Twenty-one years of Yuanchang, Shangyuan Festival.

This is the most lively street in Shuzhou City, the crowd is bustling, and there are thousands of lanterns.

Several restaurants with good business have invited the Oiran lady to sit in the town, and they secretly compete with each other, this one invited the willow of the Fufeng Courtyard to dance a Hu Xuan dance, and the family will invite the Yuan Niang of the Red Mansion to play a pipa.

Because it was the night of the New Year's Eve, even the shops who were not rich in money also scraped together some money and put two fireworks, and the fireworks soared into the sky, dazzling.

On the street corner, three or two Kong Ming lanterns slowly climbed into the night sky.

Xie Hanci looked at the blank Kong Ming lantern in front of him, but he didn't know how to put pen to paper.

Next to him is a vendor selling sugar gourds, who is skewering hawthorns, placing them on the table, pouring hot syrup over them, and finally sprinkling a large handful of fried white sesame seeds, the fruit is sweet and sour, and the sugar coating is crispy. Xie Hanci drew a string of rock sugar gourds on Kong Ming lanterns according to the gourd painting, and the hawthorn was big and round.

On the other side, Xie Lanzhou was working hard to write the second Kong Ming lantern.

"Brother, do you have so many wishes?"

"Not a wish."

Xie Hanci walked behind him, only to see that the Kong Ming lantern read: Hire as a wife and run as a concubine. A momentary mistake, a lifetime of hatred!

Xie Lanzhou lit the Kong Ming lantern, "This lamp will float up for a while, if a hot-headed little girl happens to see it, it can play a more or less alerting role." ”

The people of Shu are open, and elopement is quite common.

Every Shangyuan Festival, there are many infatuated women who elope with their lovers, which can be called the big festival of elopement in Shudi.

The father of the brother and sister is the prefect of this Shuzhou city. Every day on the second day of the Shangyuan Festival, no less than a dozen reports can be received, all of which claim that their daughters are missing or abducted by adulters. After investigation, almost all of them eloped with their lovers.

This year, her brother proposed to strengthen the "anti-elopement" campaign.

As a result, the government hung several large lanterns along the street, but the lanterns were not riddles, but propaganda slogans written in vermilion pen and ink.

Such as "elopement is cool for a while, and two lines of tears are abandoned", "elopement is really a policy, and true love needs to be married by the media".

Even on the wall on the corner of the street is a picture of a handsome young man with a bright face and his bald appearance twenty years later.

With the text "You see that he is personable today, and he will have a flat belly in the future", "Lady, is it really worth eloping for your face?" ”

Xie Hanci shook his head and smiled bitterly, the women of Shu do prefer handsome gentlemen, and those who are willing to elope with them are indeed not ugly.

There was a sound of gongs and drums in the distance, and the parade of floats was about to begin, which was a custom that Shuzhou City had since the founding of the country.

At the beginning, a large family with marriageable children will build a float on the Shangyuan Festival, write the name of the house on the top of the car, and hang the poems, calligraphy and paintings, embroideries and other things made by the children on the front of the car, showing the children's virtue and ability.

Later, some shops also began to build floats to advertise their wares. Qinglou Chu Pavilion also slowly joined, the popular lady sat on the float, the good dancer danced on the car, the good song sang at the front of the car, and some directly dressed up as the beauties in the story, after a night, worth a thousand gold.

Until three years ago, a money village made a palace lantern that would scatter copper coins on the float, which attracted the people to loot, killing and injuring hundreds of people, and the previous governor was also dismissed.

The parade of floats resumed this year, and the shops of all sizes in Shuzhou, which had been silent for two years, riveted their strength, and there were no less than 100 vehicles declared.

In order to prevent the recurrence of the tragedy, after the parade of floats began this year, checkpoints were set up between various squares and markets, and people and cars were not allowed to pass.

Xie Hanci took his brother's hand and said, "Brother, let's go to Ronghua Restaurant, we can't go after a while when the parade starts, go there and eat and watch." ”

The two walked to the restaurant, looking at the sign "full" hanging outside the door, Xie Lanzhou thought it was a trip in vain, looked around, and prepared to find another place.

Who knew that the guy who ran at the door directly invited the two of them in after seeing his sister, and hurriedly cleaned up the position with the best view on the second floor.

Xie Hanci sat on the beauty leaning and smiled weakly.

"I came a few times and did him a little favor, when there was a big fuss at a table of guests, saying that the guy stole his money. Later, I saw that there was unsolidified mutton fat on his money bag, and found that the thief was actually a Hu merchant sitting next to him, and the Hu merchant ordered a plate of mutton, and this person was too, and he went to steal people's money bags without wiping his hands clean. ”

The little girl at the next table heard the conversation between the two, turned around and said, "Yes, my grandfather often tells me to wash my hands before and after meals, and he should wash his hands before stealing." ”

Xie Hanci was a little embarrassed, and he didn't know if this was a positive teaching material.

"Yuanyuan, don't be rude."

The little girl's grandfather hurriedly called her back, and said to the brother and sister: "Sorry, my granddaughter disturbed the two." ”

This girl was born really cute, her cheeks were bulging, and she combed a small round tug on the top of her head, looking like a small glutinous rice dumpling. The girl pointed to the sugar gourd seller who had just entered the door, and he carried a stack of sugar gourds around the first floor to sell.

"Grandpa, I want to eat sugar gourds."

The old man pinched her fleshy little face and took out two copper plates from his arms.

Xiao Er took the menu card, and Xie Hanci's eyes also shifted from the grandfather and grandson to the "crisp mountain" of the menu.

"This is a new dish?"

Xiao Er replied: "This crispy mountain is the shopkeeper's newly raised ice from outside the city, shaved into small pieces, and poured some milk and ghee on it. Stacked in a flat plate, shaped like a mountain. It's just that it still tastes a little cold now, so Miss Xie can order that carved candied fruit. ”

Xiao Er explained: "This carved candied fruit is a platter made of carved plum balls, carved kumquats, honey melon fish and red flowers. ”

Xie Lanzhou listened to the long list of candied fruits reported by Xiao Er, only to feel that his mouth was sweet and sour, and his teeth were about to fall. However, his sister loves sweets, Xie Hanci ordered a few more equally greasy pastries, pushed the menu in front of his brother, and looked at him blankly.

"Brother, you can order some of your favorite foods."

Xie Lanzhou looked at his sister with doting in his eyes, "It's okay, you can order whatever you want to eat, it's rare for my brother to come out with you, it's all up to you." ”

"Really?"

"Of course."

"Little Er, bring me another pot of the strongest wine, warm it up for me."

Xie Lanzhou: "......"

The float drove over slowly, the first was the float of the Liu family of Shuzhou Xuanfu, the body hung a picture of autumn chrysanthemum double birds, in order to echo the painting, the lanterns on the car were also painted with flower and bird patterns.

It is worth mentioning that the Liujia family used to paste the lamps are all high-grade smoke yarn, which looks like it is covered with a layer of mist from a distance, and the whole car seems to be driving in a fairyland.

Although it is not extremely expensive, it is better than a reward, and this kind of glory cannot be bought by any amount of money.

Xiao Er brought the wine up and muttered in a low voice: "When something like that happened to the Liu family, they still have the face to engage in such a big battle." ”

Xie Hanci said curiously: "What happened to the Liu family?" I look at the picture of the two birds of Qiu Ju painted by his young lady, which is concise with a pen and elegant in color, which can be regarded as a masterpiece. ”

Xiao Er shook his head: "The bad is bad here." The Liu family invited a painter to learn painting for his young lady last year, and his master was also confused, and other families invited an old man who was over half a hundred years old, and he invited a handsome young man. The two of them are just like what was written in the painting book, and it didn't take long for this Liu Yuer to secretly agree to this painter. ”

Xie Hanci took a sip of wine, "If you have superb painting skills at a young age, you can also do a lot, but I don't know if there is help in his family, and it will cost some money to bring a great painter out." ”

He chuckled: "The ancestors of the painter used a paintbrush for three generations, but they painted the beams and brick walls, and they were all craftsmen who built houses and built roads. Before he went to Liufu, he often went to paint a few portraits of the dusty woman to subsidize the family. ”

Xie Hanci just wanted to ask a few more questions, but was interrupted by a commotion downstairs.

"Round! Round! ”

"Look at the old man, you're stepping on someone."

"Childe, have you seen my granddaughter, she called Yuanyuan and wore a pink jacket."

The old man next to him went downstairs at some point, anxiously called his granddaughter's name, and stepped on a diner, causing him to grab the old man's collar and throw him out of the restaurant.

Seeing this, Xie Hanci's brother and sister walked downstairs quickly and rescued the old man from the diners.

Xie Lanzhou helped the old man to the round bench, "Old man, is my granddaughter missing?" ”

"I saw that Yuanyuan turned around and disappeared after buying the sugar gourd, so I hurried downstairs to find her. It can't be that you met a flower shooter, right? ”

Xie Hanci looked around, and a note was inserted on the wall, which read: If you want to save Yuanyuan, go home immediately to raise money.

The old man pinched the note and immediately shook it to his feet: "I'll go home and get the money now." ”

Xie Hanci pressed the old man's shoulder: "Wait, old man, don't rush home first." ”

She picked up the note on the table and asked her brother, "If you were a kidnapper and needed a ransom, what would you write on the note?" ”

Xie Lanzhou said: "If you want to save people, send some ransom money to the designated place. ”

Xie Hanci pointed to the note: "There is no place on this note, and there is no specific ransom amount." Isn't it a bit counterintuitive to just let you go home to raise money? ”

The old man jumped to his feet in a hurry: "What does that mean?" Does this have anything to do with rescuing Yuanyuan? ”

"Of course." Xie Hanci moved the note to his brother: "Brother, looking at the note, can you recognize what kind of paper he is using?" ”

Xie Lanzhou is good at calligraphy, and has collected countless letter-signed notes, he carefully looked at the raw edges of the note, and twisted the paper with his hands; "This is a stalk stick paper, made of bamboo and straw, with a lot of impurities, a rough texture, and grass clippings can be seen on the raw edges. The price is very low, and it is mostly used for the ledger. ”

Xie Hanci pointed to a black line running through the center on the back of the note, "No wonder, this line is the waist grid used in the ledger to distinguish income and expenditure." ”

Xie Hanci shouted to the shopkeeper to dig out the account book in the cash cabinet, and sure enough, the last few pages were torn off.

"Looking at it this way, this person is either a person from the restaurant, or he is very familiar with this restaurant."

Xie Hanci looked outside the restaurant, the officers and soldiers were closing the road, and several people who wanted to move forward were stopped. Yuanyuan and her captors must still be in this restaurant.