The crowd has been surrounded by three layers of water and three layers outside, Xu Zhilan is small, standing on the outermost part of the crowd, his vision is blocked, he stood on tiptoe and looked, only to see a high platform on the flat ground in front of him, and two rows of red lacquered wooden poles were erected on the platform, connected with red threads, and a long string of lanterns was hung.

Xu Zhilan hurriedly asked a gray-bearded uncle beside him: "This old man, everyone is gathered here." Looking at that stage, is there anything important? ”

The uncle's voice was hoarse, he twisted his beard, and replied slowly, "Don't you know yet? It's going to be a lantern contest soon. ”

"Lantern contest?"

"Little girl, are you a foreigner? Every year, the Lantern Festival holds a lantern contest, and everyone guesses the lantern riddles together. The old man looked at Xu Zhilan with a confused look on his face, and hurriedly added.

"Thank you, uncle!" Xu Zhilan smiled shyly, "My sister and I were having a good time, and I forgot about the lantern contest in a moment of excitement!" She can't say that she came from the 21st century, she has never seen this lantern festival, let alone participated in the lantern competition.

Xu Zhilan took Xiaomei's hand, and with great effort, he finally squeezed to the front of the crowd and stood less than two meters away from the high platform.

On the left side of the high platform, there are more than a dozen elegantly dressed scholars sitting on two rows of chairs, led by the gray-clothed old man in his early fifties, with a childish face and strong spirits, at first glance he is a talented master who reads poetry and books, and on the right side is a long table paved with red paper, on which is placed pen, ink, paper and inkstone.

After touching a cup of tea, the old man in gray stood up and walked to the center of the high platform, and the crowd that was boiling just now instantly quieted down.

The old man introduced himself, it turned out that he was the dean Zhuang of the Hongru Academy, and he greeted the people in the audience for a while, and said a series of opening remarks about the good weather and the peace of the country and the people to celebrate the festival.

The atmosphere in the audience was high, like a blazing flame, and the cheers were endless.

Xu Zhilan has also lived in Jingyi for a period of time, and has long heard of this Dean Zhuang, who is a well-known teacher in Jingyi, highly respected and admired.

Dean Zhuang's voice was low and deep, although he was over 100 and a half years old, when he talked about it, his face was not red or panting. Then he said: "This year's lantern competition, everyone in the audience raised their hands to guess, guess the most correct number of winners, we will pick out the most exquisite one in these lanterns on the stage to reward the winner, after the end of the competition, the child will be released, everyone will pray to watch." As he spoke, he pointed to the two rows of lanterns on the stage.

Xu Zhilan looked towards the two rows of lanterns, only to see that there was a lantern, it was square, with a small golden flower on each side, and two grinning green dragons were engraved on the handle, and the lanterns were lit with candles, and the small golden flowers reflected were lifelike, and the green dragon, under the illumination of the light, seemed to be alive, very beautiful.

There is also a chic rabbit lantern, fluffy, red round eyes, red three-petal mouth, red long ears, vividly reflected in the light of candles.

She likes both lanterns, she remembers that her father Xu Zhihuan's zodiac is a dragon, if she can win this lantern and give it to her father, he must be happy.

Xu Zhihuan has always treated herself very well, she is not stingy in food and clothing, and she gives herself the best, she misses his kindness in her heart, and has long accepted him as a real father, and wants to repay the favor. And the rabbit lamp is delicate and cute, presumably Xiaomei must like it, she turned her head and asked with a smile: "Xiaomei, do you want that rabbit lamp?" ”

Xiaomei's round eyes were staring straight at the rabbit lantern, and when she heard this, a pair of moist eyes immediately lit up, "I want to, but ...... Miss, are you going to take part in the lantern riddle guessing later? ”

Xu Zhilan nodded, her heart moved freely, and she immediately asked out loud: "May I ask Dean Zhuang, can the winner choose two lanterns he likes?" ”

Dean Zhuang looked at the audience, and saw that it was a petite, cute-looking little girl, and her voice was crisp, so she couldn't help but smile, and then smiled kindly: "This is naturally possible." However, one of the lanterns must be released at the Lantern Festival, when it is time to pray for blessings. The winner can only keep one lamp to take home. ”

So good, Xu Zhilan became interested, and hurriedly asked, "What are the specific rules of the game?" ”

Dean Zhuang stroked his beard and said unhurriedly: "Girl, don't worry, listen to the old man!" There are 10 lantern riddles in this lantern competition, and a total of 10 rounds of competition. The riddles are written on these lanterns. The old man read the riddle, and the gentlemen on the stage were the judges.

After reading the riddle, the first person in the audience to raise his hand came to the stage, on the red note on the long table, wrote the answer to the riddle and the name of the answerer, and the wrong answer was eliminated in this round and could only enter the next round of the game, and this round of the game was continued by everyone in the audience to raise their hands to answer until someone answered. The one with the most correct answers wins! ”

"Do you understand?" Dean Zhuang asked aloud.

"Got it!" The audience spoke in unison.

"Then the game begins!"

Soon, a servant took a lotus lantern and handed it to Dean Zhuang.

Dean Zhuang took the lantern and looked at it, and read: "The first question, it is always difficult to settle the two hearts. ”

After reading, the audience was silent for a moment, and soon a pink and tender little hand was raised.

Dean Zhuang saw that it was the little girl who had just asked and looked like Lan, and immediately laughed a few times and let Xu Zhilan come to the stage.

Xu Zhilan didn't think about it, and wrote the answer to the riddle.

One of the scholars sitting in the first row on the left stood up and came to the long table to check Konoran's answer. The scholar looked at the note, his brows furrowed slightly, and Xu Zhilan sighed in his heart, could he have answered wrong?

Dean Zhuang also looked at the scholar with an inquiring expression in his eyes. The scholar nodded and said, "That's right." He handed the note to Dean Zhuang.

Dean Zhuang couldn't help frowning when he looked at the words on the note, this little girl looked like she was ice and snow smart, but the words were really not very good, crooked, and she could barely recognize them.

Fortunately, his reaction was quite sensitive, and the puzzle could be solved immediately, he looked at the audience and read aloud: "The answer to the puzzle is: uneasy." Answerer: Xu Ying, answer correctly! ”

Xu Zhilan didn't want to reveal his identity here, so he used a pseudonym.

"Next, the second question, the four corners are soft, the speech is silent, the people are not facing each other, and the sentences are sincere."

As soon as the words fell, Xu Zhilan raised his hand again, came to the stage and wrote down the mystery, which was: letter. Still guessed.

Everyone was surprised, although this question was not very difficult, and they could guess it if they were given a little time, but this little girl's thinking was too fast, and she raised her hand almost at the same time as the riddle was finished.

Xu Zhilan felt a little proud in her heart, when she used to watch TV, she had watched these riddles in the play, so she knew the answer to the riddle, and she could answer it as soon as possible.

Next, the third question, the fourth question, and all the way to the ninth question, the puzzle is simple to difficult, at first it is to guess the word, guess the idiom, guess the object, and then guess the proverb and guess the poem.

But no matter how difficult the puzzle is, every time Xu Zhilan is the first to raise his hand, and every riddle can be guessed accurately.