(Thanks: Tip from the magical Golden Beetle Brothers.) ）

In the days that followed, the atmosphere in the capital slowly became calm and comfortable. The annual leave of the Great Zhou lasted until after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and in the following days, there were no more fatalities in the city. There was nothing major in the court. The people are forgetful, they quickly forget about the serial murders after the New Year, and they quickly lose their fears.

This is actually very normal, ordinary people are forgetful and numb to anything that has nothing to do with them, even life and death, except for their own lives. After all, it was someone else who died, not yourself. The joy of life and death of others is just a matter of talk, and there is actually no essential connection with oneself. After the New Year, how to live or live better in the coming year is what they should focus on. And before that, they hurry up and enjoy the joy of this last New Year. After that, they have to run around like mules and horses for a living.

Maybe it's because Guo Chong has been in a good mood recently and his condition is getting better. Maybe it's because you want a new atmosphere and color in the New Year. In the past, Guo Chong did not pay much attention to the Shangyuan Festival. There are hundreds of fires caused by the lanterns of the Shangyuan Festival in the city every year, and Guo Chong is very annoyed every time, thinking that this Shangyuan Festival is a festival to find trouble. But this year, Guo Chong made a will to have fun with the people.

The decree said that the emperor and the queen, as well as the queen mother and the harem concubines, should personally tie the lanterns and display them in the square inside the Suzaku Gate this year. And invite the old masters of the Hanlin Academy and the talents of the Hanlin Academy and Taixue to make lantern riddles. Every household should follow suit and start a fun meeting of lanterns and riddles. At that time, the lanterns are beautiful and the lantern riddles are exquisitely set, and they will be rewarded after passing the competition.

At the end of the day, every household was busy. There are still two or three days before the Shangyuan Festival, and all the people's official eunuchs and various yamen offices regard this matter as a top priority. Because it is said that the emperor will take the queen and the concubines to enjoy the lanterns in the street that night. This is a unique thing in the more than 100 years since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

After the panic and frightening of the past year, the whole Great Week urgently needs a new way to welcome the arrival of the New Year, a way to hope for a safe and smooth year ahead. The emperor and the queen and the ladies have fun with the people, which is undoubtedly a thing that everyone feels new and worth participating in.

Everyone in the Lin family also actively participated. Lin Jue knew that in the recent past, because of the deaths of Mr. Fang and Lord Yan and his series of revenge acts, everyone's mood was actually very depressed and worried. Revenge doesn't end, but it's not all there is to life. Life must go on, and the atmosphere in the house must be restored to tranquility, otherwise the long-term depression of the atmosphere will overwhelm everyone.

What Lin Jue hopes most is that the people around him live freely and happily, and he doesn't want them to be unhappy. Moreover, the situation has changed somewhat. The reason why the previous revenge was a little crazy was not only because the deaths of Mr. Fang and Yan Zhengsu angered Lin Jue, but also because Lin Jue thought that he had no place in the court, so he would ignore it. But now that the seeds he planted have sprouted, Guo Chong's attitude is extremely subtle, and the wishful thinking of Lu Zhongtian, Guo Xu and others has not succeeded. And he is about to be promoted to the post of third secretary. Guo Chong seems to be intent on supporting himself. Then some crazy actions that do not leave a back hand can be slowed down.

It would be better to retaliate on the grounds of a crown than to take the risk of assassination. Besides, with the strength of Lu Zhongtian and Yang Jun, if you want to use assassination to solve them, it is better to use politics. The means of struggle to bring them down are easy. Wu Chunlai came to that dog, he might as well keep his dog's life and wait for the opportunity to clean him up.

Of course, Lin Jue also hopes to alleviate the pain of the Fang family's mother and daughter by watching the lanterns. Since Fang Dunru's death, Mrs. Fang and Fang Huanqiu have been mourning for a long time, and it is difficult for them to be themselves. Especially after Mrs. Fang returned to Yulin Lane a year ago, she brought back some things that Mr. Fang used before his death, as well as the clothes, shoes and socks he wore, which made the Fang family's mother and daughter see things and think about people, and wash their faces with tears.

To be honest, Lin Jue was also very sad to see those things. Fang Dunru really lived an ascetic life. The clothes he wears on weekdays are quite neat, but after looking at those underwear and underwear, Lin Jue found that Mr. is extremely simple. Those clothes and socks are rarely new, they are all worn for many years, and some are thin and transparent. Some patches are patched over patches and patched up many times. It's hard to imagine that this is the weekday clothing of the important ministers of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Although the officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty are not too rich, as an official, as long as they move their fingers slightly, it is not difficult for the family to have fine clothes and food. Under the circumstance that the officialdom of the Great Zhou Dynasty was so extravagant, Fang Dunru still maintained his true colors, and he was never greedy for a penny, although the silver he handled was more than tens of millions, but he was so poor. This made Lin Jue feel that those guys who had empty mouths and white teeth to frame Mr. Fang for embezzling silver were extremely hateful. Lin Jue went on a killing spree against them after the New Year, largely because of this emotion.

Lin Jue asked for two things to keep as souvenirs. One is an inkstone that Mr. Fang has used for many years. The inkstone is not precious, just a natural inkstone-shaped ochre. It was a stone that Mr. Fang found in the mountain behind Songshan Academy, and he thought it could be used as an inkstone, and this use has been for nearly 20 years. This inkstone replaced the precious inkstone on the table in Lin Jue's study, and became Lin Jue's study utensils for grinding ink and writing in the future.

Another thing was Mr. Fang's washed white middle coat, with patches on the shoulders and cuffs. The whole dress is almost translucent. Of course, Lin Jue didn't use it to wear, but unfolded it and framed it, hanging it on the front wall of the study like a banner. Lin Jue would not live a poor life like Fang Dunru, that was not the life that Lin Jue wanted to live. But Lin Jue wanted to let himself remember Mr. Fang's personality and beliefs, his attitude of life of not liking things and not being sad for himself, and remembering his firm belief in ideals. reminded himself that he had promised Fang Dunru that he would practice his will.

These things made Mrs. Fang and Fang Huanqiu immersed in endless longing and sorrow, and couldn't extricate themselves. In the past half a month, Lin Jue has visited many times, but each time he went with a state of comfort to them, but when he came back, he was depressed and couldn't extricate himself. Sitting in the small courtyard, facing the mother and daughter who were silently weeping, Lin Jue really couldn't say anything like mourning. The most important person in their lives is gone, and their sky has fallen, how can they be persuaded to mourn. Their grief is a matter of course, a matter of course.

But Lin Jue can't let them be immersed in grief forever, so this Shangyuan Lantern Festival is an opportunity. Lin Jue hoped to use this to involve Mrs. Fang and Huanqiu to ease his sadness. The splendor of the lanterns may make them feel better and slowly get rid of the control of sadness.

Mrs. Fang and Fang Huanqiu were reluctant to participate in this matter, but the little county lord, Xie Yingying, Bai Bing and others went to invite in person, saying that without Huanqiu's sisters, everyone had no idea. Although the Lin family is not a wealthy family in the capital, it is also a family with a head and a face. If the lanterns are not as good as those of other families, they will lose the face of their husbands. After all, the husband is also an important minister who is about to become the third envoy.

Mrs. Fang and Fang Huanqiu couldn't resist them, so they also agreed to participate. In fact, they themselves know that they can't always be immersed in that kind of negative emotion. So, everyone in the Fang family held a meeting to actively solicit proposals, and finally under Lin Jue's instructions, the idea of the Nine Lotus Treasure Lantern proposed by Mrs. Fang and Fang Huanqiu was unanimously agreed by everyone. To put it bluntly, this nine-lotus treasure lamp is a huge lotus lamp, with nine huge petals in the middle is the main body, supplemented by lotus leaf buds. On Fang Huanqiu's design diagram, it is a fresh and elegant picture, quite poetic.

Fang Huanqiu did not explain why she chose to make the Nine Lotus Treasure Lantern. But Lin Jue knew in her heart that it was a sorrow she placed on her. Above the lampshade, Huanqiu has to write several sentences such as mud but not stained, clear ripples but not demons, etc., all of which are from "Ai Lian Said" written by Lin Jue when he was apprenticed. Others thought that these poems were written because the lantern came from the Lin Mansion, so it needed to have the poems of the Lin family master to meet the occasion, but Lin Jue knew that he had said that Ai Lian said that it was made for Fang Dunru, and he originally compared Fang Dunru to the gentleman of flowers. Fang Huanqiu's intentions can be imagined.

However, Lin Jue didn't say anything, he allowed Fang Huanqiu to use his selfishness here. As long as Fang Huanqiu can come out of the grief of losing his father, he is willing to do anything.

With the full cooperation of everyone in the Lin family, on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, when the beautiful Nine Lotus Treasure Lantern, which was more than one zhang high, lit up on the ground of the Lin family's front house, Fang Huanqiu held the hands of Lin Jue and Master Fang, and laughed with tears in his eyes. That was her first smile after Fang Dunru's death. Lin Jue knew that she had walked out.

Beginning on the morning of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the whole capital has become extremely lively. After breakfast, the soldiers and horses of the front of the hall began to clear the grounds along the sides of the royal street leading from the Suzaku Gate inner square to Ouchi. Groups of cavalry galloped on the royal street, and the corners of the streets and alleys on both sides began to set up checkpoints and set up horse-repellent fortifications. This also proves the fact that the emperor and queen will personally enjoy the lantern parade tonight.

The length of the entire street, which stretches from Suzaku Gate to the Daikei Gate of the Ouchi Imperial Palace, is about 10 miles, and the entire Imperial Street is divided into areas for the display of lanterns. As the main display place of the lanterns, the inner square of the Suzaku Gate is naturally the place where the lanterns of the major yamen of the royal family are displayed. The lanterns of the rest of the eunuchs' homes are displayed along the long street according to their status. The rank status is vividly displayed even in this lantern parade.

Since then, the lanterns made by each family have begun to be transported to the inner square of Suzaku Gate and the royal street for installation, commissioning, polishing and correction. lest it be too late if something goes wrong at night. All kinds of carriages and horses are loaded, and the lanterns carried on the shoulders are transported to the site for installation, and many of the lanterns are extremely huge and luxurious, although they are only in the carriage cages, but they already know that the scale is huge.

The Lin family's lantern installation began in the early afternoon. Lin Jue took Lin Hu and a stick to escort the servants to disassemble the Nine Lotus Treasure Lantern into two carts, covered them with a cloth and escorted them to the inner street of the Vermilion Bird Gate. Although Lin Jue's official position is not high, the position assigned by the Lin family is excellent. It is located on the side of the Royal Lantern Exhibition Area. Adjacent to it is the lantern exhibition area of Yang Jun, Lu Zhongtian and others. This is obviously already an area assigned according to the rank of the three envoys.