Chapter 18 The City of Lights
"The night is full of spring, and the Qiluo fragrance is foggy. The test lamp curtain is deep and warm, and the snow sweeping platform is shallow and cold. Lan Ruyin gently recited the small poems on the lotus lanterns, and the warm candlelight shone on the girl's fair and innocent face, with a quiet and soft beauty.
Lan Qinmu and his entourage traveled westward for more than ten days, and finally arrived in the Xiliang boundary. coincides with the light market, and the Hundred Flowers Lantern Festival in Kaiyuan Town is famous far and wide. dragged Li Canglan and the two of them, and they took a long detour, and finally caught up on the night of this lantern festival.
Neon flashes, door-to-door lights, and the front of the courtyard is filled with all kinds of red lanterns of different forms. On the street, there is a flow of people, and the small vendors are carrying all kinds of lanterns that have been made in advance, and they are displayed along the way.
Among them, there are those who sell pastries and food, and there are those who sell hair buns and jewelry. The sound of selling comes and goes, mixed with the laughter of the people, for a while, it is very lively, and it is a prosperous atmosphere of the Hundred Flowers Lantern Festival.
Li Canglan and Lan Ruyin, who have never seen such a lively scene. Amber candy figures, pink marshmallows, colorful pastries. Even though Lan Ruyin was born in a Xiuzhen family since she was a child, she has seen a lot of things, but she has never heard of or seen it, and along the way, she was fascinated and stunned.
Lanqin wood in the most prosperous area of the town Yunlai Inn asked for three upper rooms, perhaps because of the Hundred Flowers Lantern Festival, this house price compared with the past has doubled several times, three pieces of upper room actually received more than 100 taels of blue qin wood, ordinary farmers have a year's income, do not eat or drink but this amount.
Lan Qinmu didn't feel distressed, paid the room fee happily, and ordered a table of wine and food. The shopkeeper saw that although the clothes of this official were ordinary, the shot was unusually generous, and the names of the dishes ordered were even more extraordinary.
This one is an expert. Immediately, he took out twelve points of caution, and respectfully went to the kitchen to cook.
This Yunlai Inn, the last time Lan Qinmu came was before the birth of his daughter, and he stayed for a few nights when he traveled with his wife to the rivers and lakes. Because I was already interested in cooking, I have always remembered these signature dishes that I thought were good at the beginning.
Lan Ruyin looked at the dizzying novelty outside the window, how could she still sit in this inn and eat with peace of mind, grabbed a few newly served pastries on the table, and didn't care about the image of a lady, so she stuffed a few pieces into her mouth indiscriminately, and hurriedly pulled Li Canglan to play.
Lanqin Mu is also at ease, and he doesn't have to be called around everywhere, and the successor has become Li Canglan. I called a cup of my good daughter Hong, faced a table full of wine and food, and drank it alone.
It's a sugar gourd again, and an osmanthus cake, Lan Ruyin can be regarded as having eaten all the fresh food she saw on the road ahead. I didn't take a few bites, and my heart began to regret it, I really shouldn't have prevaricated those pastries in the inn before, so that I didn't have the stomach to taste these so many delicious things now.
is full, but it does not prevent our Miss Lan from buying and buying. Not only did he not be able to hold one of his hands, but Li Canglan's two hands were also damaged, and he was full of them, which was the result of Li Canglan's big stomach instinct and eating a large part of it.
Later, not to mention Lan Ruyin, even Li Canglan couldn't take another bite. The two of them ate and walked, and passed by a jewelry stall again.
A hosta embroidered with gold and inlaid with azure sapphires immediately attracted Lan Ruyin's eyes. It was a chic, elegantly shaped hairpin, and the blue, pure, and faint sapphire at the top of the hairpin immediately distinguished it from the other mediocre things on the stand.
"Girl, you are really good eyesight, at a glance fell in love with our family heirloom blue-topped pear hairpin, if it weren't for the housewarming at home, anxious to use the money, I wouldn't sell it." The girl met you, but it's really fate" The street vendor uncle seemed to be moved when he saw Lan Ruyin, and hurriedly stepped forward and sold it.
Lan Ruyin picked up the hairpin and played with it, the more she looked at it, the more she liked it, and she couldn't help asking, "How much do you sell for this hairpin?"
"I didn't sell this hairpin for three hundred taels, girl, you are so beautiful, this hairpin is worthy of you, and it is not humiliating. If you want it sincerely, I will sell it to you for two hundred taels of silver," the uncle offered his price.
"Two hundred taels?" Lan Ruyin couldn't help but regret it again in her heart, the two hundred taels of silver she had brought with her, but she had been lavish along the way before, buying a lot of irrelevant things, and most of the silver taels were spent, but now there are only more than eighty taels left in the remnants' hands. I didn't want to go back to the inn and ask my father for money, so I had to give up.
Lan Ruyin gently put the hairpin back in its place, although she liked it very much, but she could only endure the pain and cut her love. Taking a deep breath, as if to cheer herself up, Lan Ruyin stomped her feet on the spot, turned around and left, and never looked back.
Li Canglan stayed in place, looking at the blue-topped pear hairpin that was calmly placed on the ground, his heart was moved, but he was helpless and shy. The master gave himself a lot of silver taels, and there were more than 100 taels. It's just that there is still a difference between the two hundred taels and the number of the two hundred taels.
Li Canglan wondered if there was anything valuable on his body that could be used. The jade plaque on the item was personally brought to him by his father three years ago, which is of great significance. Not to mention the Bilang Sword on his back, it is the crystallization of his father's life's work, if he pawns it like this, his father is afraid that he will return to the mortal world after ascending to heaven and scold himself You are not a filial son.
Thinking of the word unfilial son, I couldn't help but think of the bits and pieces of getting along with my father in the past, and the smile unconsciously spread to the corners of my mouth, and at the same time smiling, my nose couldn't help but feel sour.
Li Canglan thought about it, and he only had the bracelet he had been wearing since he was a child, with some gold jewelry, and maybe it was worth some money.
Although it has been worn for many years, it is considered a close-fitting thing. But when he thought of Lan Ruyin's care for himself along the way, and the red hands that accompanied him on the day of the snow burial of his mother, Li Canglan was still ruthless after all, took off the bracelet and handed it to the vendor uncle along with the one hundred taels of silver.
The uncle looked at the child's immature but resolute face in front of him, and couldn't help but sigh for a while. Checked the silver taels in hand, picked up the hairpin on the ground and handed it to Li Canglan: "She must be your very important person, right? Don't let the family wait for a long time, take it and give it to her." ”
Li Canglan took it with a smile and rushed to Lan Ruyin not far away.
"Why are you so slow?" the colorful lights of the lamp market fell on the girl's beautiful face, which was beautiful.
Faced with the question of the beautiful girl in front of him, the hand holding the hairpin unconsciously turned his back behind him, the young man blushed his cheeks, held it for a long time, but only spit out a sentence from the crack in his throat "No, nothing ......"