Xiao Zhouhou was also frightened, but he was still a little calm, and asked loudly, "How many people are here?" ”

"That's a lot of people!" The maid outside the door said.

Li Yu was even more frightened: "It's over!" It's really going to kill me! Why don't you send so many people to do it? ”

Xiao Zhouhou also panicked, and said in a trembling voice: "Did they say something?" ”

The maid said, "It seems that I came to send lantern anagrams." The palace maids and eunuchs who came were carrying a lot of lanterns with anagrams. ”

Xiao Zhouhou suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, over the years, the officials would send lanterns to the prince and the ministers, and give them some anagrams or something to guess. Originally, if they hadn't lost the poem of nostalgia for their homeland, and they were worried that the official family would ask for the crime, they might have estimated that it was the official family who sent the lantern riddle, but this knotted eye, they thought crookedly.

Xiao Zhouhou smiled and said to Li Yu: "It was the official family who sent the lanterns." Do not worry. ”

Li Yuwu refused to believe it, and asked loudly: "Do you see it clearly?" ”

"I can see clearly, the lanterns are all placed in the courtyard. The father-in-law who delivered the decree said, please hurry up with the lord and wife, and they will send it to other princes and ministers. ”

Only then did Li Yu put his heart down. wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, hurriedly dressed with Xiao Zhouhou, didn't care about washing his face, and hurriedly came out to meet the holy decree.

After the eunuch read out the holy decree, it was indeed the official family who rewarded the lantern anagram for guessing, so that before midnight today, the official family had a reward. Li Yu received the edict and thanked him, and sent away the eunuch who passed the edict, and the two looked at each other and smiled bitterly.

Xiao Zhouhou saw that her husband was scared enough by that incident these days, and he was obviously thin, and he was a little distressed, so he wanted to divert his mind away, and said: "Just if we celebrate the Lantern Festival, it will not be lively, or invite the two families of King Qi and Leng Tuiguan to come?" Celebrate the Lantern Festival together. Speaking of this, Xiao Zhouhou lowered his voice, "Especially Leng Tuiguan, he is a big celebrity around the official family, and I heard that he has been helping the official family in the palace during this time." Perhaps, he will know something. ”

Li Yu immediately understood, nodded again and again, and said, "This is a good idea!" Otherwise, this time, I will specially invite the cold push official and his wife, and it is easy to talk about anything! ”

"Well, King Qi may be invited to the palace by the official family for the festival. That was the case last year. ”

"So much better!" Li Yu said: "I'll write an invitation, so as not to be preempted and invited first." ”

Xiao Zhou said: "Let's go to the door in person." I heard that the last time King Qi invited him, he went in person. ”

Li Yu nodded and said, "It makes sense, then let's go right away!" ”

Immediately, Li Yu and his wife prepared gifts and took a sedan chair to Leng Yi's mansion.

When he came to the door of the mansion and got off the sedan chair, when the servant came forward and knocked on the door to ask for a meeting, Xiao Zhouhou looked around, and the snow on the ground had turned into hard ice because of the crushing of the carriages and horses. That night, he fainted here, and if it weren't for Leng Yi's guards to find out, he would probably have frozen to death. Looking back now, I'm still scared for a while.

Li Yu saw her staring blankly at the ice and snow under her feet, and couldn't help but wonder: "What's wrong?" ”

Xiao Zhou came back to his senses later, shook his head and said, "It's nothing ......"

At this time, the door of Leng Yi's house opened, Leng Yi and Zhuo Qiaoniang greeted him, and Leng Yi arched his hand and said, "Grandpa, madam!" The two of them didn't say hello in advance when they came, and they waited for the big driver. ”

Li Yu didn't even dare to say it, and arched his hand: "I was supposed to visit the door early to pay New Year's greetings to adults, but there are too many mundane things in the past few days, and it has been delayed. I couldn't delay any longer, so I took the liberty of coming to the door to disturb him. ”

"Grandpa said something, please come in!"

The two of them were polite, Xiao Zhouhou had already rushed up, held Zhuo Qiaoniang's hand affectionately, and said, "I haven't seen you for a few days, my sister is getting more and more beautiful!" ”

Zhuo Qiaoniang's face flushed, looked at her pretty face like a flower and the moon, and said sincerely: "Madame is beautiful." ”

Xiao Zhouhou deliberately said with a straight face: "I call you sister, why do you call me Mrs. instead, do our sisters need to be so angry?" - Just call me sister! ”

Zhuo Qiaoniang was a little embarrassed, smiled, and called "sister"!

Xiao Zhou agreed crisply: "That's what it looks like, - are you two going to chat at the gate?" We're going to freeze to death! ”

Leng Yi and Li Yu looked at each other and smiled, Leng Yi said, "What I said is, please come in!" Talk in the house. ”

The four of them entered the mansion, and Leng Yi said: "Let's go to the warm pavilion to talk, the main hall is too big and a little cold." With that, he led them to the inner house.

Along the way, Xiao Zhouhou kept praising the majestic and gorgeous architecture of Leng Yi's mansion and the exquisite and elegant layout. As the former queen of a country and the most prosperous and wealthy Jiangnan and Southern Tang Dynasty, what kind of buildings have not been seen, and what kind of mansion can be compared with the palace of the Southern Tang Dynasty? Xiao Zhouhou's slightly exaggerated praise is, of course, to please Leng Yi and his wife. However, Xiao Zhouhou was indeed a little surprised, because this mansion is really gorgeous, and the official family can reward Leng Yi with such a good prince's mansion for his son, which is enough to show Leng Yi's status in the eyes of the official family. It also made Xiao Zhouhou more aware that if he could have a good relationship with Leng Yi and his wife, he would be able to add a heavy weight to their safety.

When they entered the inner house, they were full of colorful lanterns, which made Li Yu and Xiao Zhouhou stunned.

According to the usual practice, the annual Lantern Festival of the official family only sends lanterns to a very small number of important ministers of the court such as the prince and the prime minister, so the lanterns that can be rewarded by the official family during the Lantern Festival are all a supreme honor, although they already know that the official family is very important to Leng Yi, but they didn't expect him to be a six-grade official who can also get the lanterns rewarded by the official, so that the two of them were a little surprised.

Originally, the two of them thought that Leng Yi did not get the lantern five rewarded by the official family, so they wanted to invite Leng Yi and his wife to their house to enjoy the lanterns and get closer, but now it seems that not only there are, but also seems to be more than theirs, and it is more exquisite, and the reward is earlier. The two of them were a little unexpected, and they didn't know what to do for a while.

When I arrived at the warm pavilion, the guests and hosts sat down, and the warm pavilion was also full of lanterns all around, which seemed very festive.

Xiao Zhouhou rolled his eyes, took Zhuo Qiaoniang's hand and asked deliberately: "So many lanterns, it's really beautiful, sister, you made it yourself, right?" What a skillful hand! ”

Zhuo Qiaoniang hurriedly said: "No! It was rewarded by the official family this morning, and there are many anagrams on it, saying that the guess is correct, and report to the palace before midnight, and the official family will have a reward. ”

Xiao Zhouhou clapped his hands and smiled: "Great! My husband and I are both favorite puzzles. Can we guess with you? ”

Zhuo Qiaoniang is not in charge, and looks at Leng Yi.

Leng Yi smiled: "Of course it's the best!" I'm not good at guessing riddles, I don't know how to complete the task, with the help of great writers like Grandpa Li and Mrs. Zheng Guo, it seems that we are going to take the lead in the rewards of the official family this year. ”

Xiao Zhou Hou said happily: "Great! That's it! All right? Husband? Xiao Zhou later said that he had made up his mind, and then asked Li Yu, obviously very satisfied with the result. Li Yu also immediately understood his wife's thoughts, since Leng Yi also has lantern riddles rewarded by officials here, it is naturally not good to invite him to his home again, and he will push the boat down the river and turn to Leng Yi's house, which is the same, but it can bring the relationship between the two parties closer. He nodded and said, "Since Lord Leng is so hospitable, then we will be cheeky." ”

Leng Yi hurriedly said a few polite words, and said, "The two of you will eat and guess riddles with me today, but I still need to go to the palace once, and I may come back a little later." ”

Xiao Zhouhou grinned and said, "Although Lord Leng is busy, my sister is here, so I don't need you to greet me." ”

Zhuo Qiaoniang also smiled and said: "Officials rest assured, the concubine will entertain them well." ”

Leng Yi changed his official robe, tied the gold belt given by the official family, took the guards, and entered the palace in a sedan chair, there are two things to do in the palace today, one is to check the embroidery progress of the embroidery girls, and the other is that the official family invited him to participate in the Lantern Festival in the palace. In the latter show, it is estimated that the time may be relatively late, but Xiao Zhou later they suddenly visited, and Leng Yi could not refuse, so he could only say that he might go back later. lest they be embarrassed.

Leng Yi came to the embroidery room first, and as soon as he arrived at the door, he heard the chatter inside, and the voice was full of excitement. Leng Yi couldn't help but feel a little strange, he used to embroider quietly, why is it so lively today? When I stepped in, I saw a room full of embroiderers talking excitedly around an embroidery.

"Why are you so happy?" Leng Yi smiled.

As soon as they heard his voice, everyone quickly dispersed, and Leng Yi walked over to take a look, but it turned out that there was a finished embroidery hanging on the wall, and it was the palace maid who was the model. The whole embroidery shape is very close to the photo, which shows the depth of the embroidery skills of these embroiderers. However, it is a pity that there is still a certain gap between the overall degree of realism and the photo. After all, these embroiderers are not specialized painters, especially those who have not systematically learned realistic painting skills such as sketching, and only rely on Leng Yi's three-legged cat painting that he learned in high school, although he has been able to get started, but there is still a big gap between him and the master. However, compared with the traditional Chinese painting of white drawing techniques, there is a qualitative difference in terms of realism, at least, in terms of eyes, appearance, skin, texture and texture of the dress, etc., it is already very realistic.

Leng Yi himself was also amazed, but it turned out that the embroidery of the Song Dynasty in China had reached such a high level. Of course, without Leng Yi's guidance with modern painting techniques, as well as the transformation of three-dimensional figures into flat photographs, although these court embroiderers are highly skilled, they would not be able to embroider such a realistic figure painting. Moreover, now this painting is already very good when you look at it alone, but if you compare it with the high-definition photos on your mobile phone, the gap is still relatively obvious.

Leng Yi knew that these embroiderers had tried their best, and this was probably the highest level they could achieve. Immediately applauded: "Great! You've overcome all the hurdles one by one! Very powerful! ”

These embroiderers are also very satisfied with this embroidery, they have never embroidered such a figure painting, they feel very fresh, and all of them have a very excited look on their faces.

Leng Yi asked: "If you embroider such an embroidery, if you are alone, how long will it take?" ”

The embroidery girls glanced at each other, and an old embroidery girl said: "I'm old, and my eyes are not very good, and the realistic embroidery of the old man has to change various threads and stitches from time to time, which is very complicated, so it will take about half a year to complete." If it were a young girl like Siyu and them, it might be completed in half a year. ”

"Who's Yusi?" Leng Yi asked.

All the embroiderers looked at a young girl. The old embroidery lady also pointed to her and said: "It's her, in fact, most of our embroidery is the idea that Yusi came up with, from the stitch method, the use of thread, many of them are the first to be proposed." ”

The other embroiderers also nodded.

The girl named Yusi was a little shy, and she lowered her head and didn't dare to look at Leng Yi.

Leng Yi asked Yusi: "If you are alone, how much time will it take to complete such an embroidery?" ”

Yusi raised her head at this time, glanced at Leng Yi, hurriedly lowered her head, and said softly: "Two months." ”

Leng Yi nodded, looked around at the other embroiderers, and said, "Among you, who can reach this speed?" ”

All the embroiderers shook their heads slowly, and the old embroidery lady said: "Yusi is the fastest embroidery among us, almost twice as fast as ordinary people, and it is fast and good." We are better than her. ”

Leng Yi said: "Apart from her, who else is fast and has good skills?" ”

These embroidery girls looked at each other, and it was obvious that except for Yusi, everyone was convinced, and the rest were about the same speed and technology.

Leng Yi said: "Okay, you choose by yourself, in addition to Yusi, and then choose the four best." I have other arrangements. Pick it out now! ”

So, these embroidery girls began to talk about it. In the end, four more women were chosen.

Leng Yi said: "Okay, Yusi stays, and the rest can go back first, and I will call you again when needed." When I report to the official's house, I will reward you. ”

The embroidery girls thanked each other and left the embroidery room. There were only cold and rain in the house.

Yusi was a little nervous, lowered her head, blushed, and twisted her belt.

Leng Yi closed the door, sat down on an embroidered chair, and said, "You can sit too!" ”

Yusi nodded a little panickedly and sat down crookedly. Still with his head down.

Leng Yi said: "How old are you?" ”

"Eighteen."

"Are you married?"

Yusi became even more shy and quickly shook her head.

"Did you say kiss?"

Yusi quickly shook her head again.

Leng Yi seemed to be chasing after this question: "Is there anything good about that?" ”

Yusi was so ashamed that even her neck turned red, and she quickly shook her head.

Leng Yi still didn't give up: "Then there should always be someone you like, right?" Let's be honest! I'm going to hear the truth, because it's about getting your mission done! ”

Yusi peeked at him, and quickly lowered his head, and after a while, he nodded lightly, and if he didn't pay attention to it, he really couldn't see it.

Leng Yi smiled: "Who is it?" Let's hear it. ”

Yusi blushed and lowered her head without saying a word, obviously, this problem has reached the bottom line of her psychology, and she really can't tell others.

(To be continued)