street. The boss was busy, but the smile on his face never faded. One by one, the white Yuanxiao was squeezed into a bowl and served on the table. The customer scooped up one with a spoon, blew it and put it into his mouth, with a satisfied smile on his face.

"A Ning, do you want to eat Yuanxiao?" Liu Mingan looked at the scene and asked Jiang Ning beside him with a smile.

Jiang Ning was a little tempted, but there were too many people around, so it was better not to take off her veil for safety.

"Let's go later, when there are fewer people." Jiang Ning said.

Liu Mingan immediately understood her thoughts, nodded, and led her to follow the crowd to somewhere.

Just now, they heard that there was a lantern festival on Jinse Street, which was very lively. They were unfamiliar with the place and didn't know the way, but it was always right to follow the crowd.

The two walked to Jinse Street, and heard the man's rough voice behind them: "Hey! Make way, make way! Thank you so much!"

Jiang Ning turned around and saw a sturdy man driving a cart. The cart was full of plum buds, red, yellow, and white, with a fragrant smell. They had just been picked from the branches, and it was obvious that they were going to be sold in crowded places. Pedestrians

consciously gave way to him, making way for him. Liu Mingan also hugged Jiang Ning and took two steps back to the side of the street. The man kept thanking him and was about to pass them with the cart.

At this moment, Liu Mingan felt someone bump into his back from behind, and then the man pushed him aside and walked to the center of the street as if no one was around.

Liu Mingan looked carefully and saw that it was an old woman with gray hair.

The carriage was close at hand, and the man driving the horse was startled. He pulled the reins and shouted, "Old man, get out of the way! Get out of the way!"

Liu Mingan was worried that the old woman would be hit, so he let go of Jiang Ning's hand, took two steps forward, pulled the old woman's arm and brought her back.

Because it was in the busy city, the horse was not running fast, and the man reined in the horse and breathed a sigh of relief. Then he looked at Liu Mingan with a somewhat unhappy expression: "This young man, can you take good care of your old man? He almost scared me to death when he ran out on the street."

Liu Mingan knew that the man had misunderstood the relationship between him and the old woman, but it was just a matter of one sentence, so he was too lazy to explain and just laughed it off.

The man didn't want to waste time, so he shouted "Drive" and drove away.

Liu Ming'an let go of his hand, and the old man was still staring blankly at the front, his eyes motionless, as if he was wandering in the sky.

The old man was dressed neatly and simply, his hair was neatly tied up, and he looked to be over 70 years old.

Jiang Ning stood beside her and could smell the faint scent of incense on the old woman's clothes. She looked at her casually and found that the old woman had a gold hairpin in her hair, exquisite gemstone earrings on her earlobes, and a very fine bracelet on her skinny wrist.

Jiang Ning was sure that the old woman was from a wealthy family, but she didn't know why she looked a little strange.

Liu Mingan didn't have the same professional habits as Jiang Ning. He just saw that the old woman was too old, so he kindly advised her: "Old lady, don't do this in the future. You are so old, it will be terrible if you bump into something."

The old woman seemed not to hear him, staring blankly at a certain place, but if you look closely, you will find that her eyes have no focus, like a puppet whose soul has been taken away.

Jiang Ning looked at the old woman like this, and a term flashed through her mind unconsciously: Alzheimer's disease.

"Old lady! Old lady!" Liu Mingan called twice again, and stretched out his hand to wave in front of the old woman.

This action attracted the old woman's attention. Her eyes moved, and she slowly turned her head to look at Liu Mingan.

"Old lady, don't go out alone in the future. It was too dangerous just now. Call your family--"

Before she finished speaking, the old woman's dull and numb eyes suddenly lit up, and she grabbed Liu Ming'an's sleeve and shouted, "Qingzhi!"

Liu Ming'an was stunned, but saw that the old woman's eyes were already full of tears after she called this name.

"Qingzhi, are you back? Don't you blame your mother? Qingzhi, my child, your mother misses you so much..."

The old woman's eyes were filled with tears, and her expression was extremely sad. As she spoke, she raised her dead tree-like hand and trembled as she tried to touch Liu Ming'an's face.

Jiang Ning was not surprised by this. It was a common symptom for people with Alzheimer's disease to have memory problems and not recognize people. The old woman should have mistaken Liu Ming'an for her son, but at her age, she should be Liu Ming'an's grandmother.

But for some reason, Jiang Ning always felt that she had heard the name the old woman called out before.

Liu Ming'an took a half step back, dodged the old woman's hand, smiled gently and said, "Old lady, you have mistaken me."

"Qingzhi, are you still unwilling to forgive me? I was wrong. I have been regretting for so many years. I shouldn't have said those words to you back then..."

"Grandma!" A man on the other side of the street shouted at this side, and then strode over.

Jiang Ning turned around and saw a man about thirty years old, with an anxious look on his face, and several gray-clothed servants followed him.

"Huh? It's Lord Lou?" A vendor selling lanterns nearby heard the noise and looked over here. After seeing who it was, he said this with a hint of surprise in his voice.

"Which Lord Lou?" A vendor selling masks in the shop next to him looked up, but his line of sight was blocked by the lanterns.

"Who else could it be? Lou Liyu, the son of Grand Tutor Lou, Lord Lou, the Junior Official of the Dali Temple."

"Oh, it's Lord Lou. What is he doing here?"

…

Jiang Ning was close enough to hear the peddler’s words clearly. Then she looked at Lou Lianyu, who had already come over with four or five servants.

“Grandma, come home with me.” Lou Lianyu looked at the old woman and said.

Perhaps because he ran too fast, Lou Lianyu’s voice was not steady and he was slightly out of breath. There was a thin layer of sweat on his forehead in the cold weather, and the servants behind him were all the same.

But the old woman ignored him and just stared at Liu Mingan, shouting “Qingzhi” over and over again.

Liu Ming'an knew that the old man's family had come to find him, and he wanted to shake off his sleeve, but the old man held on tightly. He had no choice but to speak to the person who called "grandmother": "Young master, the old man has mistaken the person."

Lou Lianyu was only concerned about the old man's safety before, and had no time to care about other things. After hearing Liu Ming'an's words, he turned his eyes to the person who was mistaken by his grandmother.

It is common for the elderly to mistake someone. As long as the person has an upright posture, a clear voice, and looks like a scholar, the elderly will think of that person, even if they don't look alike at all.

But this time Lou Lianyu miscalculated. When he saw Liu Ming'an's appearance clearly, he was stunned unconsciously. The vague figure in his memory seemed to overlap with the young man in front of him. Liu

Ming'an noticed the man's gaze and was full of doubts: "Young man, what's wrong with you?"

Lou Lianyu came to his senses and realized that it was impolite to stare at someone so directly, so he quickly bowed and said "Excuse me. "

Liu Ming'an smiled and said "It's okay", and then heard him say: "My grandmother is old, and she can't remember things clearly, and can't recognize people clearly. Please don't blame this young man."

Lou Lianyu hesitated for a moment, and still said what was in his heart: "But you do look like an old friend, even I was a little dazed when I saw you just now."

"Things are similar, people are similar, it's normal." Liu Ming'an said casually.

Lou Lianyu nodded. It had been so long since then. He was just a child and could not remember clearly. However, the two people made him feel so similar that he felt like he was meeting an old friend.

After thinking this through, Lou Lianyu stopped paying attention to Liu Mingan and went forward to support the old woman, coaxing her softly, "Grandma, let's go home. Everyone is worried about you..."

The old woman was indifferent to Lou Lianyu's words and just held onto Liu Mingan's sleeve with tears on her face.

Lou Lianyu patiently persuaded her, speaking softly and persuading her. In the end, he tricked the old woman into saying that he was going to buy Qingzhi his favorite candy. Only then did the old woman reluctantly let go of his hand.

"Qingzhi, don't leave. Stay here. Mom will buy you some candies. Don't leave!"

The old man kept looking back, looking at Liu Ming'an with a cautious and flattering look in his eyes.

Liu Ming'an nodded, lowered his voice and said to the old man, "I won't leave."

The old man then walked away with Lou Lianyu's support.

After walking a few steps, Lou Lianyu turned back and looked in the direction of Liu Ming'an. His eyes were full of gratitude, and he silently mouthed, "Thank you!"

When the group walked away, Liu Ming'an sighed, took Jiang Ning's hand again and went to the lantern festival.

"A Ning, I don't know what's going on, but I feel a little uncomfortable looking at this old man." Liu Ming'an's voice was much lower.

"Because you are kind-hearted."

Liu Ming'an smiled. Maybe that was the reason. It was hard not to be moved by the old man crying in front of him and missing his son.

After walking two more steps, Liu Ming'an said casually, "But it's a coincidence that my father's name is 'Qingzhi'. Maybe I really have a connection with this old man."

Jiang Ning suddenly remembered where she had heard the name "Qingzhi".

She had seen "Father Liu Qingzhi" on the tombstone at the foot of the Lotus Village three times, but she only glanced at it.

But she didn't know which two characters the old man said were "Qingzhi". It could be "Qing", "Qing", "Qing", "Qing"... or it could be "Zhi", "Zhi", "Zhi"...

and the man's surname should be "Lou", and he was from the capital.

Everything seemed to be just a coincidence. Jiang Ning didn't want to be distracted by irrelevant people.

Ahead was a bustling lantern festival with huge crowds of people, and the two of them quickly forgot about this episode.