The entire Chang'an City fell into a carnival on this full moon night, and every household was "welcoming the cold" and "sacrificing the moon". At the same time, pray for the blessing of the "Jade Rabbit Lord" and taste the sweetness of moon cakes.

The street is bustling and lively, burning incense, trees Mid-Autumn Festival, lighting river lanterns, putting sky lanterns, walking the moon, fire dragon dance, etc. abound. Even the eldest girl and the little daughter-in-law who usually don't leave the door take advantage of this rare opportunity to take to the streets in groups of three or five, becoming the most beautiful scenery in Chang'an City.

Although the Zhongfu is not prosperous, the brand-new vermilion lacquer gate is also lit up, trying to render the festive atmosphere.

Today's Zhongfu is not the tattered little courtyard of the past. Under the full renovation of Guo Chengsi, it has become an exquisite courtyard with three entrances and three exits, as if it has the posture of becoming a medium-sized rich family. It is twice as large as the Zhong Mansion before it was sealed.

The outer courtyard specially built two rows of houses with blue tiles and white walls, and became an exclusive place for making peach blossom beauty pills. The inner courtyard is staggered with gardens, winding paths, and the wings of the flower hall are looming in layers, and outsiders can't spy on them at all.

There was suddenly a sparsely populated rich family in Chang'an City, which once attracted a lot of ill-intentioned gangsters to peep. It's a pity that these gangsters have just stepped into the scope of the Zhong Mansion, and a few ghostly big men will appear inexplicably, and after teaching those voyeurs that they don't even know their mothers, the entire Zhong Mansion suddenly becomes a pure land. It's almost to the point where the house is not closed at night, and the road is not left behind.

Except for Li Xiucai's family and the Zhuang family, the rest of the residents in the vicinity exclaimed, Could it be that the people of the Five Cities Terracotta Division have finally started to eat people and do things recently? didn't know that there was such a group of heroes around them who did good deeds and left no names.

Inside the newly renovated garden. There are several delicate fish scale lamps and shavings lanterns hanging on the tall osmanthus trees in the courtyard, which sprinkle a dim yellow and warm light in this flowery courtyard.

Zhong Ziyuan wore a light blue soft smoke pleated skirt embroidered with twigs. A dark blue ribbon is tied around the slender waist, and only a simple jasper hairpin is inserted in the slanted bun.

She sat on the swing in the courtyard and swayed gently, and the two strands of hair on her cheeks fluttered in the wind, which was quite fluttering.

In the past, there was a small swing in Zhongfu, which once accompanied Zhong Ziyuan throughout his childhood. When she entered this new and unfamiliar Zhong Mansion this morning, her shoulders had been tense and she seemed hesitant. After dinner, Cardamom helped her to sit on the frame, which was entwined with cyan vines. The wild swing was full of fun, and then stood behind her and babbled and swayed gently. Slowly, Zhong Ziyuan's shoulders that had been tense fell, and her amber eyes were half-narrowed in comfort. Appears lazy and relaxed.

On the stone table not far from the swing frame is the first tablet of the Jade Rabbit in a samurai robe and the moon god, and a large red candle is burned on each side. There are eight small plates at the bottom, all of which are fresh fruits, various kinds of dim sum and stacks of golden mooncakes. Qingdai folded her hands. Slightly closed eyes. Silent prayer is being made.

I saw Qing Dai praying in a whispered voice: "Jade Rabbit Lord, Jade Rabbit Lord, you can bless our young lady with a speedy recovery, and our lord and lady will get out of the sea of suffering as soon as possible." And "She swallowed a mouthful of saliva with difficulty, her round eyes turned around, and then she whispered like a mosquito: "I must bless our young lady and Guo Shizi to get married smoothly and early."

Although she is just a little girl with little knowledge, she also knows that her own young lady and Guo Chengsi are tired of being together every day. was hugged and hugged by him, and hugged and hugged. Obviously, it is no longer possible to remarry and marry someone else. I only hate the lord now, and the lady is all locked up in prison, and there is not even an elder in the huge mansion who can make decisions for the young lady's lifelong affairs. Only she, the little maid, was worried and scared all day long, which was really sad.

Cardamom looked at the pious and tangled expression on Qing Dai's face from a distance, couldn't help but smile, and teased: "This jade rabbit is still a three-petal mouth, how can I bless you more and more beautiful!" Could it be that you will be blessed with a three-petal mouth? ”

Qingdai used to have a plump body, so every time she worships the Jade Rabbit on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, she always quietly prays that she can become slimmer and more beautiful, no wonder Cardamom will make fun of her with old things today.

Qing Dai was shocked, and really wanted to use mooncakes to plug Cardamom's uncovered mouth. She was busy bowing to the Jade Rabbit and pious three times, and said: "Cardamom is still young and ignorant, and please Jade Rabbit Master You have a lot of adults, there are strange things, some things are strange." Different from Cardamom, Qingdai's cautious temperament makes her in awe of the gods and Buddhas in the sky, so she will be extra pious every time she worships.

After meticulously worshipping the Jade Rabbit Master, Qing Dai stood up with her skirt. She walked up to Cardamom angrily, poked her forehead with one hand, and said angrily, "I really want to sew up your mouth with a needle." I just asked for peace for the lord, the lady and the young lady, and you will come to the back foot and talk about it, if you anger the gods, how can it be good! ”

"I'm wrong, I'm wrong!" Cardamom hurriedly covered her forehead and said goodbye. She saw that Qing Dai was still pouting and showing displeasure, so she rolled her eyes, stretched out her hand and pointed to the night sky and cheerfully proposed: "Look, someone has already started to put sky lanterns, why don't we put them too!" Write down all the words you prayed to the Jade Rabbit just now, and let the sky lanterns bring them to the heavenly court, and ask all the immortals in the sky to bless you with all your wishes. ”

"Okay!" Qing Dai looked up when she heard the sound, and sure enough, she saw in the distance, there were several sky lanterns of different shapes rising. She immediately turned her anger to joy and clapped her hands in approval.

Fauber had already tied a delicate cylindrical lantern with thin bamboo bones and kraft paper, and a short red candle was tied underneath. Qing Dai placed the sky lantern in an open place in the courtyard, and each of them held a brush dipped in ink, and wrote all the wishes, hopes, and blessings in their hearts on the lampshade.

"Put on the sky lanterns!" Qingdai clapped her hands and laughed, making a fuss. Cardamom lit the candle with the fire in his hand. The small orange-red flame emitted a scorching glow, causing the lampshade filled with blessings to slowly swell.

When the lampshade swelled to its maximum, Qing Dai twisted a thin rope tied to the sky lantern. The sky lantern was like a child who had broken free. stumbling and slowly soaring into the air.

Qingdai and cardamom are all stupidly looking up. I watched the sky lantern with their blessings fly straight into the sky, and the orange-red light flashed in the dark night sky, even brighter than the stars in the sky.

"It's flying so high." Qing Dai muttered, she suddenly turned around, and shouted at Zhong Ziyuan with an excited face: "Miss, look! Our sky lantern is the highest flying, and the gods in the sky will surely see our prayers. I will bless the old lady from prison safely! ”

Zhong Ziyuan slowly looked up, the orange flame reflected in her amber eyes looked extremely bright and moving, but her plain white face was still faintly calm.

Indigo. Seeing this, Cardamom couldn't help but show a touch of frustration on her face. Tonight, whether it's worshipping the moon, worshipping the Jade Rabbit, or putting sky lanterns. Both of them tried to follow the rules and habits of Mrs. Zhong in the past. They hope that this familiar scene can stimulate Zhong Ziyuan, make her remember the past, and be able to come back to life. But at present, it seems that their arrangements for this night have not achieved the expected purpose.

Qingdai's eyes were red, she raised her sleeves to wipe the corners of her eyes, and said in a choked voice: "I'll just say it!" It's not that easy. In the past, the Mid-Autumn Festival in the house was so lively! Not only the old lady is here, but also Aunt Zhu and Sister-in-law Liu. Sister Fang'er and a lot of other people! It's good now, it's deserted. Just the two of us making trouble here, it's not the same smell as before, how could Miss think of it! ”

"Forget it, if it doesn't work this time, there will be a next time! Anyway, we have it in our house now, and we have the silver. I believe that it won't be long before the old lady will be released, and then the young lady will naturally recover, and everything will get better and better. "Cardamom is a natural optimist, inexplicably full of confidence. She simply sat on the ground, leaned against the swing shelf, looked up at the starlight in the sky and the round and full moon, and said, "Don't think so much, you see that the moonlight is so beautiful tonight, let's have a good holiday with Miss!" ”

"You think so." Qingdai had to give up the entanglement, she followed the cardamom look, and carefully sat down against the other shelf of the swing with the hem of her skirt, and the three of them silently looked at the stars together.

"Yikes!" Qing Dai suddenly exclaimed, she pointed to the night sky and said stupidly: "Our sky lantern is burning." ”

Cardamom also saw that the sky lantern in her house first turned into a dazzling flame, and soon the flame burned out, and the sky lantern also lost its light, and fell from the sky like a bird with broken wings. She also said with great regret: "The candle must have burned out." ”

"If only we tied a longer candle so it could fly higher and farther." Qing Dai stared closely at the direction of the fall of the sky lantern and said with great annoyance.

"Forget it! If the candle is longer, the weight will be heavier, and our sky lantern will probably not be able to fly at all. You must know that our lanterns are made of ordinary kraft paper, not valuable multicolored pastel wax sticks. Cardamom said amusedly.

"What is a multicolored pastel wax stick?" Qingdai asked curiously.

Cardamom thought for a while and said, "I've only seen it twice, the kind of colorful pastel wax swab has the characteristics of both powder paper and wax paper, the paper itself is not only waxed to be hammered by hand, but also kneaded into five colors: light blue, pink, light green, yellow, and white." The most elaborate ones are sprinkled with fine gold and silver powder or gold and silver leaf. At that time, the young lady said that the colorful pastel wax swab is fine, lightweight, beautiful, with good transparency, and it also has the function of water absorption and fire prevention. It's best if you use it to make sky lanterns. Because it is resistant to burning and lighter than kraft paper, it can fly farther and higher. ”

"Wow!" Qing Dai held her chin and said with a yearning face: "There are such good things in the world, I think it must be beautiful when I listen to it." Why don't we buy some of the five-color chalk paper you said next year to tie the sky lanterns! ”

"How dare you say that." Cardamom wrinkled the tip of her nose and said with a smile: "The colorful chalk paper is a tribute, and it is very rare." Only those nobles in the palace or the noble families used it, and there was nowhere to buy it if they had money. When I used to play with Miss Liu in Mrs. Liu's house, I saw that there was a small stack on Miss Liu's desk, which was sparkled by the sun, and the five colors were shining, which was extremely beautiful. I heard that it was rewarded by the queen mother in the palace. She loves something like that, and she is reluctant to use it at all. I remember that it was also close to the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the young lady was very interested in using it to make sky lanterns, saying that it would be extremely beautiful. It's a pity that Miss Liu said at that time that this was a gift from the emperor and could only be offered well, and if it was used as a sky lantern, it would be a great crime of disrespect, and Miss had to give up! ”

When Qing Dai heard this, she couldn't help showing a trace of disappointment on her face, and she said stupidly: "It's so lively, it's all nonsense for a long time." ”

"It's not all nonsense, and when I returned to the house, the lord knew that the young lady had never forgotten the colorful pastel wax stick, and the next day he took the opportunity to diagnose the pulse of the queen mother, and also asked for some back. At that time, the young lady was very happy, and originally wanted to follow Miss Liu's example. As a result, the old man said that no matter how rare things are, they are all dead things, and they will slowly decay after a long time. It is better to play its greatest role when it is the freshest and most beautiful. So the lord and the young lady hid in the study together, and pasted the precious imperial gift into a sky lantern. At night, while playing on the streets, I secretly let it go by the canal. ”

Qing Dai asked in surprise: "When is it, why don't I know?" "However, such a precious multicolored pastel paper is used to paste lanterns, and no matter how you listen to it, it is suspected of being a violent celestial object. But considering how much the lord spoiled the young lady in response, it was not surprising to do such a ridiculous thing.

Cardamom grinned and said, "It was the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival last year, when you followed your wife around the kitchen all day long, and you only had those foods in your eyes, where did you notice this." In addition, at that time, the old lady had the intention to hide it, and even the lady was kept in the dark, you don't know what's strange! Qing Dai's face flushed when she heard this, and a hint of surprise appeared on her apple-like cheeks.

Gossiping a gust of autumn wind blew, bringing a slight chill. Cardamom shuddered involuntarily, she stood up and patted the dust on her body, and proposed: "It's a cool breeze at night, let's help Miss go back to rest!" ”

"Wait, look! Are those sky lanterns the multicolored pastel wax sticks you were talking about? Qing Dai suddenly pointed to the sky and exclaimed.

"What?" Cardamom subconsciously raised her eyes, and the gorgeous beauty in front of her suddenly made her stunned.

Just in the sky not far away, countless sky lanterns, with overwhelming momentum, exude a dream-like misty colorful light is rising. A gust of wind blew, steadily sending these multicolored sky lanterns, which were brighter than the stars and brighter than gemstones, into the sky, and soon, the night sky, which was originally as black as ink, was almost half illuminated by the soft multicolored light.

"How can there be so many? It's really beautiful," Cardamom muttered to herself, holding her chest in her arms. She suddenly turned around and said excitedly to Zhong Ziyuan: "Miss, look" Qing Dai was silent after listening to Cardamom's words, and she subconsciously looked back. I saw that Zhong Ziyuan was also looking up at the sky that was emitting colorful light, but two lines of tears slowly flowed down her plain white cheeks. (To be continued......)